Beyond and Behind Information: Helping Students Read Academic Texts New York City School Library System Fall Conference November 8, 2011 Meghann Walk Bard High School Early College

The Haitian Revolution: Two Texts Encyclopedia Britannica’s “The Haitian Revolution” Robin Blackburn’s “Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution.” William and Mary Quarterly. 63(4), October 2006:

Helping Students Read Academic Texts What problems might students have reading Blackburn’s historical essay? What activities might help them? How did you read this text?

Literacy: Not-so-basic Student difficulties can stem from: Misunderstanding of the reading process Failure to adjust reading strategies for different purposes Difficulty in perceiving the structure of an argument as they read Difficulty in assimilating the unfamiliar Difficulty in appreciating a text's rhetorical context Difficulty seeing themselves in conversation with the author Lack of “cultural literacy” assumed by the text's author Inadequate vocabulary Difficulty in tracking complex syntax Difficulty in adjusting reading strategies to the varieties of academic discourse John C. Bean. “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts.” Chapter 8 of Engaging Ideas: The Professors' Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. P

Academic Scholarship: Behind and Beyond “Information” Encyclopedias and textbooks: Surveys of the field (in student terms: a report); in Encyclopedia Britannica's case, written for the general public Academic essays as argument (in student terms: analysis); in Blackburn’s case, written for scholars of early American history

Helping Students Read Explain to students how your own reading process varies with your purpose Show students your own note-taking and responding process when you read Help students get the dictionary habit Teach students how to write “What it says” and “What it does” statements Make students responsible for texts not covered in class Develop ways to awaken student interest in upcoming readings Show that all texts reflect the author's frame of reference and thus are subject to interrogation and analysis Show students the importance of knowing cultural codes for comprehending a text Create “reading guides” for particularly difficult texts or for texts with unfamiliar cultural codes Help students see that all texts are trying to change their view of something Teach students to play the “believing and doubting game” John C. Bean. “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts.” Chapter 8 of Engaging Ideas: The Professors' Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. p

Interactive Reading Marginal notes approach Focused reading notes Reading logs Summary/Response notebooks Responses to reading guides or guided-journal questions keyed to readings Imagined interviews with the author Summary writing Multiple-choice quiz questions developed by students Writing “translations” John C. Bean. “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts.” Chapter 8 of Engaging Ideas: The Professors' Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. p

The Scholar as Inquirer Librarians (and hopefully many students) are familiar with inquiry-based learning Author-scholars as students: re-constructing their process of inquiry through de-constructing their use of sources

Sources: Essential versus Functional Understandings Primary, Secondary, Tertiary? Or… Background Exhibit/Example Argument/Assertion Method Joseph Bizup, “BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing.” Rhetoric Review 27(1), 2008:

What does this have to do with librarians? Meaningful access Inquiry learning Information literacy