Implementing Effective Literacy Intervention Lessons
Hi friend,
Over the last few weeks, we have been talking about how literacy intervention is like a car.
Now, I am not a car person but when we discussed this analogy at our team meeting it made SO MUCH sense to me. Even if you aren’t a car person - hear us out.
Data is the gas that fuels our cars.
Implementing our lessons is like actually driving the car.
Today, we are going to jump into the implementation piece. If you haven’t read the previous two posts yet, click on the points above to check them out!
Implementing your Literacy Intervention Lessons
Once you have gas in the car (data) and directions to your destination (you’ve designed your lessons), it’s time to drive.
A big mistake we see in literacy intervention is people just jumping right into the implementation phase. Now, we started out by doing this too so no judgment here. Over time, we learned that while this can get us closer to our end goal, it’s not the most efficient way to get students to grade level. Imagine driving a car with little or no gas and no directions - definitely not ideal.
Now, even with gas in the car and directions at your fingertips - sometimes things happen that can derail our journey.
Roadwork, traffic, road closures, and more can make us change course at a moment’s notice. If this past year and a half has taught us anything - it’s that we need to be prepared to switch courses immediately.
Similarly, there will be days when students just aren’t getting something. Sometimes, they may have bad days or need an extra review of certain concepts. As things come up - YOU know your students best and can determine if you need to change course. If something isn’t sticking - pull a review game. If your students need something explained in a different way - that’s okay. If they need an activity to be more challenging or need you to break it down for them - trust your gut and do it. YOU are driving this car and have control over how you drive.
That being said, it is important to follow research-based principles in your intervention. We can’t just decide one day to throw all traffic laws out the window.
As long as you have a framework set up that you are following, you can differentiate your lessons within that framework to best fit your students.
The great news? This is also the MOST effective way to get students to close the gap. Just like you may need to take a different exit to avoid construction when driving home from work, you may need to differentiate an activity to land for a particular student. Differentiating within a framework will get you to your destination faster than just jumping in blind.
If you are looking for a program that provides you with a research-based framework that hits on ALL 5 Core-Components of Literacy in EVERY lesson and allows for you to differentiate within the lessons to fit the needs of your students - look no further. You can check out the Delivering SMARTER Intervention (DSI) program using the link below.