Every effort must be made in
childhood to teach the young
to use their own minds.
For one thing is sure:
If they don't make up their
own minds, someone will do it
for them.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Components of Active Literacy
Reading, Writing, Drawing, Talking, Listening and
Investigating:
Engage in the world of issues and ideas, make thinking visible, enhance
understanding, expand thinking, develop insight
f Talking and listening to each other
Having a conversation, discussing, agreeing, disagreeing, debating.
f Reading to construct meaning
Noticing and thinking about the inner conversation, asking
questions, making connections, inferring, synthesizing information.
f Responding to reading by talking
Having a conversation about the text, connecting to experience,
wondering, thinking inferentially, thinking beyond the text.
f Responding to reading in writing and/or drawing
Writing and drawing to think and remember, noticing important
information, connecting, asking questions, arguing with the author,
agreeing with the author, noticing craft.
f Writing and drawing to discover and explore
thinking
Learning new information, wondering, connecting, inferring.
f Investigating and doing further research
Asking and answering questions, finding out information, learning
more, building knowledge, synthesizing, developing insight.
© Harvey and Goudvis 2002
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Three Principles of Reading Achievement
™
The Reading Principle---Readers must read extensively in text they can and
want to read. The more kids read the better they read. “Reading volume—the amount
students read in and out of school—significantly affects the development of reading rate
and fluency, vocabulary, general knowledge of the world, overall verbal ability and last,
but not least, academic achievement”. (Cunningham and Stanovich 1998 a and b) So
we need to have text on a wide range of topics and on many levels readily accessible for
the kids in our classrooms. (Allington 2005) Readers need a multi-source multi-genre
curriculum if they are to read and understand.
™
The Response Principle---Readers must have opportunities to respond to their
reading by talking, writing and drawing about their reading. The best way to better
understand what we read is simply to talk about it. We must increase the amount of
purposeful student-to-student talk in our classrooms. (Allington 2002) Book clubs, Lit
Circles (Daniels 02) Read Write and Talk (Harvey and Goudvis 05) all provide
opportunities for readers to talk and write about their reading. And don’t forget
authentic artistic response for those who want to draw, sing etc.
™
The Explicit Instruction Principle—Readers need explicit instruction in
the strategies to decode text as needed. They do not need phonics instruction if they can
already read. And they need explicit instruction in the strategies to comprehend text.
(Pearson et al 1992, Keene and Zimmerman 1996 Harvey and Goudvis 2000) Teachers
need to make their thinking visible by modeling how they use a strategy and then give
kids time to practice collaboratively and independently.
(Harvey 2006)
“The critical role of reading widely cannot be overemphasized. Many parents,
administrators, and teachers still believe that literacy is primarily a matter of skill
instruction. The importance of practicing, using and “living” literacy is often overlooked.
Perhaps this is partly because we live in a society that does not always practice the
literacy it preaches and supposedly values—libraries are underfunded, television is the
predominant source of entertainment and information and 70% of all reading is done by
only 10 % of the population. (Sanders 1994) We know that parents, teachers, and
communities can dramatically affect how much children read.(Gambrell, 1996) But we
also know that a relatively simple intervention—reading---can have a powerful effect on
students’ comprehension, thinking knowledge of the world, and choices in higher
(Shefelbine 1998)
education and life careers.”
In short , we need to build in a ton of time for our kids to read, just plain read. To go and
get a book of their choice, read it, talk to someone about it and then get another one.
Worksheets don’t help. Quizzes are not linked to achievement. Reading, talking, and
thinking are what are kids need to be doing. Just plain reading and giving kids time to
talk about it will make all of the difference.
3
Allington, Richard. “What I’ve Learned about Effective Reading Instruction” Phi Delta Kappan,
June 2002: 741-747
Allington, Richard (2005) What Really Matters for Struggling Readers (2nd Ed): New York:
Allyn and Bacon
Cunningham. A. and Stanovich, K. (1998) “What Reading Does for the Mind.” The American
Educator. (Spring/Summer 1998): 8-15 American Federation of Teachers
Daniels, Harvey (2002) Literature Circles (2nd Ed) Portland, ME: Stenhouse
Gambrell, L.B. Creating Classroom cultures that foster reading motivation.” The Reading
Teacher. 50, (1996): 235-262
Harvey, Stephanie and Anne Goudvis (2000) Strategies That Work. Portland ME: Stenhouse
Keene, Ellin and Susan Zimmermann (1996) Mosaic of Thought Portsmouth ME: Heinemann
Pearson, P. David, J. A.Dole, G.G. Duffy, and L. R. Roehler. 1992. “Developing Expertise in
Reading Comprehension: What Should Be Taught and How Should It Be Taught?” In What
Research has to Say to the Teacher of Reading, ed I J. Farstrup and S. J. Samuels, 2nd ed Newark,
DE: International Reading Association
Sanders, B.(1994) A is for Ox. New York: Vintage Books
Shefelbine, J. (1998) Academic language and literacy development. Paper presented at the 1998
Spring Forum on English Language Learners, Sacramento, CA.
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Strategies for Active Reading
Active Readers:
‰
Monitor Comprehension
ƒ listen to their inner voice and follow the inner conversation,
ƒ notice when meaning breaks down and/or mind wanders
ƒ leave tracks of their thinking by jotting thoughts when reading
ƒ stop, think and react to information
ƒ talk about the reading before, during and after reading
ƒ respond to reading in writing
ƒ employ “fix up strategies” ---reread for clarification, read on to
construct meaning, use context to break down an unfamiliar word,
skip difficult parts and continue on to see if meaning becomes
clear, check and recheck answers and thinking, examine evidence
.
‰
Activate and Connect to Background Knowledge
ƒ refer to prior personal experience
ƒ activate prior knowledge of the content, style, structure, features
and genre
ƒ connect the new to the known- use what they know to understand
new information
ƒ merge their thinking with new learning to build knowledge base
ƒ activate their schema to read strategically
‰
Ask Questions
ƒ wonder about the content, concepts, outcomes and genre
ƒ question the author
ƒ question the ideas and the information
ƒ read to discover answers and gain information
ƒ wonder about the text to understand big ideas
ƒ do further research and investigation to gain information
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‰
Infer Meaning
ƒ use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words
ƒ draw conclusions from text evidence
ƒ predict outcomes, events and characters’ actions
ƒ surface underlying themes
ƒ answer questions that are not explicitly answered in the text
ƒ create interpretations based on text evidence
ƒ visualize as well as hear, taste, smell and feel the words and ideas
‰
Determine Importance
ƒ sift important ideas from interesting but less important details
ƒ target key information and code the text to hold thinking
ƒ distinguish between what the reader thinks is important and what
the author most wants the reader to take away
ƒ construct main ideas from supporting details
ƒ choose what to remember
‰
Synthesize and Summarize
ƒ take stock of meaning while reading
ƒ add to knowledge base
ƒ paraphrase information
ƒ move from facts to ideas
ƒ use the parts to see the whole--read for the gist
ƒ rethink misconceptions and tie opinions to the text
ƒ revise thinking after reading
ƒ merge what is known with new information to form a new idea,
perspective, or insight
ƒ generate knowledge
(Harvey and Goudvis 06)
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Explicit Instruction in Reading Comprehension
The Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) (Pearson and Gallagher 1983)
f Teacher Modeling
¾
Teacher explains strategy.
¾
Teacher models strategy.
¾
Teacher thinks aloud when reading to show thinking and strategy use.
f Guided Practice
¾
After explicit modeling, teacher gradually gives students more
responsibility for task engagement and completion.
¾
Teacher and students practice the strategy together in shared reading
contexts, reasoning through the text and co-constructing meaning
through discussion and text lifting.
¾
Teacher and students work together in whole group, small groups and
conferences.
¾
Students hear from each other about one another’s thinking process.
f Collaborative Practice
¾
Students work in small groups and pairs and reason through text
together.
¾
Students hear from each other about one another’s thinking process.
¾
Teacher moves about the room touching base with collaborative
groups.
f Independent Practice
¾
After working with teacher and other students, student tries practicing
the strategy on own.
¾
Student receives regular feedback from teacher and other students.
f Application of the Strategy
¾
The student uses the strategy in authentic reading situations.
¾
The student uses the strategy in a variety of different genres, settings,
contexts, and disciplines.
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Connecting the New to the Known:
Noticing and Thinking About New
Learning
Reading comprehension is about much more than answering a list of questions at the end of a
paragraph, section or chapter. Memorizing facts for Friday’s quiz is not enough. Readers need
to merge their thinking with the information to learn, understand and remember it.
They need to stop and notice the new information they encounter as they read, rather than just
reading on without thinking. Noticing new information and learning is an early and crucial
step in the process of sorting out important information when reading nonfiction text. We can’t
pick out what’s important if we haven’t even noticed or thought about the information.
Tip:
The language readers hear in their head when they meet new information is a scaffold to
remind them that they are learning something new and to think about it. When readers pay
attention to the inner conversation they are having with the text, they engage with and learn
from the content.
To help readers notice new information and become aware of new learning, we encourage them
to listen to that inner voice and stop when they learn something new and then jot down an “L”
for “learn” on the a post-it. We suggest they write down their thinking as well as the
information. Often when readers meet new information, they have a question about it, and if
that is the case, they can draw a line under the new information and write down their question.
Some of the language readers hear in their heads when they meet new information:
¾
I never knew …
¾
I learned …
¾
I didn’t know …
¾
I am surprised …
¾
I can’t believe …
¾
Wow! …
¾
No way …
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10
ahY
MY name is
(My new schema)
What I learned!
I.wonder?????
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Inferential Thinking
“Inferring allows readers to make their own discoveries
without the direct comment of the author.” (Susan Hall 1990)
f Inferring involves taking what you already know (your background knowledge) and
merging that information or idea with the clues in the text to draw a conclusion, predict
an outcome, surface a theme--to make an inference. Background Knowledge+Text =
Inference (BK+T=I)
f Inferential thinking is at the heart of reading. If readers don’t infer, they are unlikely to
grasp the deeper essence of text. Writers don’t spill their thoughts onto the page; they
leak their ideas slowly, engaging readers by enticing them to read between the lines.
The more information readers pick up in the text, the more likely they are to make an
inference that hits the mark.
f Inferring is not wild guessing! An inference must be related to clues in the text. Wild
guessing is questioning. A question can emerge solely from one’s background
knowledge with little regard for the text. An inference always involves merging the
clues in the text with the reader’s background knowledge.
A few book and author recommendations for teaching inferring:
The George and Martha series by James Marshall
The Frank and Ernest series by Alexandra Day
The Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
Creatures of the Earth, Sea and Sky by Georgia Heard
Encounter by Jane Yolen
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart
Tight Times by Trina Schart Hyman
See The Ocean by Estelle Condra
The Van Gogh Café by Cynthia Rylant
Anything by Chris Van Allsberg
Wordless picture books
POETRY, POETRY, POETRY!!!
© Harvey 2002
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