Guided Comprehension

I don' know if anyone still has a copy of this book - we got it as a "free" gift for attending a staff development activity years ago.  Even if you don't want to set up your classroom by their guidelines, the section in the middle has a wealth of activities for before - during - after reading both narrative and expository text.  I've used several in science classes as well as reading/literature.  When you see my book sets with post-it strips hanging out it's because we were using activities from this book.

 At the Academy I could put each class in a different book since each was a different grade level. They knew what number they were assigned (books did not go home), so the notes in each book were theirs.  They could go back and find specific items easier, making review and discussions flow better. ..not to mention they were not writing in my books!

(You can find the book used pretty cheap online.)

Reading in the Disciplines - vol. 3

I'm sorry this is taking so long, but there is SO much meat here!

Reading in Literature

1. this section primarily focuses on high school literature, but there are things that could also apply to middle school classes.

2. "Reading in Literature" at first seems sort of obvious, but the research shows that there is a vast difference in the level and variety of texts used from AP classes to remedial, from affluent to poor schools.  the underlying problem remains "insuficient attention in literature classrooms to the nuts and bolts of how to read a range of literary texts (Lee, 2011, 2004; Smith & Hillocks, 1988)".  For instance, teachers may ask students to find the symbolism without sufficiently modeling for the student.

3. the writers then present a laundry list of items students in high school literature classes must have prior knowledge of : recognize irony, use of unreliable narration, magical realism, science fiction, allegory, fable, myth, mystery, haiku, sonnet, ballad, epic, how emotions can lead to actions (good and bad), symbolism, satire, problems with point of view, inter-textual links / allusions, character types, and archetypal themes.  Whew! Satire is particularly hard, evidenced by trying to teach A Modest Proposal to my 10-12th graders.  They SO did not get Swift was being sarcastic!  I had a lot of convincing to do on that one!

4. Archaic language presents a problem when reading older works, even for good readers.  I really like the NoFear Shakespeare series by SparkNotes.  They're side-by-side translations - really helped me teach Romeo and Juliet to 9th graders. Greek tragedies are a bit difficult for students, as are other works from times with different class structures from what students are used to today.  Oedipus was mentioned specifically as a difficult text because of the elements of a tragedy.  My students were shocked we were reading a story with incest in it, even if it was not known at the time it happened.

5. A good argument for reading literature is made on the basis that major challenges to the human condition happen across times and lives.  In reading these, students may get insight into their own challenges.  Often the poor readers see themselves as having challenges in their lives, and can thus relate to characters who also have challenges.

Reading in Mathematics

Oh, my goodness!  Did this section ever blow right by me!  Let's just say this section was definitely written for math teachers at the high school / college level.  I get math has a specialized vocabulary and skill set, and some books have more opportunities to read than others.

1. "...by successfully navigating high school mathematics courses young people will typically form a lifelong habit of reading newspaper adn magazine articles that draw on mathematic evidence more critically, and this ability will help them to act as informed citizens."  I agree with this.  As a matter of fact, I've heard several commentators over the past couple of years talking about economics issues and the fact that some of the numbers don't add up.  Citizens were urged to take closer looks at stories and be sure they were presenting accurate statistics. Can't do that if you're mathematically illiterate!

Summary
1. Box 9 on page 16 of the aritcle give a summary of the generic strategies, and discipline specific reading strategies the writers believe should be taught to students, and the types of texts that should be used (texts, newspapers, magazines, historical documents, etc.

2. CC writers also ADMIT the pressure of teaching standards and helping struggling readers is complex and will require teachers to map out ahead of time the selections they will use.  The suggested plan is to start building prior knowledge with little reading over the first part of unit, then increase in complexity and use more reading as you move forward.

The last bits of the article are thick with suggestions for teaching content strategies - you pretty much just need to read the section and take notes on what you think will owrk for you.  A listing of existing interventions and the groups promoting them are also included.

2nd 9 weeks we will be focusing on nonfiction so this will be a perfect time to have them bring content textbooks to class and work on the strategies.

Reading in the disciplines cont

Back to Reading in History:
14. Beck and colleagues (1991) were quoted as saying there were common patterns found in science and SS textbooks that interferred with student comprehension:
    * Failure to make logical connections between propositions explicit.
    * Use of references that are ambisuous, distant or indirect.
    * The inclusion of information that is irrelevant to the main ideas.
    * Density of ideas within individual sentences.
(each of these points was also referenced)
Books like this are actually called "inconsiderate texts". (sorry; just strikes me as funny)

I will admit to telling kids to just ignore stuff on the page, or even cover it up, to reduce distractions.  Some textbooks are too busy, especially if you have ADD kids- you can see their eyes jumping all over the page.

15. [para] Content area teachers should be well versed in their subjects and able to judge ahead of time what sections have the potential to give students problems and help them to understand the text/ document.  In teaching the Declaration of Independence, I would read a section, stop and say, "Okay, that was clear as mud!  Let's pull this apart and see what he was really saying...." The kids also needed reminding about the various Acts that had the colonists in a fury - background knowledge - so they would understand they were politely saying enough was enough.

16. CC ends this section by stating they are NOT saying remedial classes should be discontinued.  They are saying it needs to be added to so students have the skills to tackle the various contents - and the content area teachers are the logical ones to teach them. That will go over like a lead balloon!  I've heard content teachers declare they were NOT reading teachers!  Might as well be a "professor".

Reading in the Disciplines

Reading in the Disciplines – Carnegie Corporation

I chose this article because it seemed to go well with the transcripts from the Content Area Literacy Conference.

1. Older students with reading difficulties have fallen through the cracks in the latest round of programs.  Not only do they have the same types of comprehension problems as younger kids, the complexity of the text has increased greatly due to “read to learn” in the various content areas.

2. That is the focus of the article – reading to learn.  Disciplinary literacy / content area literacy deals with the types of reading skills needed depending on the content students are reading.

3. NAEP – has three levels of proficiency: basic, proficient, and advanced.  In a survey of 17 year olds, the following was found: basic – majority of students (regardless of race of SES), proficient -  “stark differences aligned with race or SES (but they do not explain), advanced – less than 10% are able to comprehend complex texts (regardless of race or SES).

4. C.C. study says this suggests students learn basic skills, but do not learn skills that are content specific, thus hampering their comprehension at the higher grade levels.

5. Prior knowledge is one of the basic foundations of comprehension and includes 1) words and word forms, 2) sentence structure (syntax), 3) text structures or genres, 4) topics

6. [para.] Comprehension is a dynamic relationship between reader and text, combined with the demands of the text, plus prior knowledge and goals of the reader.

7. Generic skills do not go far enough – students also need techniques that are subject specific. Strategic Literacy Initiative is mentioned as one of the few programs designed to teach not only generic strategies, but also content specific ones as well.

8. The next section of the article goes into detail about “Reading in Science”.  I did notice there was information here that I had read in the “Content Area Literacy Conference” transcript. 

                * science textbooks are “text heavy” – pages can contain pictures, graphs, fact boxes, etc.

                * Comprehension can also require math literacy as well as visual literacy (to understand the                                        graphs, charts, etc.)

                * Syntax in textbook is much more difficult.

                * Latin & Greek word parts plus content specific meanings for words that is different from                                          common language.

                *Much of the taxonomic vocabulary is very abstract

                * Relationships may be inferred from word choice but not stated explicitly in the text.

I would like to interject that I teach Greek and Latin parts to my science students and show them the relationship to other words. Then I refer them back to those parts when we encounter them in new vocabulary.  I also point out words that have a different meaning in science from common usage. In the current text I would point out sections where they would have a graphic on one page and paragraphs explaining the same thing on a facing page, then tell them the way that made the most sense to them was the one they should use – that everyone’s brain works a bit differently.

9.  American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993 – benchmarks for 12^th graders require them to be able to do a high level of critical thinking, including taking studies and pulling them apart to examine them in detail. – Goal is to have scientifically literate adults.

10. Reading in History – this section repeated, once again, several points made in the conference notes.  One thing is that historians challenge texts, looking for bias, comparing facts against other sources, where scientists are expected to take texts more at face value.

11. the authors consider social science classes the training ground for citizenship, and schools have the opportunity to reach across ethnic / SES lines.

12. Side note – teens know about Vietnam War from films, not primary sources.  Adults of the time use film as a basis of fact, even when their own experiences contradict the film.  C.C. says film not a good choice to relay information. – I’m not sure why if you’re using newsreels, military films, etc.  instead of theatrical versions….

13. Historians use primary and secondary sources to not only get to details, but to get to the why of events.  Schools, on the other hand, present history as basically a timeline narrated by the text that should not be questioned.  (maybe this comes from the idea “anybody can teach history”).

14. CC points out that Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech is a rather good one to use to examine political issues since it was a campaign speech, not one given after he was in office.  Comparisons can be made to Douglas’s speeches and other historical documents from the time.   ( point of view, intended audience, etc.)

15. Textbooks for elementary students come under fire next.  According to studies quoted, in attempting to simplify texts, so much is left out that comprehension breaks down.

More to come.....

vocabulary lesson

We are reading The Outsiders in my 7th grade reading class.  I wrote the 10 words for chapters 9 and 10 on the board and told them to put them in their notebooks with space for definitions.

I then told the kids to skim the chapters until they found one of the words and let me know.  When someone found a word they had to read the sentence where it was and tell what was going on at that point.

 I then asked the class what they thought the word meant in the context of the story.  With very little help from me they were able to get pretty good definitions/descriptions of the words. 

And they were proud of themselves.

Content Area Literacy Conference

Where to start?

I'm not finished with the article yet - there is so much here you have to take it a few pages at a time and digest before you can move on to the next pages.  Marsha is starting with the ACT article since I've started with CALC.  We keep discussing facts and figures we discover, comparing notes, etc.  These have definitely sparked a LOT of conversation!

Someone is FINALLY listening to middle and high school teachers who have been saying for years, "The kids cannot read the textbook!"  We know they can read, just not the books.  The speakers are pointing out the strategies needed for students to comprehend content- heavy  texts; some are generic and some wil be content specific. 

TExtbooks are a specific genre all to themselves (according to Dr. Carol Lee) with their own structure.  Teachers above 3rd grade need to teach the genre or kids will never understand.  Therefore - content area teachers HAVE to teach kids how to read in their classes.

One suggestion is to give them something to do as they read - such as teach them to do an outline so they can see how the big ideas relate. (personally I like power outlines)

I'm going back to reading now.  There is just so much here it's hard to get my thoughts organized - but in a good way!

dyslexia article

This sin't the one from the Yale site, but it's a really good article by Shaywitz onthe topic of dyslexia.  The level of language is very much aimed at people who do not have a lot of prior knowledge - such as parents, education students, and teachers taking reading endorsement classes.

The article has the same brain pictures Dr. Neslin has shown in class, as well as lists of signs to look for. The scientific basis for accomodations is explained - which I've never seen.  All in all, it's a very informative piece.
http://knol.google.com/k/dyslexia?collectknol=1#done

another website

I find the neatest stuff when I'm looking for something else!!
I jsut had time to cruise through a tiny bit of this site, but it looks really good.  It's a friendly site, not clinical, with sections for parents and professionals.

Just click on the "For Teachers" tab at the top, scroll down and look at the topics in the middle written in orange.  "Classroom STrategies" has each of the areas we're studying (print awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, etc.) and lists of strategies to develop those areas - it even says whether it's before-during-after reading.

You could literally spend hours here. Awsome site!


http://www.readingrockets.org/