Chapter 18
Chapter 18 is an article from National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) titled, A Call to Action: What We Know About Adolescent Literacy Instruction. The article is broken up into four sections: Dimensions of Adolescent Literacy, Implications for the Teaching of Reading, What Adolescent Readers Need, and What Teachers of Adolescent Readers Need.
The first section, Dimensions of Adolescent Literacy, discusses four key actions to consider in regards to adolescent reading. One statement found in the first key action, “Incorporation of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction”, that I live by doing in my classroom which is showing my students how literacy is incorporated across various disciplines. The second key action, “Integration of Multiple and Social Literacies”, discusses that teachers should value and incorporate the “multiple literacy resources that students bring to the acquisition of school literacy”. The third key action, “Orchestration of Engagement and Motivation”, stresses the importance of adapting, incorporating and valuing different literacy formats (print, digital, and visual media) to offer to students. Also, this key action stresses that although some texts may be required for the curriculum, students should be free to self-select books of their own liking. The last key action, “Appreciation of Multicultural Perspectives and Cultures”, discusses that teachers should “expose students to multiple perspectives” and have students reading more efficiently and effectively when they are reading a wide range of books.
The second section, Implications for the Teaching of Reading, has three bullet points that discuss how teachers can help shape how students view and learn reading. The first bullet point explains the importance of discussing “how, why and what” in regards to their reading, and how “high-stakes testing” jeopardizes this with asking “one right answer” questions. The second bullet point adds on to this by stating the importance of students having discussions that can “lead to diverse interpretations supported by evidence of a text that deepen the conversation”. The last bullet point emphasizes the importance of moving students into a “deeper understanding and greater independence of reading texts” along with the importance of not mislabeling students as being struggling readers because of their lack of reading experiences. With this, it also states that many of the students that are mislabeled are either “students of color, newly arrived students, and/or students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds”. Another important aspect found in this bullet point is the importance of having a “learner-centered approach to reading instruction”.
What Adolescent Readers Need is the third section that has various bullet points put into four sections that describe the needs of adolescent readers. Each section has two to three bullet points that support each of the four needs. For example, one need from adolescent readers is having a “choice and volume of reading” with a bullet point that supports this need by stating to have “dedicated time to read every day”.
In the last section, What Teachers of Adolescent Readers Need, there are several bullet points that stress what teachers need to do for their adolescent readers. A few of these needs include, “honor adolescent’s rich literature and cultural backgrounds to increase subject area engagement”, and “teach literacy in their discipline so students can access more specialized texts”.
Even though this article may revolve around adolescent readers, I still find these tips and reminders to be helpful for any teacher/librarian no matter the age group. Many of the topics and bullet points discussed can be viewed from a different perspective and can be useful for elementary and secondary teachers/librarians.
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