We are inspired by our students on a daily basis; we are changed by them. We are often rightfully skeptical of proscribed curriculum, asking ourselves: will this constrain me? Will a road map prevent me from honoring the voices of my children? Will I hear my children if mandates are so loud? These questions are worth asking, always.

And yet, we crave road maps, for good reasons. Setting out on journeys in our lives, we check the glove compartment for the comfort of the folded map tucked in behind the sunglasses. These days, we turn on our computer navigation systems, and the road is wide open. We are not afraid with these accompaniments. They are reassuring, practical and help us to gain courage to move forward.

Building road maps together allows us to chart a course. We build maps for journeys which will not only guide us, but bring us together with our colleagues. We find ourselves not so alone in our teaching, reinventing the wheel, but rather, on a journey in which we share the work. There are others doing our work too. We can learn from all of that. Building curriculum, we incorporate all the work which has come before us, while integrating what feels new and fresh.LitLife has developed steps which will allow you as a team, a district, a school, a community to build a foundational road map for your teaching which guides you, but which is also informed by the uniqueness of your community and of your own style.

Our Complete 4 model presents you with the building blocks for a balanced, rigorous, joyful curriculum design in the teaching of reading and writing.

LitLife envisions curriculum work as a balance of attention to:

• your teaching voices and passions
• your children’s ideas and interests
• national and state standards
• national and state assessments
• your own school assessment tools
• content area curricula
• your school’s collective vision
• your school’s collective values
• the continuum of learning

In order to build comprehensive curriculum, we must look at the learning our children do across time. We teach one grade or another, but our children are flowing through our teaching. We must be attentive to the sense of a Continuum and so, LitLife has developed continua which help us to see the flow of learning across time and build our curriculum with these in mind.

Our Complete 4 approach presents you with the tools for building a balanced, rigorous, joyful curriculum design for the teaching of reading and writing.

Click here to download our Complete 4 reading and writing template.

Click here for a sample LitLife Continuum.

Contact Jim Allyn at jallyn@litlifeinfo.com for more information on how to bring a LitLife Consultant to your school to help you implement the Complete 4 model.