Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas

Do you believe that literacy instruction is solely the charge of the ELA teachers? Many math, history, science, or special area teachers think this; however, this is not so.  According to Richard Vaca, author of Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, “Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21^st century will read and write more than at any other time in human history.  They will need advanced levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their households, act as citizens, and conduct their personal lives.” (Alber 2014)

It is easy to only focus on the content we teach and covering the material.  Each area has so much to tell and share with the students. But, are we providing our students with time each day to practice their communication skills? 

Content is WHAT we teach.  On the flip side, content is HOW we teach also.  The HOW is where literacy instruction plays a part.  There are numerous effective instructional strategies teachers can use to get their students thinking about, writing about, and talking about the content they teach.  The ultimate goal of literacy instruction is to build a student’s comprehension, writing skills, and overall skills in communication.

We want our students to be critical thinkers.  You can’t avoid thinking when you write.  Every day, in every classroom, students need to be writing.  Teachers need to incorporate formal and informal writing into their curriculum.  Quick writes, stop and jots, one-minute essays are examples of informal writing. 

Regardless of the content we teach, we are all reading teachers.  Scaffolding the reading by using effective strategies for pre-, during, and after reading, such as: previewing text, reading for a purpose, making predictions and connections, think alouds, and using graphic organizers will benefit all our students, not just the struggling readers.

Each classroom needs a high-interest classroom library.  Teachers can start their classroom with a few book and add to it every year.  Not all the books need to be about the content area you teach.  For example, a chemistry teacher doesn’t need all science book, but the primary focus should be on informational, non-fiction books and include a newspaper and magazine subscription.

 

HOW do you convey the content area information to your students?  Straight lecture? Or, do you use multiple instructional strategies for students to discover information on their own?

 

Alber, Rebecca.  “How Important is Teaching Literacy in All Content Areas?” Retrieved August 29, 2015 from www.edutopia.org/.../literacy-instruction-across-curriculum-imp.

Technology Tools for Reading and Writing

In today's classrooms, educators face many challenges.  They must adapt to a generation of students who have grown up using the internet.  Missouri Learning Standards state that students must master vital 21st century skills so they will be college and career ready. Students must be able to communicate effectively, collaborate with others, think creatively and critically, and gather, analyze, and synthesize information.  

In the text, "Literacy 2.0. Reading and writing in 21st Century Classrooms." (p. 31- 32) it mentions concept maps also known as "semantic networks" or "graphic organizers." Kidspiration is a concept-mapping applications geared towards elementary grades to strengthen their reading and writing skills.  With Kidspiration, students are able to create, organize and explain ideas and information visually.  Students develop stories by combining pictures, text and audio to develop comprehension and organize ideas.    When I taught technology, I had my student use Kidspiration to create a concept map about them.  They students then used their concept map to draft a story about them.

Another technology tool that I used several times when I taught technology was PowerPoint.  PowerPoint is a high-powered software tool used for presenting information in a dynamic slide show format.  Students created a story, illustrated with both clip art and pictures from the internet, and then published their story.  Sometimes I would give the students a topic to create their story with.  

Anderson, R., & Grant, M. (2008).  Technology to teach literacy: A resource for K-8 teachers (2nd ed.).  Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

How as literacy changed and evolved for the 21st century classroom?

Literacy in the classroom has gone from a teacher giving presentations on a novel using handouts, the chalkboard and/or poster, students taking notes using pens and paper, in preparation for an essay assignment to the 21st century classroom that uses 21st century literacies.  Here, students and the teacher are grouped around computers, where they collaboratively use technology to enhance their learning which will be posted on a classroom wiki.

"Literacy has always been intimately tied to a technology," says Kylene Beers.  Yet, says Beers, "the demands of the 21st-century literacy are more complex and challenging than those of the 18-century literacy....As technology continues to evolve, always moving toward the more sophisticated, our literacy capacities must also grow more sophisticated." (Collier 2007)

Teachers need to become fluent in the language of newer technologies to help students thrive in the 21st century literacies.  Students are coming to class fluent in text messaging, instant messaging, and blogging often to a far greater degree than their teachers.  This shift from a page-based to a screen-based society has caused the change in literacy.  Students have changed, therefore, teachers need to alter their teaching methods accordingly.  Not only will this keep the students engaged and motivated, but will prepare them for a technologically oriented workplace. (Collier 2007)

 

Teachers cannot assume that students already know the "tech stuff" and only need to improve in their writing and thinking skills.  First of all, not all students have the technological knowledge and those who do have it need to learn how to manage those skills.

 

On another note, not all school districts are created equal.  In some districts, it is a struggle to provide 21st century technologies to their students.  The resources are just not there.  Teachers just need to make the most out of what they have.

 

I believe Sara Kajder sums it up, "Because the technology is always changing, and because the tools are always changing, it's a hugely challenging time to be a teacher." (Collier 2007)

 

Collier, Lorna.  The Council Chronicle.  November 2007.  Retrieved on August 19, 2015 from https://www.stenhouse.com/assets/pdfs/ccnov07shift.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

   

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