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. 

Learning Vocabulary Using Concept Definition Mapping

Presenters: Allison Meade and Zach Hall

Do you remember coming across a difficult word when you were younger and turning to the dictionary for an answer? Most students read the definition several times to try to develop an understanding, but frequently the definition will be misconstrued. Learning vocabulary can be a challenging task for students of any age. This task gets increasingly harder as children get older because the context in which they encounter the new word has few context clues. Schwartz views the concept definition map as a more meaningful method for students to learn new words in a structured and creative manner.

                  The concept definition map uses the following connections within a word’s meaning: categories, properties and illustrations. Through these connections and the use of prior knowledge, students are able to transform the unfamiliar word into something that makes sense.  Students frequently encounter unfamiliar words in textbooks and answer questions in a work book to further their understanding of the word. This method fails to encourage students to be independent learners. By using the concept definition map, students are able to make a more personal connection to the word to develop a better, more independent understanding.  In order to make the concept definition map fit different needs, there are ways to modify the map. The sections, category, properties and illustrations may be changed to “what is it,” “what is it like” and “what are some examples” in order to make an easier connection to the unfamiliar word.

                  The following examples are ways that concept definition maps are helpful in the classroom:

·  Demonstrating purpose

o   Instead of simply saying the purpose of instruction, students respond better when shown the value of the instruction being taught.

·  Activating Prior Knowledge

o   This section is used to show students that they do in fact know a lot about the word by being able to define properties, categories and illustrations.

·  Content application

o   When students are familiar with the structure of the concept definition map they will be able to easily identify if they have any prior knowledge of the word.

·  Context analysis

o   When the structure of the map is familiar, students will be able to use it in aid with their context text to determine the meaning.

·  Internalizing CD structure

o   Analyzing definitions that may be incomplete and discussing what could be added either by viewing the context text or their prior knowledge. This discussion will allow students to internalize the techniques used to determine the meaning of concepts.

· Strategy Ownership

o   When the concept definition map is used frequently along with discussion so that students develop a feeling of control and ownership of the word meaning strategies. 

Developing Vocabulary and Concepts: Concept of Definition Map

Jeb Tiffany, Tamara Phillips, & Angie Shirley

A concept of definition map provides a blueprint for organizing information in a more visual way.  It does this by taking the information and dividing it into three relationships: categories, properties, and illustrations, creating an actual map of one’s ideas about a topic or word. The article states, “These labels provide additional support for the corresponding self questioning prompts ‘what is it’, ‘what is it like,’ and ‘what are some examples’” (Schwartz, 1988, p. 112).

This decoding strategy helps students to do a number of things throughout the learning process:

*Helps students select and evaluate sources of information to determine meaning

*Helps students combine and organize new and old information

*Gives students an opportunity to assess their understanding and comprehension

*It helps students with newly introduced vocabulary

A concept of definition map also helps students who have individual or unique learning styles. It is a strategy that works for all students, but especially those who are more visual learners as it allows students to break down words and organize their thoughts visually.

Terms

Concept of Definition map – This is a graphic organizer that displays relationships between concepts.  It is a strategy for representing information and knowledge in a visual way.

Decoding Skills – According to the Schwartz article, decoding skills are “Strategies that students can use independently to identify unknown printed words that are familiar in their listening vocabulary” (p. 109).

Schema – A schema is an organized pattern of thought.

Prior knowledge – Prior knowledge is a culmination of one’s previous knowledge and experiences.

Getting Your Game On With Vocabulary

This week we begin to integrate our initial understandings of prior knowledge with the development of  content vocabulary. One of the first things you may notice in Alvermann et al is their emphasis on the idea that language is situated. Remember this idea from Day 1 with your literacy digs? We situate our language not only within the concepts of each discipline (words like angle or point take on different values in math, politics, literature), but we also situate and make choices about language based on our point of view in each context. In some cases, as we discussed with prior knowledge last week, cultural idioms and other uses can put students at a disadvantage for inferring a useful meaning. This means that as teachers, we need to find multiple ways to broaden their experiences. We can do this through a variety of content-related texts, multiple perspectives, and give them scaffolds for each new conceptual challenge while clarifying meanings in EACH disciplinary context.

To reiterate our work last week, I have included a few Anticipation Guide statements, which we will discuss next class. Use this as potential food for thought with your readings and dialogue journals.

Using context clues is a failsafe strategy for most students.
Y/N 

The only way students learn new words is through direct instruction.
Y/N

The best kind of word knowledge is to know the definition, backwards and forwards!
Y/N

If a student can decode a word, they can make sense of it in a sentence, paragraph, or whole text.
Y/N

Most students do better if they can organize and explore their learning of a new word within a structure.  Y/N

A few more considerations--as you look over vocabulary strategies in Buehl and Alvemann, notice that Concept Mapping is further explored by Schwartz, which is our Peer-Teach article this week.  I wonder how we will all compare Schwartz's explanation to the outline provided by our other readings, and whether we will find discrepencies, confusion, or clarification?

And, as you read about the other strategies such as semantic mapping, magnet summaries, student friendly-definitions, vocabulary overview, analogy charting, which seem most appropriate to the grade level you wish to teach? Starting to prioritize these choices will help you outline your upcoming Content Inquiry Project--the next layer you'll be adding to your ML project.


Finally, what do I mean by my title, Getting Your Game On:

Although I know we will be hearing your peers present Schwartz in both classes, there are a few points in his article which are generalizable for this entire course. I'll focus on one here.  Schwartz uses game strategies as an analogy for thinking about vocabulary learning. I find this analogy productive because it reminds me of what we are trying to accomplish with modeling learning strategies. Strategies are techniques or tactics that help every reader solve comprehension-processing problems inherent in text, including knowing how to figure out unknown words, infer meanings, engage prior knowledge, etc.

Still, we know that in team sports, for example, any individual player's abilities are enhanced by the social nature of the sport. In other words, its the playing of the game, not just the memorization of terms off the smart-board, or filling in the worksheet.  Many of you brought this up last week-what is the point of an anticipation guide if you don't actually work through it with students?  For strategic readers, especially those struggling with vocabulary concepts, you need a LIVE experience with the TEAM to help you succeed as an individual player. Only the most talented and proficient players can go it alone on the field of play, and inevitably it is a less pleasurable experience for all. This is why we spend a good amount of time early in the course talking about building reading communities, with the teacher engaged as a coach in guiding her students towards active participation. Collaborative discussion, different registers of "talk" between teacher and student, working through strategy models in a live scenario, all these provide opportunities for concept-building in ways that definition worksheets do not.

PS: I highly recommend the additional BB article, "Reading mathematics: More than words can say" (Adams) for this week if anyone is planning to stick with teaching math!

GLOSSARY FOR WORD KNOWLEDGE

Degrees of Word Knowledge: a scale for assessing current student knowledge and needs for vocabulary development. There are four indicators that will help you choose strategies for further instruction: A student a) has no knowledge of word or concept; b) has heard the word but has limited sense of the concept; c) knows the concept but cannot attach it to the word; c) has an understanding of both concept and word. As part of your initial assessment of student prior knowledge as well as ongoing development of vocabulary / concepts, you'll want to return to this scale frequently.

Ways to Support Guided Release with Vocabulary / Concepts: (Alvermann)
1) construct opportunities for active participation with words (not worksheets!); 2) help students to personalize word meanings, connections; 3) immerse classroom in texts and experiences; 3) choose text-sets that allow for repeated exposure to same concept/word with a variety of genres that support visual, abstract, and concrete examples. 

Kinds of Vocabulary:  (Alvermann and Buehl)
As teachers of reading and writing in your various subject discourses, you will be responsible for exposing your students to many kinds of words and concepts, from high frequency or "sight words" commonly used in all types of print (an, an, the, to), to word families and roots of meaning (transport, transportation, portable), to procedural vocabulary like "experiment", "primary source", literary analysis" or "order of operations", to expressive vocabulary(what they use to explain or express what they know), receptive vocabulary (what they hear and understand), even cultural idioms like " a watched pot never boils", or technical vocabulary like ecolocation


Buehl breaks down the continuum between "typical" and "technical" vocabulary further in his explanation of Student Friendly Vocabulary (see pg 176).  He argues that breaking down words into Tier 1, 2, 3 help us organize the most basic words commonly found in spoken or "expressive" language, to more difficult written text (such as polysemous or multiple-meaning words) and words central to building knowledge in a particular subject, what he calls "Disciplinary Tool-kit Words".

Reading Math: (for those interested) Adams' article argues for exploration of math concepts in terms in variety of ways: definitions, multiple meanings, homophones and similar sounding words, reading passages to support problem-solving; numerals in context, symbols in context, and the relationships between words, numerals and examples (again-visual, abstract, and concrete connections). 

Peer Teaching: The 5 E's of Prior Knowledge

The 5 E’s of Prior knowledge 

Danielle, Bryan and Lynsey         

Have you seen?  Do you notice? How many long? How many ways?  Can you find a way to? What happens if…..?  These are all questions that can be used when trying to evaluate our student’s prior knowledge of a certain subject or area of interest. 

The 5 E's is an instructional model based on a more constructivist (a learning strategy that draws on students' existing knowledge, beliefs, and skills) approach to learning.  Using the 5 E’s when teaching is a way to let students (of any age really) build or construct new ideas on top of their old ideas. The 5 E's can be used with students of all ages, including adults.  How do we incorporate these E’s?  Here’s how.

Each of the 5 E's describes a phase of learning, and each phase begins with the letter "E": Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. The 5 E's allows students and teachers to experience common activities, to use and build on prior knowledge and experience, to construct meaning, and to continually assess their understanding of a concept.

Engagement

*Object, event or question used to engage students.

*Connections facilitated between what students know and can do.

Exploration

*Objects and phenomena are explored.

*Hands-on activities, with guidance.

Explanation

*Students explain their understanding of concepts and processes.

*New concepts and skills are introduced as conceptual clarity and cohesion are sought.

Elaboration

*Activities allow students to apply concepts in contexts, and build on or extend understanding and skill.

Evaluation

*Students assess their knowledge, skills and abilities. Activities permit evaluation of  a student’s development and lesson effectiveness.


ALL KA STUDENTS PLEASE NOTE: The study guide is available on Blackboard. Lynsey, Danielle and Bryan have specifically asked you to print out page 3, and I recommend that you download it all in preparation for class.       Prof. Hodde

Stimulating Wonder

I love that visual metaphor that Buehl uses in the frontloading chapter of a filing cabinet. As Stephanie described, that filing cabinet is one in which we are "accommodating and assimilating information into its many files." Thanks to both Steph's blog post and the chapter reading, I've got a mind movie playing of two students. One student is rather skilled at making connections in reading, and his filing cabinet is organized neatly (labeled even!) with files of a variety of sizes, opening and closing constantly, yet the student is not working like a dog to get every single bit of information down on paper and into the files. The second student is stressed and the filing cabinet overflows with short stacks (small files) and there's no sense of order there because the student doesn't understand just where to place the file; it's so stuffed that I can see files falling out when the cabinet is opened and the files are lost forever. I'm sure you had a similar set of images going in your mind as you read. 

What's the difference between engaging and frontloading? 
I had these concepts mixed up for a long time as a student, believing they both fell under the category of a "hook." Allow me to share a strange way that I see that they are different.
We watch infomercials. Some of us watch them more than others, but I think we've all fallen prey to their tricks! All the infomercials are engaging; they capture us for a few moments or minutes of our day and we watch the commercial until we realize that the product is useless to us or too expensive for our wallets. Compare that to something cool the teacher does to hook students to pay attention and try to learn. Just because something is cool doesn't necessarily mean that the students will "buy" it or make the necessary connections that we hope they'll make. Back to infomercials, now think about a product advertised that you just have to have! Maybe it's because you never realized that you needed it or maybe it replaces something you have lost, but either way, you just have to have it! A few hundred dollars later, You might have just scored yourself a deal, but this comparison really isn't about the products we chose to purchase or not. It's about that evaluation that took place between the sorts of infomercials that caught our eye initially and those that advertised for products we felt we had to have in our hands. Glitter and glimmer and tricks are fabulous for capturing our students' attentions, but we want to ensure that student make proper matches in comprehension  of their reading. We've got to develop practices that help our students make connections between their existing prior knowledge and new information presented in texts. Otherwise, all that glitter is wasted!
How would you compare engagement and frontloading? Can you think of an example of how a teacher might use the two in science, perhaps the topic is simple machines?

As a student developing your own ideas of the inquiry model, I hope you saw how these strategies fit particularly well into an inquiry classroom. They wouldn't be successful any other way. These practices ensure the right balance of the prompted question and student discussion/prediction at a variety of checkpoints throughout a unit. I adopted a set as a Social Studies teacher and find they are just as useful in my Science and Language Art classes. Villano described letting the text guide but not become the curriculum (128) and that speaks to the fact that the best teaching practices allow students to build on what they already know. She described the enjoyment for all in the use of picture books, but also the wonder that these books stimulated. That wonder was the difference between the books just being great hooks--her students had to know more. If we can't sell them on the idea that this applies to them in some way, it's going in one ear and out the other. Also, we don't find a way to include them in this schema building, then it really isn't the construction based on their own previous knowledge. Those of you who described feeling like discussions or inquiry opportunities can spiral out of control should make sure to read the Nessel article this week; that will help you understand the sorts of questioning and predictions that you could use to ensure that class stays on track. 
How did these strategies fit into your definition of an inquiry-based learning environment? 

What strategies from this week's readings went straight to your toolbox? Why? Did you have a hard time visualizing the use of any particular one in a certain concept area or even a certain grade level? 

Glossary:

hidden knowledge	When information is not stated directly in the text, readers have to read between the lines.
frontloading instruction	Students are given the chance to get in touch with what they already know or do not know about concepts, preview vocabulary, and become interested in what will be presented in texts. These instructional practices fit easily into before the reading of text but also in the process of and the completion of reading. Front loading is one of the first steps teachers can take to meet and guide their students towards a gradual release of responsibility.
text to self	Personal connections that readers make to text: “Oh, I remember my grandmother telling me about this place!”
text to text	Readers make connections between previously read texts and the new text: “This reminds me so much of Dr. Suess’s writing style.”
text to world	General connections to larger connections are made here: “So that’s why the Battle of the Bulge is so important.”
discourse	The particular language used in a content area.
mismatches	The connections that our students make that hinder their learning and comprehension. Using frontloading strategies will help teachers determine weak or confused areas of learning. Identifying them will help connect the learning presented with what our students know.
schema	Organized patterns of thought or behavior

A Conversation on Frontloading: Week 6

"The research literature supports one compelling fact: what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content."
                                                                                       (Marzano, 2004 in Buehl, p 17)

"Having knowledge is one thing; using it is another. That readers often do not relate what they are reading to what they already know has prompted research about how to encourage more extensive use of prior knowledge."                                                      (Pressley, 2002 in Buehl, p 16)


Prior knowledge is something we rely on all the time, but I imagine we often call it something else--
"I have a hunch, and instinct, my common sense tells me that, this reminds me of, this sounds like, I'm guessing that" and so on.  Buehl tells us that we are continuously filling up our filing cabinet, accommodating and assimilating information into its many files. And that process of filing is fluid--things come in and out, files are shuffled and integrated.

Most of our prior knowledge comes from vicarious learning experiences in the world, some from our home culture and social networks, which often influence what we read and talk about. But do we always know when we have something useful, something that is relevant to the discourse of school? Do we always know how to respond to a question like the one suggested in the transactional strategy article from some week's ago--"What are you thinking?" This is the disconnect I find so fascinating. Predictions are a good example--we make the strongest predictions when we have gathered enough information. Estimating how long it will take to get somewhere, knowing the probability of a child waking up by a certain time, predicting when the daffodils will bloom for Spring--these require previously gathered understandings. But unless they are taught explicitly, children cannot see how daily predictions made in real life are similar to the predictions required for reading in academic discourses.

Buehl stresses the importance of academic knowledge, and this knowledge is based on exposure to specific disciplinary language, i.e. vocabulary. In our discussions about struggling readers last week, I asked you to keep a critical eye on how we track and dumb down the curricular materials given to "readers in need" when they so desperately require broader exposure to the language of more challenging texts and contexts.  What Villano argues is that she can expose her students to reading these disciplinary ideas and vocabulary with trade books that have a less passive voice, and at the same time stretch her students' prior knowledge muscles with repeated exposure to different text genres. Each genre presents a different "match"--whether it is poetry, narrative fiction or an informational picture book, each book presents and opportunity to decipher the message of the author and explore both the explicit and hidden knowledge together before developing independence.

Was anyone wondering whether Villano's efforts to skirt the textbook were offering a workaround--  a way to avoid reading arguably the more challenging text?  I raise this because we know that textbooks have their strengths and purpose, and that conforming to the Common Core standards and their Lexile levels will require a jump in text challenge. What if Villano had done a "think aloud" to unpack a big word like republic? Would they have been able to understand? Perhaps, but the grammar of the textbook makes it hard for the reader to engage with the author's distant voice and question, predict, all of the comprehension processes that help us bring prior knowledge to bear on new understanding and new texts. In some ways, it is a "cold" reading by nature of its dry tone and structure, and students don't respond because they don't think anyone is talking to them!  This goes back to the disconnect between reading and speaking--trade books help close this gap.

Along with supplemental, multimodal sources like those you are choosing for your Multiple Literacy Project, Buehl suggests that students sometimes need a warmup, and those warmups come in many forms, some which we have already explored in class: visualizations, directed reading thinking activities which Villano enacts with read-alouds, anticipation guides, chapter tours, story impressions, brainstorming--the list goes on.

This Wednesday we'll have an opportunity to talk about some of these different strategies for frontloading, how we can adapt them for different readers, and when we are telling out students too much, rather than letting them do the work of making predictions and approximations of meaning. We witnessed this in the beginning of Coleen's Owl inquiry, and they were empowered by that experience.

I'll leave you with one connection and one question--try to make a mental list of some of the strategies you've seen presented or discussed that allowed for frontloading at the beginning of the learning cycle--whether it was a quick write, brainstorming activity, discussion web or process drama exercise. Would you say these were frontloading activities, or merely opportunities to recognize what children already know in order to connect that knowledge to the required disciplinary context?

We wish you luck on your projects, and a glossary will be up soon.


** SEE COLEEN'S POST FOR THE GLOSSARY THIS WEEK.