Instructional Model

In Frisco ISD, our goal is to provide a balanced, literacy-rich classroom environment that:

• is student-centered,

• emphasizes the importance of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking,

• integrates various modalities of literacy instruction,

• provides opportunities for students to engage with a variety of genres and texts,

• integrates authentic reading and writing experiences,

• provides explicit skill and strategy instruction, 

• provides guided and collaborative instruction, moving students toward independence, and

• fosters independence by encouraging student choice.

Balanced Literacy Approach

Our secondary ELAR instructional model is founded in the Balanced Literacy model.  Balanced Literacy is a model of student-centered instruction, enabling all students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to meet or exceed the standards in reading, writing, listening and speaking.

In a balanced literacy program, opportunities for reading and writing are arranged on a continuum based on the gradual release of responsibility. Some tasks are modeled by the teachers, others are accomplished with the support of the teacher, leading to those that are done independently by the student.

Balanced Literacy utilizes multiple modalities of literacy instruction to provide students with both explicit skill and strategy instruction and authentic reading and writing experiences.