Discipline-Specific Literacy
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Define the Goal
Identify the reading skills per discipline
Access key resources
Identify textual differences
Adjust thinking every class period
Dissect the Expectations
Model expert thinking
Introduce the Reading Voice and Thinking Voice
Comprehension Voice Signs: English & Spanish available
Utilize Think Alouds while reading your course texts
Honor the 3 tiers of literacy
Recognize every teacher is a reading teacher
Study the reading standards
Dissect the content literacy standards
Indiana Reading Standards | Literature & Nonfiction
History/Social Studies | Science/Technical
Close-Reading Questions Foldouts
(available individually or by a set)
Download the Reading Standards in the ladder format that depicts how the standards fit into the close-reading framework.
Apply close-reading techniques
Introduce the three phases of close reading
Compare each phase of close reading to a different “lens.”
GLASSES: Initially, readers comprehend on a surface level. They read to paraphrase/retell specific details, summarize the important concepts, and determine the main ideas.
MICROSCOPE: During a closer look, readers zoom in to analyze the text and evaluate author decisions about word choice, organization, and purpose.
TELESCOPE: With a deeper comprehension of the text, readers zoom out and integrate new understanding from the text with other texts and bigger ideas.
Teacher Lindsay Flood developed a fabulous close-reading activity using Oreo cookies to demonstrate the value in “reading” something more than once. For a description of the lesson, check out second grade teacher Allison Stuckey’s blog Who’s Who and Who’s New.
For the digital download, see Lindsay’s TpT store.
Target the Skills
PHASE 1: Read for surface understanding
Track story elements
Plot Exposition Map | Ride the Story Plot
Tuck Everlasting Example
Identify the character’s problem and solution
Use visual note-taking to jot textual details
Track the evolution of a historical event using a storyboard.
Summarize the 5Ws of the event
Use the 5Ws template when there are numerous names, dates, and places to sort through. | Notebook version
Example | 5 W’s: Significant Explorers
Beyond tracking the isolated 5 Ws per unit section, determine the connection between them. (Here is an example based on a textbook chapter on the Middle Colonies.)
Track simultaneous events
The Time Tracker shows how events in history are intertwined.
Use myHistro website to combine maps and timelines.
Read the text, fluently translating symbols to words
Determine the gist of the subject matter or the task to execute
Read flexibility using Transformation
Here is an example of information about plant and animal cells shown in both explanatory text and a diagram with the click of a mouse.
Read the science before discussing predictions
PHASE 2: Zoom in on the significant
Identify significant character choices or pivotal moments
Identify significant choices or pivotal moments in a character’s life.
Consider what the character was like before and after that moment. Then consider what caused the choice, decision, or change. | Template
Infer the author’s message within a text’s theme
Support theme with textual evidence.
Eighth grade teacher Sara Johnson explains theme in a four-step whole-class activity.
Teacher Emily Trabold adapted the content from Sara Johnson’s video to share with her students.
Utilize the TheMe Foldable to demonstrate that the topic or category isn’t the theme. It’s the specific lesson within that topic that was learned.
Read the biographies behind the life mottos. Students create their own billboards for individuals/characters.
Read passages outside the textbook to infer author perspective
Consider multiple perspectives
3 people from the same event in history
Analyze multiple accounts of the same topic/event
Access the original texts as well.
3 articles about the final 2012 Presidential Debate, and a comparison chart of info.
Analyze an event within the context of its historical time and place
Place a short text within the frame and add the historical text around it. PDF | Editable PPT
Statue of Liberty FRAME and original PASSAGE.
Pakistanian girl shot FRAME and original PASSAGE.
Reread slowly and annotate relevant information
Emphasize little words with big meaning
Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction
Resources from the Grade 5 math lesson featured below | PDF | Smartboard
Student handout used within the lesson video below
Annotate scientific thinking while reading
Master specialized vocabulary
Use the Vocabulary Notebook template for students to maintain a resource of the essential science terms you are teaching.
Check out the example Kristina shared on force.
Expedite vocabulary learning through root instruction
Visit LearnThat.org for more support with science-based roots.
Visit Quizlet.com for more support with science-based roots.
PHASE 3: Zoom out to integrate
Draw comparisons across literature
Make connections between cultural stories with different perspectives
The Rough-Faced Girl v. Cinderella
Lon Po Po v. Little Red Riding Hood
Analyze the four different character perspectives presented in Voices in the Park
Fractured Fairy Tales for Rewrite from a different point of view
Read a little; do a little
Support the connection between math and language
Corroborate information across multiple sources
The Blind Men & the Elephant
Maintain source-specific notes
Synthesize New Ideas
Move beyond summarizing to synthesizing
Combine details to achieve a deeper understanding
Synthesize from Multiple Sources mini-lesson. PDF | Smartboard
Small-Group Activity on Christopher Columbus
Collect details to infer reasons
Teach students how to collect, cut, group, and rank their details. Download a list of statements for/pro and against/con genetic engineering.
Observe a 30-minute lesson and activity executed in a Concord Junior High science class.