With the implementation of common core state standards, there has been a greater emphasis on literacy throughout all content areas. In a content area like mine (social science) literacy has always been a big part of the curriculum, as historical, political, and even current writings are an essential part of studying and understanding social science phenomena. However, as a teacher with English language learners, I am expected to not only teach my content and build literacy in social science, but to foster the growth of academic language and literacy as well.

In my classroom, I try to tie these expectations together into my lesson plans as often as possible. I currently teach 12th grade economics, a subject that makes student engagement difficult if simply taught straight from the textbook. I use a variety of sources to present the content whether it’s graphs, studies, videos, articles, books, or even socio-political writings. One specific example of making use of these texts and promoting literacy is an analysis paper I had students write. Students used their knowledge of the content (at the time, supply, demand, and factors that affect them in a market) to analyze documents and draw a conclusion about the chocolate market. As a scaffold to prepare for the assignment, I worked with students to understand what appropriate language for an analysis essay was, and gave sentence frames to help them articulate their knowledge of the content.

Encouraging students to write is not the only way to promote literacy in the classroom. Many times, we will have a class discussion after reading a text. When learning about a free market, I had students read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and they read excerpts in groups. This allowed students to work together to understand the writing, and I prompted them to define words that they did not understand to build their vocabulary. After each group had reached a consensus of the main point of their excerpt, we had a discussion as a whole about the readings. Giving students the opportunity to work together builds a sense of community, and helps them learn from each other, and to feel more open to reading academic texts.

I felt that both these activities were successful, however something I always struggle with is the cultural gap that hinders understanding. Some of the readings we look at, or specific market data we see, may help students who are familiar with American pop culture form connections to their world, but leaves other students confused, most of the time my English learners. Something as simple as a writing on the market for LifeAlert may seem funny and engaging to students who have grown up in the United States or watched American television channels and seen the comical commercials, but others feel lost. I feel that that is why is it important to find sources that promote a global world view, and to have equal representation in the classroom texts.

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