Applying Effective Reading Techniques In Content Area Classes

”I’m a history teacher. Why should I use reading strategies? — Learn reading techniques for a math class? Gimme a break! ” These comments are typical of the ones heard at the beginning of every semester in my class titled “Improving Reading in the Secondary Schools. ” This course is required of all candidates for a secondary teaching credential so attendance is not voluntary and, as might be noted from the above comments, not especially desired. Even the body language of my students was telling —many of the students did not want to be there. They were content teachers, not reading teachers. To exacerbate the problem, the class was comprised of both preservice un-dergraduates and those who were already in the classroom teaching with an emergency credential. I knew that the information I had to present was useful for any content area and I was determined to prove to these students the many benefits of applying reading techniques in all classes. The methods presented in class are interdisciplinary in nature; they are just as useful in a social studies class as they are in an English class