Embedded Files
This course focuses on the most current research, theory, and methods of teaching reading in the content areas (social studies, science, health, math, art, music, physical education, agriculture, etc.). To access the video lessons, click on either the lesson name or the picture.
Bean, T. W., Readence, J. E., & Baldwin, R. S. (2011). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (10th ed.). Dubuqe, IA: Kendall Hunt.
Unrau, N. (2008). Content area reading and writing: Fostering literacies in middle and high school cultures (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L., & Mraz, M. (2021), Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum ( ed.) : Pearson.
Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2005). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Interactive Notebooks
Interactive Notebooks
How to complete an Interactive Notebook
Play Length: 19:07 minutes
If you are a content area teacher or studying to be one, you may be wondering why you're even taking a course that has the terms reading and/or literacy in its title. Effective content area teachers show students how to think, learn, and communicate with all kinds of texts.
Today's students have been described as ditial natives, but some scholars have begun to challenge this notion. New literacies have transformed the way we read, write, think, communicate, and make meaning.
Different languages and cultures are gifts in our classrooms; they bring us fresh perspectives and vibrant new ideas that have the potential to animate classroom interactions. Teachers respond to linguistic and cultural differences by scaffolding instruction in culturally responsive classrooms.
How effectively are students learning to use reading, writing, talking, and viewing as tools to comprehend and respond to material in content areas? Instructional assessment is a process of gathering and using multiple sources of relevant information about students for instructional purposes.
Planning is essential, whether fighting a war, leading a country, running a business, or teaching a class of learners. Instructional planning brings students and texts together in ways that support content literacy and learning.
Learning happens. Most people outside of the fields of cognitive psychology and education probably give little thought to how or why it happens. Activating prior knowledge and generating interest create an instructional context in which students will read with purpose and anticipation.
Teachers have observed how some students approach the reading of academic text: They read as fast as they can - eyes skimming over words, fingers flipping through the pages - to glean bits of information here and there in a mad dash to finish the reading assignment! Effective content area teachers guide students' reading by 1) modeling how to read, think, and learn with texts and 2) scaffolding instruction in the use of comprehension strategies that allow students to learn with text in meaningful ways.
There is a strong connection between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Teaching words well means giving students multiple opportunities to develop word meanings and learn how words are conceptually related to one another in the text they are studying.
Writing activates learning by helping students to explore, clarify, and think deeply about the ideas and concept they encounter in reading. Writing, thinking, and good old-fashioned hard work are tied together in ways that cannot be disentangled.
Studying text is an active, persistent, demanding process that takes place inside the head. It requires not only concentrated effort but also reflective thinking. The a growing array of technologies including search engines and online texts, students have more information available to them than ever before. Studying texts helps students make connections and think more deeply about ideas encountered during reading.
Textbooks by themselves are not enough.
In this lesson the focus is on additional types of texts that provide alternative to the textbook, including trade books and a veritable mother lode of fictional an informational texts that connect to curricular areas and state standards. Multiple texts have the potential to motivate students with intense involvement in a subject and to develop in-depth understandings of ways not imagined a few years ago. Students need access to a variety of texts that represent an alternative to the proverbial textbook.
Attracting effective teachers and initially preparing them for success is not enough. They deserve quality support to meet the demands of educational reform. As do professionals in many fields from medicine to management, they face a never-ending need for continuing improvement in their practice. Whether a teacher is lookin up websites for a lesson about ecosystems in Panama, admonishing an unruly class, or meeting with colleagues on implementing a new initiative, improved student learning is the goal. Participating in planned, collaborative, ongoing, and inquiry-based professional development leads to professional growth and improved instruction.
Older original mini-lecture / video clips.
Content Area Literacy
Content Area Literacy
Literacy Matters
Play Length: 8:15 minutes
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