Content Area Literacy Philosophy
Philosophy Essay
I was a terrible reader and writer. I stumbled my way through most of my public education honors English courses and never fully grasped how to read and write fluently. Even to this day, I fear reading long passages or writing large papers. However, life has taught me a very important lesson. That is, that life involves an impressive amount of literacy. This direct connection between the real world and literacy is the single most important aspect of this paper surrounding content area literacy.
Content area literacy can be easily defined by breaking the phrase into to parts. “Content area” meaning a subject like mathematical sciences and the content in such subjects. Literacy is simply the ability to read and write. Thus, …show more content…
My specialty is in solving math problems and manipulating numbers. Reading is the last thing I relate to math. However, just because my education portrayed these two topics as separate, that doesn’t mean they should remain so. In all actuality, there are benefits from connecting the two. An idea from the book that supports this claim is that the time a student spends on reading and writing, in relation to connected texts, increases their word knowledge, fluency and comprehension (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. 22). In focusing on the latter from the list, comprehension is critically important in all subjects. A student can not be expected to solve a math problem when they can’t even comprehend the directions or the vocabulary. This problem is inherent in every class. The solution is to teach and develop content area literacy. In doing so, students learn how to identify and discuss difficult concepts. They can ask better questions to help them discover misconception. Finally, knowledge that is constructed from multiple sources and experiences is the most powerful and lasting way to teach (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. …show more content…
The first strategy I am going to use in my future class is using word problems to teach literacy. This is one of the areas of math that has a direct relation to reading and interpreting. Nested within word problems are samples of the somewhat unique vocabulary that mathematicians use. Unpackaging phrases is the key to solving the problem. I believe that using this strategy, students of all learning ability can improve their math and reading skills. Working in groups is one way to differentiate this strategy for all learns as it utilizes advanced thinking strategies (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. 181). More advanced students would have an opportunity to write their own word problems for an even great challenge and learning
I was a terrible reader and writer. I stumbled my way through most of my public education honors English courses and never fully grasped how to read and write fluently. Even to this day, I fear reading long passages or writing large papers. However, life has taught me a very important lesson. That is, that life involves an impressive amount of literacy. This direct connection between the real world and literacy is the single most important aspect of this paper surrounding content area literacy.
Content area literacy can be easily defined by breaking the phrase into to parts. “Content area” meaning a subject like mathematical sciences and the content in such subjects. Literacy is simply the ability to read and write. Thus, …show more content…
My specialty is in solving math problems and manipulating numbers. Reading is the last thing I relate to math. However, just because my education portrayed these two topics as separate, that doesn’t mean they should remain so. In all actuality, there are benefits from connecting the two. An idea from the book that supports this claim is that the time a student spends on reading and writing, in relation to connected texts, increases their word knowledge, fluency and comprehension (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. 22). In focusing on the latter from the list, comprehension is critically important in all subjects. A student can not be expected to solve a math problem when they can’t even comprehend the directions or the vocabulary. This problem is inherent in every class. The solution is to teach and develop content area literacy. In doing so, students learn how to identify and discuss difficult concepts. They can ask better questions to help them discover misconception. Finally, knowledge that is constructed from multiple sources and experiences is the most powerful and lasting way to teach (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. …show more content…
The first strategy I am going to use in my future class is using word problems to teach literacy. This is one of the areas of math that has a direct relation to reading and interpreting. Nested within word problems are samples of the somewhat unique vocabulary that mathematicians use. Unpackaging phrases is the key to solving the problem. I believe that using this strategy, students of all learning ability can improve their math and reading skills. Working in groups is one way to differentiate this strategy for all learns as it utilizes advanced thinking strategies (Moore, Moore, Cunningham, & Cunningham, 2011, p. 181). More advanced students would have an opportunity to write their own word problems for an even great challenge and learning