Engaging Literacy Experiences in History Classrooms: A Multiple Case Study of Novice Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT Content-area standards foreground the importance of reading and writing across the disciplines. With this in mind, it is important to examine the beliefs and practices of teachers who successfully integrate literacy in content-area courses in order to provide models for others. This paper examines beliefs and practices of two novice secondary history teachers as they worked to incorporate literacy instruction into their classrooms. Findings of this study revealed that participants believed literacy was vital to their discipline and enacted these beliefs by infusing course content with literacy through engaging students with writing, creative projects, and reading tasks.