Literacy Matters - Vol 21 - Winter 2021

drawing inferences, but they would also need to draw upon significant disciplinary knowledge. In fact, although pictures are often considered to be“easier”reads than word-based text, our experience has been that non-experts have the most difficulty reading this text, as compared to the others included above. For instance, readers would need a basic understanding of colonization and the NapoleonicWars in order to interpret the text. Readers would also need to identify each leader—British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Students of history might be able to do so based on their own background information related to each character’s physical appearance, attire (such as the traditional British“redcoat”as well as the French“musketeer”style bicorn hat) or emblems on their seats (e.g., a lion carrying St. Andrew’s cross for Pitt and the Imperial Eagle for Napoleon). Yet non- experts often do not have the background knowledge to do so. Readers would also need to realize the extent to which symbolism and hyperbole are commonly used in political cartoons, which would help them to realize the political cartoon is satirizing the Anglo-Franco international dominance (and greediness) of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Those with particular expertise might also use their knowledge of Napoleon’s attempts to reconcile with Britain during the War of the Third Coalition to deduce the cartoonist is lampooning Napoleon’s attempts to smooth relations with Britain in order to free troops for European conquest. A reading of this text from the standpoint of the fine arts might bolster a purely historical reading of the text. In cartoon imagery, hyperbole is often depicted through exaggeratedly drawn characteristics, as is true here: Pitt is depicted as extremely skinny, Napoleon is drawn as diminutive with an overly hooked nose, and both have garishly large hats and swords with which to cut the pudding/world. Additionally, from an artistic standpoint, the use of color is important; not only are primary colors used, which keeps the piece grounded and focused, the colors are highly symbolic—red for the British and blue for the French—colors continuously used in artistic depictions of both nations. Finally, both art and social studies students must recognize the medium in which this text is cast. It is a hand-colored etching, a process used in printmaking that requires incising acid into a metal plate to hold ink, which is then printed onto paper. In understanding this time-consuming and detailed process, students of both art and history might come to a greater understanding of the social processes by which governmental critique was created and sustained. Who had access to these processes?What are the social processes by which governments are critiqued now? Thus, reading this text from the standpoint of both the arts and history can be mutually informing and enriching. Discussion In this article, we have provided an overview of the differences between content-area and disciplinary literacy, highlighting that, while they are often discussed as interchangeable, they are not. Instead, as Shanahan (2012) points out,“The difference is that content literacy emphasizes techniques that a novice might use to make sense of a disciplinary text (such as how to study a history book for an examination), whereas disciplinary literacy emphasizes

the unique tools that the experts in a discipline use to engage in the work of that discipline”(p. 8). To make these foundational ideas in secondary literacy available for deep discussion, we outlined a set of texts we have used to support educators in exploring their own reading strategies as they engage with disciplinary text. This is important because it allows educators to make connections between their own, often skilled, disciplinary reading and that of their students, asking them to become metacognitive about their own thinking and about the thinking they ask of students. Asking educators to be metacognitive about their own reading strategies is useful because it supports educators to empathize with students about the complexity of what we are asking them to do when we ask them to make sense of even“simple”disciplinary text. Should you desire to run a similar activity in university coursework or professional development settings, we highlight the importance of selecting texts teachers and others will see as relevant to their daily work in schools (Borko, 2004). We also note this activity is meant to open the door to discussions about content-area and disciplinary literacy and the ways it is enacted across the curriculum. Follow-up sessions would, of course, need to be offered in which educators identify, discuss, rehearse, and plan instruction capable of supporting both content-area and disciplinary literacy (Jackson et al., 2018; Dobbs et al., 2017). For more information and resources on secondary literacy in South Carolina, please visit LiD 6-12’s website, literacy6-12.org, an organization we have formed in hopes of supporting educators across the state who are working to make sure South Carolina’s secondary students get the literacy support they need. References Arbitrage, H. (2016). The 15 most influential political cartoons of all time. Retrieved 27 February 2020 from https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/ articles/the-15-most-influential-political-cartoons-of-all-time/ Braaten, M. (2019). Persistence of the two-worlds pitfall: Learning to teach within and across settings. Science Education , 103(1), 61-91. https://doi.org/10.1002/ sce.21460 Brozo, W.G., Moorman, G., Meyer, C., & Stewart. T. (2013). Content area reading and disciplinary literacy: A case for the radical center. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56 (5), 353–357 Byrnes, J. P. &Wasik, P. A. (2019). Chap. 8: Beginning reading. Language and Literacy Development: What Educators Need to Know. 2nd Ed. The Guilford Press. (p. 191-224). Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher , 33 (8), 3-15.

Reading Matters Displinary Literacy Matters

Christenbury, L. (2006). Making the journey: Being and becoming a teacher of English Language Arts. Heinemann.

Dobbs, C., Ippolito, J. & Charner-Laird, M. (2016). Layering intermediate and disciplinary work: Lessons learned from a secondary social studies teacher team. Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy, 60 (2), p. 131-139.

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