Literacy and Language as Learning in Content-Area Classes: A Departure from “Every Teacher a Teacher of Reading”

The popular mantra “Every teacher is a teacher of reading” and several decades of emphasis on content-area literacy have not resulted in major changes in reading and writing across the curriculum in secondary schools. In this article, we argue that reading and writing strategy instruction has not focused on what really matters to content-area teachers. Through examples from two classrooms, we suggest a focus for our content colleagues in which they learn that capitalizing on reading and writing versus teaching reading and writing is the goal of content literacy. We identify five specific principles in which reading and writing actually engage students in the content topics at hand, as well as suggestions for preservice and in-service content-area teachers.