Building a Literacy Rich Classroom How to help every student become more literate

Welcome! Goals for the day: Develop a common understanding of what it means to be literate in your content area Explore the “Conditions for Literacy Learning” Learn more about the complexity of the reading process (“Reading 101”) Learn some basics about assessing literacy and how to use that information

What does it mean to be literate? American Heritage Dictionary ---”The condition or quality of being knowledgeable in a particular subject or field”. Our definition --- “Having the basic thinking skills to be able to understand, remember and apply new information”. As Content Area Teachers, your ….”responsibility is twofold: to teach skills unique to the subject matter and to teach students how to use reading and writing to learn subject matter content.” Gunning, 2003

Implications… To be literate in a content area, students need to have the thinking skills to understand, remember and apply content information And…. Be able to use reading and writing as tool to learn that content information

Where do we begin?! Let’s look at creating the optimal conditions for this kind of learning…

Your own learning Think about a recent learning (non-academic) that you experienced Using the 2 column chart, write down what facilitated your learning and helped you move from novice (“clueless”) to expert Also include a few things that hindered your learning at times Watch me! Share your responses with your table group Be ready to share with the larger group

What Makes Literacy Learning Work? Brian Cambourne -- researcher and author. Focus of his research, how do children best learn to be literate?

He noticed... “I was continually surprised and confused by students who didn’t seem able to learn the simplest concepts associated with reading…who nevertheless showed evidence of being able to learn and apply much more complex knowledge and skill in the everyday world.”

Began to study why What conditions exist that help make learning most efficient and effective? Identified 8.

Brian Cambourne’s Conditions of Learning Immersion Demonstration Engagement Expectation Responsibility Approximation Employment Response

How does our list compare? Did you identify the conditions of learning? What were some of you barriers? What implication does this have in the classroom? Reflect on which conditions are strongly present in your classroom and which might be “implicitly” present

The role of reading/writing in the content areas Reading and writing are two of the most needed tools in content area learning If students are struggling with these, content area learning is impeded Knowing about a student’s reading/writing abilities can help you address their difficulties!

“Reading 101” Let’s participate in some “fun” activities to explore the reading process a bit more deeply… We will be asking you to reflect upon yourself as a reader at various times Write your thoughts on the “What Do Good Readers Do” sheet

Meg and Dot

Meg and Dot What did you do to help you read Meg and Dot? Debrief—talk at your tables what you did to “get through” this piece What do good readers do?

Let’s try another… Richmond was in dire straits against St. Kilda. The opening pair, who had been stroking the ball with beautiful fluency on past occasions, were both out for ducks. Once again the new ball pair had been broken through. Then Smith turned on surprising pace and, moving the ball off the seam, beat Mazaz twice in one over. Inverarity viciously pulled Brown into the gully, but was sent retiring to the pavilion by a shooters from Cox. Jones in the slips and Chappell at silly mid-on were superb, and Daniel bowled a maiden over in his first spell. Yallop took his toll with three towering sixes but Thompson had little to do in the covers.

Let’s check your understanding Who was in dire straits? What had the opening pair been doing? What will happen next? What does this tell you about what good readers do?

“Conversation Piece” Ned Guymon, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, 1950. “No!” “Yes.” “You didn’t!” “I did.” “When?” “Just now.” “Where?” “Bedroom.” “Dead?” “Why?” “You know.” “I don’t!” “You do.” “Unfaithful?” “With whom?” “With you” “She didn’t…” “She did.” “You knew?” “I knew.” “How long?” “Long enough.” “What now?” “Guess.” “Police?” “Later.” “Why later?” “Guess again.” “Tell me!” “Look.” “Oh, no!” “Oh, yes.” “You can’t!” “I can.” “Please!” “Don’t beg.” “Forgive me!” “Too late.” “Good God!” “Goodbye.” “Operator.” “Yes, sir.” “The police.”

How did you figure this out? Jot down some of the things that your brain did to help you figure this piece out Be ready to share!

What Do Good Readers Do? Make connections to background knowledge/vocabulary Ask questions to clarify, inform, and drive forward. Visualize both what the text suggests and background knowledge. Make meaningful inferences using all available information.

What Do Good Readers Do? Determine what’s important to know/remember/think about, what’s important for the purpose for reading, and what’s okay to not grapple with at the time. Synthesize all of the new stuff with the old stuff to create new knowledge and understandings. Monitor whether or not all of that is happening….subconsciously…and fix up.

Now let’s process… Reading isn’t just decoding, but poor decoding makes it hard to learn! Background knowledge helps the reader bring so much to the page! Vocabulary is so important A lack of fluency is distracting There are so many thinking skills a reader has to employ

How do I know what my students can do? Ask them! Get “metacognitive” with them What was easy/hard? What did you do when you came to a difficult part? Listen to them read/have conversations Comprehension rubric MAP testing Other diagnostic tests

What’s next? After getting to know your students more thoroughly, your next task is to design instruction to meet their needs First think about… Have I created the most optimal conditions for learning? Have I identified an effective strategy to meet their needs? (More on this after lunch….)