TL;DR
Disciplinary literacy helps students read and evaluate information in the subjects they study. History lessons might examine who created a source; science lessons might connect a written explanation with data. Sterling Literacy Consulting offers Disciplinary Literacy Apprenticeship to help teachers address the reading, writing and thinking used in different subjects.
How Does Disciplinary Literacy Help Students Read History?
Disciplinary literacy in history helps students evaluate a source's perspective and compare its account with other evidence.
The Digital Inquiry Group's history lessons organize reading around historical questions. Students look into who created each document and think about its context. They compare accounts, then make claims backed by evidence.
A history teacher could select two accounts of the same event. The two accounts disagree about why it happened. Before reading, students could identify each author's role and when each account was written. Those details give students a reason to ask what each author could have known.
During reading, the teacher could model how to separate an observation from an interpretation. An author may describe what happened, then offer a reason for it. Students need to see where that shift happens. Otherwise they may treat both statements as equally strong evidence.
A comparison task could ask students to explain one disagreement between the accounts. To answer it, students would name the disagreement and cite the passages that show it. Then they would consider whether the authors' circumstances help explain it.
That gives the teacher something specific to talk through with the class. Say a student calls an account unreliable. A good next question is which part of the account supports that judgment. Now the student has to tie the judgment to the document.
Teachers planning this kind of lesson can check whether the sources hold enough information to answer the historical question. A document's author and date alone may leave important questions open. The lesson can point those gaps out.
How Does Disciplinary Literacy Help Students Read Science?
Disciplinary literacy in science helps students connect explanations with evidence and judge whether the evidence supports a scientific claim.
The Next Generation Science Standards include gathering and integrating scientific information, evaluating published claims and communicating explanations. Reading can feed directly into that work.
A science lesson could use a short explanation and a graph of measurements from an investigation. Students could first identify what the graph measures, including its units and labels. Next, they could find a sentence in the explanation that makes a claim about those measurements.
The teacher could ask students to point to the part of the graph that supports the sentence. If the sentence describes an increase, students would need to find the interval where that increase happens. A response should identify which measurements support the statement.
A follow-up question could ask what the graph leaves unanswered. For example, measurements showing a change over time may not establish what caused the change. Students could then sort what the graph supports from what would need more information.
Teachers can use that distinction when planning questions. One question might check whether students can read the graph. Another might ask whether the graph supports the author's explanation. The two questions check different parts of the reading task.
A brief written explanation can make the student's reasoning visible. The guide to connecting writing and reading discusses how teachers can prepare students for that writing.
Which Disciplinary Literacy Training Fits Middle and High School Teachers?
Sterling Literacy Consulting offers Disciplinary Literacy Apprenticeship for middle and high school teams teaching subject-specific reading, writing and thinking.
The offering belongs to the Mastering the Disciplines series. Sterling Literacy Consulting describes these as one-day sessions for English language arts, science, social studies and math teams, best delivered by content area. The professional learning and coaching services page explains the available sessions.
If a district is considering disciplinary literacy training, each subject team's teaching priorities should guide the discussion. History teachers working on source evaluation need examples that fit that work. So do science teachers working on data-based explanations.
A sample training activity can help a district judge that fit. Teachers should be able to identify:
The subject knowledge students need to understand the text.
The evidence students will examine.
The reasoning students will use to reach a conclusion.
Any provider should be able to explain how teachers will learn to teach those parts of the lesson.
Sterling Literacy Consulting also offers Text-Based Inquiry: Texts, Tasks & Talk, connecting complex texts with questions and structured discussion. That offering may be worth discussing if a district's priority includes planning what students will do with a text.
The broader guide to adolescent literacy professional development covers related needs such as vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Disciplinary literacy can be one part of that wider professional learning plan.
Frequently Asked Questions About Disciplinary Literacy
Does Disciplinary Literacy Replace Subject Content Standards?
Disciplinary literacy supports learning the subject's content. It addresses how students read, write and evaluate information within that subject. Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan's ASCD disciplinary literacy explanation describes literacy standards as supplementing subject standards.
What Do English Teachers Teach in Disciplinary Literacy?
Disciplinary literacy in English includes reading and interpreting literature alongside broader language skills. In the Shanahans' explanation, literary concepts such as symbolism and theme are part of literature's disciplinary literacy.
Can Disciplinary Literacy Start Before Middle School?
Disciplinary literacy can build on content-rich reading that starts in the earliest grades. The demands of the texts should guide when specialized disciplinary practices are introduced. Sterling Literacy Consulting lists Disciplinary Literacy Apprenticeship for grades 2 through 12, so districts should discuss the participating teachers' grades and subjects.
If your middle or high school teams want help teaching the reading demands of their subjects, discuss disciplinary literacy training with Sterling Literacy Consulting. Share the subjects, texts and student difficulties you want the professional learning to address.
About Dr. Charles Dana Hall
Co-Founder & Chief Academic Officer, Sterling Literacy Consulting
Dr. Charles Dana Hall brings experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, district coordinator and Colorado state literacy specialist. As Colorado’s state literacy specialist, he directed a collaboration of more than 100 educators to develop sample curricula aligned with the Common Core State Standards. He also helped lead the development of Colorado’s Strategic Literacy Plan in 2012. His work connects state and district literacy planning with classroom instruction, helping educators translate literacy decisions into teaching practice.
