Spring 2011 Abstracts
Content Area Literacy IS Teaching for Social Justice: Focusing on Unsuccessful Readers
Carol Lloyd Rozansky, Ph.D.
When adolescent students have difficulties reading, we have traditionally focused on identifying and remediating the skills and strategies they do not have and simultaneously place them in low-level academic courses. However, learned skills and strategies in remedial reading classes rarely transfer to academic courses. This paper suggests a reconceptualized examination and application of content area literacy strategies that are framed in schema theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, motivation to read, and liberatory education. Examples from various content areas are included.
Common Strategies for all Content Areas to Create an Integrated Curriculum through the Use of Various Literatcies
Dianne Koehnecke, Ph.D.
Using trade books, film, and articles are useful literacies for all subject areas. A KWL strategy is reviewed that incorporates trade books before, during, and after reading and uses National subject area standards. Literature Circles also offer the potential to integrate content areas through a common thematic structure.
From Famine to Feast: Enriching Reading Instruction in Secondary Classrooms
Sara Crump & Karen J. Kindle, Ed.D.
In this article, a veteran secondary English teacher shares how a student’s response to a question sparked self-reflection into her teaching which radically changed her role as teacher and the instruction in her classroom. The authors share suggestion for enriching reading instruction in secondary classrooms.
Games, Puzzles, and Riddles in Children’s Books: An Interview with Author Jody Feldman
Sharryn Larson, Ph.D.
After reading Jody Feldman’s book, The Gollywhopper Games, the pre-service teachers enrolled in a children’s literature course interviewed her by telephone or through Skype. In small groups, the pre-service teachers first brainstormed questions to ask. Then, as aclass, the pre-service teachers and their instructor interviewed Jody during one class period. Presented here is a compilation of the interviews from six different sections of the course.
Literacy Centers in the Primary Classroom: Effective Management for Differentiated Instruction
Julie Ankrum, Ph.D.
Differentiated reading instruction is considered an essential element of effective literacy instruction. Meeting the needs of the every child in a classroom is a complex task. Classroom management must be carefully considered to ensure success. Literacy centers are one meaningful and effective management technique used in exemplary classrooms.
Design and Philosophy of Various America Reads Sites: Findings and Dialogues
Richard Oldrieve, Ph.D.
America Reads was established as a way to help ensure that every student would learn how to read by the end of third grade. There is potential for this kind of one-on-one tutoring, but current logistics might be incapable of reading every at-risk student. The author proposes a structure for hiring tutors from the community surrounding a school as a potentially effective way to help all children learn to read.
Exploring Literacies from the Lives of our Students
Kathryn Pole, Ph.D.
In schools, literacy is often defined in narrow ways. When we limit literacy to in-school definitions, we risk that our curriculum becomes irrelevant for our 21st century students. This set of short reviews present books to help incorporate our-of-school literacies into classrooms.