1. Comprehension in the Content Areas Group #2 Kirstin Northenscold Alicia Safier Melissa Walshe H-810C: Literacy and Content Learning in Middle and Secondary Schools March 25, 2010

2. Agenda Introduction (5 min.) Motivation Activity (20 min.) ◦ Prepare scene in groups (5 min.) ◦ Act out scenes (2 min. per group) ◦ Discuss scenes (9 min.) Conclusion (5 min.)

3. Purposes To review the key ideas of reading comprehension in the field and from the course To understand the role of motivation in aiding comprehension To complete a mini-lesson in reading Shakespeare to support understanding of motivation and comprehension

4. Definitions Comprehension: Teaching reading comprehension in a content area means giving students the skills they need to reach understanding of the content through the medium of texts and to be able to apply that understanding to a rich spectrum of real world content. "Motivation is a theoretical construct that is used to explain the initiation, direction, and intensity of an individual's behavior in a particular situation...it is also used to explain why some students do not learn as much as they can even though they are given excellent opportunities to learn language and literacy skills" (Byrnes & Wasik, 2009, p. 277).

6. Critical Ideas Reader Skills Text Quality

7. Activity In groups of 5, prepare the selection from Macbeth Act I, Scene III according to the emotional tone assigned to the group. Groups may choose to keep the language of Shakespeare of improvise the events, choosing any genre they like. Each group will have 2 minutes to perform their version of the scene.

8. Activity, cont. Discussion of scenes ◦ Did the choices of the other groups change your perception of the scene? ◦ Think about how Macbeth was portrayed. What do you think he will do because of this prophecy?

9. Conclusion The stages presented in this module are well-suited to making the text relevant and accessible, supporting both motivation and comprehension. PRE: Students had begun by being asked to connect Macbeth’s emotions to their own. GUIDED: The activity was designed to help students take multiple perspectives on the text in an active, engaging way. POST: Students are then asked to voice observations (to check and expand comprehension) and present evidence for predictions (prepare to move to the next reading).

10. Q&A Questions on issues of comprehension and motivation?