Widescreen Test Pattern (16:9)

1. Widescreen Test Pattern (16:9) Aspect Ratio Test (Should appear circular) 4x3 James Erekson, 2009 16x9

2. James Erekson, 2016 How to rewrite text without really rewriting it

3. why rewritten text ? reading ability interest James Erekson, 2016

4. what do we really want ? • Students who have a disposition to approach text, regardless of difficulty. • But completely re-written texts model the opposite, that every text must be matched ‘to me.’ James Erekson, 2016

5. do people identify with text ? • Students in elementary school make identity choices and develop attitudes about text based on theiractual experiences reading (not achievement levels). James Erekson, 2016

6. what do we know about ‘levels’? Preparing a student’s mind for the text can change its ‘level’. • when students have built background knowledge, their likelihood of successful reading increases. • when students are interested and engaged in a purpose, they are more likely to succeed with words and comprehension • when students read ‘warm’ instead of ‘cold’ they read more fluently James Erekson, 2016

7. helping students approach text Priorities for scaffolding, or ‘rewriting’ difficult content text • Select: Find ‘hook’ passages that are likely to be engaging. Help readers tackle just this selection. • Reorganize: Identify and order other passages around the selection where students will be able to skim/scan to find important context for comprehending the selection. • Cut: When necessary cut, mark, or photocopy, excluding phrases and passages that do not answer questions about the ‘hook’ passage. • Rewrite: When it comes to actually rewriting, rewrite only the ‘selected’ or ‘hook’ passage. Pair rewritten text with the original to model academic language. James Erekson, 2016

8. Intermission Let’s talk about what we’ve discussed so far James Erekson, 2016

9. (1) Select • Find and select ‘hook’ passages. • Look for well-told stories, strange facts, and topics typically interesting to students. • Read the selections only. • We can afford to scaffold small passages. • Guide students to selections in the text or provide copies of the selection alone. Important: Read first as if you were a READER, not a teacher James Erekson, 2016

10. (1a) How to scaffold a selection • Use previewing strategies: • 1. Ask students to read the passage silently before doing an oral reading; • 2. Ask students to preview for words they think are difficult to decode; • 3. Ask students to preview for unfamiliar vocabulary meanings. • Use variations on teacher read-aloud, partner reading, or paired reading. • Use reciprocal questioning and QAR to encourage buildup of comprehension from single sentences or short passages. • Use discussion to connect the small selection to other knowledge and texts (including movies, games, and TV). What kind of reading instruction will help take students out of frustrational level for just this selection? James Erekson, 2016

11. (2) Reorganize • Ask journalistic questions to prompt searching around the ‘hook’ passages. • Notice and dwell on details that make for interesting inquiry. • Some information is hard to categorize based on simple questions. • Mark up a reorganized copy. • Visual model for browsing • THE FREEDOM OF BROWSING ! Many students hold a deep belief, learned in school, about reading from beginning to end. Acting on this belief is not always productive in content reading. James Erekson, 2016

12. Materials What does selecting and organizing look like? James Erekson, 2016

13. (3) Cut • Cut sentences and words that do not support your selection and reorganization. • Since you have reorganized already, transition sentences and phrases may no longer be necessary, or make little sense • What if engaging the ‘hook’ passage is difficult? James Erekson, 2016

14. (4) Rewrite • Rewrite only the ‘hook’ passages. • Reduce sentence complexity • Reduce vocabulary difficulty • Move from CALP to BICS • What if reading the ‘hook’ passage is STILL difficult? James Erekson, 2016

15. (4) Rewrite, continued • Follow-up by comparing the rewritten passage to the original passage. • Set students up for moving toward difficult text, not for avoiding it • Don’t rewrite the surrounding context • you want students to ask and answer questions using strategic skim/scan to find information in the surrounding passages. • What if engaging the ‘hook’ passage is STILL difficult? James Erekson, 2016

16. Practice A sample of rewritten text from 5th grade Government textbook • At first, James Madison wasn’t sure if adding a bill of rights to the Constitution was necessary. But after he talked to many leaders and sorted through different ideas, he changed his mind. He then proposed the set of amendments to congress that were later known as the Bill of Rights. (51 words) • James Madison did not know if the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights. He listened to other leaders, then he thought, then he changed his mind. He wrote some changes and gave them to congress to vote on. • 5138 words. -25%, • Sentence and phrase complexity? • CALPBICS? James Erekson, 2016

17. Practice A sample of rewritten text from 5th grade Government textbook • Americans fiercely debated whether to approve the Constitution. Many people were afraid it gave the government too much power. Americans had just fought the Revolutionary War to protect their rights against the British government. They wanted to be sure their new government would respect their rights. (46 words) • Did Americans want a Constitution? They argued angrily. People worried about bossy government. After all, they had just gotten rid of the British. Would a new government care about people’s rights? (46  31 words, -33%. Sentences and Phrases? BICS/CALP?) James Erekson, 2016

18. Practice Third grade social studies content • Select ? • find a ‘hook’ passage • Reorganize ? • answer questions looking around the hook • Cut ? • pare down the text in and around the hook • Rewrite ? • rewrite just the hook, compare to original James Erekson, 2016

19. Chapter 10: Farmers and Ranchers! Just what our urban 8-9-year-olds were waiting to learn about! • Meeker decided to teach the Utes how to farm. In fact, the Utes hated farming. They would rather ride horses and hunt bison. When Meeker plowed up the Utes’ horse pasture and racetrack, they rebelled. Meeker escaped the first attack unharmed. Then he called in the army, which made the Utes angry. They fought the troops when they arrived, killing fourteen soldiers. Then they attacked the White River Agency, killing Meeker and eleven other men. (Downey & Bliss, pages 160-161) James Erekson, 2016

20. Farmers and Ranchers Meeker decided to teach the Utes how to farm. In fact, the Utes hated farming. They would rather ride horses and hunt bison. When Meeker plowed up the Utes’ horse pasture and racetrack, they rebelled. Meeker escaped the first attack unharmed. Then he called in the army, which made the Utes angry. They fought the troops when they arrived, killing fourteen soldiers. Then they attacked the White River Agency, killing Meeker and eleven other men. (Downey & Bliss, pages 160-161 • Reading strategies? • Word preview • Activate knowledge: What do you know? (K) • Somebody wanted… But… So… (K) • Connect to self, life, and other texts. (K) • Follow-up questions (who, what, where, when, why, how?) (WL) James Erekson, 2016

21. Farmers and Ranchers Meeker decided to teach the Utes how to farm. In fact, the Utes hated farming. They would rather ride horses and hunt bison. When Meeker plowed up the Utes’ horse pasture and racetrack, they rebelled. Meeker escaped the first attack unharmed. Then he called in the army, which made the Utes angry. They fought the troops when they arrived, killing fourteen soldiers. Then they attacked the White River Agency, killing Meeker and eleven other men. (Downey & Bliss, pages 160-161) James Erekson, 2016

22. James Erekson, 2009

23. Key References Supporting readings of the research suggest that expecting levels to take care of readers is inappropriate • Fisher, Douglas & Frey, Nancy (2008) What does it take to create skilled readers? Facilitating the transfer and application of literacy strategies. Voices From the Middle,15(4), 16-21. • Opitz, Michael F. (1992). The cooperative reading activity, an alternative to ability grouping. The Reading Teacher, 45(9), 736-738. • Cummins, James (1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Educational Review, 56, 1836. • Halliday, J.L. (2008). Reconsidering frustrational level texts: Second graders’ experiences with difficult texts. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, Orlando, FL. • Edelsky, C, Hudelson, S., Altwerger, B., Flores, B., Barkin, F., Jilbert, K. (1983). Semilingualismand language deficit. Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 122. James Erekson, 2016