Putting on the Blitz: Our Breakthrough Methodology!

Book excerpt: Putting On the Blitz (Part Two) is about an intervention system that works! It is a sequel to Joyful Literacy Interventions (Part One), which was published three years ago. Joyful Literacy Interventions proposed a researched-based system for achieving a 90% success rate in literacy for all children by the end of grade 2. For the past three years hundreds of teachers have been implementing the Joyful Literacy strategy in their classrooms. Putting On the Blitz: Our Breakthrough Methodology documents teachers' stories of actual implementation, describing their successes and challenges. Chapter One details the anatomy of a "Blitz" - an innovative, dynamic and playful strategy for targeting essential literacy skills and closing gaps quickly - in a matter of two or three weeks. The Blitz can be an in-classroom implementation or a cross-grade and school-wide system. Thirty-one teachers describe how they have used the Blitz successfully in their classrooms. They provide data to prove it works! In most classrooms over 90% of children are reading at grade level in kindergarten and grade one in two years of implementation. Chapter Two introduces a new and powerfully simple assessment and tracking system that is used to inform daily classroom instruction. The targeted skills were identified in the NELP (2009) research as those essential to future literacy success. The system is presented in reproducible form for immediate use. Chapter Three describes each skill set and provides teachers with an understanding about why the skill set is important, how to assess individual children quickly and efficiently and provides concrete examples so teachers don't have to research further but can apply the assessments with a moment's notice. Once the assessments are complete, grouping is simplified and small group instruction becomes efficiently implemented with mastery as a focus. Chapter Four is a treasure-trove of over 30 tried-and-true captivating games that will last teachers a full year as they implement the Blitz system playfully and with excitement. Children have so much fun they don't want to 'graduate' from the Blitz. Putting on the Blitz is a practical and proven NEW and joyful strategy for meeting all students' needs as described by committed classroom professionals. It is about the joy in the faces of struggling readers as they discover they can learn to read and write just like everyone else. For a description of how to design classroom strategies for learning in an active learning-center joyful classroom - the centerpiece for Blitz strategies - purchase our companion book Joyful literacy Interventions (2014).