This practitioner article describes the recent implementation of critical media literacy (CML) activities in secondary teacher education at a large university in the Southwestern United States. Preservice teachers in a content area literacy course analyzed a variety of media coverage of events that occurred near their university. Using an…

To a science 'outsider', science language often appears unnecessarily technical and dense. However, scientific language is typically used with the goal of being concise and precise, which allows those who regularly participate in scientific discourse communities to learn from each other and build upon existing scientific knowledge. One essential…

This study examined the outcome expectancy beliefs (beliefs in one's ability to impact students' reading development) of secondary teachers in their content area who were not trained in literacy pedagogy. Results of the study reveal that many in-service secondary teachers lag in reading outcome expectancy beliefs (RTOE).

The purpose of this interpretive, qualitative multi-case study (Merriam, 2001; Stake, 1995) was to describe the experiences of three elementary classroom teachers as they integrated literacy and social studies during their literacy instruction. This study was grounded in an interpretivist paradigm and a theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism.…

An elementary-level content area reading course was redesigned using a project-based learning (PBL) model to improve undergraduate pre-service teacher course content instruction. The research question was, "What are college/ university students' perceptions of a project-oriented undergraduate course?" Six university pre-service teachers,…

This paper addresses a perennial question of the religious studies and, indeed, of most liberal arts classrooms: How do I get my students to read texts thoroughly and with understanding? After briefly reviewing the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data, I argue that what teachers desire is not just basic literacy, but fluency, which is…

Founded in 1998, the Giverny Award is annually presented to the best children's science picture book. The award-winning books, targeting readers ages 4-8, harmoniously integrate illustrations and the story's text, while addressing at least one important scientific principle. Therefore, the Giverny books have characters and plots and are stories…

Current reforms in content area education present new challenges for literacy educators. These reforms promote engaging students in the practices of the disciplines--teaching students how to participate in an activity in which disciplinary content is produced. Content area literacy (CAL) instruction that supports only the learning of general…

Embedding discipline-specific literacy instruction within social studies content can assist a variety of students, including those with reading difficulties, to build higher-level reading abilities, increase knowledge acquisition, and improve their overall content learning. Moreover, many state learning standards already address the need for…

There is a worldwide concern about science and engineering undergraduate students, particularly those who are English language learners, struggling with their entry-level content courses. From a teacher cognition perspective and drawing on semi-structured interviews with chemistry, mathematics and physics teachers at a university in the Middle…

Background: To succeed in school, young children must acquire the domain and vocabulary knowledge needed to read complex texts. Despite the growing literacy demands in the 21 century, fewer than 5% of US school children in the early elementary grades can evaluate complex nonfiction texts and there are larger gaps based on family income and student…

Two-thirds of U.S. high school students today are unable to read and comprehend complex academic materials, think critically about texts, synthesize information from multiple sources, or effectively communicate what they have learned. And in response, many teachers simply stop assigning challenging texts, opting instead to "deliver…

Disciplinary literacy focuses on the specific ways a content area thinks, uses language, and shares information. While much of the literature on disciplinary literacy suggests it is an advanced language strategy to be taught to secondary students, early childhood classrooms may be the ideal environment in which to introduce this type of…

Becoming effective teachers is dependent upon a variety of factors intersecting with early career teachers' beginning teaching experiences. This paper provides a glimpse into ways in which four early career secondary school teachers began to embed literacies into their teaching practices in content areas and how their approaches shifted between…

This study explores the disciplinary literacy perspectives of middle school students of color attending urban parochial schools and the reader subject positions they took up across content-area classrooms. Qualitative analysis of 19 student interviews and accompanying observations of subject-area classes revealed that students' constructions of…