Preparation and Strategies for Content Area Instruction

            Prior knowledge is something we frequently take for granted, especially as we get older and move into college and graduate classrooms. As I read about it, I look back on my teachers in the past and recognize some of that probing that occurred to determine what we already knew. At the beginning of my junior year of high school, my Algebra II teacher started out by asking the class if we knew what a function was. Nobody did. She had clearly not planned to spend much time on this basic definition, but because she recognized its importance, she reworked her plan for the day to ensure we understood what a function is and is not, before we moved on.

            In “Reading to Learn in the Content Areas,” we are presented with several different ways to approach prior knowledge, rather than simply asking the question as my Algebra II teacher did. Its importance is stressed in order to ensure students have the appropriate base from which to build their schema. Several different reasons for assessing prior knowledge are addressed, such as students with limited prior knowledge or incorrect prior knowledge. We are also given several ways to approach preparation for the lesson and accessing this prior knowledge. Discussions include the KWL activity, the What I Know activity, and rewriting text so that it is more readable for the targeted students. The scenario that is not addressed, however, is one where all students are on different pages at the outset. How does the teacher make the decision of how to prepare his or her class when a about 1/3 of the students are largely familiar with the content the lesson was designed for, about 1/3 need some introduction, and about 1/3 are blank slates on the topic. Does the teacher teach to the lowest common denominator and risk losing the interest of the rest of the room. Or does she teach to the middle and take a chance on the ability of those with the least prior knowledge to catch up? Time in the classroom is limited. How does the teacher determine where to focus effort when a choice has to be made?

            Once we have gotten past the preparation and prior knowledge, we can begin to look at strategies for content. Ming (2012) makes some excellent suggestions for using content-area literacy in non-traditional subjects (Math, art, music, P.E.). What struck me was not her suggestion of using content area literacy for these subjects, but that she considered some strategies that I would not have considered when discussing content area literacy. She includes using graphic organizers, visual representations, and teaching visualization. When a teacher incorporates these things, the students are able to better build their schema and also verbalize their thoughts because they have a more concrete understanding. The effect of content literacy instruction on students’ language arts abilities and progress seems obvious, but I would be interested to see how it holds up with teaching the non-language arts content. Do students actually perform mathematical equations better when they have read the text or after they have written poetry about the math? Are students better musicians after they have kept a journal regarding their responses to hearing music? Is an art student more artistic after discussing reactions to a the paintings viewed on a museum field trip?