Content Area Literacy for
Science, SS & Technical
Subjects
Presented by
English Language Arts Content
Area Specialist
Amy Robinson, Ed.D.
arobinson@dupage.k12.il.us
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Statistics
One third of college freshmen must take and
pay for remedial courses in math and/or
English at two and four year colleges before
they can even begin their chosen course of
study.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Reading Between the Lines by
ACT
• Based on the 2005 ACT Scores, only 51%
of our high school students were ready for
college level reading.
• 8th and 10th grade reading levels showed
students were on track for being college
ready in reading, but then declined.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Questions to Ponder
• What role does the textbook play?
• How do history teachers/scientists make
meaning from texts?
• What is the role of reading, writing,
speaking and listening in your discipline?
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
6 Shifts
• Balance Literary and Informational
Text; Rise in Informational Texts
• Content Area Literacy – Shared
Responsibility
• Increase Complexity of Texts
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
6 Shifts (con.-)
• Focus on Text-Based Questions –
connect to Speaking and Listening
• Target Writing Arguments
• Academic Vocabulary
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
What do proficient readers do?
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Make connections to prior knowledge
Generate questions
Create mental images
Make inferences
Determine Importance
Synthesize, evaluate, summarize
Monitor reading
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Two-Column Notes RI 6.1
• Students divide a sheet of notebook paper
in half.
• While listening or reading, students record
evidence in the right column.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Two-Column Notes con.• In the left column, students can make
• inferences, ask questions, or draw pictures
to clarify their evidence.
• See freeology and reading lady graphic
organizers (Sanda, Havens, &
Maycumber, 1988).
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Discussion on Making
Inferences RI 6.1
• What is my inference?
• What information did I use to make this
inference?
• How good was my thinking?
• Do I need to change my thinking?
• ( Marzano, 2010).
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Think Alouds 7.1
• Teachers verbalize their thought
processes while reading a selection orally.
• Verbalizations include describing things
they are doing as they read to monitor
their comprehension.
• (Davey, 1983).
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Semantic Feature Analysis RI
7.4
• This technique uses a matrix to help
students discover how one set of concepts
is related to another set.
• Introduce a Semantic Feature Analysis
graphic organizer as a tool for recording
reading observations
• (Lenski, Wham and Johns, 1999).
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Discussion Web RI 8.9
• Teachers distribute a selected reading that
elicits clearly defined opposing viewpoints.
• A discussion web graphic organizer can be
used by the student/small group to
identify the main question of the text.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Discussion Web RI 8.9 con.• The student/small group will note the
pros/cons of the reading as well as their
final conclusion.
• The group will also place their conclusion
on an index card.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists
Team/SummerRegional Conference
Discussion Web RI 8.9 con.• Collect the cards and tally the responses.
Share the results with the class.
(Alvermann, 1991)
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Close Reading RI 9-10.1
• Students conduct a close read of a text
such as Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the
Second Virginia Convention”.
• After reading the text each student obtains
a citation table for recording data as they
conduct a second read.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Close Reading RI 9-10.1
(con.-)
• Within the table, students write specific
phrases or sentences from the
text and articulate the significance of each.
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
David Coleman’s Demonstration Lesson on
A Letter from Birmingham Jail
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho_nta
YbL7o
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference
Resources
• http://www.isbe.net/common_core/pdf/elateach-strat-6-12.pdfe
• Buehl, D. (2011). Developing Readers in
the Academic Disciplines. Newark, DE:
International Reading Association
Illinois State Board of Education/SSOS English Language Arts Content Specialists Team/Summer
Regional Conference