This presentation discusses disciplinary literacy and how to teach reading strategies in different content areas like science. Disciplinary literacy is important because each subject has its own reading and thinking processes. The presentation provides strategies teachers can use, such as activating background knowledge and determining importance. It also discusses using text sets with varying difficulty levels and digital tools to support disciplinary literacy. The goal is for students to learn specialized skills needed to be successful in each discipline.

1. Looking
Through
the Lens of
Science
Disciplinary
Literacy
Presentation
Kelsey Ernst
Reading 622

2. To
How can teachers make a “bond” between
science and reading in the classroom?
• Activating and Building Background
Knowledge
• Asking Questions
• Inferring to Draw Conclusions
• Determining Importance
• Monitoring Comprehension
• Rereading to Repair Meaning
• Synthesizing and Extending Thinking
(Tovani, 2012)

3. Disciplinary Literacy
Why is
Disciplinary
Literacy
necessary?

4. What do the EXPERTS have to say about DL?
Cris Tovani
“We all have things in common as teachers, no matter what subject we teach. But I’m also
finding that teachers of different contents read their texts differently.” (Tovani, 2004, p. 27)
Timothy Shanahan
“Disciplinary literacy is more aimed at what we teach (which would include how to read and
use information like a scientist), than how we teach (such as how can students read the history
book well enough to pass the test).” (T. Shanahan, 2012)
Thomas DeVere Wosley & Diane Lapp
As a result, the way literacy informs and is informed by the disciplines has unique qualities to a
mathematician, a social scientist, an author of fiction, an artist, or an athlete.” (Wosley and
Lapp, 2017, p. 10)

5. Disciplinary Literacy is
necessary because…
• Each discipline has different
reading and thinking processes.
• Specialized texts require
specialized skills.
• Students need these skills to be
successful in real world
situations.
• They challenge students to think
about texts in different ways
and form personal views.

6. Progression to Disciplinary Literacy
Disciplinary Literacy
-Middle and high school
grades learn reading skills
related to the different
content areas.
Intermediate Literacy
-Upper elementary grades
improve reading fluency,
expand vocabularies,
exposure to advanced
texts.
Basic Literacy
-Primary grades build
foundational skills for
reading and writing.
(Buehl, 2008, p. 11-15)

7. Common Core State Standards
EXAMPLE:
Science (Grades 6-8)
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4
Determine the meaning of symbols, key
terms, and other domain-specific words
and phrases as they are used in a
specific scientific or technical context
relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.
Purpose: Shows teachers learning goals for the different disciplines, while at the
same time preparing students to be college ready readers equipped with skills
necessary to make them successful.

8. tekhnologic
SPIN!
Text sets should _________________.
…include a variety of different texts with varying
levels of difficulty.
….catch the interest of students and give several
means for acquiring information.
…help students practice reading strategies and
learn content information.

9. DL Vocabulary Key Ideas
1. Students need help learning tier III words, which are words found
far less frequently in a text and are usually discipline specific.
2. In order to teach vocabulary, you should have the following:
• Vocabulary Rich Environments
• Purposeful Instruction with Individual terms
• Instruction and Mastery of Word-Learning Strategies
• Polysemy
• Word Consciousness
• Word Walls
3. Think alouds can be useful to teach vocabulary. (Wosley & Lapp, 2017)

10. DL Strategy Example #1 with CCSS
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.5
Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including
relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).
A great resource to teach this skill would be to use a science dictionary. I found
this chart on Teachers Pay Teachers that could be glued into a science journal.

11. DL Strategy Example #2 with CCSS
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.7
Translate quantitative or
technical information
expressed in words in a text
into visual form (e.g., a table
or chart) and translate
information expressed visually
or mathematically (e.g., in an
equation) into words.
• In order to successfully use
this strategy, students must
understand the vocabulary
involved.

12. Link to DL Vocabulary Outside Resource
• https://dpi.wi.gov/science/disciplinary-literacy/vocabulary

13. Digital Tools to Support DL

14. Summary/Take Away Message
Disciplinary literacy is learning to read in a specific
content area. Content and lessons must align with
common core standards, use a variety of
materials, and teach strategies and skills specific
to the disciplines. Digital tools can be a useful
resource for teachers and students when teaching
disciplinary literacy.

15. Citations• Shanahan, T. (2012, January 12). Disciplinary Literacy is NOT the New Name for Content Area
Reading [Web log post]. Retrieved July 25, 2018, from
http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/disciplinary-literacy-is-not-the-new-name-for-content-
area-reading#sthash.CJa2XnEa.dpbs
• Tovani, C. (2004). Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?: Content Comprehension , Grades 6-12.
Moorabbin, Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education.
• Wolsey, T. D., & Lapp, D. (2017). Literacy in the Disciplines: A Teacher’s Guide for Grades 5-12. New
York: The Guilford Press.
• Shanahan, T., & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking
Content Area Literacy. Harvard Educational Review.
http://www.eoc.sc.gov/Information%20for%20Educators/Everything%20You%20Wanted%20to%2
0Know%20About%20Reading/Teaching%20Disciplinary%20Literacy%20Shanahan%202008%20co
py.pdf
• Tovani, C. (2012). Breakout Sessions with Cris Tovani. Comprehension X3 Summer Institute:
Denver CO. http://stephanieharvey.com/sites/default/files/CT%20Afternoon%20Breakout.pdf
• Buehl, D. (2011) Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines. International Reading
Association.
http://sites.uci.edu/teachadlit/files/2013/10/2_Mentoring_students_disciplinary_literacy_Buehl_
30_pages.pdf
• National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers
Title: Common Core State Standards. Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best
Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington D.C. Copyright Date: 2010