6/3/2024

Making the Leap From Balanced Literacy to Structured Literacy

By Beth Carstens

Working With Balanced Literacy

A little more than 10 years ago, I was on the balanced literacy train going full speed. I believed if I taught my students to love to read, they would soak up my enthusiasm and “magically” learn to read. 

I had five literacy stations. My students could choose from Read to Self, Read to Someone, Word Work, or Listen to Reading. They would do these activities while I met with a small group and worked on Leveled Readers. In that small group, I taught my students strategies to figure out unknown words like “look at the picture” and “say the first sound and think what word would make sense.” In those stations, my students who couldn’t read were taught they could also just read the pictures or retell the story to themselves. We read wonderful books and made cute craftivities to go with them. We memorized 25 sets of sight words and I posted the results of how far each student was. Back then, if something came up that had to do with phonics or word study, we would take a look at it. Oh, that’s “ow,” and it makes the sound of long o. 

That’s balanced literacy in a nutshell. Phonics gets “balanced” time with other things like looking at the pictures and being able to retell a story. The term “balanced” was invented to differentiate that method from the whole language method which was getting a bad rap. Our balanced literacy classrooms taught that there were many ways to read a word. Sounding out the word was just one of those ways. Looking back, my students might have loved the idea of reading, but they weren’t all learning to read.

To be honest, I thought balanced literacy was working. Probably 30% or so of my students could not read at grade level at the end of the year, but I wasn’t worried. I told parents of struggling readers, “Give them time. They will figure it out.” I am disappointed with my old self for that. My students did not have a firm grasp of phonics. They memorized sight words, and I discouraged them from sounding out those words. They needed to know them instantly, just by the way they looked. I even drew shapes around the words sometimes. That method is called “word shapes,” and it is a recommended practice by a lot of “experts.” At that time, we were doing the best we could, but I wish I knew then what I know now about the science of how we read.

Making the Shift to Structured Literacy

In my third year of teaching first grade, a shift started to occur. Our school implemented a new online reading program. It had a large focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, and word study, along with vocabulary and comprehension. We weren’t really asked to change anything else, but I think that program planted the seed for change. I’m kind of a teaching nerd. I was interested in the research behind phonemic awareness and phonics instruction, despite the fact that I was taught hardly anything about it in my college teacher-preparation courses. I love to read about reading instruction and comprehension. I was intrigued by this focus on phonics that seemed so “new.” 

I read a book by Wiley Blevins called “A Fresh Look at Phonics.” That book transformed my teaching. I still had those literacy centers, but I added some phonics lessons. I made most of the materials myself. I took the Scope and Sequence of phonics from our core reading curriculum and made word sorts and letter cards for word building. I dug out the decodable readers I had turned my nose up at because they weren’t “authentic literature.” Teaching phonics seemed to make an impact. That year’s class turned out to be amazing readers. Only 15% of them were not reading at grade level on the end-of-the-year DIBELS® assessment. Of that 15%, none of them fell into the intensive support category, which is where the lowest readers score.

Then, a couple years ago, I attended a presentation about the science of reading by Jan Hasbrouck. She explained what happens in the brain when a child is reading fluently and when they are not. She also stressed the importance of using scientifically researched and proven methods of instruction. She said if a child hasn’t yet learned to read, you are wasting valuable instructional time by giving them independent reading time. Whoa—she was attacking my beloved literacy centers! But she was right. As much as I (and my students) loved that time, it was not helping them to become better readers. I dove into the world of decodable texts. Now, my students have their own book boxes with decodable texts featuring phonics patterns they already have learned. They use those same texts to read with a partner. During word work, I display the weekly phonics pattern and students write words with that pattern. And we still use that online program that has a strong focus on phonics and foundational reading skills.

I’ve read a few more books as the years have gone on, notably “Reading in the Brain” by Stanislas Dehaene and “Equipped for Reading Success” by David Kilpatrick. Did you know we process every letter of every word we read? That is how we can instantly read words that are so similar like image and imagine or manager and manger. So much for those word shapes. We do not store words visually. We learn a word when we connect the sound, the letter pattern, and the meaning.

During the last few years, as a school, we at St. Anthony's School in Columbus, Nebraska, have added direct and sequential programs in phonemic awareness and phonics that are taught daily in grades K–3. Older students are taught morphology and multisyllabic word reading strategies. Teachers are being trained in Lexia® LETRS® and overall we have made a strong shift toward the science of reading. Our students consistently score at the top of all the schools in our archdiocese. Our teachers are committed to the idea that every child can learn how to read.

Balanced Literacy vs. Structured Literacy

Balanced literacy and Structured Literacy are worlds apart. The biggest difference, I think, is the intentionality. Structured Literacy is explicit and sequential. I tell my students what we will learn, then we practice it together, and then they’ll practice it on their own, a lot. We do cycles of review so we don’t lose old skills at the expense of new skills. There is a defined “road map” of what they need to learn, starting with short vowels and ending with multisyllabic words. We don’t memorize a list of sight words. We don’t guess at a word or use the picture to figure it out. I think this helps my students take ownership of their learning. 

Children don’t magically learn to read. All the beautiful books and amazing read alouds in the world are not always enough. With all the evidence backing Structured Literacy, the curtain has been lifted. Now, every teacher has the ability to know how to teach their students to read. 

As a former balanced literacy proponent, I know the idea of change is scary. We have a lot of beliefs about teaching reading that come from our own experiences. But Structured Literacy works. We owe it to our students to use teaching methods grounded in science and research. Take the leap and watch your own students fly!

About the Author

Beth Carstens grew up in Fremont, Nebraska, and pursued her education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For the past decade, she has served as a first grade teacher at St. Anthony's School in Columbus, Nebraska. Before her tenure at St. Anthony’s School, she gained experience teaching preschool in both private and public settings in Nebraska and Iowa. With a master's degree in curriculum and instruction, Carstens is furthering her education with a second master's degree in K–12 literacy, focusing on becoming a dyslexia specialist. Her passion is teaching reading, and she finds immense fulfillment in educating her students and constantly expanding her own knowledge base.