| The approach we have taken in this study adds to | | | | content literacy for teachers. Although most teachers |
| our understanding of the resistance of preservice | | | | would agree that knowing students well is important |
| teachers to content area literacy. It also | | | | for motivating learning, our work shows that |
| demonstrates how a convergence of perspectives | | | | teachers should also know how students' discursive |
| from teacher educators in both literacy and the | | | | practices shape opportunities to learn science and |
| content areas can be generative of new insights and | | | | mathematics. |
| questions (Draper, 2008; Forman & Ansell, 2001; | | | | |
| Lemke, 1990; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008; | | | | Further, teachers' abilities to recognize and address |
| Tuckey & Anderson, 2008). Such questions | | | | students' struggles with school-based discursive |
| include, How does coming to understand the literacy | | | | practices may depend, in part, on their abilities to |
| practices of a content area reshape preservice | | | | understand how meaning is shaped by authority, how |
| teachers' own understandings of content knowledge | | | | literacy practices Merrell Shoes are dialogic, and how |
| and how to teach it The work begun here also | | | | literacy practices are contextual. These are promising |
| suggests that Merrell Boots teachers need to | | | | avenues for influencing knowledge and dispositions of |
| understand not only the literacy practices of their | | | | mathematics and science preservice teachers. In turn, |
| content area but also the literacy practices of their | | | | this may help them to meet the needs of diverse |
| students. What does such understanding look like, | | | | learners in this changing literacy landscape. |
| and how might it develop what approaches might | | | | |
| foster this kind of learning within preservice teacher | | | | In summary, we contend that the literacy practices |
| education. | | | | surrounding content understanding in science and |
| | | | | mathematics are so familiar to preservice teachers as |
| A basic challenge facing content area literacy | | | | to be largely implicit. This investigation challenged |
| instruction has been to convince preservice teachers | | | | preservice teachers' basic presumptions about the |
| that literacy belongs in the content classroom. Our | | | | role of literacy in the learning and teaching of science |
| approach of focusing on problematic content tasks | | | | and mathematics content. In doing so, previously |
| helped preservice teachers see that literacy practices | | | | invisible discursive practices were made visible. We |
| are actually already there. Rather than focusing on | | | | believe that teachers who see how literacy is central |
| content and literacy, we made progress toward an | | | | to understanding content can also see how content |
| emergent understanding of the literacy practices of | | | | area literacy approaches help students learn content |
| content. We suggest that the discursive | | | | better. Teachers will need this kind of powerful |
| metaknowledge of literacy practices of content | | | | literacy to help their students learn in the 21st |
| contributes to a productive notion of powerful | | | | century. |