Disciplinary Literacy

Disciplinary literacy is the process of learning and understanding a new discipline or subject. It is the knowledge of and skills associated with specialized language and technical vocabulary. Disciplinary literacy relies on prior knowledge of the topic being taught and is centered around inquiry. While reading comprehension is a key factor in disciplinary literacy, disciplinary literacy does not involve close reading, vocabulary instruction, or academic/functions of language instruction.

This course is well-suited to high school teachers. It is also highly applicable to educators teaching grades 4 and up, when students begin entering the disciplines. All teachers looking to improve students’ reading, writing, communication and use of evidence in their discipline can benefit from this course.

This course is also recommended for educators in instructional leadership, classroom coaches, instructional specialists in the disciplines and literacy coaches.

The course was designed by educators, for educators. You will learn directly from first-hand accounts of teacher experts who are experienced in uses of disciplinary literacy strategy. Many courses on disciplinary literacy are more heavily theory-based and can lack practical takeaways for working teachers.

We recognize that understanding theory is not what makes a good teacher so the focus of the course is on analyzing, critiquing and creating practical strategies and activities that you can implement in your classroom immediately. However, developing an inquiry into your practice requires an understanding of major teaching and learning theories, therefore certain elements of the course are based on disciplinary literacy theory and research.

Teachers of all disciplines can benefit from the course. Not specific to one particular subject area, teachers are required to move through the course applying their learnings directly to their daily teaching practice. The course features first-hand accounts from disciplinarians from a wide variety of disciplines to round out teachers’ development throughout the course. Finally, through formative assessments teachers will develop the tools to adapt their teaching for disciplinary literacy strategy.

Absolutely! While literacy is widely understood to be a skill taught in the English or language arts classroom, every discipline has its own methods of reading and writing. This course will give teachers the tools and disciplinary literacy strategies to improve student learning and engagement in their discipline.

At the end of the course there is a multiple-choice assessment covering all content. Learners will also be required to submit a written assignment as a final summative activity. The passing grade for all assignments and tests is 70%.

No. There are no in-class components to the course.

The course does not carry credit.

Check with your district and state licensure requirements as the certificate may satisfy these requirements.

Participants can purchase the course here. After purchasing the course, you will receive an email with a code and a link to get started. You are required to use the code in order to activate your account so you can create a profile and get started!

Visa, American Express, Mastercard and Paypal are all accepted as methods of payment.

No. Payment for the course is due in full upon registration and payment plans are not available.

Financial aid is not available.

This course is non-refundable. Please make sure that a course is approved by your governing body for any professional development requirements before purchasing.