Content Area Literacy Curriculum

Content area teachers can implement strategies and scaffold learning when planning and designing instruction so that students will actively engage in literacy. According to Dobbs, content area reading instruction includes: the information present in the text, and the instructional plan teachers use to help students understand the content (2003, p.3). Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz explain that in order to plan instruction effectively, teachers must be aware of the explicit and functional dimensions of content literacy. The explicit aspect of content literacy involves the development of skills and strategies that enable students to comprehend what they are reading. Functional instruction focuses more on the application of strategies needed to derive knowledge from a variety of sources of information.” (2014, p. 134). Forget defined literacy as “listening, thinking, reading, and speaking in such a way that information and ideas are processed and communicated to the benefit of self and society” (2003, p. 5). Content area teachers need to plan and design lessons so that students will actively engage in literacy. Forget goes on to discuss that poor performance in schools can be do to a lack of basic literacy skills. Therefore, teachers need to implement the skills and strategies found to be successful in literacy to ensure

If you were to ask me what literacy meant to me when I was younger I would tell you, that it represented reading a book, and simply writing. The first thing that would come to my mind is English, reading and writing is what I do when it comes to that subject. Being young I was never taught the true meaning of literacy, and if you’re anything like me, you would eventually have to just learn on your own. Growing up I rarely thought what literacy truly meant, yet growing up it was a question I was always curious about, because this is when my writing became more serious. The more I began to write essays, the more it seemed to bother me. I asked myself, how could I truly write a good paper without knowing the basic true meaning of it all?

The area I am most interested is elementary education and certified in bilingual education. When I moved to this beautiful country without knowing anything about the culture or the language, my teachers were those who supported me and taught me the language. They helped me to integrate into this peculiar country. My teachers are the ones who inspired me to study and become a bilingual teacher. One of my goals is to help the students integrate into this culture and teach them the language with the same love and affection my teachers did. My planned pathway to become a teacher would be graduating Cumberland County College with an associate’s degree in education. After graduating, I plan to transfer to Stockton University to earn my bachelor degree in bilingual education. I would like to start working as a teacher assistant, and gain more experience that will help me when I become a teacher.

Our view of literacy upon commencing this course, was that it is the ability to read and write. Our understanding of it however was partially true because, reading and writing are essential of any person’s literacy, but reading and

For many decades now there has been a scope of definition for what “literacy” incorporates and those are the basics skills like reading, writing, and a variety of social and intellectual practices which involve basic communication skills, and hand and eye coordination. However, with the world of technology continually growing, and the level of diversity in the student population becoming vaster it has become necessary to also include speaking, listening, viewing, and visually aspects to the curriculum. One of the best ways to address a wide range of literacy is to pair the categories with each other based upon their connections in the real world. The categories include written language (reading & writing), spoken communication (listening & speaking), and visual language (viewing & visually representing). (Standards for the English Language Arts p. 6) Many of these can be done with a range of creative activities such as students being able to choose what they write about, share their own personal experiences in their writings, and then read them together; this helps the students stay engaged in the work they’re doing, and also increases their level of retention of the material. The importance of a student being engaged is best explained in the article “Adolescent Literacy: A Policy Brief” with, “The number of students who are not engaged with or motivated by school learning grows at

Having a solid grasp of the concepts that build up to content area literacy is extremely important. In fact, I believe that it is my duty as an educator to have a complete understanding of the different processes and how to apply them into my lesson plans. If I were to ignore them, it would definitely hinder my effectiveness as a teacher and in turn my students' education. Understanding the concept of connecting to text, for example, could turn a boring lesson that students will forget as soon as they leave the classroom into a lesson that sticks with them for the rest of their life.

Why do English learners struggle with content literacy tasks, and how does sheltered instruction make content more accessible to them while providing additional language support?

All of the topics that have been covered so far in class have all interconnected in one way or another. Learner development, knowledge transformation, and connecting to text are all foundations that lean upon each other in order to surmount and achieve the goal of content area literacy (Hodges, 2015). Content area literacy alone is extremely important, but it requires the aforementioned applied skills in order to be successful. Personally, I consider these concepts to create a fantastic base for students and teachers to build towards content area literacy. Obviously, a student needs to be able to connect to the given text in order to be interested in it, which aids in retaining the information gleaned. Learner development is fairly self-explanatory;

Although my degree is in secondary education, and it has been 30 years since I have been in the classroom, my journey is similar to yours. I began my return to education, as a substitute teacher. From that experience, I recognized that I, too, want to have that license in my “file box” of options.

Junior year High School English was a major moment in developing my literacy competencies. It was the year that Mrs. Beulah Harper assigned the semester long research paper on an American author, complete with a grammar rubric that would make almost any editor cry. On the first day of my junior year, upon receipt of that piece of paper, I decided to use one of my limited elective choices and signed up to take a Grammar class. It was the best decision I ever made in high school.

The role of content in the classroom is to assist teachers in providing students deep and rich experiences on the journey to academic excellence. Students need content background understanding to become capable students. I believe that students need content

Emily, I enjoyed reading your response. I am very new to the concept of Content Area Literacy (CAL) so I totally understand why you (and I) might think that literacy across the board of content area is not important. Perhaps none of us can really “feel” the integration of CAL until we have actually experienced it. As I read chapter 1 and 2 of Harvey and Goudvis Strategies that Work, I consistently came back to the thought, higher level thinking skills. It is true, each area of content has specific needs (documents, charts, latin terminology), and that all needs require some form of comprehension. My curiosity comes into play when I ask myself, “Is CAL simply a way to implement higher level thinking skills into the instructional design?”

Before considering the proper balance between content and disciplinary literacy, I must first understand where my students are in terms of their reading skills and ability. One of the most difficult aspects of teaching is being able to meet the needs of a diverse group of learners who come from different backgrounds as well as learning styles and abilities, I do not believe that a proper balance can be determined that will meet the needs of every learner. It is equally important however to insure that a balance exist.

I have always felt drawn to English and have made strong connections with my English teachers. It was the love for the subject and the respect for those who taught it that led me to become an English Education major. Through my journey I have been exposed to strong pedagogy focused on social justice and have had opportunities to develop the skills necessary to become an effective teacher. These experiences have motivated me to continue my education at Cal Poly Pomona by applying to the Single Subject Credential program. Being an educator is a very demanding career which comes with unique challenges that call for creativity, patience, and commitment.

I decided to become a content literacy teacher because I struggled a lot at school, because of my limited English. As well, because I feel that I did not received the adequate help from my content-area teachers, in other words they expected me to comprehend, and know how write and read in English perfectly. In my perspective second language students fell behind in their academics, because of the need of teachers that are committed to teach not only their subject area but to help students master their reading, writing, vocabulary and language proficiency. This problem leads ELL students to drop out of school, low self-esteem, and insecurity. For my point of view and experience some educators are not trained to deal with these kinds of situations.