Disciplinary Literacy Is Easier When Using a Resource that Supports Content Area Literacy
By Wendi Vogel, Kent ISD Science Consultant and Disciplinary Literacy Task Force Member Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction in the Secondary Classroom: Grades 6 to 12 focus on literacy in the content area. This brings up a lot of questions around how teachers all over the state might access resources that already utilize Disciplinary Literacy Essentials (DLE) instructional practices in an equitable manner. Then, thinking from a system's lens, how does a district provide this opportunity for each teacher in grades 6-12? Nationwide, there are science education researchers, classroom teachers, and science education specialists using grant funds to develop Open Education Resources (OERs) . These resources focus on phenomenon or problem based learning, which is DLE #1. An entire science unit is written around a phenomenon or problem students will make sense of and be able to explain at a more sophisticated level over time. Some examples from these units include,