How to Equitably Engage Every Student

Literacy Instruction That Connects the Dots for All Learners

Barbara Friedlander

Keeping students engaged and excited about learning is essential for literacy success. However, in today’s classrooms, educators face the challenge of addressing a wide spectrum of reading abilities, needs, and backgrounds among students. Nearly 50% of students exhibit some form of learning diversity, like dual language and biliteracy, significantly impacting how they learn best (Digital Promise, 2016). This diversity in learning needs underscores the importance of differentiated instruction to ensure that each student receives the support necessary to develop strong literacy skills.

A recent report found that in a typical elementary classroom, the gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students can span up to six grade levels, making it nearly impossible for a single core literacy curriculum to meet the needs of all students (Allington, 2013). Addressing this range of reading abilities requires educators to implement flexible and inclusive teaching methods, ensuring that all students, regardless of their starting point, have the opportunity to achieve literacy success.

To truly engage every student, educators must integrate research-driven, supplemental resources and strategies that foster inclusivity, motivation, and meaningful learning experiences. In this article, we explore three ways teachers can create equitable literacy instruction that helps connect the dots for all their students. This includes:

1. Recognizing the Power of Code Switching for Multilingual Learners

Unlike their monolingual peers, multilingual learners often have two languages to draw from when describing experiences, thoughts, and emotions. They naturally engage in code-switching, using words from different languages interchangeably depending on context. This linguistic ability is not a deficit—it’s a superpower.

Dr. Kathy Escamilla’s Holistic Biliteracy Framework emphasizes the importance of leveraging both languages when teaching multilingual learners. Rather than strictly separating languages, connected literacy instruction that incorporates both home and academic languages allows students to:

How Educators Can Use Code-Switching to Ensure Equity

Educators can support multilingual learners by using supplemental resources that provide equitable literacy opportunities through differentiated language scaffolds, multilingual support, and research-based instructional strategies. Here are intentional, research-based strategies to consider to help students use their full linguistic repertoire:

Encourage Translanguaging in the Classroom

Rather than discouraging students from using their home language, create opportunities for translanguaging—the practice of fluidly moving between languages to process and express understanding.

Provide Dual-Language Literacy Resources

When students can engage with texts in both their home and target languages, they can make connections between languages and deepen their understanding.

Create a Classroom Culture That Values Multilingualism

Students thrive when they see their linguistic and cultural backgrounds reflected in their learning environment.

By embracing code-switching as a literacy-strengthening tool, educators can create a more equitable and inclusive learning environment that values multilingualism as an asset. When students are empowered to use all of their linguistic knowledge, they become stronger readers, writers, and communicators, setting the foundation for lifelong literacy success.

2. Using Comics and Graphic Books to Spark Engagement

Comics and graphic books are powerful tools to motivate all students, and particularly those who struggle with reading. According to research on comprehensible input (Krashen, 1980), visual storytelling enhances language acquisition by making complex concepts more accessible.

These highly visual formats bridge the gap for students who need additional support in literacy, including multilingual learners, reluctant readers, and those with learning differences. The benefits of integrating comics and graphic books into literacy instruction include:

To ensure equitable literacy instruction, educators can strategically integrate comics and graphic books into their curriculum with these best practices in mind:

Use Comics as a Scaffolding Tool for Complex Texts

Graphic books help bridge the gap between simpler texts and more complex, grade-level materials by providing visual context for challenging vocabulary and concepts.

Support Multilingual Learners Through Visual Context

Comics offer critical support for students learning English by pairing images with text, helping students decode meaning and infer new words in context.

Foster Critical Thinking and Inference Skills

Graphic novels and comics require students to actively interpret visual and textual elements, strengthening their critical thinking and inferencing abilities.

Promote Engagement and Ownership in Reading

For students who may have struggled with reading motivation, comics provide high-interest content that validates their literacy experiences and builds reading confidence.

By incorporating comics and graphic novels into literacy instruction, educators can create a more inclusive learning environment that meets students where they are while building the foundational and higher-order skills they need for literacy success. When used intentionally, these resources can break down barriers to reading, ensuring that every student—regardless of background, learning style, or language proficiency—has a pathway to becoming a confident reader.

3. Fostering Meaningful Learning Through Purpose-Driven Challenges

One of the most effective ways to engage students is by giving them real-world, meaningful experiences tied to their learning. The Star Donation Challenge by Learning A-Z®, for example, allows students to earn stars through reading and literacy activities and donate them to causes that provide meals, clean water, and school supplies to children in need.

This initiative:

Engaging students through real-world, purpose-driven learning doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your curriculum. Instead, it starts with small, intentional shifts that help students connect literacy skills to broader life experiences. Here’s how educators can integrate meaningful learning opportunities, like the Star Donation Challenge, into their literacy instruction:

Connect Reading to Real-World Impact

Students are more engaged when they understand their learning extends beyond the classroom. To reinforce this connection, educators can:

Foster Intrinsic Motivation

While external rewards can spark interest, students develop a lasting love for literacy when they are intrinsically motivated to engage with reading. To build this mindset:

Build a Culture of Empathy and Social Responsibility

When students understand their learning can positively impact others, they become more engaged in their literacy journey. Educators can:

Educators can help students see literacy as a tool for empowerment—one that enables them to learn, grow, and contribute meaningfully to the world around them. The key is intentional integration—connecting what students are learning with why it matters, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to engage in literacy in a way that feels purposeful, inspiring, and lasting.

Connect the Dots to Equitably Engage Every Student

To ensure all students have access to engaging, research-driven literacy instruction, teachers need streamlined access to high-quality supplemental resources that motivate, challenge, and support students at every level.

How Learning A-Z Supports Equitable Engagement:

Explore how Learning A-Z can help you connect the dots between literacy instruction and equitable engagement.

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