Disciplinary Literacy

Disciplinary Literacy

Written by: Lauren Skok

                 Disciplinary Literacy is a new concept for me and was confusing to fully grasp at first. I am a first grade teacher and never took any courses on teaching secondary education. In the webinar Disciplinary Literacy: Navigating Literacy Context Across Secondary Schools Elizabeth Birr Moje stated that as educators we need to help our students “move across the many different literacy contexts of their lives.” She goes on to say how we need to assist the students in learning how to navigate through these contexts daily. Students, especially those, in secondary education, have so many different aspects of their lives they have to transition into on a daily basis. Students are expected to transition from academic to social situations, to different teachers, disciplines, and relationships. I think that what struck me was the way she used the word navigate. Students have to be able to read, think critically, speak, investigate, and write to develop deeper understanding in a particular discipline. It is not a set of tools to improve reading and writing. It is the ability to look at a topic as an expert, whether as a historian, artist, mathematician, scientist, or technician.  Every teacher’s goal is to help prepare students for the next grade. However, each student learns and comprehends differently from one to another. The teacher must be aware of different strategies and skills that can be used to create students who are college and career ready.

                 I found this venn-diagram below created by Erik Byker and Leah Kahn found from The English Language Arts Collaborative Program from the University of Texas Austin. I liked the clear and concise way it compared and contrasted content literacy and disciplinary literacy. We all have been exposed to content literacy and are comfortable with the practices, most of us were taught using this type of literacy. However, disciplinary literacy is going further for the students to learn specific strategies within each discipline and focusing on key vocabulary. Disciplinary literacy is scaffolding instruction to create students that can problem solve and think critically in a particular discipline.    

                                    

                 As a primary elementary teacher, I feel that I am able to navigate my students from discipline to discipline in the content areas and help them to transition from one activity to another throughout the day. During elementary school, teachers build the foundation that will later be built upon in secondary education. As an elementary teacher, I am there to assess my students in all their subject areas, take them to specials, and create that very important home to school connection between their parents. I believe this is another major difference between elementary and secondary education, the involvement the teacher and parents play together in the students’ educational success. I can help prepare my students for secondary education by exposing them to a variety of different expository texts. This will help them to become comfortable and knowledgeable with this type of text. As students get older the texts become more informative and factual and less literature based. I do feel that students need to be exposed to all genres of reading and writing. However, I do understand that because of the Common Core State Standards students will be expected to read and comprehend more expository texts. At an early age students can become aware of the different modes of literacy such as tables, charts, short informative articles, menus, textbooks, novels, and computer images. They can be introduced and taught how to look at headings, captions, and photographs to enhance their learning on a topic. I also expose my students to a variety of vocabulary terms in all disciplines. Every week we learn four new vocabulary words from the story of the week. During this time students are expected to ‘turn and talk’ with their reading partner using the word in a variety of different ways. The students also get to see a picture card showcasing the vocabulary word. As a class we also learn key vocabulary words in science and social studies. This provides background knowledge for my students to better equip them for the more challenging content they will experience in their school career. 

References

Byker, E & Kahn, L. (2013) Disciplinary literacy online seminar. Retrieved from   https://ccri.meadowscenter.org/Mod3

Moje, E. (2013). Disciplinary literacy: navigating literacy context across secondary schools. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fMncjLc1iQ&feature=youtu.be