Literacy Design Collaborative
Disciplinary Reading
and
Working on Modules
Day 3
Frank Duffin
LDC Program Manager & Secondary Literacy
Consultant
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Goals of the LDC Workshop
 Share lessons learned from Days 1 and
2 trainings and task implementation
specific to each discipline.
 Scaffold literacy skills to advance
achievement in the discipline area.
Fully develop a Module using Task 2 for
jurying.
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1. What are you pondering?
2. What is working so far?
3. What questions do you
have?
4. What help do you need?
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 Content
reading
area
 Disciplinary
literacy
 How
do you develop
tasks that engage and
apprentice students in
reading and
responding to
challenging texts in
your discipline?
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Disciplinary literacy is the approach that the
common core has taken.
Let’s…
◦ explore dimensions of disciplinary
literacy
◦ distinguish between content area
reading and disciplinary literacy
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Content Area Reading
Disciplinary Literacy
Source
Reading experts since
1920s
Wider range of experts
since 1990s
Nature of
skills
Generalizable
Specialized
Focus
Use of reading and writing
to study/learn information
How literacy is used to
make meaning within a
discipline
Students
Remedial
Whole distribution
Texts
Often encourages use of
literary text
Only focuses on disciplinary
text
Role of
graphics
Ignored or taught generally
Specific to the discipline
Disciplinary
Literacy
Skill specialized
to history, science,
literature, math,
Intermediate
and Career and
Literacy
Technical
Education
Generic comprehension strategies,
common word meanings, & basic fluency
Basic
Literacy
Decoding and knowledge of high frequency words.
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Technical, abstract, dense, tightly knit language (that
contrasts with interactive, interpersonal style of other texts or
ordinary language)
Nominalization (turning processes into nouns)
Suppresses agency (readers need to focus on causation not
intention)
Sentence density: unpacking complex nouns
Experimental verification of Einstein’s explanation of the
photoelectric effect was made 11 years later by the American
physicist Robert Millikan. Every aspect of Einstein’s
interpretation was confirmed, including the direct
proportionality of photon energy to frequency.
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Text provides knowledge that allows prediction
of how the world works
Full understanding needed of experiments or
processes
Close connections among prose, graphs,
charts, formulas (alternative representations of
constructs an essential aspect of chemistry
text)
Major reading strategies include corroboration
and transformation
Substances
Properties
Processes
Interactions
Atomic
Expression
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Goal: arrive at “truth”
Importance of “close reading” an intensive
consideration of every word in the text
Rereading a major strategy
Heavy emphasis on error detection
Precision of understanding essential
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History is interpretative, and authors and
sourcing are central in interpretation
(consideration of bias and perspective)
Often seems narrative without purpose and
argument without explicit claims (need to see
history as argument based on partial evidence;
narratives are more than facts)
Single texts are problematic (no corroboration)
TEXT
WHO?
1
Relation:
2
Relation:
3
Relation
4
Main point:
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHEN?
WHY?
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Understanding the rhetorical tools
(symbolism, irony, satire, points of view,
unreliable narration) that authors employ in
narratives is necessary to understand a
range of warrantable interpretations of
complex literary works
Reading deeply complex literary texts
offers unique opportunities for students to
wrestle with some of the core ethical
dilemmas that we face as human beings.
--Lee & Spratley, Reading in the Disciplines
(2010)
What is main character like at
the beginning of the story?
What is the main character like
at the end of the story? How
has he or she changed?
Crisis
Given this character change, what do you think the author wanted you to learn? ________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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Has long history in education
Many secondary teachers have preparation in
content area reading
Lots of books and resources for teachers
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Disciplinary Literacy Jigsaw
Using your homework . . .
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Select a facilitator and timekeeper.
One person volunteers to “lead off”—taking up to
three minutes to talk about one idea.
Moving in clockwise fashion, every other group
member, in turn, takes up to one minute to
respond to speaker.
Finally, the opening speaker has one minute to
make final comments.
Repeat the above process for the next person.
Module
Using all the
resources available,
continue filling in
(or polishing) your
Module using the
template provided..
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With your discipline team:
 Describe one module-in-progress and
discuss your questions, thoughts, and
insights about module development.
 Be prepared to briefly report out to the
large group.
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 What does a publishable
module look like?
 Examining the Jurying Tool
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• With a partner from your content area,
evaluate each partner’s module using
the Jurying Tool.
• Make notes of changes that need to be
made.
• Work on making the Task Good-to-Go
• PSESD trainer will work with individuals
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Next Steps:
fduffin@psesd.org
 Thank
You!
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