Taylor Scruggs

EDUC 340
Due: 12/5/13

Case Study: Importance of

Literacy in the Classroom

Part 1:
All teachers are teachers of reading, tells of the importance of
reading in the classroom. This is true, because no matter what the
content area, reading is still involved. Reading is essential, as is
writing, as they are both necessary in communication aspects, as well
as understanding and comprehending the world. In any content area, a
student must be able to read and write to learn material, gain
knowledge, and then demonstrate understanding. These are also
necessary skills when going out into the world and searching for a job
in order to become a contributing member of society. As advancements
are made in the world, it is becoming even more important to have
advanced levels of literacy in order to live in todays society. Literacy
can be used in every content area to engage students to think about
and share what they are learning, according to Rebecca Alber. Reading,
writing, and speaking are essential parts of learning that need to be
taught in every content area. Effective strategies should be used in
every classroom to demonstrate ways to read and comprehend text.
Whether the text is a textbook, article, journal, or any other form of
writing, students need to have the skills to read the material, and
process the information. It is important for students to be able to make
predictions, read for a purpose, and make connections with any text
that they come across. This is true for English, Science, Math, Art, and
any other content area. Writing is equally as important. It allows for

students to make sense of what they are learning and make

connections to their own lives in order to understand the material.
Writing is also a tool that allows for students to analyze what they are
being taught. Having students write is also a way to access their
knowledge, as stated by Steve Peha. Conversation is another part of
literacy that goes along with reading and writing. Conversation allows
a student to process new information, and share thoughts with others
in order to gain further understanding. Each of these is important,
meaning that all teachers have a responsibility to teach reading and
literacy. Without these abilities then students could not follow
instructions, comprehend content material found in text, analyze
information, and convey thinking.
Throughout this semester, I have experienced the use of reading
in the content area of science every time that I have been in the
classroom. The students have had to follow directions to perform lab
experiments, write lab reports, complete notes and question packets
on a subject, present to the class, read from a textbook, and other
activities that involved reading. When the students conducted the lab
experiments, then they had to read to follow the instructions. I
remember the first lab that the students completed, involving energy
sources. They made lights turn on by turning a wheel, power an
electric circuit with a fan, and use water to power a turbine. I worked
with Nick for the first time, during this lab, as he needed help staying

on task. This was my second interaction with him; the first being when
I was introducing me to the class and he whistled, resulting in a
discussion between him and Mr. Viney. During the lab, he would read
the questions for the lab, and then ask me for help. I told him to look
through his notes for help, or the textbook. Nick was stubborn about
this, but eventually he did as I suggested, and he was able to find the
answers he needed in order to understand what was happening in the
lab. When they wrote their lab reports, then they had to analyze the
information that they gathered from the experiment. They then had to
use prior knowledge from lecture and reading the textbook to
determine why certain things happened in the lab. This required them
to use higher thinking skills such as determining cause and effect, as
well as drawing conclusions from the information that they gathered.
One day the students watched a Bill Nye video and completed Cornell
Notes while watching. I remember this day clearly, because I used to
watch Bill Nye videos in middle school, and it brought back memories. I
sat with a few students and they would point out things in the video
that they found interesting, such as the uses of nuclear power. They
had to read facts that were put on the screen, understand what was
being said, and determine what were main concepts and important
details in order to write down necessary information on their notes.
One experience that I had in Mr. Vineys class was helping students
with, and witnessing them give presentations on a certain energy

source. Students were given one energy source per group of two or
three students. They needed to find information about their energy
source from the textbook to answer several questions. They then
needed to turn their information into a presentation on their topic, and
present it to the class. This one assignment involved all of the literacy
skills of reading, writing, and speaking. I worked with Ceo and Olivia
the most on this project. Ceo would get off topic, while Olivia seemed
to do most of the work. I prompted Ceo to find the information on his
own, and not rely on his partner. He worked hard for a good portion of
the class, and was able to contribute to the presentation. Reading was
a big part of this, as he needed to find certain information, determine
its importance, and comprehend it in order to paraphrase it for the
presentation. These are all examples of how even Mr. Viney, a science
teacher, is a teacher of reading.

Part 2:
All that I have learned about the use of strategies to enhance
understanding of text and demonstrate comprehension will by useful in
my content area of biology. I could use these strategies to help my
students read, write, and communicate more effectively. Debbie Hall
reflects on this idea, and discusses several strategies to incorporate
literacy into all content areas. Activities could be used to give students
strategies to learn vocabulary, identify important main ideas and

details, map out their thoughts, and make connections to their life or
the world.
An example of a strategy that I could provide my students with is
that of KWL charts. These are useful to have students draw on prior
knowledge, think about what they learn, and ask more questions about
a topic. An example of how I would use this in my content area would
be to have a large KWL hanging in the room. Before a lesson on
ecosystems, for example, I could have them brainstorm what they
already know. I would help them focus on diversity, and what
contributed to an ecosystem. I could then have them watch an
informational video on how ecosystems work, and have them write
what they know. Finally, they could look back over the information and
decide anything else that they would like to know about the subject.
They could discuss these questions with a partner and try to find
answers to their questions.
Another strategy I could use in my Biology class would be to
have students write qwansers and summaries. Qwansers are answers
to a question that state the question in them. A summary strategy that
would be useful is that of a $2.00 summary. This makes it where
students have to write a summary of a certain length. This makes it
where they dont write using a lot of extraneous detail, but they use
enough information to get the main points across. An example of how I
could use this in my Biology content would be to have students read a

science article on a scientific study or research, such as stem cell

research, and then have them write a $2.00 summary on the article,
where each word would cost them $0.05. Their summaries should
contain the main points of the article and relative details, such as how
the study/research was conducted and the results of said study.
Semantic mapping and Venn diagrams are other useful tools to
allow students to process information and demonstrate understanding.
They are useful to categorize information, make connections, and
compare and contrast ideas. A way that I could use this strategy in my
content area would be to have students watch a video about the
different eras that earth has gone through (the Cenozoic, Mesozoic,
Paleozoic, and Precambrian). They could then create a type of Venn
diagram to compare and contrast these different eras. Another way I
could use this strategy would be to have students create a semantic
map about what an ecosystem consists of, with the categories of
energy, organisms, habitat (soil, water, etc.), and weather. They could
do this for a certain type of ecosystem, like ocean or forest ecosystem.
They could also create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the
different types of ecosystems.
Cornell Notes are used to write main ideas and important details
in an organized way. This strategy could be useful in my content area
for students to take notes during a lecture or video, and then give
them opportunities to review the information. Cornell notes are useful,

as they make students pick out important information from a resource

and focus on what relates to the essential question. I could use Cornell
notes in biology by having students read through a section of the text
on genetic diseases. The essential question could be What causes
genetic diseases and how do they affect the body? They could then
take notes throughout the text, and include examples of genetic
diseases. Then the next day they could go back through and write
questions after grouping the material. I could have them write a
summary from their notes a week later, giving them another chance to
review the material. This could then be a study guide that they could
use before a quiz or test.
Making connections is very important in any classroom. It allows
students to relate learned content to their own lives, or the world
around them. This makes the material more realistic and relevant, and
easier to understand. I could use this in many ways in biology. I could
have them watch a short video on global warming. They could make
connections about this to themselves if they have a strong personal
opinion about the issue, or a text if they have read about or seen
material about global warming that they remember, or to the world if
they think about how global warming has affected the climate of the
earth. Another way I could use making connections is to have students
read an article about how smoking affects the body. They could make
connections to themselves if they have ever smoked or been around

someone that smokes cigarettes. They could connect this to text if

they have read about or seen propaganda for cigarettes. They could
connect this to the world by thinking about the culture of cigarettes in
the world, or thoughts of lung cancer cases.
Each one of the listed strategies would be beneficial to students
in my content area of Biology. They would allow students to have a
variety of ways to record, analyze, and organize information. They
would then have the ability to demonstrate comprehension and
understanding of their gained knowledge, and communicate this.
These strategies are linked to reading, but they are important in each
content area, including biology. They will guide students abilities to
have higher level thinking, comprehend new information, and have a
better learning experience. These strategies would also provide me, as
a teacher, a way to gauge and determine a students understanding of
the content material.

Works Cited

Alber, Rebecca. "How Important is Teaching Literacy in All Content

Areas?."
Edutopia. The George Lucas Educational Foundation, 4 Aug.
2010. Web. 15
Nov. 2013. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-instructionacrosscurriculum-importance>.

Hall, Debbie . "Literacy Across the Curriculum: Setting and

Implementing Goals for
Grades Six through Twelve." Georgia Department of Education.
Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <images.pcmac.org/.../literacy%20across
%20the%20curriculum.ppt>.

Peha, Steve. "Writing Across the Curriculum." Teaching That Makes

Sense. Web. 14
Nov. 2013. <http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/06%20Writing%20Across
%20the%20Curriculum%20v001%20(Full).pdf>.