Making Reading-To-Learn a Reality

This article is an excellent example of how teachers can integrate literacy strategies in their science classes to increase their students’ learning through their texts. The authors highlig... See More

This article is an excellent example of how teachers can integrate literacy strategies in their science classes to increase their students’ learning through their texts. The authors highlight using annotation and T-charting to help their students activate reading process skills like defining, analyzing, summarizing and reflecting. Student samples of annotating and using T-charts were provided and showed how students used these strategies to better understand information about the mechanical weathering of rocks. The sample lesson took place in a sixth-grade science class in a school with students displaying diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The authors point out that teachers need to select the appropriate strategy for each individual piece of informational text, and they need to explicitly teach each literacy strategy to their students. Finally, practice makes perfect and helps to cement each strategy as a useful tool that students can rely on to help them learn science content