T Shaped Literacy - Aaron Wilson

Often, as teachers, we endeavour to cover too many aspects when teaching reading. Students studying a novel might cover the plot, major characters and minor characters, themes, language, structure and setting, and conflict. These elements would have more or less the same weight afforded to them. It is not helpful to try to cover everything about every text as time is spread thinly across a wide range of learning focuses. T Shaped Literacy narrows the focus but widens the range of texts. 
Reading widely around a topic will help students to build vocabulary and background knowledge. This is scaffolded by the teacher. Reading selected passages allows students to learn close reading skills and build specific knowledge. Diving deeper into the texts with the teacher gives students opportunities to clarify meaning, have their own thoughts and opinions strengthened or challenged, and synthesise and apply ideas.
The reason behind using multiple texts is that by engaging with the same underlying concept in different texts and contexts, students facilitate deeper understanding and better transfer. Simpler texts can act as scaffolds that students can add deeper meaning to. Complementary texts support students to understand a key underlying idea. Competing texts require students to resolve disagreements and make judgements which can be cognitively challenging.

Another aspect of the T-shaped approach is identifying what the narrow focus should be. This could be in the shape of a moral dilemma or something topical such as 'Black Lives Matter.' 
Using graphic organisers helps students see similarities and differences between the texts they are reading which enables them to justify thoughts and opinions by cross referencing texts.

I was shown the T-Shaped Literacy Model a few years ago by Kath Jones when our school was involved with A.L.L. (although she referred to it as 'multi-modal' with added 'provocation') so it is something I have been working on for a few years. I was shown it again last year as part of DFI. Delving deeper into texts with the teacher and creating lively discussions and conversations between students is key to unlocking deeper understanding. Kath also made the point that it is necessary to specifically teach the other reading comprehension startegies outlined in the Effective Literacy Practices Handbook so students have the skills necessary to analyse and synthesise. Providing a thought provoking question or topic ensures the students make new meaning. 
My problem always lies in finding the supporting texts online. I always end up down a rabbit hole.