Disciplinary Literacy: Part 3 Sue Z Beers suebeers@netins.net

8 Strategies for Reading Develop new vocabulary and figure out meanings of unknown words Connect new knowledge to make personal meaning. Think ahead to what might be coming in the text. Evaluate one’s own understanding of what is read. Create images of what is read. Periodically summarize what has been read. Use text features and organizational patterns. Have a plan for how to approach the reading task.

6) Periodically summarize what is read and learned What READERS can do: Identify key issues and main ideas in the content area When looking at a lot of information, determine the important ideas and then summarize those ideas in their own words Identify most important concepts, facts, or ideas and delete those that have little or no importance or connection Identify or create topic sentences about their reading Draw conclusions and make generalizations Provide supporting details Gather new learning from clues provided by text structure Practice alternative styles of note-taking

6) Periodically summarize what is read and learned What TEACHERS can do: Demonstrate and discuss text structure and how it can be used to guide the intended learning Provide chunks of reading from which the students can delete the unimportant, identify the important, summarize the key learning, and add details for support Use graphic organizers that will lead students to the intended learning Provide prompts or questions that will help students focus on the summary of their assigned reading Remind students to “stop and think” often through their reading Provide students with alternative styles of note-taking

Ticket Out of Here… What did you learn today? How did what you learned today connect with what you already knew? About what are you still confused? List five key words that are important to remember about the topic.

Give Me A Hand

8 Reading Strategies Have strategies to use when encountering new words. Connect new knowledge to make personal meaning. Think ahead to what might be coming in the reading. Continually evaluate own understanding of what is read. Create images of what is read. Periodically summarize what is read. Use text cues and features and text organization to aid understanding. Have a plan for how to approach the reading task.

Students often read vastly different kinds of texts the same way and ignore the textual cues that would help them develop a clearer understanding. Students don’t know how to approach different kinds of texts differently…

We use text structures daily… When a book gets boring, I skip to the dialogue. I can tell if it’s really “fruit” juice by reading the first ingredient on the label. Unlike most text, the main idea (question or task) of a math word problem is usually at the end. A quick glance at a graph should look at the axes and any extreme peaks or drops. I can get almost all the basics from the first paragraph of a news article. Ask participants: how do you use text structures in your daily life? Give some examples. Sue Z. Beers

Text / Text Features: • Text cues and features Reading level Structure / Organization of the text Many times we cover these at the beginning of the year, but we need to review periodically throughout the year… • Text cues and features

Benefits of Understanding Text Structure Form expectations Organize incoming information Judge relative importance Improve comprehension Enhance recall Why is it important to help students understand the underlying structures of the text they read? What might you add to the list? Text structure refers to the pattern of organization that the author uses in text. The general genres of expository and narrative texts are very different from one another. Reader knowledge in the differences between text structures is an important foundation of other strategies: as students learn/apply their knowledge of text structure, they approach the task of summarizing expository text differently from that of literary text. readers can organize their thinking as they read because they recognize and use various organizational clues to their comprehension advantage. this results in better overall recall of what has been read. Sue Z. Beers

What text structures are most prevalent in your classroom? Table Talk What text structures are most prevalent in your classroom? What special skills do students need to navigate these texts? Before we investigate a variety of text structures, examine what you already know or think you know about text structure and the types of texts you ask students to read by briefly discussing these two questions with your table group. Sue Z. Beers

Teacher Text Analyzes Prior to Lesson Assess Readability Modify text if necessary Identify Key Vocabulary & Concepts Identify Text Structures Identify Student Prior Knowledge Before assigning text to students, you need to be familiar with the text yourself. This will enable you to guide students through the text by pointing out key vocabulary, text structures and asking students to activate their prior knowledge so that they are ready to apply that knowledge to the text. Note: We want to push students to read increasingly difficult text, so use modifications of text cautiously. Sue Z. Beers

Important Text Structures / Patterns Science problem-solving classification experimental cause and effect definition/explanation Social Studies chronological events definition/ explanation cause and effect compare/contrast question & answer This slide and next: Compare these lists to your conversations you had with your table group. Which of these were consistent with your prior knowledge about the text structure of the text you use? Sue Z. Beers

Important Text Patterns Math key words graphic relationships evidence & reasoning symbolic relationships and operations sequential order Literature description character development settings chronological order moral and message symbolism genres Continued from previous slide… Sue Z. Beers

Narrative Informational: Organizational patterns: Compare/contrast Literary: Story Grammar Characters Setting Plot major events problem solution Narrative Organizational patterns: Compare/contrast Sequence Description Cause/effect Problem-solution Comparison / Contrast Generalization / Principle Informational: Expository Argumentation Persuasive Procedural To prepare students to be college and career ready, we need to significantly increase the amount of informational text students read. The patterns of text organization for both narrative and informational texts is significantly different and without practice, they will be unprepared for the challenges of college and career reading. informational texts (particularly expository) challenge readers the most expository text is typically written with greater density, containing: more complex concepts more complex sentence structure, more subtle signal words that provide clues to the reader about the organizational pattern of the text. This session will focus on learning how to teach students how to identify and use text structures for informational text. Sue Z. Beers

Using Text Organization… Chronological Order / Sequence Location Order or Description Cause and Effect Order Generalization or Principle Order Order of Importance Comparison / Contrast Order Classification Order Problem / Solution Order We will be examining each of these text structures to learn how to identify each and how to help students navigate these text structures to deepen their understanding of the text. Sue Z. Beers

Text Organization “Cheat Sheets” Take out your Text Organization “Cheat Sheets.” For each text structure, the cheat sheet will provide you with a description of the structure, a sample graphic organizer, a list of “signal words” that help to identify the text structure, and some sample question stems that might be used to guide students in using the text structure. You may want to keep these out and refer to them during the next part of the presentation. Sue Z. Beers

Use text structure to… Locate key information Identify what is important Give organization to the ideas Synthesize information Connect new information to what is already known Create a framework into which new knowledge can be integrated Generally, structure is used to help students process text for these purposes. Turn to a neighbor and talk about which of these tie into reading strategies we have already studied. Text structures are a continuation of the reading strategies we have been studying and are part of the overall reading process. Sue Z. Beers

Pre-Reading with Text… Read title and picture captions: What do you think you will read about? Look for bold-faced vocabulary words: Give your “best-guess” definition for each. Make an outline from the text using headings and subheadings. Fill in details as you read. List the visual aids used in the text: What new ideas or questions do you have after studying them?

Pre-Reading with Text… Write three questions you hope / think will be answered as you read. Make three predictions about what the text is about based on the title. Determine the focus (purpose) for the reading. Read the summary paragraph. Then look for supporting information as you read.

Pre-Reading with Text… Using clues from the text, list what you already know or think you know about the topic before you start to read. Make predictions about the new learning you will have from reading the text.

Using Text Organization… Time Order Order of Importance Classification Order Location Order or Description Cause-Effect Order Comparison / Contrast Order

7) Use textual cues, visuals, and text organization What READERS can do: Look for clues in the text to help their understanding, including headings, subheadings, bold-faced and italicized words Identify the organizational pattern and predict how it is tied to the intended learning Look for key words that predict the organizational pattern Recognize that pictures in the text are there to help provide clues to the reading Use tools (e.g. glossary, bibliography, index, etc.) in their text to increase their understanding of the reading Turn the heading and subheadings into questions to focus their reading Become familiar with the text cues provided by the author

7) Use textual cues, visuals, and text organization What TEACHERS can do: Introduce students to the text for the class by providing a “talk aloud” that introduces the structure and clues provided by text features Introduce activities to become familiar with the various parts of the book Look carefully at graphs and charts to identify key information Assist students in turning headings and subheadings into questions that can focus their reading Practice using text features, such as the glossary and index Use organizers at the beginning of the unit to focus students on the big picture Consider the use of highlighting text to indicate main ideas