This Is Disciplinary Literacy
Reading, Writing, Thinking, and Doing . . . Content Area by Content Area
- ReLeah Cossett Lent - ReLeah Lent Educational Consulting
Foreword by Carol Ann Tomlinson
Corwin Literacy
Content Literacy (K-12) | English/Language Arts (Middle/High School) | Literacy/ELA Leadership
Disciplinary Literacy is about to go from theory to game plan—taking students from superficial understanding to deep content expertise. And guess what? ReLeah Lent’s big secret lies in highlighting each content area’s differences—advancing a discipline-specific model in which literacy is used as a tool for strategic thinking, reading, writing, and doing within each field.
That’s right—no more reading strategies used uniformly across the curriculum. Instead, This Is Disciplinary Literacy helps content-area teachers put into action the key literacies of their specialties. Teaching science? Students must evaluate evidence and question as they read. History? Comparing and contrasting sources and interpreting the import of events are key. Writing in Math? Accuracy is favored over elaboration and craft. Reading fiction in ELA? Synthesizing and attuning to voice and figurative language reign supreme. Students fully own knowledge because your instruction zeroes in on the academic habits that matter most.
Content area by content area, ReLeah shows how to immediately incorporate these literacies into lessons, units, and project-based learning. Inside you’ll find:
- “Spotlights” on all major disciplines that highlight how implementation looks in real classrooms
- Extend and Adapt sections with ideas for augmenting activities for students who need different challenges or support, tips for companion activities, and digital sources for short texts and video
- Q&A sections bringing both reassurance and get-it-done advice
- New ways to re-boot essential research-based practices that work in any field—reading, writing, inquiry, and collaboration
- Free companion website featuring a complete PD workshop with PowerPoint slides for ready-to-go professional learning
And best of all, students not only engage in the genuine intellectual challenges of the disciplines—they are eager to do so! This Is Disciplinary Literacy gives students entrance to the global communities of practice, and provides schools, districts, and teachers with a proven approach that makes college-and-career-readiness a reality.
Featured Book:
Common Core CPR
Free resources
Deeper Learning & Disciplinary Literacy Chart
Post this chart from This Is Disciplinary Literacy to help you remember and make the connection between deeper learning and disciplinary literacy daily. (Secondary)
"ReLeah Lent has developed a great framework for helping content area teachers think about their discipline-specific literacies. More important, she has equipped them with tools that allow them to use these literacies to forward content learning. From student-led discussions to reading infographics, This is Disciplinary Literacy brings today’s literacies into content classrooms."
"Content area teachers will be delighted to find their concerns regarding disciplinary literacy finally addressed with discipline specific ways of integrating literacy that will to help all students deepen their content learning. Teachers who’ve struggled with how to integrate literacy into their discipline or who are looking for fresh ideas for increasing literacy in their content area will find classroom ready examples they will be able to use. What I like most about this book is the focus on literacy as a vehicle to enhance learning for all content areas."
"Acquiring skill in disciplinary literacy is essential for students to become college and career ready. This is Disciplinary Literacy is a contribution to teachers everywhere striving to meet the needs of their students. This book hits the right balance between rationale for disciplinary literacy and providing useful approaches to use in each content area instruction. The book will help teachers provide opportunities for deeper learning of content as well as a demonstration of rigorous reading, writing, thinking, and doing. Congratulations on a job well done by ReLeah Lent."
"This is Disciplinary Literacy is your go-to book for everything you need to know about this important topic. Lent expertly guides middle and high school teachers through an explanation of disciplinary literacy as well as how and why teaching and learning approaches differ in each content area. Overflowing with examples from diverse classrooms and practical suggestions that teachers will embrace, chapters dedicated to reading, writing, inquiry, and collaborative learning will deepen your understanding of what literacy means in your subject."
This book is up to date with the current research and thinking about literacy in content areas )"disciplinary literacy") other than English / language arts. It is succinct, unpretentious, reader friendly, and teachers will likely relate to the content more so than the content reading texts we have used in the past. The text includes multiple examples of how literacy is related to and used by professionals in each of the disciplines.
Affordable and comprehensive. Will work well with our secondary students as the ideas address some of the comments they have up front, such "but I don't teach reading." And it address each disciplinary area in detail.
I feel it covers all that needs to be addressed to prepare my students to be great science teachers.
Sample Materials & Chapters
Chapter 1_Literacy Within The Disciplines
Chapter 3_Writing Within The Disciplines