Multicultural group of middle school students sharing project based learning

Background Knowledge

Knowledge begets knowledge. Students draw upon what they already know to master new vocabulary and content. The articles in this section discuss why background knowledge is so important and offer ideas you can use to build upon a student’s knowledge.

Videos

As a video blogger, author John Green encourages parents to actively participate in new media outlets with their children.

Common Core encourages students to ask “what’s the evidence?” Author and historian Marc Aronson says reading across texts is key.

Classroom Strategies

Articles

Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre

Background Knowledge

Picture Books Are a Powerful Tool for Teen Readers

Picture books can help middle school and high school readers build background knowledge and visual literacy, and they are also deeply engaging. The range of topics presented in picture books, in the hands of skilled storytellers and artists provid

Background Knowledge

How Knowledge Helps

Knowledge does much more than just help students hone their thinking skills, it actually makes learning easier.

Blog Posts

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction

A middle school reading coach asks if it is important for African American children to read African American literature. Alfred Tatum, author of Engaging African American Males in Reading, shares his thoughts.

Blog: Shanahan on Literacy

A Disciplinary Literacy Bibliography

Disciplinary literacy refers to the specialized or somewhat unique texts or text features in those texts that are the province of a particular field of study and the specialized approaches to reading and writing texts used by experts in a field of stud

Research, Reports & Guides

Adolescent Literacy Walk-Through for Principals: A Guide for Instructional Leaders
Adolescent Literacy Resources: Linking Research and Practice
Still At Risk: What Students Don't Know, Even Now

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