Engaging & Supporting Diverse Learners:Moving from Theory to Practice

Dr. Bruce TaylorDirector, The Center for Adolescent Literacies

September 26, 2011

Our Agenda for Tonight

• A quick review of two important concepts for teaching and learning– Metacognition– Prior knowledge

• Teaching & learning tools that

Two Important Concepts

• Metacognition. “Knowing about knowing” or knowing what to do when you encounter a challenge in learning.

• Prior Knowledge. Comes out of Schema Theory and points to the importance of tapping into what we already know in learning new ideas.

Metacognition• Definition: “thinking about one's own mental

processes”• All learners have metacognitive processes but

some more than others• The good news is that metacognition can be

taught using instructional strategies (cognitive strategies)

Metacognition in Practice

Challenges we encounter• Come across a new word

when we read• “Don’t get it” or don’t

understand after reading • Find reading difficult and

disfluent (choppy, uneven, slow)

What we do

Schema Theory & Prior Knowledge• Schema theory states that organized

knowledge is an elaborate network of abstract mental structures (networks of schemata).

• That is, the brain organizes information into structures (think webs or mind maps).

• New information is “plugged into” existing structures (prior knowledge).

Schema Network (example)

• It’s like a rolodex card with a topic (engines, for example). On our card we have what we already know, our prior knowledge. The more we know the more connections we can make as we add new concepts (hybrid or diesel engines, for example).

• This sometimes gets called “The Matthew Effect”—the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (educationally speaking).

Think of it this way…

LET’S TRY READING

Once in a land of Serenity there ruled a king called Kay Oss. The king wanted to be liked by all his people. So onx dzy, thx friedzlu rulex dxcdxd that no onx in thy country would be responsiblx for anything. Zl, all thx worderxr rxstxd from thxir dzily lxbors. "Blxss Kxy Oss," they xxclaimed. Now thx law makezrs dxcvdxd thzt thx bxst form of govxrnmxnt wzs nonx zt zll. Az tvmx wxnt on, things zll apzrt. Zee moreall ze thz xxstoy is, "sometimzz u muzt givv peepul whut tzxy need, knot whut tzry wxnt."

Pre Reading/Learning During Reading/Learning After Reading/Learning

•Activate prior knowledge •Learning is active and engaged•Learners make connections

•Knowledge is connected, integrated

Anticipation Guide

KWL

Say Something

Double entry journal

Anticipation Guide

KWL

Found Poetry

Putting These Into Practice

A model unit on natural disasters (science):• KWL • Anticipation Guide• Say Something• Found Poetry • Vocabulary Self-Awareness Chart

KWLWhat do you KNOW? What do you WANT to

know?What did you LEARN?

Questions???