Equitable Disciplinary Literacy Instruction For Students in Poverty

Blog, Uncategorized

This blog is written by Doris Walker-Dalhouse and Victoria Risko to advocate for strong literacy instruction that benefits all students, with a particular emphasis on literacy instruction for students living in poverty. When we think of strong literacy support for some of our most vulnerable students, we are keenly aware that initiatives to provide educators with professional development to support children living in poverty are being cancelled at the federal level even though progress with such programs indicate progress.

Stay tuned — registration information for their upcoming webinar will be coming soon, and we can’t wait to continue the conversation with you!

Literacy Instruction for our Most Vulnerable Students

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 1 in 7 school-age children lives in poverty, which has a major impact on their education. Approximately 16% of U.S. children (11.4 million) lived in poverty in 2022-2023, with a 13.4% poverty rate for school-age children (5-17). In 2026, there are indicators that the number of students living in poverty may be even greater with high, persistent child poverty rates paired with proposed or enacted federal funding cuts that threaten to reduce services for low-income students.

National and local statistics indicate that overall children living in poverty continue to perform poorly on class assignments and mandated tests and they often have low participation in class literacy activities. These children most frequently live in inner city and rural areas or they may be children living in homeless shelters. It is likely that these students are racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse (Najarro, 2022). And while poverty cannot be traced to singular causes (e.g., racism, low paying jobs, insufficient health coverage), we are keenly aware that income equality within the last decade — world-wide — has widened the gap between those families that are challenged for food and housing security and those that are benefitting from increased wealth (Desmond, 2023).

There is no doubt that educators who teach in high poverty areas face multiple challenges and these challenges include underfunded public schools where teacher tenure and retention are lowest, teacher turnover is high, and resources are limited. There is a long history associated with underfunded schools and resources in both rural and urban high poverty areas. As Gorski (2018) and others argue, “privilege begets privilege”. Students privileged to attend well-resourced schools with stability of educators in place long term are on a trajectory to receive continuous supports that are needed for all students, but frequently not available or sustained in high poverty schools.

Instructional Inequities

A “sameness” of instruction for all students conflates equality (e.g., belief that fairness requires same for all) with equity when diverse histories and experiences require differentiation. (Wells, 2011). Not only is instruction not differentiated for students’ capabilities and needs, but frequently there is a lack of culturally relevant materials (Smagorinsky, Lakly, & Johnson, 2002), most notably the use of texts and materials in which students do not see themselves or their communities (Ascenzi-Moreno & Quifiones, 2020). A “Null Curriculum” (Milner, 2017) developed in some states, with punitive actions against schools that address racism, racial histories, and cultural differences, denies explicit attention to students’ histories and identities. Milner (2018c) argues that students are not given a “fighting chance to maximize their capacity and humanity”. Additionally, intervention programs, such as Response to Intervention (RTI) that is widely implemented, have inadequate investigations of their effectiveness and response to inequities (Artiles, 2015).

Weak and Failed National Policies

There is a long history of disappointing outcomes of federal funding intended to support the learning of students living in poverty. A “deeply flawed policy legacy of overemphasizing standardized-test scores” (Najarro, 2022, p. 3) is the product of the dominant, White middle-class culture in the United States. Over-reliance on standardized tests fail to provide information about students’ interests, their feelings of belonging, how well the instruction represents students’ cultural backgrounds, and what additional resources and opportunities may be needed (Najarro, 2022).

Among weak or failed programs are the following. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001), with the associated Even Start Family Literacy Program, overall failed to improve K-3 literacy instruction for students living in poverty (St. Pierre, Ricciuti, & Rimdzius, 2005). Similarly, funding efforts (e.g., Gates Foundation, and Title 1) for high poverty schools have had virtually no impact (Noguera & Wells, 2011). The hard work required by national laws to address inequities—giving all students a level playing field with additional resources and opportunities as needed– has been “crumbling” (Najarro, 2022) for at least the last decade.

Addressing Inequities

Addressing inequities, especially as they relate to impoverished students and communities, is a world-wide issue and is met with different responses. One approach has been to provide equal input for all students, such as providing equal funds for schools or the same curriculum for all. Described as taking an equality approach, the emphasis is placed on giving all students the same opportunities to succeed. In contrast, an equity approach, is grounded in the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to differentiate instruction, provide additional resources and opportunities when needed, and build on students’ culture and traditions while expanding their knowledge and experiences.

Starting in 2016, there was an expansion of an equity focus—multiple districts in the United States, for example, reported heightened interest and proposed actions at the district level to address DEI (Najarro, 2022). Unfortunately, the word “equity” became a trigger for pushback as early as 2018 (Sawchuk, 2022). This pushback, both legislative and public, represented fears of losing “strong programs” for those who were already succeeding in schools.

Initiatives to provide educators with professional development in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are being stopped in their infancy (Illeana Najarro, Education Week, September 6, 2022) even though progress is reported. Added to the push to eliminate DEI initiatives are book bans that began to appear in March 2023 and were put in place in 86 school districts across the U. S. Specifically, these bans focus on books with LGBTQ characters, characters of color, and books that address inequities associated with diversity, race, and racism. Najarro (2022) argues that these initiatives represent legislators’ and special interest groups’ retaliation against apparent progress in meeting DEI goals.

This issue of providing curricula that is relevant – relevant to students’ culture, their histories, their interests, and their instructional needs – is crucial for teachers to address if we expect to stem “learning poverty”. Amid movements to abandon or lessen the impact of changes erasing diversity represented among our students, educators can either be overwhelmed or take these actions as an “urgent message to forge ahead”.

Goal for Instruction: Addressing Disciplinary Literacy and Teaching What is Relevant to Students’ Culture, Histories, Interests, and Instructional Needs

To meet this goal, we describe three instructional actions (a) that sustain students’ cultural histories, (b) while advancing their knowledge and literacy development, and (c) addressing their questions and needs. Each of these actions are developed more fully in our text, Equitable Literacy Instruction for Students in Poverty (Walker-Dalhouse & Risko, 2024).

1.Culturally Sustaining Disciplinary Literacy (Rachelle S. Savitz & Janelle Williams, 2024). In their 2024 example and through multiple other publications, Savitz and Williams describe methods for enhancing both disciplinary reading and writing, and positioning students as knowledgeable and active participants in their learning. Aligning with national and state standards, units of instruction focus on content that is both relevant to students’ prior knowledge and interests and that advances academic learning. For example, instruction might focus on “monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment”.

Taking a problem-solving approach, students engage in generating questions about “equitable access to clean water in their community and globally”. The topic of clean water is particularly important in Michigan (where this instruction occurred) with its issue of problematic conditions related to water quality (e.g., Flint water crisis, infestation of zebra mussels, Nestle corporation’s use of water, etc.). Inquiry questions generated with students might include: How people are taking action on equitable access to clean water in my community and globally or How do we decide if information provided is trustworthy and credible on environmental issues such as clean water (Savitz and Janelle Williams in Walker-Dalhouse & Risko, 2024, pg. 33).

Texts are purposely selected to demonstrate a wide range of perspectives and evidence related to claims about clean water. Students examine scientific texts, analyzing claims and evidence provided, and consider what can be learned from a range of perspectives and challenges that scientists face. Disciplinary writing (that meets writing standards) engages students in taking up authentic perspective and problem-solving methods that address potential water hazards. Letters of advocacy with proposed methods of change or problem-solving methods are written to community agencies and community leaders. Class discussions expand students’ knowledge and abilities to express their understandings of the issue and potential problem-solving methods. Throughout these applications connections are made to students’ lives, their neighborhoods, and their decisions illustrating how science and technical advances related to clean water are connected to their lives.

2. Disciplinary Learning through Multimodal Story Telling (Blaine E. Smith, 2024). Blaine Smith demonstrates how story telling with digital multimodal composing supports science learning for middle school students. With Smith’s guidance, students generated ideas to integrate visuals, sounds, and text when composing a science narrative. Prior to composing their own texts, students read multiple texts, including web-based science texts, gaining scientific knowledge about selected topics and issues – issues that were relevant to the students and their communities. For example, learning about climate change and its effect on local farmers engaged students in robust conversations about changes, theories related to these changes, and their impact.

Students also examined published multimodal texts and then engaged in learning how to be intentional in their use of visuals, sounds, and annotations to convey important information. Students engaged with complex scientific issues while learning how to express their newly learned science knowledge in a variety of formats that were meaningful to them and their peers. Class discussions and added readings supported students’ knowledge development and perspective taking, enhancing their learning as they generated connections to issues that affected them and their communities.

3. Embedding Skills and Strategy Instruction within Authentic Contexts across the Grades for Multilingual Learners (Pacheco, McKee, and Lai, 2024). Pacheco, McKee, and Lai demonstrate how a text focusing on character education can engage multilingual students in thinking about the challenges they face as newcomers in a school and community and the actions they take to resolve their dilemmas. They describe how Ms. George (a sixth-grade teacher) whose students (from six different home countries) engages in text discussions. Asking students to reflect on difficult decisions in their everyday experiences and how their actions are similar to characters within the texts is a focus of their text discussions. And when holding these text discussions, students are encouraged to use their home languages as needed to represent their thinking.

One example shared by Pacheco and his colleagues focused on the text, Little Things are Big Things (Colon, 1961). Ms George and her students analyzed the text using a graphic organizer to identify “what makes a good decision” and “what are good actions” when facing conflicts. Connections to students’ personal lives and decision making and how individuals historically have worked toward goodness (even when faced with racism as in the Colon (1961) text supported the students’ personal growth in overcoming difficult environments in which they live while advancing their disciplinary knowledge and text comprehension.

Across the above examples of disciplinary instruction, these principles guide their implementation:

Teaching actions are intentional and provide access to knowledge building in ways that honor students as individuals.
Instruction is embedded in the view that school and curriculum provide access to equitable opportunities that support students’ comprehension as literacy and disciplinary learners.

Conclusion

As educators, we must dignify our economically marginalized students by making visible their multiple interests, histories and capabilities. Instruction described in this blog offers three examples that demonstrate a commitment to honor students’ culture and traditions while expanding their disciplinary knowledge and experiences.

Doris Walker-Dalhouse, PhD, professor emerita at both Marquette University and Minnesota State University Moorhead, is a former 4th -6^th grade teacher in high-poverty schools including the Marva Collins Preparatory Program at Linlee School in Lexington, KY. She served for four years as the Director of the Sudanese community-based reading clinic for K-refugee students (Moorhead, MN) funded by the Otto Bremer Foundation and is a member of the Marquette University Autism Initiative. Her co-authored books include Be That Teacher! Breaking the cycle for struggling readers (Risko, 2012) and Equitable Literacy Instruction for Students in Poverty (Risko, 2024) and an edited book Culturally sustaining literacy pedagogies: Honoring students’ heritages, literacies, and language (Cantrell and Lazar, 2022). She is a past member of the Board of Directors of ALER, IRA, and LRA; past coeditor of the Research in the Classroom column (The Reading Teacher) and is President of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Victoria J. Risko, EdD, a professor emerita at Vanderbilt University, taught in the language, literacy and culture program within the Department of Teaching and Learning. A former 1^st and 4^th grade teacher, Dr. Risko collaborated with educators across the grade levels and in high poverty and racially diverse schools. A past president of the International Literacy Association and the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers, Dr. Risko has published in numerous journals and research handbooks. She is co-author of several books, including Be That Teacher!: Breaking the Cycle for Struggling Readers (with Walker-Dalhouse, 2012), Reading Assessment to Promote Equitable Learning (with Elish-Piper and Matthews, 2022), and Equitable Literacy Instruction for Students in Poverty (with Walker-Dalhouse, 2024). A recipient of several national and international awards for contributions to research and literacy education, Dr Risko is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.

Heather Hall Inclusivity Literacy Award 2026 Nominations are open through June 13, 2026

Uncategorized

In September 2025, Literacy in the Disciplines 6-12 lost a vital member of its Executive Board, Dr. Heather Hall, secretary. In an effort to memorialize her commitment to fostering disciplinary literacy in an atmosphere of inclusivity, LiD 6-12 has established The Heather Hall Inclusive Literacy Award.

This award, sponsored by Literacy in the Disciplines 6–12, honors educators who advance inclusive, disciplinary literacy practices across middle and high school contexts for adolescent learners.

Nominating Process

Eligibility: Nominees must be educators working with students in grades 6–12 (middle and high school) in formal or informal educational settings within North or South Carolina.

Who May Nominate: Colleagues, administrators, community partners, and educators themselves may submit nominations.

Award Recognition: The recipient will receive formal recognition from Literacy in the Disciplines 6–12, including a plaque and acknowledgment on the organization’s website and social media.

Timeline:
• Nominations due: Saturday, June 13, 2026
• Award announcement: Nominator will be notified by Sunday, June 21, 2026 to arrange notification of the award.

Selection Process: A review committee composed of Literacy in the Disciplines 6–12 board members will select the recipient based on alignment with the award criteria.

Please click the form to view specific details and submit your nomination. Feel free to collaborate with the nominee to complete it.

Heather Hall Inclusive Literacy Award 2026 – Nomination Form

Literacy as a Bridge: Practical Strategies for Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students

Uncategorized

Welcome back to Dr. Jennifer C. Mann!

Immigrant and refugee students bring incredible linguistic, cultural, and life experiences to our classrooms—strengths that are too often overlooked. In my recent presentation, Literacy as a Bridge: Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Students in Today’s Classrooms, we talked about how literacy can act as a bridge, connecting students’ home languages and personal experiences to the academic content they’re learning. But what does that really look like day to day?

First, it helps to remember that literacy is about more than reading words on a page or writing essays. It’s about voice, identity, and belonging. When teachers intentionally draw on students’ experiences, they’re sending a simple but powerful message: your perspective matters. And the benefits go beyond engagement—they build confidence, critical thinking, and a sense of community.

Here are some practical strategies teachers can use right now:

1. Bring in Culturally Relevant Texts. Look for books, articles, or media that reflect your students’ lives. If you’re teaching a unit on community or family, include stories from different countries or immigrant communities. Ask students to share connections or differences with their own experiences—it makes the material come alive and shows that their perspectives are valued.

2. Invite Students to Share Their Stories. Journals, oral storytelling, and digital projects give students a chance to share who they are. A student might create a photo essay about a family tradition or write about their journey to a new country. These activities strengthen literacy while affirming identity.

3. Lean into Multilingual Strengths. Encourage students to use their home language as a tool, whether it’s for brainstorming, storytelling, or peer support. Multilingualism is an asset that can support English development while boosting confidence.

4. Connect Learning to Real Life. Design lessons that tie directly to students’ experiences. Math word problems could reflect real situations they encounter in their communities, or science projects could explore local environmental issues. This makes learning feel relevant and empowers students to see themselves as capable problem-solvers.

5. Use Collaborative Activities. Peer discussions, writing projects, and group tasks give students a chance to learn from each other. For example, students could co-write a story about a cultural festival or community event—building literacy, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding at the same time.

6. Focus on Strengths. Teachers’ mindsets matter. When we focus on what students can do rather than what they lack, our lessons—and our expectations—shift. Reflecting on our own practice and learning from colleagues helps us recognize and leverage student strengths effectively.

When literacy connects academic content to students’ personal worlds, it becomes a true bridge. Classrooms become places where students feel seen, capable, and valued. Beyond building reading and writing skills, these inclusive practices nurture resilience, pride, and a sense of belonging that extends far beyond the school day.

By weaving these strategies into everyday practice, teachers can create classrooms where all students thrive. Literacy, when approached this way, is more than a skill—it’s a bridge to opportunity, understanding, and equity.

Dr. Mann is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, where she supports equity-centered education research focused on multilingual learners and their language and literacy growth. She presented a LiD6-12 webinar found here: Literacy as a Bridge

Supporting MLs Through Disciplinary Literacy: A Practical Guide for Teachers

Uncategorized

by Carrie Rieder

You’ve learned about disciplinary literacy and are convinced that this is the best path of success for your students. You’ve been to professional development, read books, found this blog…you are all in!

Or perhaps you are an administrator, embarking upon a school-wide plan to focus on disciplinary literacy. The first day of school arrives, and you greet students as they come through the door. As you smile and say hello, inwardly you realize that you might have forgotten about one not-so-small thing: several of your students are new to the country and have only just begun learning English.

Your anxiety increases when you have a conversation with your ESOL teacher and she explains that one of the students only attended school sporadically, and had no formal education for the past two years during the family’s transition to the United States.

What now? You’ve planned so many exciting, challenging lessons centered around the specific characteristics of your content language. Can the students even learn that? Should you just give them something else? Do nothing at all?

I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible, but it is beneficial and necessary to teach disciplinary literacy to your newcomer multilingual learners (MLs)

I’ve been working with and living beside multilingual learners of all ages and language levels for 20 years. For the past four years at Carolina High School, I have focused on newcomer MLs and SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education). As a co-teacher, and now a sheltered class teacher, I’ve used many strategies that teach and expose my students to the disciplinary literacy required in English Language Arts.

Accommodating for these students doesn’t have to be time-consuming or daunting. I can give you insight into the best mindset and strategies to use in general education classes to ensure that every student in the room can access what is taught.

Accommodation is not “dumbing-down”

As educators, we know that we are expected to teach with rigor and high expectations. Accommodating lower-level MLs in your classroom does not remove rigor or high expectations. MLs are still expected to do challenging work, achieve success, and grow academically. The only thing you are lowering is the language load.

You might be familiar with cognitive load theory. The application of cognitive load theory to teaching means that teachers need to design lessons that reduce confusion and overwhelm so that students can focus on actually understanding and learning content.

For MLs, this means reducing the amount and complexity of the language so that students can focus their energy on learning new concepts or practicing skills. We are not changing the destination—-we are simply paving the road.

Accommodations—-often outlined in ML language acquisition plans—-are guidelines for engaging MLs in disciplinary literacy at their level of English language proficiency. They are not a rigid set of rules. These supports allow the MLs to reach the same standards as English-proficient students. Many states even include “best practice” strategies that work for all students—-because good teaching is good teaching.

Accommodating for your MLs can feel overwhelming. Language acquisition plans can seem lengthy or vague. I encourage you to start your mindset shift by reading an ML language acquisition plan, start to finish—-not just the list of accommodations. Doing this will open your mind to what it really means to support MLs in your classroom.

Accommodation is not an afterthought

Planning a unit takes time and attention to detail. I often see teachers get to the end of a unit plan and realize that they must accommodate for their MLs. After investing so much energy into the core content, there’s little left to adapt it. The result? A translated test or reliance on digital translation tools.

But if your goal is to teach the language of your discipline, translation won’t be enough. It won’t help students develop the academic language needed to access the content. Not to mention—-this assumes a high level of native language literacy, that students may not have. There is a better way.

The best way to accommodate is to start from the beginning—-by pairing each standards-based learning target with a language target.

Learning targets focus on the knowledge or skills that students must master.

Language targets focus on the language students need to access and express that knowledge.

Together, they tell students what they are learning and how they’ll use language to show it. This is a key step in making disciplinary literacy accessible at any level of English proficiency.

Step 1: Accommodate Input

Students receive new information through instruction and texts. As you plan your unit, ask:

Where will ML students struggle with language?

How complex are the texts?

Which lessons or texts are essential for content mastery?

Feeling overwhelmed? Take a breath. Like riding a bike, the best way to learn to accommodate is to start—and keep trying.

Step 2: Accommodate Output

Once you have thought about how to scaffold input, turn to output —-how students will demonstrate understanding. This includes assessments, writing, and projects. Begin by:

Accommodating instructions.

Modeling expectations.

Using an adjusted grading rubric based on language level.

Accommodation does not have to be difficult

Creating Language Targets

My favorite way to create language targets is by using AI tools such as MagicSchool or Chat GPT. The key is crafting a simple prompt. Here’s an example:

“Create a language target from this learning target [insert target] for a WIDA Level 2 English language learner. Include sentence frames.”

You may need to revise the AI output to best suit your needs—-but it’s a great place to start..

Accommodate Input: Lessons

Pre-teach vocabulary:

Use your language and learning targets to create a list of 8-12 vocabulary words per unit. Avoid trying to teach too many at once. Use a pretest to narrow your list.

Create a word wall (physical or digital)

Create a glossary with native-language translations and student-friendly definitions

Refer to the word wall throughout lessons

Encourage students to use the word wall or glossary during class and assessments.

Add visuals:

Use pictures, charts, icons, or illustrations to emphasize meaning. AI tools can generate custom images.

Reduce cognitive load:

Give students a copy of your notes/slides (paper, digital, or both)

Encourage two language note-taking using resources like Read&Write or bilingual dictionaries

For higher level students, create fill-in the blank guided notes

Accommodate Input: Texts

Using grade-level texts is essential to ensure equitable access to rigorous content. When scaffolded appropriately, these texts allow MLs to develop the skills necessary to long-term success. Do not limit students with simplified or below-level texts.

Translanguaging:

Translanguaging harnesses the power of all of the student’s languages to make learning more meaningful.

Allow students to annotate and summarize text in their own language.

Pair students with their native-language peers to discuss key points before sharing in English.

Encourage native-language drafting or brainstorming.

Provide a native-language copy of side-by-side with English text (use a two-column table for display)

Offer native-language summaries (AI tools can generate these)

Accommodate Output: Assessments, projects, and writing

Instructions:

For lower level students, translate instructions yourself—-don’t rely on students to do it

Paste translations onto worksheets, post them in Google Classroom, or project them on your board

Review instructions—in English—before modeling

Modeling:

Always model tasks or show examples

Think-aloud while modeling

Show completed examples of writing or projects

Rubrics:

Use student-friendly rubrics aligned to their proficiency level

Include native-language translations of the criteria along with English

Use single-point rubrics for clarity

Sentence Frames and Stems:

Provide word or phrase banks for sentence frames

Use AI to generate frames and stems based on your learning and language targets

Multiple-Choice Tests:

For written response items, provide sentence frames with a wordbank.

Remove one incorrect answer choice

Repeat familiar vocabulary, language patterns, and visuals

Open-note tests

Accommodation is not a smooth road

This list will jump-start your dive into supporting disciplinary literacy for MLs. The first time you try something, it might not work perfectly. You may still see students struggle, even after accommodation. That’s okay.

Struggle is expected. You are lightening their cognitive load—-you cannot remove it entirely. The goal is to bring the content closer, so they can reach out and touch it, not jump and miss it altogether.

Sometimes a scaffold works like a charm—fantastic! But often, you will need to adjust.

Keep trying, keep tweaking, keep going.

You, and your students, will get there.

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency? University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.

Carrie Rieder holds a Master’s in TESOL from Furman University and has over a decade of experience supporting multilingual learners. A certified Literacy Teacher and member of the Greenville County Impact Leadership cohort, she brings both academic and personal insight into language acquisition, shaped by raising bilingual children and living abroad. At Carolina High School, she teaches ESOL and sheltered English classes, working closely with colleagues to support the school’s high population of multilingual students.

Webinar: Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise

Uncategorized

Missed the live webinar? You can now access the recording of “Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise”! Held on May 29, 2025, this insightful session members were Nikki Upchurch and Haleigh Jo Baker. Discover how Nikki, a middle grade teacher, and Haleigh, a high school math teacher, engage in creative and effective literacy practices that support classroom learning.

Showcasing Teachers’ Literacy Expertise

Performing Poetry: How Music Shapes Poetic Analysis

Uncategorized, Webinar

Missed the live webinar? You can now access the recording of “Performing Poetry: How Music Shapes Poetic Analysis”! Held on April 24, 2025, this insightful session led by Catheryn Cofield explored the powerful connection between musical literacy and deeper poetic analysis for grades 6-12 educators. Discover practical strategies to illuminate complex elements of spoken word and poetry, such as cadence and structure, using the universal language of music. Learn how to reinforce key reading skills and enhance student engagement, as presented by music educator Catheryn Cofield. Click the link below to watch the recording and unlock new ways to connect your students with poetry!

About the Author

Ms. Colfield is a first-year teacher serving at Chester Middle School in Chester, SC. She graduated from Anderson University in 2024 with her bachelor’s in Vocal Music education and is currently serving as both a general music teacher and choir director at her school. She believes musical literacy is a key component of any competent music program and one of the greatest tools that a developing reader can have.

Growing Knowledge: A 7th Grade Teacher in Cleveland, Mississippi is Cultivating Agriculture Skills and Tackling Food Insecurity

Blog, Student Contribution, Teaching, Uncategorized

Stephanie: As a literacy teacher educator whose scholarship has primarily focused on agricultural literacy development in K-12 classrooms over the last 5 years, I have been fortunate to meet many dedicated, amazing K-12 Mississippi classroom teachers. Through four United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) grants on professional development in agricultural literacy, I’ve been able to work with a wide range of teachers including gifted education, social studies, all elementary subjects, mathematics, welding, library, college-and-career readiness, science, and agriculture education. One of those rock star teachers is Mrs. Tammie Marlow, a 7^th grade science teacher at Cleveland Central Middle School, in Cleveland, MS located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Tammie is an award-winning science teacher; she recently was awarded the Rural Teacher of the Year for her congressional district in Mississippi (an award given from the Program for Research and Evaluation for Public Schools housed at William Carey University). She participated in two of my USDA/NIFA grants in summer 2022/academic year 2022-2023 and summer 2023/academic year 2023-2024. The Agricultural Science Professional Development [ACRE] program focused on animal science, with a heavy emphasis on livestock, plant science, meat science, literacy instruction, and teacher leadership. The Agricultural Science Professional Development 2.0 [ACRE 2.0] program focused on poultry and food science, socio-emotional learning, and literacy instruction. Over those two years, Tammie took many of the ideas presented in these professional developments and incorporated them into her 7th-grade science class, expanding the curriculum to include a large focus on hands-on agricultural education. Below, I interview Tammie about her work at Cleveland Central Middle School in order to share with you many of the ways she has incorporated agriculture lessons into her classroom instruction.

Tammie, can you please share with readers your reasoning behind starting the Home-Garden-Science Club?

Tammie: The district that I teach in is the last district to consolidate in Mississippi. This brought many challenges, especially combined with the timing of the Covid epidemic. We are the only middle school in our district, and we serve as a bottle-neck transition to 6 local elementary schools plus students that move in from outside areas. Students were placed in this new environment and did not know their peers in this educational transition time in their lives. They didn’t have any time at school for downtime to visit and get to know each other. With this realization, my family and I decided to start an after-school program that would give them a safe place to meet, make new friends, and learn practical skills that will make their lives better. We called it Home-Garden-Science Club because we did everything including experiments, planting gardens, teaching students how to sew, holding cooking classes, and doing crafts together.

Picture: A student in the Cleveland Central Middle School Home-Garden-Science Club

This after school program has grown into an outdoor learning space that encompasses an outdoor classroom with electricity, a plowed field, an orchard, a tractor with attachments, multiple gardening tools, a three-door tractor shed with electricity and water, new fencing, and a greenhouse. This is a testament that people want to help, and when they see things happening, they will help. When we first started, we had students stand in line waiting their turn to use a hoe and shovel. We had to teach students how to use a water hose to water plants. You cannot assume that students know how to do what you know. It still amazes me to think that this all started from letting kids meet after school one day a week to have a safe place to have fun together and learn.

Picture: Students working in the garden at Cleveland Central Middle School

Stephanie: That sounds wonderful, Tammie. I know the students have enjoyed working in the garden and seeing the fruits of their labor with the produce it has yielded. Can you share with me some in-class, hands-on agriculture labs you have done with your students that have made an positive impact on their agricultural literacy development?

Tammie: Most students really enjoy lessons that they are involved in and take active parts in leading the learning activity, especially the labs that include food. I facilitate student-lead lessons in as many classes as I can. I believe students learn better when they have fun, can relate information to their personal lives in the real-world, and are physically active in the lesson with hands-on activities, literacy activities, maps, collections of specimens to explore/investigate, Guest Speaker interaction, field trips (actual and virtual) and labs that reinforce the standards. Project-based learning works well for all of my classes. Hydroponics, Micro-Green Farming, and Earth Cycles are 3 project-based lessons that we completed this year. Students really enjoyed constructing wildlife habitats. MSU Extension officers taught my 7th grade students how to use both power tools and hand tools in order to build the habitats.

For example, one of our state standards in 7th Grade Science is: “Explain how disruptions in cycles (e.g., water, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen) affect biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g., water, food, and medications) which are needed to sustain human life on Earth.” Together with an Ag student from MDCC, a USDA specialist, and my co- 7th Grade Science Teacher collected soybeans while at their prime and planned a Legume Lab for our students. Students were first given a pretest on soybeans and other legumes. The need was clear; they needed hands-on experience with soybeans or other legumes. Soybeans make up the number 1 top-row crop in Mississippi and come just behind poultry on the list of agricultural commodities. Most students didn’t know what soybean plants looked like even though they live in a rural area surrounded by large soybean farms. We held the Legume Lab outside and the USDA specialist showed us how they use toothpicks as a tool in the soybean programs. Students were given toothpicks to dissect the soybean plants which are legumes. They were to locate and dissect the nodules that house Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria that are responsible for Nitrogen Cycling into usable forms for living things. This was probably one of the most valuable labs conducted by our 7th Grade Science students. They completed lab sheets, and we took lots of pictures to serve as evidence of their findings. These students now know what soybeans are and how important they are as a food source along with information they learned about Nutrient Cycling. We now grow soybeans, with the other plants, in our school garden and the Home-Garden-Science after school club cares for them. This is a much-needed lab for not just rural students but for every student. Students need to be educated about the importance of nutrient cycling, our land. and where our food comes from.

Picture: Students engage in the Legume Lab in class.

Further, I was so shocked to learn during ACRE that the Mississippi Delta is in the middle of a food desert. According to Uproot Mississippi (2024), Mississippi has been considered the most food insecure state for the last decade. Bolivar County, where Cleveland resides, had a population of over 6,500 individuals who experience food insecurities as of 2022, and an annual food budget shortfall of over $4,000 (Feeding America, 2025). Food insecurity is prevalent in this area where people don’t know when they’ll get their next nutritious meal that they can afford. This is the area where I was raised, and I never thought about food insecurity.

Stephanie: I was shocked to learn about food deserts and their prevalence in Mississippi as well. I know this has become an important topic to you. Can you describe ways in which your students have learned more about food deserts?

Picture: Students engage in the Legume Lab in class.

Tammie: I was raised on a 5-generation farm and we always had large gardens that we called “patches”. We had a “pea patch”, a “pumpkin patch”, a “green patch”, a “corn patch”, and other mini fields where we grew food for our families and the community. I have learned in my adult years that most people don’t live where they can grow their own food. After learning about the food deserts, I developed a research project for my students on food deserts and solutions that each student can be a part of. Because of this realization from the ACRE influenced project my 7th grade students are working with our community to plant a student-community food forest to help fight against food insecurity in the food desert in which we live.

Picture: Students presentation on overcoming community food insecurity.

As part of the solution students want to plant this food forest in a place where everyone could harvest fresh free food anytime they want to. The place they decided to do this was our local park because it has the land to plant the food-plants on and plenty of parking that would be safe for everyone. Students also learned that planting more trees can help with climate change by removing excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere which will lessen the greenhouse effect. This can in turn keep our weather from having great fluctuations, decreasing droughts and floods. I am so proud of what my students have learned and their desire to help others. Students learn about problems, but they also need to learn how to be part of the solutions.

Picture: Garden beds at Cleveland Central Middle School

Stephanie: Last question Tammie. Can you provide me with an example of how you have intentionally provided opportunities for your students to reflect as a demonstration of their learning?

Tammie: Finally, as I introduce my students to real-world science problems, and they play a role in forming solutions, I have incorporated more literacy instruction teaching it with “more zest” in my classes after the training that I received in ACRE and ACRE 2.0. For example, to get students to write and learn more deeply about vocabulary, I use strategies such as journaling, ABC brainstorming sheets and Frayer models. In teaching my science vocabulary, I have put a greater emphasis on teaching my students morphology–affixes (prefixes and suffixes and root words).

Students also write lab reports after engaging in real world labs. We engage in close reading of various sources. I also have implemented a talking ball in class to help facilitate class discussions. Students have engaged in oral presentations and poster projects as well. This focus on literacy, coupled with the extensive hands-on learning in my science classroom (both indoors and outside) has provided my students with opportunities to deeply learn scientific and agricultural content as well as be able to communicate effectively about that content because I’ve prioritized the importance of reading, writing, and speaking like a scientist or agriculturalist in my classroom as well. Ultimately, I believe as teachers, we need to make sure that we aren’t just teaching content but how to be good stewards of our world. We only have these precious students for just a little time, we need to make sure we make the most of teaching them and giving them opportunities to be good stewards. I want to challenge every teacher to take part with their students in planting a food forest to help feed our world… one plant at a time.

References

Feeding America. (2025). Hunger and poverty in Mississippi. Food insecurity among the overall population in Bolivar County. https://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2022/overall/mississippi/county/bolivar

Uproot Mississippi. (2024). Addressing food insecurity in the nations ‘hungriest state’. https://uprootms.org/addressing-food-insecurity-in-the-nations-hungriest-state/

About the Authors

Stephanie M. Lemley is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership in the College of Education at Mississippi State University. Her research agenda focuses on increasing agricultural literacy, through hands-on learning and instruction with agricultural texts, in the K-16 population. She can be reached at smb748@msstate.edu.

Mrs. Tammie Marlow is an award-winning science teacher at Cleveland Central Middle School in Cleveland, MS. She has taught for 25 years in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and North Carolina. In North Carolina, she was a parent liaison that tutored students after school, helped students in classes, and filled in for teachers. In Louisiana, she taught HeadStart in Plaquemine Parish and used the Pacing System in a Christian Outreach School for students that lived in the Marsh (we had a School-Boat instead of a School-Bus to transport our students). Tammie has taught US History, 8th grade science, Biology, Biology II, Aquatic Science, Science Skills, Environmental Science, and Forensics. She can be reached at tmarlow@cleveland.k12.ms.us.

Developing Literacies for Doing the Discipline

Uncategorized

How do you support literacy development alongside content goals in middle and high school? Join Dr. Rachael Gabriel from the University of Connecticut in ‘Developing Literacies for Doing the Discipline,’ presented by Literacy in the Disciplines 6-12. This webinar explores discipline-specific literacy instruction, providing a framework to position students as active participants in authentic disciplinary activities. In our February 2025 webinar, Dr. Gabriel will guide us beyond traditional strategies, focusing on situating literacy within the purposes, audiences, and formats of each subject, and deepening our understanding of disciplinary ways of using text.

Watch the webinar below to enhance your awareness of disciplinary text use and support students in navigating diverse text types and purposes across their learning.

About the Presenter

Dr. Gabriel is Professor of Literacy Education at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. She is author of more than fifty refereed articles, and author or editor of seven books for literacy teachers, leaders, and education researchers Rachael currently teaches courses for educators and doctoral students pursuing specialization in literacy, andis Editor in Chief of The Reading Teacher. A former teacher and reading specialist, Rachael’s research is focused on Steracy instruction, leadership, and Intervention, as well as policies related to teacher development and evaluation. Her current projects investigate how educators and school leaders build collective capacity, state literacy policies, and discipline-specific literacy instruction

Disciplinary Literacy: How it Started…How it’s Going

Uncategorized

How it Started

Once upon a time, there was an educational concept called disciplinary literacy. It changed and grew over time, experienced some setbacks, yet still offered hope for a better educational future for adolescent learners. Since this is a blog post about literacy, we may as well use story structure to our advantage–setting, characters, events, and even a little bit of conflict along the way. Like many stories (but certainly not all), it will be told in time order and according to the narrator’s understanding. For this reason, I hope that you will forgive any errors of fact or omissions.

While our story begins in 2008, it is only possible due to previous efforts of a wide cast of characters focused on researching literacy across many, many decades. For our purposes, however, we will only rewind to 2008. Prior to 2008, literacy was commonly understood as the ability to read and write in varied contexts, with an emphasis on the ability to decode texts and use information effectively. Efforts to support and extend students’ literacy abilities focused on reading and writing across the content areas, with slogans such as “all teachers are teachers of reading and writing.” While this understanding of literacy is certainly accurate, it is also incomplete. Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan published “Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy” in 2008, seeking to articulate the idea of a literacy progression from basic literacy to intermediate literacy and finally to disciplinary literacy. In this work, they highlighted distinct literacy practices required in disciplines such as history, science, and mathematics. For example, scientific fields value precision, technical vocabulary, and the interpretation of data and visual representations. History involves sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating documents to construct narratives about the past. In mathematics, experts rely on symbolic representations, concise explanations, and logical reasoning. Within the field of literature studies, there is an emphasis on exploring multiple representations, figurative language, and themes. Their article called for teachers to explicitly model and scaffold the reading and writing practices of their disciplines.

However, literacy exists within interactions among the learner, task, and context. Enter the work of Elizabeth Birr Moje, who co-authored “The Complex World of Adolescent Literacy: Myths, Motivations, and Mysteries” in 2008 with Melanie Overby, Nicole Tysvaer, and Karen Morris. This work dispelled the myth that adolescents were not engaging in reading outside of school and articulated the need to connect students’ interests with academic literacy tasks by naming that youth are motivated to read texts that resonate with their personal interests, social identities, and cultural background. Building upon this work, Moje published “Foregrounding the Disciplines in Secondary Literacy Teaching and Learning: A Call for Change,” which advocated for developing disciplinary literacy instructional programs. This call emphasized that disciplinary literacy can provide all students with access to the specialized knowledge, skills, and practices of various fields, thus promoting educational equity.

As energy grew around the new concept of disciplinary literacy, additional researchers entered the scene. Instead of providing a broad definition of disciplinary literacy, some researchers offered explorations of particular components of disciplinary literacy. For example, Zhihui Fang and Mary J. Schleppegrell introduced the role of functional language analysis as a tool for educators to help students navigate complex disciplinary texts in 2010 with “Disciplinary Literacies Across Content Areas: Supporting Secondary Reading Through Functional Language Analysis” in 2010. Suggestions for application in various content areas include the following:

Science: Functional language analysis can help students unpack dense noun phrases and technical terms in order to understand complex concepts.
History: Analyzing the use of passive voice and nominalizations can reveal how historical events are presented and interpreted.
Mathematics: Understanding the precise language and symbolic representation aids in comprehending mathematical reasoning.

Also published in 2010, “Reading in the Disciplines: The Challenges of Adolescent Literacy” provided further insight into the specific literacy demands across various academic disciplines, contrasting content-area and disciplinary literacy examples. Additional ideas explored in the report include naming the difficulty that many students face as they transition from foundational and intermediate literacy skills to the advanced literacy demands in secondary schools; this difficulty is often compounded by increasing text complexity and assumptions that students already possess the skills needed to engage with complex texts. Researchers Carol D. Lee and Anika Spratley contributed to this publication and other research over time.

While many researchers were engaged in research and publication regarding disciplinary literacy over the next five years, the field was still lacking in a unifying framework that offered the promise of shifting educators’ overall approach to instruction in pedagogy. In 2015, Moje published “Doing and Teaching Disciplinary Literacy with Adolescent Learners: A Social and Cultural Enterprise.” This article provided the unifying structure that was sorely needed in the field–a teaching heuristic characterized by the 4Es: engage (engage students’ interest), elicit/engineer (identify existing skills), examine (guide students to critically examine texts, problems, or data), and evaluate (help students assess the quality of their work and thinking). This heuristic articulated not only the role of engaging adolescents in meaningful work aligned to their lives and community needs, but also the role of educators in planning for intentional instructional practices that apprentice students into the types of cognitive practices valued in various discourse communities.

Research continued after 2015, with many researchers digging deeper into the specific ways of not only reading and writing, but also speaking, listening, viewing, and thinking in various academic disciplines. While Sam Wineburg began researching the role of literacy within the field of history well before 2015, his work continues to be considered essential for educators in the field. As previously mentioned, the work of Fang and Schleppegrell focused on the literacies in scientific fields, along with Annemarie Palinscar and others. Deborah Ball, Judit Moschkovich, and Beth Herbel-Eisenmann provided insights into the intersection of language, literacy, and mathematics as well. Across the wide body of research into the concept of disciplinary, several key elements emerged:

Focusing on the language and literacy demands valued in various academic disciplines and professions, with a goal of making such literacy expectations visible to students through modeling.
Shifting toward student-centered learning for authentic purposes and audiences, with the teacher serving as the knowledgeable other, scaffolding and facilitating students’ learning.
Developing content knowledge alongside epistemological knowledge (understanding the ways disciplines construct and validate knowledge).

With such valiant research efforts, a reader might expect widespread implementation of disciplinary literacy. However, this was not the case. In many middle- and high-school settings, teaching content without attending to the literacy demands continued to be the status quo. Why was this the case? Perhaps it was due to the misunderstanding that disciplinary literacy was the “pinnacle” of literacy development, and therefore, not within the purview of “typical” or “struggling” learners. Perhaps it was the belief that disciplinary literacy approaches were simply a newly-branded version of content-area literacy approaches. Possibly educators were still struggling to identify what it might look like to align secondary settings to better support disciplinary literacy.

And, of course, there was a crisis called the COVID-19 pandemic that most certainly played a key role in this story. Nevertheless, the work continued.

How it’s Going

It is not a secret that, historically, key players in academia have tended to identify as White, upper-middle-class scholars. Unfortunately, this has prevented society from having a nuanced understanding of areas of study. Thankfully, we are starting to see broader representation in academic research of disciplinary literacy, both in terms of the students and educators serving as the primary focus of research efforts, as well as in terms of the researchers themselves. Since our story is a short story, we will only introduce a few such researchers here.

In “Culturally Sustaining Disciplinary Literacy for Bi/Multilingual Learners: Creating a Translanguaging Social Studies Classroom,” Garcia and Schleppegrell (2021) explore the intersections among disciplinary literacy approaches and culturally sustaining pedagogy; specifically, high-quality disciplinary literacy learning opportunities across subject areas that engage students in critically examining the world around them, interrogating accepted knowledge, contributing their own perspectives to shape that knowledge, and sustaining and developing the literacies needed to do this work.

Published in 2022 by Susan Watts-Taffe and colleagues, “Disciplinary Literacy in Action: High School Students Doing Research for Change” describes how disciplinary literacy practices were enacted among youth within the context of Youth Built Change, a science based program incorporating principles of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). Highlighting two YPAR projects, one conducted in a predominantly Black and Latino/a suburban school and one conducted in a predominantly White rural school, specific examples of the disciplinary literacy practices of Believing, Knowing, Doing, and Communicating are illustrated.

Rachael Gabriel, a professor of literacy education at the University of Connecticut, has made significant contributions to the field of disciplinary literacy through her research and publications. Her 2023 book, Doing Disciplinary Literacy: Teaching Reading and Writing Across the Content Areas, emphasized the importance of engaging students as active participants in the authentic activities of each content area, such as conducting experiments in science, analyzing primary sources in history, or solving real-world problems in mathematics. In addition to offering practical suggestions for educators on implementing disciplinary literacy, Gabriel’s body of work integrates culturally sustaining pedagogies and neurodiversity inclusion within literacy approaches.

What’s Next

Our story doesn’t end here. Longstanding researchers in the area of disciplinary literacy, Christina L. Dobbs, Megin Charner-Laird, Jacy Ippolito, and Christine Montecillo Leider, recently published Critical Disciplinary Literacy: An Equity-Driven and Culturally Responsive Approach to Disciplinary Learning and Teaching. This book introduces a new theory of CDL that combines critical and disciplinary literacy approaches into a cohesive framework. It remains to be seen what sort of impact this work might have on the widespread implementation of disciplinary literacy.

All stories are certainly affected by the events that do happen, but they are equally affected by the events that did not happen. Our story is no different. There has not yet been a deep focus on defining disciplinary literacy in English language arts beyond literary analysis up to this point. Perhaps a new cast of characters will enter the field in the coming years, providing rich nuance to our current understanding. Research into the impact of COVID-19 on learners’ cognition and motivation and disciplinary literacy approaches might also add to our story.

Regardless, our story of disciplinary literacy is far from finished. What started in 2008 with the goal of articulating literacy practices beyond generic, content-area approaches has progressed to a varied field of study seeking to provide a deep understanding of specific sub-categories of disciplinary literacy study. To Be Continued…

References

Moje, E. B., Overby, M., Tysvaer, N., & Morris, K. (2008). The complex world of adolescent literacy: Myths, motivations, and mysteries. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 107–154. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.78.1.54468j6204x24157

Dobbs, C. L., Leider, C. M., Ippolito, J., & Charner-Laird, M. (2024). Critical disciplinary literacy: An equity-driven and culturally responsive approach to disciplinary learning and teaching. Routledge.

Fang, Z., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2010). Disciplinary literacies across content areas: Supporting secondary reading through functional language analysis. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(7), 587–597. https://doi.org/10.1598/jaal.53.7.6

Gabriel, R. (2023). Doing disciplinary literacy: Teaching reading and writing across the content areas. Teachers College Press.

Garcia, M. H., & Schleppegrell, M. J. (2021). Culturally sustaining disciplinary literacy for bi/multilingual learners: Creating a translanguaging social studies classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 64(4), 449–454. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jaal.1129

Lee, C. D., Spratley, A. (2010). Reading in the disciplines: The challenges of adolescent literacy. Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Moje, E. B. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(2), 96–107. https://doi.org/10.1598/jaal.52.2.1

Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.78.1.v62444321p602101

Watts-Taffe, S., Vaughn, L. M., & Jacquez, F. (2022). Disciplinary literacy in action: High school students doing research for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 65(4), 331–341. https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaal.1211

About the Author

Jenelle Williams is a Literacy Consultant within the Leadership and Continuous Improvement unit at Oakland Schools, an intermediate school district supporting the 28 districts in Oakland County, Michigan. She joined the organization in 2017 following 18 years of experience in public schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. She has served as a classroom teacher, IB Middle Years Programme Coordinator, teacher leader, and educational technology coach. An IB Educator and Examiner since 2013, Jenelle leads professional learning workshops and marks e-assessments for the International Baccalaureate Organization. She holds an Education Specialist in Leadership degree and a Master’s degree in Reading and Language Arts through Oakland University. In addition, Jenelle serves as an Adjunct Professor in Grand Valley State University’s Graduate Program and a co-editor of The Michigan Reading Journal, a publication from the Michigan Reading Association. Jenelle is passionate about supporting teachers, building leaders, and central office administrators in the area of secondary literacy, and she is especially excited to be able to support Michigan’s work around disciplinary literacy through her role as Co-Chair of the statewide Disciplinary Literacy Task Force. She can be reached at jenelle.williams@oakland.k12.mi.us, and on Twitter at @JenelleWilliam6 and @GELN612Literacy.

Taking a Leap of Faith: From Content Area Literacy to Disciplinary Literacy

Uncategorized

If you are reading this, you are probably an educator like me; your expertise is in the field of education. As we studied to be teachers, we also had to take other courses as well and had to comprehend challenging texts in those courses. It’s possible that these texts looked like a foreign language at times; they did for me! Attaching meaning to texts in each discipline was unique, and hopefully, your teachers were like mine, where they combined disciplinary literacy practices with content area literacy strategies as a part of their instructional process. [In general, content area literacy is the use of reading strategies across disciplines to comprehend what you read in any discipline, such as how summarization is a skill that can be applied regardless of content or field] These strategies blend into disciplinary literacy as content-area teachers begin to adapt the reading strategies for their specific discipline so that students are reading and writing as experts. For instance, while students in all disciplines can annotate a text as they read, how they annotate, and the types of codes they use will differ based on discipline. So, where does this leave disciplinary literacy in my eyes, and what does this mean for education?

Too often, we misunderstand the similarities and differences between content-area and disciplinary literacy, with people thinking they are disparate terms. While content-area literacy strategies support student comprehension, disciplinary literacy practices guide students to read, think, and communicate like experts in each discipline. However, within the disciplines, texts are specialized; vocabulary is precise. Reading strategies must morph to meet the challenge of reading and engaging with these diverse texts to move beyond surface-level or basic comprehension. The ability to read and communicate as an insider of certain disciplines results from reasoning, sociocultural practices, and engaging in inquiry as appropriate to the discipline (Carnegie Learning, 2024). These abilities grow stronger with teacher support, and disciplinary learning is practiced as students engage in the process of learning. The result is that teachers aren’t telling students what to do, what to know, and what to think; they are giving students the resources to acquire knowledge and the opportunities to apply it in new situations.

Personal Reflection of my Childhood Learning

And while I know this information now, I did not always understand the need for content area and disciplinary literacy. Therefore, I decided to reflect on my literacy teacher’s journey, and I invite you to think about what you remember about your journey, too. For instance, did you listen to someone read to you? Did you tell your own story to go with the illustrations in a picture book? Did you sing the alphabet and then match sounds with letters representing that sound? A healthy balance of these actions develops decoding and comprehension proficiency in the primary grades.

I learned about purposeful reading in the upper elementary grades—for entertainment or information. The text changed format, and its complexity grew. The way I read changed depending on what I was reading. My teachers modeled reading strategies for learning key vocabulary terms and for remembering complex concepts. Some teachers modeled unique practices specific to the discipline.

Personal Reflection as a Teacher Educator

Moving forward in my reflection, I reminisce about my teacher-educator experiences and consider the necessity of blending content area and disciplinary literacy so that all students can engage with their learning.

For almost ten years, I taught a required literacy recertification course, Content Area Literacy for Middle and High School Teachers. Ironically, I was also teaching college students who had graduated from high school and were underprepared for English Composition or College Algebra. I found myself working to develop literacy proficiency from two perspectives. It was enlightening. My college students demonstrated a lack of basic comprehension of text (content-area literacy); my in-service teachers taught through PowerPoint presentations, not expecting students to engage in a wide variety of complex text or purposeful learning that is part of the discipline (disciplinary literacy). Their students were graduating with the information teachers had vetted, not the ability to acquire and construct information independently.

About partway through those years, I became acutely aware that my teachers’ course was too focused on content-area literacy and not giving disciplinary literacy the attention it deserved. I had begun searching for a new textbook; the recent publications no longer used the two terms synonymously. My approach to content area reading and writing needed to make this change also. I began to differentiate content area literacy from disciplinary literacy with my in-service teachers while maintaining a blended approach using both. At the same time, my college expected me to teach integrated reading and writing to my underprepared college students as preparation for the discipline-specific texts they would encounter in their programs of study. I needed to blend the reading process, the writing process, content area literacy, and disciplinary literacy into an instructional model for constructing meaning from a wide variety of texts, both print and nonprint, for a wide variety of disciplines.

Disciplinary Literacy in Action

It appeared to me that many of my college students lacked the background knowledge and prior experiences to approach complex, disciplinary texts. We used class time for discussions, building shared knowledge to attack complex text. I layered key terms onto students’ vocabulary as they “read” images and other appropriate nonprint texts I had curated to elicit discussion. I guided their responses with open-ended questions, urging students to view the topic as an expert: Who might use this information? For what purposes?

Our primary reading source was an anthology of disciplinary texts: art, chemistry, history, psychology, biology, and literature. Students could apply content-area strategies while reading independently to grasp the general understanding of what they were reading. They discovered that reading diagrams was important in chemistry, timelines in history, examples or case studies in psychology, figurative language in literature, and images in art. Each discipline also carried its own key terms; familiar words took on new meanings appropriate to the discipline.

Responding to the text in each discipline became more than a test or writing a summary. Again, I used an open-ended question to guide students’ responses; what will you do with your new knowledge? Their thoughts, connections, and curiosities provided opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of real-world situations. According to Angela M. Banks, a doctoral student at Central Connecticut University, reading proficiency and disciplinary knowledge go beyond comprehension; they require complex skills: analysis, synthesis, organization, and evaluation (2024.) These skills are evidence of disciplinary literacy.

The Takeaway

My “underprepared” college students may have missed the high school experience of engaging in disciplinary literacy across their classrooms. They may or may not have been using content-area literacy strategies to gain a general understanding of a text. However, my class taught them how to blend the two to be more proficient college readers and writers. Providing this experience prepared them to construct meaningful information through complex text. Content-area literacy doesn’t end as disciplinary literacy begins; it blends into disciplinary literacy as students build competence and confidence to think like an expert.

Because the term disciplinary literacy is ever-evolving, I encourage you to return often to LiD’s blog as its writers continue to explore disciplinary literacy and what it looks like in the required and elective courses that students are choosing.

For additional information on the difference between CAL and DL, I refer you to

What Is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Is It Important? Carnegie Learning. https://www.carnegielearning.com/blog/what-is-disciplinary-literacy/#:~:text=Disciplinary%20literacy%20is%20about%20reading,in%20important%20ways%20for%20students.

Shanahan on Literacy, https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/disciplinary-literacy-the-basics

Reference

Banks, A.M. (2024). Training Secondary Teachers in Content-Disciplinary Literacy: A Blended Model for Meeting the Literacy Needs of Students in the Secondary Classroom. https://www.proquest.com/openview/da444e8e3146381b5d090c2338ae4a2c/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar

About the Author

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png

After over 20 years in higher education, Charlene Aldrich officially retired in 2024. She remains connected to the literacy community through Literacy in the Disciplines, 6-12; she spends her spare time at Pet Helpers in Charleston, SC, a no-kill shelter for fostering and adopting dogs, cats, and small animals.