Illiteracy in the Content Area Classroom

L Alger the article Engaging student teachers’ hearts and minds in the struggle to address (ill) literacy in content area classrooms examines the use of the Literature Circle format as an avenue for creating awareness of the social issues with pre-service teachers. It takes into consideration that many content area teachers are not trained in the techniques of content area literacy. They see themselves as being specifically responsible for delivering content and that learning to read was a task that students would have mastered at the elementary school level. Alger notes that many content area teachers employed comprehension as a teaching/learning task but did not strategically teach comprehension skills. The article lists several obstacles to literacy instruction in the content area classes which include the view held by teachers that literacy is a method that is “apolitical”. Additionally the socio-economic characteristics on many teachers made them far removed from the situations faced by the struggling reader. As such these teachers held no priority for the necessity of integrating literacy into their content area.

The Literature circle format was thus developed for pre-service teachers to alter their perceptions with regards to literacy and it s importance in their classroom. They were thus sensitized into understanding the challenges. The activities led to teachers reading literature connect to the themes of literacy and social justice. They were exposed to literature circles and the methods which they would use to implement them into their classrooms later on. This experience led to the teachers reflecting on the need for literacy and the connections for life and the role it performs in their specific content area. The responses at the end of the program seemed sincere but it may be that the teachers gave the expected response within the experience of the Literature circle necessary to complete the course.