Building a foundation for student literacy at every grade level.
Literacy, mastery of the written word in all its forms, is an essential part of achievement in the classroom and an important contributor to success later in life. Empowering Writers’ proven practices help students at every grade level read, analyze, comprehend and develop language with a carefully scaffolded approach for writing instruction. The results are a greater ability to access language and communicate effectively in both oral and written expression.
A systematic approach to writing that delivers results.
The newly developed Literacy Launch can be applied to writing in all its forms: narrative, informational, opinion, and argumentative— with relevance to every subject matter. Our proven methodology of whole class instruction introduces, models, and guides the practice of explicit literacy skills, the key to enhanced student writing and higher levels of reading comprehension.
What is the Literacy Launch?
The Literacy Launch is where the understanding of genre, author’s purpose, and organization begin. This enables students of all ages to understand and interact with text because they are equipped with an understanding of how text is organized, constructed, and purpose-driven. We call it “reading with author’s eyes,” and it is the foundation of literacy.
Watch The Foundations of Literacy - the Literacy Launch video
How it works.
Formulated for all grade levels and supported by online tools, interactive workshops, teacher resources, and dynamic instructional materials for K-8 educators, the Literacy Launch helps every reading experience become a pre-writing experience — and vice-versa — in all content areas. When filtered through our proven methodology, the progression of the Literacy Launch creates a powerful learning arc to help students:
- Apply awareness and analytical skills to written expression for the ability to annotate and analyze any text across their learning
- Develop a clear connection between the foundational reading skills needed to generate writing and to respond effectively to text, either through a constructed response or literary analysis
- Gain a deeper comprehension of text that strengthens their own writing and strategic reading abilities
Why it works.
By teaching the foundations of literacy this sets the stage for writing instruction across the year. Recognizing genre, author's purpose and organizational structure allows for deeper conversations about text and reinforcing the awareness of how and why authors write.
As students move to generative and responsive writing, they develop the ability to internalize relevant questions, emulate the thought process of authors, and apply Empowering Writer’s principles to their own writing independently. This comprehensive approach helps to inform text dependent tasks, guide meaningful language-based discussions, and improve student writing in all genres.
Whether you’re looking for a complete writing curriculum or a supplement to your existing writing or reading program, the cumulative impact of Empowering Writers can dramatically improve literacy skills in all age groups.
The impact of the Literacy Launch at a glance:
The mission of Empowering Writers is to offer high-quality, flexible professional development using comprehensive resources and coaching support that enables k-8 teachers to be more effective writing instructors. The end result is capable and confident students who can communicate effectively in all forms of verbal and written expression.