Reading critically involves examining the language choices authors make to "get the job done" -- in other words, to communicate effectively in specific ways with particular audiences. Not all students in middle and high school intuit this type of reading and may experience challenges when they go to write for academic purposes. Their…

Writing is the ability to compose text effectively for different purposes and audiences. When many of us reflect on our own school experiences, we recall writing in English and history classes, but not in mathematics. Math classes previously relied on skill-building and conceptual understanding activities. Today, teachers are realizing that…

Collaborative learning strategies can improve the learning of subject matter in content area classrooms, but they are only one aspect among many that influence how much learning will take place in a class period. The Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA) is an effective teaching/learning strategy to use with content area material. Much of the…

This book is a story for and by real teachers. In the book, two seasoned veterans recount their 23-year collaboration to find ways to help students improve learning in their content area subjects. Over the years, the book explains, the two educators have developed a host of practical activities and strategies to infuse the processes of learning…

Addressing the concern that writing assignments are used only for recording or relating information, a program called "Writing in Content Areas" has been developed in Minnesota to help students and teachers use writing as a tool for learning. Students are encouraged to use expressive writing for working out ideas, relationships, understandings,…

Two studies examined the effects of writing on subject learning. For the first study, 322 ninth and eleventh grade students read passages from high school social studies and science texts and engaged in six writing-to-study conditions. Students who wrote essays scored lower on immediate topic knowledge posttests, while the students who used study…

Intended for use in undergraduate or postbaccalaureate teacher preparation programs, during staff development activities, and in introductory graduate teacher education courses, this book introduces K-12 teachers to the topic of helping students use reading and writing as tools for learning. This third edition retains features of earlier…

Urges history teachers to be more cognizant of the methods involved in the writing-across-the-curriculum movement. Suggests that these methods could provide students with the opportunity to learn history independently. Outlines the steps taken to implement these methods. (KO)

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes five situations where writing and speaking experiences are used as a way to learn subject matter. The first section of the booklet describes the learning that takes place in the home, where writing and…

Noting that the principles of writing process instruction typically offered to elementary teachers are less readily adaptable to intermediate classrooms emphasizing content area learning rather than basic skills, this paper explores two key themes important to the successful implementation of writing process instruction: (1) teachers' needs to…

Intended for teachers of grades 7-16, this book discusses "heuristic" writing--writing that produces new, irreversible knowledge for the writer leading to a fuller understanding of the self and of the act of writing--as well as principles and practices having direct implications for a wide range of students. Chapter 1 examines the…

Written by teachers for teachers, this book on language in the classroom is concerned with the various ways children are taught and the various ways they learn in response to that teaching. Chapter 1 analyzes the prewriting discussion of a group of 16 year olds to provide a model of language in use, and suggests four factors affecting the quality…

Literacy strategies useful in the adult education classroom were presented at a faculty professional development workshop. Literacy was described as a two-part process that included receptive (involving listening and reading) and expressive (involving speaking and writing). Content area was described as the focus of adult education literacy with…