Secondary Literacy: Middle_HS
Secondary Literacy (Middle and High School)
The Arizona Department of Education is focused on the importance of teaching children to read. It is important to continue this focus into the secondary classroom, including middle school and high school. In short, literacy instruction remains every bit as important in the older grades, as it is in grades K-3.
The resources provided here are meant to assist secondary (6th-12th) ELA educators and parents in providing the best instruction for all Arizona students.
Educators have a unique opportunity to provide a diverse selection of texts in their classrooms. There is a world of diverse texts available that provide multiple viewpoints of the world and allow for wider representation. Each of the books in the chart provided here feature protagonists and characters that are a part of underrepresented groups. There are also non-fiction texts that represent diverse voices and perspectives. Additionally, there are resources to help educators diversify their curriculum.
Guidance Document: Diverse Texts in the Secondary ELA Classroom Guidance
Related PD Opportunities:
"Diverse Texts - Creating a More Inclusive Curriculum" Webinar - Thank you to everyone who joined me this past semester as we talked about diverse texts and how to implement them in our classrooms. Check out the Padlet for ideas and resources! More PD opportunities will be coming soon and will be posted here.
(Other Archived PD related to Diverse Texts listed below in Professional Learning section)
Other Resources:
Read Across America - Celebrate all year long! Create and celebrate a nation of diverse readers. This site has a ton of great diverse book recommendations for all ages NEA Read Across America
ADE's Equity Framework - The Arizona Department of Education is committed to ensuring that all Arizona students are provided the opportunity to succeed and reach their full academic potential. The department is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in its policies, procedures, practices, and programs. ADE Equity Framework
ADE Assessment - Educator resources for the new Arizona state assessments. [AASA (3rd-8th), ACT Aspire (9th), ACT (11th)]
All About Adolescent Literacy - AdLit.org is a national multimedia project offering information and resources to the parents and educators of struggling adolescent readers and writers.
Keys to Literacy Adolescent Literacy Resources - Joan Sedita of Keys to Literacy provides resources focused on adolescent literacy. Adolescent literacy encompasses the skills that must be taught to all students so they can meet increasingly challenging reading and writing demands as they move through the upper grades, as well as what needs to be done for those students who fall behind who may need intervention instruction in foundational literacy skills.
NCTE Bookstore, Adventurous Thinking: Fostering Students’ Rights to Read and Write in Secondary ELA
NCTE Students’ Right to Read – Plethora of resources for engaging students’ in literature.
ReadWriteThink – Brand new website! Powered by NCTE. ReadWriteThink is a teaching and learning community for English Language Arts teachers from K-12th grade with resources providing free access to the highest quality standards-based practices, lesson plans, videos, activities, and apps.
Smartbrief article, “Identifying students with dyslexia in middle, high school”
WestEd Publications, Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms
WestEd Reading Apprenticeship - What if instead of teaching around the text, lecturing, or summarizing for students, teachers engaged students in actually grappling with text - reading and talking about what it means and how they figured it out? WestEd has provided resources and materials to teach reading in a metacognitive way.
Writing Contests
JFK Profile in Courage Essay Contest - The Profile in Courage Essay Contest opens for submissions in the Fall of each year.
National Novel Writing Month Young Writers’ Program – National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place in November. The Young Writers’ Program supports under-18 writers and K-12 educators as they participate in the November event, and take part in smaller writing challenges year-round.
Pulitzer Center - Local Letters for Global Change: A Pulitzer Center Writing Contest, deadline is November 13, 2021
Grammar Resources
Heinemann Publishing, The Grammar Planbook
NCTE Bookstore, Grammar to Get Things Done: A Practical Guide for Teachers Anchored in Real-World Usage
Stenhouse Publishers, Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond
Stenhouse Publishers, Everyday Editing: Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer’s Workshop
Writing
Keys to Literacy, Keys to Content Writing
Read WriteThink Parent/AfterSchool Resources for Secondary Grades
Scholastic, “17 Ways to Keep Your Middle Schooler Turning Pages” - As your kids get older, they may put reading on the back burner. Learn the best ways to keep them turning the pages with these helpful tips.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
ADE OPPORTUNITIES
Secondary ELA Webinars on ADE EMS
Earn PD credit and collaborate with other secondary ELA teachers! A variety of topics including: reading comprehension, diverse texts, building background, collaboration with Social Studies, virtual teaching, and more!
ELA and Social Studies Collaboration
These professional learning webinars are offered in collaboration with our ADE Social Studies team:
- 10/19/21 - "Integrating Secondary Social Studies and ELA" - How do you integrate Social Studies and English Language Arts in a secondary setting? What are the benefits of collaboration between English and Social Studies educators? This webinar will demonstrate best practices to integrate Social Studies and ELA efficiently and easily. This webinar will also use diverse texts to address new ways to create cross-curricular projects and lessons.
EMS Support:
For questions regarding registration, certificates, accessing courses, etc. please refer to our: EMS Participant Guide
Fall 2021
Effective Instruction for Middle School Students with Reading Difficulties
by Carolyn Denton, Ph.D., Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., Jade Wexler, Ph.D., Deanna Bryan, and Deborah Reed, Ph.D.
This book arms language arts teachers with the lessons, strategies, and foundational knowledge they need to resolve older students' reading difficulties and increase their chances for academic success. Ideal for use with struggling readers in Grades 6-8 (though these strategies would benefit older students with reading difficulties as well), this book clearly lays out the fundamentals of effective teaching for adolescents with reading difficulties.
To order: https://bit.ly/2WhakKL (20% Discount Code from Brookes Publishing: ADE2021)
Book Study Details:
- Virtual book chats will take place over 9 Thursdays starting 9/2 through 11/18 (no book study on 9/9, 10/7, and 11/11).
- 4:30-5:30 MST
- All participants must register in the ADE EMS system to receive credit - each session is offered individually.
- All participants who register in EMS, read their chapter(s), and attend the book study will be given 2-hours PD credit. (For a total of 18 hours of PD!)
- More details, ordering information, etc. can be found on this flyer. Please share with your colleagues!
Spring 2021
Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms, 2nd Edition
by Cynthia Greenleaf, Ruth Schoenbach, and Lynn Murphy
This book study has now concluded. Thank you to everyone who participated!
This significantly updated edition of Reading for Understanding shows how teachers and students can work together to boost literacy, engagement, and achievement. Specifically, this book helps readers use the Reading Apprenticeship® framework to increase student engagement and academic achievement in subject area classes. Research has documented the effectiveness of Reading Apprenticeship for helping students gain the reading independence to master subject area course materials and other texts. This book is fantastic – you will walk away with so many strategies for boosting reading comprehension and literacy across the subject areas.
Find out more about this great book and order a copy!
Book Study Details:
- Hosted by the ADE English Language Arts Team
- Virtual book chats took place on 8 consecutive Wednesdays, March 17th through May 5th
- Thank you to everyone who participated!
- Visit the Padlet for great resources from the book study.
Reading Apprenticeship from WestEd - Arizona SEED Grant
Reading Apprenticeship is an evidence-based professional learning experience focused on disciplinary literacy. Educators are engaged in a process to discover the tools and perspective to “apprentice” their students in any subject area, including secondary ELA and other subjects. This assets-based approach helps teachers develop students’ comprehension skills while also building subject-area knowledge, reader-identity, collaboration, and persistence. As part of a federal SEED grant, WestEd will be offering the opportunity for Arizona teachers to participate in a summer Reading Apprenticeship essentials course with little to no cost.
Informational Webinars: Currently we do not have any other informational webinars scheduled; however, these slides have more information.
Contact Information to register for the course: Access this flyer for more information on Reading Apprenticeship and to contact Dr. Daryl Michel for more questions about setting up the course for yourself, your school, or your district.
Padlet from Book Study: This padlet has a ton of resources to give you more information on Reading Apprenticeship.
Webinars
- Special Presentation - "Diverse Texts in the Classroom" - In this webinar on 6/30/2021, a panel of secondary ELA educators presented strategies and resources that they use in their own classrooms and schools to share and celebrate diverse texts and voices. We also discussed how to use these strategies and ADE’s Diverse Texts guidance to make inclusive curriculum choices in your own classroom. Recording and Slide Deck
- Special Presentation - "A Face Like Mine: Connecting Classic Literature to Modern YA Books" - On 2/11/21, a panel of high school librarians discussed ways to incorporate modern diverse YA books in with teaching classic literature in the classroom, including books on mental health, LGBTQ representation, the importance of #OwnVoices, and the significance of book covers showing “a face like mine.” Click here to view the presentation
- Building Background in the Virtual Secondary ELA Classroom - Building schema and background knowledge is one of the best ways to raise reading comprehension for our students. In this webinar, we explored some easy and fun ways to do this in the virtual/distance learning secondary ELA classroom. A better understanding of how building background and surfacing schema will help your students become better readers. Visit the Padlet with resources and slide deck.
- Summer Series - Spotlight on Media Literacy and Sourcing - In collaboration with our ADE Social Studies team - Join trainers from ADE, and master teachers from around the state to a webinar to teach and engage with media literacy at all grade levels. Recorded presentation
- "What is Media Literacy and How Do I Teach It?" - This webinar will examine what media literacy means, how do we teach students to be responsible consumers and producers of media and examine some methods and lessons you can use in your classroom. Recorded presentation
ARCHIVED/RECORDED WEBINARS from other organizations
EdWeb webinar archive, “Reading Tools to the Rescue: Solutions for Learning on Couches and in Classrooms”
EdWeb/Learning Ally Webinar archive, "Integrating Assistive Technology into Virtual Instruction for Struggling Readers”
Education Week Webinar archive, “Cross-Curricular Instructional Principles to Prepare More ELA Students for AP and College”
Education Week Webinar archive, “How to Build Writing Proficiency and Foster Differentiation in the 21st Century Classroom”
Education Week Webinar archive, All Literacy and English/Language Arts Webinars
NCTE Reads Archived book study, “In the Pursuit of Justice: Students’ Rights to Read and Write in Elementary School”
| National Council for the Teachers of English | Arizona English Teachers' Association |
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Current Events
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Contact Information: Lauren Spenceley, Secondary ELA Specialist, 602-364-2267
**The views and opinions expressed in any third-party resource do not necessarily reflect those of the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and do not imply an endorsement by ADE.
