NNPS Literacy Playbook_Revised 8.15(ET)

The NNPS Literacy Playbook strategies are designed to be used across grade levels and
contents. Utilize the strategies to help students make connections to learning, embody
the NNPS Profile of a LEARNER, and the Virginia Profile of a Graduate. When integrating
these high-yield strategies, students will engage in structured and intentional skills that
enable them to apply the 5Cs: critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration,
communication, and citizenship. Likewise, ask reflective questions and engage students
with opportunities to personify the characteristics of the Profile of a LEARNER across
content areas and within their personal lives.

The playbook is organized in six language practices that are hyperlinked in ELLevation. A
table of contents incudes reflective questions to assist teachers in selecting the
appropriate strategy for a particular skill within a lesson. Each section introduces the
language practice and includes 8-10 strategies that support the components of literacy
(reading, writing, communication, and/or research). The six language practices are
defined below to assist teachers within the progression of a lesson.

Language Practices:
• Build Background-Learning takes place when it bridges students’ previous knowledge,

experience, and capabilities. (ie. student collaboration, inquires and research, demonstrations
and experiences).
• Clarify Input-New language and content can only be learned and acquired when the learner
is able to clearly understand the input (ie. focused listening, supported lesson delivery, and
purposeful reading).
• Fortify Output-When students are given multiple writing and speaking opportunities that are
authentic, targeted, and meaningful, their language will become stronger and clearer (ie.
constructed response, classroom chatter, student writing)
• Foster Interactions-Only through authentic interactions in which students are communicating
for meaning will significant development in language proficiency occur (ie. Practice and
review, opinion and debates, academic conversations).
• Develop Academic Language- Student development of grade-level academic vocabulary,
sentences, and message discourse results from explicit teaching, modeling, and practice with
reading of a wide range of authentic texts (ie. meaningful messages, strong sentences, and
weighted words).
• Assess Language and Learning- Providing consistent opportunities for students to voice
instructional needs, lack of understanding, and areas of mastery will drive effective ongoing
instruction (ie. varied assessments and quick checks).

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Table of Contents:
Instructional Practices

Practice 1: Build Background
• What experiences do my students have that could link to this content?
• Which of my students may not have learned this before?
Practice 2: Clarify Input
• Am I using multi-modality (both written and spoken language as well as

visual supports) in instruction every day?
• Do my students know what they are responsible for before each lesson

begins?
Practice 3: Fortify Output
• How much instructional time is “teacher talk”?
• Do students have the opportunity to speak and write every day in every

subject area?
Practice 4: Fostering Interactions
• Are students given clear and consistent opportunities to meaningfully

discuss content so as to construct meaning?
• Are students being explicitly taught academic conversation skills with

appropriate scaffolds?
Practice 5: Develop Academic Language
• Are my students consumed in the meaningful study of words, sentences,

paragraphs, and whole text messages?
• Within content areas, do I deconstruct the complexity of words, sentences,

and messages?
Practice 6: Assess Language and Learning
• Am I assessing and documenting students’ proficiency of daily objectives?
• In what ways do students have opportunities to demonstrate language

growth and development?

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Practice 1:
Build

Background

Building background is the practice of activating
prior knowledge and building upon that knowledge

to facilitate new learning. It is important to never
assume that a student has already experienced

or learned something that is being linked
to new instruction.

Teachers provide a safe environment and
learning opportunities for students to share
personal connections with new learning.

Students make meaningful connections to new
learning based on their own personal experiences
and the experiences of others.

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Practice 2:
Clarify
Input

Clarifying input is the practice of ensuring that
complex language within instructional delivery and
content is accessible to students. New language and
content can only be learned and acquired when the

learner is able to clearly understand the input.

Teachers provide clear and concise instruction
which includes the use of multi-model supports.

Students listen for emphasized and key ideas
while using multi-model supports to guide
comprehension.

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Practice 3:
Fortify
Output

Fortifying output is the practice of creating a
learning culture that fosters meaningful

communication. Students are encouraged to speak
and write with purpose and support across all
content areas.

Teachers provide multiple opportunities for
students to participate in meaningful writing and
speaking experiences.

Students speak and write with purpose and
support by seeing and using language in written
form.

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Practice 4:
Fostering
Interactions

Fostering interactions is the practice of moving
students beyond reciting and includes clarifying,
explaining, and defending as key components of
academic communication. Establishing norms and
authentic opportunities for this type of communication
within the classroom requires guidance and repeated
modeling to foster the ability of students to express
their own opinions and points of view and to back

them up with reasons and evidence.

Teachers provide clear and consistent
opportunities for students to meaningfully discuss
content and explicitly teach academic conversation
skills with scaffolding.

Students participate in cognitively demanding,
structured conversations around content.

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Practice 5:
Develop Academic

Language

Developing academic language is the practice of
examining academic vocabulary at the word, sentence,
paragraph, and whole-text level. Explicit instruction of
word parts, roots, and multiple meanings will develop

increased ability to understand and use grade-level
academic vocabulary and build discourse.

Teachers provide opportunities for students to
develop grade-level academic vocabulary, sentences,
and discourse by explicitly teaching, modeling, and
practicing with a wide range of authentic texts.

Students are engaged in activities to promote the
development of academic language by interacting
with vocabulary at the word, sentence, and discourse
level.

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Practice 6:
Assess Language

And Content

Assessment is a necessary element in effective
instruction and should be used to adjust instruction

daily.
Providing consistent opportunities for students to
voice instructional needs, lack of understanding, and
mastery of new learning will provide teachers with
information to effectively drive ongoing instruction.

Teachers provide students with opportunities to voice
instructional needs, lack of understanding, and mastery
of new learning to help drive ongoing instruction
through engaging assessments that allow students to
share through writing, reading, and communication.

Students will use assessments to self evaluate their
learning while sharing and discussing with others.

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Section 2:
Profile Personas

I like choices!

Profile Personas

Profile Personas are portrayals of students characterized in
realistic classrooms during the stages of literacy development.
Personas bring focus, build empathy, and guide personalization.

The four student personas (Sabastian, Aniya, Naija, and Bill)
include a snapshot of each student's strengths, struggles/areas for
growth, and the teacher’s approach for helping the student thrive
as a learner. In each persona, literacy strategies are embedded to
build the student’s skills and support learning in various content
areas. Additionally, the Profile of a LEARNER attributes and the
5Cs are also highlighted as a part of the teacher's approach to help
each student succeed.

Note: Developing personas was a new challenge for the literacy
team (a think tank in progress). It is the hope that educators will
make connections with each student) and that teams consider
developing personas (in theory) in order to seek strategies and
solutions for our students who are most vulnerable.

Sabastian

Sebastian is asixth grade student who takes on leadership roles at home. Growing up in a
single parent household, Sebastian has learned to take charge and assume responsibility
for others. He takes pride in his daily duties of ensuring his younger siblings get to and
from school safely. He even remembers the yellow card each day to get his youngest
sister off of the bus! In school, his ability to speak Spanish and English fluently in informal
conversation has helped him connect with students across cultures. However, he
struggles in class where he is not as confident in his leadership abilities due to his
struggles with reading and writing.

In Ms. Mason’s class, students were assigned a 5th-grade Writing Performance
Assessment. Students were asked to design questions, research, and write an essay to
extend their learning on a science topic that they had studied during the year. After writing,
students were to create a multimedia presentation to share with their peers. Sebastian
was motivated to continue learning and seek new solutions. During pre-writing, he recalls
his cousin’s farm in Ecuador that had been impacted by erosion. As he began his
research, his teacher, Ms. Mason, noticed that he was struggling to understand some of
the more advanced vocabulary he was seeing while researching.

In order to extend his understanding of the vocabulary, Ms. Mason decided to use a
literacy strategy, 360 Degree Words. During the activity students engaged in explicit
vocabulary learning by reviewing three related words: weathering, erosion, and
deposition. Using the strategy, Sebastian completed a graphic organizer with four
sections: meaning, sentence, draw a picture, and connections. Later in the class
period, Ms. Mason organized groups to work collaboratively to creative kinesthetic
movements for each word. Using the 360 Degree Words strategy to help him unpack the
words, Sebastian felt academically-prepared to participate in the collaborative group
activity.

As Sabastian’s confidence grew in confidence, another strategy that Ms. Mason used with
Sebastian to help him think critically about vocabulary words and strengthen the skill of
context clues was, Cloze Sentences. Using this strategy, key vocabulary words are
removed from a paragraph in order for him to use context clues and content knowledge to
substitute the missing words. While this activity was challenging, it gave Sebastian and
others the opportunity to collaborate through authentic discussions by selecting
appropriate words using context clues.

The personalized help Ms. Mason provided Sebastian with the assignment helped him
become more confident in his knowledge. He was able to recall the content vocabulary
words, used context clues to conduct his research, and accurately used his new
knowledge in his essay and presentation. Because Sebastian was intrinsically motivated
and committed to his work, he was able to experience a higher level of success.

Aniya

Aniya is a persistent and resourceful third grade student who confidently advocates
for herself. She is resourceful in asking a table partner to guide her if she has a
question. Because she is self-aware and motivated to do well in school, Aniya
communicates her needs to her teacher, Mr. Gift. He uses her Reading Inventory
data to personalize her learning in reading where she is showing progress. However,
in history and science, Aniya experiences even more difficulties with vocabulary and
comprehension.

To support Aniya’s reading and writing skills across content-areas, Mr. Gift
incorporates the use of an Interactive Reading Notebook to help increase her
ability to comprehend by reflecting on what she had read. Each week, Aniya writes
responses to specific teacher-made prompts in an organized notebook. Aniya is able
to think critically and creatively in her interactive notebook and looks forward to
sharing her responses and artwork during her weekly conference with Mr. Gift.

For additional support, Aniya works with her table partners using a strategy,
Numbered Heads Together. For this activity, her teacher assigns each student to a
group and designates a color for each group. He then gives each student within the
group a number. Mr. Gift poses a comprehension question to the class. As the groups
work to answer the question, he checks in to ensure everyone is participating and
communicating to build meaning. Finally, he asks the question again and selects a
number. The selected student in each group shares an answer. Aniya is confident in
responding when she is called upon because she is able to gain new understanding
through collaboration in her table group.

During their unit on Egypt, Aniya would often pull out her interactive notebook where
she had recorded some of her best thoughts. Some of the feedback that Mr. Gift
gave her, applied to her new learning as well. The instructional scaffolds and
strategies allowed her to understand more complex language, texts, and lessons
presented during the unit. Additionally, she was able to collaborate and learn with her
peers through intentional discussions.

Naija

Naija recently emigrated from Nigeria. She is a part of the
Newcomer Program and she does not write in her native
language. She loves her new school and has developed new
friendships. After investigating and studying motion, Ms. Wright, her
second grade teacher, assigns a Design a Park project to her students.
Students need to apply their newly developed knowledge of motion and be
creative while designing a new and safe playground for their school.

Ms. Wright anticipates that the concept of public parks may be difficult for her
Naija to grasp. Using a strategy called Don’t Mention It, she selected and
wrote content vocabulary words on notecards. She divided the class into two
teams and had students take turns picking a word to describe without actually
saying the word. The teams guessed the answer based on the description. To
help Naija connect the vocabulary words to her own experiences, Ms. Wright
provided pictures with her playground equipment words. Teams earned a point
for each correct word.

The picture notecards allowed Naija to confidently participate and apply her
own knowledge. When collaborating with her peers about the vocabulary
word “push” she uses the visual representation of the swing and remembers,
“I push the swing for my baby sister.” This enables her to conceptualize how
words could be used on the playground as well as the scientific purpose of
motion to make objects move. helps her make the connection to the project
for herself and others. With the additional support and personal experience,
Naija is able to make personal connections and participate in the lesson.

In order to extend their learning, Ms. Wright wanted her students to be
deliberate problem-finders who would anticipate challenges and address them
in their final project. To get them started, Ms. Wright chose an activity called
Which Corner? where students move to a corner of the room based on their
opinions about a question posed to the group. Ms. Wright asks the class to
decide what is the most important aspect of a park: fun, safety, lots of
playground equipment, or lots of grass for free play. Using the visual
representations, Naija reflects on her own experiences of going to the park
with her sister, and joined the “lots of equipment” group. She had a discussion
about her choice with peers before reporting to the whole class. Through this
activity, Naija had the opportunity to communicate, listen, and share with her
peers in an authentic and meaningful way.

Through the integration of modified and intentional strategies, Ms. Wright was
able to activate Naija’s background knowledge and elevate new learning by
integrating strategies that build confidence and classroom community.

Bill

Bill is a tenth grade student who is a member of the symphonic band and boys
basketball team. He is somewhat anxious as he prepares for his final exams. He is
a polite young man and exemplifies good citizenship on and off the court. In
class, he works hard and has made great improvements in his comprehension
skills; however, he questions whether or not he will be able to excel enough to be
the first member in his family to go to college. Bill is a student with a learning
disability which does impact his reading skills, but he is committed and focused to
finishing the year on a high note.

Throughout the year, Bill’s teacher, Ms. Cook has used the strategy Guided Notes
to extend and support Bill’s comprehension skills. During the activity Bill reads
along, and/or listens to an article read aloud by his teacher or in Newsela. Then,
he completes a graphic organizer, and summarizes the main idea. Bill re-reads the
same article again independently to answer multiple choice and open ended
questions. He has learned to use context clues and supporting details from the text
to guide hid answer choices.

Often times, Ms. Cook uses a paired passages and places the students in small
groups to identify similarities and differences. Each student shares which details
they think are the most important, and the group discusses and narrows which
details are the most important to the main idea. Identifying important and
unimportant details, similarities and differences helps build critical thinking skills
for the small group and Bill.

To help Bill and others continue improving their comprehension skills, Ms. Cook
creates a scavenger hunt that requires students to make connections and draw
conclusions using the strategy Do You Know? Bill is particularly excited about this
communicative activity because he learns best when he can collaborate with his
peers. Following Ms. Cook’s instructions, Bill and his peers are the first to
complete the scavenger hunt. With Bill’s competitive spirit, he unknowingly took on
a leadership role in his group and feels more confident in his overall
understanding. These strategies and others helped Bill feel academically-prepared
for his exams and confident in his ability to comprehend the texts.

Division Playbook Team

Megan Auman
Jennifer Barker
Rebecca Brown
Bobbi Bradley
Keldie Marion
Kelly Erickson
Sarah Greathouse

Shana Hollis
Brian Lieberman

Lisa Mason
Jessica Mitchell

Lisa Searcy
Maria Summa

Joe Tobin
Ian Wheeler