1. Content Area Reading Teaching and using strategies to give ALL students better access to text in the content areas Jean Thorpe, MEd Reading Specialist, Upper Merion Area School District Adjunct Professor, Widener University

2. Overview Why are am I here?

4. A startling statistic Between 1996 and 2008, the average degree of literacy required for all American occupations has risen by nearly 20%. The 25 fastest growing professions have far greater than average literacy demands, while the 25 fastest declining professions have lower than average literacy demands. Holly Barton, University of Rhode Island

5. Percent of students who take remedial courses 63 % at two-year institutions 40 % at four-year institutions The Bridge Project-Stanford University

7. Reading “Causal Loop” Teacher Assigns Reading Students Do Not Read Teacher Teaches Content Students Are Assessed

8. Homework

9. We know that … The ability to read with comprehension is the most critical factor for success in school and progress in life.

10. Read and jot your understandings If you thought you'd see an automatic in the 911 when pigs fly, start ducking.

11. What do you think of when I say… CAR Content Area Reading

12. PreP Pre Reading Plan Gather initial thoughts Expand on ideas Clarify/extend

13. Content Area Literacy Is…… Supporting & enhancing each other’s learning A compilation of strategies A lifelong way of learning Just plain, good teaching! Is NOT……. A packaged program Just one strategy A once and done deal An addition to your curriculum

14. Content Area Literacy is… Teaching students how to:  Think about their thinking  Engage in metacognitive conversations about text  Successfully and automatically use strategies when meaning breaks down

15. Content Area Literacy is … A dynamic interaction of four dimensions of comprehension and understanding driven by metacognitive conversation A method of teaching that focuses on comprehension and extensive reading An approach that emphasizes relevance, relationships and rigor

16. Content Area Literacy is … Understanding that what teachers know and do as skilled readers can be “apprenticed” to their students A partnership of expertise sharing between teacher and student and student to student Explicit modeling of reading strategies by teachers and students

17. Literate Content Classrooms… Focus on Comprehension Rely on a Climate of Collaboration Place an Emphasis on Student Independence

18. Active, Strategic, Independent Readers Explicit Instruction – Content and Text Comprehension Strategies Metacognitive Conversations Social Personal Cognitive Knowledge 4 Dimensions

19. Four Dimensions Affect COMPREHENSION

20. These Four Dimensions Are Cognitive Knowledge Social Personal

21. Four Dimensions Cognitive dimension: academic habits, the way we organize our thinking to learn, monitor comprehension, solve problems Knowledge dimension: schema, content, text construction

22. Four Dimensions Social dimension: classroom community and peer interaction Personal dimension: student interest in exploring their own identities

23. Fostering Metacognitive Conversations “ making the invisible visible” Before, During and After Reading Talking to the Text: Think Aloud & Marginalia PreP Question and Answer Relationships (QAR) Reciprocal Teaching Whip Around, Pass

24. Fostering Metacognitive Conversations “ making the invisible visible” Vocabulary Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) C2QU Clarifying routines Knowledge Ratings

25. Fostering Metacognitive Conversations “ making the invisible visible” Writing Dual-entry logs/journals Writing in response to reading: reflecting on the learning process in writing Exit slips

26. Fostering Metacognitive Conversations “ making the invisible visible” Study Skills Cornell Note-taking SQ3R PORPE

28. Talking to the Text “Marginalia” “Could Be” Poem

29. Practicing Marginalia Take a few minutes to read Langston Hughes’ Could Be, to yourself and note comments, connections, questions, wonderments in the margin Choose one thought to share with your neighbor How did this strategy help you to understand the poem?

30. Could Be by Langston Hughes

31. It’s a poem sadness Selling the watch just like saying I don’t love you anymore Short lines Stanzas rhymes Has hope… but defeatist attitude Interesting way the author compares place with feelings

32. From your learning this evening… What is content area reading/literacy? 30 Second Speech Whip Around Pass

33. Active, Strategic, Independent Readers Explicit Instruction – Content and Text Comprehension Strategies Metacognitive Conversations Social Personal Cognitive Knowledge 4 Dimensions

34. Questions