Content Area Literacy

Content area reading should be used in the classroom immediately after students start to develop fluent reading. Many students would enjoy reading not only narrative text, but informative text as well. Why shouldn't students be required to read text, that is not only going to help them master reading, but also inform them on many other subjects? Teachers should not only assess student fluency, but also their comprehension of the material. Without assesing to gauge the students comprehension, how are we to know they understand what they have read? In order for students to improve on their reading comprehension, teachers need to spend a good amount of time on content area literacy.  Teachers can greatly increase their students reading comprehension through various writing activities. Learning logs are a very good way for the students to reflect on what they have learned through reading. Writing activities that ask the student to compare and contrast or give the cause and effect are excercises that will build on the students content area literacy. Teachers should require students to use many different writing strategies in order to display their ability to comprehend what they have read.