Synopsis of Developing Readers and Writers in the Content Areas K-12 (Moore et al.

,
2011)
Chapter 2: Setting the Stage

Practicing Literacy

Cycling of Literacy

Settings in the Literacy

Classroom

Establishing routines is
important in the literacy
classroom. Students will
develop a habit of reading
and writing in your classroom.

Students must add on to

previous learning. Like
scaffolding, they must take
their foundations of literacy
and continue to add on to
build a strong structure of
literacy.

Have a vision. Whether it is a

vision for the course or
objectives for the day, share
your vision with your
students. They will know
what you expect and also
guide them on their path.
When students have a guide,
they are more apt to learn
because they know what is
expected of them.

Provide access to interesting

reading and writing activities.
For example, if you are a
marketing teacher and you
are studying business
marketing, you could have
students design their own
shopping center complete
with marketing strategies.
This allows the students to
dive into their interests and
go above and beyond to
complete the project.

Plan...a lot. Planning is

essential because it allows
you to not only scaffold the
lesson, but differentiate it for
each reader as well. Also, it
allows you to incorporate
more practice for literacy in
your lessons.

Make learning authentic.

Students are more likely to
retain knowledge if it is
aligned with real life
scenarios. Relate it to future
careers or on a personal
level. Real-world scenarios
will create real-world
learners.

Scaffold literacy instruction.

Begin with students already
know and build on. Also, if
they are strong readers and
writers, give them extra
practice and challenge them.
That way you can work oneon-one with students that
need extra help.

Allow for student-centered

learning. By introducing,
culminating, modeling, and
allowing the students to
practice their skill, they are
able to further themselves in
their literacy and also gain
confidence. As a teacher,
you become the guide and to
provide them extra practice.

Be active. Creating lessons

for the students to actively
engage in is sometimes hard
for the classroom teacher.
You have students that are
shy, but also some that are
just not interested in
participating. Having
students guide their own
learning and letting them
choose activities are great
ways to have them actively
participate in their own
learning.

Have students collaborate

with each other. Sometimes
they learn best from each
other or another student can
break down the information
more easily. Grouping can be
done in pairs or a small
group.

Keep an open communication

between yourself and your
students as well as students
with their peers. This
cooperative learning style
allows for the students to see
you model instructions or
they are able to gain
knowledge from their peers.
Collaboration is key.

Stretch them. Challenge

them. Allow them to see their
capabilities. A teacher is
going to face students that
say, I cant do it. Create
activities that provide a
reachable challenge that will
allow them to not only master
content, but to gain
confidence in their abilities.
Set them up for success, but
let them know they can still
grow from their failures.

Assess, assess, assess.

Know what the students know
and be able to guide them if
they need extra help.

Every exit is an entrance

(Moore et al., 2011) The
cycling of the literacy learner
never stops. As you scaffold
instruction and they build
their foundation and later
develop their literacy
structure, it will be time to
move on and they will start
the cycle again.

Create a space that is

emotionally safe. Respect
your students. Give them
positive feedback and
constructive criticism. Let
them know they should also
do this with their peers. Be
enthusiastic. Be inviting. The
social climate of the
classroom can really make or
break kids.

Practice, practice, practice.

The more students practice
reading in the content area
will not only strengthen their
literacy skills, but also allow
them to comprehend content.
Allow them some down time
with their own book. Allowing
for 5-10 minutes of sustained
silent reading will benefit
them greatly and not
decrease their
comprehension of the
content.
Have them keep journals.
This will help them to keep
track of pertinent points in the
reading or discussion.
Model. Make sure instruction
is explicit. List directions
step-by-step. Also,

demonstrating for your

students is also essential.
Chapter 3: Instructional Units

Selecting a Topic

Framing a Topic

Working within a Frame

Select clear, concise topics

so students know what
theyre studying. This can
align with your standards.
Some topics, or themes, may
be open-ended and allow for
more student-centered
exploration in the classroom.

Create student-friendly
objectives. After reviewing
your standards and your
topic, you will want to create
objectives or ideas of what
you want your students to
know for the unit and for the
daily lesson.

Assessments are important.

Whether they are one
question bellringers or a unit
exam, they allow for teachers
to see what students are
understanding and what they
need extra help with.
Differentiating assessments is
also as important as
differentiating instruction.
Creating many different
assessments will help the
students retain the
information.

Make sure to line up topics

when designing curriculum. If
you are an English teacher at
the secondary level, you dont
want to begin the school year
with Shakespeare. You want
to ease into instruction and
allow for structuring a strong
foundation.

These student-friendly
objectives need to be short
and precise. If you use a lot
of hard language, the
students wont know what it
means and will disregard the
objectives.

Rubrics are an important

guide. They provide the
steps for students to
complete an assignment and
also how they will be
evaluated. Students will
know how much effort will
give them a good grade
versus a bad grade.

Objectives should be
measurable. Stating that
students will learn
something is not measurable.
Stating that they will explain
in three paragraphs is.

Let students assess

themselves. Creating short
checklists or allowing them to
create rubrics is a great way
for them to self-assess. This
is also another strategy for
information retainment.

Objectives should allow for

critical thinking. You want
your students to go above the
knowledge and master the
content. This can come in
the way of central questions.
It allows them to focus on
something. For example: in

Allow students to interact in

real-life situations. Field trips,
guest speakers, projects are
just some of the ways that
students can engage in reallife scenarios. If a science
teacher is studying ocean life,
maybe visiting an aquarium is

health class I may ask, Why

is physical activity important
for teens? This allows
students to investigate and
find essential knowledge for
the subject.

an essential way for students

to further their learning and
relate it to everyday life.

Culminating activities not only

provides proper assessments
for students, but also can
positively end the unit for
students. Research shows
that students should be
assessed throughout the unit,
informally and formally so
teachers understand what the
students know and what they
may need extra help with.
Culminating the unit allows
the teacher to wrap it up in an
instructional way.

Allowing students to write in

journals or read aloud also
are ways that teachers can
help students practice
information. Also, students
can find other resources from
the unit to further their
retention.

Reference:
Moore, D.W., Moore, S.A., Cunningham, P.M., & Cunningham, J.W. (2011). Developing readers
and writers in the content areas K-12 (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Instructional Literacy Resources for Educators:

1. www.edutopia.org
This resource is essential for educators or anyone in the school system. The topics of
discussion are so valuable any teachers classroom. In the easily navigable site, a teacher can
find articles in their content area that they can use as a guide in teaching a lesson. They can
print off resources for their students. Also, they could read research on topics like formative
assessments and inquiry-based learning. I found this the most educational for me. I have
heard about game-based learning, but did not really know about it. Two articles later, I am a
little more knowledgeable on the topic. Great resource for those in education!
2. www.readwritethink.org

Although I am not an English teacher, I found this website very useful. When providing my
students with informal assessments so I know if they are comprehending content, I use journals
or exit passes or something of the like. This website provided resources for me to create other
meaningful assessments for the students. This is not only allowing for content knowledge, but
also allowing for literacy. I also like the links to projects for teachers as well as for parents or
after-school providers. This website also provided information on professional development and
videos for teachers to use. English teachers or teachers of any content could use this
invaluable resource!