McKay School of Education > Project SEEL > Planning > SEEL Day/Week/Month

SEEL Teaching Schedule: Day, Week, Month

SEEL combines a wide range of principles and methods to ensure success, including very frequent responses (both student and teacher) during instruction and playful activities that result in high attention and extended learning time. The way in which SEEL teachers schedule  a day and week is also distinctive. Time blocks not traditionally used for instruction--such as snack time, transitions, etc.--are recommended by SEEL as opportunities to review target skills, provide additional practice for students  who need it, and help the children think of literacy as something that happens throughout the day, just as literacy impacts every aspect of our lives.

Following are examples of how a day, a week, and a month of SEEL instruction might be scheduled.

A Day of SEEL

The day begins with a start-the-day activity to review the literacy target skills introduced earlier in the week. As children put away their coats and backpacks, they might see words with the -ack ending taped to their cubicle and desk. They read the words to each other, rap them, and generally just "ack" it up until the teacher calls for order. In some SEEL classes, this is a typical way to begin the day.  Starting out with SEEL is an anticipated aspect of the students' daily routine.

A large group activity introduces new literacy target skills, through a SEEL lesson downloaded from the Teaching Resources database located on the SEEL Web site.

Centers include at least one experience with SEEL. Support staff provide additional SEEL instruction as needed, according to a plan that has been collaboratively designed for the day.  The -ack sound is featured during snack time, of course, and possibly at the end of the day as students put black supplies back (pens, pencils, pencil boxes etc.), pack their backpacks, and get on track to leave for home.

How all of this is put together is described in other places on the Web site.  SEEL teachers try to make literacy targets surface in many classroom settings. This multiplies opportunities for students and teachers to respond to each other, as well as expanding the contexts in which students find themselves practicing literacy skills.

A Week of SEEL

SEEL instruction is just as varied yet pervasive throughout the week.  Each day features review of old targets and introduction of new ones, practiced in varied contexts throughout the day. 

  A SEEL week might include

• two large groups,
• four small groups,
• daily use of centers, and
• daily use of transition times and snack time.

Two Large Groups Per Week

In two 15-minute whole group sessions a week, the teacher might introduce themes, tell stories dramatically, and engage the children in shared or guided reading of texts that have already been introduced. In these large group gatherings, the computerized books are sometimes displayed on a screen or  wall with a computer projector.

Four Small Groups Per Week

The children may  experience four small group sessions each week, two focusing on playful but response-intense phonics tasks and two dedicated to interactive reading and writing, including play and story enactment activities. The teacher or support team staff conduct the more interactive sessions, during which the children may take turns reading simple decodable texts, make individual and group choices, obtain needed materials as requested, follow and give directions, send and receive social notes, and entertain their peers. During interactive reading/writing, the children  may write words from dictation within story or play contexts or  fill in missing words in simplified story frames to create their own copy of a story.

One-on-One Sessions and Centers

In one-on-one sessions, children could have opportunities to read computerized books and engage in activities housed at the computer station. Parents and support staff could supervise the computer stations  during free play as well as during organized group rotation times. Parents can be trained to operate a variety of center activities, which include assisting the children in locating and navigating through the compouter programs and in reading and writing key words and phrases.