Week 8:Becoming A Sophisticated Reader

"Reading is the strategic examination of text to achieve understanding." (Buehl, Chapter 1) 

Reading is a journey; a journey that, when we have learned to read, is not yet complete.  For some, it is a struggle--others find it pure bliss. Regardless of how we feel about reading, however, we can ease the process by learning how to be strategic about how we transact with texts (metacognition again!). As we follow Buehl on his journey through the content reading process, we should continue to ask: What does it take to model sophisticated reading with those who have just jumped the hurdle of decoding? I am struck by Shanahan and Shanahan's (2008) quote highlighted in Buehl's Chapter 3:

"Strong early reading skills do not automatically develop into more complex skills that enable students to deal with specialized and sophisticated reading of literature, science, history, mathematics."


Many of you have heard about that 4th grade slump. And indeed, the comprehension deficit can begin long before this for students who are not exposed to higher order thinking as they question, connect, visualize and reflect upon what an author is saying.  This is why educational research into both extensive and expansive read alouds and guided reading of text in the early grades, (what the Common Core now highlights as "close reading") as well as strategies for organizing the author's schema helps us to find a purpose, clarify, as well as problematize what the text offers. This is not only what it means when we say "reading to learn" but it embodies the idea of an active, critical reader who can face up to the driest, most boring texts. Here is where mini lessons with specific genres of text can be most effective.  

Much of what you will concentrate on in your Content Inquiry project is how to navigate some of the multimodal texts you've chosen for your bibliography to discover the hidden (or obvious) text frame and decide what that affords you in modeling different comprehension processes. This is why I'm having you put things in your toolkit for your own future reference.  Is the proposition / support text frame in the political cartoon you are working with a good opportunity to clarify purpose, teach inferencing, learn to ask good questions? And which strategy might you work on that with? Does the cause and effect framework of an expository history text allow for consolidating understanding by stringing together actions and events as you read, looking for common signal words like "reasons why" and "because" or "as a result" (see Alvermann, pg. 84)? Or would it be better to look at it as a concept/ definition text and list (in word or sentence form) the descriptive qualities of the times even before the text defines a social studies word like "colonial" (see Alv, p. 101)?


As Alvermann argues on p. 92, most rich texts combine these structures to get at core curricular concepts, but that also means that before you send a student off to answer questions, they'll need some guidance in identifying these frames of thinking. Both Alvermann and Buehl gives us helpful charts and hints for using possible frames in different disciplines, and ways to set up questions to prompt PK and discussion before and during reading. 

For example, take a look at Buehl's list of text frame types (p 23-25) for example. Do you recognize these as frames and metaphors of thinking? Do they exist in more than just informational text?  How do you know? Was it the signal words (Alvermann, p 84, fig. 5.2) that helped you? 

Alvermann and Buehl bring questioning into their discussions of text structures, partly as motivation and channeling of purpose, prior knowledge. As Buehl writes, we want students to "wonder, not wander" as they begin reading. Determining importance will be very important for your Content Inquiry, and so we'll have a bigger conversation about essential, guiding and higher order thinking questions to pose and generate during our questioning class.

For our KB session, Coleen will write about Dreher & Grey a little later in the weekend on this same entry so she can think about it in her own classroom context. KA Session (Erika and Chastity) will be posting their Dreher and Grey thoughts as well. 


Glossary:

Text Frames / Frames of Thinking: (Alv. & Buehl)

Alvermann (Figure 5.2) offers some elementary text structures, a good place to start when organizing expository text with younger or struggling readers. Be aware that sometimes authors will combine structures, particularly in non-fiction picture books. 

Descriptive-listing, defining, rich descriptions
Sequence / Chronology: need for order, such how to's or alphabet books (science logs, cartoon story boards)
Compare / Contrast: discussing similarities and differences, sometimes looking for common characteristics (Venn Diagram, Semantic Feature Analysis).
Cause / Effect: Actions and events influence consequences. Introduce with simple models. (History Change Chart good G.O for this)
Problem / Solution:  Often identified in a question, signal words very important for scientists and historians (however, because, due to the..., if, then...)
  
Buehl's discussion of text frames (p 22) focuses more on examining THE POINT of the material in order to move past facts to the gist. Using metaphors and sample questions, he offers many ways to offer instructional guidance and for students to moniter whether they have grasped the focus of the text. (SEE TABLE 5, p 26 for Descriptions) 

He adds Goal/ Action/ Outcome and Proposition / Support as additional frames, and complicates some of Alvermann's simpler frames for more sophisticated texts at the middle school / high school level. 

Signal Words: Both Alvermann and Buehl discuss signal words as crucial for a reader / author match in understanding the purpose of a text. Words that signal the author's frame of thinking. Context clues in images can work the same way. Offering writing frames (see p 100-101) can be helpful for students to learn how to frame similar text structures, though be careful not to limit their writing, and do lots of collaborative practice rather than independent worksheets to strengthen these thinking patterns and signal words in their writing. Practicing with these words in oral discussion has been proven to be very successful, especially for high school students. 

Linear vs Non-Linear text (Alv, Figure 5.7): Non-linear text often combines text frames. Your multi-modal resources should have many examples of this. Mrs. Frizzle picture book series or websites is a great way to introduce students to non-linear text.