Discerning Organization: Improving Comprehension, Writing , & Learning

1. Discerning Organization: Improving Comprehension, Writing, & Learning June 3, 2011 EKU Regional Stewardship PD Perkins Bldg. EKU Richmond, KY Sally Martin, Professor EKU English Director, EKU Writing Project sally.martin@eku.edu 859-622-2992

2. Text Structure: Purposes • To help writers communicate their thoughts • To help readers comprehend what authors are attempting to communicate

3. Text Structure: Reading Benefits An awareness of text structures help readers • comprehend what they read more effectively • remember the idea in the text better • recall the material more efficiently

4. Text Structures: Writing Benefits • Strengthens the connection between reading and writing processes—LITERACY. • Direct instruction through models • Provides scaffolded practice • in writing about content • In appropriate writing styles

5. Text Structure: Instructional Challenges • Varying terminology and lists • “structures” or “patterns”? • 4, 5, 7, or 9 structures? • Complexity of structures in texts • within and between paragraphs within sections of text

6. Text Structures: Instruction • Recognition of “signal words,” “text cues,” • What writers call “transitions” • Visual Representations of structures • Graphic Organizers vs. Outlines • Key Questions • Read like a Writer

7. Instruction: Graphic Organizers • Present an example of a graphic organizer that corresponds to the type of structure you plan to teach. • Preview the text with students pointing out structure signals/cues • Ask questions pertinent to the structure

8. Instruction: Graphic Organizers • Demonstrate how to construct a graphic organizer. • Refer to signals/cues • Answer questions with visual representations • Present part and allow students to complete it • Discuss how to determine when and how to use the specific structure GO

9. Instruction: Graphic Organizers • Coach students in how to use the GO. • Give them more practice opportunities to use Gos.

10. Instruction: Key Questions • Lead to active processes • Mirrors “prediction” strategies

11. Instruction: Read Like a Writer Read to determine the techniques a writer uses to develop our writing skills. Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. William Faulkner

12. Instruction: Read Like a Writer • Respond initially to what the text says to you: memories, thoughts, etc. • Point to places where you think the writing is “good.” • Describe what the writer is doing—simply, posh away from “literary” terms. • List your responses and use them as a cheat sheet for your own writing.