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Running head: REFLECTION MODULE 1

Written Reflection Module 1

Daniel Peña

Arizona State University

RDG 323

Nicole Trombley

RDG Portfolio Reflection 1

November 8, 2020
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REFLECTION MODULE 1

Written Reflection Module 1

Disciplinary literacy focuses on the “how” of reading and writing used and “emphasizes

the unique tools that the experts in a discipline use to participate in the work of that discipline”

(Ramona, 2015, p. 2). Disciplinary literacy allows us and our students to delve into a deeper

understanding of a specific content. Each discipline has its own unique strategies and ways of

understanding and teaching/helping our students to develop their literacy skills is crucial for

students to grow in skills and abilities to apply the necessary knowledge in their disciplines to

breakdown what is being asked of them and be able to fully process any new meanings given to

them.

Literacy in the 21st Century

As our world evolves and “society and technology change, so does literacy. The world

demands that a literate person possess and intentionally apply a wide range of skills,

competencies, and dispositions.” (NCTE, 2019). Just as we continue to develop different types of

technology and even adapt our ways of teaching with how society changes and evolves, we must

also help others understand them. Not only do we need to use technology as it has been shows to

be extremely beneficial and we need to align our teaching with new ideas and tools to benefit our

students, we also need to be able to understand its “language”. Technology needs a certain level

of understanding, just as we need to learn new tools, we must first learn its “language” the

literacy in a digital age. Being able to do so will allows us to see when a certain tool can be best

assisted in a lesson, or when a lecture of subject can be expressed much more effectively through

technology and tech tools. In this digital age “todays literacy demands have implications for how

teachers plan, model, support, and assess student learning.” (NCTE, 2019) and so how our world

has evolved into this now digital age, and will continue to evolve, literacy will follow along.
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Disciplinary Literacy

It is crucial that students learn specific literacy practices in each discipline as each

discipline is unique in its approach of learning and understanding. Both content area literacy and

disciplinary literacy should go hand in hand and be used together, but while content areal literacy

techniques can be taught throughout all subjects and generalize strategies that can be applied to

all subjects effectively disciplinary literacy takes it a step further and deals with the uniqueness

of each content are/discipline.

Throughout our educational career we are taught content area literacy and strategies that

can be applied throughout our disciplines but it becomes necessary to teach our students more in

depth strategies in order to be able to see the discipline in a new way so that they can reach an

understanding in a specific subject that will provide them inside knowledge to what context is

being given in the discipline as well as what unique meaning something has compared to any

other discipline. For example, a great comparison is between English and Math in the sense that

words, terms, and even symbols will have very different meanings in regard to the context they

are in. Words learned in the English language with specific definitions have a “math definition”

where a word inserted into a math problem can apply that there is an operation needed to be

performed or depending on the way it is written can change the definition slightly to imply a

different meaning and change your way of approach ( Stevens, 2017).

Just like we learn so many beliefs and values and follow rules throughout our lives, they

apply to everything else we do. We become who we are and apply lessons we’ve learned in our

lives to everything else we experience, but once we start taking on new task, learning new jobs,

we need to learn specific ideas and regulations or the vocabulary of the job specific to it. Just like

each job has its own way of talking, how different occupations know their ways of approach
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when compared to ours, we must learn specifically ties strategies unique to disciplines so our

students can benefit the most out of the knowledge presented and learned throughout.

Diverse Learners and Equity

Ultimately this leads us to the ways our students learn and the equity of education. Much

like mentioned before every place has its unique properties that apply to one subject, concept, or

position in this world. Everyone’s experience is completely diverse whether it be due to the way

we were raised, beliefs and views expressed onto us, cultural influences, struggles, challenges

experienced, etc. we all have a different background meaning we all learn differently and see

everything in different ways. This has to be taken into consideration as now we can not just

prepare our teaching for one specific “demographic” our audience is not just this one type cookie

cutter audience and so our lessons, our strategies cannot cater to just one and be one sided.

Something as simple to clearly express this are the types of learners, should we get a

room full of visual learners and we chose to cater our lesson to auditory learners, the

effectiveness of our lesson has dropped significantly. So just as we need to take this into

consideration at a base level, we must also see that our lessons have to drastically change from a

cookie cutter format and present options and ways of expression to be able to effectively provide

our students with quality education.

Conclusion

Overall, there are many aspects to a student’s education and understanding. Just like

every student is unique in the way they express themselves and the way they learn, just like our

students change throughout the school year, so must our way of teaching. As our class evolves,

as society evolves, as technology evolves, we must too and admit that we will always be learners

as well.
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References

Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age. (2019, November 7). NCTE.

https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/

Ramona C., Theodore, K. (2015) Teaching Content Area Literacy and Disciplinary Literacy.

SEDL Insights Vol. 3, No. 1

Sedita, J. (2015, April 21). What is Disciplinary Literacy? Keys to Literacy.

https://keystoliteracy.com/blog/disciplinary-literacy/

Stevens, D., [CDoerrStevens]. (2017, February 07). Content Area Literacy vs Disciplinary

Literacy Minilecture [Video]. YouTube.