Tech Desk is designed to assist teachers in the implementation of technology in order to enhance instruction and improve student achievement.
We know that part of college and career readiness requires a solid foundation in a variety of digital tools and a deep understanding of digital citizenship.
LiteracyTA Process
The LiteracyTA Process focuses on three key elements of effective literacy instruction:
- Assessing
- Planning
- Implementing
For each step in the process, we provide a practical methodology that content area teachers could use to teach literacy strategies. The
LiteracyTA Process is specifically designed to enhance instruction and increase students’ ability to read, write, and speak with
greater proficiency. There is a unique “Process” for each literacy strategy.
What is meant by "skill-based" instruction? Teachers who deliver skill-based instruction use content as a way to teach reading, writing, and speaking in a discipline. For students
learning in this academic environment, content knowledge is gained through the application of various literacy skills. To learn more about skill-based instruction or how to
vertically align skills in a department or across a school, click on "SI."
We believe that there are seven critical skills that students must develop in order to be successful in school and at work. We call these skills the Seven Competencies or "7Cs." We have created a matrix that connects the literacy skills we offer to the seven student competencies our students should develop. Click on "7Cs" to view the matrix.
Reading Game Board
The goal of the Game Board is to provide an effective sequence (or path) that teachers can follow in order to: (1) expose students to sound literacy strategies; and (2) deliver effective literacy instruction.
Game Board
ESL/ELD Game Board
Reading
There is a great need for explicit reading instruction in secondary (and post-secondary) education. When considering the types of academic tasks
that students will need to complete throughout their education, and considering the types of reading and writing tasks they will be asked to do
at work, it becomes clear that our students must develop the ability to read with high levels of proficiency in order to succeed in academic and
professional environments.
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In secondary and post-secondary education, students read a variety of challenging texts and are expected to understand what they read in a short
amount of time. Once a reading is complete, students are asked to take a test or write a take-home or in-class paper. The demands from the workplace
present similar challenges. In various professional fields, employees are expected to quickly read and process dense texts and be able to do something
with what they have read. It is not uncommon for working professionals to interpret data, summarize reports, and analyze ideas presented in texts.
This section of skills, therefore, will focus on reading strategies. Middle and high school students must learn what it means to scan for
information in a text and how to read deeply. As students progress through school, they will need to move beyond simple comprehension of texts
(that is, understanding what they have read and articulating the main points) to analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting ideas in a text. Students
will need to know how authors construct meaning and how texts are related to the historical, social, and rhetorical contexts in which they are
written. Students will also need to learn how to read and utilize a variety of reading strategies independently. As students get older, they are
expected to read on their own and work through challenging texts with little to no support. Reading tasks increase in length and fewer days are
given to complete the reading assignment. So how can students read more challenging texts in a shorter amount of time with no support? It's simple:
they can't unless they master a handful of critical reading strategies.
We know that proficient readers have a strong knowledge of reading strategies and that they use them strategically. The first step toward developing
our students into proficient readers begins with the explicit instruction of reading strategies. We must teach them how to use a reading strategy,
when to use it, and why it should be used. As part of the process, we must create opportunities for students to rehearse and talk about the skills
they are learning. This section focuses on five essential reading skills that students can use throughout their education and into their careers.
Speaking
Students must learn how to engage in meaningful discourse. At times, this discourse can be informal like during a Pair-Share activity, and other times
students can engage in Socratic seminar where the conversations tend to be more formalized and structured. Both types of speaking experiences are useful
for our students.
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Collaborative learning environments support the learning process while emphasizing the value of shared ideas. Students need multiple opportunities
a class period to speak in small and large groups. Allowing students to talk about their learning gives them time to process new knowledge, teaches
them how to listen and respond to what others say, and supports the various language needs in our classrooms.
An easy way to create a student-centered classroom is to develop and facilitate lots of group activities. When the responsibility of thinking and
learning is given to the students, they become more engaged in the learning process and are able to think about and apply critical concepts with
greater proficiency.
Writing
There are a number of professional organizations, programs, and communities (like WID, WAC, ATD, and the National Writing Project to name a few) that
research writing across disciplines in order to learn how writing is done in a discipline and how writing can be used to improve student learning (e.g.,
"Writing to Learn" strategies). From their research, and the work of other teachers of writing, we know that writing is a complex skill that requires a
deep knowledge of grammar and language specific to a discipline and the ability to respond appropriately to an endless number of writing situations.
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English teachers cannot adequately prepare students for the multitude of writing tasks that our students will face in school and at work. This
cannot be the English teachers burden. In order to help students become competent writers, content area teachers must teach the values, conventions,
and expectations of their disciplines.
Consider this: Scientists do not write five-paragraph style analysis essays. They do not accept opinion over fact. Scientists honor hypotheses, data,
and experimentation. In science, information is delivered in very specific ways. Text structure is predictable and language is concise. The social
sciences have another set of values and expectations. Although research is honored by both the science and social sciences, the types of research and
how that research is discussed is quite different. For instance, social scientists analyze arguments (both written or spoken), evaluate events in
history, and interpret visual sources like maps, photographs, and charts. Here, primary sources are accepted and secondary sources are treated with
skepticism.
From contrasting these two disciplines, it becomes clear how different writing tasks can be for our young learners. To best ready our students for
college and professional level writing, we must engage students in various writing tasks where students learn how to write for multiple purposes and
audiences. To be successful, a student must understand how to appropriately respond to any writing situation or task.
Although it is beyond the scope of this project to teach every conceivable type of writing that happens in a discipline, we do offer a set of
universal skills that all content area teachers should use to support students as they learn how to write academically. These skills include: 1)
analyzing a prompt; 2) utilizing a writing process; 3) summarizing source material; 4) incorporating source material into original papers; and 5)
processing new knowledge through writing.
