Literacy Is for Everyone

Are you a literacy teacher? Here is my answer: Everyone is a literacy teacher. If you teach math or science or another subject other than English/language arts, you might think, “Teaching reading and writing is not my job.” Let me explain. I’m not saying you need to stop and teach a mini-lesson on how to read. However, if you want your students to understand your content, and if you want them to demonstrate an understanding of your lesson, they will need to read and write. Our focus in this article is literacy as a tool for understanding—using reading and writing to support learning. Let’s look at practical strategies to activate background knowledge, analyze connections, enhance vocabulary, improve comprehension, and utilize authentic reading materials. 

Activating Background Knowledge

It’s important to determine what a student actually understands about a concept prior to instruction. Pat Vining, a math teacher, uses a simple activity to check her students’ prior knowledge of the concept and to clear up any misunderstandings students may have about the topic. First, she gives students three minutes to answer a short true/false questionnaire. Next, in pairs, students compare responses and use the textbook to check their answers. Each set of partners must rewrite any false statements so that they are true. She ends with a whole-class discussion to ensure understanding.

Pythagorean Theorem

Characteristics of Effective Anticipation Guides

As you plan the guide, keep in mind the following steps. Additionally, students must be taught how to use the guide throughout their task. 

Analyzing Connections

A semantic feature analysis uses a grid to help students explore how sets of things are connected to one another. By completing and analyzing the grid, students are able to see relationships, make predictions and master important concepts. It is useful anytime you want students to analyze, compare and contrast concepts. 

Enhancing Vocabulary

Possible Sentences is a relatively simple strategy for teaching word meanings and generating class discussion. It also sparks interest from students and uses analysis skills. The authors at All About Adolescent Literacy (adlit.org) describe the process. 

Improving Comprehension

We often ask students to show their understanding of material they have read or heard. This can happen in a way that is boring, or you can be creative and add spice to your classroom.

Katrina J. Smith, a teacher at St. James Elementary School, uses her school’s READSUP strategy to help students understand a selection of text.

Mary Sanford, a teacher of students with special needs, adds flavor to her lessons with M&M’s, which typically have six colors. She puts some of the candy in a small cup, and students choose a piece of candy and do the corresponding activity. This allows student to “practice up to six strategies, review six terms, or share information in an ice breaker activity. The whole activity can be used as a warmup or review, and it takes as little as five minutes or you can stretch it to 15 minutes.” This activity can be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups and can be adapted to almost any subject area.

Finally, the simple 3-2-1 strategy works for all grade levels to demonstrate understanding of text. After reading, students write 3 significant words, 2 important phrases, and 1 complete quote that summarizes the text. Then, discuss the answers with the class.

Utilizing Authentic Reading Materials

When you consider literacy instruction, don’t forget to include a focus on real-life examples of reading. Students who may not be thrilled about reading a literary selection might be more interested in reading a graphic novel or the newspaper. My first year teaching at-risk students, I asked my principal if we could use USA Today for current events. At that time, USA Today was new, and it was the only newspaper to print in color. My students were excited to read “real stuff.” 

In my language arts class, Lennie was one of my most reluctant readers. He did not see the value of reading until he turned 15 and needed to take the test to get his driver’s permit. He discovered he needed to be able to study the manual to pass the test, so he asked me to teach him how to read the driver’s manual. I agreed, and that evolved into some effective lessons with all students. I talk to many teachers who don’t want to use anything other than a textbook, but that limits you and your students. Online sources, magazines, newspapers, and even comic books can supplement and enhance your instruction. 

A Final Note

Students in all content areas need to read and write to learn their content. Utilizing a variety of strategies to enhance thinking, vocabulary and comprehension will help all students achieve at higher levels.