How do you integrate a balanced literacy approach into every corner of the curriculum, helping students grow into strategic readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and social scientists?

Instead of teaching about plants, invite children to think, work, and communicate as botanists. Instead of teaching about a culture, help children pose questions and make observations as anthropologists.

Heidi Mills will help you plan for inquiry that promotes literacy across content areas, helping students develop five habits necessary for content learning inside and outside of the classroom:

• Carefully observe the world using the tools and strategies of a specific discipline
• Pose questions and investigate problems from numerous perspectives
• Draw information and evidence from primary and secondary sources
• Use the language of inquiry while reflecting on and sharing new learning effectively with others
• Employ reflection and self-evaluation to grow and change.

Heidi is the author of Learning for Real and From the Ground Up. She was named NCTE’s 2014 Outstanding Educator in English Language Arts with her husband and colleague Tim O’Keefe.