The first reading highlights the differences between a number of similar-sounding terms. Content is what the author tries to convey to the reader. The author may use a variety of approaches, including but not limited to words, images, or sounds. At the same time, the reader brings their own experiences to the content. I think this would appeal to Gee based on last week’s reading. Content area takes content and organizes it based on subject – language arts, science, math, social studies, etc. – and grade level. At first glance, content-area literacy and disciplinary literacy appear to mean the same thing. According to T. Shanahan, content-area literacy “focuses on imparting reading and study skills that may help students to better understand and remember whatever they read,” while disciplinary literacy is achieved when students know how reading and writing are used in the field in addition to the essential content of said field. It is imperative that we teach our students both as one in not more important than the other. This is demonstrated in what the author calls the “versus” syndrome.
The Moje reading introduces this idea of metadiscursivity. The New London group defined metadiscursivity to describe how “people not only engage in many different discourse communities but also know how and why they are engaging, and what those engagements mean for them and others in terms of social positioning and larger power relations.” Metadiscursivity relates to disciplinary literacy because students are cognoscente of how information is being used. This is important because students are not learning, and thus advancing their disciplinary literacy skills, in a static environment. Students bring in what they have learned at home into the classroom, once again, appealing to Gee’s philosophy.
Moje goes on to talk about what it means to learn and what counts as knowledge. We had similar discussions last week when we were analyzing Gee to determine what actually counts as reading under his school of thought. Moje stresses that especially at the secondary level, we have been approaching this through the lens of literacy theory rather than disciplinary learning theory. Again, this is so important because it takes into account the knowledge children obtain from their home communities.
boisterousbird 
I like how the writer of this blog related the readings from Gee last week, to this weeks readings. She compares and contrasts the definitions of content, content area, and disciplinary literacy. I believe the idea of metadiscursivity is extremely important in a classroom. As stated above, it defines that people know how and why they are doing something. This concept is very important because if students are just learning information and then after the test it leaves, this is not beneficial. Students need to know why things they learn are important and how it can help them in a social setting, not just in school.
LikeLiked by 1 person