Welcome to Content Area Literacy

If not me, then who?

Teaching literacy skills is every teacher’s responsibility.

If a student is not taught the skills to access the text within a content area, he will remain unable to access the information within that subject. It has very little to do with homework completion. It has everything to do with literacy competency.

from Meeting the Challenge of Adolescent Literacy…

“Teachers of each content area are in the strongest position to help student successfully meet those challenges. Content area teachers know their subject matter and the standards they should be meeting. They also understand the literacy demands of their content; how to read the different kinds of text, how to write in the formats associated with each subject, how to recognize key concepts and vocabulary terms…”

Objective- To effectively use before, during, and after reading/writing strategies within the classroom to accelerate and improve student learning.

Before Reading StrategiesVocabulary Development Strategies

During Reading Strategies

After Reading Strategies

Before Reading Strategies

The most powerful time to support reading is BEFORE students begin to read.

Before Reading Link new information to prior

knowledge Clarify misconceptions Relate new vocabulary to known

concepts Provide information about the

organization of the content Generate questions about the topic Make predictions about what might be

learned

Before Reading Strategies

Anticipation GuideChapter WalkABC’s of ______________KWL/ KNLBelow the Line

Anticipation Guide1. Read each statement and place a check under agree

or disagree in the “before” column.2. Whole group discussion on agreements and

disagreements. 3. Read the text (teacher read or independently).4. Reread each statement and place a check under the

agree or disagree in the “after” column.5. Make a note in the box as to where the evidence can

be located to support this statement.6. Whole group or small group discussion to collaborate

on the text based evidence.

Anticipation Guide-EXAMPLE.doc

Chapter Walk Text Features vary from textbook to

textbook Take time periodically to point out how to

use the text - do not assume that students will read the text the same way you read it

Let’s try it with a generic Chapter Walk

Text Features.doc

ABC’S of _______________ Brainstorming on a certain topic Can be used independently, whole group, or

small groups Can be broken apart to adapt for students with

less prior knowledge (ex. Some students complete A-G, others H-P and so on)

Provides information springboard for discussion where everyone can participate

ABC-EXAMPLE.doc

BELOW THE LINE Individual brainstorm and then group discussion Students have a piece of paper with a line in the center

to divide the page Teacher poses a question Students brainstorm and list answers above the line Whole group - students share responses Check mark next to same or similar responses Different responses go below the line Discussions can occur about which responses occurred

most often and why Discussions can occur about the “different” responses

Below the Line-EXAMPLE.doc

Vocabulary Development

Hand them the words on the platter.-Jacobs, 2000

One way to ensure that students get the most out of their reading is to focus on vocabulary. –Robb, 2003

Spend the time working with and making sense of the words, other than defining them.-Runkle, 2009

Vocabulary Choose the most important and essential

words for the topic of study. Provide direct instruction Make connections to prior knowledge from

previous chapters or courses Organize and categorize the terms in a

meaningful way

Vocabulary Development StrategiesWord Sorts (open and closed)

Vocabulary Circles

Magnet Summaries

Vocabulary Chart

Think Alouds

WORD SORTS1. Place vocabulary terms onto small cards, one word per card.2. Individually, or in groups, students then sort the words into

categories.1. “Closed Sort”- categories provided by teacher2. “Open Sort”- students create and label categories discovered of their

own making

3. Students write their list for each category with a brief explanation of why these words are included together in that particular category.

Completing VOCABULARY SORTS in small groups using textbooks and class notes for reference provides opportunities for in-depth discussion as students consider the word from many aspects. - Billmeyer and Baron, 1998

Word Sort-EXAMPLE.doc

VOCABULARY CHART One of the best ways to learn a new word is to

associate an image with it.Imagery-based techniques produced achievement

gains that were 37 percentile points higher than those produced by techniques that focused on having students continually review word definitions.

Vocabulary Chart.docVocabulary Chart- EXAMPLE.doc

THINK ALOUDS Make your thinking public

You are the expert in your field Allow students to mimic your way of thinking You may feel “out of your comfort zone.” It gets

easier with time and practice Preparation is key - use post-its to prepare

http://books.heinemann.com/wordwise/

During Reading Strategies

All students need to have opportunities to think critically, organize and question while they are interacting with the text.

Instruction that encourages students to continually summarize, visualize, connect, predict, question, organize, infer and monitor will increase comprehension.

DURING READING STRATEGIES

4 Square Reading2 Column Note-TakingNote-Taking with codesExtract/ReactGraphic Organizers specific to text

Venn DiagramCause and EffectCycle Organizer

4 SQUARE READING

1. Divide text into 4 sections2. Divide students into groups of 43. Assign each student a different role

1. Summarizer2. Connector3. Visualizer4. Predictor/ Questioner

4. Students will read one section of the text in group5. Each student completes his/her role6. Discussion of the completed roles7. Rotate roles8. Repeat steps 4-7 until all boxes are complete

FOUR SQUARE.doc

2 Column Note-Taking

Cornell Note-TakingTopic with Sub-TopicsSummary at the end is key

Cornell notetaking.doc

Note-Taking with Codes

Finding key pieces of information from text Identifying personal knowledgeCoding the facts

Content notes with codes.docm

Graphic Organizers

Choose and use the organizer that works best for the text and the informationVenn DiagramCause and EffectCycle Organizer

Textbook publishers often send supplemental guides with graphic organizers.

After Reading Strategies

To consolidate their learning, effective learners reflect on new information and integrate it into previous understandings by personalizing and applying the new concepts.- Buehl, 2001

Have the students use the new information in a meaningful way that they can apply prior knowledge and skills.- Runkle, 2009

After Reading Strategies

RAFT Save the Last Word for Me Rating Scale 3-2-1

RAFT Informal Writing

Role of the writer (Who are you?)

Audience for the writer (To whom are you writing?)

Format of the writing (What form will your writing assume?)

Topic to be addressed in the writing(What are you writing about?)

RAFT- cont.

1. Analyze the important ideas or information you want students to learn- establish the topic

2. Brainstorm possible roles for students to assume

3. Decide who the audience will be for this communication

4. Determine the format of the writing

RAFT- EXAMPLES.doc

Save the Last Word For MePrinted Instructions Provided

Instructions for SAVE THE LAST WORD FOR ME

1. Students read an article independently, highlighting statements, sections, sentences, etc. that stand out to the student for ANY REASON. (Maybe it was interesting, maybe he/she disagrees or agrees with the statement, maybe he/she is confused, amused, saddened, angered, etc by the statement.)

2. AFTER reading the ENTIRE article, students choose 3 statements they would like to share with group members. Using index cards, students should write each of the statements on a separate index card. On the BACK of each index card, the students should write WHY they chose that statement to share (here they should explain their reasoning for picking the statement.)

3. After all students are through writing their statements and reasons on the index cards, students should get into groups (4-6 people per group is ideal.)

4. Each group chooses a person to start. This person chooses one of his statements to share with the group. He just shares the STATEMENT ONLY at this point (NOT HIS REASONING.) After sharing the statement with the whole group, each group member must comment on the statement, telling what he/she thinks about the statement. It may be helpful to pass the card with the statement to each group member to allow them to reread it before commenting.

5. AFTER ALL GROUP MEMBERS HAVE COMMENTED, the person who shared the statement gets to share his reasoning for choosing the statement. After he speaks, there is no more discussion, thus he gets THE LAST WORD.

6. At this point a different group member gets to share a statement. Continue this process until all group members have shared at least once. The teacher can decide to have the group share a second and/or third comment.

Save the Last Word for Me-form.docm

Rating Scale

Students must identify important facts or topic

Students will then “rank” them in order of importance – thinking critically about the topic

Students must then explain the rankings

Rating Scale.DOC

Rating Scale-EXAMPLE.DOC

3-2-1- quick strategy for the end of any lesson, vary the response

3 - new facts that you have learned over the past two days

2 - strategies that you will definitely use this school year

1 - question that you still have about content area literacy