Content area literacy includes specific reading, writing, speaking and listening competencies that move beyond writing essays and memorizing vocabulary. Effective teaching embeds close reading, note taking, summarizing, synthesizing, disciplinary language acquisition, and deep knowledge of informational and argument text structures. Additionally, students need to notice what to “read” in a variety of text structures: maps, graphs, lists, images, infographic, advertisements, and media.
Purpose: These working sessions include instructions, practice, and models and supports teaching teams as they build language acquisition strategies into content area standards. Focus: Understand and implement language acquisition through the text and task selected to support content area standards.