Content Area Reading Instruction

What is the content area teacher’s role in teaching

reading? Who is the content area teacher?

– Any teacher who uses reading as an instructional tool.

What are the three levels of reading?– Mastery level - above 95%

comprehension– Instructional level - around 95% or

slightly below - needs help to read– Frustration level – reading is to difficult –

learning is blocked

Direct and Functional Reading Instruction

Direct – teaching someone to read– Phonemes– Graphemes– Skills

Functional – teaching reading strategies to gain access to more written materials.– Comprehension– Construction of Knowledge

Content Area Teachers Need to Do Both

A shift takes place toward functional instruction. (hopefully)

Knowing why leads to knowing how– We will study both theory and practice.

A group of English, science, social studies, mathematics, physical education, art, and home economics teachers were asked a series of questions about their actions in relation to reading. On two of the questions asked, here is how they

responded:*

1. Do you require reading in your course? 97% yes, 3% no.

2. Do most of your students read their assignments? 58% yes,42% no.

Approximately three hundred students of the teachers who responded “no” to the second question were then asked these questions:

1. Do you like to read? 52% yes, 38% no, 10% no response.

2. Do you read your assignments in this class? 15% yes, 81% no, 4% no response.

3. Do your tests cover mainly lecture and discussion or reading assignments? 98% lecture and discussion, 2% reading.

4. Are you required to discuss your reading assignments? 23% yes, 70% no, 7% no response.

5. Does your teacher give you purpose for reading or are you only given the number of pages to read? 95% pages, 5% purpose.

6. Does your teacher bring in outside material for you to read and recommend books of interest for you to read? 5% yes, 95% no. 

7. Does your teacher like to read? 20% yes, 33% no, 47% don’t know.

The Timeframe of Content Area Reading

Activities

Pre-reading Strategies Reading/Text Interaction Strategies Post-reading Strategies

Overall Strategies and Activities

K-W-L – Know-Want to Know-Learn Dr-TA – Directed Reading-Thinking

Activity GRP – Guided Reading Procedure Intra Act Discussion Web

K-W-L Introduce the Strategy Model the Strategy Through

Brainstorming Have students use KWL sheets Read text to answer Questions

DR-TA Prediction Verification Judgement

GRP Prepare Students for Reading Assign a Reading Selection Turn Books Face Down Tell what you remember

Help students recognize that there is Much they have not remembered.

Redirect students to the passage for corrections

Create an outline based on remembrances Extend Questioning for analysis and synthesis

Provide immediate feedback and or assessment

Intra Act A game that lays the groundwork for

reflective discussion Steps

– 1.Prediction - pre-reading strategies– 2.Relating – personal reactions to the topic

– 3.Valuation – game sheet– 4. Reflection – How did your ideas stand up

Discussion Web Activate Prior Knowledge Assign selection and introduce discussion

web Students work in pairs Combine into groups of four to compare

responses Give three minutes for groups to prepare a

defense for their answers. Spokesperson Whole Class discussion Students write final responses – display

them

Prereading Strategies

Curiosity Arousal Creating Story Impressions Story Chain

Establishing Problematic Perspectives

Anticipation Guides

Student Generated Questions

ReQuest– Designed for one-on one– Teacher and student (s) read a section at a

time pose questions to each other– Shift to predictions before reading

Expectation Outlines– Students read the beginning of a selection– Five to ten questions they think will be

answered– Discuss questions– Read and discuss whether they were answered

Reading Guides Three Level Guides Pattern Guides Selective Guides Outlining Jot Chart Network Trees Chains Semantic Maps

Selective Reading Guides How to think with print. Eliminate all sections irrelevant to the

lesson purpose. Teacher must know how to process

info. from our own subject area and according to the curriculum.

Three Level Guides Based on Levels of Comprehension

– Literal– Interpretive– Applied

Create a set of questions as a study guide in these three areas.

Remember that these levels are not completely discreet,

Text Pattern Guides Examine a reading selection Make students aware of the pattern Provide Guidance Provide Assistance

Text Patterns Description Sequence Comparison and Contrast Cause and Effect Problem and Solution

Pattern Signals

Graphic Representations Graphic or visual representations help

learners comprehend and retain textually important information. When students learn how to use and construct graphic representations, they are in control of a study strategy that allows them to identify what parts of a text are important, how the ideas and concepts encountered in the text are related, and where they can find specific information to support more important ideas.

Outlining – The Classic Approach

Venn Diagram

Semantic Maps

Comparison and Contrast Matrices

Problem and Solution Chart

Network Trees

Events Chains

Writing Summaries GRASP

– Guided Reading and Summarizing Procedure– Based on GRP – Read – Turn Book Down - Summarize

Summary Polishing Note Taking SQ3R Other Study Strategies

– e.g. graphic representations