QEP Professional Learning Opportunity

1. QEP Professional Learning Opportunity Livingstone College February 15, 2013 Dr. Walt Wager Dr. Susan Wegmann

2. Academic Vocabulary Comprehension, and Fluency in the disciplines Dr. Susan Wegmann Livingstone College February 15, 2013

3. Livingstone College QEP Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Students will demonstrate improved understanding of content technical vocabulary (content area vocabulary identification, definition, oral and written usage); 2. Students will demonstrate improved comprehension when reading selected passages (cloze tests); 3. Students will increase reading rate when reading selected passages.

4. Goal 3: To promote student learning by preparing faculty to integrate effective research-based learning, reading comprehension, and vocabulary strategies in their classrooms. • Faculty Development Outcome 1: Faculty members will coordinate curriculum objectives with appropriate reading comprehension and vocabulary activities to establish instruction that is more effective. • Faculty Development Outcome 2: Faculty will incorporate into the learning environment best practices for teaching reading strategies.

5. Results of the survey, Fall, 2011 Freshmen:

6. Agenda • Brief Review of Strategies (before, during, after reading) • Disciplinary Vocabulary development strategies • Disciplinary Comprehension development strategies • Engaging strategies for College Instructors related to disciplinary literacy

7. Before Reading: Anticipation Guide, KWL, Digital Storytelling, Video Clips, Genuine Discussions, Cloze Procedure, Frame of Reference, Connect Two • During Reading: INSERT, Post-It notes, SQ3R, QtA (Question the Author), Reading circles, Semantic Feature Analysis, Two Column Notes, Parallel Note Taking, About/Point, Marking for Comprehension • After Reading: Questions, Graphic Organizers, Thinking Maps, Technology, Panel Discussions, Summarizing Based on Rules, Exit slips, Paraphrase/Retell, Herringbone Graphic, 35

8. Technology ideas 1. Youtube.com, teachertube.com, etc. 2. Edmodoto organize class resources 3. Flipped classroom 4. Twitter and Facebook

11. Disciplinary Literacy “Literacy… becomes an essential aspect of disciplinary practice, rather than a set of strategies or tools brought into the disciplines to improve reading and writing of subject-matter texts.” - Elizabeth Birr Moje “Disciplinary Literacy is the civil right of the 21st Century.” Carol Lee Lee, C. (2004). Literacy in the academic disciplines and the needs of adolescent struggling readers. Annenburg Institute for School Reform. Moje, E. (2008). Foregrounding the disciplines in secondary literacy teaching and learning: A call for change. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

12. Sequence of Learning in Content Areas and Building Prior Knowledge

13. Mathematical Reading and Reasoning Process First Read: Read for Understanding • What vocabulary do I not know? • What’s the real-world context of the problem? • What’s the situational setting of the problem (not the mathematical skills)? • What questions are being asked? Second Read: Identify a Problem-Solving Process • What is the pertinent information in this problem? • What problem-solving strategies could I use? • Which of those problem-solving strategies is best suited for this problem? • How will I represent the problem in the symbolic language of mathematics? • What mathematical details will I select as I reason and solve this problem? Third Read: Solve the Problem and Check for Reasonableness • Now that I understand the problem’s content, how can I best use my math skills to solve the problem? • How can looping back to the original setting help me interpret the solution?

14. “Words are not just words. They are the nexus – the interface – between communication and thought.” Marilyn Jager Adams

15. Vocabulary While the term “tier” may connote a hierarchy, a ranking of words from least to most important , the reality is that all three tiers of words are vital to comprehension and vocabulary development.

16. Best Practices for Vocabulary Development • Teach Vocabulary Directly - vocabulary knowledge is correlated to the amount of reading the students engages in; • Repeat vocabulary terms to allow students multiple exposures to contribute to students’ understanding of word meaning and use; • Derive vocabulary from content learning materials and words that students will encounter often; • Include pre-reading instruction of vocabulary in readings to have a significant effect on learning outcomes; • Demonstrate strategies to use when they encounter new words in oral and written language; • Counsel students to use reading labs for computer-assisted vocabulary development

17. Direct Instruction:Six-Steps for Teaching New Terms - Marzano • First 3 steps – introduce and develop initial understandings. • Last 3 steps – shape and sharpen understanding.

18. Step 1: Provide a description, explanation, or example of new term. I.e.: “Our term for today is: prediction. A prediction is a guess or estimate of something. You may benefit from predictions. For example, the weather report is a prediction of the kind of weather you should be ready for. The meteorologist makes an educated guess about what the weather will be like for the day, week, and season.”

19. Step 2: Students restate explanation of new term in own words. This may occur as a whole class, or in pairs.

20. Step 3: Students create a nonlinguistic representation of term. Provide time, materials, and incentives to have them create a picture, drawing, etc.

21. Step 4: Students participate in activities that help add to knowledge of vocabulary terms. projects other readings field trips labs videos

22. Step 5: Students are asked to discuss terms with one another.

23. Fishbowl • Students discuss an issue in pairs or small groups. • Four or five form a small circle in the middle of the room. The others circle around them. • The middle circle discusses the issue as a group, while the others watch, listen, and take notes. • Then students from the outer circle contribute points (one at a time) to the discussion. • If time, change the middle circle and continue discussing. • To highlight vocabulary: designate one student to be “Vocabulary Verifier.” They can note which vocabulary words are used, when, and how. Debrief afterwards.

24. “Mile a Minute” Activity • Divide students into teams of 3-4 • Designate a “talker” for each round. • The “talker” tries to get team to say each word by quickly describing them, without using the words or rhyming words.

25. Step 6: Students “play” with terms by participating in games.

26. (Wegmann’s Addition) Step 7: (after all 6 steps) Students are assessed on terms directly.

27. Two more strategies for Vocabulary Development: Do-It, Talk-It, Read-It, Write-It Do-It Write-It Talk-It Read-It

28. Best Practices for Reading Fluency • Provide explicit fluency instruction (Armbrusteret al., 2001); • Provide guided reading and re-reading of text (NICHD, 2000); • Reading labs should include instructional design software for computer- assisted instructional delivery to increase fluency / reading rate; • Students may use audiotapes of texts, to become aware of prosody, or natural speech rhythms. • Students should have tutors and peer guidance to practice oral reading to maximize benefits in increased fluency (Gilbert, Williams, & McLaughlin, 1996).

29. Fluency Instruction The most common obstacle to fluent reading is regression— or the tendency to have to reread a sentence, phrase, or passage. Regression is often the result of a lack of concentration the first time through the material. To control regression, notice when you are re-reading text and make a conscious effort to increase your concentration. Increase awareness of regression by using a note-card to cover what you have read; you will have to move the note-card to re-read, which will bring the regression to your attention. Another way to improve fluency is to reduce word-by-word reading. Look at phrases instead of at individual words this will  increase reading speed. Reading in phrases also makes it easier to determine the author's meaning. Understanding key vocabulary is essential to reading fluency. Try to deduce the word's definition from its context first, but if you aren't sure what it means, look it up in a dictionary.

30. Fluency Strategies • Echo Reading – Instructor models oral reading, students repeat. • Choral Reading – various voices read portions aloud • Guided Reading

31. Guided Reading at the college level • Instructors choose a portion of the textbook that is particularly difficult. • Before reading: Instructors ask questions and activate students’ prior knowledge of the topic. • During reading: Instructors and students read the selection together. Instructors embed questions at important points, eliciting students’ comprehension. • After reading: Instructors ask questions about the text, referring to the text as the “expert.” Instructors also ask students to re-read certain portions of the text, to clarify answers. (practicing fluency)

32. Best Practices for reading comprehension (from the NICHD, 2000) review: • Teach vocabulary to increase comprehension; • Use reading labs to assist in vocabulary development; • Use a combination of reading comprehension techniques to positively impact student-learning outcomes on standardized tests; • Embed comprehension strategies in instruction; • Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of the students; • Teach students how to reason strategically to improve comprehension when they encounter reading difficulties; • Incorporate student reading interests into the curriculum; and • Support struggling readers in all content areas through modeling what good readers do, and scaffolding learning with questioning techniques and metacognitive strategies.

33. Text Features Index Photo Paragraph Text features help students identify important details in the text and become more efficient in their reading. Table of Content Title Caption Illustration Diagram Bold Print Heading/Subheading Glossary Paragraph Date line

34. Text Structures The way that authors organize information - help students focus attention on key concepts and relationships, anticipate what’s to come, and monitor their comprehension as they read.

35. Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard • Previewing: Look “around” the text before you start reading. • Annotating: Make your reading thinking-intensive from start to finish. • Outline, summarize, analyze: Take the information apart, look at its parts, and then try to put it back together again in language that is meaningful to you.

36. Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard • Look for repetitions and patterns. • Contextualize: Once you’ve finished reading actively and annotating, take stock for a moment and put it in perspective. • Compare and Contrast: Set course readings against each other to determine their relationships (hidden or explicit).

37. Exit Slips The thing that “clicked” with me most today was. . . OR I would like to know more about _____ because. . .