In our complex, information-rich, culturally diverse world, literacy is no longer just knowing how to read and write. Students need to understand and be proficient in multiple literacies to be successful in our global society. As School Librarians, we have a responsibility to inculcate these Five Essential Literacies into our students:

1. Reading and Writing (the original literacy)
2. Content Area/Disciplinary Literacy (content & thinking specific to a discipline)
3. Information Literacy (the traditional library curriculum)
4. Digital Literacy (how and when to use various technologies)
5. Media Literacy (published works—encompasses all other literacies)

My previous blog post covered Part 1 Reading, so this post looks at Content Area or Disciplinary Literacy, with suggestions and examples on how to integrate this literacy into lessons.

DEFINING CONTENT AREA/DISCIPLINARY LITERACY

LiD 6-12 (Literacy in the Disciplines, Grades 6-12) distinguishes the difference between the broader and more specific terms:

• content area literacy (CAL): content-neutral strategies and tools used to support students in attaining knowledge of the content—the “how” of teaching;
• disciplinary literacy (DL): the knowledge, skills, language, discourse, practices, and habits of mind contextualized to and specific within the subject areas—the “what” of teaching.

Our National School Library Standards embrace the more specific disciplinary approach with this definition of one of its 5 specific literacies:

Visual literacy: ability to understand and use images, including the ability to think, learn, and express oneself in terms of images i.e. charts, graphs, maps, etc.)

So Content Area Literacy is related to reading literacy—being able to structurally analyze subject area text to read proficiently and learn concepts. But School Librarians are in a unique position to construct lessons that take this a step further so students understand each discipline’s specific vocabulary, concepts, and methods. Disciplinary Literacy means reading, writing, thinking, and communicating like a scientist, or a mathematician, or an historian, or a musician, or an artist.

INTEGRATE DISCIPLINARY LITERACY

When I simplified my Library Orientations with ELA classes to focus solely on reading, it opened up opportunities for other content-area visits. I could create specific content-related lessons where students would learn library skills in context and apply what they learned. My Subject-area teachers see the value in these Library Lessons and are amenable for more lessons as the year progresses. They share the positive experience with others, who are then motivated to collaborate with me. Here are 5 examples of how I integrate disciplinary thinking for various subject areas into my Library Lessons.

Do Dewey Decimal Numbers with Math Classes

My observations suggest that students struggle with understanding Dewey Decimal Classification in a meaningful way, so why not invite Math classes to the library since that’s where decimals are studied? Learning about how the library uses decimals gives them a curricular reason to visit, especially with a hands-on activity that practices identifying and applying decimal numbers.

My students love coming to the library with their Math class—it’s new and different so they’re excited. Math teachers like the fun, non-graded review where they can see which students are having trouble with decimals, and they actually come to me to schedule their class visit!

My middle school Dewey Decimal Library Lessons teach Math students how decimals are used in the library while activating prior knowledge for their upcoming decimal unit. The activity has them solve decimal problems to locate decimal-numbered books, because what’s important about DDC is teaching students how to USE it, not memorize it.

• My 6g Dewey Library Lesson reviews decimal number place values and sequencing decimals to prepare students for learning to add and subtract decimals. I begin by telling students that when we get a new book in the library, we ask, “What is this book about?” and the answer determines the Dewey number we assign to the book. We review how each place of a decimal number has a certain value—hundreds, tens, ones, tenths, hundredths, thousandths. Likewise for the library, each place has a value: a subject or topic of knowledge. As we move from left to right, each number denotes a more specific sub-topic of the one before it.
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• My 7g Dewey Library Lesson reviews adding and subtracting decimals to prepare students for learning to multiply and divide decimals. The hands-on activity for this lesson does take some preparation, but it’s worth it to see student partners scurrying around the library to locate their Dewey-number books and having a wonderful time…in a Math class! And it always increases checkout of Dewey books for quite some time after the lesson because students have been able to see how topical books are grouped together so they can find their favorites.
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• Even elementary students who have not learned decimals can put numbers in order:
  • For the itty-bitties, create picture cards that match Dewey Subject shelf signs and put a corresponding 3-digit-only Dewey number on the back. Distribute them on tables and have students pick a favorite Subject from their table, then use the number on the back to find a book on the shelf with that number.
  • To help older elementary students understand that there are two parts to a Dewey number, create one color of cards with 3 numbers and a different color of cards with a big dot and 1 or 2 numbers to the right of the dot. Students pair the cards, then find the Dewey Number on the shelf. They learn that each side of a decimal is in separate numerical order, and that’s how you find the numbers on the shelves.

Because my Dewey Lessons focus only on recognizing and locating Dewey numbers, students also grasp that Dewey numbers listed next to search results in the online catalog tell them exactly where to locate the book on a shelf.

Use Content-area Class Visits to Explore Dewey Subjects

Examining Dewey Subjects through Content-area lessons is better than a generic standalone Dewey Decimal lesson because the integrated lessons support and enhance classroom learning so it is more deeply remembered.

For example, Science classes study the organization and classification of living organisms, and Dewey’s Science Numbers follow that same disciplinary structure. My Library Lesson helps students make a visible association between the Science content and the Dewey Decimal bookshelf organization which reinforces their learning of the discipline’s vocabulary and content, and increases their library skills. I wrote about this lesson in a blog post, and another post explains geography and Dewey organization of 900s countries as another opportunity to integrate library skills into a subject content lesson.

Introduce Online Databases with Science & Social Studies

School Librarian social media posts often have lesson requests for teaching online subscription database services. Such lessons only have value when they are integrated into a subject’s current classroom activities. For example, early in the school year I have a WebQuest lesson with Science classes during which I introduce an online encyclopedia and two databases that have the specific information students need to complete their current classroom assignment. Shortly thereafter, I have a WebQuest lesson with Social Studies classes where I use the same encyclopedia (activating and applying prior knowledge) with two different databases for students to complete their assignment on world explorers.

A yearlong set of periodic lessons with 6g World Cultures helps students gradually develop disciplinary literacy in Social Studies. At the first lesson I introduce an online subscription service from which students find demographic statistics of countries in their current unit and record this information into a digital spreadsheet. I teach them how the spreadsheet can create a graph comparing one demographic across countries. At subsequent visits, students add new countries and statistics to their spreadsheet, and learn to create a new kind of graph. Throughout the school year students are learning to think like economic analysts. (This also has great technology integration.) 

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The culmination of this long-term lesson is an authentic activity where students act as “members” of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (www.un.org/ecosoc/), whose goal, according to their website, is to “conduct cutting-edge analysis, agree on global norms, and advocate for…solutions” to advance sustainable development. During this final library visit, student groups analyze their spreadsheets and graphs, choose a country, then collaborate on a presentation about why that country is most in need of developmental support from the U.N. At the end of presentations, all student “members” vote on which country the U.N. should support. This Library Lesson furthers disciplinary literacy along with critical thinking and cooperative learning skills.

Disciplinary Literacy and Project Based Learning

6g Science classes visit our Outdoor Learning Center during their ecology unit to conduct various environmental analyses. As a culminating activity students participate in a 3-day Science Symposium. In their science classrooms, small group Workshops compare and consolidate their gathered data. Next day, classes meet in the library for the Conference where groups use data to analyze the environmental impact of building a factory on empty land adjoining the OLC property. They create a presentation on why the proposal should be approved or not. The last day is the Plenary Session when a spokesperson for each group makes their presentation. Students vote for a “Recommendation to the City” on whether to grant permission to build the factory. This is an example of helping students think like scientists and build Disciplinary Literacy that they’ll need to be successful with coursework and with future decision-making as citizens.

In 7^th grade Social Studies & English Language Arts we’ve made a dull immigration project and a so-so personal narrative into an authentic interdisciplinary project. “My Texas Heritage—How and Why I’m in Texas” has students learn the history of themselves the same way they learn the history of our State. It gives students a sense of identity (important for middle schoolers) and provides a personal understanding of conceptual factors that have brought people into the state.

As the School Librarian I teach research skills with a variety of primary and secondary sources, both in print and online—biographies, speeches, letters, diaries, songs, and artwork. In ELA they learn how to interview family members in person and through written requests. In Social Studies they learn to discern similarities and differences between historical events and the lives of their own family.

Students are offered two product options to share their project learning. They can create concise, well-written webpages to share information with family members, which I add to our School Library Website. This option forces them to thoroughly think through and edit responses to their research questions. As the second option, students who share common events can group together for mock newscasts of “eyewitness” accounts, which I broadcast through our internal video system. With this option, students discern that historical “truths” often depend on one’s point of view—a valuable lesson for studying history. This project develops multiple disciplinary literacies as students learn to think like historians, journalists, webmasters, and newscasters.

SCHOOL LIBRARIANS & CURRICULUM INTEGRATION

It is apparent to me that the only way we School Librarians can integrate Content Area/Disciplinary Literacy into our Library Lessons is to become very familiar with the curriculum taught by our teachers. When we take to them a lesson plan that fully incorporates what they are doing in their classroom, they will be more willing to collaborate with us, knowing that the library visit is not only essential for learning the Subject-area’s content, but also for helping students think according to that Discipline.

This is the second entry in my series of blog posts on the 5 Essential Literacies for Students. I invite readers to offer comments and suggestions about any or all of these literacies.

Updated 2025.