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Are your students getting enough practice in skills beyond just listening to lectures? Speaking, writing, and reading are three key content areas of the literacy curriculum that must be addressed in school. In this article, we'll take a look at how important it is to teach literacy in all content areas.

But first, we should probably define what "literacy" means. Not so long ago, literacy was interpreted as having reading and writing skills. Lessons focused primarily on these two essential skills. However, that has since changed; students are now expected to engage in and understand advanced writing, reading, speaking, and listening, turning two key areas into four. Each of those areas should receive equal weight in the classroom if students are to reach an advanced level that allows them to fully participate in lessons and excel in a range of subjects.

Fitting literacy into every lesson

Even now some teachers think that teaching literacy remains the responsibility of language arts professionals. However, this is by no means the case. History, math, art, and science teachers are all equally responsible for incorporating all four literacy areas in their lectures. There's no such thing as literacy only in the context of the arts - it's a universal skill that's important in all subjects.

Young people who are growing up today are probably going to write and read more than adults at any time in history. While the bulk of their reading may involve social media posts, they'll still need strong literacy skills to sift through the noise and process the information they read online. Moreover, they'll still require an advanced level of literacy in order to work, run a household, perform their role as a citizen, and manage their personal life. It stands to reason that every educational professional that a student comes into contact with has a role in helping them to reach that standard so they can live a full and successful life.

It's all too easy for teachers to focus solely on the content that they teach. There is a lot of pressure to cover a significant amount of material these days. There's a lot of knowledge to impart to students before the end of the semester, usually for exams. But are students getting sufficient time in school every day to practice their vital communication skills?

Content may be what is taught, but we also need to look at how content is being taught. This is an area where we need to consider literacy instruction. There are a surprising number of effective and engaging strategies that you can employ to get your students to write, think, talk, and read about the content you're delivering. The overall goal of teaching literacy is to build up students' writing skills and overall communicative abilities.

As a teacher, you need to take a second look at how you're conveying knowledge and information to your students. Are you falling back on teacher talk or lecturing, or are you giving your students multiple opportunities to glean information by themselves?

4 skills you can develop through teaching literacy in all content areas

1. Developing speaking skills

Students having high-level or academic conversations in large or small group settings isn't something that's going to happen overnight, especially if all they do is take notes as you lecture them in class. It'll take time and teacher support to create this sort of setting in any classroom.

If students are to engage effectively in an academic conversation, they must have sufficient practice in sharing information with their peers in groups of three or two. Strategies such as shoulder share, chunk and chew, elbow partner, or think-pair-share are all helpful in this respect.

Learning is a social act. For every five minutes of teacher talk you deliver, give your students a couple of minutes during which they can talk together. Of course, you should be walking around the classroom and listening to what they're saying. This gives you the opportunity to informally assess their knowledge and check their understanding, as well as to ensure that the discussions going on are actually relevant to the course material.

Conversation is a vital tool in processing new concepts and content. It's also a useful way to help students come up with ideas to share in class.

2. Developing writing skills

In the same way as conversation improves understanding, writing can help students to make more sense of the subject that they're learning and relate new ideas to their own lives. After all, it's impossible to avoid thinking if you're writing!

Your students should be writing each day and in each lesson. You should add this into your lesson delivery in the form of fun and information writing activities such as stop and jots, quick writes, one-minute essays, or graffiti conversations. Keep in mind that not every writing assignment has to be a formal one.

3. Developing reading skills

Teachers were once working under the belief that they could hand a novel or informational text to students and assume that they could understand it completely by themselves. Those days are long gone. Today, whether teachers like it or not, we are all required to be reading instructors regardless of what subjects we teach.

Teachers can scaffold reading through the use of some particularly effective strategies. These can be employed before, during, and after reading. Strategies such as reading for a purpose, previewing text, making connections and predictions, using graphic organizers, or engaging in think-alouds can all support students - including those who are struggling or learning English as a second language.

One way to develop students' reading skills is to set up a mini "library" of books in your class from a number of genres and reading levels. Allow your students to select books from this shelf during independent reading time. Alternatively, in classes such as science or math, you may be able to include copies of different textbooks. That way, if students are unable to understand an author's explanations, they can consult a different book for a better understanding.

Additionally, note that every classroom, regardless of subject, can contain fiction and nonfiction books, magazines, and newspapers as part of the assigned reading. Students who are exposed to a wider variety of literature are able to broaden their knowledge and develop stronger literacy skills.

4. Developing listening skills

Listening is the fourth key skill area of literacy, but it's the one that needs the least focus in today's classroom. Whatever the subject you teach, chances are that you spend a considerable amount of time in every lesson talking and imparting knowledge to your students. Even if your students aren't always listening, they still have ample experience with listening to lectures and practice this skill on a daily basis.

Nevertheless, it's possible to enhance their experience by encouraging them to listen more to each other. Ask students to listen to other students sharing their work and then review it using precise examples. This works well in a range of subjects. Whether listening to another student's composition in music, their solution to a problem in math, or their findings after conducting a scientific experiment, students will need to pay attention in order to give an informed opinion.

Refining students' literacy skills

It's more important than ever for students to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills for 21st-century literacy. Mastering literacy is an important endeavor that's not restricted to any single subject. Everyone reads, regardless of what work they do. Help your students to see the value in literacy, and they'll be just as passionate about it as you are.
Photo: Google Edu

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How important is teaching literacy in all content areas? - Classcraft Blog

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Everyone reads. Help your students to see the value in practicing reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills to master 21st-century literacy.

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By Kevin Perks, Director of School and District Services for WestEd's Quality Schools and Districts. This article first appeared in the LEAF Subscription for Professional Learning in October 2014. It has been updated and is posted here with permission.
I once observed a high school social studies teacher asking students to engage in a close reading of Charles Joseph Minard's map of Napoleon's march to Moscow.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked students to respond to what it felt like to read and analyze the map so closely. Although most of the students had been very engaged in the task, many responded with some variation of the following comments:
" Why do I have to read this? " Why can't my teacher just tell me what I need to know? " This made my brain hurt.
In my years working as a literacy specialist, I have found that many students, at all performance levels, pose questions or make comments like these when asked to closely read challenging texts.

Students are not the only ones who wonder about close reading. Many teachers who do not teach English Language Arts (ELA) have their own version of these questions and comments. They want to know why they are expected to help develop students' reading skills when they are teaching history or science or some other non-ELA content area. And they wonder how they can be expected to teach close reading when they were never taught how to do it themselves.

Their concerns have only increased with the realization that most current standards, including the Common Core State Standards, highlight the importance of reading across the disciplines.

As identified in the work of EngageNY, one of the important emphases in the Common Core and other current standards is that they expect all teachers to "create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading" of challenging texts. When teachers become aware of this expectation, they have many questions. These are answers to some of those questions.

Why Do Teachers In All Subject Areas Need to Teach Close Reading?

The ability to read a complex text and to understand what is being stated or implied within it is a skill needed in all content areas, not just in English Language Arts. Every content area has complex material that students need to be able to analyze. Perhaps one of the most common misconceptions about close reading is that the term "text" refers only to printed words. Anything that contains complex information can be considered a challenging text.

For example, all of the following could all be considered complex texts that students might need to read closely: charts, maps (like Minard's), diagrams, word problems, tables, music (in all forms), artwork, photographs, bodies in motion (imagine trying to explain a football game to someone unfamiliar with the rules), natural phenomena (a fly fisher reading the river and what is hatching in order to select flies), machines, plans for building a piece of furniture, and more.

Given this broad view of what constitutes a complex text, virtually all teachers, irrespective of the subject they teach (e.g., physical education, shop, calculus) will find themselves needing to teach their students how to read closely. And given the importance of teaching students how to interpret complex information from a wide variety of "texts," it is no surprise that the first Common Core anchor standards in reading for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and the Technical Subjects expect students to "read closely to determine what [a] text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it" (pp. 10 and 60).

When teachers begin to think about these standards, they often wonder what close reading looks like for them, with their students, and with the complex texts they already use in their classrooms.

What Should Close Reading Look Like in the Classroom?

Close reading is a strategic process a reader uses in dealing with a complex text to acquire the information needed to complete a task. There is no single correct way to read something closely. Some experts have argued that to closely read a complex text, students need to read it at least three times. Others argue that teachers should be asking students text-dependent questions.

However, while many close-reading strategies are useful at one time or another, no single approach or specific set of strategies will be appropriate in every situation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to close reading. For example, Duke and Carlisle (2011, p. 211) write that "there is not a single path to comprehension development. This is largely because there are myriad reader factors, text factors, and context factors that all impact reading comprehension." Instead, what they and other researchers suggest is that teachers carefully consider the text, context, and readers themselves to determine the appropriate collection and sequence of strategies for the close reading of challenging material.

Thus, the best thing education leaders can do to support close reading is to provide teachers with a common and flexible framework to help them and students select and sequence the right combination of activities that will meet the specific needs and demands of any challenging text.

How Does Someone Teach Students to Read Closely?

A common and flexible framework teachers can use to develop lessons that support the close reading of any complex text is to divide close reading into three phases: before reading, during reading, and after reading. These phases are already familiar to many teachers, and the framework asks them to identify the kinds of thinking that students need to be doing in each phase. The first phase focuses on how students will prepare to read closely. The second phase emphasizes how students will actively think about the information in the text. The third phase asks teachers to consider how students will apply what they have learned from their reading.

Using this framework, the following questions help teachers design and sequence effective activities for close reading of complex texts in content lessons. The questions can also be used to support conversations among teachers who are developing lessons collaboratively. One effective practice is to use the questions as a protocol in professional learning conversations or during common planning time.
Before Reading

1. What is the student's reason for reading and how will the objectives be communicated at the beginning of and throughout the lesson?

2. How will students identify or recognize visible and/or invisible features of the text(s) that relate to the purposes or objectives for reading (e.g., bolded terms, cause-and-effect relationships)?

3. What knowledge do students need to have before reading the text(s)? How will they gain it?

4. What might the students predict or anticipate before reading? How will they do this?

During Reading

1. How will students actually read (e.g., silently, in pairs, classroom read-aloud)?

2. How will students gather information or take notes (e.g., two-column notes, coding, graphic organizers, concept maps)?

3. How will students think deeply about the information they gathered (e.g., discussion, sorting, writing)?

After Reading

How will students apply what they learned and what is novel about this task (i.e., what is the formative assessment)?

The close-reading framework and guiding questions can be used with any of the many resources that provide literacy strategies. There are many books and websites that, collectively, describe a wide array of strategies teachers can use to support close reading.
Kevin Perks is Director of School and District Services in WestEd's Quality Schools and Districts team. As the principal designer for WestEd's VITAL Collaboration and Reading to Learn services, Perks leads a team that provides coaching and consulting to schools, districts, and state departments of education around school improvement, literacy, standards-based curriculum, instruction, assessment, motivation and engagement, professional learning communities (PLCs), and teacher effectiveness. Reading to Learn: A PreK-12 Schoolwide Approach to Supporting Literacy Development and Academic Achievement
How WestEd Can Help
Learn more about this service.
Improve literacy development and academic achievement schoolwide by learning how to integrate a comprehensive approach to close reading of traditional and nontraditional texts across all disciplines, preK-12.

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Every content area has complex material that students need to be able to analyze. Explore what close reading looks like for teachers, with their students, and with the complex texts they already use in their classrooms.

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Schoolwide: Interactive Word Wall                                          

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Schoolwide: Interactive Word Wall                                          

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SEL Strategy: Self-Awareness- recognize individual strength

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Using Word Walls to Develop and Maintain Academic Vocabulary | Read Write Think

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SEL Competency (if done individually): Self-Awareness-recognize individual strengths

SEL Competency (if done collaboratively): Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decisions Making

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CTL - Collaborative for Teaching and Learning

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The Interactive Word Wall (IWW) is used to develop vocabulary understanding and enhance content learning. The IWW is a tool for creating activities/interactions for students to make connections between concepts, organize and track their thinking, and provide for more extended vocabulary discussion than simple definition strategies (define, match, use in a sentence, etc.). The use of the IWW has students make sense of words through representation, as well as authentic usage.

1. Brainstorm vocabulary at the beginning of new learning by drawing on and discussing prior knowledge and have students add their words to the IWW.

2. Have students skim/scan the textbook for words they are not familiar with.

3. Students add words along with drawings, or other visual representations to help exhibit their understanding.

4. The teacher provides a base set of Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary they know are critical to success with this content.

5. The teacher adds 'terms/numbers/symbols' that students will encounter as part of the study (i.e., AWOL in a social studies classroom, the Greek letter Δ in mathematics/science, the square root symbol √ , different musical notes 𝅘𝅥, 𝇤, 𝅗𝅥 )

6. Add new words as students encounter them, and/or make connections between them during their learning.

Engage students in routine interactions with the words on the IWW:

Engage students in routine interactions with the words on the IWW to help them make connections between terms, extend their understanding, and connect to new learning. Here are a few options:

Group Connections:

Student 1 gets the process started by going to the IWW, taking a term off that connects to some prompt (i.e., Which term connects to something we learned today?).

Student 2 chooses another item that connects to student 1's term.

Student 3 chooses another item that connects to student 2's term, and so on until all students have chosen a term/made a connection.

1. Stringing Words Together: Small groups of students to use string or yarn to connect terms together around a prompt for the day's learning (i.e., "We are learning about how to construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis. What words can you connect with this concept and how?").

2. The teacher projects a diagram onto the whiteboard and students work in pairs or small groups to identify key characteristics/concepts from the IWW.

3. Students work individually or collaboratively to organize vocabulary into webs, flow charts, phrases, or any other organizational structure to bring vocabulary understanding to a higher level by making connections between big ideas.

Students do a Quick Write using terms from the IWW:

Record thoughts about new learning, using a preselected set of words that students have used during the lesson.

Share Quick Write with a peer, listening to each other and making connections between the their thinking. Students then go back and refine their writing as a model for the revision process/continuous learning/growth mindset (this can be coupled with a whole group share out, where students share one thing they heard from their partner that they added to their thinking in order to promote active listening and paraphrasing).

Students think about their learning to this point in the unit of study (metacognitive processes):

As an Exit Slip, students sort words into three categories: "I got it," "I need more time," or "Really not sure" (this provides the teacher a snapshot of student thinking and allows for intentional interaction with terms/concepts in next steps learning).

Students identify words they think are most important to their understanding so far. This provides a piece for students to revisit as the unit of study progresses so they can keep track of their thinking and see how things have progressed. This models continuous learning and growth mindset.

Students check prior knowledge against new understandings by regularly revisiting existing vocabulary and adding, altering, or removing language. Here are some suggested ways to do this:
a. Work individually or collaboratively to add vocabulary at any time during content studies.
b. Have students update existing representations of words/terms to refine understanding and make other connections.

Students use the Interactive Word Wall to study large bodies of content prior to demonstration of mastery.

How does [term] connect to what we learned today?

Can you share another way [term] connects to what we are studying?

Can your group represent that word in another way?

ENGLISH
LANGUAGE ARTS
Use the Interactive Word Wall to engage in story mapping, character comparisons, discussion of genre or text features, etc.

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
Use the Interactive Word Wall for the elements of art, dance, music, etc. and as you study the various time periods (Renaissance, Romanticism, Classical, etc.), discuss how those elements are seen and represented within each.

SCIENCE
After the class has developed a collective conceptual understanding of a scientific term, students create a visual representation and discuss how the word relates to other words they've added to the wall or used in class.

MATHEMATICS
Use the Interactive Word Wall to explore similar and dissimilar concepts, understand and discuss mathematical process vocabulary, create problem solving or algorithmic statements, classify numbers/shapes/tools, etc.

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IWW - CTL - Collaborative for Teaching and Learning

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SEL Competency: Self-Awareness and Self-Management

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SEL Competency (individual practice): Self-Awareness

SEL Competency (collaborative activities): Self Management; Social Awareness; Relationship Skills; Responsible Decision Making

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How to use Quizlet - Official tutorial for new users

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0:00

Owl: Welcome to How to Make a Word Web, an instructional video on reading comprehension brought to you by the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab.

0:10

One way to improve your vocabulary is to create a Word Web for each new word you encounter.

0:16

With a word web, you can gain a deeper understanding of new words, practice using them, and keep track of them in your notes.

0:23

To create a word web, take a sheet of paper and draw a circle in the middle.

0:29

Then, draw six more circles around the central circle.

0:33

Draw arrows pointing from the central circle to the outer circles.

0:38

Each circle will contain a different piece of information about the new word.

0:43

The Target Word will go in the central circle.

0:45

The circles surrounding the new word will contain the following pieces of information: definition, synonyms, part of speech, word parts and meanings, sample sentence, and additional meanings.

1:02

Let's practice using a word web by filling in the word "accelerate."

1:07

Now enter the definition of the word.

1:09

Since most words have more than one meaning, enter the definition that is most relevant to the way you are using the word.

1:16

In this case, write: "to move more quickly."

1:20

Next, write down the part of the speech for this meaning of the word.

1:24

In this case, write "verb."

1:27

After that, write down some synonyms for the word.

1:31

Synonyms are words that mean the same as the target word.

1:35

You may want to refer to a thesaurus for help with locating synonyms.

1:39

For this word, let's write "speed up, go faster, gain momentum."

1:46

Now, write down the word parts that make up the target word.

1:50

This will help you better understand its meaning.

1:54

If you don't know the word parts, look it up online.

1:57

In this case, the word "accelerate" has the following word parts:

2:02

The prefix is "ac," which means "toward."

2:07

The root is "celer," which means "move faster."

2:12

The suffix is "ate," which means "having the quality of."

2:17

Next, write a sentence using the word, which will help you practice how to use it.

2:22

In this case, write down:

2:25

He accelerated when he saw the danger approaching.

2:29

Finally, make a note of any additional meanings of the word in the last circle.

2:35

Include the part of speech for each additional meaning since some words can have more than one part of speech.

2:41

For this word, write down:

2:44

(verb) to cause something to happen sooner

2:50

Keep track of your word webs in a notebook so that you can refer to them any time you need to check a word's meaning.

2:56

Click here for a Word Web template that you can download and take with you.

3:02

Thanks for listening to this instructional video on How to Make a Word Web!

3:07

Visit the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab for more support with reading and writing skills.

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Creating a Word Web - Excelsior College OWL

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0:00 Owl : Welcome to How to Make a Word Web, an instructional video on reading comprehension brought to you by the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab. 0:10 One way to improve your vocabulary is to create a Word Web for each new word you encounter.

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Schoolwide: During Reading-It Says, I Say, and So

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Schoolwide: During Reading-It Says, I Say, and So

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SEL Competency (if done individually): Self-Awareness-recognize individual strengths

SEL Competency (if done collaboratively): Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decisions Making

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It Says, I Say, and So Graphic Organizer

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It Says, I Say, and So Graphic Organizer

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Schoolwide: During Reading and Post Reading+Solving-Double Entry Journals

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Schoolwide: During Reading and Post Reading+Solving-Double Entry Journals

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SEL Competency (if done individually): Self-Awareness-recognize individual strengths

SEL Competency (if done collaboratively): Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decisions Making

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This technique encourages students to read closely and discover and record text evidence
Much of the writing we assign students is public writing: writing to communicate with others. Writing-to-learn is personal writing, writing that helps students increase comprehension of texts in all disciplines. In a 2010 report by the Carnegie Corporation, the #1 core instructional practice effective in improving student reading is to "have students write about the texts they read." Reader response compels readers to interact with the text and makes visible for readers and their teachers the depth of text comprehension. This is the fourth in a series of columns on scaffolding writing-to-learn by teaching a variety of reader response strategies before, during, and after reading.
After teaching readers to write their thoughts as they read, and by using response starters, it is advantageous to teach them to respond in double-entry journals. A double-entry journal, also known as a dialectical journal, is basically a T-chart. On the left, readers choose something they find provocative or notable from the text-a sentence, phrase, quote, fact, term, a new word, or, in a novel, a character, a setting, or a plot element. On the right, readers record their personal responses-questions, inferences, insights, connections, predictions, evaluations, reflections-to the text. This works as well in fiction and nonfiction, in English/language arts (ELA), and in disciplinary classes. The two columns can be headed with such terms as From the Book-From My Brain or The Text Says-I Say or as simple as Text-Thoughts. Figure 1 shows two journal entries from The Giver.

Figure 1

The advantage of a double-entry journal is that the teacher can see exactly what the reader is responding to and, in discussions, readers can remember exactly what they were referring to. This is especially effective when students are independently reading different texts.

Double-Entry Journals in the Disciplines

Double-entry journals can be employed in any discipline. Figure 2 shows the beginning of a student's double-entry journal based on the National Geographic article "Guardians of the Grizzly."

Figure 2

In social studies class, John, an eighth grader, responded to a chapter in the History Alive! The United States textbook. He labeled the type of response he made: a question, a prediction, and a text-to-text connection, a metacognitive exercise in which students could ascertain if they were utilizing a variety of reading strategies in their reading and responding. See his responses in Figure 3.

Figure 3

Besides ELA, science, social studies, and health classes, double entry-journals can be employed to track thoughts as students review math problems. In Figure 4 a student begins to think about a problem. In Figure 5 a student shows how she solved a problem and her thinking while working on it.

Figure 4
Figure 5

Teachers can design their own forms-from simple to more complex-to elicit the type of information and response desired. Some examples are included in Figures 6-8.

Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

If the class is reading a whole-class text, teachers may want to provide general topics on the left (see Figures 6 and 7) or have students fill in a particular quote or fact in the upcoming reading on which they want students to reflect. It is as interesting to observe what readers choose to respond to as how they respond, and it is important to teach readers to read not only critically but independently.

Introducing Double-Entry Journals

As with introducing any new strategy in the classroom, the teacher should first connect learning to previous learning. Teachers can refer to Response Starters ( AMLE Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4) to remind students how to journal their reflections rather than merely writing retellings. The teacher can also refer to Marginal Notes ( AMLE Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 1), a response strategy that can serve as an introduction to double-entry journals. The facts or information underlined for marginal notes are what the reader would copy into the left column of their dialectical journal, and the corresponding marginal note or code would be translated into language and expanded by employing a response starter.

Teachers should model completing a double-entry journal with think-alouds in front of students, responding to a text with which the students are familiar, such as "Casey at the Bat," a poem frequently known to middle school students and quickly read and discussed, or, in content areas, a text recently read (see Figure 9).

Figure 9

The students next rehearse a double-entry response in pairs as a guided practice with the remainder of the same poem or text or another simple poem or short article and then they are ready to respond to their whole-class, small group, or independent reading.

Double-Entry Journals for Book or Text Club Discussions

Double-entry response journals are particularly effective for book club discussions. Assigning readers jobs-Discussion Leader, Illustrator, Character Critic, Quote Monger, Vocabulary Finder, etc.-can lead readers to reading merely for the purpose of their jobs, employing narrow reading strategies and little analytical thinking about what they read. It also presents a problem when significant job-holders, such as the Discussion Leaders, are absent. Designing response journals tailored to elicit critical thinking and employing multiple reading strategies produces deep conversations in book club meetings.

When reading novels about the events of 9/11, students brought their completed journals (a choice of Figure 10 or 11) to their book club meetings and easily held 20-minute conversations, referring frequently to their journals.

Figure 10
Figure 11

In response to his first reading of Eleven by Tom Rogers, Paxton wrote,

"You didn't say which rules."
Alex has a sharp tongue and A-Dawg does not like to be told what to do. This may also be another reason for not having a dog since it falls under responsibilities for communication and listening to his parents.
Reading Nine, Ten by Nora Raleigh Baskin, Sara copies the quote from the teacher in the novel,

"This has nothing to do with us."
How could a teacher say that when the plane hit the Towers? It does have to do with them. It had to do with all Americans, especially the people in New York.
Also a member of the Nine, Ten book club, Lourdes reacted to the introduction of Naheed:
That's so weird, isn't it?" "What's weird? "Her." Naheed was used to it. Being looked at. She was used to being asked if she was wearing a costume." Sergio and the red-headed boy are pointing at Naheed. She is wearing a cloth over her head. In the story Naheed is stared at and questioned because she is a Muslim. I feel bad for her because everyone should be treated equally.
Maddy's book club read Just a Drop of Water by Kelly O'Malley Cerra, and she notes the quote on page 238 that led to the title:
"Even one small drop of water can make a ripple in a giant ocean." To me, this means that the smallest person can make the biggest effect on something.
When readers shared what they responded, other book club members chimed in with their observations, and conversations stayed on topic as each added their ideas to what a member had noted.

Conclusion

Double-entry response is valuable because it requires that readers notice and respond to specifics in a text-an idea, fact, quote, character, or even an author's craft. This strategy encourages students to read closely and helps them create more effective essays and arguments by discovering and recording text evidence. In this way, students will become proficient at reading to develop a thesis rather than reading to support a thesis. Double-entry response is effective for formative assessment because teachers can ascertain what stood out as important to readers and how critically readers were thinking as they read.

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During Reading Response: Double-Entry Journals - AMLE

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After teaching readers to write their thoughts as they read, and by using response starters, it is advantageous to teach them to respond in double-entry journals. Double-entry journals help teachers see exactly what the reader is responding to and, in discussions, readers can remember exactly what they were referring to.

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SEL Competency (if done individually): Self-Awareness-recognize individual strengths

SEL Competency (if done collaboratively): Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decisions Making

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Schoolwide: Grouping Strategies for Collaboration-Clock Buddies and Jigsaw

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Schoolwide: Grouping Strategies for Collaboration-Clock Buddies and Jigsaw

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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Schoolwide: Accountable Talk AND Active Listening

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Schoolwide: Accountable Talk AND Active Listening

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Self Awareness

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Paragraph Planner and Idea Organizer for Writing

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SEL Competency: Self Awareness

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How to Organize an Argumentative Essay with Counterclaim

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SEL Competency: Self Awareness

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SEL Competency: Self Awareness

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SEL Competency: Self Awareness and Self Management

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Responsible Decision Making

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SEL Competency: Relationship Skills and Responsible Decision Making

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During Reading: Interactive Reading Guides+Interactive Math Problem Solving Guides

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During Reading: Interactive Reading Guides+Interactive Math Problem Solving Guides

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During Reading and Post Reading: Text to Text; Text to Self; Text to World Connections

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During Reading and Post Reading: Text to Text; Text to Self; Text to World Connections

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Text to Text, Text to Self, Text to World

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The Double-Entry Journal strategy enables students to record their responses to text as they read or problem solve. Students write down phrases or sentences from their assigned reading and then write their own reaction to that passage. The purpose of this strategy is to give students the opportunity to express their thoughts and become actively involved with the material they read. It can also be used for them to be reflective and metacognitive as they work through new content, problems, and skills.

This DEJ helps students reflect on the text they're reading, to make connections, predictions, or ask questions about it, which leads to retention and transfer.

This DEJ helps students reflect and explain how they do the Math problems they do. This leads them to think deeply about the Mathematics they're doing as well as explain it in their own words, which leads to retention and application.

Students need to know and understand WHY they are using this tool. This will make it more metacognitive for them. The emphasis is on the thinking and the reflecting, and hence the learning.

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Mechanicville- School Improvement Site - Double Entry Journal

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Visible Learning Strategy - Double Entry Journal - DEJ - this type of t-chart, when used with intentionality, helps our students make connections between what they've read and what they think about what they've read. It's also a powerful tool to use when working toward inferences and deeper

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SEL Competency: Self-Awareness and Self Management

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Reading

By the time students reach ninth grade, we expect them to be proficient readers. But the reality is much different. Not every student entering high school has the literacy skills required to tackle the complex texts they'll encounter. Without intervention, these students will fall behind.

This literacy issue is just one reason why schools across the U.S. are now advocating for instructional approaches grounded in the science of reading. As we've discussed earlier on the blog, the science of reading refers to the body of research that identifies effective, evidence-based methods of learning how to read. Out of that research came the components of literacy-the foundational skills that all good readers possess.

To get struggling high school students back on track, we need to look at five of the components for adolescent readers: advanced word study, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation. Focusing instruction in these areas is not only essential for improving reading skills but also for encouraging critical thinking and an appreciation for learning.

Advanced Word Study

Like the name suggests, word study explores all aspects of words, from pronunciation to meaning. In elementary school, word study focuses heavily on phonics, spelling, and word recognition. As students progress to higher grade levels, word study becomes more complex.

Morphology plays a large role in advanced word study. Here, students go deeper into exploring word parts, including morphemes, prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Knowing these elements makes it easier for students to decode unfamiliar words when reading texts, especially those from subjects with domain-specific vocabulary like science, math, literature, and history.

For instance, a student might come across the word "metamorphosis" when reading about insect life cycles in a biology textbook. Based on their knowledge of word roots, they could break the word into parts:

"meta" - the Greek root meta, meaning "after"
"morph" - the Greek root morph, meaning "shape"
"-osis" - a suffix to denote actions or states

Putting those definitions together, the student can infer that the word has something to do with a change in shape or form. In the context of the article, "metamorphosis" describes an insect's transformation from an egg to a larva, then a pupa, and finally an adult.

Fluency

In the context of literacy, fluency is the ability to read text accurately, smoothly, with expression, and at the right speed. Fluent readers don't get caught up decoding individual words. This means they can spend more time analyzing what they're reading, a skill needed for the demands of high school.

Improving fluency is a matter of time and practice. Sustained silent reading is a good option for students who get nervous speaking up in class. This strategy provides a structured time for students to independently practice their reading skills. Sustained silent reading is even more effective when students can choose texts that match their interests and reading levels.

Repeated readings help hone fluency skills by increasing familiarity with the content and encouraging smoother reading. As students become better acquainted with the text, they're likely to read it with improved accuracy and confidence. Repeated readings also provide chances for students to refine their phrasing and intonation, key aspects of fluent reading. Short texts like poems, short stories, novel excerpts, and informational texts are good choices for multiple readings.

Vocabulary

A student's ability to comprehend what they're reading relies heavily on their vocabulary. Students with strong vocabulary skills can read more fluently, pausing less to decipher single words. In situations where words aren't immediately recognized, these students can rely on the context of the surrounding text and their knowledge of word parts to deduce definitions. Fluent students are likely to read more, giving them more chances to absorb new words naturally.

If students possess a limited vocabulary, understanding texts becomes challenging, leading to frustration and a reluctance to read. This turns into a vicious cycle; not only are these students reading less, they're also missing out on learning new vocabulary words.

Whether they like reading or not, all students can benefit from direct vocabulary instruction. This method takes a deliberate approach to learning, concentrating on specific words students should know. For more information, check out this post that dives into the different strategies for incorporating direct vocabulary instruction.

Vocabulary for the College Bound

Comprehension

Comprehension involves more than just recognizing words and repeating basic facts about a text; it requires students to think critically about what they're reading. They must analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, draw inferences, and make connections between different parts of the material. For older students, this literacy component is especially crucial, given the rising complexity of the texts they encounter.

Teaching students about active reading practices is one way to improve comprehension skills. Students can annotate texts as they read, underlining key points, jotting down questions, and making comments in the margins when needed. If they encounter a part of the text they don't understand, they can employ strategies like re-reading, using context clues, or looking up unfamiliar words to determine meaning. This type of interaction enables students to better retain and understand the information presented.

Literature Teaching Units

Motivation

Motivation influences how students approach reading, the effort they invest in it, and the extent to which they develop their literacy skills. Highly-motivated students love reading, no matter if they're doing it for school purposes or for fun. These kinds of students actively participate in reading discussions, seek out extra reading materials, and persist through challenging texts. Over time, their literacy skills will naturally improve.

On the other hand, struggling students are less likely to read, voluntarily or otherwise, because they're not confident in their skills. Luckily, there are some instructional methods you can try that will encourage reluctant readers without holding more motivated students back.

Students love autonomy. If you're doing independent reading or sustained silent reading as mentioned above, letting students pick the books can make a world of difference. When students discover texts related to their hobbies, passions, or issues they care about, reading feels more relevant and meaningful for them.

Student choice can apply to entire literature units, too. For example, if you're assigning a project on Romeo and Juliet in which students must analyze characterization, give them options on what the final project should look like. They could write a paper, make a podcast, write song lyrics, or give a presentation. Students get the freedom they crave while also reading for a purpose.

Paperbacks

Learn more about Paperbacks

Putting It Together

Helping struggling high school students improve their literacy skills may seem like a monumental task. But it can be done if we understand how these five components of literacy are interconnected.

Advanced word study helps students decode words, leading to improved vocabulary and fluency. Fluent reading allows students to focus on comprehension, which, when combined with a strong vocabulary, deepens their understanding of the text. Motivation acts as a driving force, pushing students to improve their skills. When all these elements work together, they create proficient, confident, and enthusiastic readers.

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High School Literacy and the Science of Reading

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Helping struggling readers with improving their skills begins with examining the five components of literacy for adolescents: advanced word study, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation.