Literacy Across the Content Areas TAC it up! April 2009 Kelly Ligon and Mona Pruett VCU T/TAC

Literacy Across the Content Areas

TAC it up! April 2009Kelly Ligon and Mona Pruett

VCU T/TAC

Credits

• We would like to credit Susan R. Copeland and Elizabeth B. Keefe for the information shared in this presentation.

Where is literacy?

Answer: Everywhere!Partner Activity:• Use the Literacy Ecological

Inventory to analyze what type of literacy opportunities are in different school environments

• Identify some target vocabulary words

T/TAC Wiki

• All Information pertaining to this presentation is available on our TAC it up! wiki:

http://tacitup.pbwiki.com

Vocabulary Development

• plays a prominent role in the reading process

• considered a critical area of literacy instruction in its own right

• critical piece of all four content areas

• great importance to students with intellectual disabilities (ID)

What is Vocabulary?

• Listening vocabulary (Largest)

• Speaking vocabulary

• Reading vocabulary

• Writing vocabulary (Smallest)

A Caution• Don’t follow this in a hierarchical

manner

• Do not to deny access to instruction in reading and writing vocabularies because some individuals cannot demonstrate their true knowledge and ability through speaking or signing vocabulary

Assessment

• “What it means to know a word is clearly a complicated, multifaceted matter, and one that has serious implications for how words are taught and how word knowledge is measured” and that, “knowing a word is not an all-or-nothing proposition.” Beck, et al (2002)

Four Stages of “Knowing” a Word

1. Never saw it before2. Heard it but don’t know what it

means3. Recognize it in context as having

something to do with __________4. Know it well and can use in

various contexts

Remember!

When assessing students with sensory, physical, speech, and/or language impairments the task of determining how well a student “knows” a word becomes even more challenging

The Least Dangerous Assumption

The students you work with have a larger vocabulary than they are able to demonstrate - a small speaking vocabulary does not mean students do not have the capacity to learn!

Building and activating prior knowledge

• For History lessons consider viewing videos that introduce new key words and concepts

• Incite Learning Series by Don Johnston, Inc.

http://www.donjohnston.com/resources/incite_resourcesindex.html

Vocabulary Strategies

• Identifying appropriate target vocabulary– Ecological inventories– Books and lectures

• Vocabulary rich environment• Word sorts• Vocabulary cards

Considerations for Selecting Individual Vocabulary for

Students

Tier 1: Important for students with ID• Basic words that occur in high frequency are in

the student’s immediate environment (home, school or community)

• Attention may still need to be paid to their meaning for some students but most students will understand these words receptively

• Examples: Mom, Dad, student’s name, Walgreens, Pepsi, chair, door, home, school

Selecting Vocabulary

Tier 2: Important for students with ID• Words that occur at high frequency across

multiple environments • May facilitate access and meaningful

participation in home, school, and community curriculum and activities

• Examples: Teacher, and therapist names, subject areas, classmate names, push, pull, in, out, office, cafeteria, library, computer

Selecting Vocabulary

Tier 3: (Not as important for students with ID)

• Words with abstract meaning that are taught in academic settings but can be used in home, school, and community environments

• Examples: High frequency sight words, target vocabulary from general education classes

Target Vocabulary from Storybooks

Book/Author Publisher Vocabulary words Alternate

Vocabulary words

Curious George

Takes a Job

By H. A. Rey

Houghton Mifflen curious

cozy

mischief

big

little

Yellow

hat

zoo

bus

monkey

Target Vocabulary from Textbooks

Textbook/Section Publisher Key Ter ms Alternate Key

Terms

The American

nation

Chapter 8, section 2

Prentice Hall House of

Representatives

Senate

bill

electoral college

appeal

unconstitutional

override

impeach

President

White House

state

country

white

house

year

two

four

six

Target Vocabulary from Lectures

Subject area/grade

Level

Lecture topic Target vocabulary Alternate Target

Vocabulary

Life Science

Ninth grade

Structure of the

Earth

geology

atmosphere

hydrosphere

lithosphere

crust

mantle

asthenosphere

outer core

inner core

Earth

core

mantle

crust

Sun

Moon

inside

outside

air

Word Sorts

Adaptation:• vary the way in

which the students are asked to sort words.

• Students can learn and demonstrate understanding of words by sorting/classifying

• Sort by similarities.• Sort by opposites.• Sort by which word

does not belong.• Sort by a feature

such as size, color, function.

• Sort in order as words occur in a lecture or film.

Vocabulary Card Modification

Quadrant 1

Name of food or drink

e.g., MILK

Quadrant 2

Classification

e.g., DRINK

Quadrant 3

Paste word, icon, or picture from

environmental print

Quadrant 4

Complete the sentence

e.g., I LIKE TO DRINK MILK.

Personal Word Walls

• Use a file folder• Fill with words that are

familiar and unfamiliar• Add to your folder• “Retire” known words• Retrieve old words as you need

them

ACTIVITY:Identifying Vocabulary

• Choose a unit of study• Think of words you think might

be targeted in general education• Think of alternative vocabulary

words that could be used for students with moderate to severe disabilities

• Record on chart paper

Recalling Vocabulary

• We are constantly bombarded with incoming stimuli

• While people can consciously focus their attention for a period of time, most often choosing what to pay attention to is an unconscious process

• Children may be criticized for not paying attention, but in truth, everyone is always paying attention to something; it’s just that what kids pay attention to may not represent what teachers would like

Strategies to Improve Short-Term Memory

• Segment and Sequence

• Clear and Explicit Instructions

• Provide Scaffolds

• Use Images and Graphics

Long Term Memory

• Long-term memory is tasked with both storing everything a person learns and making it available for future recall on demand. How is this possible, given the vast quantity of information a person acquires over a lifetime and the limited number of neurons available to store it all in?

• Brain imaging technologies show that when a person thinks of an object, areas all over the brain are activated including parts of the occipital lobes responsible for vision, parts of the temporal lobes for hearing, and multiple others.

Comprehension is “The Point” of Reading

“. . . reader’s process of using prior experiences and the author’s text to construct meaning that is useful to that reader for a specific purpose.” (p.

252)That is, comprehension is an ACTIVE process.

Before Reading: Setting a Purpose

• Comprehension is enhanced when students know and actively keep in mind the purpose for reading a particular text

• Teach the many different purposes for reading by using a variety of texts, modeling doing so before reading a text, and actively bringing students back to the purpose during reading.

• “Read this and then I’ll ask you some questions.” (Koppenhaver et al., 1992)

Before Reading: Activating prior

knowledge/predicting• Activating prior knowledge and learning

to predict provides a context for understanding the text, enhances meaning making, and facilitates monitoring of comprehension

• Examples of activities:– Using webs and other graphic

organizers (e.g., KWL)– Using “W” questions (Who, what,

where, when, why) for questioning/predicting

– Videos, Incite DVD’s, Rocket Books

During Reading

• Use strategies that encourage mental representations (“pictures”) of the meaning of the text; facilitate comprehension monitoring; encourage students to reflect on the set purpose for reading this text

– Anaphoric cuing

– Adapted age-appropriate books with engagement strategies

– Read Alouds and Shared Reading are important ways to build these skills, in addition to reading independently and practicing comprehension skills

Adapted Age-Appropriate Books

•UNC-Charlotte Adapted Text Project

•Tar Heel Reader

•Start to Finish Books

•Wordless Books

TOP 5 Reasons to Write

5. Writing is an ACTIVE way of learning about print

4. Writing supports learning in the reading process

5. Writing allows students to record their thoughts and leave a mark

6. Writing can be a concrete source for student assessement

1. Writing is COMMUNICATION

Hanser, G. (2008). “The Power of the Pencil”, TechKnowledgy Conference. Richmond, VA.

Emergent Writing

In 1998, The International Reading Panel & National Association of Young Children reported:

“Children begin reading by writing.”

“We are natural message makers. We want to leave our mark.”

“Writing challenge us to think about print.”


Typical Writing Development Involves

Children…• Interacting with others• Modeling others• Having lots of opportunities to write• Having lots of reasons and purposes

for writing• Making errors and learning from

them• Attributing meaning to their writing• Celebrating every writing attempt


So…what does this mean for our students?•They need:

• MODELS

• time to SCRIBBLE• access to the

TOOLS• access to the

ALPHABET

• OPPORTUNITIES to practice

• to CELEBRATE every attempt

• to ATTRIBUTE MEANING to their writing

• AN AUDIENCE


Motivating Writers

•Provide choices•Personal

connection/Interest•Variety•Clear directions•Meaningful purpose


Video Examples

• http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clds/projects/deaf-blind-model-classroom/the-literacy-communication-model-demonstration-classroom-project-for-students-with-deaf-blindness

Documents

Literacy Across the Content Areas TAC it up! April 2009 Kelly Ligon and Mona Pruett VCU T/TAC