Content Area Literacy in the Middle
Grades
Dr. Jennifer Del Nero
jennifer.delnero@gse.rutgers.edu
48th Annual Reading and Writing Conference
New Brunswick, NJ
October 23, 2015
Presentation Overview
 What is literacy?
• Balance with regard to literacy instruction
• Classroom literacy centers
• 7 C’s of adolescent literacy engagement
• Importance of content area literacy
• Getting acquainted with textbooks
• Active reading strategies
• Preview reading
• Note taking/graphic organizers
• Visual literacies
• Crafting questions
• Crafting related assignments
• Critical literacy
• Suggested resources
• Q&A
What is Literacy?
Reading
Viewing
Speaking
Literacy
Writing
Listening
Balance with Regard to ‘Texts’
Assigned
Texts
Video
Studentcreated
texts
Popular
culture
Music
Text
Choice
Texts
Art
News/
media
WebBased
Periodical
Magazine
Balance with Regard to the Related
Context
Whole
Class
Individual
Context
Cooperative
Paired
Literacy Centers in Science & Social Studies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mimic home reading/viewing
environment
• Soft lighting
• Carpet(s)
• Tables
• Bean bags/cushions/big pillows
• Motivational signs/posters
Displayed books (change with theme)
Picture books
First hand accounts
Biographies/Autobiographies
Novels
Magazines
Kindles/IPADs
Magazines
Computers
Periodicals
National Geographic
Student-created texts
The Seven C’s in Adolescent Literacy
Engagement
 Creativity
 Choice (Scaffold)
 Clear and consistent lesson objectives/goals
Models
Clearly articulated rubrics
Break assignments into meaningful chunks
 Collaboration
 Connection (self, others, world, other content domains)
 Consistency (writing expectations are consistent with other
content areas)
Reading & Writing Like an Historian
Reading and Writing Like a Scientist
We Are All Literacy Teachers!
 In the CCSS, the content areas of science and social
studies have literacy standards
 The content area textbooks we use in these
disciplines are typically written two grade levels
above our students’ reading levels
 If we truly want to increase content knowledge,
persistence through graduation, and readiness for
citizenship and college, literacy instruction must be a
component of all content classes
Instructional Strategies
 We can do this by intentionally using strategies that have been
designed to help students comprehend information, construct
meaning, question what they hear, and synthesize new
learning with their existing schema.
 “Learning to use a strategy is a long process. Although
researchers may get positive results after twenty lessons on
predicting or summarizing, it may actually take students many
months to master a particular strategy.”
(Pressley, 1994).
Getting to Know the Texts
 Tour of the books
 Picture walk and predict
 Textbook features (web support, audio,
graphic organizers, index, glossary, various
versions)
 Scavenger hunt activities with the text
 Words of the wiser
 Reading Strips
Active Reading Strategies




Passive versus active reading
Academic versus leisure reading
Good readers are strategic and active readers!
Active reading strategies
Supporting Students in Acquiring
Active Reading Strategies









Add on one strategy at a time
Tap into students’ prior knowledge
Use a short/motivational text to illustrate
Model your own metacognition
Make explicit how this strategy
will help readers
Allow students time to practice
Guide students in applying strategy
to content area text
(symbols, highlighting, sticky notes)
Revisit and reinforce strategies
Gradual Release Model of responsibility
Preview Reading Text Excerpts
 Have students think about the benefit and purpose of a movie
preview-can be applied to reading!
 Comprehension Benefits:
Activates reader background knowledge
Encourages reader to make predictions
Sets purpose for reading
 Steps of Preview Reading:
Read chapter/section title and predict
Read any sign posts/headings
Look at any related illustrations/captions/maps/diagrams
Read the chapter questions
Read the first and last paragraphs
Predict and jot down main idea predictions
Two- or Three Column Notes
From the Text
From the Text
What it Makes Me Think or Ask
Think or Ask
Summary
Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction
What we think we
know about
Confirmed
New Learning
Misconceptions
I still wonder
How to find out
Think and Wonder About Images
 The importance of visual literacy!
 Use compelling photographs.
 Model (by thinking aloud) how you notice information, make
inferences, and ask questions from the photographs.
 Hand out images (on your topic of study) to each small
group.
 Have students jot thoughts and questions on post-its, then
share.
Reading a Visual Image
 Prepare image with abundant detail in advance.
 Have students form pairs and set up note-taking forms
(two-column)
 Project the full image
 View by quadrants, asking pairs to note what they notice
about the setting, people, activities, and what questions
they have.
 Display the full image a second time
 Partnered or whole class discussion
 Images of art works, and historical photographs can be
powerful introductions to something new. They grab
interest.
Crafting Questions
 Whenever possible, utilize open-ended questions that ask
students to think deeply about a topic, rather than ones
that require one right answer
 Aesthetic questioning focuses on students’ responses to
texts by asking questions such as:
What line(s) stood out?
What ideas came to mind as you read __?
What connections can you make?
What do you think is the most important
takeaway?
What did you visualize when reading _____?
What questions do you have?
What reaction do you have to ______?
How did _____ alter your thinking?
Crafting Questions (cont.)
Utilize Questioning the Author (QtA)
Utilizing ‘the author’ in your questions…you and the students are now on the same team
and working together, it’s about figuring out what the author’s trying to communicate to
us via the text. What associations, visualizations, feelings, ideas, connections,, thoughts
do we as readers experience as a result of engaging with this text?
Even questions that require a more straightforward response (i.e. What is the theme of
this story?) can be softened by rewording as “What do you think a possible theme of
__________ could be? Or, ‘What theme do you think the author is trying to communicate
to us through ___________? What detail(s) lead you to that thought?
QtA (cont).
Related Assignments
 Recall the 7 C’s of Engagement!
 Incorporates art/drama/music/kinesthetic
games/debates/interdisciplinary
 Graffiti Walk/Carousel Brainstorming/Brain Dump
 Yes/No/Maybe & Debates
 Multimodal: Youtube video, sound track, collage, etc.
 Powerpoints/Prezi
 Glogs: The alternative to traditional posters
 Travel Journals
 Virtual Museum Tours
Critical Literacy
 With web-based learning & research, it is more
important than ever to teach students how to critically
evaluate the information they read on the Internet
 Tree-Octopus Fake Website
 Have on-going discussions about how to identify a
legitimate source versus a ‘sketchy source’
 Provide examples of reliable resources
 Monitor student research in the classroom
 Teach students how to conduct an
efficient on-line search
Suggested Resources
 Allen, J and Patrick Daley. (2004). Read Aloud
Anthology. New York: Scholastic.
 Beck, Isabel and Margaret McKeown (2006)
Improving Comprehension with Questioning the
Author. New York: Scholastic.
 Beers, Kylene and Robert E. Probst (2015). Reading
Nonfiction Notice and Note Strategies. Heinemann.
(For social studies instruction)
 Rubin, Beth (2012). Making citizens. Routledge, New
York