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Literacy Across the Curriculum in Middle Level Schools
MIDDLE LEVEL ISSUES
Vol. 4 #6, October 2004
Literacy Across the Curriculum in Middle Level Schools
by Teresa Poulin Kane and Robert C. Spear Ed. D.
Editor's Note: "Every
teacher is a teacher of reading" has been a key tenet of effective middle
level education since they were conceived 40 years ago. At this time in
education, students are transitioning from learning how to read to
reading to learn. As middle level educators we have an obligation to
coordinate our literacy efforts and to use a common language so that
our students will see the connection and use common strategies to build
understanding.
“To be literate in content classrooms, students must learn how to
use language processes to explore and construct meaning with texts.
When students put language to work for them in content classrooms, it
helps them to discover, organize, retrieve, and elaborate on what they
are learning.”
Richard T. Vacca, "Taking the Mystery Out of Content-Area Literacy"
All teachers need to be prepared to teach students how to understand
what they are reading. Strategies for comprehending nonfiction as well
as literature need to be taught by everyone. Too often other
content area teachers leave the writing and reading skills to be taught
by the Language Arts teachers. Language Arts teachers often concentrate
on teaching students to read and understand literature and fiction;
however, the most widely read genre is nonfiction. Students must
utilize different literacy strategies in all content areas so that they
can better comprehend informational text used in those classes.
Many students do not read textbooks well. If you ask students
why, they will often tell you it is because the material is boring or
too difficult. Because of this and the age group:
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All classrooms need to be equipped with a variety of interesting nonfiction books
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Students need to become engaged with the text and involved in their learning
- Teachers
need to model questioning techniques for students to use to help them
recall information, to summarize the text and to apply and evaluate
what they have read
Content area teachers need to be
prepared to help their students by teaching different strategies for
reading nonfiction and a variety of note-taking strategies, so students
can choose the one that fits their learning style. One could ask these
questions to assess how educators are doing:
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Are content area teachers helping students with note-taking skills and prewriting activities?
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Are we allowing our students time to read, write, reflect, assess, and rewrite?
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Are we providing good nonfiction material that is age appropriate and on different reading levels?
- What are we doing to ensure that strategies for reading fiction and nonfiction are being taught?
All teachers should be utilizing
strategies that will ensure the success of each and every student.
Schools need to remember that the most important goal should be to give
every student the tools needed to be literate in order to be successful
in life. All students need to be able to communicate their thoughts and
ideas through their writing and speaking, and they must be proficient
at listening and reading for the purposes of learning.
With that in mind, schools must provide all teachers with the knowledge
and the strategies that they need to enable them to instruct their
students. Supportive supervision and walk throughs can help gauge
levels of implementation and attainment. When growth is needed, it can
be done through conferences, workshops, school based professional
activities, reciprocal teaching, team teaching and access to materials
such as, Janet Allen’s Tools for Teaching Content Literacy;
Stephanie Harvey’s Nonfiction Matters; Laura Robb’s
Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science and Math. Book study
groups with year-long professional conversations can also be helpful.
Resources:
Allen, Janet. 2004. Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Harvey, Stephanie. 1998. Nonfiction Matters. York, ME: Stenhouse.
Robb, Laura. 2003. Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math. Jefferson City, MO: Scholastic Professional Books.
Vacca, R.T. 2000. “Taking the Mystery Out of Content-Area Literacy.”
M. McLaughlin and M. Vogt, eds., Creativity and Innovation in Content-Area Teaching. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
Teresa Poulin Kane is a teacher at the Warsaw Middle School in Pittsfield, ME
Robert C. Spear Ed.D. is the Executive Director, New England League of Middle Schools
Copyright
© 2004 by NELMS. Literacy Across the Curriculum in Middle Level
Schools is another in a series of articles created by the New England
League of Middle Schools on a variety of middle level topics.
Permission is granted for educational organizations in New England to
copy and otherwise distribute in their publications. If necessary,
permission is granted to modify this article for spacing purposes only.
________________________________________________
STEPS to Middle Level Literacy
(which is exclusively offered by NELMS in New England) is a
comprehensive reading literacy professional experience developed on teh
concepts stated above and in this article. If interested, please
contact NELMS for further information about this professional
development experience.
For more information about specific practices and answers to your
questions, please contact the New England League of Middle Schools by
e-mail nelms@nelms.org or phone (978) 887-6263. Information is also available on the NELMS web site at www.nelms.org. We welcome your inquires!
Fundamentals for Student Success in the Middle Grades
This is a FREE presentation for use with school staff, parent/family
groups, school boards, and community members. As an affiliate of NMSA,
we are pleased to pass this along to you for your use.
<http://www.nmsa.org/u_rd/me050406/fundamentals.htm>
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