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Learn about integrating literacy skills into various content areas to enhance student learning holistically. Discover the importance of a holistic process in education to promote engagement. Explore practical strategies for successful literacy across the curriculum programs.
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Sections • Welcome/Remarks • Writing Across the Curriculum • Classroom Visits/Debriefing • Interdisciplinary Planning • Next Steps and Reflection
Building Instructional Capacity through Continuous Improvement Writing Across the Curriculum 12/17/15
What is it? • Writing across the curriculum means that students are learning literacy skills while learning other content areas like math, science, social studies, drama, foreign language, band, career technical etc...
The key to a successful literacy across the curriculum program is integrating different curriculum areas, keeping in mind that children’s learning is a holistic process.
Why is the holistic process important? 1. Learning in any subject area requires the use of language; therefore, reading and writing are used as tools for learning that subject area.
Why is the holistic process important? 2. Children are more motivated to learn when they are presented with material in an authentic manner. A) Topics of learning are connected to things that are meaningful to the students. B) Topic areas are connected to experiences that students have both inside and outside of school.
Why is the holistic process important? 3. Connecting literacy learning to other content areas reinforces learning in all areas.
When building a literacy component into instruction, make sure it….. -remains flexible-is student-centered -responds to students' needs -includes ongoing practice; regular inclusion of reading and writing activities -focuses on positive outcomes -incorporates a variety of reading and writing strategies
Why is it important for children to have the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information?
Let’s consider these questions for the content area/elective teachers. • Do your students know why they are being asked to read a given text? • Do your students apply prior knowledge and experience to the reading? • Do your students look for typographic and text structure cues to help them identify critical elements? • Do your students ask themselves questions while they are reading? • Are your students sufficiently comfortable with your subject area vocabulary to enable them to concentrate on ideas and concepts in the reading? • Do your students appear engaged rather than bored during reading assignments?
If the answers to any of these questions are "no" or "rarely," there is room for increasing reading efficiency and success in the content area classrooms!
School-wide Literacy
5 general practices for School-Wide Literacy Support (1) Specific attention to improving reading comprehension through teacher modeling and explicit strategy instruction in context. (2) More reading and writing assignments accompanied by more reading and writing instruction. (3) More speaking, listening, and viewing activities related to the discussion, creation, and understanding of texts. (4) More attention to the development of critical thinking and metacognitive skills as key parts of academic literacy tasks. (5) Flexible grouping. Two common themes that a teacher can implement throughout the 5 general practices is Questioning and Interacting with the Text.
Questioning • Questioning is effective for improving comprehension because it provides students with a purpose for reading, focuses attention on what must be learned, helps develop active thinking while reading skills, helps monitor comprehension, helps review content, and relates what is being learned to what is already known. (higher order questioning / metacognition) Example in a content area: Questioning in a high school science class - students are encouraged to speculate, wonder, hypothesize, and offer explanations.
Interacting with Text Students are required to do something with the text, not just pass their eyes over the words, unsure of where to focus. Interacting with text might involve: • questioning the text • creating visual representations of the text • paraphrasing through structured note taking or readers’ theatre • summarizing verbally or in writing • coding or comprehension monitoring when reading • developing a response to the text that involves transposing or reorganizing • rewriting certain sections. Did You Know? Studies indicate that students Interacting with Text learn more from the text, retain more of the information for a longer time, and improve their strategic reading skill.
What does the elective/ content area literacy classroom look like?
Classroom Library • Building a classroom library becomes a means of showing students how content knowledge is acquired and also serves as a way for teachers to share their passion for learning. • An elective/content area classroom library should reflect the interests of the teacher and the students.
Word Walls • Content area vocabulary words can be posted on classroom walls helping students learn to speak and understand the language of a specific discipline.
Use Word Webs and Word Walls to Teach Vocabulary • Before students encounter an unfamiliar term in text, distribute copies of a word web with these labels: "what ____ means," "what ____ is like," "examples of ____." Define the term and give examples of how it is used. • Together with students, begin filling in the blanks in the word web. Then direct students to continue filling in blanks on the web when they encounter the word in the content of a reading assignment. • Follow up by creating a word wall. Post students' webs on a classroom bulletin board, or have students create other types of visual aids that help make abstract concepts concrete, such as montages of magazine pictures that relate to the concept.
Design lessons that integrate multiple resources Elective/Content-Area teachers can plan literacy skills into their lessons. Today's teachers are visiting sites like Teacher Tube or Discovery Education, downloading brief video clips (three to five minutes in length) on topics. -For example, in a math class teachers can infuse a video clip, such as the peculiar properties of right angles, and insert them into lessons on the Pythagorean Theorem. These kinds of lessons are rooted in literacy education because they help the learner access prior knowledge, increase motivation to learn, and create anticipation for new math knowledge.
In elective and content area classrooms….. students are discussing the particular content with their teacher and peers using the precise language to describe and explain concepts. the environment is print rich, vocabulary is displayed on word walls, and literature is readily available to spark student interest in the richness of the content. students are being taught to understand how their textbook can be a great resource in helping them master the content, and they are engaged in lessons that help them tap into all those years of previous instruction that form the foundation for higher levels of knowledge.
Literacy in Mathematics
A secondary math classroom that supports literacy development has… - students and teachers using language processes to enhance and demonstrate understanding. - teachers making connections, verbally and in writing, between current and prior lessons. - teachers model problem-solving by thinking aloud, and students are asked to articulate, verbally or in writing, how they solve problems. In this type of classroom, students do not fear word problems but actively practice them. - teachers introduce mathematical figures as language features. - students and teachers who are active in concept development, for example: word play, connections to real life, examples of real life applications, varied groupings, and team work to construct and present solutions to mathematical problems.
Strategies that support literacy development and enhance the understanding of math concepts: Word Walls Concept Maps Flow Charts Computer/Graphic Inquiry Models programming Socratic Questioning Quick Writes Web Quests Think Alouds Graphic Organizers Word Problems Brainteasers Math Journals
Literacy in Science
Vocabulary • Science vocabulary can be daunting for students, particularly for those with low literacy. Imagine a student who encounters the unknown word "metamorphosis" in a passage. The student passes over the word, hoping to discover meaning further in the text, only to find detailed descriptions of the larva, pupa, and adult insect stages. Confusion results and the student may become nervous, tired, or unable to concentrate. They may simply choose to give up. How can this issue be approached?
Use of literacy support in science vocabulary -Focus on vocabulary prior to reading. When possible, link the new term to an experiment, diagram, demonstration, piece of equipment, or prior learning experience. -Make dictionaries available. -Teach students to use the dictionary when they encounter the first unknown word. Skipping unknown words in hopes of defining them through context reduces science literacy. -Have students create "Science Signs," or flash cards for new vocabulary. Put the term on the front. The definition and a sentence or representative diagram should go on the back, as well as any information which links this term to prior or concurrent learning.
3 major characteristics of social studies materials which often present obstacles to learning: • Expository Text - Studies show that students find it harder to comprehend expository text—"textbook-type" writing that explains concepts—than narrative text—"story-type" writing that describes something that happened. • Subject-Specific Vocabulary -specialized terms often represent sophisticated, abstract concepts that are unfamiliar to students. • Densely Factual Material - In social studies text, facts and details are often condensed. Given the amount of material that typically must be covered in a textbook chapter or a specialized article, authors often omit the kinds of concrete or anecdotal details that help students relate unfamiliar concepts to their own experiences.
Consider these strategies for addressing Detailed Concepts and Relationships • Break the reading of long sequences into smaller numbers of steps. Assign a small portion of text, then pause for discussion and questions. When possible, have students predict further steps in the sequence before moving forward • Have students create flow charts, diagrams, and sketches. Creating physical representations of written steps can increase retention of sequential information. • Preview text structure with students.Identify text cues which indicate the beginning, middle, end, or key parts of a sequence.
Provide Advance Organizers Certain patterns of organization are key to understanding expository text. Those patterns include cause and effect, problem and solution, comparison and contrast, and descending order of importance. • Before giving a reading assignment, determine which structure is key. Then provide an "advance organizer" by defining the structure in class. • On the board, list common "signal words" that provide clues to the structure. • Distribute copies of an appropriate graphic organizer and direct students to use it to take reading notes. You could also organize students into post-reading groups and direct group members to complete the graphic organizer together.
The ultimate goal for reading across the curriculum is student academic achievement. For pedagogical practices to be successful, they must be implemented and supported through professional developmentwith those who sincerely believe that success is possible.
Contact: Lisette Szeto Curriculum Support Specialist, Secondary ELA Lszeto@dadeschoools.net 305-995-1000 ext- 1976
Classroom Visits cc: Thomas Favre-Bulle - https://www.flickr.com/photos/56672733@N00
Debriefing cc: giulia.forsythe - https://www.flickr.com/photos/59217476@N00
