[LIT] "... Addressing Middle Level Literacy"

[Ginny White]

On Dec 12, 2006, at 9:12 PM, Beverly Maddox wrote:
> Such heartening stories--our principal is calling for reading in teh
> content areas, but I'm not sure he understands exactly what he
> wants--and I know teacher resistance is high in about half the
> faculty, who feel pressured to "cover" their curricula.

Bev, our principal asked us to create Reading Partnerships this year, 
pairing language arts teachers with content teachers in small groups of 
3 or 4.  I wrote a little about our efforts previously.  We are using 
Doug Fisher's  Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work as a 
book study with good responses thus far.  Doug spoke at FCTE in October 
and was quite impressive.  They transformed a low-performing school in 
San Diego to a 90-90-90 school (90% free/reduced lunch, 90% minority, 
90% at or above proficiency on testing).  The book is very 
reader-friendly and includes examples in each chapter of how a reading 
strategy was applied in various content areas (ie ways to "cover" the 
curricula by increasing comprehension of concepts).  You might want to 
take a look at it.

I hope to come to Little Rock some time this year - will let you know 
if I get there.

Ginny White
Fernandina Beach Middle (FL)