Adolescents are reading and writing more than at any time in history. Text messages, instant messages, blogs, and social network pages are examples of the reading and writing that students engage in daily, much of it outside of the classroom.
However, many students have difficulty comprehending what they read in school. School reading requires an element not seen in most social forms of text, and that is critical thinking. Just because a student can read something, does not mean they have the ability to process that reading. Unfortunately, students often do not receive necessary supports for understanding academic texts. This can leave them frustrated, unmotivated, and unable to understand the required material.
"Content Area Reading" and "Content Area Writing" offer strategies for improving literacy in the classroom. The authors note that "Every teacher is a teacher of reading." Until reading these chapters, I assumed my role was to simply teach science. However, it is apparent now that reading support will benefit all of my students. The words in a science textbook are meaningless to a student who does not know the meaning of the vocabulary used. Especially in the science field, vocabulary building will be essential if students are to gain meaning from assigned reading.
Up to this point in the Teacher Education program, we have focused mostly on theory. I am looking forward to the opportunity to dig in deeper and apply these theories over the semester. The first chapters of these textbooks do not offer any specific strategies for improving literacy in adolescents. However, they offer a pretty effective hook for reading further into the matter.
