Capitalizing on literacies within the content areas
One way content area literacies have been sold in the past is through the motto, 'every teacher, a teacher of reading.' Unfortunately, this phrasing paints a skewed picture that suggests every teacher should now be responsible for teaching reading and/or writing and/or digital literacies IN ADDITION to the actual content they are charged with teaching.
In reality, the movement towards disciplinary literacy is arguing for teachers to take a step back and consider: for students to make meaning (or understand) the content of a course, they engage in a combination of literacy acts that require them to read, write, speak, listen, view, and represent ideas to deepen understandings. Literacy practices, then, serve as a vehicle through which students develop content knowledge and skills.
But as we know in education, one size rarely fits all for our students. And one reading practice, or writing strategy will not suffice for all content areas or even for all topics within one content area. Teachers play a powerful role in helping students to acquire and deepen knowledge through their design of learning experiences--and the ways they use literacies in the classroom. Content area literacy essentially encourages all teachers to (1) identify how students are asked to access and construct meaning through engagement in literacy activities and (2) provide explicit and strategic instruction that helps students along the way.
New texts, situations, and goals constantly challenge students to learn and apply new strategies in order to access and construct meaning from texts as they learn within a discipline. And, different disciplines (math, science, etc.) use different texts, rely on different strategies, and emphasize different modes of meaning-making given the norms and expectations within that field. Our job is to examine how literacy operates within our content area in order to capitalize on practices that will empower, rather than frustrate, students as they read, write, speak, listen, view, and represent ideas in our classroom spaces.
In reality, the movement towards disciplinary literacy is arguing for teachers to take a step back and consider: for students to make meaning (or understand) the content of a course, they engage in a combination of literacy acts that require them to read, write, speak, listen, view, and represent ideas to deepen understandings. Literacy practices, then, serve as a vehicle through which students develop content knowledge and skills.
But as we know in education, one size rarely fits all for our students. And one reading practice, or writing strategy will not suffice for all content areas or even for all topics within one content area. Teachers play a powerful role in helping students to acquire and deepen knowledge through their design of learning experiences--and the ways they use literacies in the classroom. Content area literacy essentially encourages all teachers to (1) identify how students are asked to access and construct meaning through engagement in literacy activities and (2) provide explicit and strategic instruction that helps students along the way.
New texts, situations, and goals constantly challenge students to learn and apply new strategies in order to access and construct meaning from texts as they learn within a discipline. And, different disciplines (math, science, etc.) use different texts, rely on different strategies, and emphasize different modes of meaning-making given the norms and expectations within that field. Our job is to examine how literacy operates within our content area in order to capitalize on practices that will empower, rather than frustrate, students as they read, write, speak, listen, view, and represent ideas in our classroom spaces.
how do you design instruction that capitalizes on disciplinary literacies?
The following modules introduce core concepts and considerations for designing responsive instruction that attends to dimensions of literacy. These modules are meant to provide overarching insight into core considerations for planning--not to serve as a blueprint of lesson strategies. In other words, these modules offer perspectives that should inform your planning. They don't tell you what to do in a given situation or a given discipline because that work is up to you!