Text Difficulty and Reading Strategies in Content Area Classrooms

1. Text Difficulty and Reading Strategies in Content Area Classrooms Bill Lewis University of Delaware March 16, 2012

2. A little about myself..... • Assistant Professor of Literacy Studies, U of D • Teach pre-service teacher candidates, and courses in the M.Ed., M.I and M.A.T. programs • Focus on adolescent literacy and content area literacy...specifically in secondary content area environments

3. A little about my previous self... • ELA Teacher at Solanco High School, Quarryville, PA 1987-2007 • Taught American, British and World Literature, AP, Drama

4. Some Big Ideas…

5. However, there is a problem with one big idea…

6. The Challenge of Text Selection School of Education

7. The Problem: Many high school and middle school classroom teachers avoid teaching with text. School of Education

8. The Problem: Many high school and middle school classroom teachers avoid teaching with text. School of Education

9. Time to Think: • Why are some teachers avoiding the use of texts and extended opportunities for reading in their instruction? • What are schools and teachers doing instead of reading, discussing, and writing about texts? • What is the problem with taking a “limited-text” approach to content area instruction? School of Education

10. A Parable... • My son, Gray, wants to be good at tennis... • However, Gray does not practice tennis... • He thinks a $275.00 racquet will make him better.

11. What do you think is the outcome of this “practice” regimen?

12. = Gray is bad at tennis • We understand this narrative...it is the narrative that we were told as children, and that we tell our own children as parents: Practice makesPerfect

13. Key Question... • Why does this narrative not hold when it comes to reading in secondary classes?

14. Some Other Key Questions • How do I get students to read? • What books are good for students to read? • How can we read more in class? • Are there workable frameworks for in-class reading that support independent reading? • Are there frameworks and activities that I should avoid?

15. Not all ideas are equally effective!

16. For Instance: Round Robin and “Popcorn” Reading

17. I will read the whole novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, to you! And...

18. Common Core Standards for Reading Informational Text

19. Our mission: • To provide opportunities for students to engage with interesting texts in all content areas. • To provide opportunities for analysis, comparison, and personal connection to a wide variety of print and non-print media. • To connect writing to student reading of texts. • To provide teachers with guidance in choosing texts and analyzing the comprehension challenges of instructional texts. School of Education

20. The reason for the mission: School of Education

21. ….

22. If texts are to be used effectively, teachers need to think about how to analyze them for the challenges they present to students as a first step to overcoming these challenges College or Department name here

23. Let’s practice with a quick text analysis activity as we think about these textual considerations

24. Here’s your objective: Lesson Objective: Students will be able to identify elements of conflict and foreshadowing in a short story, and explain how these elements provide hints about the outcome of the story’s conflicts. Grade: 9th Grade CP

25. Here’s your text to achieve that objective • “Path Through the Cemetery by Leonard Q. Ross (a highly anthologized short story for its short length and “high interest” content) College or Department name here

27. Time to think: What comprehension challenges could this text present to students? School of Education

28. Time to think: What comprehension challenges do OUR content area texts present to our students? School of Education

29. How do we prepare students to engage challenging texts? • We need to provide clear purposes for our reading assignments....(texts are a only a vehicle to achieve instructional goals) • We need to activate or build prior knowledge so they are ready to engage • We need to provide during reading frameworks that give them actual reading practice in classrooms • We need to provide ways to help them to summarize, synthesize and extend their understanding of content area texts School of Education

30. What do independent readers do? • Make Predictions • Question the Text • Make Inferences • Determine Importance • Synthesize • Summarize • Make Connections to Prior Knowledge • Create Mental Images • Monitor Reading and Apply Fix-up Strategies

31. Before Reading Strategies Preparing Students to Engage School of Education

32. Here’s the principle..... • When students have a framework, they are more likely to be able to remember and use textual information because it “sticks” to the framework. School of Education

33. One is a bun…party trick or important educational example? • One is a bun • Two is a shoe • Three is a tree • Four is a door • Five is a hive • Six is sticks • Seven is heaven • Eight is a gate • Nine is a line • Ten is a hen

34. Listen, Read, Discuss (A demonstration of how simple a strategy can be) • Choose a narrative or informational text • Provide a BRIEF chronological summary of the text • Leave out one crucial part of the text and direct students to read to find out that critical part (setting a purpose for reading) • Students read • Students discuss what they found School of Education

35. Let’s Try with “Tell Tale Heart”

36. Tell Tale Heart is a story that details a murder from the viewpoint of the murderer. • Examines what leads up to the murder of an old man • Explains the murder itself • Explains how the murderer covers up the crime • Explains how the narrator is eventually found out. • It is a psychological story, not a ghost story; it is based on the irrational inner workings of a narrator’s mind. • This psychological focus forces the reader to question the reliability of a narrator • What he or she says • What he or she does • Whether his or her perception is truthful or exaggerated • Whether the narrator can be trusted to tell the truth • Whether we can trust the narrator to be honest about his or her relationships

37. Therefore.... • Use your copy of the text to circle those things the narrator says that are seem inconsistent with reality or seem unreliable. • With a partner summarize why your chosen sections are unreliable...we will discuss this after reading.

38. Story Impressions Earth Science

39. (Buehl 162)

40. Compare with the real text: Volcanic activity pushes igneous rocks out of the center of the earth. The high temperature there heats groundwater to the boiling point, and it becomes steam. This steam has pent-up pressure which causes it to fissure and then change to hot springs. The hot springs come out of the ground in a constricted tube with an eruption. This is called a geyser, like Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

41. List Group Label • Use this strategy for texts where students have sufficient background knowledge. • Have students then LIST all they know about a topic on board, overhead, smartboard. • Have them look for GROUPS or categories in which the information can be arranged. • LABEL those categories with superordinate titles

42. A teacher failure story...my own failure School of Education

43. After Reading Strategies Encouraging kids to summarize, synthesize and extend their understandings

44. Paragraph Shrinking (Another simple strategy to start) • Students should take turns reading text “chunks” with a partner. • Students should take turns “shrinking” the text chunks into 10 words or less.

47. Writing in Response to Reading • “Save the Last Word” • RAFT’s • SWBS/SWBSBS • Magnet Summaries • The CSQT Framework

48. Save The Last Word (Big Common Core Strategy) • A great post-reading “pass out of class” strategy • Focuses students on textual support • Scaffolds their ability to “warrant” their choices of textual support. • Focuses teachers and students on the purposes for reading.

49. Save the Last Word... “Path” • Choose a quote from the work that best represents the story’s theme. • Choose a quote from the work that best represents the character of Ivan. • Choose a quote from the work that best represents foreshadowing in the work.

50. Save the Last Word... • Choose the quote that makes you think that Mitt Romney will make a good/bad president. • What sentence best represents the conflict between climate science and business? • What quote best represents states’ rights issues?