Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas

One of the most enlightening reports that I read recently was Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement.  This report was published by the Alliance for Excellent Education in response to the crisis of adolescent literacy.  Their recommendation, which I believe is the direction that SBP should take, is to include literacy instruction in the content areas.  Simply speaking, teachers in content areas (whether it be History, Science, Math, English, and so on) should also be teachers of reading (and writing).  [Read my other blog about my anxiety about this.] 

The report makes reference to scientific evidence pointing to the effectiveness of certain teaching strategies.  As a scientist, this is the sort of data that I would be interested in reading before trying a strategy in the classroom.  But, who am I kidding?  I don't have a degree in teaching.  I never took classes in pedagogy.  Whenever I read about a teaching strategy, it's all new to me, albeit I may have tried some of these strategies (or a variant thereof) in class without specifically knowing (1) the evidence behind the strategy's effectiveness; (2) the actual steps of such a strategy; (3) the background knowledge about why such a strategy works; and (4) the name of such strategies.


Well, I may have heard some of these 'names' before: K-W-L, Reciprocal Teaching, RAFT Writing, Jigsaw.  We once had a brief in-service about some of these strategies as SBP prepared to move to block scheduling.  I didn't get an in-depth training about these strategies, much less understand the evidence behind their proven effectiveness.  So, I'm doing my own 'professional development.'  I'm doing this by reading, and during my next few blog entries, I'll explain some of the strategies I've learned from the books I've been reading.  And I will be sending the receipts to the Middle States Planning Team.


I haven't had this much fun from reading since med school.  I'm so thankful for the time to be able to do it.