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Supporting Literacy After School
Five challenges to supporting literacy and what you can do about it.
It may sound silly, but the best way to become a better reader and writer is by reading and writing. Therefore, the key job of after school staff is to engage and sustain students in daily literacy experiences. Activities should be motivating, interesting, learning-rich and not just a repeat of the regular school day. This isn't as easy as it may sound.
I have worked with over 1,000 after school staff. Most after school staff are not teachers. Many are recreation staff or paraprofessionals. Many are high school or college students and very few have a deep working knowledge of how to develop student literacy skills. As a result, I see the same five obstacles to supporting literacy after school again and again.
Five Challenges to Supporting Literacy After School
- Classroom management issues interfere with literacy experiences.
- Staff do not know strategies for supporting literacy.
- Staff prefer to do activities they feel more confidence with or believe kids will like more (e.g. recreation, homework, snack.)
- It takes time, support, and feedback for staff to develop into "literacy builders."
- Reading and writing materials are not readily available.
In the districts I work with, we address each of these challenges directly. First, we provide training, observations, and demonstrations on effective classroom management. This includes teaching Celebrations, Attention Getters, and Sponges.
Second, we build a repertoire of literacy strategies in our staff including seven picture book strategies, four novel reading strategies, five journal strategies, and much more.
Third, we continually emphasize to staff that we understand they are developing new skills. They do not need to be experts but need to strive to be experts.
Fourth, we use the LitART Quality Support Monitoring QSM System to give staff all the feedback they need. It includes 100 indicators of after school quality.
Finally, we make sure 128 picture books, 24 novels, a class set of journals and the LitART Curriculum are available to all staff.
Remember, to make a difference for students literacy development and achievement requires daily, learning-rich, literacy experiences. We are committed to making that a reality in every site. We know over time through consistent effort, these challenges will be overcome.
