Content Literacy Strategies

Incorporating various texts and sources into content area classes  allows students to understand content more deeply and think more critically. When older students cannot read well or do not have the skills to analyze and interpret text, using varied sources of information can be a daunting task for an educator. As teachers of adolescents and teachers of content, it is important to introduce text in an accessible way that is appropriate for the discipline that you teach. 

Introducing texts to students should be done in a layered approach with strategies and activities for pre-reading, during reading, and post reading. Using the pre, during, and post reading approach to scaffold the reading of content specific sources allows students the time and focus they need to practice the habits of a good reader:

Activating/Accessing Prior Knowledge

Determining Important Ideas

Summarizing

Monitoring and Clarifying Understanding

Visualizing

Synthesizing

Retelling

Inferring

Predicting

Asking Questions

 These habits of good readers are and should be enhanced through the pre, during, and post reading strategies that you choose. As teachers of specific disciplines, it is just as important that we use these strategies  not only to encourage students to read and to promote content understanding and retention but to develop strong reading habits for lifelong learning. 

The following sections will provide pre, during, and post reading strategies/activities that can be used to help dependent readers in all content areas access the text they need to read.