EDC 448 Seminar
Bridging the Knowledge Gap while Supporting
Struggle: Rigor & Accessibility in Disciplinary
Teaching Practices
The Case for Struggle?
• Failure vs. Struggle
• Struggle Alone vs. Struggle With Support
• Productive Failure (Fisher & Fry, Ch 1, p. 11) =
Supported Struggle
– Role of “easy” texts with big, complex ideas
– Role of guided high-level questioning before, during,
and after reading
– Role of conversation/dialogue during re-readings
– Role of summary, synthesis, transformation
What IS a complex text?
Seminar Part 1:
Getting Started –
Noticing Good Teaching
• What are ten effective teaching
techniques that Ms. Chin uses that
foster “supported struggle” with a
complex text?
10 Effective Teaching Techniques for
Supported Struggle
1. Pre-read with authentic purpose (character change)
2. Pre: Provide organizer (Beginning, middle, end)
3. During: Read hard text indep. for purpose (get familiar
with character, language, and how change)
4. During: (Time 1) Annotate and note author craft
5. After: (Time 1) Dialogue/conversation with evidencebased reasoning
6. During: (Time 2) Revisit purpose to analyze more
closedly
7. During: (Time 2) Think-aloud (notice strategy links)
8. After: (Time 2) Discuss with text-dependent questions
9. After: Respond/Transform (Write/new dialogue)
10. Together: Use dialogues and writing as multiple forms
of formative assessment (to prepare for PARRC test!)
LOW
Reader’s Processing Ability
HIGH
How are you addressing the needs of each kind of
student with the texts and tasks you select?
HIGH
Out-of-School Academic Knowledge
LOW
Teaching to the Match
How can teachers be effective mediators between the academic knowledge demands
of our curriculum and the out-of-school informal knowledge of our students? (Buehl, 89)
• Students with Matchup Assets: (1, 2, 3) numerous but varied family
interactions about/experiences with content; identity as a “smart” person;
able to pick up new ideas easily
• Students with Matchup Gaps: (4, 5, 6) higher processing skills, but few
connections to their outside lives; OR lower processing skills BUT higher
outside academic knowledge
• Students with Mismatches: (7, 8, 9) moderate to low processing ability
(special education perhaps) and moderate to low out-of-school
experiences (often from poverty); additional complexities of ELL who may
be “smart” in their culture, not not with English or American culture
Buehl (p. 92) What are some areas in your curriculum that reveal significant
knowledge gaps in X topic?
What knowledge capital might students bring that might help you bridge the gap?
Seminar Part 2
Challenges of your Topic
Connections to Out-of-School Capital
to Bridge Knowledge Gaps
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Seminar Part 2
• CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION: Many literacy
researchers (Fisher, Fry & Lapp, 2012; Tovani, 2004) argue
and the CCSS (2010) expect content area teachers to engage
students with challenging text on a regular basis. However,
Buehl (2011) describes important academic knowledge
disparities (e.g., differences in processing ability and out-ofschool academic knowledge) that suggest not all texts are
matched appropriately to student needs. He argues that
teachers need to mediate these gaps by exploring potential
“common-ground knowledge” (p. 91) that is essential for
reading complex texts that build academic knowledge. Use the
questions below to guide your selection of ideas and reactions
to discuss in today’s seminar.
• Goal: Consider your position and contribute – for homework,
you will take a position and respond in writing
Due March 27 – will explain on March 18
Homework Due March 18 after Spring Break:
1. Buehl A Chapter 4 on Frontloading (prepare to apply)
2. Essay on Rigor Vs. Accessibility