The 3 Things Your Literacy Intervention Materials MUST Include

Hi friends, Happy Friday!

In this field, we are bombarded with theories, approaches, and information, and often, it can be difficult to know exactly what resources you need.

Whether you are looking for activities to supplement a program that your school has provided you with, or, you are looking for a comprehensive curriculum, there are a few things that you should always be looking for.

What You Should Look for When Picking Structured Literacy Activities

1. Activities should be research-based

When picking activities for your structured literacy intervention, we need to make sure that they are supported by research. This means that they were developed using research-based practices. However, you also need to be doing your OWN research to make sure they are working for your students. You can read more about doing your own research in your intervention >>here.<<

2. Materials need to support systematic and explicit instruction.

Your instruction needs to be systematic meaning it follows a scope and sequence. Now, when we talk about a scope and sequence we don’t just mean that it gives you a list of phonograms to teach in order. The scope and sequence should walk you through skills in ALL 5-Core Components of Literacy for EVERY LESSON and it must teach them EXPLICITLY. We can’t give students a list of words with the final /k/ sound and expect them to learn the difference between using a final c, k, or -ck. We must teach them that we use -ck at the end of a one-syllable word after a short vowel sound.

3. Materials should allow you to individualize WITHIN a framework

Every time we say this, people’s jaws hit the floor. We DO NOT believe in following a program with fidelity OR the need to recreate every resource you use with students from scratch. In this field, these feuding ideas of needing to follow a program without any flexibility OR needing to create something new for every child are keeping people stuck.

In reality - you need to have an evidence-based framework (like we mentioned above) and based on your data, you need to differentiate lessons to target students’ specific needs. Not only does this alleviate the stress on you (from needing to create something every day or from feeling like what you’re doing isn’t hitting your students’ needs) but it also allows students to make BIGGER gains in a SHORTER time because you can offer really solid intervention that specifically targets the areas they need the most support in.

For more information about structured literacy intervention and what the research actually supports, grab our Science of Reading Blueprint. This blueprint will help you understand the 3 key scientific models that drive effective literacy instruction, learn how to integrate the research into practice, and provide simple checklists that will help you weave the science of reading into your instruction.