Hi all, I teach in a 6-8 middle school. We are taking the "we are all teachers of reading" very seriously at our school. As the reading specialist, I have given several inservices on what it means to teach reading in each content area. This year we used Chris Tovani's "Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?" as a springboard for incredible discussion. The content area teachers started at the base level--What does it mean to read in my content area? It was a great discussion. The teachers initially discussed strategies they use, not how to read. Two hours flew by as we dissected what it means to be an expert reader of social studies and how that is different than science. From this, we then convened again, and used the analogy of our content area as a "club". We asked ourselves, "Do we want our club to be EXCLUSIVE to ONLY those who have the resources BEFORE they come into my room?" "Don't we want membership in our club by EVERYONE?" There was an audible pause in the room when these questions were asked. Next, the teachers met in their content areas to really talk reading and literacy FIRST, then they moved to the how do we teach this? It was a good exercise for our staff.
At all grade levels, we have a class called content enhancement. Each quarter a different content area teacher, focuses on how to be literate in that content area. They work on reading, writing, listening, observing and speaking for their area. It is so beneficial to the students. After our inservicing, several teachers commented on alterations they were going to make to this class. It's very exciting! Patricia Sankey Reading Specialist Templeton Middle School >>> "Bill IVEY" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 11/14/2006 8:49 PM >>> Hi! I got my "Council Chronicle" from NCTE today, and there's an article on middle level literacy which says in part: >The effort to increase students' competencies with complex texts must >involve not only English language arts teachers, but also those who teach >in the content areas. The NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform >stresses the importance of professional development that provides >content-area experts with additional training in literacy instruction. > >When schools create professional communities in which English, math, >science, and social studies teachers collaborate with and support each >other in delivering the most effective interdisciplinary instruction >possible, students thrive. What do you think of these opinions - do you agree, partially agree, disagree? What is your school doing along these lines that has been successful? If your school isn't doing much but you wish it were, what are the impediments to this kind of progress that you are experiencing? So many questions - almost as many as my students ;-) Take care, Bill Ivey Stoneleigh-Burnham School _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
