Reading in the Disciplines by Carol D. Lee and Anika Spratley

I chose this article because as a middle grades teacher, I see students who are struggling with the comprehension of the higher-level texts that they are required to read. On top of that, the quantity of material that is assigned makes it twice as difficult for the struggling reader to absorb the in-depth content of the text.

Students in middle school and high school are required to make inferences and predictions from the material that they are reading. Most students do not have adequate critical thinking skills to master comprehension of the text and transfer that knowledge to the activities, discussion, or evaluation in the classroom.

Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. This enables students to develop critical thinking skills that assist in comprehension and problem solving. "The ability to comprehend written texts is not a static or fixed ability, but rather one involves a dynamic relationship between the demands of texts and the prior knowledge and goals of readers." A lack of content knowledge does affect comprehension and other approaches become necessary.

Good readers use the following strategies as they read:
          1) Asking questions
          2) Making predictions - middle school students have a lot of difficulty with this
          3) Testing hypothesis
          4) Summarizing
          5) Monitoring understanding and deploying fix-it strategies as needed

Reading in Science

Tables, diagrams, and maps make it difficult for emerging readers to comprehend scientific texts. Technical vocabulary of science often has Greek or Latin origin. It is necessary for cross curricular activities in order for students to comprehend the material. Support of students in a wide variety of scientific genres, text that emphasizes cause and effect, sequencing, and evaluating theories, and scientific reasoning are the skills for comprehending scientific text.

Reading in History

Primary sources in history include:
     1) Political documents
     2) legal documents
     3) newspaper articles 
     4) letters
     5) diaries.
Challenges:
    1) Failure to make logical connections
    2) Use of references that are indirect
    3) Information that is irrelevant to main ideas
    4) Density of ideas inside sentence structure.
Historical texts can be described as "inconsiderate texts" making it necessary for classroom routine to include deciphering text features, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and background knowledge discussion and summarizing. Reading instruction must meet the needs of diverse student abilities and instruct students to reason.

Reading in Literature

The Socioeconomic status of students has an impact on comprehension of literature. Symbolism in texts should be modeled so that students from diverse backgrounds are able to detect or reconstruct inferences that incorporate various points of view. Understanding and prior knowledge of literary works: 1) text structures - short story, novel, poetry, drama, realism, science fiction, allegory,
fable, myth, mystery, haiku, sonnet, ballad, and epic; human practices and behaviors that internal status trigger; 3) reconstruct a figurative message; and 4) ability to make inter-textual links. Works that capture human experience and dilemmas from the past can cause difficulty for the struggling reader due to syntax, pronouns, and vocabulary that are no longer common in language today. "Reading deeply complex literary texts offers unique opportunities for students to wrestle with some of the core ethical dilemmas that we face as human beings." 

Reading in Math

Parents, teachers, and students do not expect reading problems to occur in math. However, most struggling math students lack the vocabulary that would enable success in the subject. It is important for students to be able to understand the language, logic (I"m sure this is where I fall short on the math spectrum - comprehension of logic and the vocabulary dealing with logic) of mathematics, and the mathematical text language.Advanced mathematics is not accessible without this comprehension. Math classrooms with inquiry-based instruction (cross-curricular instruction in science) with goals of assisting students to think mathematically and to value both the aesthetics and applicability of math, generate lifelong interest and support mathematical reasoning and encourage higher level thinking skills.

In conclusion, building for transfer across the curriculum is an effective tool to assist students in comprehension and critical thinking skills that are needed to be successful in reading and in life. Taking the approach from reading across the disciplines to the cross-curricular teaching of reading across the curriculum is a different way of looking at this material. However, I wonder if teachers looked outside of the box more often, if we could see that some of things that we have always done and are still not working, could be re-thought? I also wonder if the kinds of assessments that we offer have anything to do with the way students are reading textbooks....? When I was in school, we discussed the text in the classroom AND on evaluations. I do believe that multiple choice questions are not a true measure of comprehension. Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. They enable students to develop critical thinking skills that build comprehension and trigger problem solving. 

As a Fine Arts educator, I see the correlation between literacy and the arts. Arts curriculum offer learning opportunities in a wide-range of perspectives. Literacy can be taught through the arts and assist students to develop values and understandings in social and cultural contexts. Learning in each art-form caters to all students, regardless of physical, social, intellectual, developmental, or emotional needs. Focusing on arts content and pedagogy, literary is enhanced through creating, appreciating, and experiential learning. Literacy is about understanding the meaning of human codes. Meaning can be conveyed through words, signs, or symbols.

According to the National Art Education Association, "Literacy is more than being able to read and write. It is the ability to decode and encode in any form through which meaning is conveyed. What cannot be conveyed in words is often possible in the visual, auditory, or choreographic form."