Understanding Disciplinary Literacy

1. Understanding Disciplinary Literacy “. . .experts from math, chemistry, and history read their respective texts quite differently.” Shanahan & Shanahan Training developed by Lisa Arneson, CESA 5 Literacy & Curriculum Specialist, Fall, 2011

2. In Wisconsin. . . . . .disciplinary literacy is defined as the confluence of content knowledge, experiences, and skills merged with the ability to read, write, listen, speak and think critically in a way that is meaningful within the context of a given field.

3. Important statistics Approximately two-thirds of 8th- and 12th-grade students read at less than the “proficient” level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Rampey, Dion, & Donahue, 2009)

4. Important statistics American 15-year-olds rank slightly below average in reading literacy on PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) as compared with 65 other nations, marking no improvement in a decade relative to our global peers.

5. Important statistics Nearly 32% of high school graduates are not adequately prepared for college-level English composition courses (ACT, 2005)

6. Important statistics Approximately 40% of high school graduates lack the literacy skills employers seek (National Education Summit on High Schools, 2005)

7. Important statistics About 1.2 million students drop out annually, and their literacy skills are lower than most industrialized nations (Laird, DeBell, Kienzl, & Chapman, 2007, OECD)

8. Public Perception

9. A look back in time States Required to Adopt Standards Wisconsin Model Academic Standards? Race to the Top Funding SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium developing state test based on standards 1998 2001 2010 2011 2012 2014 No Child Left Behind Mandatory Assessment for Accountability CCSS Full Implementation Assessment in CCSS Wisconsin Adopts Common Core State Standards

10. How did our standards compare? Preparing the Future Workforce: STEM Policy in K-12 Education, June 2009 http://www.publicpolicyforum.org/pdfs/2009STEM.pdf Data source: Education Next http://educationnext.org/files/ProficiencyData.pdf “This gap in proficiency between the NAEP test and WKCE has called into question the rigor of the state’s standards. “ (p. 15)

11. Wisconsin was 34th According to a 2008 Education Next report, 33 states have more rigorous standards than Wisconsin. Our grades? Peterson, P. E. & Hess, F. (2008) Few states set world class standards. Education Next, 8, 3. http://educationnext.org/few-states-set-worldclass-standards/

12. readicide Four contributing factors to Readicide: 1. Schools value the development of test-takers more than they value the development of readers 2. Schools limit authentic reading experiences

13. COMMON VOCABULARY • Text: Anything students are asked to read, including articles, internet sites, books, magazines, journals, etc. • Authentic reading and writing: the reading and writing connected to a particular discipline and the real world • Common Core State Standards (CCSS): national standards adopted by WI on June 2, 2010. • Disciplinary Literacy: the focus on the types of reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening in various disciplines.

14. Why Disciplinary Literacy? Each Discipline has specific: • Language and Vocabulary • Types of text to comprehend • Ways of communicating in writing

15. Increasing Levels of Literacy (Shanahan & Shanahan (2008), p. 44)

16. NOT AN ACCURATE PICTURE Buehl, 2011

17. A READER’S PROFILE Buehl, 2011

18. YOUR READER’S PROFILE Have a conversation with your neighbor. What would your reader’s profile look like?

19. What the new standards say “The Standards insist that instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language be a shared responsibility within the school.”

20. What the new standards say “Just as students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines.”

21. What the new standards say “Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields.”

22. MIKE SCHMOKER in FOCUS “If we choose to take just a few well-known, straight-forward actions, in every subject area, we can make swift, dramatic improvements in schools” (p. 1)

23. Is your district focused? • Reasonably coherent curriculum (what we teach) • Sound lessons (how we teach) • More purposeful reading and writing in every discipline, or “authentic literacy” Have a conversation with your neighbor. Evaluate your school on these three points. Are they in place in your building?

24. Wisconsin’s Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning inform the design and implementation of all academic standards. Are these similar to your belief statements?

25. STEM FACTS “The state is in need of a more coordinated focus on STEM content and higher-level thinking skills in the K-12 system, if our future workforce is to meet the needs of a strong, healthy, and growing economy.” (p. 50) Preparing the Future Workforce: STEM policy in K-12 Education http://www.publicpolicyforum.org/pdfs/2009STEM.pdf

26. Stem facts • For the 2011-2012 Wisconsin has over 300 pre-engineering specific courses.  • The importance of STEM education becomes even more pronounced when you factor in predictions that the jobs of tomorrow have yet to be imagined.  • The spirit of STEM education lies in the delivery of good teaching in the form of project-based learning and other applied methodologies.

27. Stem facts • Of the approximately 32,000 bachelor degrees awarded by the University of Wisconsin Madison each year, only 21% were in STEM fields.  • This is disturbing data when compared to Germany (36%), China (59%), Japan (66%) and the United States (32%).  (UW-Madison Center on Education and Work)

28. Stem facts Students have a high degree of interest in STEM occupations: • 43% of Wisconsin high school juniors taking college placement exams in 2008 were interested in a STEM-related major, which was higher than the 39% reported nationwide.

29. It is important to note Disciplinary Literacy as we’ve discussed it today—authentic speaking, listening, reading, writing, and thinking—isnot all that different from what many teachers are already doing in their classrooms.

30. Look at the standards • You have a handout of the Disciplinary Literacy standards from the Common Core. These clearly indicate the kinds of reading, writing, speaking, listening and thinking students should be doing in the various disciplines in grades 6-12. • Read through the standards. Feel free to mark on them, and then have a discussion with your neighbor. • What did you notice?

31. Tools to Guide Us • Developed by two of the lead authors of the Common Core State Standards • A list of criteria designed to guide publishers and curriculum developers • Designed to “ensure” alignment with the standards in English language arts (ELA) and literacy for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects

32. Priority Areas I. Text Selection II. Questions and Tasks III. Academic (and Domain-Specific) Vocabulary IV. Writing to Sources and Research Highlight the elements that are part of your current practice. Discuss with a partner ways that you could incorporate more of these elements into your curriculum. Find your handout, “History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Literacy Curricula, Grades 6-12” and examine it.

33. The 2014-15 State Test • The “Publisher’s Criteria” document was referenced by the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), which is the workgroup that is developing Wisconsin’s new assessment system scheduled to be used in the 2014-15 school year. • The SBAC group, then, has also released a guidance document to help educators prepare for WKCE’s replacement. • Disciplinary Literacy expectations are interwoven throughout the new assessment model.

34. Take a stance on BIODIESEL PRODUCTION: From Appendix E, pages 32-41, SMARTER Balanced Assessment Specs, Sept., 2011 Look at the standards. Which standard(s) does this performance task evaluate? Discuss with a neighbor.

35. What is a Lexile? • Measurement of text difficulty • Assigns a number to text than can be compared to grade level expectations • Readability formula based on word syllables, sentence length, and other factors • Students are expected to be at 1200L when they graduate

36. Grade Level Equivalents Use the higher Lexile ranges for alignment with the CCSS.

37. Badgerlink—Kids Search Several different pieces of text for use with one topic or unit is called a TEXT SET.

38. Text Resources • BadgerLink (www.badgerlink.net/) • “Article of the Week” (www.kellygallagher.org) • Time Magazine (http://www.time.com/time/) • The Week Magazine (http://theweek.com/) • The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/) • The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/)

39. Get Students Thinking • Students must INTERACT with the text, not just passively read and answer questions • Consider the questions you ask—are they fact based/simple recall, or do they advance up Bloom’s Taxonomy to get students thinking at higher levels? • Consider the tasks you ask of your students. Are they useful, authentic, and rigorous? Are they tasks experts in your field do on a regular basis?

40. Harvard’s “Self Help Guide” “Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard”: • Previewing • Annotating • Outline, Analyze, Summarize • Look for repetitions and patterns • Contextualize • Compare & Contrast Skim through the Harvard document to learn about these six reading habits. Now compare these habits with the standards. How do they compare?

41. REPEATED READING and READING WITH A PURPOSE Use these strategies tomorrow! • Read “Custodian”

42. PREVIEWING TEXT and HIGHLIGHT YOUR CONFUSION Use these strategies tomorrow! • “Cleaning Up the Trash in Space” article • 1) Preview the text—read title, subtitle, headings, etc. Write down a sentence or two that tells what you think the article will be about. • 2) Read the article. Using a highlighter, note the words, phrases, or portions of the article that are confusing to you.

43. ANNOTATING TEXT Use this strategy tomorrow! • “A Legacy of Illnesses from 9/11” • Show evidence of your thinking by marking the article—write questions, comments, A-ha’s in the margins and on text.

44. Annotations

45. SUMMARIZE vs. ANALYZE Use this strategy tomorrow! • Using the same article—”A Legacy of Illnesses from 9/11” • Pair up with someone. One person will read and summarize; the other will read and analyze. Discuss the difference.

46. TRANSITION • Are there any questions about the reading strategies we have discussed and how they connect to the CCSS?

47. WRITING ACROSS DISCIPLINES • Learning to Write vs. Writing to Learn • Formal writing (for an audience); also called “process writing” • Informal writing is done to facilitate learning • Examine the writing standards • Note: Most of the writing expectations listed in the standards are connected to text! Pull out your copy of the writing standards. What do you notice about the expectations? How might you incorporate these expectations into your instruction?

48. Writing Instruction Essentials • Students do “real,” meaningful writing • Modeling • Use of Mentor Text • Use of Exemplars • Rubrics and Grading • Focus is on GROWTH!!!

49. AUTHENTIC WRITING • Just like reading, the writing in your class should match that done in your field. • The CCSS privileges informational and argumentative writing and “short research projects” • Not “school writing”—Instead, they should be doing the kind of writing you want them to be doing twenty years from now Given the writing standards, what are some authentic writing tasks you either currently do or could begin do to help your students meet the CCSS?

50. MODELING • Modeled writing is the teacher being an active writer. The teacher models • the selection of topics; • the skills of gathering and organizing information; • the need to clarify meaning; • the ways in which information can be reordered, reoriented, changed, or deleted.