Content Area ReadingContent Area Reading

Teaching and using strategies to give ALL

students better access to text in the content areas

Jean Thorpe, MEdReading Specialist, Upper Merion Area School District

Adjunct Professor, Widener University

OverviewOverview

Why are am I here?

QuickTime™ and a decompressorare needed to see this picture.

A startling statisticA startling statistic

Between 1996 and 2008, the average degree of literacy required for all American occupations has risen by nearly 20%. The 25 fastest growing professions have far greater than average literacy demands, while the 25 fastest declining professions have lower than average literacy demands.

Holly Barton, University of Rhode Island

Percent of students who Percent of students who take remedial coursestake remedial courses

• 63 % at two-year institutions

• 40 % at four-year institutions

The Bridge Project-Stanford University

Reading “Causal Loop”Reading “Causal Loop”

Teacher Assigns Reading

Teacher Teaches Content

StudentsAre

Assessed

Students Do Not Read

Homework

We know that …We know that …

The ability to read with comprehension is the

most critical factor

for success in school and

progress in life.

Read and jot your Read and jot your understandingsunderstandings

If you thought you'd see an

automatic in the 911 when pigs fly, start ducking.

What do you think of when I What do you think of when I say…say…

CARContent Area Reading

PrePPreP

Pre Reading Plan

•Gather initial thoughts•Expand on ideas•Clarify/extend

Content Area LiteracyContent Area Literacy

Is……

• Supporting & enhancing each other’s learning

• A compilation of strategies

• A lifelong way of learning

• Just plain, good teaching!

Is NOT…….

• A packaged program

• Just one strategy

• A once and done deal

• An addition to your curriculum

Content Area Literacy is…Content Area Literacy is…

Teaching students how to:

Think about their thinking

Engage in metacognitive conversations about text

Successfully and automatically use strategies when meaning breaks down

Content Area Literacy is …Content Area Literacy is …

• A dynamic interaction of four dimensions of comprehension and understanding driven by metacognitive conversation

• A method of teaching that focuses on comprehension and extensive reading

• An approach that emphasizes relevance, relationships and rigor

Content Area Literacy is …Content Area Literacy is …

• Understanding that what teachers know and do as skilled readers can be “apprenticed” to their students

• A partnership of expertise sharing between teacher and student and student to student

• Explicit modeling of reading strategies by teachers and students

Literate Content Classrooms…Literate Content Classrooms…

• Focus on Comprehension

• Rely on a Climate of Collaboration

• Place an Emphasis on Student Independence

Active, Strategic,

Independent Readers

Explicit Instruction – Content and Text

Comprehension Strategies

Metacognitive Conversations

Social Personal Cognitive Knowledge

4 Dimensions

Four Dimensions AffectFour Dimensions Affect

COMPREHENSIONCOMPREHENSION

These Four Dimensions AreThese Four Dimensions Are

• Cognitive

• Knowledge

• Social

• Personal

Four DimensionsFour Dimensions

• Cognitive dimension: academic habits, the way we organize our thinking to learn, monitor comprehension, solve problems

• Knowledge dimension: schema, content, text construction

Four DimensionsFour Dimensions

• Social dimension: classroom community and peer interaction

• Personal dimension: student interest in exploring their own identities

Fostering Metacognitive ConversationsFostering Metacognitive Conversations““making the invisible visible”making the invisible visible”

Before, During and After ReadingBefore, During and After Reading

• Talking to the Text: Think Aloud & Marginalia

• PreP

• Question and Answer Relationships (QAR)

• Reciprocal Teaching

• Whip Around, Pass

Fostering Metacognitive ConversationsFostering Metacognitive Conversations““making the invisible visible”making the invisible visible”

VocabularyVocabulary

•Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA)

•C2QU

•Clarifying routines

•Knowledge Ratings

Fostering Metacognitive ConversationsFostering Metacognitive Conversations““making the invisible visible”making the invisible visible”

WritingWriting

• Dual-entry logs/journals

• Writing in response to reading: reflecting on the learning process in writing

• Exit slips

Fostering Metacognitive ConversationsFostering Metacognitive Conversations““making the invisible visible”making the invisible visible”

Study SkillsStudy Skills

•Cornell Note-taking

•SQ3R

•PORPE

Talking to the TextTalking to the Text“Marginalia”“Marginalia”

“Could Be” Poem

Practicing MarginaliaPracticing Marginalia

• Take a few minutes to read Langston Hughes’ Could Be, to yourself and note comments, connections, questions, wonderments in the margin

• Choose one thought to share with your neighbor

• How did this strategy help you to understand the poem?

Could BeCould Beby Langston Hughesby Langston Hughes

Could BeCould Beby Langston Hughesby Langston Hughes

It’s a

poem

sadness

Selling the watch just like

saying I don’t

love you anymore

Short linesStanzasrhymes

Has hope… but

defeatist

attitude

Interesting way the author compares

place with feelings

From your learning this From your learning this evening…evening…

What is content area reading/literacy?

30 Second

Speech

Whip Around Pass

Active, Strategic,

Independent Readers

Explicit Instruction – Content and Text

Comprehension Strategies

Metacognitive Conversations

Social Personal Cognitive Knowledge

4 Dimensions

QuestionsQuestions