Latina middle school student holding up her poster on biodiversity

Content-Area Literacy

Students will need advanced literacy skills — the ability to understand and analyze a variety of texts and to write and communicate persuasively — to succeed in life after high school. The articles in this section will help teachers in the academic subject areas integrate literacy instruction into their practice.

Multicultural teacher discussing reading with two high school students

Featured Article

Previewing Texts in Content Classrooms

Textbook previewing strategies focus not only on the structure of the text (such as the table of contents, index, chapter introductions), but on a content overview — looking closely at the concepts and questions covered in the chapter and their interrelationships.

Multicultural high school students in Real World History discussion on Selma

Featured Video

Real World History

Real World History — a high school history class offered through DC public schools — invites students to develop their skills as historians as they study the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural south to big cities such as Detroit, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Videos

Thinking like an historian
This Washington, DC high school history class frames history as an argument about the past, teaching students to think like historians — in this study of America’s Great Migration.

Using multiple sources of information
Watch as this 11th grade history teacher orients her students to the vast array of materials on the Civil War, including images, maps, and texts. Next, students use graphic organizers to help navigate the written texts.

Identifying key ideas and supporting details
These 6th grade students work on their own and with partners to navigate a text about Ancient Egypt. The teacher helps her students to identify key ideas, discuss details, and draw inferences from what they’re read.

Classroom Strategies

Articles

Content-Area Literacy

Reading (and Scaffolding) Narrative Texts

Students need to learn the purposes and methods of narration in order to understand the narrative framework and to eliminate frustration when they read.

Blog Posts

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

Does text structure instruction improve reading comprehension?

Meta-analyses indicate that it is effective to teach kids about multiple text structures, and that text structure instruction is particularly potent when writing, graphic organizers, and guidance on watching for “clue words” are included.

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

How to Improve Text Fluency in the Middle Schools and High Schools

Schools should provide students with up to 30 minutes a day of fluency instruction. But remember, this is across all classes and content areas. Get quick tips on paired reading, repeated reading, and other ways to improve reading fluency.

Research, Reports & Guides

What Is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Does It Matter?
Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy
Disciplinary Literacy Strategies in Content Area Classes

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