1. R EADING IN T HE C ONTENT A REA

2. “While it is clear that content-area teachers cannot be expected to teach struggling readers basic reading skills, they can teach strategies, use appropriate instructional routines, lead and facilitate discussions, raise standards, and create engaging learning environments that help students improve their ability to comprehend text. “ Torgensen,Houston, Rissman. (2007). Improving Literacy Instruction in Middle and High Schools. Florida: Center on Instruction

4. T HE AGENDA = YOUR TOP THREE MOTIVATION/ENGAGEMENT COMPREHENSION VOCABULARY These components of reading are interconnected and mutually supportive These components of reading can be addressed in any classroom without interrupting or displacing content instruction

5. C YCLES OF READING GROWTH Engagement in reading Confidence reading Time spent reading Decoding practice Vocabulary exposure Fluency practice Comprehension practice

6. C YCLES OF R EADING F AILURE Less engagement in reading Less confidence reading Less time spent reading Less decoding practice Less vocabulary exposure Less fluency practice Less comprehension practice

7. R ESEARCH ON STRUGGLING READERS SHOWS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN … TIME matters PRACTICE matters “HIGH-SUCCESS” reading experiences matter There has to be a time each day that students can read something they CAN read and WANT to read. Independent reading on a student’s independent level allows reading to become a self-extending process, and a cycle of growth.

8. R EADING ISN ’ T ROCKET SCIENCE. Practice matters.*

9. I NTEGRATING WORD STUDY WITHOUT “ STOPPING EVERYTHING ” As you come to words, make a habit of vis uall y showing the roots, pre fixes and suffixes. Put mean ing ful root words on the word wall and add them to the vocabulary you practice and quiz Think aloud about how you approach long, complex words – show them how your scientist brain handles science words. Teach the “chunks” and how to “chunk a word” as part of your vocabulary instruction.

10. O UR FOCUS : T HE ACTIVITY What do you do to make meaning out of a difficult passage? Watch yourself as a reader How Ask yourself – what do I know? How do I know it? What am I doing to fix what I don’t know? Why cognitive apprenticeship Model complex invisible skills

11. R EADING IS THINKING … Predict Connect Infer Visualize Question Summarize We all do this all the time, but need to be reminded/guided to do it (“think”) while we read.

12. W HAT DOES READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION LOOK LIKE ? Reading and English classes nation-wide are often instruction-free in an “ASSIGN-ASSESS” cycle. When students do not understand what they read we often say… “read it again” “think about it” “try again”

13. T HESE NON - INSTRUCTIONAL PROMPTS MAY BE FOLLOWED BY … “ really think about it” “you’re not trying” … lack of comprehension looks like laziness or stupidity without a scientific perspective on what we are literally asking readers to do in order to make meaning from a text.

14. Toward a scientific view of reading comprehension as an active meaning-making process We ASSIGN and ASSESS without teaching because reading comprehension is: Complex Invisible Obvious to us as expert readers

15. “M Y MANDATORY TEXTS ARE TOO HARD !” WHAT ABOUT LEVELS ? Texts are leveled in two ways: Quantitative: word/syllable count formula Qualitative: teacher opinion, comparison with benchmarks If you want to level a text yourself: Listen to a low/high/average reader and count how many words on a page they don’t know (look for at least 95% accuracy)

16. 1) S ET A P URPOSE 2) T HINK A LOUD Setting a purpose for reading tells students what to look out for and offers a reason to be engaged Lifts the burden of decoding everything Encourages kids to think as they read

17. D URING R EADING S TRATEGIES … H OW DO I MAKE SURE THEY ’ RE READING? Note-taking Annotating Stop and jot Double-Entry journals Post-it notes Literature circles/book group structured discussions

18. A NNOTATE Choose a set of symbols to “code” the text. Examples: People, places, dates Parts of speech Vocab and unfamiliar words Subjects and actions (who and what)

19. S TOP AND J OT Draw pictures and jot key words in the margins after each sentence or paragraph depending on density and difficulty of the text. A scaffold may be to have better readers do very close readings (stopping more frequently) on a dense text which lower readers are just getting the gist. Conversely, lower readers may have to stop more frequently on a text that is more within their reach.

20. D OUBLE - ENTRY JOURNALS What’s in the TEXTWhat’s in my HEAD

21. J IGSAW : HTTP :// WWW. JIGSAW. ORG / OVERVIEW. HTM Groups are each assigned one aspect of a topic, or one section of a passage to become experts about. One person from each group gets together to share out their expert area with a group of experts from all different groups Each student leaves with expert notes on all aspects of the topic.

22. M ATH : A CCURACY MATTERS About how many miles are ________to 55 kilometers (1kilometer is about 0.621 miles) About how _____miles are equivalent to 55 kilometers (1kilometer is about 0.621 miles)

23. M ATH TEXT DEMANDS Density of ideas…requires close reading Multiple meaning words…requires deep (not surface) word knowledge Comprehension of pictures and abstract symbols …not just words.

24. P RINCIPLES FOR STUDENTS READING MATH TEXTBOOKS B Y T IM D ONOHUE, S MOKY H ILL H IGH S CHOOL Speed kills. This is not a magazine. Read/reread with a pencil and paper in hand for notes. There are never enough commas. Insert your own pause to help you slow down. Draw and label diagrams as you go. Think about related problems and procedures as you read. You can’t just read, you have to “do it” as you go. Magic sometimes happens between the lines. Follow the instructions (“Review the proof…”) The figures and tables are important The same number has different faces (1/4,.25) Mathematical writing has an idiosyncratic structure that when mastered will aid in constructing meaning.

25. F ROM ANOTHER MATH TEACHER … Slow down!! The flow of a math book is not like the flow of a novel. Every word counts. Math books are usually not repetitive, so there is little chance of picking up missed information from reading on. Writers of math textbooks believe that extra words get in the way of clarity. Do not skim diagrams or other kinds of illustrative material. They hold as much meaning as printed words. Words and symbols of math have very specific meanings. Students are made aware that mathematics textbooks follow this expository pattern: statement, example, and explanation/summary. Understand each sentence before you go on. Reread as many times as necessary.

26. T EACHERS THINK ALOUD TO MODEL THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST / MATHEMATICIAN Students need think alouds from math and science teachers more than any other teacher because no one else teaches them to reason/process information in the same way as you will. Making the invisible visible…practice thinking aloud.