From word banks to underlining text, literacy tools regularly used in elementary schools to help strengthen skills like reading comprehension can also be employed with middle and high school students.
Annotation and definition cards are among other strategies that can be adapted for students at any age level across subject areas, whether they’re learning the words “milk” or “mitochondria,” said Tonya Perry, vice president of the National Council of Teachers of English.
“Even though it may seem elementary, I think it’s pretty advanced when we teach students strategies and skills to incorporate how to learn,” said Perry. “They can move that through a grade level.”
Perry suggests that before educators apply literacy tools in the classroom, they should gauge students' strengths. Because those may differ across a class and throughout a grade level, and that could require differentiating approaches so all learners’ needs are met.
“It might be that a class of students in high school are well-versed in the ways of dissecting text, and I don’t have to do as much explicit instruction — and I may have some students who may not have had as much,” said Perry, who is also interim provost at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. “It depends on the students that come to me.”
Literacy Research Association President-Elect Alfred Tatum agrees that explicit instruction can help students expand their subject knowledge and improve their reading and writing skills — and that these tools can be used with students throughout their educational careers.
“In similar ways that pro athletes receive explicit guidance and instruction to elevate their ability to perform certain tasks, adolescents need explicit guidance and instruction from teachers across all disciplines to help them become more expert or smarter in that discipline,” Tatum said.
Tatum finds the use of literacy tools important throughout a student’s education, as the process of expanding student comprehension can open the door to further learning opportunities and help lift students so they can “achieve advanced levels of reading, writing and knowledge development,” he said.
“Instruction provided to adolescents should serve as tools of protection, and function as safeguards for their academic and economic futures,” said Tatum.