Calling all Science and Engineering teachers! Interested in helping your students become better readers of science texts as they master the goals of your grade level and more? The Reading Apprenticeship approach models discipline-specific literacy skills and establishes routines for discussion and collaboration that tap students’ own experiences. 

These 14 units were designed by teams of science educators who use Reading Apprenticeship in their classrooms. The teams were part of a Design Group led by Reading Apprenticeship senior staff members: Dr. Cynthia Greenleaf, Dr. Willard Brown and Heather Howlett. The units are guided by an inquiry question and include detailed lesson steps, student materials, and student work samples from Reading Apprenticeship classrooms.  

There is a landing page for each unit on our Resources webpage and unit overviews in the Teacher Materials.  The units were designed and tested during the pandemic, so they include digital and in-person resources and teaching routines. 

Select units and inquiry questions include: 

• Civil Engineering: What makes for the best design? 
• Biology: What makes us who we are? 
• Chemistry: What is the chemistry of a candle? 
• Earth Science: What is Earth’s physical history? 
• Physical Science: How do rockets work? 
• Physical Science: How are ice spikes formed? 

Explore our library of curriculum resources here. 

Select Reading Apprenticeship routines integrated into these units include: 

•  Metacognitive Conversation (Chapter 4 of Reading for Understanding) 
• Think-Write-Pair-Share
• Talking to the Text (learn more about the Talking to the Text routine here) as well as in Reading for Understanding Chapter 4 (pp. 108-109).

Interested in learning about the unit design process?  

Watch the webinar replay of two middle school science educators about how they incorporated literacy supports within Mi-STAR science curriculum units using Reading Apprenticeship strategies, and see how you can use these supports in your own classroom. 

The design of the STEM units was supported by a 2018 SEED grant to WestEd from the U.S. Department of Education (Grant U423A180020) and by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education nor the Hewlett Foundation.  

Permission to use: The lesson materials open education resources in the Creative Commons (CC BY license). You are free to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the lesson materials and plans as long as you credit the authors for the original creation. The texts in the unit are CC licensed by the authors or public domain. Please credit the original authors for the texts.    

More than 200 North Carolina 9^th and 10^th grade Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts educators participated in the first year of Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina, reaching over 5,000 students! Participants engaged in both in-person and online training, and district leaders and educators were exceptionally nimble as pandemic related challenges necessitated changes to the learning progression as originally conceived.

Despite the obstacles, teachers were open and enthusiastic in their learning and implementation of Reading Apprenticeship. They were further motivated by the differences they saw in their classroom culture. A Social Studies teacher reported the following: We’ve done well with our establishing a culture where being confused is acceptable and nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of more questions are driving instruction than ever before, which I feel has been the greatest success of RA this year.

Our facilitators and local partners were able to travel to and engage in an in-person day of learning in each district this winter that served to be both engaging and energizing. For many of our participants, this was their first in-person professional development session in more than two years. We saw firsthand the earnest and sincere efforts of these outstanding educators.

One of our districts, Wilkes County, arranged visits to classrooms where Reading Apprenticeship had been implemented with fidelity and skill. Participants were able to observe these wonderful teachers in action with their students and then our team led the debriefing. That kind of creativity and collaborative programming is only possible with rich partnerships with the dedicated district staff and leadership.

Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina will continue to support the learning and implementation of our Framework through Summer in-person learning for our existing cohort and an additional cohort of teachers. We will then move to supporting implementation in online modules in the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. Teacher Leaders have been identified and will be supported to sustain Reading Apprenticeship beyond each district’s two-year commitment.

This project is made possible by the EIR grant from the U.S. Department of Education and supports primarily rural districts in North Carolina. You can learn more about the project here, and more about the evidence of our impact on teacher practice and student learning here.

The last cohort of Reading Apprenticeship North Carolina will launch in Summer 2023. If you are interested in your district participating, please contact: Sam Peters, Program Coordinator, [email protected].

Apply to join the 2022 cohort of Reading Apprenticeship Facilitators*.

Reading Apprenticeship is looking for experienced teachers and leaders to join the national cadre of facilitators. This is a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge of Reading Apprenticeship, connect with colleagues, and lead professional learning for teachers across the country.

The Facilitator in Training (FIT) program is a blended in-person and online learning experience that will prepare you to lead Reading Apprentice institutes with middle and high school teachers. It includes a $1000 stipend and travel to Alameda, California for a summer learning session July 28-29, 2022. Details:

• FIT Program Description
• Benefits & Commitments
• Online Application

Applications are due by March 31. Please email Irisa Charney Sirott with any questions.

*Reading Apprenticeship facilitators work as independent consultants contracted through WestEd.

Reading Apprenticeship has been awarded a $3.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to improve subject-area teaching and learning at the secondary level in Arizona, Michigan, and Texas. The two-year grant (2021-23) from the department’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program, enables WestEd to deepen Reading Apprenticeship teacher professional learning in three locations that were part of a 2018-2021 SEED grant project.

“This new grant will enable us to identify and support best practices for working with district, regional, and state leaders and teachers to sustain inquiry-based professional learning at the secondary level,” says Literacy Director Dr. Linda Friedrich.

Because the grant includes a qualitative evaluation that builds on a student impact study already underway, it also gives Reading Apprenticeship leaders a unique opportunity to learn more about how our teaching and learning strategies supported teachers and students during the COVID years in which adaptation was needed to accommodate online and hybrid settings.

The grant will support WestEd’s Reading Apprenticeship staff to work both directly with teachers, and through established local partners, with the aim of building local capacity and sustainability for enduring professional learning in districts serving diverse and low-wealth student populations. The project will engage teachers, students, and leaders via the following partnerships:

• Wayne County RESA leaders who serve 33 districts in the Detroit, Michigan area.
• Mission CISD, a school-district in south Texas serving about 16,000 students in the City of Mission and the neighboring communities of Alton, Palmhurst, and McAllen.
• The Arizona State Department of Education – Secondary Literacy.

If you would like to learn more about the project, contact Associate Director Mary Stump at [email protected].

Dr. Linda Friedrich, Director of Literacy at WestEd, was invited by the Alabama Literacy Network’s Podcast to discuss all things Reading Apprenticeship, the importance of life-long literacy, her own experiences as a reader and writer, and much more.

Check out the thought-provoking recording below and learn more about the Reading Apprenticeship approach here.

More than 700 teachers in Arizona, California, Michigan, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin will be engaging in Reading Apprenticeship professional learning this summer. Teachers will experience and learn new ways to establish a positive learning community with student strengths and texts at the center. Teachers are engaging in three days of learning this summer, followed by additional inquiry into disciplinary literacy via monthly online networks throughout the school year facilitated by Reading Apprenticeship experts.

The Reading Apprenticeship team is thrilled to be working with so many middle and high school educators from across the country. This project is made possible by a SEED grant from the U.S. Department of Education. SEED grants are competitive and awarded to programs with a strong evidence base.

You can learn more about the project here, and more about the evidence of our impact on teacher practice and student learning here.

If you are an educator or administrator in one of the states above and would like a team of teachers from your school or district to be involved, we might be able to include you if you contact us very soon! Contact: Mary Stump, Associate Director, [email protected]