Reading & Writing

Across content areas in the middle grades, students read or are asked to write different types of texts. The texts differ in subtle ways, typically conforming to ways of knowing, doing, and believing in their specific discipline. The information, content, and "facts" of the discipline are shaped by what the discipline counts as knowledge. For example, the way in which knowledge about biology is presented is different from interpretations of the causes of a war. The purpose of this section of Literacy Matters is to help content area teachers learn about strategies they can use to help students succeed as readers and writers in their classrooms.

We have organized the information in this section into two categories:

• Reading provides an introduction to why reading is important in the content areas and information on strategic reading. There are classroom applications for the following reading techniques: Questioning, Reading Expository Text, Vocabulary, How to Read a Textbook, and Reading and Interpreting Diverse Materials.
  
  
• Writing offers information about Writing to Learn and Writing to Demonstrate Knowledge, with classroom suggestions for writing expository text and a research paper.

Select from the links above or use the left-hand navigation menu.

In addition, check out our section on Using Biographies to Teach Literacy Skills.