Adolescent Literacy and Teaching Strategies

1. Adolescent Literacy and Teaching Strategies Presenter: Anna Montalbo, NBCT Early Adolescence: English/Lang. Arts Reading Coach/Littleton Elementary amontalbo@littletonaz.org

2. Early Reading Indicators: State of Arizona 2010 KIDS COUNT Special Report Adolescent Literacy Startling Statistics datacenter.kidscount.org

3. 8th Grade Rdg. Achievement Level Data Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). datacenter.kidscount.org

4. 8th Grade Writing Achievement- Data Source U.S. Dept of Education-National Center for Educational Statistics-National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) datacenter.kidscount.org

5. Occupational Changes during the 20th Century

6. “Ensuring adequate ongoing literacy development for all students in the middle and high school years is a more challenging task than ensuring excellent reading education in the primary grades, for two reasons: First, secondary school literacy skills are more complex, more embedded in subject matters, and more multiply determined; Second, adolescents are not as universally motivated to read better or as interested in school-based reading as kindergartners.” Biancarosa & Snow, (2005)

7. Primary Characteristics of Struggling Readers in Middle and High School- Torgeson (2009) They are almost always less fluent readers—sight word vocabularies many thousands of words smaller than average readers Usually know the meanings of fewer words Usually have less conceptual knowledge Are almost always less skilled in using strategies to enhance comprehension or repair it when it breaks down Will typically not enjoy reading or choose to read for pleasure

8. What do we know from research about the impact of directly teaching reading comprehension strategies? The review of the National Reading Panel (2000) “For teachers, the art of instruction involves a series of “wh” questions: knowing when to apply what strategy with which particular students. Having students actually develop independent, integrated strategic reading abilities may require subtle instructional distinctions that go well beyond techniques such as instruction, explanation, or reciprocal teaching…strategies are not skills that can be taught by drill; they are plans for constructing meaning. 4:47

9. What factors affect reading comprehension? Proficient comprehension of text depends on: • Accurate and fluent word reading skills • Oral language skills (vocabulary, linguistic comprehension) • Extent of conceptual and factual knowledge • Knowledge and skill in use of cognitive strategies to improve comprehension or repair it when it breaks down. • Reasoning and inferential skills • Motivation to understand and interest in task and materials

10. What does it take to accelerate reading development in adolescents? Torgeson 2009 • 1. Students must use better strategies when reading a variety of texts and materials. • 2. Most students will need to learn to use better reading strategies for comprehension. • 3. Most must acquire better reasoning and thinking skills • 4. Most must acquire more conceptual knowledge in science, history, social studies, math, English • 5. Most must acquire stronger vocabularies • 6. Most must become more confident and engaged in reading for meaning.

11. National Reading Panel- 2000 • Studied 16 Common Strategies of Instruction, and identified 7 that had a “firm scientific basis” for concluding they improve comprehension in normal readers. • Comprehension Monitoring • Cooperative Learning • Graphic Organizers • Question Answering • Question Generation • Story Structure • Summarization

12. What are the Best Practices to Empower Reading for this group? • Explicit vocabulary instruction emphasizing word meanings and multiple meanings. • Word study- Affixes, Word relationships, Syllabication, Word families • Opportunities for fluent reading and interactions with a variety of text (stories, reader’s theater, informative text, functional text, content) • Comprehension monitoring using before, during, and after reading explicit techniques • Questioning strategies using prediction, text features, learner interactions, and confirming reader response • One size does not fit all-Personalize the learning and context through group structures (partners, individual, triad, small group, and opportunities with technology.

13. Teacher Strategies • Model the learning using examples, academic language, visual and/or mental models • Engage the learner through notetaking guides, anticipatory guides, learner response and reflection • Promote Student Discussion and Student-led questioning and confirming • Use Teacher Think Alouds to model the reflection and the learning process • Teach students to think and problem solve using thinking, reading, and writing strategies • Incorporate fluency and retell strategies to check for understanding and word study skills

14. How do I start? • Choose strategies that work naturally with the text that is being read or studied • Commit to planning and using the strategies consistently- strategies should be an ongoing part of every lesson plan • Do not let the strategy overtake the meaning of what is being read or studied…always check for understanding • Emphasize vocabulary through pre-teaching, word logs, graphic organizers, word walls, grammar connections and word decoding.

15. Fix-it Strategies that work-Tovani (2000) Six Signals of Confusion • The Inner Voice stops its conversation with text and only hears words • The Camera inside the head shuts off-the reader is not visualizing what is being read • The reader’s mind Wanders and thinks about things far removed from the text • The reader CannotRemember or Retell what has been read • Clarifying Questions remain unanswered • Characters reappear and the reader Cannot Recall who they are when reencountered in text Good readers don’t disguise or ignore their confusion Good readers stop and make a plan to repair meaning

16. Make Connections Between Text- Tovani (2000) • Text to Self- Use background knowledge, memories, experiences to make a connection • Text to Text- Use other stories, patterns, plots, relationships to connect thoughts • Text to World- Use what is known or true about the world, global connections • Stop and think about what has been read (Reflect and Connect) • Ask Questions (Reason, Confirm, Predict, Analyze) • Visualize and create images to see the text-Use pictures and other images to connect When rereading does not work? Know when to use other strategies.

17. Great Websites • http://www.adlit.org/strategy_library/ • http://www.sccoe.org/depts/ell/kinsella.asp • http://tovanigroup.com/index.html • http://relwest.wested.org/system/event_attachments/64/attachments/original/California-DOE-Torgeson.pdf • http://www.centeroninstruction.org/effective-instruction-for-adolescent-struggling-readers---second-edition