Content Area Literacy
In 1925, the reading scholar Dr. William S. Gray introduced teachers to the concept of
Content Area Literacy, or "reading to learn" in all content areas:
"
[Reading] is essential in every content subject, such as history, geography, arithmetic, science, and literature. In fact, rapid progress in these subjects depends in a large degree on the ability of pupils to read independently and intelligently.
"
Research by Thorndike (1916) and Betts (1948) led to a widely accepted classification system used to determine whether students have the skills to understand and absorb content area concepts through independent reading. To summarize, there are three levels of reader;
Independent
,
Instructional
, and
Frustration
.
Unfortunately, reading levels measured in schools place a large percentage of students in the Frustration Level reader category. All students need to become at least Instructional Level readers to experience success in their studies, and many schools don't have the time or resources to devote to the vocabulary development that will lead to this improvement.
What's a mother to do? Tune in next week and I'll tell you! By the way, Dr. Gray was the co-author of many Dick and Jane books!
Morpheme of the week:
The root FAC
Enjoy this brief video that comes directly from WordBuild Elements Level 1.
We're in Arlington Texas at the Texas Home School Coalition conference right now. Please drop by booth #126 and say hello! I'll be giving a presentation on teaching vocabulary at home at 4:15 on Friday in room M-9.
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Jerry Bailey
President & CEO
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