Literacy Goals - Classroom Posters, Student Handout, and Sample Lesson

A set of 19 beautiful posters to use on your classroom walls showing big picture goals in Reading, Writing, Oral Communication, and Media Literacy.

These specific goals happen to be from the overall expectations in the Ontario Language curriculum, but they represent a broad view of literacy that could apply to any classroom.

The letter-sized posters (PDFs) are available in colour, as well as in black and white so that you can photocopy on your own coloured paper. A student handout with the goals and a PowerPoint file is also included. I've also added a sample lesson outlining how you could use this in your class.

Why do I use this in my classroom?

Sometimes, when students learn (and when teachers teach), it's easy to lose track of the "BIG PICTURE". We get caught making our way through worksheets and units without taking time to step back and think about WHY we are doing this stuff.

The posters include some BIG IDEAS around why we are learning (teaching) this stuff in class. If we know where our lesson / project fits into the big picture, it can help us frame our instruction.

Some of our students think of literacy as answer driven:

* What is the verb in this sentence?
* What did you say for question 3 in the textbook?
* Summarize the story.
* Identify the theme / main idea.

Switching to thinking about “literacy as strategies” helps develop a growth mindset.

The trial-and-error process of playing with words can help struggling students see HOW they can improve, and not just that they HAVE to improve.

* If I don’t understand how to say this word, then there are strategies I can use to help me decode the sounds.

* If I don’t understand what this word or sentence means, then there are strategies I can try to help me piece together the comprehension puzzle

Sometimes, switching to a strategy-focused literacy program can be tough. Students might feel that explicitly spending time “reflecting on strategies” is wishy-washy and not actually learning.

I created these posters to show that

* Reflecting on skills & strategies is an overall expectation for all four strands in the literacy curriculum (in Ontario). In other words, it’s stuff that goes towards the report card.

* The ideas about skills, strategies, techniques, and conventions are spread throughout the other big goals (overall expectations).

* Literacy means more than simply being able to say the words.

The strategies we use to understand printed words (reading) are similar to the strategies we use when we try to understand words spoken out loud (listening) and digital words (media texts.)

The strategies we use to create printed words (writing) are similar to the strategies we use when we try to make our spoken words understood (speaking to communicate), which are similar to the strategies we use when we create media texts (media literacy.).

These literacy goals match the overall expectations for the Language curriculum in Ontario, Canada.

If you have ideas or suggestions about which province / state curriculum goals I should do next, please leave a comment.