1. Content Area Literacy for Science, SS & Technical Subjects
Presented by
English Language Arts Content Area Specialist
Amy Robinson, Ed.D.
This power point will present information about connecting the standards to instructional methods for the content area subjects.
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2. Statistics
Student readiness for college-level reading is at its lowest point in more than a decade
Only 51 percent of 2005 ACT-tested high school graduates are ready for college-level reading
Source:
These statistics and the one on the next slide illustrate the need to improve student achievement at the secondary level. Since the need is so great, every teacher in all subject areas needs to be involved in raising student achievement.
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3. Reading Between the Lines by ACT
More students are on track to being
ready for college-level reading in eighth and
tenth grade than are actually ready by the
time they reach twelfth grade.
Source:
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4. Questions to Ponder What role does the textbook play
How do history teachers/scientists make meaning from texts?
What is the role of reading, writing, speaking and listening in your discipline?
Participants should reflect upon the answers to these questions and engage in a discussion about them. The textbook should not be the only source of information for students. Teachers should use the textbook as one of many sources from which students can draw information in order to promote the idea of reading multiple texts in a given lesson. It is important to ask the science or history teachers who are in the audience to describe how they make meaning from texts in their content areas. Answers may vary depending upon the background and experiences of the various teachers. Every discipline should incorporate reading, writing, speaking and listening throughout the lessons which they present in their classrooms.
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5. ELA/Literacy Common Core Shifts
Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction
Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational
Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
These 3 shifts represent the major changes which are promoted by the ELA Common Core Standards. There should be an increased number of nonfiction sources which are provided for students in all content area in order to build their knowledge in the various subject areas. Teachers should model for students as well as encourage them to draw upon the evidence in texts when presenting arguments whether they are in the form of speaking or writing. Teachers should incorporate academic language into their lessons as well as expose students to complex texts in order to achieve the maximum learning potential in their subject areas.
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6. What do proficient readers do?
Make connections to prior knowledge
Generate questions
Create mental images
Make inferences
Determine Importance
Synthesize, evaluate, summarize
Monitor reading
These represent the reading habits of proficient readers and achieving the tasks in the standards enables students to develop these good reading habits.
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7. Two-Column Notes RI 6.1
Students divide a sheet of notebook paper in half.
While listening or reading, students record evidence in the right column.
The following slides (slide# 7-17) portray strategies which are connected to various standards and which can be implemented in Content Area Subjects. Describe each of the methods.
Two Column Notes can be used as a method which can enable students to remain focused on their reading as they take notes. The notes they take can then serve as a study guide when they are preparing for a test over the material or as a resource if they are composing a paper based on the text they have read.
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8. Two-Column Notes con.- In the left column, students can make
inferences, ask questions, or draw pictures to clarify their evidence.
See freeology and reading lady graphic organizers (Santa, Havens, & Maycumber, 1988).
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9. Discussion on Making Inferences RI 6.1
What is my inference?
What information did I use to make this inference?
How good was my thinking?
Do I need to change my thinking?
( Marzano, 2010).
Provide the participants with a short article from which inferences can be drawn. Facilitate a discussion about the article based on these questions.
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10. Think Alouds 7.1
Teachers verbalize their thought processes while reading a selection orally.
Verbalizations include describing things they are doing as they read to monitor their comprehension.
(Davey, 1983).
Demonstrate this method with a challenging text which you will read aloud in front of the audience. Such texts can be found in Appendix B in the following link:
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11. Semantic Feature Analysis RI 7.4
This technique uses a matrix to help students discover how one set of concepts is related to another set.
Introduce a Semantic Feature Analysis graphic organizer as a tool for recording reading observations
(Lenski, Wham and Johns, 1999). .
This strategy can be applied across the curriculum. For example, science teachers can implement it when teaching a lesson on diseases and their various symptoms. In history it can be used to organize information about various aspects of different civilizations. In English it can be applied to units covering the various types of characters described in the novels which are read.
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12. Semantic Feature Analysis
Here is a sample of the grid for the Semantic Feature Analysis. Participants can provide suggestions for applications of this template in their various subject areas.
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13. Discussion Web RI 8.9
Teachers distribute a selected reading that elicits clearly defined opposing viewpoints.
A discussion web graphic organizer can be used by the student/small group to
identify the main question of the text.
The template for the Discussion Web can be found at on p. 61.
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14. Discussion Web RI 8.9 con.- The student/small group will note the
pros/cons of the reading as well as their final conclusion.
The group will also place their conclusion on an index card.
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15. Discussion Web RI 8.9 con.-
Collect the cards and tally the responses. Share the results with the class.
(Alvermann, 1991)
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16. Close Reading RI
Students conduct a close read of a text such as Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Second Virginia Convention”.
After reading the text each student obtains a citation table for recording data as they conduct a second read.
The next couple of slides explain the term “close reading” which is synonymous with critical reading. For this slide, Patrick Henry’s speech can be found at on p
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17. Close Reading RI con.-
Within the table, students write specific phrases or sentences from the
text and articulate the significance of each.
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18. David Coleman’s Demonstration Lesson on A Letter from Birmingham Jail
This is a an excellent demonstration of what is meant by close reading at the secondary level. Play the video and allow time for discussion following the video presentation.
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19. Resources
Alvermann, D.E. (1991). The Discussion Web: A graphic aid for learning across the curriculum. The Reading Teacher, 45 (2), 92–99 Buehl, D. (2011). Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines. Newark, DE: International Reading Association Davey, B. (1983). Think-aloud: Modeling the cognitive processes of reading comprehension. Journal of Reading, 27(1), Lenski, S. D., Wham, M. A. & Johns, J. L. (1999). Reading and learning strategies for middle and high school students. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
These are good resources for strategies which can be used in the Content Areas Subjects. All of the references for the strategies presented in this power point are listed individually. The strategies can also be found in this book by Doug Buehl.
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20. Resources con.-
Marzano, R. (2010). Teaching inference. Educational Leadership, 67(7),
Santa, C. M., Havens, L. T., & Maycumber, E. M. (1988). Project CRISS—Creating independence through student-owned strategies. Kalispell, MT: Kendall/Hunt.
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