Reading in High School Social Studies and Language Arts Classrooms From theory to practice

Why teaching a systematic approach to reading is important • Relate what is being read to prior knowledge • Learner constructs meaning • Develops metacognition (think about and control thinking process)

Three interactive elements of reading Reader Text features Climate

Comprehension doesn ’ t just happen Role of the reader Access prior knowledge Monitor/control Mental Disposition

Climate – Build confidence

• Help them develop confidence in ability to access prior knowledge • Encourage risk-taking in answering questions about what they have read • Build motivation to attack reading passages (passage related questions have the answer within them)

Text features

• Teach students to be aware of features like: • Bold print • Headings • Italics • Bulleted material • Pictures • Teach students to identify key vocabulary and major concepts in passages and passage related questions

Text features (cont.)

• Teach students to realize organizational patterns of a passage: – Chronological sequence – Comparison/contrast – Concept/definition – Description – Episode – Cause-effect

Chronological sequence

• Signal words: – after – before – during – later – next – first, second, third • Graphic organizer suggestion: – flowchart – timeline

Flowchart

Comparison and contrast

• Signal words: – As opposed to – Compared with – Different from – Similar to – Either…or • Graphic organizer suggestion: – Venn diagram

Venn diagram

Concept/definition

• Signal words: – Refers to – For instance – Is characterized by • Graphic organizer suggestions: – Attribute web

Attribute web

Description (charac. of specific people, places, events) • Signal words: – Appears to be – Looks like – Such as • Graphic organizer suggestions: – Fishbone diagram

Place, person, event

Fishbone diagram

Sub-charac.

Episode (event related)

• Signal words: – Around this time – As a result of – A few days/months later – Because of – This led to • Graphic organizer suggestions: – Episode pattern web

Place Time

Episode pattern web

Duration Specific incidents Effect Cause Episode Person Person Person

Cause-effect

• Signal words: – As a result of – Effects of – Is caused by – Led to – For this reason • Graphic organizer suggestions: – Cause and effect diagram

Long term Causes

Cause and effect diagram

Long term Effects Event Short term causes Short term effects

How do I teach this?

• Activate prior knowledge of text structure – Ex. How would you structure your ideas if your were telling what happened in last Friday night – Ex. Episode • Provide example organizer to diagram ’ s game?

• Introduce organizational pattern • Provide graphic organizer and explain how to apply to example • Have them locate/you provide another example and use graphic – Ex. Provide copy of primary source document • Have them apply by writing paragraph using that organizational style

How does this apply to High School social studies and language arts?

This is not about teaching basic reading skills, but about how to use reading as a tool for thinking and learning in our discipline

Overall reading strategies for high school classrooms • Brainstorm ideas that a topic brings to mind • Preview passages • Construct advance organizers/webs before presenting passage • Practice completing/analyzing these organizers and webs

Vocabulary strategies • Try to make vocabulary fun and engaging • Be sure to relate new vocabulary to experiences and concepts they already know • Limit vocabulary to key concepts • Group vocabulary/concepts into related clusters • Help them develop symbolic representations for learning new words/concepts • Model how to use/interpret graphic organizers and how to use context clues in reading passages • Practice, practice, practice

Teach them thinking strategies

• Teach then to use context clues • Teach them re-reading or context strategies to figure out difficult sentences • Teach them strategies like relating material to what they know as a way to remember what was read • Teach them to practice pre-reading strategies • Teach them when to go back and re-read (i.e. when it seemed important or when didn ’ t understand)

Teach them thinking strategies (cont.) • Teach them to make predictions as they are reading • Teach them to identify when know and don ’ t know what is being read • Teach them not to stop reading when have difficulty – teach them how to persevere (i.e. read-on for clarification, read and go back, etc.) • Teach them to identify main idea sentences • Teach them when to use these strategies

How do I do this?

• Teach them to use graphic organizers • Teach them the pattern of thinking they will be engaged in while reading (chronology, cause-effect, etc.) • Model the ongoing thinking process related to reading a passage/question

Some graphic organizers that could help you along the way • Concept map • Frayer model • Semantic feature analysis grid • Semantic mapping • Verbal and visual word association

The word

Concept map

What is it? (definition) What is it like?

What are some examples?

Frayer model

Definition (in own words) Characteristics Examples WORD Nonexamples

Semantic feature analysis grid

Terms Popular sovereignty Necessary evil Sumner-Brooks incident Compromise of 1850 Fugitive slave law Slave codes Bleeding Kansas Nationalism Sectionalism Republican Democrat

Semantic mapping

Housing Home Owners Loan Corporation Fed. Housing Administration New Deal Employment CCC FERA PWA CWA AAA TVA Rural NRA FDIC Business

Verbal & visual word association Vocabulary term Visual representation Definition Personal association or characteristic

Getting started

• Select a topic that you will be covering soon • Identify a reading passage(s) that typically accompanies that topic • Determine what the organizational patterns of the passage are (comparison, chronological, cause-effect, etc.) • Choose a graphic organizer that could be used with the passage from an organizational standpoint • Identify what key vocabulary/concepts are included in the passage • Choose a graphic organizer that could be used to enhance comprehension of vocabulary

Teaching

• Activate prior knowledge of text structure • Introduce organizational pattern (Chronology, Episode, Cause-effect) • Provide example of text passage within this type • Provide graphic organizer and explain how to apply to example • Have them locate or you provide another example and use graphic organizer to diagram • Have them apply by writing paragraph using that organizational style * You can work vocab exercise in at beginning or as review