reading in the content area reading in the content area vocabulary shared reading alternative texts...
TRANSCRIPT
Reading in the Reading in the
Content AreaContent Area
Reading in the Reading in the
Content AreaContent Area
VocabularyShared Reading Alternative
Texts
Presenter Debra Massey, Program Developer and Training Specialist
North East Florida Educational Consortium
Readers may be divided into four classes:
1. Sponges, who absorb all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied.
2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.
3. Tea-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read.
4. Diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Question for Discussion
1. What does a struggling reader look like in your classroom?
2. Is there a “profile”?
3. How do you know a student doesn’t understand the content?
Truth About Struggling Readers
There is no single template for the struggling reader.
Anyone can struggle with reading given the right text.
The struggle isn’t the issue. The real issue is what the reader does when the text gets tough.
AliteracyOne of the great
tragedies of contemporary
education is not so much that many
students leave school unable to read and
write, but that others graduate with an
antipathy to reading..despite the abilities they might
have.
Independent VS Dependent
•Figure out what’s confusing them
•Set goals for getting through the reading
•Use many strategies for getting through the text
•Know how to make the mostly invisible process of comprehension visible
•STOP
•Appeal to the teacher
•Read on through
•Keep the mostly invisible process of comprehension at the invisible level
Independent Readers Dependent Readers
Confidences Readers Need
Cognitive Confidence Allows Students to…
• Comprehend texts
• Monitor their understanding
• Determine meaning of words
• Read with fluency
Social and Emotional Confidence Allows Students to…
• Be willing and active participants in a community of learners
• Read for enjoyment and information
• Have a positive attitude toward reading and other readers
Text Confidence Allows Students to…
• Develop the stamina to continue reading difficult texts
•Find authors and genre that interest them
…Be An Independent Reader
Independent readers use many strategies for getting through the text and knows how to make
the mostly invisible process of comprehension visible.
Independent readers use many strategies for getting through the text and knows how to make
the mostly invisible process of comprehension visible.
Strategies to build Cognitive Confidence:
Before – During – After Reading
Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
Questioning the Author
Use of Alternative Texts and Materials
Before Reading Activating Prior Knowledge
Schema
What is it?
How do we explain it?
How can we activate it?
How can we get students to build it?
MUSIC
Beatles
RAPCountry
ClassicalHip Hop
Rock
Prior Knowledge - How do we activate it?Prior Knowledge - How do we activate it?
Front Loading Meaning – Using KWL(G)
“Problems for Oceans”
What We Know
What We Want to Know
Where Do I GO to find the answers?
Pollution is rampant.
What is the pollution doing to the sea life?
Oil Spills are occurring threatening sea life.
Why do they spill oil on the oceans? How is it cleaned up?
Global WarmingIce caps are melting and temp. getting higher in some oceans.
How is the warming of the northern oceans affecting migration patterns of marine life?
Prior Knowledge - How do we activate it?Prior Knowledge - How do we activate it?
Front Loading Meaning – We Think Statements
1. Decide what phrases, sentences, or single words you want to place on index cards related to the content you’re introducing. Use multiple phrases and statements.
2. Distribute the cards or let students draw a card.
3. Discuss their card with as many other classmates as possible, how might these cards be related, speculate on what these cards, collectively might be about.
4. The group the students together to discuss what they all heard from others and create a group “WE THINK” statement to share with the class.
5. Make sure you ask them to explain how they reached their predictions about the statement.
Bombing - Japan
Animals in a zoo
Starvation
“He buried his head in his arms and cried,
beating the desk top with his fists.”
Cages broken-dangerous animals
escapeFaithful / Trusting
We think that this text is about the bombing of Japan
and how the zoo was affected by the bombing.
We think that some of the animals escaped and had to
be killed.
Of the 600,000 plus words in English: 13 words account for over 25% of the words in
print.
a, and, for, he, is in, it, of that, the, to was, youa, and, for, he, is in, it, of that, the, to was, you
100 words account for approximately 50%.
The Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary contains 220 words (no nouns), was generated over 40 years ago, and accounts for 50% of the words
found in textbooks today.
High Frequency Words are CriticalHigh Frequency Words are Critical
Front Loading Meaning – Questioning the Vocabulary
Don’t know at All
Have seen or heard –
don’t know
meaning.
I think I know the meaning.
I know a meaning.
Waste – corrosion - deliquescence – preclosure – repository – brine – facilitate sodium chloride – geochemical – seepage – thermal – tunnels
- capillary
Directions: First, read the words at the bottom silently or together. After you read each one, write the words from the bottom in the column that best describes what you know about each one.
Many dependent readers think of comprehension only as answering questions correctly after reading.
That’s too late.
Pre-reading strategies help struggling readers do what good
readers do…think all throughout the reading process, not just at the
conclusion.
During Reading Making Sense of the
Information
Information
What is it?
How do we decide what’s important?
How do we organize it?
How can we get students to build it?
Think Aloud – requires lots MODELING!
Information/Content – What do we do with it?Information/Content – What do we do with it?
TEXT “Think Alouds”“My name is Rose Blanche. I live in a small town in Germany with narrow streets, old fountains and tall houses with pigeons on the roofs. One day the first truck arrived and many men left. They were dressed as soldiers. Winter was beginning. “
How old is Rose? I think one of the big wars was with Germany? Aren’t they also called Nazis? From the picture, Rose is holding a flag with a swastika. Is her family a Nazi family? Are the soldiers volunteering or forced to serve?
“The trucks are fun to watch. We stand in the doorway as they pass. We don ‘t know where they’re going. One day a little boy jumped from the back of a truck and tried to run away but the mayor stopped him. “
I think I know where they’re taking the people in the trucks. I think they’re Jews and they’re going to concentration camps. I wonder if the soldiers would have shot the boy if the mayor hadn’t stopped him?
“Suddenly, electric barbed wire stopped me. Behind it were children standing still. I didn’t know any of them. The youngest said they were hungry. I handed them a piece of bread through the pointed wire. “
The people behind the wire look sick. What’s the yellow star on their shirts? What did they do wrong? Why are they hungry? I wonder why nobody stopped Rose from being so close to the wire?
As you model think alouds to students, remind them that what you’re also doing is trying to predict what
might happen, what important points are, to tell themselves…
“I need to reread that section.”
The purpose of this activity is to help students understand that this is what is happening inside the
head of an independent reader as they move through the text.
It’s like having a conversation in your mind.
Think Aloud – requires lots MODELING!
As you model think alouds to students, remind them that what you’re also doing is trying to predict what
might happen, what important points are, to tell themselves…
“I need to reread that section.”
The purpose of this activity is to help students understand that this is what is happening inside the
head of an independent reader as they move through the text.
It’s like having a conversation in your mind.
Think Aloud – requires lots MODELING!
Think Aloud – requires lots MODELING!
Did you know that it takes 4 – 8 weeks
of consistently using a strategy before students
will internalize it and use
it independently?
Power Stickies – Note Taking is an Art Form
Information/Content – What do we do with it?Information/Content – What do we do with it?
Provide or require
students to have sticky note pads.
Have them do their “think alouds” on their sticky
notes.
They can manipulate
their stickies on top of their
desk to organize their
thoughts.
They can place their stickies on the page
that they read that generated the thought.
Have them go through math and science texts with a sticky pad.
As they read or work, have them write down words they don’t
know.
Have them write down confusing chapters,
paragraphs or pages.
They can get in groups with
students who have “same”
stickies.
Logographic Cues – Students can design their own to help them visualize their understanding of the text.
?
I need to re-read this section with someone else.
Come back and
read again.
Important fact or idea.
I have a question about his sentence,
paragraph, or word.
W
What does this word
mean? Add it to my
vocabulary list.
Logographic Cues – Students can design their own to help them visualize their understanding of the text.
Precarious
“The Land that Time Forgot”
p. 151
•Unstable
•Unsteady
•Unsure
He was in a precarious position as he balanced on the edge of the cliff.
Building Vocabulary as you read with Book Marks
Information/Content – What do we do with it?Information/Content – What do we do with it?
Mark my words
A bookmark for recording interesting, unusual words, or words critical to understanding while you read. Every five or ten days spend ten minutes reviewing what words students have recorded. Chart them, put them up, discuss what they mean.
Mark my words
A bookmark for recording interesting, unusual words, or words critical to understanding while you read. Every five or ten days spend ten minutes reviewing what words students have recorded. Chart them, put them up, discuss what they mean.
Marking Time
Take notes chronologically.
This is great for:
•Sequence of events in reading
•Timelines in history
• Steps in math
• Processes in science.
Marking Time
Take notes chronologically.
This is great for:
•Sequence of events in reading
•Timelines in history
• Steps in math
• Processes in science.
Question Mark
These bookmarks are for students to record their questions as they read.
Make sure they put the page number by the question so they can revisit that part of the text to see what caused the question.
Question Mark
These bookmarks are for students to record their questions as they read.
Make sure they put the page number by the question so they can revisit that part of the text to see what caused the question.
Mark the bold
Excellent for students to use while they read their content area texts. As students come across a boldfaced word, they record that word on the front of the bookmark.
They turn it over to the back and write what that term means in their own words.
Mark the bold
Excellent for students to use while they read their content area texts. As students come across a boldfaced word, they record that word on the front of the bookmark.
They turn it over to the back and write what that term means in their own words.
Marking TimeFirst –
Then –
Next –
After that –
Furthermore –
Then –
Next –
Finally -
Marking TimeFirst –
Then –
Next –
After that –
Furthermore –
Then –
Next –
Finally –
Marking TimeFirst –
Then –
Next –
After that –
Furthermore –
Then –
Next –
Finally –
Question MarkQuestion MarkQuestion Mark?
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Page ____
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Page ____
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Page ____
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Mark the BOLDMark the BOLDMark the BOLD
1. _________________
2. _________________
3. _________________
4. _________________
5. _________________
6. _________________
7. _________________
8. _________________
9. _________________
10. _________________
1. _________________
2. _________________
3. _________________
4. _________________
5. _________________
6. _________________
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10. _________________
1. _________________
2. _________________
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What do I do with students who lack word recognition skills?
Okay, that’s all very nice, but………..Okay, that’s all very nice, but………..
What do I do with students who aren’t successful with the strategies because they are
so far behind?
CHUNKING LONG/SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS
PREFIXES / SUFFIXES / ROOT WORDS
QUICK ASSESS / REVIEW RECORDS
TEACH DERIVATIONAL CONSTANCY
Teach them…
Working with adolescents who have difficulty with word recognition is difficult even on good days, beyond frustrating on
bad days. ~ Kyleen Beers (When Kids Can’t Read)
•Give them opportunities to read at their instructional and independent levels.
•Give them repeated chances to hear us read aloud while they follow along.
•Come to terms with the fact that your goal is not to improve word recognition with the text but to focus on what you CAN do with that text.
•Struggling readers can glean a large majority of content information from rich and frequent discussion about the content.
Don’t Water Down Curriculum
High school students aren’t stupid and they know when you’ve lowered your expectations for them.
Communicate your high expectations and your belief that they can achieve beyond other’s expectations for their performance.
Shared or Partner Reading
Teacher reads aloud some sections, stopping to direct note taking through
modeling or think alouds.
Have students
keep double entry
journals.
Have students jigsaw reading
and use a shared note
taking system.
Use alternatives to
the text.
Allow for more time to internalize
content.Encourage students to take risks.
After Reading Assessing Student
Understanding
Assessing
What is it?
How do we decide what’s important?
What could it look like?
How can we get the most out the content?
Begin with the end in mind.
Assessing Student Understanding Assessing Student Understanding
1. Letterman’s Top Ten: What 10 key pieces of information do you want students to know after this unit of study is over?
2. Know your student’s abilities before you plan, include some of the strategies that will help struggling readers. Plan from the beginning to use possible alternative methods of assessment for some students.
Evaluate your grading policy / procedure and communicate it clearly.
1. How are you assigning value to the work?
2. Don’t assign value to factors not directly related to the top ten. For example: 20% of the grade will come from keeping your folder in order. Are you assessing content knowledge or organizational skills. Let those types of items be separate and unrelated to the content. Perhaps bonus points are given instead of punitive points taken.
Break free from paper and pencil!
Assessing Student Understanding Assessing Student Understanding
1. Use Venn diagrams comparing two points or pieces of information.
2. Allow students to use notes. Is it about memorization skills or application of knowledge? (This encourages good note taking.)
3. Have a debate. Ask students to choose a side and defend it with evidence from their studies.
• Science debates on process and conclusions
• Historical points of view
• Best possible mathematical approaches to solving mathematical problems.
4. Narrative writing on lessons learned from this unit of study. Have students include examples and evidence.
5. Pop quiz – Jeopardy style games.
6. Don’t wait until the unit is over. Use sticky notes yourself to make ongoing observations of students.
Power of Student Self Evaluation
Assessing Student Understanding Assessing Student Understanding
Have students evaluate their own understanding either individually or in group discussions. Students who feel they are not processing enough information to select either a 4 or 5, should be allowed more time with the
content.
Self Evaluation / Quick CheckSelf Evaluation / Quick Check
Couldn’t explain any
of this information to anyone
else
I could recall the top ten
facts from this unit of study
w/ help.
I could explain this unit of
study to someone else
with full details.
1 3 5
Revisiting the “L” from the KWL
Assessing Student Understanding Assessing Student Understanding
What We Know
What We Want to Know
(Guided by your Top Ten)
What I learned!
Pollution is rampant.
What is the pollution doing to the sea life?
Oil Spills are occurring threatening sea life.
Why do they spill oil on the oceans? How is it cleaned up?
Global WarmingIce caps are melting and temp. getting higher in some oceans.
How is the warming of the northern oceans affecting migration patterns of marine life?
Contact Information
Debra MasseyProgram Developer and Training Specialist
North East Florida Educational Consortium3841 Reid StreetPalatka, FL 32177