Developing a Focus on
Literacy Across the Curriculum
Albuquerque NM
July 20-21. 2009
Joanna Kister
Southern
Regional
Education
Board
Write on the Wall
1. Put dot on the continuum of
faculty readiness for literacy
across the curriculum
2. Write on the wall. Tell me about
New Mexico, your home town,
your school, you (name optional).
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Essential Questions
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 How can we develop a focus on literacy
across the curriculum in our school?
 How do literacy skills contribute to the
10 key practices of High Schools That
Work?
 Which literacy skills have the greatest
impact on student achievement?
 How can we effectively use
instructional strategies to improve
literacy skills?
10 Key Practices
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•
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•
•
• Integration of
High Expectations
Academic and
Challenging
Career/Technical
Career/Technical
Studies
Studies
• Active Engagement
Challenging Academic
• Guidance and
Studies
Advisement
Academic Core and a
• Extra Help
Concentration
• Data-based
Work-based Learning
Decision Making
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4
Brag about your
school (extra credit if
connect to 10 key practices)
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5
Jigsaw Articles
Count to 6
Each person read one article.
Compare with others who read the
same article.
Return to original group.
Now what do we know?
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SREB Literacy Goals
 Read 25 books across curriculum
 Write weekly in all classes
 Use reading and writing in all
classes
 Write research papers in all classes
 Complete a rigorous language arts
curriculum taught like collegeprep/honors English
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Before Reading . . .
Good readers
Poor Readers
• Build up their
• Start reading
background
without thinking
knowledge on the
about the subject
subject
• Know their purpose for • Do not know why
reading
they are reading
• Focus their complete
attention on reading
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ONE
KEY PREDICTOR
Southe
rn
of reading success
is the student’s
background
knowledge.
During Reading . . .
Good Readers
Poor Readers
• Pay complete attention •
• Constantly check their
understanding
• Monitor their
comprehension
•
automatically
• Stop only to use a fix-up
strategy when they don’t •
understand
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Do not know
whether they
understand or do
not understand
Do not monitor their
own comprehension
Seldom use any of
the fix-up strategies
Strategies for Monitoring Reading
• How would I say that in my own words?
• What’s the main point here, and why is it
important?
• What would be an example of this?
• How could I cluster the ideas I’ve read about?
• Where is this going next?
• Can I picture in my mind what is going on
here?
• Can I trust this author’s
accuracy/authority/objectivity?
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Fix-Up Strategies
• Let me reread that last part, more slowly
this time.
• Let me think about that for a minute.
• Is there a certain word here that is
throwing off my understanding?
• Let me read ahead a little to see if
getting the larger picture helps.
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After Reading . . .
Good Readers
• Decide if they have
achieved their goal for
the reading
• Evaluate their
comprehension
• Summarize the major
ideas
• Seek additional
information
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Poor Readers
• Do not know what
they have read
• All ideas are
equal
• Do not follow
reading with
comprehension
self-check
The Six
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Summarizing
Paraphrasing
Categorizing
Inferring
Predicting
Recognizing Academic
Vocabulary
Page 14
Carousel Brainstorming
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Divide into groups.
Go to one station.
Select scribe.
Write at least one answer—small.
Rotate at signal.
Must add new answer.
Continue.
Carousel Strategy
For each skill, list why you believe
it is considered to be one of the
“Big Six” essential reading skills
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How do we know these are
important?
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 Direct links to most items on
ASSET/COMPASS reading placement
tests.
 Included in ACT
 Consistently in state standards
 Recognized by postsecondary
faculty for importance
 Linked to all content areas
 Linked to careers
Summarizing
Only skill identified in both
Reading Next and Writing Next
as improving essential literacy
skills
Essential in research and other
expository writing
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Paraphrasing
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Reduces plagiarism—considered
one of the biggest academic
“crimes”
Show adaptation for audience
and purpose—essential writing
skills
Reflects a deeper understanding
of material
Categorizing
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Ability to group information into
manageable chunks
Essential for study skills
Mandatory for problem analysis
and solution—especially in
workplace or laboratory
Only easy for naturalist
intelligence—must be taught to
others
Inferring
Reading “between the lines”
Encourages connection within
a text, across texts and to other
contexts
Shows that a reader “really gets
it”
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Inference
• In order to infer readers must lift
up the words and go beneath
them.
Keene & Zimmerman (1997)
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She moves backwards a few feet and with a piece of
white chalk draws a rectangle onto the wood floor. Then
continues backwards, drawing more rectangles, so there is a
pyramid of them, single then double then single, her left hand
braced flat on the floor, her head down, serious…
She drops the chalk into the pocket of her dress. She
stands and pulls up the looseness of her skirt and ties it around
her waist. She pulls from another pocket a piece of metal and
flings it out in front of her so it falls just beyond the farthest
square.
She leaps forward, her legs smashing down, her shadow
behind her curling into the depth of the hall. She is very quick,
her tennis shoes skidding on the numbers she has drawn into
each rectangle, one foot landing, then two feet, then one again
until she reaches the last square.
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From, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Hocked gems financed our hero.
Scornful laughter had tried to prevent his
scheme. Bravely he persisted. An egg, not
a table, typifies this unexplored planet, he
said. Now three sturdy sisters sought proof.
They forged along turbulent peaks and
valleys. Days became weeks as doubters
spread fearful rumors about the edge. At
last welcome winged creatures appeared.
Momentous success was at hand.
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Predicting
Form of inferencing
Requires support for prediction
Forward thinking based on
backward knowledge
Required to solve non-routine
problems in the real world
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Using academic/technical
vocabulary
Separates success for secondlanguage students
Technical language (jargon)
Understanding roots and
affixes
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K–W-L
K
What I
Know
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W
What I
Want to
Find Out
L
What I
Learned
Directed Reading and
Thinking Activity (DRTA)
• Preview
• Discuss what you know
• Write questions
• Read to find answers
• Reflect on the reading
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Anticipation Guide Rationale
• Students get excited-argue/debate
the points
• Predict - curiosity – hook for
content
• Creates purpose for reading
• Purposeful reading leads to
improved comprehension
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“Teaching Secrets”
• Create 5 anticipation guide
statements.
• Use both inferring and concrete
statements.
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A to Z Review
Using each letter of the
alphabet, describe what
employers want in employees.
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Tournament – Defend Your Word
In pairs, select four words that address a question about reading.
Convince each other that their word is the best to go to the next level.
Present “the” word to the whole class with evidence.
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INSERT (Interactive Notetaking
System for Effective Reading and Thinking)
- I agree
X – I disagree
+ - That’s new
! – Wow!
? – I wonder
?? – I don’t understand
* - That’s important
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How to teach
vocabulary???
•
Front-load meaning - prior instruction
•
•
Descriptions and examples
Create symbols or pictures to represent the
word -- gains 34 percentile higher
Categorize words -- associations among
related concepts
Limit the # of words taught to those that
represent key concepts
Teach common prefixes, suffixes, roots
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•
Southe
rn
•
increases understanding by 33%
Vocabulary Blocks
Definition
Picture or
symbol
Described in
Ways I used the
your own words word (a week
later)
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Word Sort – Sort into Three
Categories
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•
•
•
•
•
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Formative
Warm up activity
Scenarios
Collegial
observations
Questioning
Team building
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• Graphing
• Reading
comprehension
• Teacher book study
• Summative
• Project-based
learning
• Demonstration
classrooms
Frayer Model
Essential Characteristics
Examples
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Topic
Non-essential
Characteristics
Non-examples
Summarizing and
Paraphrasing
•
•
•
•
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GIST
3-2-1
Summary Pyramid
Final Word
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Teaching Secrets
3-Identify 3 pieces of advice given to
new teachers.
2-Explain how the advice fits into 2
categories.
1-Describe 1 way that taking the advice
will help novice teachers.
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3-2-1
Increasing level of difficulty
Requires summarizing and
paraphrasing
Pre- or post-reading
Requires teacher preparation
Students can construct.
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Democracy
__________
Synonym
__________
__________
Two Groups to Which Democracy Applies
_________ ________
_________
Three Areas of Origin
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Page 5
Other Possible Prompts
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•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Analogy between the topic and a sport
Attributes or facts
Words that best describe the topic
Related topics
Causes
Effects
Arguments for/against the topic
Ingredients
Tools for using the topic
Formulas
Page 6
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Your Turn
• “Please Don’t Pardon the
Interruption”
• Write pyramid prompts
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Bye, Bye Birdie
Reasons to Avoid
Round Robin Reading
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• It encourages
negative attitudes
about reading.
• It is boring for
everyone.
• Proficient readers
read ahead.
• Poor readers are
forced to advertise
their deficiencies.
• Students pay
attention only to the
passage they have to
read aloud.
• It does not build
fluency or accuracy.
• Students need to
read entire passages
instead of pieces.
• It does not require
engagement with the
text.
Avoid…
• Round robin reading
• Copy notes that the
teacher has provided
• Look up definitions and copy
• Fill spaces on work sheet from
textbook
• End-of-chapter questions
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Types of writing
• Writing to learn - daily
• Audience is the learner
• Purpose is to learn or process information
• Writing to demonstrate learning - weekly
• Audience is the teacher
• Purpose is to demonstrate learning
• Authentic writing
• Audiences are varied
• Purposes are “real world” or beyond the
classroom
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Writing To Learn
Journals
Learning Logs
Exit/Admit Slips
Writer’s Notebook
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Logs
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Inquiry
Writing To Demonstrate Learning
Paragraphs
Essays
Open-response
Reports
Questions
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Lab
Authentic Writing
Articles
Editorials
Speeches
Proposals
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Letters
Memoirs
Poems
National Writing Commission:
What Employers Say
• In most cases, writing ability could be
your ticket in . . . or it could be your ticket
out…
• Everything must be documented…
manufacturing documentation, operating procedures,
reporting problems, lab safety, waste-disposal
operations—all have to be crystal clear
• Writing is a significant hiring consideration in
the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors
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www.writingcommission.org
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“Email is for
old people”
– A student
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© 2006 Marc Prensky
The “Net” Generation –
Survey of College Students
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•
•
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97% own a computer
94% own a cell phone
76% use Instant Messaging.
34% use websites as their primary
source of news
• 75% of students have a Facebook
account
Source: Connecting to the Net Generation: Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa, 2007
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Web 1.0
• Web pages
• Read and research;
use PPT to present
content
• Otofoto (digital to
print)
• Individual
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Web 2.0
• Social networking –
Facebook, My
Space, Linked In
• Blogs, wikis, twitter,
podcasting, RSS
feeds
• Read and create
interactive content
• Photobucket (online
sharing)
• Collaborative
2-column note-taking
Step 1:
Draw a grid with 3 sections
Step 3:
Identify
key
concepts
or
questions
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Step 2:
Take notes
here; use
abbreviations
Step 4:
Summarize lesson here
Benefits of 2-column note-taking
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Many exposures to text
Matches most textbook styles
Easy to teach
Study guide
Differentiation
Use Admit and Exit Slips
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All students will read the
equivalent of 25 books per
year across the curriculum to
increase their understanding
of the content of all classes.
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Reading is the single most important
social factor in American life today.
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1. The more you read, the more you know.
2. The more you know, the smarter you grow.
3. The smarter you are, the longer you stay in
school.
4. The longer you stay in school, the more
diplomas you earn and the longer you are
employed—thus the more money you earn in
a lifetime.
5. The more diplomas you earn, the higher your
children’s grades will be in school.
6. The more diplomas you earn, the longer you
live.
The opposite is also true.
 The less you read, the less you know.
 The less you know, the sooner you
drop out of school.
 The sooner you drop out, the sooner
and longer you are poor.
 The sooner you drop out, the greater
your chances of going to jail.
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Poverty and illiteracy are the
parents of desperation and
imprisonment.
82% of prison inmates are school
dropouts.
Inmates are twice as likely to be in
bottom levels of literacy.
60% of inmates are illiterate.
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To raise their reading skills and to
increase understanding of the content
of all classes,
 Students must
 read more and a wider range of materials.
 read both fiction and non-fiction, including
technical manuals and journal and magazine
articles.
 prepare written reports.
 make oral presentations.
 perform tasks that are described in the text.
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 Teachers should
 assign reading appropriate to the course content.
 expect students to demonstrate understanding of
what they read.
 give students choice in the selection of materials.
Can we ask students
to read more?
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Reading more = scoring higher
High School:
 Seniors who read an assigned book outside
class and reported on the main ideas several
times during the year score 26 points higher
than those who don’t.
 Students who read at least six books in
English scored 12 points higher.
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500-point scale
Reading more = scoring higher
Middle Grades
 Eighth-graders who read 11 or more
books each year score 25 points
higher than those who read none.
 Those who read an assigned book
outside class and demonstrated
understanding only once per
semester score 6 points higher.
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300-point scale
Why don’t we ask students to
read more?
Brainstorm in pairs.
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Why don’t we ask students to
read more?
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Believe students aren’t good
readers
Believe students don’t have time
Believe that reading detracts from
teaching “my” content
Lack of materials
Teachers aren’t readers
Sage on stage
Do students have time to read?
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Do students have time to read?
High School
 35% of the students watch TV three or
more hours per day
 26% spend three or more hours per day
surfing the internet, e-mailing or instant
messaging
Middle Grades
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 51% watch TV or play computer games
three or more hours each school day.
 20% watch over 5 hours!
Do The Math
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Goal of 25 books
Average reading rate 250 words per
minute
500 words per page
100 pages per book
175 school days
equals
less than 30 minutes per day
to reach goal!
What are some specific steps to
raise the amount of reading?
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Looking for ideas…
1. Review 11 strategies to get students to read
more (pp. 51-58)
2. Skim the five sections
1. DEAR (65)
2. Summer reading (67-68)
3. Technology (69-70)
4. Motivational activities (70-72)
5. Library media center (72-73)
3. Select three ideas that might work in your
school.
What are some specific steps to increase the
strategies our students use?
Table Talk and Planning
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 What strategies might we want to try?
 What training and support would
teachers need to implement these
strategies?
 How will we know if these strategies
are working (e.g., assessment,
analysis of student work, classroom
observations)?
Homework
1. Read pp. 19-27 in LAC guide
2. Admit Slip
 Two ahas
 One So what?
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Day Two – Literacy Plan
“Planning”
Review data – p. 36
Review pp. 37-43
Analyze and prioritizepossible
actions – p. 41
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