Activity: Entrance Activity

• Read and complete the Anticipation Guide provided to you.

Math and Science Literacy Skills:

Tools for Thinking and Learning

Diane KinkadeLynne RamageEileen Spalla

Christine Troup

Schedule• 9-10:30

– Anticipation guide– Text readability– Text structure– Background knowledge – Vocabulary

• 11-12– Vocabulary – Comprehension

• 1-2– Comprehension – Writing

What are we doing today?

• Identify and address the unique challenges of reading math and science

• Build awareness of and learn practical tools that apply to– Text structure and features– Background knowledge– Vocabulary– Comprehension strategies– Writing strategies

What is reading?

"Reading is a constructive process in which the reader interacts with text, using prior knowledge and experience to make connections, generate hypotheses, and make sense of what s/he reads.”

Barton, M.L.,& Heidema, C. (2000).

Reading in content areas

"Teaching reading in the content areas is not so much about teaching students basic reading skills as it is about teaching students how to use reading as a tool for thinking and learning“

Barton, M. L., & Heidema, C. (2000).

“Problems in reading non-fiction texts are most acute in the content areas of science, social studies, health, and math, in which students are expected to read a non-fiction text and acquire new information from it.”

Gillet and Temple (2000) in Robb.

Text Readability

What is text readabililty?

“The level of ease or difficulty with which text material can be understood by a particular reader who is reading that text for a specific purpose.”

“Readability” Dr. Pikulski, 2002, www.eduplace.com/state/authorPikulski.pdf)

Activity: What are some of the factors that affect readability?

• In a group of 4 or 5• Skim the text• Answer this question: what would make

this text challenging for a student in x grade?

• Make a list• Compare your list to what we researched

Access (text) features

Links to prior knowledge

directionality

Grammatical features

Must proficiently decode words and symbolsText structure

Density of ideas

Abstract concepts

Word length

students?

for

challenging

Sentence length

VocabularyWhat

makes

science and math texts

Implications

• Don’t take grade-level texts at face value• Teachers should evaluate texts for

challenges• Teachers need to assess text and to plan

instructional activities to support student success

Partner Discussion

• Talk to a partner and tell him/her one thing you will remember about text readability in math or science.

Text Structure

What is text structure?

• The way text is organized– In a sentence– In a paragraph– In a section– In a chapter– throughout the book

What are some common text structures found in math and

science texts?• Description• Sequence / Process• Comparison/contrast• Cause-effect• Problem-solution• Generalization/principle • Hypothesis/support

Why should I care about text structure?

“Teaching students how to recognize and represent the organizational patterns (text structures) commonly used by authors …can significantly influence students’ learning.”

Barton, 2001, 20.

Implications

“[T]eachers should preview their text materials to identify whether the main ideas are clearly written and appear in a consistent location throughout the text.”

Barton, 2001, 17

Activity – Text Structure Sort

• For this activity, work with a partner next to you to analyze text structures, function, signal words, comprehension cues and questions, and visual organizers.

• Use the small pieces to complete the table.

Examples of text/access features

• Headings• Bold• Italics• Objectives/ purposes• Summaries• Graphs• Diagrams• Cutaways• Graphics

Other teacher considerations

“One feature of many mathematics texts is that concepts are introduced but not discussed again for several chapters…concepts are developed and practiced and followed by a period of disuse”

Barton 2001

Activity: Getting to know your textbook

• Look through one chapter and consider the text features:– Which are “red lights,” “yellow lights” and

“green lights” for students? For teachers?– Do students understand the purpose of the

features?• Discuss with those at your table how these

would inform your instruction• Share one idea with the whole group

Reflection: Quick write

• Write about one important thing you will remember about either text structures or text features

Background Knowledge

There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those that understand

binary code, and those who don’t.

Background knowledge video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP-ijdxqEc

Summary points from Willingham’s video

1. Once students learn decoding, they can decode anything.

2. But they can’t understand anything they read. Comprehension requires prior knowledge.

3. Attempts to boost comprehension through reading strategies alone will fail.Daniel Willingham, Cognitive Psychologist, University of Virginia

Ways to build, access, and assess background knowledge

• Read alouds, videos, guest speakers, field trips, gallery walk

• Anticipation guide• KWL and variations• Wordstorming

Wordstorming

• Title of article is “Plastic Unfantastic”• As a small group (table), come up with

words you think will be mentioned in this article that start with P, G or R

Reflection on building background knowledge

• On a post-it note, write down one idea you’d like to share about building or activating background knowledge.

• Post it on the graffiti board before the break.

Vocabulary

Activity :Read-Pair-Share

• Read what research has to say about vocabulary and vocabulary instruction.

• Choose three findings that resonate with you

• With a partner, share which quotes you chose and why

Vocabulary

“A high school chemistry text can contain some 3000 new vocabulary terms – far more than are taught in most foreign language classes,”

(Barton, 2001, iii).

Remember this?

Math texts contain more concepts per word per sentence and per paragraph than any other kind of text.”’

(Brennnan and Dunlap, 1985; Culyer, 1988; Thomas, 1988, as cited in Barton, 2000).

Level of Word Knowledge

• “[L]earners can very quickly get a sense of a word’s meaning…But full understanding…occurs only over time and multiple encounters.”

(Beck et al, 2002).

Which vocabulary do I teach?

Ideally, selecting critical vocabulary words is a group process – Department– Grade– School– Vertical teams

Which vocabulary do I teach?

• Useful and interesting words

• Target words for instruction that are– Necessary for understanding the text

AND– Essential to understanding topic

not just

Three types of math and science words

Content-specific vocabulary• Only found in this subject area (i.e. quadratic,

coefficient, hypotenuse)

Shared meaning• General vocab = math / science vocab• (dollars, cents, process, and science add)

Different meanings • General vocab does not equal math/science vocab• Odd, plane, prime, gravity, radical, difference,

product,

A Six-Step Process for Effective Vocab. Instruction: An overview

Games

Discuss

Activities

Draw

Define

De-scribe

Builds initial understanding Deepens understanding

Step: Define Describe Draw Activities Discussion Games

What to do:

The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

Students restate the description, explanation or example in their own words

Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representation of the term

Periodically, engage students in activities that help them add to their knowledge of vocabulary terms

Periodically, ask students to discuss the terms with one another

(clear up misconceptions)

Periodically, involve students in [meaningful] games that allow them to play with the terms

How to do it:

• Give direct experiences that provide examples of the term

• Tell a story that integrates the term

• Use video or computer images

• Use current events

• Find or create pictures

• Describe your own mental image

Students record their descriptions, explanations, and examples in their own notebooks

Students do this immediately after they’ve formed their own linguistic description

• Classify terms

• Compare terms

• Generating metaphors

• Generating analogies

• Example, non-examples

• Revising descriptions or nonlinguistic reps

• Use / highlight roots, affixes to deepen knowledge of terms

• List related words (synonyms and antonyms)

• Words it can be confused with

• Translate into another language

• List-group-label

• Frayer model

• Connect-2

• Acrostic poems

• Password

• Poems for 2 voices

• Morphological tree

• Literature circle

• Charades

• Pictionary

• Vobackulary

• Hangman/Rivet

• Think-pair-share

• Whole group discussion

A Six-Step Process for Effective Vocabulary Instruction

• Step 1: The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

Step 2: Students restate the description, explanation or example in their own words

Step 3: Create a nonlinguistic representation of the term

Step 4: Periodically*, engage students in activities that help

them add to their knowledge of vocabulary terms

Step 5: Periodically*, ask students to discuss the terms

with one another• Main goal is for students to help each

other identify and clear up misconceptions and confusion

Step 6: Periodically*, involve students in [meaningful] games that allow them to play with the

terms• Stimulates their interest and enthusiasm

about vocabulary as well as provide multiple exposures to terms

Sample vocabulary term

Proper fraction

Sample Notebook set-upHow well do I know the word? (1-4)

Term My description

Representation (graphic representation, picture, pictograph, action)

New Insight How well do I know the word now? (1-4)

Example of step 4:Word Wall Activity

• List-group-label• Connect 2 • Vobackulary

Other activitiesfor deepening understanding

Rotate through the four stations to explore activities for deepening word understanding.–Poems for 2 voices and Acrostic Poems–Frayer model–Foldables–Cube game

Reflection

Answer one of these questions:

• Why is it important to follow through on all six steps?

• What is a good first step for you to use this six-step strategy to teach vocabulary?

Comprehension

What is comprehension?

“Reading and activity-oriented sciences emphasize the same intellectual skills and are both concerned with thinking processes.”(www.justreadnow.com)

Reading Comprehension Strategies

• Background Knowledge• Visualizing• Questioning• Predicting/inferring• Monitoring for meaning• Synthesizing• Determining importance

Background Knowledge

• Good readers activate and use background knowledge

• How does what the author say fit in with what I know about myself, this topic, or the world?

• How does what I know connect to what the author says?

Visualizing

• Good readers create visual, auditory, and other sensory images as they read

• Two types of visualizing in math and science:– Graphic representations of descriptive texts– Spatial representations of objects (planes)

Questioning

• Good readers generate questions before, during, and after reading

Activity: Generating questions from data

• Use the table titled, “GALLONS OF SOFT DRINK SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES EACH YEAR”

• What questions come to you when looking at this data table?

• Share your questions with the others at your table

A different type of questioning: Critical Literacy

• Critical literacy – questioning sources of information

“Anyone can publish anything on the internet, and today’s students are not prepared to critically evaluate the information they find there.”

Predicting/Inferring

• Good readers use their prior knowledge to make predictions, seek answers, draw conclusions, and create interpretations

• Ask interpretive questions about the attributes observed: “I wonder why…” “I wonder how…” lead to inferential thinking.

Juicy Jelly Beans

Kathy has 10 juicy jelly beans. Lenny has 4. How many more juicy jelly beans does Kathy have than Lenny?

• What inferences do students need to make in order to answer this question correctly? How would they know it is a subtraction problem?

Activity: Juicy Jelly Beans

Synthesizing

• Good readers take their prior knowledge and combine it with the new knowledge from the text to create new understandings.

connections

visualizing

inferring

questioningmonitoring

determining importance

Aha, now I figured it out it!

Determine Importance

• Good readers know “why [they’re] reading and then make decisions about which information or ideas are most critical to understanding the overall meaning of a piece.”

Zimmerman (2003) 124.

Four actions that help readers determine importance

• Decide on your purpose for reading• Consciously search for new facts• Read with specific questions in mind• Understand that layout gives valuable

clues

Monitor for meaning

• Good readers are aware of when they understand something and when they don’t.

Instructional activity to help students become independent,

critical consumers of information

• Reciprocal teaching (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oXskcnb4RA)

• Students– Predict– Question– Clarify– Summarize

Other comprehension activitiesfor math and science

• SQ3R • Cornell Notes

Good readers

• Good readers use these seven strategies in reading in all content areas in order to learn

• Teachers can model and explicitly teach these seven strategies

• Being aware of these strategies, teachers may be able to analyze where students’ comprehension is breaking down and how to get him back on track

Walk Talk and Share

• Find a partner, take a lap around the room and discuss ways to help students with reading comprehension in reading and math

Writing

Writing to Learn…

• “Writing to learn [can be] an opportunity for students to recall, clarify, and question what they know about a subject and what they still wonder about with regard to that subject matter.”Knipper and Duggan (2006)

Four actions that help listeners determine importance

• Decide on your purpose for reading• Consciously search for new facts• Read with specific questions in mind• Understand that layout gives valuable

clues

readers

• Oral representation of determining importance

• Planning: how will you (the teacher) orally relate to a student the important points?– (Written text has structure, bold, headings,

pointers, etc.)– Model and teach graphic organizers as part of

the note-taking practice/process

Note-taking

What are the expectations and challenges for student writing in math

and science?• Similar to reading

– Dense– Precise vocabulary– Formal tone– Text structures– Standardized formats (ie lab report, proofs)

• Proper linguistic representation of logical thought processes

Three different types of writingfor math and science

• Declarative– Answers the question what?

• Procedural– Answers the question how?

• Conditional– Answers the questions when? why?

Different types of writing and their underlying structures

DeclarativeAnswers the question what?

ProceduralAnswers the question how?

ConditionalAnswers the questions when? why?

DescriptionComparison/

contrastGeneralization/

principle

Sequence /Process

Problem-solution

Cause-effectHypothesis/

support

Importance of models

• Teachers need to BE models of the active process of writing

• Teachers need to PROVIDE models so students can refer to them as they are writing

Pre-writing activities

• Use word walls to encourage precise vocabulary

• Brainstorm ideas• Use frames for writing (i.e. lab report)• Students need to talk before they write!!!

– Everyone needs to talk – may be with a partner or with whole class

– In general, students who can’t articulate ideas in spoken language won’t be able to articulate ideas in writing

Using frameworks for oral and written responses

• Choose one activity:– Use text structures as graphic organizers– Open-ended questions

• ABCDEF strategy– Graphic organizer for answering math

problems– Graphic organizer for discussion web

Final Reflection

• Go back to anticipation guide and fill in the information that you know now.

• What are three things you are committed to using in your own classroom?

Questions?

Thank you

Science Reading task Writing

Classifying Identifying main idea/details Outline science information

Experimenting Sequencing Write up a procedure to use

Drawing conclusions Drawing conclusions Study experiment results and write up what you think happened based on the facts

Writing up experiment results Expository writing After conducting an experiment, write up the results

Observing/inferring Distinguishing cause and effect List causes and effects in a given experiment

Determining cause and effect Determining cause and effect List causes and effects in a given experiment

Comparing and contrasting Comparing and contrasting Prepare a chart that gives similarities and differences between two similar organisms

Things to think about• 2 types of visualizing in math• Questioning – tree octopus?

– Types of questions for students to internalize– Chart activity page 35 Hyde Comprehending Math– Newsflash, p. 50 Easy Strategies and Lessons that Build Content Area

Reading Skills• Word problems• Fact versus inferrence – create a question to a word problem (formative

assessment) – can they solve the problem they’ve created?– Inferring – cause- effect

• Synthesizing – retelling, summarizing, write personal response; • hands-on activities• Background knowledge: cube game Critical Squares page 5; • Recipricol teaching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oXskcnb4RA

• How to organize partners?• Dance card, clock, socks,

Background Knowledge Activity

• Refer to handout in your packet “Background Knowledge”