Guide
Whole-School Read Guide: Foster a Literacy Community
This planning guide will help you design and implement a Whole-School Read that centers students’ voices and experiences.
Subject
- English & Language Arts
Language
English — USUpdated
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Whole-School Read Guide: Foster a Literacy Community
Date of Publication:
September 2022
Literature, and the discussions it invites, can serve as an engaging and empathy-building opportunity for a whole-school read. This guide will help you design and implement a whole-school read that centers students' voices and experiences. The questions and activities in this guide invite critical thinking and conversation around issues of identity, belonging, choices, and justice. Exploring these ideas in community with others invites the students and adults at your school to consider how these concepts play out in other individuals’ lives as well as in their own.
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How to Cite This Guide
Facing History & Ourselves, “Whole-School Read Guide: Foster a Literacy Community”, last updated September 14, 2022.
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Three Good Things
Students practice gratitude by naming and recording three good things that have happened that day.
Slow Down with The Slowdown
Students use poetry as a spark for reflection and discussion about what’s happening in their lives and the world.
Take a Stand
Students practice debate and perspective taking by taking a stand on a controversial statement.
Appreciation, Apology, Aha
Students reflect on the day by asking them to share an appreciation, an apology, and an “aha” moment.
Closing Challenge
Students identify one personal or academic goal that they would like to commit to in the week ahead.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Students reflect on the past year and generate ideas for the kind of learning community and learning experiences they are hoping for this year.
Our Names and Our Place in the World
Students consider what parts of our identities we choose for ourselves and what parts are chosen for us, as well as the impact our names can have on our identities.
Making Meaning of Community
Students explore the idea of “community” in order to identify its key aspects and deeper meaning.
Mood Meter
This mood meter activity develops students’ vocabulary for describing their feelings and their empathy muscles.
Identity and Storytelling
Designed for students in grades 9-10, this text set includes lesson plans and multi-genre texts for a 1–2 week unit exploring the essential question, "What makes me, me?"
The resources I’m getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable.
—
Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif
