Reading in Social Studies

1. Reading in Social Studies Reading and reasoning in the Social Studies

3. Gates of opportunity: Foreign Languages Science English Math Social Studies “Reading don’t Fix No Chevy’s”

4. Today’s agenda=your top three • COMPREHENSION • MOTIVATION • VOCABULARY • These components of reading are interconnected and mutually supportive • These components of reading can be addressed in a social studies classroom without interrupting or displacing content instruction

5. Schedule • 1. Overview of the components of literacy • 2. What makes secondary texts difficult? (60) • Identifying and designing instruction for specific text demands 15minute break • 3. Motivation – what and how (15) • The role of science teachers in motivating reading throughout the day • 4. Vocabulary (45) • Principles for retention and application

6. Cycles of reading growth

7. Cycles of Reading Failure

8. Research on struggling readers shows over and over and over again… • TIME matters • PRACTICE matters • “HIGH-SUCCESS” reading experiences matter • There has to be a time each day that students can read something they CAN read and WANT to read. • Independent reading on a student’s independent level allows reading to become a self-extending process, and a cycle of growth.

9. Strong readers Weak readers • Spend more time reading • Apply habits (skills and strategies) of good readers • Are confident • Enjoy and therefore voluntarily engage in reading • Spend less time reading • Have less developed reading habits • Are less motivated to read • Have less confidence • Have less practice building reading skills or applying reading strategies

10. TIME spent reading

11. Allington & Johnston Exemplary 4th grade studies (2001) • more effective teachers routinely had children reading for forty to forty-five minutes of each hour allocated to reading instruction. • In less effective teachers’ classrooms, the time allocated was the same but these teachers often spent fifteen to twenty minutes preparing children to read, and twenty to twenty-five minutes after reading had the children engaged in a variety of follow-up activities. • Thus, in the less effective classrooms, the children typically read for only fifteen to twenty minutes of each hour of time allocated to reading lessons and in some classrooms children read even less! 

12. TIME spent reading

13. Cycles of Reading

14. Comprehension is a meaning-making, message-getting process Reading is an interaction

15. A tale of three coaches…

16. Comprehension is a meaning-making, message-getting process

17. Our focus: The activity • What do you do to make meaning out of a difficult passage? • Watch yourself as a reader • How • Ask yourself – what do I know? How do I know it? What am I doing to fix what I don’t know? • Why • cognitive apprenticeship • Model complex invisible skills

18. How do I know what I know? What am I doing to understand? “Batsmen & Bowlers” The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsmen hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught.

19. Our reading strategies

20. Reading is thinking… • Predict • Connect • Infer • Visualize • Question • Summarize • We all do this all the time, but need to be reminded/guided to do it (“think”) while we read.

21. Meta-cognitive Strategies: making the invisible Visible • If you asked the average proficient reader what she does when reading, she might simply say, “I read.” But upon further investigation she would find that she unconsciously processes and problem-solves as she reads, almost like a reflect. We teach our brains to adjust to the different demands of various types of texts, which helps us read an income tax form just as successfully as we read a novel. We may not enjoy both text equally, but we can read each effectively and strategically.” -From The Right To Literacy in Secondary Schools

22. What does reading comprehension instruction look like? • Middle and high school classes nation-wide are often instruction-free in an “ASSIGN-ASSESS” cycle. When students do not understand what they read we often say… “read it again” “think about it” “try again”

23. These non-instructional prompts may be followed by… “really think about it” “you’re not trying” …lack of comprehension looks like laziness or stupidity without a scientific perspective on what we are literally asking readers to do in order to make meaning from a text.

24. Toward a scientific view of reading comprehension as an active meaning-making process We ASSIGN and ASSESS without teaching because reading comprehension is: • Complex • Invisible • Obvious to us as expert readers At your tables – please develop at least 3 examples and 3 non-examples of instruction for comprehension to share with the larger group.

25. How do we teach strategies? MODEL – PROMPT - GUIDE • Gradual release of responsibility= I do, We do, You do. Watch me! Help me Show me

26. What does this look like? • But what if my

27. What if my class isn’t set up like this? This cycle can be part of a single lesson or it can characterize an entire unit with several lessons of modeling, several of guiding and several days where students apply what they’ve watched and practiced to the text on their own.

28. Using your sample test items • Working with your tables, select a question and note which strategy you gravitate towards. • Discuss at your tables how you might “think aloud” about your use of this strategy for that question • NOTE: any strategy could be used with any question, but some are more likely to be helpful than others

29. Making the invisible visible…practice thinking aloud. • Select a passage that resembles a text your students might encounter. • Use a running-sheet and/or post-it notes to record what you would say in a think-aloud. • Read the assessment questions and see whether there is an additional spot where you would need to demonstrate your thinking in order to have an answer to that question in mind. Things to mark: places you apply a strategy, ways you problem-solve to understand

30. RAND reading study group model of reading comprehension

31. Text Demands • Vary by content • Vary by text • Our job is to identify the specific demands of individual texts and proactively support the meaning-making process for that text • This helps us systematically decide what/how to think-aloud (“I do”), how to guide students (“we do”) and what to assess (“you do”) when we check student understanding.

32. Sort and Discuss • Sort your leveled passages by difficulty • Decide with your table what changes (gets more difficult, disappears, etc.) as the difficulty increases • Underlying Question: What makes secondary texts difficult?

33. 4 main ways texts differ • Vocabulary: technical or figurative language • Background knowledge: some texts assume more or less of this. • Organization/Format: (some texts have a clear introduction for each chapter with key points laid out. Math texts often begin with formulas, then explain them. • Engagement Level: some texts are loved by middle school students, others by high school students, and some are hated by all.

34. Pick a ‘text’ from the practice test at your table Outline what students would need to know in order to understand it in terms of: • Vocabulary • Background knowledge • Organization/Format • Engagement Level • Which areas will students need your support?

35. “My mandatory texts are too hard!”what about levels? • Texts are leveled in two ways: • Quantitative: word/syllable count formula • Qualitative: teacher opinion, comparison with benchmarks • If you want to level a text yourself: • Listen to a low/high/average reader and count how many words on a page they don’t know (look for at least 95% accuracy)

36. 1) Set a Purpose2) Think Aloud • Setting a purpose for reading tells students what to look out for and offers a reason to be engaged • Lifts the burden of decoding everything • Encourages kids to think as they read • See “Jeff’s Coded Text”

37. Discuss at your tables • In what ways is comprehension instruction already in action in your classroom? • What are the benefits? • What are the downsides? • What are the considerations for teachers getting ready to incorporate such strategies?

38. During Reading Strategies…How do I make sure they’re READING? • Note-taking • Annotating • Stop and jot • Double-Entry journals • Post-it notes • Literature circles/book group structured discussions

39. Textbooks: Map the Page • (see handout)

40. Textbook Techniques: I’m THRILD • Title • Heading • Read first paragraph • Illustration • Last paragraph • Discussion questions

41. SQ3R: Survey! Question! Read! Recite! Review! • Survey • Ask Questions based on the survey • Read to answers your questions • Recite What you know • Review your notes

42. Annotate Choose a set of symbols to “code” the text. Examples: • People, places, dates • Parts of speech • Vocab and unfamiliar words • Subjects and actions (who and what)

43. Stop and Jot • Draw pictures and jot key words in the margins after each sentence or paragraph depending on density and difficulty of the text. • A scaffold may be to have better readers do very close readings (stopping more frequently) on a dense text which lower readers are just getting the gist. • Conversely, lower readers may have to stop more frequently on a text that is more within their reach.

44. Double-entry journals

45. Jigsaw: http://www.jigsaw.org/overview.htm • Groups are each assigned one aspect of a topic, or one section of a passage to become experts about. • One person from each group gets together to share out their expert area with a group of experts from all different groups • Each student leaves with expert notes on all aspects of the topic.

46. Integrating writing… • Allows students to process information • Put “literary” thoughts or their own thoughts into words • Reinforces vocabulary in a different mode (reading/writing) • Reading and writing are reciprocal

47. RAFT: teacher sets raft, students write accordingly • Role: a glacier • Audience: congress • Format: letter/email • Topic: global warming

48. RAFT examples: • Create a personal ad atoms advertising who they would want to make ionic or covalent bonds with. • You are Barack Obama’s speechwriter and you have been asked to prepare a speech explaining your vision for democracy in America. • You are a blade of grass in Gettysburg field and a dying soldier falls down next to you. What do you say to him?

49. One-Minute Papers • Index card or scrap of paper, or email • Limited space of the card forces students to focus • Lowers levels of writing anxiety • Summarize, question, reiterate, support or counter a thesis or argument, or to apply new information to new circumstances • Gives students practice putting their scientific knowledge into words

50. Wait! What about phonics and fluency in middle and high school???