My role as a literacy coach in an urban district gives me the unique opportunity to work with a broad range of diverse learners (both students and adults). While I would certainly argue that Connecticut schools are highly segregated by cultural and socioeconomic status, a forefront of my personal philosophy on education remains that all students deserve equity in the quality in schooling they receive, and all students need advocates to demand that work continues towards that goal. With that in mind, and speaking to the high demands of students and teachers today, it is increasingly important for educational professionals to acknowledge the new literacies that adolescents are exposed to. Students are responsible for decoding multiple secondary discourses as well as multimedia and digital texts. This, in addition to addressing already staggering traditional reading achievement gaps between groups of peer groups, only adds to the daunting task of educators, parents, and students. It is necessary that students are given the opportunity to examine all types of text critically in order for them to grow as competent thinkers and contributors in a highly competitive society. Beginning in early elementary, we can provide students with authentic content literature, give students the chance to read multimedia print and digital text, and ultimately support students towards inquiry of authentic content that will serve as valuable background knowledge and lifelong strategies for questioning and learning. Without the necessary tools and strategies, students who fall short will be prey to a hegemonic system they don’t even know to question, let alone combat.
While elementary teachers may have slightly more flexibility to create interdisciplinary lessons that support learning considering they generally work with the same students throughout most of the day, we must acknowledge the benefits of working across content areas in all levels. This supports work aligned with going deeper into high interest topics, and developing authentic, student-centered units that reflect the needs of individual learners. I fear that the demand for an increase in non-fiction reading at the elementary level has stemmed, at least in part, from demands set forth by standardized testing, but I also maintain that non-fiction texts are motivating for students to read, increase students content area knowledge, and positively affect students’ overall achievement. Finally, I think that the demand for content area literacy has also been driven by the need to meet the needs of all learners. We are all in it together to pool are resources and strategies to make sure our children have access to what they need. All educators need to respond to individual needs of student by incorporating leveled material, scaffolding lessons with instructional supports, and challenging our students to meet their highest potential.
This is a video from the K-12 Teachers Alliance (great resource) that I think serves as pretty good intro. Happy Teaching!
Katie McKnight - Episode 3: Content Area Literacy Strategies & CCSS from k12teachersalliance on Vimeo.
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