Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Connecting Reading and Writing with Effective Strategies Renee Murray October 2, 2008

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Essential Questions Why do we need to change the way we assign reading? How will understanding text structures help students read better? Which literacy skills are the most important for students to master? What strategies will help students master essential literacy skills?

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Protocols “Sandy” agenda Two-feet rule Try! Respect others’ comments.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Where are we? Based on your experience, what is the problem? Spend one minute writing. Spend two minutes sharing.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Where are we? Half high school graduates have necessary reading and writing skills (ACT) 40% seniors proficient readers (NAEP) Half of high school graduates plan to get an advanced degree (FSU) Half of high school graduates failed to meet the college readiness benchmark for reading and one-third failed to reach the benchmark in English composition (ACT 2005) 70 percent of the college instructors dissatisfied with their students’ ability to read and comprehend complex materials and half said they were dissatisfied with students’ ability to express complicated ideas in writing. (Achieve)

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW International Center for Leadership in Education: “the readability levels of workplace documents, forms and text sources are higher than many people would have imagined, higher, in fact, than much of the reading material that students use in educational settings.”

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Where are we now? What is the current state of literacy among high school students in the United States? What is the disconnect with postsecondary studies? How does this impact my understanding of my students? What, if anything, do “we” need to do differently? Page 3

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Jigsaw Articles Count to 3 Each person read one article. Compare with others who read the same article. Return to original group. Now what do we know?

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How Will Understanding Text Structures Help Students Read Better?

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Common Text Structures Enumeration Chronological Order Compare and Contrast Cause and Effect Problem/Solution

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Application Read paragraphs One of each Legalized cheating

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Which Literacy Skills are the Most Important for Students to Master?

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW The Six Summarizing Paraphrasing Categorizing Inferring Predicting Recognizing Academic Vocabulary Page 9

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How do we know these are important? Direct links to most items on ASSET/COMPASS reading placement tests. Included in ACT Consistently in state standards Recognized by postsecondary faculty for importance Linked to all content areas Linked to careers

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Summarizing Only skill identified in both Reading Next and Writing Next as improving essential literacy skills Essential in research and other expository writing

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Paraphrasing Reduces plagiarism—considered one of the biggest academic “crimes” Show adaptation for audience and purpose—essential writing skills Reflects a deeper understanding of material

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Categorizing Ability to group information into manageable chunks Essential for study skills Mandatory for problem analysis and solution—especially in workplace or laboratory Only easy for naturalist intelligence—must be taught to others

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Inferring Reading “between the lines” Encourages connection within a text, across texts and to other contexts Shows that a reader “really gets it”

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Predicting Form of inferencing Requires support for prediction Forward thinking based on backward knowledge Required to solve non-routine problems in the real world

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Using academic/technical vocabulary Separates success for second- language students Technical language (jargon) Understanding roots and affixes

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How Can We Help Students Read Better? Summarizing and Paraphrasing Techniques

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Reading and Writing Enhances Learning Cornell Notes Jigsaw Groups of 4 Take notes on page 10

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW 2-column note-taking Step 2: Take notes here; use abbreviations Step 3: Identify key concepts or questions Step 4: Summarize lesson here Step 1: Draw a grid with 3 sections

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Benefits of 2-column note-taking Many exposures to text Matches most textbook styles Easy to teach Study guide Differentiation

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Teaching Secrets 3 -Identify 3 pieces of advice given to new teachers. 2 -Explain how the advice fits into 2 categories. 1 -Describe one way that taking the advice will help novice teachers. Page 16

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Increasing level of difficulty Requires summarizing and paraphrasing Pre- or post-reading Requires teacher preparation Students can construct.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How Can We Help Students Read Better? Vocabulary and Categorizing Strategies

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Story Impressions Topic: American cities in the late 19 th century Write paragraph with all words on left. Same order. Page 19

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Story Impressions Pre-reading Teacher preparation Stimulates interest Identifies misconceptions Can connect to word walls or other vocabulary strategies

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Redefining Rigor Skim through text Identify five words that are Important Someone might not know Put each on separate sheet of paper Page 20

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Redefining Rigor On back, write a predictive definition. Read article. Use context clues to confirm meaning. Write definition on front with word.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Redefining Rigor Create categories for words. Now you have a word wall!

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Word Walls Pre-reading Visual learners Choices can be surprising Vocabulary and prediction Supports writing

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How Can We Help Students Read Better? Predicting and Inferring Strategies

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Student and Teacher Work Page 22 For each statement, score on 1-6 scale on left. Discuss answers with group. Read article. You are looking for evidence for each statement. Confirm answers on right.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Anticipation Guides Set purpose for reading Allow for collaboration Ensures correct notes Should not be trivia Some statements should be “touch that” and some “between the lines.”

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Metaphors/Similes/Analogies Learning on conceptual level Allows for prior knowledge Allows for differentiation Stretches understanding Page 28

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Metaphors/Similes Using literacy strategies to teach is like

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Analogies Literacy is to ___________ as ________ is to _____________.

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW RAMPS/RAFT R ole A udience F ormat T opic page 25

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW RAFT Deeper understanding Student choice Authentic or demonstrating learning Use to analyze prompts

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW Our RAFT Role: Workshop Participant Audience: Others in my department Format: Memo Topic: What I learned

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How Do I Plan? Content Skill Learning Strategy Demonstration Strategy Page 30

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW How do I teach strategy? Teacher Talk: 1. Name, 2. How to use, 3. Explicit modeling (“think-aloud”), 4. Examples of when to use the strategy, 5. Possible adjustments for different tasks, 6. Usefulness. Guided practice Independent practice and debriefing

Southern Regional Education Board HSTW What Next? Practice Share Determine accountability Rock your world!