Literacy Plan

Longwood University
Amber Archer and Emily Cornett

Section I: Contextual Information

The county where we are pulling data from is located in the heart of Virginia in a
southside rural area. The community consists of about 9,827 people. Due to its rural location
most of the residents have to travel in order to go to work. The majority of the parents work
within the prisons. Most of them have to drive back and forth to Richmond on a daily basis in
order to provide for their families. This leads to a lack of parental academic support, and the
majority of older siblings care for the younger brothers and sisters. Within the school community
there are approximately 400 students. The school ranges from fifth to eighth grade with about
one hundred students per grade level. The population is made up of roughly 64% Caucasian and
32% African American students. The special education program is made up of 10% of the
students, and less than 1% of the students are considered English Language Learners. Out of the
entire school 69% of the students have free and reduced lunch. There is no grocery store in the
county, so families must travel to Farmville in order to get food. As a community they try to
provide a lot of recreational activities in order to entertain the youth and keep them out of
trouble.
Description of Need
Our students weaknesses were in six main areas that fell below 80%. These areas
included recognizing organizational patterns in text (48%), determining character motivation in a
text 66%), and determining the cause for a given effect (74%). They also show weakness in
determining how language helps to relay an authors message (75%), identifying a paragraph that
answers a specific question (79%), and locating information in a passage to support conclusions
(79%).
Analysis of Data

Our data came from a spring 2012 (non-writing) 5th grade benchmark. After analyzing
the data, we concluded that there were six areas that were below the 80% mark. The school
scored higher than the division in questions answered correctly in 22 areas of comprehension.
They scored the same on questions answered correctly in 4 areas and scored below the percent
correct for the division in 13 areas of comprehension.
Section II: Possible Solutions
Project Based Learning
The first possible solution will consist of project based learning that incorporates the top
six weakest areas in the school. This will be a three week plan in which all areas of need are
integrated together across the literacy curriculum. The students will work with activities that
cover cause and effect, organizational text patterns, and character motivation. These activities
will be paired with other strategies working with authors message and locating information to
answer questions and support conclusions. At the beginning of this pbl, the students will be given
an overarching question or idea and each of the activities will, in some way, tie into this idea. At
the end of the two weeks, the students will have learned about each of the six comprehension
areas and understand how they all tie in together in order to have a better understanding of the
multiple comprehension skills as a whole. The necessary requirements needed to implement this
plan include a two week time span in which all instructional time can be devoted to teaching
these six areas of need and necessary materials needed to carry out hands-on, engaging lessons.
During these two weeks, some students may show understanding of certain comprehension
skills, while needing more support with others. Because the plan works with integrating all of the
skills at one time, there may not be enough time set aside to work with skills in isolation for
those students who may need remediation. This being said, this way may not work for all

students, if some students work better learning skills one at a time, needing more time spent on
each skill.
Guided Reading Three Month Plan
The second possible solution would be to administer a three month plan. This three
month plan would work on all six comprehension strategies through guided reading instruction.
The plan would focus on questioning and visualizing for one month, summarizing/ synthesizing
along with making connections for the second month, and determining importance and making
inferences in the last month. The three month plan would allow the students to work through
both fiction and nonfiction texts and strengthening their comprehension skills in those areas. This
program would focus on overall comprehension and touch on the areas of need noted in the
benchmark test.
With this plan the students would meet as a whole group and be instructed on the
strategies as a class. They would then be split up into their instructional level groups and dive
deeper into these strategies using texts geared toward their instructional needs. The first month
students will focus on questioning and visualizing. In this month they will work on using the
comprehension skills with both fiction and nonfiction texts. The same will go for the month
focusing on summarizing and making connections, and determining importance and inferring.
The program is setup to give them multiple opportunities to work through various text in order to
prepare for the summative assessment.
This program's focus is on overall comprehension. So, the literacy need would be met
within the program, but not the main focus areas. Through this plan each part of comprehension
will be addressed within the three month period. This will allow the students to work on
comprehension as a whole instead of comprehension in parts. The program will allow the

students to work through varying texts instead of looking at only one nonfiction text for three
months. Having the students look at multiple forms of literature would benefit them because they
need to know how to comprehend all literature that comes their way.
The requirements for this program consist of a three month span of instruction time.
There will need to be rich forms of literature available in both fiction and nonfiction texts in
which the students practice putting their comprehension strategies to use month to month. The
pitfalls to this program are the amount of information that is being crammed into three months
may be overwhelming for the students. This program is also more of an overview of the skills
needed to build strong comprehension. Based on the need from the benchmark tests this plan
may lack in the amount of time spend on the weaker areas of need.
Guided Reading Two Month Plan
The third possible solution is a guided reading program. This program will take place
over the course of two months and will focus on the comprehension skills working with
determining importance. The results showed that four out of the six overall weakest skills dealt
with determining importance, so this program will work with the comprehension area in which
instruction is needed the most. In the first month, the students will work with activities
supporting organizational pattern in text and language to relay authors message. In the second
month, students will transition to working with activities to support identifying a paragraph that
answers a specific question and locating information in a passage to support conclusions. The
skills chosen for each month correlate with each other which will make for more effective
instruction.
In order for this program to be implemented, there will need to be a two month period in
which the instruction can take place as well as the necessary guided reading materials to teach

the lessons. Also, prior to the plan, the students would need to be separated into groups based on
their instructional guided reading level. Over the course of two months, each group will work on
the four determining importance skills with materials at their instructional level. One possible
pitfall with this program is that it does not work on all six of the weakest skills found in the data
which will leave out certain inferencing skills. This means that some students who really need
remediation with inferencing in particular may not be getting the instruction needed to help them
in that area. This program also requires a two month span of time in which only one
comprehension skill is being taught which may not leave as much time to work on other
comprehension skills.
Section III: Solution
Description of Solution
The solution chosen to address the schools literacy need is the guided reading two month
plan. This plan will target four out of the six highest need comprehension areas in this fifth grade
class. These needs include: recognizing organizational pattern in text, determining how language
helps to relay authors message, identifying a paragraph that answers a specific question, and
locating information in a passage to support conclusions. Because the four areas work with
determining importance, this program will focus on that one skill to improve the students
comprehension. Also, since this is a guided reading plan, most of the instruction will take place
with students in guided reading groups to provide each student with instruction at their
appropriate level. Students will need to be tested to determine their guided reading level, if that
information is not already known, and then placed into 3-4 groups depending on the outcome of
the levels. Once the groups are determined for each class, they will work on a literacy center

rotation moving through word knowledge, guided reading, online literacy, and independent
reading, however the focus will be on the guided reading time.
During the first month of the plan, students will be tested and placed into their guided
reading groups based on their independent level of reading. Although the students will be
working on word knowledge and online literacy in their stations, the main instruction will take
place with guided reading. At the guided reading center, the students will be instructed on
organizational patterns in text. The students will visit a variety of text that work with different
organizational patterns such as cause and effect, chronological order, compare and contrast, order
of importance, sequence, spatial, and problem and solution. They will identify what they are
called, why authors use them, and how they help to organize the text. The students will be given
the chance to choose their own text and identify its organizational pattern and information using
graphic organizers. Next, the students will work to on understanding how language helps to relay
authors message. They will visit different stories that incorporate figurative language, sensory
imagery, and adjectives into the text. They will break down the text and look the authors
language and determine what the author wants the reader to take away from reading. Finally, the
students will spend some time combining what they have learned about text pattern and authors
message and revisit some of their passages to see how text pattern works together with language
to relay an authors message. For example, they will study how authors may use chronological
order to show the importance of events in helping with the message of the story. Throughout the
lessons, the students will constantly be brought back to how they are learning to determine
importance in a text and how that helps them to comprehend.
During the second month of the plan, the students will begin by focusing on identifying
paragraphs that answer specific questions at their guided reading center. Fiction and nonfiction

texts will be used for students to identify information in the text that answers questions. They
will be presented with questions about the text and will find the answers to the questions by
thinking about the big ideas of the text. Questions asked may include: In what paragraph do you
learn about.? or What does paragraph 3 tell us about? The students will move on to
focusing on locating information in a paragraph that supports a conclusion. They will be asked to
justify why they believe their answer was found in the paragraph and will use highlighters to
mark their proof. Because these two skills are very similar, the students will learn how they work
with each other when reading and comprehending information in a text.
Finally, there will be a review time in which teachers will check for understanding of the
skills previously learned. This will be a time to tie any loose ends with instruction and make sure
students are ready for post assessing. Post-assessment of comprehension will take place during
the final week of the plan. During this time, the students will be given questions that test each of
the four areas to see their progress from before the program. Scores will be recorded, shared, and
analyzed with the schools principal.
Justification Statement
This instructional plan chosen meets the highest areas of need from the fifth grade
benchmark testing. This was the best option because the two month time span allows ample time
to focus on determining importance while reading, which was the most missed from the collected
data. After analyzing the data we found that the weakest areas were organizing pattern in text
(48%), using language to relay the authors message (75%), identifying a paragraph that answers
a specific question (79%), and locating information in a passage to support a conclusion ( 79%).
All of these areas go under the comprehension skill for determining importance. The other low
comprehension skill from the benchmark was inferencing through cause and effect, and character

motivation. However, for our plan we decided that determining importance was the higher area
of need for the literacy plan, and that inferences could be woven in but not as the main focus.
The two month plan allows students to focus on the comprehension skill of determining
importance through the use of guided reading instruction. Through guided reading instruction the
students will be able to work in groups based on their instructional reading level. This will allow
them to work with texts that are easier for them to understand, and allow them to really work on
determining importance within their instructional leveled texts. If we were to have whole class
instruction some students would get lost in the text because it wouldn't be on their level, and then
they would spend too much time decoding and wouldnt pick up on the comprehension skill. So,
we determined that the guided reading groups would be best for the literacy plan in order to meet
the areas of need.
We decided to use a guided reading approach because that way the students are exposed
to the comprehension strategies through their weekly readings in their groups. This allows them
to be exposed to a variety of texts both fiction and nonfiction, and allows them to strengthen each
of those weak areas along the way. Working in smaller groups allows for the students to get the
intervention they need.
Methods
This plan will be organized into a two month layout that will work on individual
comprehension skills that fall under the comprehension skill of determining importance. It will
function in a literacy center rotation in which students will work with various literary elements
that include word knowledge, online literacy time, comprehension, and independent/choice
reading, with the focus of the plan being the guided reading center for comprehension. The
participants for this program will be made up of all 5th grade classes in the school. They are a

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mix of male and female students who are white, African American, Hispanic, and other
ethnicities.
Materials needed for this plan will include comprehension assessment materials for each
student in the 5th grade and a classroom set of guided reading level books that include fiction
and nonfiction text in different genres for each 5th grade class in the school. Specific activities
chosen by the teacher and reading specialist that help with determining importance are also
needed for each teacher, as well as basic materials such as highlighters, pens, and sticky tabs.
Knowledge of center rotations as well as time will be needed to ensure that the students are
equally using their instruction time. Finally, scheduling time will have to be prepared to ensure
availability and collaboration between the reading specialist and classroom teacher.
Step-by-Step Process of Implementation
To implement this solution the classroom teacher will need to collaborate with the
reading specialists in order to assess the students. The benchmark was from the entire fifth grade,
so the individual teachers will have to assess to get a better look into their classroom needs. The
reading specialist will be able to provide insight on the assessments and organization of the plan
for each of the fifth grade classrooms. The teachers will identify students who received a 70% or
lower on the determining importance section, and that group will be the intervention group. The
intervention group will have push in time with the teacher and reading specialist during their
guided reading rotation.
Assessment to determine the students guided reading level will take place in the first two
weeks of the plan in order to make sure that instruction groups are relatively equal. Each group
should have around 5 students for the guided reading. Once the groups have been established
they will begin working on the comprehension focus of determining importance. The literacy

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time will be center rotation based. There will be around 4 rotations at about 20 minutes each. In
the rotations students will have a word knowledge rotation, guided reading rotation, an online
literacy center rotation, and a choice reading rotation. Our plans main focus is during the guided
reading time where determining importance is the comprehension focus.
After the assessments to determine the intervention group have been completed the
students will be placed into their groups. They will have daily literacy center rotation time. In the
guided reading groups each week they will be working on the skills of organizing pattern in text,
language that relays the authors message, finding paragraphs that answer specific questions, and
locating information in a passage that supports a conclusion. The students will use those
comprehension skills with fiction and nonfiction text each week. The intervention group will be
the focus and will work with both the reading specialist and the classroom teacher in order to
strengthen those weaker skills.
Section IV: Professional Development Plan
Description of Plan
All of the fifth grade teachers, reading coaches, reading specialists, and principal will
have to go to a professional development meeting to discuss the benchmark analysis results, and
the goals for the literacy plan. The professional development will be set up first in a mock guided
reading rotation. The reading specialists and coaches will act as the teacher, and the fifth grade
teacher will be the students. The coaches and specialist will demonstrate what a productive
guided reading rotation looks like and what an unproductive guided reading group looks like.
They will also give ideas of activities that focus on determining importance that the fifth grade
teacher will be able to take back to their classroom and implement into their literacy plan. The
teachers will receive the materials, strategies, and techniques needed in order for this plan to be

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carried out in two months as well. At the end of the two months they will come back together for
a reflection and plan wrap up.
Connection to Adult Learning Theories
When planning a professional development you have to keep in mind the ways that adults
learn best. We often focus so much on the ways in which our students learn, but we forget that as
adults there are specific ways we learn best as well. We made sure we kept the adult learning
theories in the back of our mind as we outlined what the professional development would be
about. One of the ways in which adults learn best is through collaboration. Collaboration allows
for minds to come together and share ideas. Through the mock guided reading the adults will be
able to collaborate about what works best and what could be changed so that the students needs
are being met. They will also have lots of chances to collaborate ideas on activities that help
teach determining importance that they can bring back into their classroom.
Adults also learn best when they can relate the task to their own learning goals. So, in the
professional development, the use of the mock guided reading allowed the teachers to put
themselves in the shoes of their students. This allowed them to see that the activities were
engaging and allowed them to reach their goal of how to instruct the comprehension skill of
determining importance. With that being said, adults also learn best when they set up goals and
see how they can be achieved. Through the professional development the teachers are able to see
how the goals can be met through the literacy plan and guidance of the literacy coaches and
specialists.
Professional Development Books
There are so many wonderful resources out there for teacher to use in order to guide
instruction. For this literacy plan, in which the focus is comprehension based on determining

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importance, there will be one main book that goes along with the professional development. The
book that will guide the instruction is called Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic
Reading By: Stephanie Harvey. This is a fantastic resource that breaks down the components of
comprehension. Chapter 6 is on determining importance. The chapter lays out lesson ideas,
provides pictures of the lessons, provides quotes about determining importance, and extra book
resources. The lesson ideas are fantastic, and research based best practices for teaching
comprehension. It provides wonderful thinking stems and prompts to guide the lessons as well.
The second resource is a book called Assessing & correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties:
A Student Centered Approach By: Thomas G. Gunning. This resource is the denser of the two,
but it provides wonderful information on comprehension. Chapter 11 is based off of building
comprehension. Teachers can use this resource as an overview of overall comprehension. The
book provides lesson ideas and graphic organizer examples that would be useful to reference.
The chapter also goes into some guided reading ideas that could be used within the literacy plan.
Training
Before the implementation of this plan it is important that we have well-trained teachers
and specialists on board to ensure that our students are getting the best instruction possible.
There will be two training sessions for the teachers who have students participating in this plan.
During the first day, the teachers and reading specialists will work together to analyze their
classroom data. There will training for assessment of the students guided reading levels in which
teachers will have the opportunity to walk through each of the assessments and practice giving
an assessment if needed. The second training day will consist of an hour long modeling session
of the guided reading rotation. During the training session, teachers will be informed about the
purpose of the plan, the timeline needed to implement the plan, as well as the procedure of the

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plan. The teachers will also be informed about how the literacy centers will work and what is
expected at each station. There will be examples of activities to use for each of the skills
available at the training as well as how to implement the activities with the lessons. Finally, there
will be a share/question time in which teachers will be able to share any ideas that they feel will
work best with their lessons, give ideas to other teachers for instruction of the lessons, and ask
any remaining questions about the plan.

Motivation for Change

Comprehension is such an important part of literacy and we want to make sure that all
aspects of comprehension are covered so that our students will get the most out of reading. The
benchmark scores on certain areas of comprehension is a motivating factor in implementing this
new program. It is my hopes that this program will benefit the students because it will allow
them to work more one-on-one with the teacher and their peers. There will be assurance that the
students will be learning at their appropriate levels meaning that they will hopefully improve in
their knowledge of comprehension. This program is a change for the school; however change can
be a great thing if it means that the students are given new opportunities to learn skills in
correlation with each other. The students will be able to utilize the skills and see purpose in their
learning by creating and sharing new ideas. Finally, this program will work in accordance with
other classroom literacy skills so that it will not take away from other important instruction time.
Description of Our Roles
As reading specialists and coaches, it is our role to be available to the teachers for any
help they may need in implementing the program, creating the lessons, and assessing the
students. We will support the teachers by collaborating with them on the lessons and instructing
at the literacy stations. We will also be available to answer any questions they may have about

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the program and help them in identifying the needs of the students and the best way to meet
those individual needs. It is our role to provide guidance and work with the teachers schedules
to make sure this plan is implemented the best way possible. We will support the teachers at the
end of the program when they are post assessing and determining the growth of the students. We
are also available to help implement plans in the future and are open to listening to any changes
teachers may feel is needed for the future of the program.
Section V: Timeline for Implementation
Professional Development (PD)
Day 1

Data analysis and assessment training

Day 2

Mock Guided Reading rotation session

Month 1

Month 2

Week 1

Assess for Guided Reading levels

Work on identifying paragraphs that answer

specific questions

Week 2

Continue assessment and place

students into groups

Work on locating information to support

conclusions

Week 3

Work on organizational patterns in

texts

Review all skills

Week 4

Work on language to relay the authors

message

Post Assessment and Wrap-Up

PD

Post Assessment reflection with teachers and administration

Success of Plan
The success of the intervention plan will be assessed through daily formative assessments

in guided reading and a post assessment of the comprehension skills learned over the two month
plan. If the target comprehension skills have not improved over the course of two months, there
will be an additional of remediation to work on those skills. In addition, there will be changes
made to the program to ensure that improvements are made in overall comprehension.