Selective
reading
guides
are
specifically
designed
to
help
students
for
whom
the
text
is
very
difficult.
For
example,
a
selective
reading
guide
might
be
appropriate
for
a
unit
that
examines
the
concept,
All
living
things
ultimately
depend
on
the
sun
for
their
energy.
To
assist
students
in
their
reading
of
their
textbook,
they
would
receive
a
selective
reading
guide
prepared
by
the
teacher
specifically
for
the
chapter
about
the
ways
animals
and
plants
get
energy.
The
guide
would
consist
of
about
ten
short-‐answer
questions
focusing
on
the
main
points.
It
is
likely
that
the
guide
would
refer
to
page
numbers
and
sections
of
the
chapter.
The
questions
would
all
be
relevant
to
the
main
concept
and
would
include
literal,
inferential,
and
application
questions.
The
students
would
also
create
a
flowchart
to
demonstrate
how
the
sun’s
energy
gets
into
plants,
the
plants’
energy
into
the
animals,
and
how
animals
give
off
energy.
Their
final
question
would
require
them
to
apply
the
concept
by
explaining
what
would
happen
if
the
sun
ran
out
of
fuel
or
if
it
was
somehow
blocked
and
the
light
could
no
longer
reach
earth.
Chemistry
Examples
Struggling/striving
readers
often
have
a
lot
of
difficulty
in
chemistry
classes
in
part
because
chemistry
is
abstract.
Students
have
to
understand
processes
that
they
can
rarely
see
since
they
are
at
the
molecular,
atomic,
and
subatomic
levels.
Analogies
can
be
very
helpful
here,
since
the
analogy
represents
the
relevant
background
knowledge
students
have.
In
an
earlier
section,
I
gave
the
example
of
students
rolling
marbles
to
understand
how
atoms
or
molecules
collide,
an
important
concept
in
understanding
chemical
reactions.
Animations
on
the
internet
provide
excellent
visual
representations
of
chemical
processes.
Googling
the
topic
is
likely
to
produce
several
animations
to
choose
from.
Obviously,
they
require
availability
of
at
least
one
computer
that
can
be
projected
onto
a
screen
and
resources
may
not
be
available
in
every
school.
CONTENT
LITERACY
IS
SOCIAL
JUSTICE
As
you
consider
these
various
content
area
literacy
strategies,
keep
in
mind
that
though
they
are
ones
you
probably
know
about
or
use
in
your
classrooms,
I
have
reconceptualized
them
within
four
specific
theoretical
frameworks
that
contribute
to
social
justice.
They
contribute
to
social
justice
because
they
are
specifically
designed
to
provide
the
academic,
culturally
responsive,
motivational,
and
liberatory
stances
toward
the
education
of
struggling/striving
readers.
Most
of
these
students
have
been
marginalized
in
their
educational
experiences
by
virtue
of
their
race
and
economic
status
(McLaren,
2007).
When
teachers
intertwine
students’
cultural
and
historical
backgrounds
with
content
concepts,
students
become
motivated
to
learn.
When
they
see
teachers
have
high
academic
expectations
of
them
while
simultaneously
providing
academic
supports
so
that
they
might
catch
up
with
their
peers,
they
feel
respected.
And,
as
they
see
themselves
succeed,
their
self-‐efficacy
about
school-‐based
tasks,
including
reading
in
content
areas,
increases.
Our
traditional
responses
to
adolescents
who
do
not
succeed
as
readers
and
as
learners
are
to
provide
remedial
reading
assistance,
usually
in
the
form
of
a
remedial
reading
class,
and
to
track
or
group
them
into
low-‐level
academic
courses.
These
measures
are
rarely
effective.
From
a
social
justice
perspective,
these
behaviors
on
the
part
of
educators
“prevent
the
development
of
the
critical
thinking
that
enables
one
to
‘read
the
world’
critically
and
to
understand
the
reasons
and
linkages
behind
the
facts”
(Macedo,
1994,
p.
16).
This
is
what
Macedo
calls
“literacy
for
stupidification”
(p.
9)
because
it
does
not
prepare
students
to
question
t