Why integrating literacy & numeracy into subject areas is becoming more imperative?
People are facing stiff competition to prosper in the knowledge rich and constantly changing world. Literacy and numeracy skills are the vital tools required to achieve academic success, pursue higher education, learn how to learn, and develop lifelong learning skills (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2006), and enable citizens to face the global competition and survive in the information era. Teachers around the globe are realizing that it is crucial to infuse literacy and numeracy across the curriculum in order to prepare students with strong literacy and numeracy skills essential for the 21st Century (Shults, 2008).
Strategies for promoting literacy and numeracy:
Book talks: Facilitate book talks in the classroom to stimulate interest in reading (Shults, 2008) and encourage students to talk about the books they have been reading. This creates a positive peer pressure in students. Positive peer pressure inspires and motivates them to learn as they are concerned about approval from peers (O’Donnell et al., 2011, p. 462).
THIEVES: Shults (2008) introduced the term THIEVES for inspiring students to use every part of the textbook to learn systematically and become experts in their chosen field.
“T” stands for Title,
“H” for Headings,
“I” for Introduction,
“E” for Examples,
“V” for visuals and vocabulary,
“E” for end of chapter questions.
T.H.I.E.V.E.S pre-reading strategy can be used to engage learners in the content they are going to learn. This aids teachers in educating students how to use all of the elements of informative text (Shults, 2008) and ‘learn how to learn’. Learning how to learn is a key to students becoming independent strategic literates, numerates and productive lifelong learners.
Word Walls: Post vocabulary words with short descriptions (see Appendix 1) on walls as a resource for assisting students learn the words (Shults, 2008).
Rereading: Rereading helps to monitor comprehension, develop fluency and broaden understanding of the content. Harmon, Wood & Stover (2012) endorse that rereading brings cognitive growth in students.
Paraphrasing sentences: Munro (n.d.) advocates that expressing texts in students own words, i.e. paraphrasing sentences helps students to quickly think about what they understand and reflect on their comprehension. This certainly assists students to realise what they know and what they do not know. Therefore it is an excellent strategy for students to undertake self-assessment. Besides, it is quite challenging for teachers to identify how much students understand the topic. This strategy helps teachers to realise the students’ level of knowledge and aids them to deliver the lessons more suitable for the cohort.
Summarising: Summarising texts in writing aids students to mentally rehearse understandings of the topic, choose vital points and bring them together. This strategy strengthens vocabulary, enhances comprehension by assisting to reduce misunderstanding (Adolescent Literacy, n.d.), and helps students to improve their academic writing skills and retain the information long term. Research shows that writing plays a key role in learning (Meiers, 2007).
Reading comprehension strategies: Perso (2009) recommends that reading comprehension strategies (see Appendix 2) need to be explicitly taught and deliberately practised.
Newman’s 5 prompts:
In this approach, teacher advises students to use the following 5 questions/prompts while solving problems.
1. Read the question and leave the unknown word (Reading).
Teacher asks students to read the question and say the words they do not know. Teacher writes those words on board. Teacher explains the meaning of unknown words while engaging students to share their ideas.
2. Describe the meaning of the text/question and what you are supposed to do with that (Comprehension)
Teacher asks students to describe the meaning of the text and determine what they are supposed to do with that text. Teacher works with the class to achieve this outcome.
3. Explain how you will derive the solution for this question (Transformation)
Teacher asks students to think about how they will solve the problem by using the information they have identified in prompt 1 and 2. Teacher tells students not to solve the problem but determine the process of solving the problem. Teacher provides stimulating hints for students to identify the process.
4. Demonstrate by “talking aloud” what needs to be done to get the answer (Processing Skills)
Teacher works with students to solve the problem by using the strategy identified in prompt 3. For example, teacher will demonstrate step-by-step method of substituting the values in the formulas and then perform the calculations.
5. Write down the answer in meaningful sentences (Encoding)
Teacher models with example of a simple sentence.
The Four Resource Model (Luke & Freebody, 1999): This model assists students to read and understand the content and thus prepares them to play the four roles of the literate learner (Government of South Australia, 2010). It is a valuable tool for teachers to help subject-specific literacies for students (Santoro, n.d.) and plan intellectually meaningful and rigorous activities (Henderson, 2012, p. 62). The Four Resource Model example is illustrated in Appendix 3 below.
Numeracy: Provide tips for students to improve numeracy skills and incorporate strategies such as CRUSH (Appendix 4) for assisting students to solve mathematical paradigms methodically. It is important to offer guidance for solving mathematical word problems (see Appendix 5 below).
Appendix 3:
The Four Resource Model example:
Code Breaker: Teacher encourages students to read the question one line at a time and identify the vocabulary they are not familiar with or words that are difficult to pronounce.
Meaning Maker: For those unfamiliar words, teacher encourages students to identify synonyms or similar words that are easier to remember so that they can relate their existing knowledge to the new knowledge. Teacher advises students to read the text silently. Teacher suggests students to always “reread” (Harmon, Wood & Stover, 2012) the text if it is not clear after reading once. Teacher suggests students that rereading promotes reading fluency, enriched word recognition, improved recall of details, makes them better readers and eventually enhances learner’s self-confidence (Robb, n.d.).
Teacher asks students to think in pairs and share if this text/scenario reminds them of anything they already know. Teacher facilitates to brainstorm student’s ideas through discussion and debate. Teacher assists students to read and write summary of the question by using the strategy “summarise the texts” (Munro, n.d.) in simple words. Teacher guides them where they need help. Teacher asks students to swap their summary with the partner and read each other’s for peer review. These sort of meaning maker activities provide connections between the students and the texts they have just viewed and help them to make meaning (Donohue, 2012).
Text Analyst: Teacher asks students to read each sentence, separate the relevant information and irrelevant information.
Example Question: "Sarah invested A$20,000 in CWB at 9% interest rate for 18 months. CWB calculates interest compounding quarterly. Sarah is keen to read economic news. What is the interest Sarah will earn with this investment?"
Teacher writes on board and asks students to write down:
Sarah; Invested $20,000; Interest rate = 9%;
Period of investment = 18 months; Interest type compound interest; compounding quarterly
Teacher asks students to think about whether they have all the information available to solve this problem? or Are they missing something? Teacher advises students that the irrelevant information in this text is ‘Sarah is keen to read economic news’. This activity helps students to separate the relevant and irrelevant information and provides direction to identify what needs to be done.
Text User: Teacher advises students to think and share their ideas about the purpose of this text. Teacher asks students “what do we do with this text”? Teacher assists students to identify the relationship between these texts and mathematical concepts/calculations. This task aids to determine the mathematical relationship between variables.
Appendix 5:
Tips to solve mathematical word problems efficiently
1. Read the problem thoroughly
2. Reread: Read the problem once again to interpret the problem accurately
3. Draw a diagram to depict the given values
4. Label the diagram with all the given values
5. Write down clearly any given values that are not represented in the diagram
6. Write down what you need to find out (the unknown values)
7. Identify the trigonometric formula you can apply to determine the unknown value
8. Solve the formula using algebra
9. Write the solution in general terms
10. Justify the solution
11. Recheck all the steps from 1 to 10
(Source: Silva, 2007)
References:
Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.). Classroom strategies: Summarizing. Retrieved from:
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/21827/
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2006). Victoria’s plan to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes. Retrieved from
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/Pages/mathnumreport.aspx
Donohue, L. (2012). EDVT12015: Adolescent & adult literacy & numeracy. Retrieved from Central Queensland University moodle discussion forum.
Government of South Australia. (2010). The literacies of mathematics: Barossa region- literacy
secretariat literacy in mathematics project 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/literacy/files/links/Literacy_of_Mathematics.pdf
Harmon, J.M., Wood, K.D., & Stover, K. (2012). Four components to promote literacy engagement in subject matter disciplines. Retrieved from Central Queensland University library.
Henderson, R. (2012). Teaching literacies in the middle years. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1999). Four resources model: EDVT12015: Adolescent & adult literacy & numeracy study material. Retrieved from Central Queensland University moodle.
Meiers, M. (2007). Writing to learn. NSWIT Research Digest, Vol. 1. Retrieved from
http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au.
Munro, J. (n.d.). High reliability literacy teaching procedures: a means of fostering literacy learning across the curriculum. Retrieved from Central Queensland University library.
O'Donnell, A.M., Dobozy, E., Bartlett, B., Bryer, F., Reeve, J., & Smith, J.K. (2011). Educational psychology (1st ed.). Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Perso, T. (2009). Cracking the naplan code: numeracy and literacy demands. Retrieved from:
Central Queensland University CRO library
Robb, L. (n.d.). Strategies to use during and after reading. Retrieved from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/strategies.htm
Santoro, N. (n.d.). Using the four resource model across the curriculum. Retrieved from:
http://education.qld.gov.au/literacy/docs/four-resource-model.pdf
Shults, D. (2008). Content area literacy: Beyond the language arts classroom. Retrieved from:
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/content-area-literacy-beyond-the-language-arts-classroom/
Silva, N. (2007). Heinemann maths zone for Queensland 9. Melbourne, Victoria: Heinemann Harcourt Education.
People are facing stiff competition to prosper in the knowledge rich and constantly changing world. Literacy and numeracy skills are the vital tools required to achieve academic success, pursue higher education, learn how to learn, and develop lifelong learning skills (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2006), and enable citizens to face the global competition and survive in the information era. Teachers around the globe are realizing that it is crucial to infuse literacy and numeracy across the curriculum in order to prepare students with strong literacy and numeracy skills essential for the 21st Century (Shults, 2008).
Strategies for promoting literacy and numeracy:
Book talks: Facilitate book talks in the classroom to stimulate interest in reading (Shults, 2008) and encourage students to talk about the books they have been reading. This creates a positive peer pressure in students. Positive peer pressure inspires and motivates them to learn as they are concerned about approval from peers (O’Donnell et al., 2011, p. 462).
THIEVES: Shults (2008) introduced the term THIEVES for inspiring students to use every part of the textbook to learn systematically and become experts in their chosen field.
“T” stands for Title,
“H” for Headings,
“I” for Introduction,
“E” for Examples,
“V” for visuals and vocabulary,
“E” for end of chapter questions.
T.H.I.E.V.E.S pre-reading strategy can be used to engage learners in the content they are going to learn. This aids teachers in educating students how to use all of the elements of informative text (Shults, 2008) and ‘learn how to learn’. Learning how to learn is a key to students becoming independent strategic literates, numerates and productive lifelong learners.
Word Walls: Post vocabulary words with short descriptions (see Appendix 1) on walls as a resource for assisting students learn the words (Shults, 2008).
Rereading: Rereading helps to monitor comprehension, develop fluency and broaden understanding of the content. Harmon, Wood & Stover (2012) endorse that rereading brings cognitive growth in students.
Paraphrasing sentences: Munro (n.d.) advocates that expressing texts in students own words, i.e. paraphrasing sentences helps students to quickly think about what they understand and reflect on their comprehension. This certainly assists students to realise what they know and what they do not know. Therefore it is an excellent strategy for students to undertake self-assessment. Besides, it is quite challenging for teachers to identify how much students understand the topic. This strategy helps teachers to realise the students’ level of knowledge and aids them to deliver the lessons more suitable for the cohort.
Summarising: Summarising texts in writing aids students to mentally rehearse understandings of the topic, choose vital points and bring them together. This strategy strengthens vocabulary, enhances comprehension by assisting to reduce misunderstanding (Adolescent Literacy, n.d.), and helps students to improve their academic writing skills and retain the information long term. Research shows that writing plays a key role in learning (Meiers, 2007).
Reading comprehension strategies: Perso (2009) recommends that reading comprehension strategies (see Appendix 2) need to be explicitly taught and deliberately practised.
Newman’s 5 prompts:
- Reading
- Comprehension
- Transformation
- Processing
- Encoding
In this approach, teacher advises students to use the following 5 questions/prompts while solving problems.
1. Read the question and leave the unknown word (Reading).
Teacher asks students to read the question and say the words they do not know. Teacher writes those words on board. Teacher explains the meaning of unknown words while engaging students to share their ideas.
2. Describe the meaning of the text/question and what you are supposed to do with that (Comprehension)
Teacher asks students to describe the meaning of the text and determine what they are supposed to do with that text. Teacher works with the class to achieve this outcome.
3. Explain how you will derive the solution for this question (Transformation)
Teacher asks students to think about how they will solve the problem by using the information they have identified in prompt 1 and 2. Teacher tells students not to solve the problem but determine the process of solving the problem. Teacher provides stimulating hints for students to identify the process.
4. Demonstrate by “talking aloud” what needs to be done to get the answer (Processing Skills)
Teacher works with students to solve the problem by using the strategy identified in prompt 3. For example, teacher will demonstrate step-by-step method of substituting the values in the formulas and then perform the calculations.
5. Write down the answer in meaningful sentences (Encoding)
Teacher models with example of a simple sentence.
The Four Resource Model (Luke & Freebody, 1999): This model assists students to read and understand the content and thus prepares them to play the four roles of the literate learner (Government of South Australia, 2010). It is a valuable tool for teachers to help subject-specific literacies for students (Santoro, n.d.) and plan intellectually meaningful and rigorous activities (Henderson, 2012, p. 62). The Four Resource Model example is illustrated in Appendix 3 below.
Numeracy: Provide tips for students to improve numeracy skills and incorporate strategies such as CRUSH (Appendix 4) for assisting students to solve mathematical paradigms methodically. It is important to offer guidance for solving mathematical word problems (see Appendix 5 below).
Appendix 3:
The Four Resource Model example:
Code Breaker: Teacher encourages students to read the question one line at a time and identify the vocabulary they are not familiar with or words that are difficult to pronounce.
Meaning Maker: For those unfamiliar words, teacher encourages students to identify synonyms or similar words that are easier to remember so that they can relate their existing knowledge to the new knowledge. Teacher advises students to read the text silently. Teacher suggests students to always “reread” (Harmon, Wood & Stover, 2012) the text if it is not clear after reading once. Teacher suggests students that rereading promotes reading fluency, enriched word recognition, improved recall of details, makes them better readers and eventually enhances learner’s self-confidence (Robb, n.d.).
Teacher asks students to think in pairs and share if this text/scenario reminds them of anything they already know. Teacher facilitates to brainstorm student’s ideas through discussion and debate. Teacher assists students to read and write summary of the question by using the strategy “summarise the texts” (Munro, n.d.) in simple words. Teacher guides them where they need help. Teacher asks students to swap their summary with the partner and read each other’s for peer review. These sort of meaning maker activities provide connections between the students and the texts they have just viewed and help them to make meaning (Donohue, 2012).
Text Analyst: Teacher asks students to read each sentence, separate the relevant information and irrelevant information.
Example Question: "Sarah invested A$20,000 in CWB at 9% interest rate for 18 months. CWB calculates interest compounding quarterly. Sarah is keen to read economic news. What is the interest Sarah will earn with this investment?"
Teacher writes on board and asks students to write down:
Sarah; Invested $20,000; Interest rate = 9%;
Period of investment = 18 months; Interest type compound interest; compounding quarterly
Teacher asks students to think about whether they have all the information available to solve this problem? or Are they missing something? Teacher advises students that the irrelevant information in this text is ‘Sarah is keen to read economic news’. This activity helps students to separate the relevant and irrelevant information and provides direction to identify what needs to be done.
Text User: Teacher advises students to think and share their ideas about the purpose of this text. Teacher asks students “what do we do with this text”? Teacher assists students to identify the relationship between these texts and mathematical concepts/calculations. This task aids to determine the mathematical relationship between variables.
Appendix 5:
Tips to solve mathematical word problems efficiently
1. Read the problem thoroughly
2. Reread: Read the problem once again to interpret the problem accurately
3. Draw a diagram to depict the given values
4. Label the diagram with all the given values
5. Write down clearly any given values that are not represented in the diagram
6. Write down what you need to find out (the unknown values)
7. Identify the trigonometric formula you can apply to determine the unknown value
8. Solve the formula using algebra
9. Write the solution in general terms
10. Justify the solution
11. Recheck all the steps from 1 to 10
(Source: Silva, 2007)
References:
Adolescent Literacy. (n.d.). Classroom strategies: Summarizing. Retrieved from:
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/21827/
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2006). Victoria’s plan to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes. Retrieved from
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/maths/Pages/mathnumreport.aspx
Donohue, L. (2012). EDVT12015: Adolescent & adult literacy & numeracy. Retrieved from Central Queensland University moodle discussion forum.
Government of South Australia. (2010). The literacies of mathematics: Barossa region- literacy
secretariat literacy in mathematics project 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/literacy/files/links/Literacy_of_Mathematics.pdf
Harmon, J.M., Wood, K.D., & Stover, K. (2012). Four components to promote literacy engagement in subject matter disciplines. Retrieved from Central Queensland University library.
Henderson, R. (2012). Teaching literacies in the middle years. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1999). Four resources model: EDVT12015: Adolescent & adult literacy & numeracy study material. Retrieved from Central Queensland University moodle.
Meiers, M. (2007). Writing to learn. NSWIT Research Digest, Vol. 1. Retrieved from
http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au.
Munro, J. (n.d.). High reliability literacy teaching procedures: a means of fostering literacy learning across the curriculum. Retrieved from Central Queensland University library.
O'Donnell, A.M., Dobozy, E., Bartlett, B., Bryer, F., Reeve, J., & Smith, J.K. (2011). Educational psychology (1st ed.). Milton, QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Perso, T. (2009). Cracking the naplan code: numeracy and literacy demands. Retrieved from:
Central Queensland University CRO library
Robb, L. (n.d.). Strategies to use during and after reading. Retrieved from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/strategies.htm
Santoro, N. (n.d.). Using the four resource model across the curriculum. Retrieved from:
http://education.qld.gov.au/literacy/docs/four-resource-model.pdf
Shults, D. (2008). Content area literacy: Beyond the language arts classroom. Retrieved from:
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/content-area-literacy-beyond-the-language-arts-classroom/
Silva, N. (2007). Heinemann maths zone for Queensland 9. Melbourne, Victoria: Heinemann Harcourt Education.