Teaching Comprehension Strategies using CSI

Accelerating Your Year 4–9+ Students’ Literacy Achievement

Introducing

Neale Pitches

ONZM, BA, MEd Admin (Hons), Dip Tchg Forty years in education: - English and history teacher, Hillmorton and Dunstan - DP Wellington High - Principal Onslow College - CEO Learning Media - Co-founder South Pacific Press and Lift Education

Background

South Pacific Press and Lift Education

• New Zealand educators and publishers • Resource developers • Our comprehension experiences: o the international reader o the New Zealand reader o combining learning theory and literacy research

Seminar Agenda 1.

Introductions (done!) 2. The Comprehension Issue 3. Effective Comprehension Instruction – a Rich Learning Model 4. Video 5. Reflection

Please read alone and in silence

Please read together with a partner and discuss every aspect of the text

2008 NEMP The Results for reading and writing show no improvement in reading comprehension (and some small performance declines) for year 4 and year 8 students in the last 8 years (Crooks, Smith and Flockton, 2009)

2005/6 PIRLS Pacific achievement decreased between 2001 and 2005/6 (Chamberlain, 2007)

In General The weakest average achievement is for Pasifika and Maori boys, along with Pasifika girls (Generalised from NEMP and PIRLS)

Why has the achievement gap (“Matthew Effect”) been such a persistent problem? And should we think of it as a proficiency issue rather than a gap?

Amount of material students are expected to comprehend, including content Years 10, 9, 8, 7 Year 4 Year 1 Amount of explicit reading instruction and teacher modelling

Samantha’s Story

“…I don’t like it”

Proficiency for all…

“Just how do half of the readers from a school with a stable population and a comprehensive literacy program, including small-group instruction with levelled readers, arrive at fourth grade reading below grade level?... One possibility is that guided reading is focused on making progress through the levels rather than achieving proficiency.”

(Let’s Start Leveling about Leveling,

Glasswell and Ford, Page 212) Proficiency is here Level Level Level Leve l

In 2006 the Carnegie Foundation in the USA published a report by Professor Catherine Snow and Gina Biancarosa, called

Reading Next

. This report offered a “blueprint” for addressing the comprehension problem

Reading Next

A research-based needs analysis. The needs:

• Direct, explicit comprehension instruction • Effective instructional principles embedded in content • Motivation and self-directed learning • Text-based collaborative learning • Diverse texts  A technology component • Ongoing formative assessment of students • Extended time for literacy

Biancarosa and Snow (2006)

What is content literacy?

Why does it matter?

“Children who acquire good reading skills may not be able to transfer those abilities to comprehending content text if they lack relevant prior knowledge for that content. In other words, reading is domain specific.” (Chiesi, Spilich, & Voss, 1979; Duke & Pearson, 2002; Kintsch & Kintsch, 2005, in Brozo 2010).

What is content literacy?

Why does it matter?

“Teachers skilful in content literacy practices can increase students’ reading capacity, vocabulary, and knowledge with texts focused on real content.” Brozo (2010)

“Oral language and vocabulary are best developed in exposure to print...

Comprehension ability and exposure to print are in a reciprocal relationship”

Stanovich, 2000

The CSI Evidence-based Model

Seven comprehension strategies: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Making connections Asking questions Visualising Drawing inferences Determining important ideas Synthesising information Monitoring comprehension and repairing understanding

The CSI Evidence-based Model

Five text collections: (Content Literacy) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Fiction Non-fiction (general) Science Mathematics Social studies (Social Sciences)

‘Differentiation’



“On-year” level texts



Multiple scaffolds in both shared and cooperative sessions:

 Reading-to  Modeling  Digital scaffolds (vocab, video, pictures)  Peer collaboration and support   Audio for all 40 student co-operative texts at each year level Collaborative (peer) learning built into student co-operative activities  Bespoke graphic organisers  Student reflection journal

A Rich, Metacognitive Learning Model

Known concepts Classroom experiences (Nuthall, 2007, p.71) Selecting Sorting

Working memory

Integrating Elaborating Evaluating Knowledge structure New concepts

Long term memory

CSI aims for “complex simplicity” through a 3x3x3-step model based on the research evidence: Whole-Group Instruction Co-operative learning Independent Application Modeling, reading-to, student interaction Before, during, and after reading Building metacognition – a gradual release model

The New Zealand “landscape”

Explicit instruction of comprehension strategies include: • An explicit description of the strategy • Modeling of the strategy • Scaffolding students • Students articulating what they do as they use the strategy • Students applying and reflecting on the strategy.

Effective Literary Practice, Years 5 –8

Metacognition

It is important that students are actively taught to be aware of what literacy expertise they are using and how they are using it … this metacognitive awareness enables them to become independent readers and writers. Literacy Learning Progressions

Is it important that:

“…readers have … instruction that is cognitively demanding and emotionally engaging, and that [this is] paramount in all judgments about the balance of texts students read.”

( Glasswell and Ford, 2011, with support from the Australian Research Council Linkage scheme (Glasswell, Singh, McNaughton, and Davis).

Kyran’s Story

“The students seem to have made a staggering leap in their reading ability unlike any other year I've known!”

Kyran Smith, Deputy Principal, Miramar South School, early 2009

Miramar South School Case Study

Miramar South School

CSI Pre- and Post-Test Data

2008, 2009, 2010

Miramar South School School background Classroom background Decile 2 Mixed ethnicity Pasifika 54% Maori 23% Somali 16% European/other 7% Year 8 Students decoding effectively Comprehension strategies high priority Knowledge of effective literacy practice Seeking successful programme model

2008 AsTTle Results

Miramar South half-yearly progress (2009, as measured by running records)

% of students 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2009 AsTTle Results

Increase of Students Reading at or above the National Norm Feb Nov Feb Nov

2010 asTTle Results

Increase of Students Reading at or above National Norms 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 All Pasifika Maori Other NZ European Boys Girls Nov-10 Feb-10 Feb-10 Nov-10

2010 Points to Note

• • • The analysis is not finished at this point, however: Clearly there is success for all Post test, there is significant growth in Maori and Pasifika student achievement in literacy Post test, boys are making accelerated progress

The Three-year Picture

An increasingly reliable and valid data set.

Hagley High School

Hi … One of our English teachers has trialled the kit with her Yr 10 English class and has had stunning results. The pre and post PAT results showed amazing shifts.

We have done a presentation of the results of the trial (including filmed excerpts) to the Social Sciences and Science depts. There is considerable interest… we would like to have a look at the Level 7 English texts, as our Learning Support/ Literacy teachers felt that the level of the Level 8 texts may be too high for our year 9 cohort.

Is there any possibility that we could have a look at those texts please.

Many thanks Marie Stribling HOD English Hagley Community College Christchurch

Seminar Take-home Resources

www.csi-literacy.com

Teens Hear Silent Ringtone Pandas and Bamboo

Sample lessons: Explicit instruction

What did Kyran do to include the elements of explicit instruction: • An explicit description of the strategy • Modelling of the strategy • Scaffolding students • Students articulating what they do as they use the strategy • Students applying and reflecting on the strategy.

Effective Literary Practice, Years 5 –8

Summing Up - New Thinking

Digital Shared Reading

• Diverse, on-year-level texts – to give students broad experience – not all are “suited” to them • Explicit / deliberate teaching • Digital scaffolds • Interaction – learning community

Summing Up - New Thinking

Cooperative learning: A challenge to our thinking about ‘levelled text, levelled kids’

• Diverse, grade-level texts – to give students broad experience – not all are “suited” to them • Scaffolding via peers, audio, learning community • Audio texts • Graphic organisers – “bespoke” – developed for that text and that strategy

Summing Up - New Thinking

Summing up

• We can overcome the concern that levelling has become too prescriptive – a deficit model • We can serve ‘digital natives’ with digital texts • The developmental model we have described is shown to have major benefits for comprehension achievement for all students • We can use multiple scaffolds and a rich learning model to ‘differentiate’

www.csi-literacy.com

Teaching Comprehension Strategies

Accelerating Your Year 4–9 Students’ Literacy Achievement