Getting to the Core Building Better Readers Catherine Turnage M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction B.A.E. Secondary English Education

What are we up against? From NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy (2006):  Literacy scores of high school graduates dropped between  Three thousand students with limited literacy skills drop out of school every day.  The 2005 ACT College Readiness Benchmark for Reading found that only about half the students tested were ready for college-level reading, and the scores were the lowest in the decade.

This affects their future! Consider these points from To Read or Not To Read (2006):  Employers now rank reading and writing as top deficiencies in new hires.  Good readers generally have more financially rewarding jobs.  Less advanced readers report fewer opportunities for career growth.  Good readers play a crucial role in enriching our cultural and civic life.  Deficient readers are more likely than skilled readers to be out of the work force.

Our Biggest Challenge… The Aliterate Defined: The person who has the ability, but not the desire, to read (Layne 2009). We have more readers who can read and don’t than those who can’t read at all!

How does this happen?  Focus on testing  They see no true value in reading  Never experienced a book in a powerful way  Not enough positive experiences with literature in school  We teach the skills, but not the desire to use those skills

So What Do We Do? Classroom Reading: Choose better material Establish a focus Teach and model effective strategies Supplement with good material Independent Reading: Establish a reading culture in your classroom Create a sense of excitement for good books!

Reading in the Classroom How to ‘teach’ reading in a way that improves the level of comprehension and involvement.

What Should I Teach?  Text Complexity- consists of lexile, content/maturity level, and purpose  Teach the standards, not the text- Choose standard first  Consider your students- level, interests, age, etc.

Establish a Focus for Reading  Build background knowledge  Have an essential question for the unit.  Show end of unit essay question before you begin reading.  Preview comprehension questions.  Have something specific the students are looking for.

Planning  Consider the standard that addresses theme: Determine theme and summarize key supporting details (CCSS).  What extended text could you choose to teach theme?  What essential question would you have?  What other supplemental texts could you choose? Consider nonfiction as well.

Teach strategies to use during reading Questioning- You and them Model reading and questioning/making inferences as you read You ask or provide questions, but don’t stop too much! Chunk the text- Have students read a chunk, then ask basic questions. Then, have them read a second time with a focus (figurative language, structure, organization). Have students create or write down questions as they read.

Graphic Organizers  Cornell (two-column) Notes- divide paper in half, take notes as you read. Can use for main idea and supporting details in each section.  Venn Diagram- for comparing and contrasting  Hierarchy Chart (handout)- Useful for tracing development of overarching ideas. Ex. Character Development

After Reading- How to assess  Summary-journals, letters, travelogues; use different ways to summarize; RAFT  Exit Tickets- quick question to answer based on the reading  Headlining- write a newspaper headline to fit that day’s reading  Analysis- writing or activity to further analyze the focus for that reading (theme, character development, etc.)

Cooperative Learning  Plot Diagram ZigZag- Each group fills out one part of the plot diagram, then zigzags to other groups to help fill in the rest.  Character Development Activity- Each group analyzes one character; Write Around activity to analyze character traits “Cooperative learning is a strategy that maximizes student engagement, reduces class tensions, and promotes student learning” (Babbitt)

Always go back to the evidence! Whichever task you choose to use to check for understanding, Always have the students go back to the text to support their ideas. Ask: What makes you think that?

Close Reading “Remember the value found in second-draft (and third- draft) reading” (Gallagher 2009) Students might not see the deeper meaning in a text until after a closer, teacher-led reading. You can do this in chunks, with larger passages, or you can model an effective close read with articles (Gallagher’s AOW).

Big Chunk/Little Chunk adapted from Kelly Gallagher  Students do first draft reading of a larger chunk alone (after framing by the teacher).  Followed by second and third-draft readings in classroom, led by the teacher. Provide a closer focus for these readings.  How to do a close reading (Kain 1998):  Read with a pencil in hand, and annotate the text  Look for patterns in the things you’ve noticed (teacher framed)  Ask questions about the patterns- how?why?

Supplements  Supplementing each text you read with authentic, real- world texts is vital to showing that the text itself has value (Gallagher 2009)  Augment your books with articles that surround the central theme or essential question.  Create a “topic flood” for study (Gallagher 2009)  These are successful in getting students interested in reading the academic text, and it helps us avoid over- teaching the text itself.  Where do I find supplements? Google is my friend!

AOW from Kelly Gallagher  Provides students with access to real-world text and connects them to the world as well.  Model close reading.  Give once per week, or every other week.  Can use same topics or several different topics, as long as they are engaged in the reading and response!  Graded?

But my kids won’t read on their own… Adjust!  Round Robin reading  Read Aloud (not popcorn!)  Plan the lessons around the smaller, more important chunks of text so that every student will glean the knowledge from the lesson, even if they didn’t read !

Independent Reading Creating a classroom culture of readers

50/50 Approach  It is just as much our job to teach standards as it is to foster a love of reading in our kids. 50% academic reading, and 50% recreational reading should be done in your classroom. “Today, more than ever, valuable classroom time presents the best opportunity- often the only opportunity- to turn kids on to reading” (Gallagher 2009). How can I foster a love for books?

Find the Right Book  Many kids don’t even know how to pick out a book to read! “Keys to Finding the Right Book”- Use this presentation to teach kids how to preview and choose a good book, then let them go ‘shopping’. Take them to the library or host a read around where kids can look at many books and preview them!

Show them you love to read!  “Hot Read” (Layne 2009)- Promote books on their level, and READ them too! Your influence over them is limitless!  Reading Logs- Keep a personal reading log where they can see what you are reading.  Book Chats (Layne 2009)- Tell them about good books! Create the desire!  Read Alouds- Pick a high interest book to read aloud to your class for a few minutes a day…no strings (quizzes) attached. There is nothing better than hearing a good reader read!

 Book Club- Host a student book club each month; promote attendance in your classes  Create a space to read- Have a reading lounge, couch, area, what-have-you to provide a comfortable place for SSR  SSR- There is value in SSR! It leads to significant vocabulary gains (Gallagher 2009).  Create a “Book Flood” (Gallagher 2009)- Bring books and resources to them!

Brainstorm  Which two of these things could you go implement in your school/classroom right now?  How will you go about it?  How will you get teacher buy-in?

Summer Reading  Important because many students do not read at all over the summer and fall behind. Summer reading should be for everyone, not just the honors students.  “Summer is the time when educators should be focused on developing recreational reading habits in young students” (Gallagher 2009).  High Interest  Fun reads  One teacher selected and one student selected

Brainstorm Do you have summer reading? If not, how could you start this, and what books will you choose? If you do, what books are on the list? Are these high interest? Do you need to make some changes to the list to encourage more student engagement?

My Favorite Resources

References Babbitt, Patricia. N.d. Scaffolding: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension Skills. Pearson Education, Inc. html. Gallagher, Kelly Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Kain, Patricia How to Do a Close Reading. Cambridge, MA: The Writing Center at Harvard University. Reading.html.

Layne, Steven L Igniting A Passion for Reading. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. National Council of Teachers of English NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform: A Policy Research Brief. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. National Endowment for the Arts To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.

 Catherine Turnage 