RTI Program: Content Literacy

Brozo, W.G. (2010). The role of content literacy in an effective RTI program. The Reading Teacher, 64(2), 147-150.

This article asserts that the prevailing content in most basal readers needs to shift from a focus on developing reading skills and building fluency with simple narratives toward reading and writing to gain knowledge and express new understandings with informational texts. The author claims that it is critical that young children receive instruction that builds knowledge and literacy skills not just during the language arts period, but throughout the day. Furthermore, this practice will reduce the number of students who require Tier 2 and Tier 3 intervention programs by giving them the necessary knowledge base required to have successful meaning-making experiences with texts that inform as they leave the primary grades. The author states that the notion of learning to read so one may read to learn is a false dichotomy. All reading is learning. The use of informational texts in the language arts may hold a key to engaging curiosity as well as expanding content knowledge. Informational texts may be an entryway to literacy learning.

Implications/Applications

Literacy strategies need to be mediated in ways that differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students with diverse abilities and backgrounds.

Even though a child may process the ability to decode written text this does not necessarily mean the child understands the content of the text.

Using informational texts in the primary grades will reduce the need for Tier 2 and Tier 3 supports for most students.

Content learning and content literacy are inseparable.

Language arts curriculum should be premised on reading to learn.

Increase the number of student encounters and experiences with print informational texts

Comment

This article presents a common sense approach to teaching reading. I appreciate the fact that "all reading is learning" and the content in many basal readers is unappealing to a curious mind. Basing the teaching of reading solely in literature is a disservice to many learners who yearn for more diverse content. Utilizing a wide range of informational texts in the classroom in the primary grades serves the purpose of building a child's repertoire of common knowledge while simultaneously enhancing the reading the skills necessary to decode text in a variety of contexts.

The Reading Teacher