Book Review: Subjects Matter (Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading)

 

Subjects Matter

It’s no secret that the Common Core curriculum is going to be influencing states, whether or not they come to adopt it as the framework for curriculum development. My state is part of that initial push around the Common Core, and so I am constantly on the lookout for resources that will help inform the ways I can make some shifts, particularly around the idea of content-area reading skills. Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading is another one of those valuable books that provides some scaffolding on teaching reading with an emphasis on science, social studies and math.

While authors Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman highlight strategies that can work with any kind of reading, their showcasing of about two dozen strategies and lesson plans around encouraging young readers in the maze of pulling apart of facts and data and non-fiction information from dense texts and textbooks provides a strong focus for teachers who may be used to teaching mostly fiction (ELA teachers) or not teaching specific reading skills at all (content-area teachers).

Chapters on how to read a textbook (something we teachers often take for granted in our students but our students often flounder with), expanding a class library beyond the traditional textbook, understanding the emerging critical thinking skills of middle and high school students, and building a community of learners are all ways in which Subjects Matter approaches the topic of reading. I also enjoyed the long list of book recommendations for middle and high school students that are grouped according to content areas, and there is a wide variety on the list — from novels to non-fiction books to graphic novels.

The book also includes two interesting sections at the very end: a list of the research around reading that has informed the book’s premises and testimonials from students about their reading lives. These “voices” from students are worth the read, as they talk about the frustrations they often feel in most classrooms around reading content area texts, and how some doors were finally opened.

The authors also provide plenty of charts, including this one that spells out some strategies that teachers should consider around the kinds of reading that students should be doing.

MORE-LESS CHART

More:

  • real books
  • teaching of reading
  • student choice of reading
  • in-class reading
  • workshops and book clubs
  • reading as a community activity
  • reading lots of books
  • reading for enjoyment
  • reading as a life activity

Less:

  • textbooks
  • assigned reading
  • reading only “the classics”
  • take-home assignments
  • whole-class discussions
  • reading as individual activity
  • many weeks on a single book
  • struggling through hard books
  • reading as a school activity

I have a lot to think about when it comes to my own approaches to reading, even in my ELA classroom. But books like Subjects Matter have me making more connections with my content-area colleagues. Our conversations are really just beginning to take shape. How about yours?

Peace (in the subjects),
Kevin

 

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