What is a balanced literacy programme?
First off, balanced literacy doesn’t mean a ‘little bit of this and little bit of that’ – it is not teaching an eclectic mix of reading strategies! It means that all five essential elements of a balanced literacy programme are taught explicitly, systematically and thoroughly.
The Fab Five of Literacy
As Get Reading Right has always stipulated, and the draft National Australian Curriculum goes on to agree, learning to read must take a balanced approach that encompasses the five core literacy skills of: phonemic awareness, synthetic phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
In the latest issue of Teacher Magazine* Get Reading Right Curriculum Director and literacy trainer, Jo-Anne Dooner discussed how synthetic phonics sits in a balanced literacy programme, and what that looks like in your classroom.
Read more about The Fab Five in a balanced literacy programme
*This article was first published in Teacher, Australia's award-winning national monthly education magazine for educators across all state, Catholic and independent schools. Reproduced with kind permission. Subscribe by visiting http://teacher.acer.edu.au
