Enhancing Content-Area Reading and Writing

1. Enhancing Content-Area Reading and Writing Elizabeth Birr Moje University of Michigan Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement Institute July 14, 2004 E. B. Moje

2. Interactive Model of Literacy Reader/ Learner Text Broader Context Broader Context meaning making Context E. B. Moje

3. Cueing Systems of Reading and Writing • Graphophonic—sound/symbol correspondences and phonemic awareness • Syntactic—parts of speech and sentence structure • Semantic—word meanings • Pragmatic—contexts, purposes, history, sociocultural meanings and traditions • Visual—iconic images, pictures, charts, graphs • Discursive—ways of knowing, doing, reading, and writing E. B. Moje

4. How Cueing Systems Work—Example • He stood perfectly still, alert to the sounds of the woods. • His attention focused on the sounds of his approaching prey. • As the delicate footsteps approached, saliva dripped from his sharp teeth. • Soon he was able to see the little girl and her red-hooded jacket. E. B. Moje

5. Physiological structures, by contrast, operate more efficiently when they are well within the extreme limits set by external mass transport. Animals, for example, do not metabolize to the point of collapse between meals, or between breaths. In ecological communities, behavioral mechanisms may mediate mass and energy flow; for example, in the division of nutrient flow among species-specific tropic niches. Such behavioral mediation may cushion the physiochemical boundaries of community stability and thus appear to be conceptually independent of such boundaries. However, behavior specialization simply allows more matter to be entrained in the cycles of the biological community, and thus allows the domain (in ecological hyperspace) occupied by living matter to fit more efficiently within whatever physicochemical limitations (for example, of temperature, isolation, or chemical potential) may bound a habitable hypervolume. Blackburn, T. R. (1973). Information and the ecology of scholars, Science, CIXXXI, #4105, 1141-1146. E. B. Moje

6. Research Findings, In Brief • Young people’s uses of texts • Extensive reading and writing • Magazines, community newspapers, websites, letters, music lyrics, poetry, journals • Lateral readings of texts • Integration of visual images, oral texts, and performances • Classroom uses of texts • Relatively little reading and writing • Textbooks (assigned), novels, some newspapers, some essays, some journals • Longitudinal readings of texts • Print text in isolation OR accompanied by images without explanation E. B. Moje

7. Learning to Work with Complex Texts • Translating Across Text Forms • Producing Texts • Writing from Textual Investigation • Writing from Physical Investigation • Synthesizing Across Texts E. B. Moje

8. Learning to Work with Complex Texts • Exploring Multiple Genres of Text and Discourse Communities • Overcoming Challenges in Reading Texts • Inconsiderate Texts • Understanding and Navigating Text Structures • Vocabulary, Technical Language, Technical Concepts E. B. Moje

9. Translating Across Textual Forms • Graph translation activity • Drawing one’s understanding of a concept • Using images to convey emotions, beliefs, values, events • Teach target skills using texts drawn from lives of youth (e.g., engage youth in analysis and representation of data related to record sales of music artists with which they are familiar) • Explicitly teach youth how to transfer the skills they demonstrate in such activities to the analysis of content-area data (e.g., analyze and represent rates of bacteria growth in a science investigation) E. B. Moje

10. Producing Texts: Explanation Writing Rubric (Science) • Make a claim about the problem. • Provide evidence for the claim. • Provide reasoning that links the evidence to the claim. • Use precise and accurate scientific language. • Write clearly so that anyone interested in science can understand the explanation. E. B. Moje

11. Synthesizing Across Texts: Text-Search Protocol Pick Sub Question SEARCH using key words Modeling is Key! VIEW ABSTRACT helpful? NOT? pull up article NOT? Choose new abstract/article helpful? record/save information repeat until information needed is gathered! E. B. Moje

12. 1. What are the sources of this material? 2. What are the effects of this material in the air? 3. How much of this material is typically found in air? SUMMARY: Synthesizing from Texts: Questions Into Paragraphs Driving Question: What affects the quality of air in my community? Learning Set Question: Is material X a pollutant? Sub-Questions Source 1Source 2Source 3 SUMMARY Adapted from: McLaughlin, E. M. (1986). QuIP: A writing strategy to improve comprehension of expository structure. The Reading Teacher. E. B. Moje

13. Multiple Text Genres and Discourse Communities • Discourse as the ways that we use language, which reflect our beliefs about, values we hold, and practices in the world, which get enacted in language (Gee, 1996) • Discourses (both the language and the uses of language) differ in different disciplines • Discourses differ in and out of school • Discourses differ from culture to culture or social group to social group • Moje, Collazo, Carrillo, & Marx, 1999 E. B. Moje

14. Content Areas as Discourse Communities • Hornworms sure vary a lot in how well they grow. • Hornworm growth displays a significant amount of variation. Gee, J. P. (2001, December). Reading in new times. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, San Antonio, TX. E. B. Moje

15. Genre and Discourse Teaching • Expose students to texts that present disciplinary concepts in different ways (scientific or research reports, fiction, news media, television, and movies) • Engage students in writing and reading disciplinary concepts in the different genres and for different discourse communities E. B. Moje

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20. Serotonin Transporter Genetic Variation and the Response of the Human Amygdala Ahmad R. Hariri,1 Venkata S. Mattay,1 Alessandro Tessitore,1 Bhaskar Kolachana,1 Francesco Fera,1 David Goldman,2 Michael F. Egan,1 Daniel R. Weinberger1* A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the human serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) has been associated with several dimensions of neuroticism and psychopathology, especially anxiety traits, but the predictive value of this genotype against these complex behaviors has been inconsistent. Serotonin [5- hydroxytryptamine, (5-HT)] function influences normal fear as well as pathological anxiety, behaviors critically dependent on the amygdala in animal models and in clinical studies. We now report that individuals with one or two copies of the short allele of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter polymorphism, which has been associated with reduced 5-HTT expression and function and increased fear and anxiety-related behaviors, exhibit greater amygdala neuronal activity, as assessed by BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging, in response to fearful stimuli compared with individuals homozygous for the long allele. AAAS®, SCIENCE®, Science Online, Science's STKE, and SAGE KE are trademarks of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. E. B. Moje

21. Talking and Writing in Discourse Communities: Inner/Outer Circle • Inner/Outer Circle(Fishbowl)—focus on using language in ways valued by the discipline (e.g., science) • Framing questions for study • Generating hypotheses • Providing evidence for claims • Questioning findings • Examining and synthesizing information from multiple sources E. B. Moje

22. Challenges in Using Text—Inconsiderate Text • Text Considerateness--Features of Inconsiderate Text • Excessive numbers or types of new words • Unclear referents • Irrelevant information • Challenging vocabulary undefined in context • Dense information • Poor organization of ideas • Inappropriate prior knowledge expectations • Text Structure—Expository and Narrative Texts E. B. Moje

23. Addressing Inconsiderate Text: Reading Guides Before Reading: GuessAnswer E. B. Moje

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26. Addressing Inconsiderate Text: Reading Guides After Reading: • 1. Would you want to swim in the Great Lakes after reading this article? Why or why not? • 2. Do you think sea lampreys would be a good zoo attraction? Why or why not? • 3. Would you ever eat a sea lamprey? Why or why not? • 4. Why should we care about sea lampreys? E. B. Moje

27. Teaching Text Structures E. B. Moje

28. Text Structures/Text Frames(Buehl, 2001, p. 14) • Cause/Effect • Problem/Solution • Proposition/Support • Sequence/Process/Chronology • Goal/Action/Outcome • Description/Definition • Comparison • Enumeration • Exemplification • Problematic Situation E. B. Moje

29. Technical Terms of Texts: Vocabulary Cards What it is Example What it is not NON-Example Book/Dictionary definition Application E. B. Moje

30. Technical Concepts: Concept of Definition Map for Literacy(Schwartz, 1988) Uses Characteristics Examples Definitions Textbook Dictionary Newspaper Activity E. B. Moje

31. Technical Terms: Semantic Feature Analysis is spread by physical contact makes people sick is micro-scopic responds to antibiotics has nucleus has DNA Target Concepts E. B. Moje