Reading Strategies for the Content Areas

1. Reading Strategies for the Content Areas Word storm the title of this session at you table. There is a paper with letters at the top. Predict words that might appear in this session that begin with your letters. Then write a question this session might answer. Strategic Teaching Office of Instruction March 2010

2. Content Literacy Reading is focused by the domain of knowledge in which it is employed. To read well in any discipline is to think well in that discipline. Each discipline has a conceptual vocabulary. Each has a manner of statement. Each has structures through which it develops, applies and appraises its ideas.

3. Strategic Teaching • Provides opportunities for small group learning • Provides explicit instruction • Time for feedback • Think alouds • Scaffolds instruction • Models literacy strategies • Makes critical connections of literacy strategies • Pre, during and post strategies Instructional Practices

4. New Voices in Content • Get students to read and think like content specialists • Interacting with text • Visualizing • Making connections (with background knowledge) • Inferring and predicting • Generating and Answering Questioning • Determining importance • Interpreting vocabulary • Connecting reading, discussing and writing

5. Active Engagement • TWIRL (Harvey & Goudvis, 2005) • Talk • Write • Investigate • Read • Listen

6. Common Core: Standards for Reading, Writing, and Research • Grades 6 – College-and Career- Ready (CCR) • History/Social Studies and Science • 10 CCR Standards define a foundational core of reading skills and understanding • Grade 6-CCR standards that form a progression of skills that build on the core • 10 CCR Standards define a foundational core of writing skills and understandings • Grade 6-CCR standards that form a progression of skills that build on the core

7. Example: CCR for Writing in Social Studies and Science CCR Writing Standard 6 Perform short, focused research projects as well as more sustained research, demonstrating understanding of the material under investigation. Grade 6-8 students are able to: Perform short, focused research projects that demonstrate understanding of the material under investigation and generate additional related questions for research. Grade 9-10 students are able to: Demonstrate proficiency at performing short, focused research projects and more sustained research that demonstrate an increasing command of the subject under investigation. Grade 11-CCR students are able to: Demonstrate proficiency at performing short, focused research projects and more sustained research that synthesize multiple authoritative sources on a subject.

8. Example: CCR for Reading in Social Studies CCR Reading Standard 9 Compare and contrast two or more texts to integrate information, build knowledge, or understand different approaches to similar themes or topics. Grade 6-8 students are able to: Analyze the relationships between primary and secondary source documents. Grade 9-10 students are able to: Compare and contrast presentations of the same topic in different media, and describe the differences in focus, organization, and depth. Grade 11-CCR students are able to: Integrate information from diverse historical/social science sources into a coherent account of events, noting key discrepancies.

9. How do teachers become proficient in TWIRL in their classrooms? The best model for becoming proficient with planning and implementing strategic lessons is when teachers work collaboratively within or across content areas to support one another to implement strategic teaching. TAKE 5 Is this possible? How can it happen in your schools? What are the questions remaining?

10. Strategic Teaching • Provides opportunities for small group learning • Provides explicit instruction • Time for feedback • Think alouds • Scaffolds instruction • Models literacy strategies • Makes critical connections of literacy strategies • Pre, during and post strategies Organizing your school for good Instructional Practices

11. Before Reading Strategies

12. During Reading Strategies

13. After Reading Strategies

14. Literacy Starts with Teachers • Offer teachers a manageable number of new strategies. • Move from workshop to classroom. • Establish forums for teacher empowerment. • Vary the formats used in staff development. • Start with those who are most eager, and then spread the learning. Educational Leadership, March 2010

15. How are the literacy strategies taught through explicit instruction? Teacher Responsibility I do it. Focus Lesson Guided Instruction We do it. We do it together. Collaboratively We do it alone. Independently Student Responsibility

16. Flexible Grouping • Purposeful reordering of students into working groups to ensure that all students work with a wide variety of classmates and in a wide range of contexts during a relatively short span of class time • Allows teacher to “audition” each student in a variety of arrangements • This is a regular feature of a strategic teacher’s instructional planning

17. Small group learning-Lexiles From MAS Ultra – School Edition –designed specifically for high school libraries

18. One Question – One Comment Please write one question and one comment about reading strategies in the content areas on a note card.