We are all literacy teachers!

All teachers are literacy teachers. Teachers need to have students read, write, listen, and speak daily throughout instruction. Students need to formulate their ideas and must have someone who can provide them with feedback, whether it be their peer or the teacher. “Reading and writing are learning tools because reading has a powerful impact on writing, and vice versa (Tierney and Shanahan, 1996): When students read about a topic first, their writing is enhanced because of what they learn, and when they write about an idea from a book they’re reading, their comprehension is deepened because they’re exploring big ideas and relationships among them” (Tompkins, 2018). It is vital that students read about topics that are relevant to their lives that can supplement the content. Adult and students learn from reading, so it is critical that educators implement reading into their lessons when appropriate.

All teachers - mathematics, English, history, art, music, physical education, science – must have students read. According to Tompkins (2018), students can work in a small group setting using interactive writing to discuss topics. Students learn most from each other when they work through their zone of proximal development – they are challenged enough where they will not give up and continue to move forward in their learning.

I implement reading and writing in my mathematics classroom when students must work on application problems. I use different strategies and scaffolds so that students can access the content when they are reading. The students read by themselves (what is the problem talking about), they read it again with a partner (what mathematics is important?), and they read it again (what are we looking for or answering?). It is important that students have a strategy to use when they are reading.