Content Area Reading and Writing: Fostering Literacies in Middle and High School Cultures (2nd Edition)

Through this strategy-driven, theory-based book, content-area teachers gain a thorough understanding of the fundamental role that reading and writing play in content-area learning. Unique to this book is the attention paid to helping teachers understand how the high school cultures students belong to affect their view of literacy and learning. This book presents a diagnostic perspective on teaching—encourages future teachers to examine students' performance/work on an individual basis—helps teachers see how each student's culture, background, personality, and prior knowledge inform his or her learning and suggests "best practice" for that particular learner. The author offers step-by-step approaches to gauge student literacy, build vocabulary, and implement instruction that improves comprehension, encourages critical reading, supports writing for learning, and facilitates collaboration for literacy development. Content includes research-based review of writing and numerous writing strategies; research-based overview of motivation for literacy in the content areas; and features a full range of plans to get beginning teachers off to a "good start" by showing how to create a cohesive methodology that aligns state standards with integrated strategy instruction and authentic assessment. For future middle and high school educators.