Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12 workshop by: Jack Decker , Deb Keeler summer 2008

1. Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?Content Comprehension, Grades 6-12workshop by: Jack Decker , Deb Keelersummer 2008 Cris Tovani 2004

2. Morning Agenda9:00 – 12:00 • 9:00 – 9:30 Introduction, Review, Activity • 9:30 – 10:30 – Engaged Reading with group. • 10:30 – 10:45 Video Clip Tovani • 10:45 – 11:30 – Video Clip • 11:30 – 12:00 – Wrap up & Challenge

3. A Review from Academic Literacy I • GOOD READERS HAVE MORE EARNING POWER UPON GRADUATION! • Strong readers use strategies to help them understand text (any text). • These students become aware of their own thinking processes & monitor their comprehension. • It is all about holding their thinking so that they can reuse the content. • Reading becomes more complex as students enter middle & high school. • Strong readers activate prior knowledge, self-question,draw inferences, determine what’s important, employ fix-up strategies, and use images. • Find a purpose for reading!

4. READING REASONSKelly Gallagher • Reading is rewarding • Reading Builds vocabulary • Reading helps you become a Better Writer • Reading is Hard & Necessary • Reading makes you Smarter • Prepares you for work ($) • Financially Rewarding • Opens door to University • Arms you against Oppression • Develops a Moral Compass

5. The Question? • How comfortable are you modeling a strategy to help students become better readers of your content area?

6. QUESTION? • What Kinds of Text do you have a difficult time reading? • Use this to your advantage when teaching struggling students

7. The Challenge! • Being pressured to cover so much material in so little time makes it almost impossible to teach anything well. • “Everyone involved – teachers, students, parents, - would benefit from a leaner, meaner, comprehension curriculum composed of a handful of key strategies taught well and frequently applied to read text.” (Tovani) • Teach Students to READ for a PURPOSE. • Students Question what & why they read different text.

8. It’s Not That Simple!

9. Final thought before Reading • Teaching strategies for the sake of teaching strategies isn’t the goal • The only reason to teach PEOPLE how to be strategic readers is to help them become more thoughtful about their reading. • Teach the value of being a good reader. • We will teach students how to read, BUT let’s try to teach them why we need to be good readers as well. • PURPOSE, PURPOSE, PURPOSE!

10. Meaning doesn’t arrive because we have highlighted text or used sticky notes or written the right words on a comprehension worksheet. • Meaning arrives because we are purposefully engaged in thinking while we read!

11. Purpose of this ClassLiteracy II • To become engaged in the reading of Cris Tovani’s book, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? • To become an expert in one chapter of this text. • To teach others about your thinking and how you could implement these ideas within your classroom. • Question Tovani’s ideas. • Try an idea from Tovani’s book and implement in your classroom.

12. Quote or description from reading “School should not be a place where young people come to watch old people work.” Record of your thinking I wonder This reminds me of My thinking has changed I’m inferring A question I have Double – Entry Diary

13. ACTIVE READING • Find a partner and review the statements from the chapter you are given. • Discuss the concepts mentioned in your chapter. Interact with the text (connect, agree, disagree, image, talk to text, Think Aloud). • Be prepared to make a brief presentation to the group

14. CHALLENGE! • Take a concept from Cris Tovani’s book, Do I Have to Teach Reading, and implement one or more of her ideas in your classroom in the beginning of the school term 2007-2008. • Be prepared to share with the class during session two in October 2007

15. Three Cups of Tea • By Greg Mortenson