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Orbiting Around Literacy

Presented by Kelly Gaskin and Selina Martinez

Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment /RLA Department

Division of Instructional Support

Tools for Building Knowledge Coherence

Across Content Areas

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Session Objective

Hello & Welcome

In this session, participants will explore the components of knowledge coherence and engage in activities that expand academic vocabulary, deepen background knowledge, and strengthen literacy practices across the curriculum.

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Unpack knowledge coherence by examining its core components and connections across content areas.
Engage in interactive activities that build academic vocabulary and deepen background knowledge.
Share and apply in your area of expertise.

Session Overview

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Knowledge Coherence

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How does vocabulary knowledge enhance students' ability to construct coherent understanding across content areas?

Share Your Thoughts

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Foundational Skills

Explicit, systematic practice with Literacy

Foundational Skills.

Text Complexity

Regular practice with grade-level, complex text and its academic language.

Knowledge

Coherence

Building knowledge and vocabulary

through text in all content areas.

Text-based Responses

Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational.

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The RLA RBIS

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Key Components of RLA RBIS 3

Knowledge Coherence

Building knowledge and vocabulary

through text in all content areas.

Knowledge

Building knowledge through text, taking advantage of the fact that just as knowledge helps a reader comprehend text, reading texts with comprehension helps readers build knowledge.

Vocabulary

Knowledge and vocabulary are how we define concepts, both in our mental imagery and in

our communication with others.

Content Areas

Texts support building and leveraging knowledge simultaneously across content areas. Knowledge from different contents work as both a predictor and a product of successful reading.

Coherence

Topics build systematically over the years, so that each unit and each year students broaden and deepen their knowledge of the world, of literature, and of the words we use to describe and conceptualize those things.

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Key Finding: Reading Multiple Texts on the Same Topic Accelerates Learning

Reading or listening to a series of texts on the same topic can result in…

Four times as much vocabulary growth as compared to direct instruction
Accelerates learning in both languages

How can we make sense of this finding?

Cervetti, Gina, Tanya Wright, & HyeJin Hwang, “Conceptual Coherence, Comprehension, and Vocabulary Acquisition: A Knowledge Effect?” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 29, no. 4 (2016).

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Sustaining and spiraling schemas and vocabulary can improve students’ ability to comprehend.

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RLA RBIS 3 is building knowledge and vocabulary through text in all content areas.

Knowledge

Vocabulary

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Knowledge of Words/World

Comprehension of Text

“Knowledge can be built and leveraged simultaneously” (Cervetti et al. 2016)

“Knowledge as predictor and product of reading” (Cervetti and Wright 2019)

Cervetti, Gina, and Tanya Wright, “The Role of Knowledge in Understanding and Learning from Text,” in Handbook of Reading Research, ed. Elizabeth Moje et al. (New York: Routledge, 2019). | Cervetti, Gina, Tanya Wright, & HyeJin Hwang, “Conceptual Coherence, Comprehension, and Vocabulary Acquisition: A Knowledge Effect?” Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 29, no. 4 (2016).

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RLA RBIS 3 is building knowledge and vocabulary through text in all content areas.

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Standards are an excellent guide and connecting to content-area instruction is a powerful (and time economical) practice. Consider complementary instruction across science or social studies (or math or music or art or physical education) and ELA.

The integration of ELA with science investigations has proven to be particularly productive with several studies showing positive impacts on students’ literacy learning and conceptual knowledge.

Additional Findings

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Evidence indicates students with knowledge of the subject matter have higher levels of comprehension than students with lower levels of subject matter knowledge.

Why Do Cross-Curricular Connections Matter?

53%

High reading ability & high knowledge

Low reading ability & high knowledge

High reading ability & low knowledge

Low reading ability & low knowledge

43%

Measure of Comprehension

81%

86%

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What stands out to you in this chart?

Let’s Take a Minute…

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Knowledge Map with Subject Area Focus

Bluebonnet Learning K–5 RLA Edition 1

	Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2	Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
1	Nursery Rhymes & Fables	Sharing Stories	Fairy Tales and Tall Tales	The Wind in the Willows	Personal Narratives	Personal Narratives	1
2	The Five Senses	The Human Body	The Ancient Greek Civilization	Animal Classification	Eureka!	The Renaissance	2
3	Fairy Tales and Folktales	Early American Civilization	Stories of the Ancient Greeks	The Human Body	Letters from Heaven	Early American Civilizations	3
4	Plants	Astronomy	The War of 1812	Ancient Rome	The Middle Ages	Don Quixote	4
5	Farms	This Planet Rocks	Cycles of Nature	Exploring Sight and Sound	American Revolution	Poetry	5
6	Colonial & Native Americans	Animals and Habitats	Insects	Astronomy	Treasure Island	Midsummer Night’s Dream	6
7	Serving Our Neighbors	Fairy Tales	The US Civil War	Native American Cultures	Poetry	World War II	7
8	Kings and Queens	American Independence	The Human Body	Early Explorations of North America	Geology	Chemical Matter	8
9	Seasons and Weather	Frontier Explorers	Land of Opportunity	Colonial America	Energy	Juneteenth and Beyond	9
10	America: Our Great Country	Adventure Stories	Fighting for a Cause	All That Jazz	Novel: Number the Stars	Novel: Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe	10
11	Exploring Art	N/A	Flight Story of Aviation	N/A	N/A	N/A	11

	Literary
	Science
	Social Studies

TOOLS

HQIM

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What does knowledge coherence look like at the secondary level?

Let’s Reflect

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Interactive Activities

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Skim & circle vocabulary words that you associate with science and social studies content.
Count & record the total number of words you circled.

Initial Task

Consider the following question:

"Where might my students struggle due to missing content knowledge, and what can help bridge that gap through vocabulary or context support?"

Directions

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Word Art

Write your vocabulary word across the chart paper.
Create illustrations around the letters that depict the meaning of the word.

Example using the word “Jamestown”

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Word Connections

Divide a chart paper into four sections.
Complete the word connection using one word from your set of terms.

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Everyone stand up
The PERSON with the birthday coming up the soonest will begin

First person- Roll the dice
Say the corresponding answer to the number out loud

Pass to the person to the RIGHT of you

Repeat

Continue until all tasks are done.

Dice Game

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Say the definition of the word in your own words

________ is like____because

Create an illustration that will help you remember its meaning

Dice Game

climate

Say an example of the word

The word ________ makes me think of ________ because ________.

Act out the word.

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Say the definition of the word in your own words

________ is like____because

Create an illustration that will help you remember its meaning

Dice Game

atmosphere

Say an example of the word

The word ________ makes me think of ________ because ________.

Act out the word.

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Say the definition of the word in your own words

________ is like____because

Create an illustration that will help you remember its meaning

Dice Game

landforms

Say an example of the word

The word ________ makes me think of ________ because ________.

Act out the word.

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Cross-Curricular Connections

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Online Resources

Newsela
CommonLit
Dcmp.org (Described and Captioned)
Noredink
Scholastic
Library of Congress
The Learning Network
Americanliterature.com
Readworks.org
Tween Tribune
Smithsonian Learning Lab
Census Bureau
What is Going On In This Graph?

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Informational Texts

8th Grade

Science

*7th Grade TEKS - Tested Topic in 8th*

6th Grade

Social Studies

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COPT Strategy

A strategy that supports students in developing a deeper understanding of informational text.

C	Controlling Idea The controlling idea is the main idea the author presents. It expresses a clear opinion, stand, or attitude about a topic. It acts as the driving force that all paragraphs support.
O	Organizational Patterns Organizational patterns (or text structures) refer to how information or ideas in a text are arranged to help the reader understand the author’s purpose and message.
P	Author’s Purpose Author’s purpose is the reason the author wrote the text. It is used to analyze how and why the author made certain choices to influence the reader's thinking, emotions, or actions.
T	Text Features Text features are the visual and organizational elements in a text that help students locate, understand, and retain information. These features support reading comprehension—especially in nonfiction texts—by highlighting key ideas and showing how information is structured.

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Author Says, I Say, And So

A strategy that is a highly structured way to identify, organize, and process reactions to a text.

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TCMPC Rubric

A strategy that helps students understand the STAAR informational writing task and analyze the text through notetaking and annotations.

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“Students need to be exposed to a new word at least six times in context before they have enough experience with the word to understand it and remember its meaning.”

-Jenkins, Stein, and Wysocki

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Share and Apply

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Based on an existing lesson plan or content you observe what is the most effective way you can implement one of the instructional strategies or activities learned today?
Be prepared to discuss the specific TEKS alignment and the expected student outcome.

Share Out

bit.ly/4mGEg9J

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How can you be more intentional about incorporating informational texts and vocabulary activities into your daily lessons?

Reflection

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Session Materials

bit.ly/3KA4uNL

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Upcoming Sessions

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Contact Us!

Kelly Gaskin

RLA Specialist

kesalinas@esc1.net

(956)984-6065

Selina Martinez

RLA Specialist

selimartinez@esc1.net

(956)984-6184

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All materials, content, and forms contained in this training/presentation are the

They are intended for use by session participant at the classroom, campus,

or district level only. Materials are to be used “as is” without modification.

Materials may not be used for personal benefit or financial gain or for use outside of the school system.

Intellectual Property Statement

(C) Region One Education Service Center

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(C) Region One Education Service Center

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