Use
Real-World Content literacy
To Enrich and Enliven Your Classes!

Explore student Real-World content literacy skills and build on that content savvy to enhance all related curriculum literacy skills.
 
This site includes hands-on examples of which Real-World materials work well in your subject. Spin them to best advantage for new, educational, and customized content literacy. You will also learn many of the reasons these authentic-text materials work so successfully to support your teaching goals.

Mine Real-World Content
to Leverage Classroom Literacy Skills

Ask yourself —

    What if you could focus your students’ out-of-school literacies on your course of study?

    What if you could work in content literacy skill sets from their games and toys? As educational content literacies?

Whether you choose Real World components from
• sports cards
• comic books
• menus
• board-games
• model kit and toy assembly instructions
• coupons, cereal boxes, tickets, and more
you can harness the interest these everyday materials generate in your classroom. Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade. And did I mention TESL?


Help Students Apply
Real-World Content Literacy
to Fuel Their School-World Power

My preference for Real-World Text over School text got me into hot water early. I watched my kids interacting with "Found" or Real-World Text materials in the schoolyard. They were absorbed in the content and engaged in questioning and argument.

I wanted all that to continue inside my classroom. I invited them to bring      Real-World stuff into School-World.

I first used the advantages of these Real-World content literacies with 2nd and 3rd graders who spoke no-to-little English fluently.

Of course, the path was not smooth. I alienated my school principal when we emptied our desks of textbooks and passed them to the back of the room. But all I could think was… what if?

    What if I could mine that Real-World content literacy they already had?

    What if I could show them that what they already knew was valuable and a jump-start on what we had to master in the classroom?

    What if I could show them how classroom content literacies would assist them out in their everyday lives?

It  just seemed so logical. Who knew where we could go together?

Where we went was right through the core subject objectives we needed to meet – the course requirements for their promotion. Eight months after our Real-World content start, these students achieved standardized test scores in reading/response literacy levels from 5th to 11th grade.

What I learned propelled me into a lifelong study of knowledge acquisition and launched me on my quest to understand

    • what Real-World content materials worked best
    • why teaching from everyday materials worked so well
    • how to reinforce skill and literacy sets
    • how to share what I learned with others – students, teachers, parents.

So, if you are —

      Teacher or Parent,
      New or Experienced,
      Student looking for a creative edge,

let's explore some examples of Real-World content literacy & check out the advantages they offer to increase your effectiveness when teaching from everyday materials... and have some fun at the same time!

Content Literacy Blog
Advocating improvement in content literacy across the curriculum from students' everyday skill with authentic content - from sports cards and comics to toys and videogames.
Comic Book Content Literacies
Take advantage of comic book content components to expand cross-curricular skills from everyday student literacies for integrated unit teaching.
Menu Content Literacies
Involve students' everyday menu content literacies to build cross-curricular facility with tables and indexes in integrated unit teaching.
Sports Card Content Literacies
Sports card content engages everyday student literacies for teaching advantage and impact across the curriculum.
Integrate Real World Content
Integrate Real World content into your teaching units to take advantage of everyday student literacies and deepen cross-curricular connections.
Toys and Model Kits
Toys and model kits engage students in assembly skill sets that accent spatial literacy for cross-curricular advantage.
About
Interdisciplinary education specialist and writer, Barbara Bondar, promotes Real World content advantages for deepening cross-curricular literacies and skill sets.
Contact
Contact information for Real World Content Advantage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about using Real World content to best advantage in teaching from everyday literacies.
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