A GPS to Reading Success

1. A GPS to Reading Success By: Connie Wade Danville Public Schools Danville, VA

2. Elementary Nonfiction Reading Key Points in Reading • Nonfiction comprises at least half of what students read • Content area lessons should reflect integrated English SOL within planning and instruction OR English lessons should integrate other content area information

3. Elementary Nonfiction Reading Key Points in Reading • Comprehension skills and strategies are woven throughout • As students become independent readers, they need to be instructed in reading texts that are considerably longer and more complex in plot, syntax, and structure.

4. Using a GPS - • You should know where you want to go, but you may not know exactly how to get there.

5. Know Your Destination before Beginning Your Trip • A GPS system asks for your destination first – • ‘Begin with the end in mind!’

6. Following Directions - • A GPS takes you from a specific starting point and gives you turn-by-turn directions to your destination. • Following these suggested directions will guide your students to meet instructional goals.

7. You are the driver! • You know your students! • Strategies applied to textmapping can help you determine the direction as well as the speed of your instruction.

8. Reading in the 21st Century! “It’s not worth the effort!” • If you don’t know the answer to a question, just go to the internet to get the answer! • The 21st Century student is so accustomed to having an instant answer to a question, that making the mental effort to understand what they read is not on their priority list. We have to compete against 21st Century technology.

9. What is it? – A new twist on an old technique. Reading Strategies Combined withTextmapping • A specific set of reading strategies matched to a specific graphic organizer to get students to understand what they read. • Explicitly teaching your students to think about what they are reading. • This is a another tool for your tool box!

10. Why? – The Benefits • Teachers monitor student progress in completion of the assignment. • Students concretely show their understanding of the text. • Students have a vested interest and take ownership of the work. • Students are strategic and actively involved in the reading process. • It covers the entire reading process but it teaches students how to break up the text so that they can read and understand text independently. • Gives the teacher a visual “snapshot” of student thinking.

11. Who can do this? • Works well for students with a variety of learning styles such as: • Visual • Spatial • Kinesthetic • Tactile • Works well for students that are Exceptional Children. It helps with: • Visual tracking • Sequencing and memory • Cognitive deficits • Students that are ADD/ADHD

12. Where ? • Anywhere that students can move around to work on their scroll. • Spread Out! • This is a physically active process. • It is okay for students to be physically involved in creating their scroll. • Have a trash can ready! It can get messy!

13. The Reading Process - Helping Students to Remember • The acronym for the reading process • Nine moms take six quiet girls after practice to play volleyball. • Getting them prepared to read • Movements and motions

14. Materials Needed • Copies of a selected text • Construction paper – light colors work best • Stick glue • Scissors • Pencils • Highlighters • Copy of the Reading Process

15. Putting together a “Scroll” • Copy the text • If more than one page, number the pages so that they can be kept in order. • Students should cut off any excess borders around the text. Keep text features such as pictures, captions, footnotes, etc. • Paste each page of text to one page of construction paper so that there is enough of the construction paper showing so that student can write in the margins. • After entire passage has been glued to individual pieces of construction paper, then glue them side-by-side.

16. From a Scroll to a Textmap • Before Reading • Notice the Page – circle or box text features such as pictures, captions, bold or italics print, footnotes • ‘Divide & Conquer’ – chunk the text into smaller pieces & draw a line after each section • Make a prediction – What will we read in this text? • Turn the title into a question – using the 4 W’s & H • *sets a purpose for reading • During Reading • Summarize each section of the text • Questions – Make your own test questions! At least one question for each section of text • After Reading - ‘Filling in the GAP at the end’ • Genre – Students should identify the genre of text & record it at the end of the passage • Author’s Purpose – Students identify why the author writes the selected text. • Point of view – Students identify 1st or 3rd person point of view

17. Introducing the Reading Process • The completed book and blackboard work together as the teacher demonstrates the reading process. • This explicit instruction results in a concrete product that demonstrates the student’s understanding of the text.

18. Students actively involved in reading and learning. • Students move physically across the length of the scroll. • Marking the text requires physical interaction with the text. • Student can clearly see progress on the task by looking at marked pages.

19. Resources Used • The Textmapping Project http://www.textmapping.org • Diana Triplett • Derived from the original works of R. David Middlebrook. • Paula Brown - Benchmark Assessment Specialist for Hampton City Schools. • Joyce Herbin – Instructional Facilitator, Danville Public Schools

20. Contact Information • ConnieWade • cwade@mail.dps.k12.va.us

21. Disclaimer Reference within this presentation to any specific commercial or non-commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Virginia Department of Education.