RESEARCH

Lenski, S. (2011). What RTI Means for Content Area Teachers. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(4), 276-282.

Abstract: This article talks about the RTI (Response to Intervention) legislation and the role it plays in secondary schools. It discusses how content-area teachers should not be teaching their students how to read, but supporting the literacy development of students with respect to their specific content area. This article talks about the need for students to be given the opportunity to struggle through texts, but supplied with the tools to do so successfully. Students need to be taught content-area specific reading strategies. It discusses the need for content-area teachers and literacy teachers to work together so that work in one class supports the other.

Shanahan, T., Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1). Retrieved from www.uww.edu

Abstract: This article discusses the idea that when students have mastered the basics of literacy, these skills will automatically transform into the complex skills needed to be literate in higher education. It talks about the increasing demand for a literate workforce, yet the decreasing (or at least stagnant) literacy levels in students our country is producing. This article discusses a study done investigating reading strategies within different disciplines, and ways to reinforce these in students.

Spitler, E. (2011). From Resistance to Advocacy for Math Literacy: One Teacher's Literacy Identity Transformation. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(4), 306-315.

Abstract: This article discusses how changing teacher literacy identity effects how teachers view literacy in their classrooms. Spitler details the experience of one of her students, a preservice math teacher, who was very resistant to the idea of literacy in math class at first, but evolved into an advocate for it. Spitler supports her student's experiences and insights with additional research and thoughts on the importance of literacy. 

These articles provided a good insight to me as a preservice math teacher. I admittedly have resonated with the preservice math teacher discussed in Spitler's article. At first, I was also under the impression that literacy did not apply so strongly in a math classroom. I have been reevaluating my thinking on that, and when reading these articles it was nice to read about how literacy has successfully been supported in mathematics teaching. Really, to teach math really well, literacy is key. The reading and writing in math thoughts I shared in my previous post are definitely a part of literacy in math, but there is even more to it. Students need to be taught more specific skills for reading and writing math, such as the implication words like "a" and "the."