But I’m Not a Reading Teacher

1. But I’m Not a Reading Teacher Section 1

2. Learning and Reading

3. We learn in layers over time We learn by connecting new knowledge to “old,” existing knowledge.

4. We learn in patterns • Graphic Organizers • Text Forms Patterns • Narrative • Descriptive • Classification • Cause and Effect • Comparison-contrast • Definition • Exemplification • Process Analysis

5. We learn through our senses Information taken in using more than one sense becomes memorable • Read aloud • Use of visuals • Use of color-coding • Visualize while reading – draw pictures, graphic organizers • Ask questions during reading • Read without noise and distractions

6. We learn through socialization • Socialization is a powerful, authentic learning force. • Set up reading partnerships • where readers question • each other to achieve • reading comprehension.

7. We learn through prompts, cues, and association. Organizing reading into chunks or clusters allows a reader to hold more information in his/her short-term memory, and later in his/her long-term memory. Encourage readers to associate what they are trying to learn with something they already know.

8. Learning is natural. Reading is artificial. Understand the abstract nature of reading and then make the reading experience more concrete. Visualization is key to learning from text. Model it - Read text aloud to students and explain to them what you are visualizing as you read.

9. Learning is habitual The more we practice a process, the more its steps become automatic. Consistence and persistence in teaching reading strategies will pay off!

10. Learning is cumulative Any type of reading is good reading if it contributes to the reader’s knowledge base and increases the reader’s stamina for reading.

11. Problem-solvers connect the dots Problem-solvers make meaning by putting together what they already know with new information. We must remember that students need a lot of “dots” to make sense of the world. Dots are created through education, experience, culture activities, and social interactions.

12. Anatomy of a Definition of Reading • “Reading is a complex, purposeful, social and cognitive process in which readers simultaneously use their knowledge of spoken and written language, their knowledge of the topic of the text, and their knowledge of their culture to construct meaning. Reading is not a technical skill acquired once and for all in the primary grades, but rather a developmental process. A reader’s competence continues to grow through engagement with various types of texts and wide reading for various purposes over a lifetime” (NCTE, 2006).

13. Complex Process Comprehension results from multiple paths to the brain. The process of comprehending results from the reader’s • Emotions • Cognition • Motivation • Ambient physical conditions (lighting, noise, visuals, comfort) • Experience

14. Purposeful Process • The reader must know what to look for and employ the appropriate strategies to understand. It’s like hunting; a hunter applies different methods dependent upon what he/she is hunting.

15. Social Process • Reading is a process in which the author is speaking to the reader. Students tend to be disconnected from the author. Think about how students depersonalize the writer, referring to the writer as “they.” Their use of the vague, nameless “they” reveals the utter lack of human connection that is supposed to happen between writer and reader.

16. Cognitive Process Reading comprehension is decoding as a means of coming to know. We come to know when we add new information to existing information

17. Key Principles of Reading Comprehension

18. Strategy, Skill, and Knowledge • Strategy – a way to build skills • Skill – skills lead to • Knowledge

19. Cueing Systems Graphophonic – basic decoding Semantic – hints that are given to you by the words in the sentence you already know Syntactic – hints that the sentences are giving you by presenting the words in a certain order

20. But, I’m Not a Reading Teacher

21. Your students’ development in your subject is related to their development as readers in your subject.

22. If your students are poor readers, you’ll find yourself having to do the work for them rather than having them able to make meaning for themselves.

23. You do not have to teach phonics, but you do have to teach terminology. Teach words in clusters. Point out how complex words share similar components: prefix, root, suffix.

24. What do I get out of this? Research supports the assertion that the more your students read in your subject area, the smarter they will become in its language and the better they can understand its concepts.