Disciplinary literacy is the merging of content knowledge, skills, reading, writing and critical thinking in a way that is relevant to the content area. According to Buehl (2011),"Each field has its own ways of using text to create and communicate meaning” (p 24). It is important to note that when practicing disciplinary literacy, teachers remain anchored in the disciplines. Does this mean that content-specific teachers should become reading and writing teachers? No, it simply means that they should stress the reading and writing that is specific to their subjects. This way, students are inspired to read and write like content-area professionals. By helping students dig deep into these texts, teachers are not only helping them become more literate
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“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge” (What Is Project Based Learning, n.d.). The word investigation acts as a link between disciplinary literacy and project based learning, as both methods are student led and also require revolution and creation of knowledge. As a kindergarten teacher, I asked myself, “Is it too soon for project based learning?” I quickly found that the answer is NO! One of my favorite projects this year was a PBL project titled “Habitat Day”. My main goal for this project was to allow students to think like scientists. For this project, my classroom was filled with various animals. Before allowing students to view the animals, I posed the question: “What do you notice about the habitat of each animal?” Then, each student had the opportunity to observe, write about, and investigate each animal. Because my students had already been exposed to disciplinary literacy, they were better prepared for this type of project based learning. The combination of disciplinary literacy and PBL allowed my students to think critically, problem solve, apply information, and make decisions. Because many methods such as Project Based Learning are focused on
“Project Based Learning is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge” (What Is Project Based Learning, n.d.). The word investigation acts as a link between disciplinary literacy and project based learning, as both methods are student led and also require revolution and creation of knowledge. As a kindergarten teacher, I asked myself, “Is it too soon for project based learning?” I quickly found that the answer is NO! One of my favorite projects this year was a PBL project titled “Habitat Day”. My main goal for this project was to allow students to think like scientists. For this project, my classroom was filled with various animals. Before allowing students to view the animals, I posed the question: “What do you notice about the habitat of each animal?” Then, each student had the opportunity to observe, write about, and investigate each animal. Because my students had already been exposed to disciplinary literacy, they were better prepared for this type of project based learning. The combination of disciplinary literacy and PBL allowed my students to think critically, problem solve, apply information, and make decisions. Because many methods such as Project Based Learning are focused on