Chapter 12 Reading and Writing in the Content areas By: Amanda Hines, Stephanie Prater, Lauren Dobler, and Jessica McEntrye

Students use reading and writing to learn material from all content-areas, especially science and social studies. Teachers can organize content-area study into thematic units and identify big ideas for the students to study.

Connecting Reading and Writing Reading and writing should be connected because they have such a powerful impact on each other. 1 Making the connection between the two is especially important when students are learning content-area information because of the challenge of any unfamiliar topics or vocabulary.

Trade books Trade books are used for thematic units. A wide variety of high-quality picture books and chapter books are available for thematic units. Teachers use trade books in many ways including interactive read-alouds, text sets, and mentor text.

Interactive read-alouds: A teachers way to share books that are too difficult for students to read on their own. Text Sets: Different types of reading materials that are carefully chosen by the teacher that present a variety of perspective on a certain topic. 2 Mentor Text: When a text is chosen as a model of quality writing and the students imitate it in their own writing.

Writing as a Learning Tool Students use writing as a tool during thematic units. No matter the content-area students will most likely be taking notes, making graphic organizers, categorizing their ideas, and writing summaries. When students use writing during thematic units it not only makes them better writers but also allows teachers to assess their learning. 3

Learning Logs: Students use these to record and react to what they are learning in any content-area. Double-Entry Journals: Students divide their journal page into two parts and write different types of information in each part. Simulated Journals: Students assume the role of another person (relating to the unit) and write from that person’s viewpoint. Quickwriting: Activates students background knowledge and allows them to review big ideas.

Writing to Demonstrate Learning Towards the end of a thematic unit students can demonstrate their learning through writing. This writing should be formal and students should go through all the steps of the writing process. Students can demonstrate their learning through reports, essays, poems, and multigenre projects. 4

Problems with Content-Area Textbooks Content-area textbooks are not as effective as they would be if they were supplemented along with other reading and writing activities. Textbooks should be used as a resource in thematic research instead of limiting a classroom to textbooks only.

Making Content-Area Textbooks More Comprehensible Teachers use a variety of activities to make content-area textbooks more “reader friendly” and to improve students comprehension of what they have read. Refer to page 408 figure 12-7 for ways to make content-area textbooks more comprehensible at each stage of the writing process. 5

Learning How To Study The traditional way of studying consist of memorization. It is more effective to use strategies that require students to think critically and elaborate on ideas. As students study they need to be able to: Restate the big ideas in their own words Make connections among the big ideas Add details to each of the big ideas Ask questions about the importance of the ideas Monitor whether they understand the ideas 6

Taking Notes Students need to understand how to take notes as well as learn how to use them as a study tool.

Nurturing English Learners Thematic units can be very difficult to English learners because of the additional language demands such as vocabulary and informational text. 7 Teachers should address the challenges of English learners and adjust instruction to maximize in these students learning. Teachers can also offer alternative assessment for English learners. 8

How to Develop a Thematic Unit Determine the focus for the unit. Collect a text set of books. Coordinate content-area textbook readings. Locate Internet and other multimedia materials. Plan instructional activities. Identify topics for minilessons. Consider ways to differentiate instruction. Brainstorm possible projects. Plan for assessment. 9

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