First thought…

1. First thought… • “Literacy is the new civil right.” • Salome Thomas-El • Philadelphia principal, author • Sit with someone whose name you don’t know (and is not in your CMA group)

2. Facts About Literacy • “So strong is the link between literacy and being a useful member of society that some states use grade-level reading statistics as a factor in projecting future prison construction.” • Bob Chase, former President, National Education Association

3. Facts About Literacy • “To compete in the global information economy, young people today need literacy skills far more advanced than have been required of any previous generation. The fastest growing jobs make the highest literacy and education demands.” • Reading To Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy, 2005

4. Facts About Literacy • “Forty percent of high school graduates lack the reading and writing skills that employers seek, and almost a third of high school graduates who enroll in college require remediation.” • Reading To Achieve: A Governor’s Guide to Adolescent Literacy, 2005

5. Secondary Literacy Connections • “Many struggling readers have failed more often than they have succeeded in the past, so now they figure, ‘Why try?’” • Shannon Dingle, RGV ’03 6th-8th Grade Special Education Wake County Public School

6. Secondary Literacy Connections • “I was shocked that my students reached high school without mastering the basic skills of reading and writing. My first year, the majority of my students read on a third to fifth grade level, and a class could range from pre-primer to 9th grade.” • Bernard Weber Mississippi Delta ’03 9th Grade Global Studies

7. DO NOW • In the provided space, reflect in writing for a few minutes on one or more of the facts presented about literacy. 2 minutes

8. Why are Secondary Texts Difficult?Secondary Literacy 1 Helen M. Anderson Literacy Specialist

9. “Literacy is the new civil right.” • Salome Thomas-El • Philadelphia principal, author

10. Objectives • Definition of literacy • Different components of reading • Steps toward comprehension • Analyze how different texts make different demands on readers • Evaluate the specific demands posed by texts in specific content areas

11. Agenda • DO NOW • Introduction • New Material • Teaching Literacy is Our Job • Reading Comprehension • What makes texts difficult? • Examples & Practice • Close/Reflection

12. So what? • Responses • The achievement gap is a literacy gap. • Every teacher must be literacy teacher. • Teaching literacy is our job.

13. Our definition of literacy • “The ability to read, write, spell, listen & speak.” • “Visually represent.” www.ncte.org

14. “We must read the word in order to read the world.” • Paulo Friere • Education revolutionary

16. Teaching Literacy Is Our Job. • Artifact: Michael’s Science Test • CM Instructional Materials: page 226 On your handout… • Think-Write/Pair/Share • What is keeping Michael from having success with this material? • Literacy-wise, what could have gone wrong?

18. Think/Pair/Share • What is keeping Michael from having success with this material?

19. Think/Pair/Share • Literacy-wise, what could have gone wrong?

20. Share • Does this assessment tell us much about what Michael may or may not know? • Which skills does Michael need to be able to read the questions? • Which components go into Michael being able to write an answer? • What does Michael know based on this artifact?

21. Components of Reading Comprehension • Each component of reading is at play with Michael: • Decoding • Fluency • Vocabulary • Comprehension Strategies • Background Knowledge • Engagement

22. So…to be successful? • Key Point • All these components need to be in place for our students to be able to demonstrate what they know in all content areas.

23. LS Throwdown • With a new partner, explain the following literacy analogy (or simile): • “Skilled reading is like a rope.” You have 30 seconds…

24. LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION Skilled Reading- fluent coordination of word reading and comprehension processes BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE LANGUAGE STRUCTURES VERBAL REASONING LITERACY KNOWLEDGE SKILLED READING: fluent execution and coordination of word recognition and text comprehension. increasingly strategic WORD RECOGNITION PHON. AWARENESS DECODING (and SPELLING) SIGHT RECOGNITION increasingly automatic The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled Reading (Scarborough, 2001) Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually acquired over years of instruction and practice.

25. The Breakdown • Research and CMs’ experiences indicate the following: • Minority of our students will struggle with decoding words • bottom strands • Some will struggle with fluency • to tie the bottom strands together • Most will struggle to comprehend content area text • tying the top strands together

26. Reading Comprehension • We’ll start with fluency…

27. The Basics:What goes into reading accurately and fluently? • Fluency • The ability to read words, phrases and sentences quickly, automatically and with expression. Decoding Comprehension Fluency

28. Called Basic Because… • These building block skills are necessary but not sufficient conditions for comprehension. • Success with these, still struggle with comprehension • Vocabulary, background knowledge, appropriate strategies

29. Fluency Passage • Read a passage • Approximately 65 words • You’ll have 25 seconds. • Questions will follow.

30. In this study, the distribution patterns of neural crest (NC) cells (NCCs) in the developing vascular system of the chick were thoroughly studied and examined for a correlation with smooth muscle cell differentiation and vascular morphogenesis. For this purpose, we performed long-term lineage tracing using quail-chick chimera techniques and premigratory NCC infection with a replication-incompetent retrovirus containing the LacZ reporter gene in combination with immunohistochemistry.

31. Questions • The study sought to seek a correlation between vascular morphogenesis and what? • What did the quail-chick chimera technique allow the researchers to trace?

32. Debrief Disfluency Passage • Were you reading with automaticity? • Were you focused on word analysis or comprehension? • Was comprehension achieved? Why or why not?

33. Fluency: Strategies That Work • Teacher modeling/read aloud • Repeated reading • With partner, parents, reading buddy • Choral reading

34. Note! • Not “added on”, but used as scaffolding whenever students read

35. Content Teachers • Math • Chorally reading a word problem • Science • Reading the directions more than once (aloud, pairs, small group) • Foreign Language • Practicing dialogues for performance • Social Studies • Paired reading of excerpts with presentations to the class • English • Reader’s Theatre

36. LS Throwdown • Give a one sentence summary of how fluency can affect student comprehension and how that impacts your practice as a teacher.

37. What about the texts themselves?

38. Secondary Texts • Content teachers have a uniquely difficult job • Support fluency • Teach content • Negotiate difficult texts

39. What makes texts difficult? • Vocabulary usage • Some text use figurative language while others use technical terms • Background knowledge • Assumptions made by text • Organization and format • Some texts have headings or diagrams • Level of engagement • Some text loved by 12 year olds, others by 16 year olds, some may be disliked by all

40. ISAT: connections & applications • Vocabulary Usage • Spanish I Objective #19: SWBAT describe foods using 5 adjectives in their singular and plural forms using the phrases ¿Cómo es/son _____? and Es/son _____. • How might vocabulary usage create a specific challenge in this text/objective?

41. ISAT: connections & applications • Background Knowledge • African American History Objective SWBAT analyze the contributions and accomplishments of West African societies prior to slavery. • How might background knowledge create a specific challenge in this text/objective?

42. ISAT: connections & applications • Organization & Format • Biology Objective SWBAT use experimental data to create a line graph. • How might organization or format create a specific challenge in this text/objective?

43. Level of Engagement • Translating “I’m bored”

44. Content Area Groups • CM Book of Goodness: • All – 227 (you can tear this out if you want) • Social Studies – 230 • Math – 231 • English/Language Arts – 233 • Science – 234 • Foreign Language – At your station

45. Content Area Groups • Read through the text • Fill out column 2 – “Text Demands” • What demands does this text make on our students in each category? 1 minute – transition 4 minutes – reading and writing

46. How should I teach this?

47. Pair Practice: how would you teach it? List ideas for teaching each of the four text demands you identified in the third column of the handout 3 minutes

48. Pair Practice: debrief • What was challenging about this process? • What has this process taught you about how to start planning literacy instruction?

49. What did we learn?

50. The Bottom Line • Literacy has many components, each of which is essential to achievement. • Teaching students the specific skills and knowledge they need to read to understand text is your content area is critical.