Reading in the Content Area

1. Reading in the Content Area Y. Fisher CHS “That’s called a book.”

2. Research: • Approximately 50% of the nation’s unemployed youth (ages 16-21) are functionally illiterate with no prospect of a better future. • 75% of today’s jobs require at least a ninth grade education. • Illiteracy costs the U.S. approximately $20 billion per year. ~U.S. Census Bureau, 2007

3. Literacy Levels • Middle School and High School teachers feel an urgency to do everything within our power to improve literacy levels of students…we take them forward from where they are when they come to us.

4. Literacy Levels • Content area teachers are compelled to teach reading and writing in their content area…… Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12, Chris Tovani, 2004 I Read It, But I Don’t Get It…Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers, Chris Tovani, 2000 Mosaic of Thought, Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop, Keene and Zimmermann, 1997 Strategies That Work, Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement, 2nd edition, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, 2007

5. THE ESSENCE OF READING IS THINKING…. It’s all about making the connections… • Text – to – Self (T-S): connections with personal experiences • Text – to – World (T-W): connections with the world around them • Text – to – Text (T-T): connections with other text

6. Guided Reading Strategies

7. Before Reading: Students bring and use prior knowledge about the topic. The teacher sets the focus or purpose for the reading and assigns the amount of text to be read.

8. During Reading: Students are engaged in reading which includes: • Skimming and scanning • Searching for meaning • Predicting information • Constructing meaning • Rereading parts of the selections for better understanding • Discussing the text with others • Making notes

9. After Reading: Students are engaged in: • Reacting and responding to what they have read • Thinking about what they have read • Writing in response to what they have read • Discussing what they have read

10. What Teachers of Adolescents and Young Adults Need: • Adequate and appropriate reading materials that tap student interest and represent a range of difficulty. • Continued support and professional development to assist them in teaching literacy in their disciplines. • Strategies for facilitating student-initiated conversations regarding texts that are authentic and relevant to real life experiences.

11. Dealing with non-fiction text structure Reading in the content area: • Table of Contents • Chapter Headings & Sub-headings • Index • Glossary • Diagrams, charts, maps, graphs

12. Writing In the Content Area Examples of genre: • Recount – to share a personal experience • Procedural – to show how to do something or how something works • Expository - Informational – to share information • Persuasive – to present an opinion or an argument

13. Expository Writing: • Need for building background knowledge

14. Strategies for building background knowledge: • Circle of Questions Sampson, M.B., Sampson, M.R., & Linek, W. (1994) • Sticky Notes, Bookmarks, Highlighters Cunningham, P., Hall, D. (1998) • K-W-L and K-W-L PLUS Buehl, Doug, (2001) • Bubble Map Memphis Content Literacy Academy • Double Bubble Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D.J. (2005) • T-Chart Harvey and Goudvis (2007)

15. Circle of Questions: Allows students to brainstorm and organize information prior to reading. Before reading: • Students form small groups. • Topic is given and students are given a period of time to brainstorm questions about the topic. • When time is up, draw a circle on the board or overhead transparency and write students’ questions around the circle. • Students put the questions into categories. • Questions within the same category are color coded. • Each group then chooses a category to research.

16. Circle of Questions During reading: • Students research their selected category while making notes for reporting/writing about their category. The questions can then be turned into their headings.

17. Circle of Questions After reading: • Student work may be shared through various formats. • This process enables students to see how questions can become the headings in informational text and that authors often organize the information under headings by first asking questions. Activity: during informational text reading, have students turn the headings into questions.

18. Sticky Notes, Bookmarks, and Highlighters: Use these tools to mark important things you want to go back to after reading. • Students read with purpose when they use these tools. • Teach students to “leave evidence” and “code the text.” • Consider using this strategy for vocabulary also. • This is how adults read.

19. K-W-L and K-W-L Plus • K– What I Know • W – What I Want to Know • L – What I Learned • + - What I still Want to Know

20. Bubble Map: Use for main topic and details • Use the same as a web to gather information and sort it by details. The main idea would be listed in the center of the web with details radiating as spokes.

21. Double Bubble: • Use the same as a bubble map (web) but double it and use the center bubbles for similarities and the outer bubbles for differences.

22. T-Chart: This provides students with an organized method of note taking while reading information or listening to information being given.

23. T-Chart: • Divide paper in half – two columns • Record words or key pints in the left column • Record definitions or explanations of key points • Example:

24. Questions?

25. Strategies for Persuasive Writing (and reading) • Anticipation Guides • Save the Last Word for Me • Sub-genres such as editorials