LITERACY RENEWAL

1. LITERACYRENEWAL Improved Literacy for Greater Academic Achievement

2. OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION • “Come Read With Us” – the RCS plan • Literacy a national, provincial and board priority • Why all teachers need to be worried about reading comprehension • How to incorporate reading comprehension strategies in content areas

3. “COME READ WITH US”WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? The Goal: We want to ensure our students are reading at the appropriate learning capacity.

4. Why are we focusing on literacy renewal? • Do not confuse functional literacy with deep reading comprehension – our students are functionally literate! • Literacy renewal at the high schools is fueled by data from PIZA 2000, 2006 Reading AFL, and Cat-3 scores. • This data tells us students need help in deconstructing non-fiction and need to be more inferential and critical readers.

5. Why do students need to become expert readers? According to the work of Dawn Reithaug (Supporting Adolescent Readers 2007): “…in our knowledge based society adolescents need to be expert readers, writers, and thinkers to compete and succeed in the global economy and to navigate through a technological world.” “Reading is central to learning – in school, in the workplace, and in everyday life.”

6. Isn’t reading comprehension the job of the ELA teacher? • YES…The 5 keys to deconstructing text: phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension must be explicitly taught in the ELA classroom. • BUT…when students are not proficient in reading we know it affects their learning in every other subject. • THEREFORE…Modeling effective reading strategies for content area texts and teaching students content area vocabulary are the responsibilities of all teachers, regardless of subject area. These strategies must also be reinforced at home.

7. The Problem with Reading Comprehension The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsman hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught. • Who were merciless against the Bowlers? • Where did the Bowlers place their men? • Was this strategy successful? • Who hit an occasional six? • How many times did the Batsmen’s balls hit a stump?

8. Watterson, Bill. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate, 1988.

9. What can we do? What are we doing?“Come Read With Us” Four Keys to Support Adolescent Readers: (Reithaug 2007) • Increase the Volume of Reading • Build Vocabulary • Enhance Comprehension • Offer Support When Needed

10. What, Where, How, and Why • What is it? Educators create opportunities for practicing reading, reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary building. Students read independently at school and home for pleasure and to learn more about certain topics. • Where is it done? Regular classroom – all subject areas, resource room, at home. • How is it done? Teachers and parents can match books to students’ reading level, encourage a wide variety of texts, do reader’s theatre, chant poems, choral reading, etc. Students can read independently – SSR, read in spare time. Teachers provide explicit instruction on how to build vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies for a variety of texts.

11. What, Where, How, and Why • How is it done? Teachers demonstrate the strategies, allow students to practice them with the teacher’s guidance, and teach students to apply them frequently so they can ultimately use them independently. • Why is it done? To have students be actively involved in their own learning, to build oral language, to increase understanding of text, to recognize more words and increase fluency, to capture relationships between words. To have students actively be involved in their learning, to increase their ability to construct meaning before, during, and after reading, to enable students to understand the content that is being taught in class.

12. Mr. D. Ennay’s Bio 20 Class “All right, Joey, sit down, please. All right, everyone, before bell you can get started on your homework assignment – read Chapter 17 of the textbook and respond to the questions at the end for tomorrow’s class. You’ll be turning these in at the start of that class. I would strongly suggest you pay particular attention to the section on meiosis and mitosis because one of these days, I’m not saying, when, but one of these days we are going to have a pop quiz.” Cut to Friday. The kids straggle in, after a not-so gentle reminder they take out their homework. Joey whines, “ Can I please go to my locker, I left my homework there.” As Mr. D. Ennay collects the assignments he is met with the usual excuses – “I had football last night.” “I forgot the text at school”, but for the most part the students are done. After quickly flipping through them, he notices that for the most part the students have answered the questions correctly.

13. Read this for Friday “O.K., gang,” Mr. D. Ennay announces, “Remember my words yesterday – it’s quiz time!” Despite the whining students, the 10 question multiple choice quiz is distributed. After the quizzes are collected Mr. D. Ennay orally checks their responses. The majority of the class fails. So, he tries another tactic – “Let’s discuss this orally - what is the difference between meiosis and mitoses?” There is no response but a lot of nervous shuffling. D. Ennay is baffled. The questions on the quiz were directly linked to the homework assignment which the majority of them read. Clearly they have not retained any of the information, and more disturbingly, they do not seem to care.

14. Watterson, Bill. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes. Kansas City: Universal Press Syndicate, 1988.

15. Why Content Area Teachers Care About Reading • According to Daniels and Zemmelman in their book Subjects Matter (2004): “There are two main problems with reading in secondary subject fields; first, students are reading the wrong stuff and second, they don’t understand what they read.”(14)

16. Content Area Reading • Read the “right stuff.” Textbooks can’t nor shouldn’t be the only reading resource. • Support the reading with explicit instruction of comprehension strategies.

17. The Problem with Reading Comprehension The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsman hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught. • Who were merciless against the Bowlers? • Where did the Bowlers place their men? • Was this strategy successful? • Who hit an occasional six? • How many times did the Batsmen’s balls hit a stump?

18. What does our reading of the passage tell us about the reading our students are doing in our classrooms? • Reading is more than decoding • Reading is an active, constructive process. • Good readers have a repertoire of thinking strategies they use to comprehend texts. • Prior knowledge is the main determinant of comprehension. • Reading is a staged and recursive process.

20. Successful Content-Area Reading • The purpose of reading is not just to pass the test or get through the textbook. • The teacher selects some, but not all of the readings – the students make choices. • Teachers teach (instruct, model, monitor) specific reading strategies suitable for the text. • Reading is seen as a social, not just a solitary activity.

21. Successful Content-Area Reading • Instead of a focus on the “right answers” there is room for debate and discussion. • Reading is linked to action in the real world. • The assessment of content area reading relies less on quizzes and worksheets and more on performances, and products.

22. Factors That Affect Reading Comprehension (Reading Strategies Unplugged – Muldoon/Marshall 2007) • Student’s reading attitudes (motivations and interests) • Time truly engaged in reading • Effective comprehension strategy instruction across all subject areas • Vocabulary and world knowledge • Fluency • Type of text or genre • Opportunities for rich discussion or written response • Understanding and implementing the strategies used by effective readers.

23. Reading Strategies Across the Curriculum – Teaching Tips • Introduce one strategy at a time and then have students practice it repeatedly. Apply to short passages at first and then extend. • Model the activity yourself, as you explain to students how to use it. • Practice the strategy as whole class first so kids can see how it works. • Provide reinforcement and follow up.

24. What Good Readers Do Before Reading • Tap, activate, and build prior knowledge. • Ask questions • Preview the text • Determine the rate • Anticipate the message and the author’s purpose • Predict what the text will be about • Set purpose for reading

25. Some “Before Reading” Strategies 1. Brainstorming Teacher provides a key word or idea from the passage and the students call out their associations, ideas and response to that cue. This activates and taps prior knowledge. This can be done as a class or independently. 2. Clustering Similar to brainstorming but with a web- circle key ideas and link and connect circles with lines

26. Some “Before Reading” Strategies • KWL The teacher leads students, usually as a a whole class, to list first what they think they already know about a topic, then what they want to know, and later, after reading, what they’ve learned. Use for expository text. • Anticipation Guide Anticipation Guides are brief sets of questions (3-5 items) that help kids activate prior knowledge, make predictions, and engage in important issues that will surface in the reading. Thus, they enter the text passage thinking about the content.

27. “Before Reading” Strategies • Think Alouds Teacher reads a passage aloud and stops repeatedly to explain his/her mental processing of the ideas portrayed. How it Works: Before beginning, let students know you will be stopping and why. Use a short passage and make sure every student has a copy. Stop periodically, verbalizing to the students your processes. Model re-reading for clarification. After modeling allow students to practice with a partner.

28. What Good Readers Do During Reading • Connect and construct meaning • Construct mental images • Make, confirm and adjust predictions • Make, confirm, and adjust inferences and draw conclusions • Use cueing systems to construct meaning • Note key ideas and what supports them • Ask questions and self-monitor comprehension • Adjust rate and/or strategy

29. Some “During Reading” Strategies 1. Post – it Response Notes Students use small sticky notes to mark spots in text flagging important passages and noting questions. 2. Coding Text INSERT (interactive notation system for effective reading and thinking)

30. Some “During” Reading Strategies 3. Book Marks By a folding a piece of paper in thirds, each student makes a bookmark – on it the students write or illustrate their thoughts about key concepts or information encountered in the text. Show them a model first, then have them apply for a passage. This works well if after reading the passage they pair and share. 4. Cornel System – Double Entry Journals Students divide their paper into two columns – one column is their notes – summarizing, re-stating key ideas from text; the other column is their personal response to the information.

31. Some “During Reading” Strategies • It Says/I Say/And So… Provide the students a question addressed by the text – this becomes the “It says.” Have students add their own interpretation – this becomes the “I say.” The “and so” is the conclusion they come to. • Say Something Students pair up and following an agreed plan (either student or teacher designed) they stop periodically during the reading to reflect upon what they’ve read.

32. What Good Readers Do After Reading • Recall, paraphrase, summarize and synthesize • Reflect and interpret • Evaluate • Extend and apply new understanding • Respond personally • Listen, read, view again, speak, write and represent to deepen understanding

33. Some “After Reading” Strategies • Note Cards At the end of class students write on a note card one idea, question or prediction about the text. These are collected by the teacher and used to guide the next lesson. They could also be used for evaluation. • Mapping Concept mapping, semantic mapping, time-lines, Venn diagrams, and graphic organizers.

34. Some “After Reading” Strategies • Written Conversations Takes advantage of the theory that kids like to pass notes! After reading the passage students write notes back and forth about the passage. Students respond 2 or 3 times and the pay off comes when they wrap the activity with a verbal conversation. • Save the Last Word for Me Group discussion based on individual members of a group coping a passage or section from the reading and responding to it on the opposite side of the paper. The leader reads all the responses saving his/hers for last.

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