Model Adolescent Literacy Course Under Way at UMaine
Contact: Kay Hyatt at (207) 581-2761
ORONO, Maine — Nineteen Maine teachers from York to Washington counties are sharpening their skills in a growing area of educational concern during the Adolescent Literacy Institute taking place at the University of Maine. The program offers a national model course to help secondary school teachers in all content areas boost their students’ reading skills and help them meet the literacy demands of higher academic standards.
The course, “Teaching Reading through Teacher and Student Inquiry,” was developed and is taught by Tanya Baker, literacy coordinator at Brewer High School and UMaine doctorate student in literacy, and Jeff Wilhelm, a former UMaine literacy professor now at Boise State University. They developed the course three years ago as part of the Washington County Adolescent Literacy Project, a national demonstration site to create, sustain and study school-wide literacy initiatives at the high school level.
Basic reading and writing are no longer sufficient for today’s high school students who must demonstrate strong literacy and critical thinking skills to meet performance-based standards in all subject areas, Baker points out. “If we are asking students to go beyond their reading comprehension in subject matter, we need to give them the underpinning — the ability to read, grasp and use information to meet higher demands,” she explains.
The July 12-21 session is the only time the course will be offered in Maine this year. The state Department of Education has requested that next year, the course be offered in southern Maine as well as in Orono. Other states, looking for ways to improve adolescent literacy, are expressing interest in the Maine model. Baker and Wilhelm have taught the course in Utah and Chicago area schools, and are scheduled to present it in Providence, R.I.
Media are welcome to attend institute sessions and interview the instructors and participants. Wednesday and Thursday morning (July 14 and 15) would be especially good times to see how the course works and the teachers in action, according to Baker. Institute hours are 8 a.m.-3 p.m., with morning sessions taking place in 115 D.P. Corbett Business Building.