1

MODULE 2:CONTENT-AREA LITERACY

Adolescent LiteracyUnit 2, Session 1

2

STRUCTURING LESSONS TO PROMOTE COMPREHENSION

Matching Form with Function

3

Essential Questions

Module 2 QuestionWhat role can content-area teachers play in helping

adolescents acquire general and discipline-specific literacy skills?

Unit 2, Session 1 QuestionsWhat lesson formats and structures lend themselves

to promoting reading comprehension?How are teaching for understanding and promoting

reading comprehension related?Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

4

Warm-Up

Microlab:

Describe a time when your students really understood something you taught – what did you do to facilitate this?

What is the difference between “knowing” and “understanding” in your subject area?

What lesson structures/formats/components have most successfully promoted understanding?

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

5

What Does it Mean to Put Understanding Up Front?

A unit/lesson-planning framework for focusing on understanding and comprehension

Connected to Schema TheoryActivating schema (i.e. background knowledge)Building new schema Motivating students to wrestle with big ideas

Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Putting understanding up front.

• Understanding Performances• Ongoing Assessment

• Generative Topics• Understanding Goals

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

6

An Example in the Science Classroom

Generative Topic: Forensic Science and the methods behind CSI

Understanding Goals:How problem-solving and scientific inquiry,

through the analysis of forensic evidence, can help scientists and police solve crimes/mysteries.

From Guzzetti (2009) “Thinking like a forensic scientist.”

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

7

An Example in the Science Classroom

Understanding Performances:Reading and solving crime scenesWriting murder mysteries using forensic evidenceReading and discussing forensic-related textsConducting forensic tests such as taking teeth impressions,

fingerprinting, lip printing, chromatography, chemical analyses, etc.

Ongoing Assessment:Performance on daily tasks (see above)Final performance of understanding – reading and rewriting

a murder mystery story using forensic detailsModule 2: Unit 2, Session 1

8

Promoting Comprehension Each Day

Lesson-plan structure based on Schema Theory: Pre-Reading/Learning Guided-Reading/Learning Post-Reading/Learning

Final Word Protocol: Jacobs’ “Reading, Writing, and Understanding”

What is Jacobs saying about the relationship between the pre-/guided-/post- lesson structure and promoting comprehension/understanding?

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

9

Connecting Strategies & Planning

Tour of Adlit.org’s Strategy LibraryHow do these “strategies”:

Get students ready to read/learn?Guide students through the reading/learning?Help students synthesize & review the

reading/learning?

Using a content-area text brought to the session, what pre-/guided-/post- activities might you introduce to students?

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

10

Wrap-Up

Things to Remember:Teaching for understanding and focusing on

comprehension are keys to improving mastery of content-area concepts and skills.

A pre-/guided-/post- lesson plan structure can help promote students’ understanding of challenging content-area texts and concepts.

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

11

Further Study

Take the lessons you have planned during this session and try them in your classrooms. Then take note of the following:What happened? What worked well? What

challenges did you encounter?Which Adlit.org strategies seem most fruitful

for activating background knowledge, guiding reading/learning, and helping to solidify learning in your content area?

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1

12

ReferencesGuzzetti, B. (2009). Thinking like a forensic scientist: Learning with academic

and everyday texts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(3), 192–203.

Jacobs, V. A. (2002). Reading, writing, and understanding. Educational Leadership, 60(3), 58–61. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/nov02/vol60/num03/Reading,_Writing,_and_Understanding.aspx

Jacobs, V. A. (n.d.). Reading and writing for understanding. Usable Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Retrieved from http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC1-1.html

Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Putting understanding up front. Educational Leadership, 51(5), 4–7.

Module 2: Unit 2, Session 1