T-Shaped Literacy

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to attend the P.D session which focused on the teaching strategy of T-Shaped Literacy Learning. 

T-Shaped Literacy is based around the concepts that learning would be;

• More challenging, 

• A deeper understanding of using one text. 

• Opportunities for milage, vocab, diverse perspectives, and critical thinking

• Authentic texts which are not teacher created

Within T-Shaped Literacy, students are exposed to a range of texts. These are at different levels and are not teacher-created.

Why multiple texts?

• More reading milage 

• More exposure to text types

• More learning requiring synthesizing and comparison

• Engaging with the same underlying concept in different texts

• Simple texts can act as scaffolds 

• Complementary texts support students to understand key ideas

• Competing texts - require students to resolve disagreements and make judgments (cognitively challenging)

With the teaching of the correct skills, students are able to scan, skim, and locate relevant information that allows them to develop a deeper understanding of the texts.

There are 4 types of texts that are used in T-Shaped Literacy.

• Scaffolding texts - simple accessible text - teacher adapts - amplifying the vocabulary - using synonyms, etc. Students read to get ideas. 

• Complementary texts - When two different texts have similar ideas with different ideas. - use of film, newspaper articles, etc. 

• Challenge texts -  Not based on ‘hard challenge’ - more of a different point of view. Challenge their thinking and understanding. 

• Students texts - Students to locate a text - relevant, at the correct level

Within my planning, I have used authentic texts that relate to the students, alongside a provocation or a big idea that will challenge their thinking. Using the form of multi-modal slideshow, I have planned the work so that students can work independently when not working alongside the teacher.

Students will also be learning to synthesis what they have read.

What is synthesis?

• Synthesis involves identifying and then integrating important relationships across (or within) texts to gain new insights about an issue, topic, or text feature.

Issue provocation - Feature                    Insights as new meanings are built up

Connecting relationships to thesis/idea	Patterns of important relationships
Similarities	Differences

They will be doing this by:

• Reconstruct and deconstruct 

• Similarities and differences - break it down. Identity them. How can we see patterns of importance? How can we bring them together? We want them to be able to see from all perspectives. 

• Focusing on all texts. Use them and not just focus on one

Here is an example of my T-Shaped Literacy that I will be using next week with one of my reading groups. I used the mult-text-databased google sheet to help me find suitable texts alongside their learning tasks.

This is my first try at T-Shaped Literacy and I am looking forward to implementing it in the classroom. 

What are your thoughts on T-Shaped Literacy?