Envisioning Knowledge: Building Literacy in the Academic Disciplines

This book by Judith Langer ―internationally known scholar in literacy learning―examines how learners gain knowledge and become academically literate in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science, and social studies/history. Based on extensive research, it offers a new framework for conceptualizing knowledge development (rather than information collection), and explores how one becomes literate in ways that mark “knowing” in a field. Langer identifies key principles for practice and demonstrates how the framework and the principles together can undergird highly successful instruction across the curriculum. With many examples from middle and high schools, this resource will help educators to plan and implement engaging, exciting, and academically successful programs.

Essential reading for pre- and inservice teachers and curriculum developers, this book:

• Offers a new framework on content-area literacy, building on a decade of research and responding to the implications of high-stakes testing.
• Connects to current concerns about adolescent literacy, offering ways for educators to understand essential distinctions between knowledge and information.
• Treats new literacies in the digital-age classroom as an essential context for teaching and learning.
• Includes examples of instructional activities that will engage students in critical and creative thinking.

Judith A. Langer is an internationally known scholar in literacy learning and Distinguished Professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She is the author of Getting to Excellent: How to Create Better Schools.