Adolescent Literacy, Field Tested: Effective Solutions for Every Classroom

"Strategy instruction" is quickly becoming one of the most common — and perhaps the most commonly misunderstood — components of adolescent literacy research and practice. In this essay, veteran teacher educator Mark Conley argues that a particular type of strategy instruction known as cognitive strategy instruction holds great promise for improving adolescents' reading, writing, and thinking across content areas. However, he further suggests that we do not yet have the research needed to adequately understand and maximize the potential of cognitive strategy instruction in secondary content-area classrooms. After situating cognitive strategy instruction in the larger context of research on adolescent literacy and school-to-work transitions, Conley provides classroom examples of cognitive strategy instruction, demonstrates the need for meaningful integration of cognitive strategies in teacher education, and recommends specific directions for future research needed to understand and maximize the benefits of cognitive strategy instruction for adolescents.

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“Book Nerds” United: The Reading Lives of Diverse Adolescents at the Public Library

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion (IJIDI) ◽

10.33137/ijidi.v3i2.32589 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Sarah A. Evans

Keyword(s):

Adolescent Literacy ◽

Literacy Practices ◽

Comparative Method ◽

Public Library ◽

The Public ◽

Constant Comparative Method ◽

Diverse Community ◽

Adolescent Learning ◽

Project Data

This research asks the question: How does a public library contribute to the literate lives of a diverse community of adolescents? To explore this question, this article presents portraits of three young women, for whom a public library provided transformative opportunities. These portraits come from a larger ethnographic case study that examined a public library’s role in sparking and sustaining adolescent learning. Over 18 months, the author observed library activities involving youth, interviewed library staff and adolescent patrons, and led teen volunteers in a participatory research project. Data were analyzed in a constant comparative method within a sociocultural-historical framework. Through attention to the girls’ activities within the public library, two contributing elements— 1) a democratic space created by library practices, and 2), the diversity in discourse facilitated by the teen librarian—expanded the participants’ literacy practices and perspectives on reading. This article informs our understanding of diversity in adolescent literacy and highlights the practices that libraries and communities can use to foster the next generation of readers.

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