The 15 Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs 

HOW BOLDPRINT ADDRESSES
THE 15 ELEMENTS

1) Direct, explicit comprehension instruction, in the strategies and processes that proficient readers use to understand what they read, including summarizing, keeping track of one’s own understanding, and a host of other practices

The Warm Up activities in BOLDPRINT help readers by focusing their attention on prior knowledge and experience that connect to the text. The Checkpoints in each selection direct students’ attention to specific features of the text and provide clues for comprehension and language use. The Wrap Up activities engage students in a variety of independent and group tasks that encourage reflection on meaning and extension of understanding.  Summarizing, exploring, expanding, and applying new concepts in reading and writing tasks further students’ comprehension and enjoyment of the selections.

BOLDPRINT Teacher’s Resource (TR) provides detailed information on the literacy strategies emphasized in each selection and offers additional suggestions for direct and specific instruction in reading, speaking, listening, and writing strategies that relate to and build on student understanding of the range of texts in each student book.     

2) Effective instructional principles embedded in content, including language arts teachers using content-area texts and content-area teachers providing instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to their subject areas

Many of the BOLDPRINT books are directly related to cross-curricular themes. The instructional suggestions in the TR, as well as the specific activities in each of the student books, reinforce the importance of literacy skills in all subject areas. Selections take students into a variety of areas of interest and cut across the boundaries of subject areas. They provide engaging opportunities for students to acquire and practise literacy skills. The activities in BOLDPRINT and the TRs support collaboration among teachers across the curriculum. Students make learning connections through engaging reading, speaking, and writing tasks.

3) Motivation and self-directed learning, which includes building motivation to read and learn and providing students with the instruction and supports needed for independent learning tasks they will face after graduation

The BOLDPRINT selections are chosen for quality and capacity to capture the interest of students who can’t, don’t, or won’t read traditional texts and learning materials. BOLDPRINT recognizes differences in how and what draws many boys and girls to reading and writing. The books connect students’ experiences and cultural frameworks to authentic reading and writing events. By relating to real world situations in and outside of school, the BOLDPRINT selections help students become fluent users of language with communicative, analytical, and formal competencies, which they can use independently and in collaboration with others. The literacy tasks stimulated by BOLDPRINT selections develop social and emotional literacies as well as help students become proficient readers, writers, listeners, and speakers.

4) Text-based collaborative learning, which involves students interacting with one another around a variety of texts

Embedded Warm Up and Wrap Up activities encourage students to think and discuss with a partner, in groups, and in whole class settings. BOLDPRINT texts are premised on the conviction that literacy development is fostered by the connection of students’ prior knowledge and experience to the learning context and content. The reading, writing, and discussion activities in each selection and the accompanying TR, lead students to think about their own lives in relation to the captivating topics presented through the texts. Students hone their communication skills as they express their views to others. They also work through to new understandings of ideas and their own experiences and emotions, and think critically about what they read, hear, or view by questioning, interpreting, drawing conclusions, and solving problems.

5) Strategic tutoring, which provides students with intense individualized reading, writing, and content instruction as needed

The Warm Up, Checkpoint, and Wrap Up activities as well as the Key Words focus in each selection provide specific direction. The TR includes helpful assessment strategies and extended activities to aid the teacher in designing individualized supports for learners in the areas where they need most assistance. BOLDPRINT texts have activities and scaffolding to assist the student in learning specific comprehension strategies as they read and discuss what they understand with others.

Before Reading: Warm Up

These activities prepare students to think about a topic and motivate them to read on. By drawing on background knowledge and inviting discussion, students are anticipating and predicting the direction and content of the selection. Warm Up activities are usually oral rather than written.

During Reading: Checkpoints

These interventions ask students to stop and think about something they have just read. They are used to help students clarify the meaning of difficult words or phrases or to look at graphic features of the text to provide scaffolding for comprehension. Depending on the length of the piece, there may be one to four Checkpoints.

After Reading: Wrap Up

These literacy opportunities generally include an activity focused on comprehension of what has been read and at least one activity designed to ask the students to move beyond the text. These activities often involve oral, written, or graphic responses related to the theme or action in the piece. 

The TR for each book provides extensive suggestions to support teachers’ modelling of particular strategies to assist with the meaning of the texts. Teachers are given ideas for Revisiting the Text with students through a series of prompts that can be used to clarify, explain, modify, and enrich students’ comprehension of the reading selection. The TR also provides optional activities to lead students to revisit the selection and extend their learnings.

6) Diverse texts, which are texts at a variety of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics

Each BOLDPRINT title has a variety of genres at three levels (easy, medium, and hard) of difficulty. The selections in the BOLDPRINT books will excite and involve students emotionally, intellectually, and imaginatively. Through a broad range of genres and diverse learning activities, students will enhance their understanding of new concepts and construct new ideas, both independently and with others. They will think critically about what they read, hear, or view by questioning, interpreting, drawing conclusions, and solving problems. They will comprehend, interpret, and transform concepts through the lens of their own experiences and feelings, using the multimedia methods now available to communicate and share ideas.

BOLDPRINT books include graphic stories that reflect on the theme of each book and encourage the enjoyment many young people find in the marriage of print and illustrations.

BOLDPRINT uses materials that can be handled easily in short bursts of time; students are asked to browse and sample newspapers, magazines, short stories, letters, excerpts, poems, websites, and sometimes, smaller snippets of text. BOLDPRINT offers students multiple ways to be emotionally engaged with their print experiences – some for the first time. The selections in BOLDPRINT are highly visual, filled with colourful illustrations, detailed drawings, and photographs, with a variety of fonts and sizes.

7) Intensive writing, including instruction connected to the kinds of writing tasks that students will have to perform well in high school and beyond

The activities in BOLDPRINT and the extended suggestions, graphic organizers, and project cards in the TR encourage students to write for a wide range of audiences and purposes, both independently and in collaboration with other students.

Using BOLDPRINT gives struggling readers the opportunity to learn how authors use language. BOLDPRINT offers a rich vocabulary and varying sentence structures, imagery, and phrasing as well as engaging materials in many genres and formats. Students are asked to respond in many different ways to express their questions and their viewpoints. In the BOLDPRINT books, each selection includes highlighting of key words or phrases, which students might find challenging. They are printed in red in the student text and defined at the bottom of each page. The TR suggests how students can be encouraged to use these words in ways that will consolidate their meanings.

8) A technology component, which includes technology as a tool for and a topic of literacy instruction

Selections in BOLDPRINT books feature Web Connections that encourages students to use a variety of technologies for learning. The tasks call for responses using multimedia and technologically-supported approaches as well as traditional print formats. Web Connections, at the end of most selections, also invites students to use technology to enhance their understanding of concepts in the selection. Students are asked to research, make connections with people outside the classroom on the topic, or collaborate to create a product or presentation. They are encouraged to use technology to read, write, present, and have far-reaching dialogues. BOLDPRINT activities call on students to use a range of tools and texts found in standard print as well as on the web to explore their ideas and augment their understandings. 

9) Ongoing formative assessment of students, which is informal, often daily assessment of how students are progressing under current instructional practices

BOLDPRINT provides many and varied opportunities to assess student achievement through reading, writing, and small group discussions. The tasks that students are involved in present ways for them to demonstrate what they know, what they can do, and what they value. Open-ended performance-based activities will provide evidence of students’ proficiency or indicate areas where more focus is required for success. Student response can be collected as data for their portfolios. The TR provides examples of specific indicators of success for reading and writing tasks.

BOLDPRINT encourages the development of metacognitive habits whereby students self-assess by stepping back and examining their own thinking and learning.

10) Extended time for literacy, which includes approximately two to four hours of literacy instruction and practice that takes place in language arts and content-area classes

11) Professional development, which is both long-term and ongoing

Learning Through Literacy provides a range of professional development opportunities for teachers across grades and disciplines to reflect on their practices and build capacity in supporting students’ acquisition of literacy skills.

12) Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs, which is more formal and provides data that are reported for accountability and research purposes

13) Teacher teams, which are interdisciplinary teams that meet regularly to discuss students and align instruction

The TR supports the dialogue among teachers working in a professional learning community to improve student achievement.

14) Leadership, which can come from principals and teachers who have a solid understanding of how to teach reading and writing to the full array of students present in schools

15) A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program, which is interdisciplinary and interdepartmental and may even coordinate with out-of-school organizations and the local community

BOLDPRINT materials can be used across the curriculum and support collaboration among teachers across closed classroom doors and subject areas.