Chapter 9: Implementing a Comprehensive Literacy Program in Middle and Secondary Schools

Literacy learning in secondary schools has moved away from the ideas of “reading in the content areas” and “every teacher is a reading teacher” to viewing content learning through a more expansive sense (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).

Adolescent learners need an “assessment-based and evidence-based literacy program with explicit, mediated, and socially situated instruction” (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 177).  To prepare them for college and employment, they need instruction in critical thinking and domain-specific strategies.  Adolescent learners need many opportunities to be involved in a vast variety of text forms.  “Rich engagement, appropriate challenge, self-directed learning, and motivating instruction” are among the needs of adolescent learners (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 178).  They need to learn a variety of meaningful, explicit, independent, and imbedded strategies for vocabulary development.  To facilitate content area learning, instruction in technologies that incorporate in-school and out-of-school literacies.  Their instruction should value and incorporate “opportunities to makes connections to lived experience” (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 178).  To extend content learning, adolescent learners need opportunities for “in-depth, student-directed, and teacher-supported inquiry” (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 178).

Several challenges facing adolescent literacy professionals include large numbers of struggling readers, a lack of resources and qualified professionals, and obstacles achieving change in content area classrooms.  Adolescent literacy professionals should collaborate with teachers, provide professional development for teachers, model literacy strategies in classrooms, help middle and high school professionals develop professional development plans, and support administration and teachers establish and use a school wide literacy plan (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 183-184).

Although all of my teaching experiences are with preschool programs and elementary schools, I can relate to and understand the importance of adolescent literacy programs for middle and secondary schools.  Reading specialists and professionals for adolescents are in much more of a teacher support role rather than one who supports the teachers along with work with the students who are struggling.  It will be interesting to see if the numbers of reading professionals for middle school and secondary schools is seen more of a necessity for schools rather than a position that is not always seen as necessary.

References

Vogt, M., & Shearer, B. (2011). Reading Specialists and Reading Coaches in the Real World. Boston, MA: Pearson.