Disciplinary Literacy 1

Patrick Nobby

Philosophy of Disciplinary Literacy

11/21/20

Arizona State University

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To be literate in modern secondary education of course follows the classical definition of

knowing how to read and being capable of comprehending what was read. However, the ideas of

disciplinary literacy move beyond that simple definition in scope to apply to something of a

student’s abilities within the content area discussed. I have long been an advocate of students

learning more life-applicable skills from their school courses rather than just focusing on content.

I don’t quite care that my students remember the dates of the Civil War, but I do want them to be

able to critically analyze a source of information in the news one day. Content area literacy takes

this general idea of learning skills and creates lessons in which students apply differing ways of

reading and analyzing to content-specific sources. From the International Literacy Association,

“under a content area literacy approach, students learn reading and writing processes that are

common across disciplines. As part of content area literacy instruction, teachers explicitly model

these processes, then provide opportunities for students to practice them independently and in

small groups. This approach is based on the assumption that when students apply strategies for

reading and writing challenging texts, they can more fully learn from and create texts in each

discipline” (International). By learning the skills contained within the facets of disciplinary

literacy, students will be far better prepared for life outside the classroom, as it will give them the

ability to interpret information far more effectively and increase their abilities in comprehension

and communication. So we have to ask the question, what exactly does it mean to be literate

within my subject field, social studies and history?

“If we want students to learn biology, why not teach them to think, read and write like

biologists? If we want them to learn history, shouldn’t they learn to think, read and write like

historians” (Beerer)? If we want students to use their learned skills from school in their real life,

why not teach them what they will actually be able to use? To become literate in the field of
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history and social studies means to be able to use reading comprehension skills and analysis on

resources to be able to interpret their meaning and apply them with their own interpretation to a

given task or assignment. Students need to reach at least an intermediate level with these content-

specific fields as it will serve them well later in life. “Literacy instruction that fully prepares

students for college, careers, and adult life also includes a focus on the more specialized literacy

skills of each discipline” (Beerer).

Other disciplines are of course capable of being input in the curriculum of our own, and in

fact such an approach can be decisively better than one subject alone. “Boser and Gallo ( 1995 )

argued that interdisciplinary instruction “provides students with ways of linking ideas and

information” across the content areas in order to promote higher level thinking among students at

all levels of education” (Hill). Allowing students to work with more than one subject field at

once can help the goal of creating content field skills.

Now in working with students who require different forms of differentiation within the

classroom or with school work, the process of instilling these content skills can of course become

more difficult, but are still doable and just as worthwhile. “Working with disability requires

honoring the most efficient way for each student to operate, rather than requiring them to operate

in ways that approximate their nondisabled peers” (Collins). We are already going to expect

students to be hitting different benchmarks what with an approach to content area literacy, so

what is just a little more differentiation? The quote given reflects the most current attitude

towards special education, in which we must work with students and not always hold them to the

same level as their peers. The mindset of No Child Left Behind is being somewhat left behind

itself now. So in working with IEPs, 504s, or other forms of documents necessitating
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differentiation, it should be even easier than before. We must do our best to accommodate, and

content area literacy seems to be a model built for such a thing.

As for my own learning in this class, I am extremely thankful to have gone through it as it

has given me a much better perspective on the ways in which I teach. Given my own experience

in school, I often forget that my students will struggle with things that I never did, up to and

including their inability to simply understand some of the things I will teach them. Learning

about literacy in the way this class forces us to do has put that into perspective, and given me

some great tools to help combat those issues within my classroom. Also, I have long held the

thought that we teach something beyond the content we are in, that we teach actual life skills and

things our students will need later on, just taught through our content, using it as a vehicle. This

class has reinforced that belief and given me much more concrete language to use when

referencing it. As for how we have been doing in group work throughout the semester, it has

gone fairly smoothly. The largest project that occurred as such was of course the

Interdisciplinary Digital Exploration Project that I did with Aubrey Means. It was quite honestly

my favorite project that I have done through all of my years in university. It had a direct link to

my current work, and I was able to do it one a subject that is one of my personal favorites to

study, that being the history of the English Language. The concept as a whole, that of an

interdisciplinary project, is one that I am grateful to have learned about, and is one that I fully

intend on using within my own practice. Overall, the course was exceedingly useful, and one I

am grateful to have taken.

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Citations

Beerer, Karen. “Disciplinary Literacy: Helping Students Develop Insider Knowledge.”

Discovery Education, 30 Sept. 2019, www.discoveryeducation.com/details/disciplinary-

literacy-helping-students-develop-insider-knowledge/.

Collins, K., & Ferri, B. (2016). Literacy Education and Disability Studies: Reenvisioning Struggling

Students. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(1), 7-12. Retrieved November 24, 2020,

from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44011343

Hill, A. (2014). Using Interdisciplinary, Project-Based, Multimodal Activities to Facilitate Literacy

Across the Content Areas. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(6), 450-460. Retrieved

November 24, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24034344

International Literacy Association. (2017). Content area and disciplinary literacy: Strategies and

frameworks [Literacy leadership brief]. Newark, DE: Author.