1. 1 MODULE 2: CONTENT-AREA LITERACY Adolescent Literacy Unit 2, Session 1

2. 2 STRUCTURING LESSONS TO PROMOTE COMPREHENSION Matching Form with Function

3. 3 Essential Questions  Module 2 Question  What role can content-area teachers play in helping adolescents acquire general and discipline-specific literacy skills?  Unit 2, Session 1 Questions  What lesson formats and structures lend themselves to promoting reading comprehension?  How are teaching for understanding and promoting reading comprehension related? Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

4. 4 Warm-Up  Microlab: Microlab  Describe a time when your students really understood something you taught – what did you do to facilitate this?  What is the difference between “knowing” and “understanding” in your subject area?  What lesson structures/formats/components have most successfully promoted understanding? Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

5. 5 What Does it Mean to Put Understanding Up Front?  A unit/lesson-planning framework for focusing on understanding and comprehension  Connected to Schema Theory  Activating schema (i.e. background knowledge)  Building new schema  Motivating students to wrestle with big ideas Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Putting understanding up front.Putting understanding up front Understanding Performances Ongoing Assessment Generative Topics Understanding Goals Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

6. 6 An Example in the Science Classroom  Generative Topic:  Forensic Science and the methods behind CSI  Understanding Goals:  How problem-solving and scientific inquiry, through the analysis of forensic evidence, can help scientists and police solve crimes/mysteries. From Guzzetti (2009) “Thinking like a forensic scientist.” Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

7. 7 An Example in the Science Classroom  Understanding Performances:  Reading and solving crime scenes  Writing murder mysteries using forensic evidence  Reading and discussing forensic-related texts  Conducting forensic tests such as taking teeth impressions, fingerprinting, lip printing, chromatography, chemical analyses, etc.  Ongoing Assessment:  Performance on daily tasks (see above)  Final performance of understanding – reading and rewriting a murder mystery story using forensic details Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

8. 8 Promoting Comprehension Each Day  Lesson-plan structure based on Schema Theory:  Pre-Reading/Learning  Guided-Reading/Learning  Post-Reading/Learning  Final Word Protocol: Final Word Protocol  Jacobs’ “Reading, Writing, and Understanding”Reading, Writing, and Understanding  What is Jacobs saying about the relationship between the pre-/guided-/post- lesson structure and promoting comprehension/understanding? Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

9. 9 Connecting Strategies & Planning  Tour of Adlit.org’s Strategy LibraryAdlit.org’s Strategy Library  How do these “strategies”:  Get students ready to read/learn?  Guide students through the reading/learning?  Help students synthesize & review the reading/learning?  Using a content-area text brought to the session, what pre-/guided-/post- activities might you introduce to students? Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

10. 10 Wrap-Up  Things to Remember:  Teaching for understanding and focusing on comprehension are keys to improving mastery of content-area concepts and skills.  A pre-/guided-/post- lesson plan structure can help promote students’ understanding of challenging content-area texts and concepts. Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

11. 11 Further Study  Take the lessons you have planned during this session and try them in your classrooms. Then take note of the following:  What happened? What worked well? What challenges did you encounter?  Which Adlit.org strategies seem most fruitful for activating background knowledge, guiding reading/learning, and helping to solidify learning in your content area? Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

12. 12 References Guzzetti, B. (2009). Thinking like a forensic scientist: Learning with academic and everyday texts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(3), 192–203. Jacobs, V. A. (2002). Reading, writing, and understanding. Educational Leadership, 60(3), 58–61. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/nov02/vol60/n um03/Reading,_Writing,_and_Understanding.aspx http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/nov02/vol60/n um03/Reading,_Writing,_and_Understanding.aspx Jacobs, V. A. (n.d.). Reading and writing for understanding. Usable Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved from http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC1-1.html http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC1-1.html Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Putting understanding up front. Educational Leadership, 51(5), 4–7.Putting understanding up front Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1