Holly Hutson
Business Education
Lesson Planning for Literacy
Literacy involves the abilities to read, write, speak, and listen effectively. The Secretary of Labor has actually derived a list of set skills needed for one to be successful in the workplace, called SCANS skills. SCANS stands for Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. The skills are broken into three parts: basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities (1991). Basic skills focuses on literacy skills; reading, writing, arithmetic, listening, and speaking.
The objective of the SCANS skills report is really to align necessary skills needed for the workplace with the skills being taught in school. At the very top of that list being Basic Skills; which to me shows that the workforce finds these basic skills to be the most important before teaching other skills. As a Business Education instructor it’s important to me that my students leave my class with all of these necessary skills to ensure their successful in the workplace.
Listed below are a few examples of how I plan to help strengthen my students’ literacy skills within my lesson plans:
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Classroom presentations: students strengthen writing and speaking skills through the preparation and delivery of presentations. Also, the audiences of students are able to strengthen listening skills while the presenter is speaking.
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Essay questions on assessments: Students show their ability to form thoughtful, well-written responses to questions presented on tests or assignments.
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Classroom discussions: students are able to form thoughts and opinions and express those to the classroom which shows their speaking abilities and gives them the opportunity to sharpen these skills.
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Warm up and ticket-out-the-door assignments: these assignments help the student to begin thinking about a topic or assess their understanding of a topic. These written assignments help students sharpen their writing skills and express their thoughts on paper.
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Real-world or business related projects: students are able to employ critical-thinking and problem-solving skills as well as sharpening their basic literacy skills through the use of real-world or business related problems/projects.
Resources:
What work requires of schools: A SCANS report for America 2000. (1991). Washington, D.C. (200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington 20210): Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.