Building Bridges for Emergent
Bilinguals, Part III:
Reading to Learn Across
Content Areas
Rebecca Curinga, PD Coordinator
Aika Swai, Program Coordinator
NYS PD Session #4
March 15, 2014
Agenda
10:00 Review of Components of ‘Learning to Read’
and the Language Experience Approach
10:45 How Bridges students read to learn new
information
11:45 ‘Reading to Learn’ with the Read-RetellRespond method using the Bridges Curriculum
• 1:15 Lunch
1:45 Practicing Read-Retell-Respond across content
areas using the Bridges Curriculum
2:40 Wrap-Up, Homework and Evaluation
2
Your questions from last
session
• How do I incorporate this into my math classes?
• How do we tailor this content for our population?
3
Activity 1:
Review from last session
4
HW Review: ‘Learning to
Read’
• Think-pair-share, your experience with:
• The Language Experience Approach (LEA)
• Other ‘Learning to Read’ Activities
• You have five minutes to discuss your
experiences.
• What was ONE challenge you encountered?
• Then, share with the group.
5
Reading Stages
• Learning to Read: up to 3rd grade
• Learning the ‘mechanics’ of reading
• Confirmation of oral language and concepts
you already know
• Reading to Learn: 4th grade and up
• Fluency and automaticity in reading
• New concepts and information are learned
through reading
6
Components of Reading
Top Down
Pragmatics & World
Knowledge
Semantics/Vocabulary
Syntax
Morphological Skills
Reading
Comprehension
Phonological Skills
Print Concepts
Bottom up
7
Comprehension Requires
All Readers Need
•Some framework for academic
content or topic (pragmatic,
semantic, vocabulary)
•High-level knowledge of the
language system (pragmatic,
semantic, syntactic and
morphological)
•Graphophonic knowledge
(phonological skills)
Bridges Students Need More Help
• Building the content or topic
knowledge
• Learning the English language
system
• Acquiring graphophonic
knowledge
8
Today’s Goals
To be able to:
• Comprehend how cueing systems support
students in reading to learn.
• Understand reading instruction in the classroom
using Before, During and After Reading techniques
(tasks and strategies).
• Learn and practice the Read-Retell-Respond
method to support ‘reading to learn’ and higherlevel reading comprehension skills for Bridges
students.
9
Activities for Goal 1:
How do we use cues to learn
new information through
reading?
10
What is ‘Reading to Learn?’
• What do you learn?
• Concepts, values and knowledge
• Phrases and vocabulary
• Language and text structures
• What are the levels of comprehension?
• Literal or basic understanding
• Inferential and analytical understanding
• Application of information to other contexts
11
Looking for Clues in Text
• Good readers use clues around the new word or
concept in the text to assign meaning
• Anything to predict something about the word/phrase,
even if not exact meaning
• Developing readers benefit from explicit teaching
on where and how to find clues
• There are many different types of visual and
linguistic cues to aid reading comprehension
12
Pragmatic Cues (Text Structure)
Cues in the structure of the text that give you information on
how to interpret the reading.
• What helps you identify text structure in the following examples?
• Expository: Cause/Effect
They do not eat camels because they need camels to
survive.
• Expository: Compare and Contrast
Tuareg men and women wear sandals and long
robes.
• Narrative
Selina Mabiletsa and her husband Joe lived in a small
house in Thokoza.
13
Syntactic Cues
Sentence structures or other words in a
sentence that give a clue about what type of
word it is, e.g. is it a noun, verb, adjective?
• What syntactic cues help you to assign meaning to the
word trade in the following example?
Tuareg carry salt across the desert to trade.
14
Lexical Cues
(Vocabulary/Semantics)
Content words and Function words
• Content words are open-class and carry
meaning: e.g. nouns, most verbs, adverbs and
adjectives
• Function words are closed-class and have little
meaning: e.g. determiners, prepositions,
auxiliary verbs, conjunctions
15
Lexical Cues for Content
(Vocabulary/Semantics)
Words in the text that give a clue of how to assign
meaning to a new word, phrase and/or new concept.
• What lexical cues help you to assign meaning to the
word ancestor in the following example?
Tuareg lived in the desert because their
ancestors lived in the desert for many years.
16
Lexical Cues for Structure
(Vocabulary/Semantics)
Signal words in a text that give a clue about
type of text structure or intended purpose of
a sentence.
• What lexical cue (or function word) helps you to
comprehend the intended purpose or structure in
the following example?
The desert is very dry but there is water
under the ground.
17
Morphological Cues
Breaking down words into parts to assign meaning
through 1-cognate roots and/or affixes, 2- roots
and/or affixes that are recognized in English from
previously learned words.
• What morphological cue helps you to assign meaning to
the word protection in the following example?
These clothes protect them from the sun and wind
in the desert. Tuareg men also wear a veil on the
face for protection and to show respect.
18
Visual and Phonological Cues
Combination of using visual representations or visual
cues and graphophonic knowledge in the text to
read and assign meaning to a word.
•What visual + graphophonic cue helps
you to assign meaning to the word veil
in the following example?
Tuareg men also wear a veil on the
face.
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Practice with Cueing Systems
• Find more linguistic and visual cues in the
text from the Bridges Curriculum! (Science,
Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 6)
• Group 1: Syntactic Cues
• Group 2: Lexical Cues (Content & Structure)
• Group 3: Morphological Cues
• Group 4: Visual + Graphophonic Cues
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Summary of ‘Reading to
Learn’ in Bridges
• Complex process of making-meaning!
• Often simultaneous with learning to read
• Need explicit instruction for identifying cues
to support comprehension
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Activities for Goal 2:
Understanding the framework
for Before, During and After
Reading activities.
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Comprehension
Top Down
Pragmatics & World
Knowledge
Semantics/Vocabulary
•Basic Comprehension
•Analytic or Inferential
Syntax
Morphological Skills
Comprehension
of subject topics
(Phonological Skills)
(Print Concepts)
Bottom up
23
R1
Annotate
text
1
Rarely labels images
or marks text to show
comprehension.
3
Labels images, marks
text with home
language translations
/ English phrases.
May need
prompting.
5
Labels images and marks
text, without little
prompting, to show range
of thinking (translating,
Answers most literal and
inferential questions.
paraphrasing, questioning,
connecting, inferring).
R2
Comprehend
details
Answers few to no
questions about text
details.
Answers most literal
comprehension
questions.
RI.1
Rarely points to
evidence in text.
Usually points to
evidence in text.
R3
Identify main
idea
Retells some details
but has difficulty
identifying main
idea.
Identifies topic, main
idea and details.
Asks literal questions
that have answers
explicit and easy to
find in the text.
Uses one or more
features to find
information, predict,
or set purpose for
reading, but only
with extensive
guidance and
support.
Asks literal questions
that have answers in
different places in the
text.
With prompting, uses
a few features (title,
headings, pictures)
and signal words to
set purpose for
reading, predict and
understand text.
Asks inferential question
that can be answered
from the text or from one’s
own thinking.
Without prompting, uses
several features (title,
headings, pictures) and
signal words to set
purpose for reading,
predict and understand
text.
Reads and
comprehends only
class-produced texts
using language
experience
approach (LEA)11
(lexile levels below
420L).
Reads and
comprehends class
texts at grades 2-3
text complexity (lexile
levels from 420L-740L)
Reads and comprehends
texts at higher than grade
3 text complexity (lexile
levels above 740L).
RI.2
R4
Ask questions
R5
Use text features
and structure
RI .5
R6
Comprehend
increasingly
difficult text
RI.10
Consistently points to
evidence in text to
support literal and
inferential thinking.
Identifies topic, main idea
and details.
Reading in
Bridges –
Outcomes
Summarizes the text orally.
24
Reading to Learn
“Meaning does not reside solely in the words
and structures of the text, but is constructed
in the course of a transaction between the
text and the reader” p. 80
From Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning by Pauline
Gibbons (2007)
25
Reading to Learn
What are you doing in the
classroom to support students to
comprehend text?
Turn and talk with a partner
What is the purpose of each of your
strategies or activities?
26
Framework for Reading
Instruction in Bridges
Before Reading
During Reading
After Reading
27
Adapted from Gibbons (2007)
Framework for Reading
Instruction in Bridges
Before Reading
During Reading
GOAL: Build Schema
GOAL: Make sense and
monitor understanding
•Teacher ‘thinks aloud’
to model strategies for
sense making
•Students practice
using strategies to
make sense of text
(independently and
collaboratively)
•Activate prior
knowledge
•Build conceptual
and linguistic
schema
After Reading
GOAL: Extend
understanding
• Students respond
creatively
•Focus on language
study
•Represent the
information in a
different form
28
Adapted from Gibbons (2007)
Comprehension work in the
Classroom
1. Help readers understand a particular
text.
2. Support readers to develop strategies
that they can use to transfer to all
texts.
29
Moving into the
Classroom
30
Unit 2 Science
EQ: How do organisms survive
where they live?
Focus: Plant, human, and animal
adaptations to two extreme
biomes: tundra and desert.
31
WEEK 2: Before Reading
Look at the wall. What did we do to build
background before reading in this unit?
A) Translated glossary words
B) Watched video:‘Tuareg Nomads’
C) Watched video: Camel Adaptations
D) Translated animal structures words
E) Created Concept Map: Adaptations
32
Think -Pair- Share
How do these before reading
tasks support reading to learn?
33
Summary of Before Reading
Goals
• Build students’ understanding of topic or central
concepts.
• Build oral language skills that can transfer to print.
• Introduce and build understanding around key
vocabulary.
• Introduce and build understanding of text
structure or genre students will encounter.
34
Activities for Goal 3:
Learn and practice the Read-RetellRespond method to support
reading to learn for Bridges
students.
35
During Reading
PREDICT:
How will we support and
guide students’ interaction
with text during reading?
36
During Reading
• Explicitly model the way effective
readers read and the strategies
they use to make meaning from
text.
• Students practice these strategies as
they read.
37
Comprehension Strategies
What are the strategies that
students need to know?
38
READING STRATEGIES
• Monitor understanding
• Activate prior knowledge
• Set a purpose for reading
• Predict and clarify
• Summarize and bring meaning forward
• Visualize and make a mental model
• Question
• Use clarifying and strategies
• Use knowledge of the features of the genre
or text structure
39
Apprenticing Students to
Reading
Teacher Think Aloud
•Teachers make their
thinking visible
•They explicitly
demonstrate the process
for developing readers
Students Practice Strategy
•Metacognitive process
40
Power Method:
READ RETELL RESPOND
1. Teacher reads a selection and
thinks aloud to model a sensemaking strategy.
2. Student partners retell.
3. Student partners share their retell
and compare with other pairs.
41
Your Role
Student
PARTICIPATE:
Teacher
REFLECT:
• Be active
• Imagine yourself in the
shoes of the students
• What did we do?
• Why did we do it?
• How does this support
reading to learn?
42
Unit 2 Science
EQ: How do organisms survive
where they live?
Focus: Plant, human, and animal
adaptations to two extreme
biomes: tundra and desert.
43
44
Step #1: Teacher Reads and
Models, then Partners Retell
•What happened?
•Why is it important?
•How does this support reading to
learn?
45
What happened in Step #1?
1. Chunk text for read aloud (determine strategy to
model
2. Divide class into partners (be strategic)
3. Teacher conducts a read-aloud think-aloud of the
selection and models a meaning-making strategy
4. Students track print
5. Teacher pauses and students retell orally (adding
on to partners retell or clarifying as needed)
6. Teacher continues to read and students track
print
7. Students retell
46
Step #1 continued
8. The teacher asks partners to think about the whole text.
‘What was it about?’
9. Partners discuss what happened in the text.
10. Two student volunteers share their versions.
11. As students recount their versions of the texts their
peers listen for what is similar and different in each of
the retellings.
12. The teacher asks students to share their observations of
what was similar and different. This helps to raise
students awareness of what might be missing in their
retell.
47
Why is it important for Bridges
students?
• Supports reading as a sense-making
process
• Slows down the process of reading
• Makes the characteristics of the text
explicit
• language and structure
• It is a transferrable strategy
48
Read Retell Step #2
Partners read (silently or
aloud) and retell
49
Step #2: Partners Read and Retell
(practice sense making strategies)
•What happened?
•Why is it important?
•How does this support reading
to learn?
50
What happened in Step #2?
1. Partners A and B read section silently.
2. Partner A retells.
3. Both partners clarify new words and annotate on
text in their home language if necessary.
4. Partners generate a question about the text
independently. These questions will be collected
by the teacher. In a subsequent lesson, students
will sort the questions by ‘type’ and answer
each other’s questions.
5. Partners switch roles.
51
Why was it important?
• Highlight reading as a sense-making
process
• Collaborative sense-making
• Repeated practice
• Foster questioning
52
Step #3: After Reading
Comprehension Questions
53
Step #3: After Reading
•What happened?
•Why is it important?
•How does this support
reading to learn?
54
What happened in Step #3?
• Students orally answer ‘In the Text’
questions (Basic Comprehension)
• Students orally answer ‘Think and
Search’ questions (inferential
questions)
• Students orally answer their peers’
questions
• Students answer questions in writing
55
Why is it important?
• Highlights further that reading is a sensemaking process.
• Second exposure to text for students.
• Student generated questions highlight that
interacting with text is meaningful.
• Reinforces that the ‘work of
comprehension’ goes beyond a literal
interpretation.
56
Application / Practice
in Content Area Groups
1. Participants practice Read-RetellRespond.
2. Develop activities for before,
during and after reading using a
text from the Bridges Curriculum.
3. Then, share experiences.
57
Summary of Today’s PD
Session
• How did your experience with Read-RetellRespond change your understanding of how
to teach your students to ‘read to learn’ in
your content class?
• What is one thing you will do in your
classroom this week to help build these
‘reading to learn’ skills?
58
Homework Assignment:
Practicing Read-Retell-Respond
• Document your experience with the following and post
to our Bridges Forum:
http://bridgesforum.ws.gc.cuny.edu
• Be prepared to share at the next PD
• Build a reading activity using your classroom content.
•Develop Before, During, and After activities.
•Include the Read-Retell-Respond method as part of the
‘during’ activity.
•Include at least one extension activity focusing on cueing
systems in ‘reading to learn.’
•Implement the activity with your current students.
59
Follow-up Reading
• Coming soon: a list of recommended
readings
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