How I Plan My 4-Week Literacy Themes (and Why They Work)
I’ve had a lot of interest recently in how I design and run my 4-week literacy themes, so I thought I’d share a little more about my process.
I was just having a great conversation with two colleagues about this, and it struck me that it might be helpful to turn it into a blog post for anyone wanting to give something similar a go.
This is simply my approach; it’s not a formula, but it’s worked really well with my learners, particularly those who are dyslexic, autistic, ADHD, or have language difficulties.
Step 1: Choose a Theme
Start with a broad, engaging theme.
For example: Shipwrecks.
If you’re working with older students, it’s also worth touching base with local schools or colleges and asking:
What key topics are covered in Years 9–10?
What background knowledge would support NCEA learning later on?
This helps ensure your themes aren’t just interesting, but also genuinely useful, especially as they move through school.
Step 2: Narrow the Focus
Once you have your theme, narrow it down.
For example:
2 New Zealand shipwrecks
2 international shipwrecks
This keeps the scope tight and manageable. Too broad, and the cognitive load becomes overwhelming — especially for struggling readers.
Step 3: Identify Key Concepts (with AI support)
Next, I use AI to help pull out key concepts or lenses for each subtopic.
For example:
SS Tararua → navigation, safety, and the building of the Waipapa Point lighthouse
Titanic → design flaws and human error
Another wreck might focus on leadership and resilience of the crew
Each week still sits under the same theme, but with a different conceptual focus. This creates coherence without repetition.
Again, the key is: keep it narrow.
Step 4: Design Texts for Your Actual Learners
This is where most of the real work happens.
I create custom texts each week for each group, based on:
1. Reading Load
I aim for around a 4-minute read, adjusted for:
Current WPM
Year level
Learning profile (DLD, dyslexia, autism, ADHD, etc.)
All of this links back to cognitive load:
How many new words?
What’s the noun count?
How many new characters or concepts?
2. Phonics or Morphology Focus
Each text deliberately includes:
The graphemes, spelling patterns, or
Morphemes we’re currently teaching.
This way, reading practice and content learning reinforce each other.
3. Writing Genre
I also align each text with a writing focus, such as:
Problem/solution
Cause and effect
Comparison
Narrative
This makes it much easier for students to extract key ideas and use the text as a model for their own writing. The answers are also right in the text for them to extract out, and encourages a reread to get the information.
4. Age-Respectful Language
Even when texts are simplified, I write them as if my learners are:
Intelligent thinkers
Just working at a different point in the literacy journey
This is especially important for older students.
Pushing Thinking with Older Students
With older learners, I deliberately build in big-picture thinking. Their default response in the beginning is often:
“I don’t know.”
That’s okay in the first week or two because I understand that it’s not that they don’t know, it’s more about the fear of saying the wrong thing. But after that, I can start stretching them with questions like:
How did lighthouses change navigation?
Where else have you seen a lighthouse?
What other navigation tools exist today?
How has navigation changed over time?
The goal is to move beyond decoding into thinking, reasoning, and connection-making.
A Note on Time (and Why It’s Worth It)
I generate a fresh text for every group, yes, it’s time-consuming, but once you have your structure and prompts nailed down, it gets easier and faster each time. And the payoff in engagement, comprehension, and writing quality is huge.
If you’re thinking of trying something like this and have questions, I’m always happy to chat.
Heather
