Literacy in the Content Areas

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Comment by Kim Lightle on September 14, 2009 at 9:47am

Here is an article from the NYT - Raiders of the Lost Earth - that describes a fantasy set in a future eco-dystopia by David Klass and books of stories of teen environmentalists by Blake Nelson and Jennifer Cowan. The titles of the books are Timelock, Destroy All Cars, and Earthgirl.

Is anyone familiar with these? I guess Timelock is the final volume of David Klass’s Caretaker Trilogy, a story of ecological crisis played out between the heedless present day and a barren 31st-century future.

Comment by Terese (Terry) Herrera on September 8, 2009 at 10:12am

This is a partial answer to Sydia Sterling's question below.
For one thing, the vocabulary of mathematics can be confusing, with some words meaning one thing in a mathematical context and another in everyday settings. Symbols can look alike, and different symbols can represent the same operation (for example, *, x, and • for multiplication). You might use a Math Dictionary in your classroom to help in this area. An article I really liked on teaching vocabulary, Unlocking the Mystery of Mathematics: Give Vocabulary Instruction a Chance, comes from a classroom teacher and is well worth reading.

Writing is rarely valued as a way of learning math or of solving math problems. When I say "writing" I mean not only words but also drawings, tables, and graphs--all ways of setting out students' work logically and communicating their understandings. Another teacher explains her classroom work in A Case for Using Reading and Writing in a Mathematics Classroom.
Hope this partially answers your question, Sydia!

Comment by sydia sterling on September 6, 2009 at 12:47pm

I want to know, what problems children face in content area literacy?

Comment by Kim Lightle on August 20, 2009 at 11:46am

I heard Nancy Pearl talk about this book on NPR this morning - Mysteries You Might Have Missed. The main character is an 11-year old girl who loves chemistry. Sounds really fun. Kim

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Hardcover, 384 pages, Delacorte Press, List Price: $23

From NPR story: It's been a long time since I've encountered a more delightful young sleuth than Flavia de Luce, the 11-year-old bicycle-riding chemistry whiz who narrates Alan Bradley's first novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Early one summer morning in 1950, Flavia discovers a man dying among the cucumbers in the garden of her family's estate in the British countryside. When her reclusive father is arrested for the man's murder, she takes it upon herself to discover the real perpetrator of the crime.

Here's how Flavia describes how she knows that her adversary is lying to her: "It was a lie and I detected it at once. As an accomplished fibber myself, I spotted the telltale signs of an untruth before they were halfway out of his mouth: the excessive detail, the offhand delivery, and the wrapping-up of it all in casual chitchat."

Flavia's detecting skills would be the envy of Sherlock Holmes (or at least Watson), and her bravery is amply demonstrated during a frightening encounter with a dastardly villain who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie makes perfect summer reading — it's gore-free, very funny in places, nicely written, not too sweet (despite the title) and narrated by a real charmer. I can't wait for Bradley to write the sequel.