Disciplinary Literacy Task Force

In December, we often have our feet in two worlds--thinking about ways to meet our improvement goals for the current year and also dreaming forward into the following school year. We hope that this newsletter provides you with just-in-time inspiration to continue your journey with disciplinary literacy!

In this newsletter, you will find:

• Important information about upcoming professional learning events and online courses
• A resource "freebie" that provides guidance, resources, and examples of braiding multiple sources of funds to implement disciplinary literacy
• A video describing current regional efforts to implement disciplinary literacy
• Recommended reading: "Equitable Assessment in Secondary ELA"
• A brief reflection on why our language matters regarding disciplinary literacy

Happy Reading!

Click on our professional learning flyer to find more information and registration links for these upcoming professional learning events:

• Michigan Assessment Consortium Assessment Learning Network (register now for the March 11 webinar and May 13 in-person wrap-up event)
• EduPaths online courses (they're free!)
• Disciplinary Literacy for Secondary Leaders online course

This digital resource uses a story-based approach to provide examples and resources of creative ways to leverage multiple sources of funds to support secondary literacy improvement efforts. Chock-full of resources, we hope this ebook is a useful tool for you in your unique context.

This video is the result of a collaborative effort among three regional service agencies in Michigan and Jenelle Williams, Co-Chair of the Disciplinary Literacy Task Force. In the video, presenters describe important components of beginning well with implementing disciplinary literacy, along with specific examples at the regional and district level. Our hope is that the video provides you with both inspiration and information to support your own journey!

This Learning Point considers the intersection between the Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy in Secondary ELA and Michigan Assessment Consortium's Components of Equitable Assessment.

"You are already doing disciplinary literacy; it's not one more thing."

"I just need some strategies to help me do disciplinary literacy."

As with many things, our language reflects our beliefs. When implementing disciplinary literacy, our language matters. As we work with incredibly talented educators across the state, we often hear those facilitating professional learning assuring classroom teachers that they are "already doing" disciplinary literacy. While well-meaning, this statement begs the question, "If we are already doing disciplinary literacy, why are we holding this professional learning event?" Fair question. Perhaps a more accurate statement might be, "As we look across classrooms and content areas in our school, we see many of the elements of disciplinary literacy occurring. Our goals is to align to these practices more often and with more intentionality, so we can improve outcomes for all students."

If this is indeed our aim, then it calls the second statement listed above into question as well. The work of disciplinary literacy is not simply assigning more reading and writing tasks to students; it is a shift toward student-centered instruction that better connects to students' lives, as well as a shift toward more explicitly apprenticing students into meaningful problem-solving and communicating like disciplinary experts. This is a large-scale shift that forces us to consider unit design, assessment practices, and much more. Adding in new instructional strategies can certainly be a part of the process, but it cannot be the only end goal.

As with many things, our language matters. What intentional language are you using in your context to support the shift toward disciplinary literacy?

We are always interested to hear how educators are taking up the work of disciplinary literacy. Take a few moments to share your story here: https://forms.gle/Rbuqa6wZCkhy5bnT9.

The Disciplinary Literacy Task Force is comprised of consultants from across the state, each of whom brings his or her own disciplinary expertise. We meet monthly, and our most pressing goal is to continue to scale this work statewide. We also prioritize equity in the delivery of our services as well as building and leveraging partnerships across the state in an effort to promote this important work. Our ongoing work includes planning for, creating and implementing professional learning for secondary educators and using this newsletter, our blog, Twitter, LinkedIn and other publications to broaden awareness about this approach and its benefits to our secondary students. We look forward to increased opportunities to work with you!