Title: Reading Strategies for High School Students: A Review of the Literature
1Reading Strategies for High School StudentsA
Review of the Literature
- Bill Muth
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium
- Policy Planning Council Meeting
- Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
2National Assessment of Educational
ProgressVirginia 8TH Grade Reading
3Performance of NAEP Reporting Groups Virginia
2007 -- 8th Grade Reading
Group Pop Ave Score Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
Male 49 262 26 74 28 2
Female 51 272 16 84 39 4
White 61 273 15 85 40 4
Black 26 252 36 64 16 --
Hispanic 6 258 33 67 25 3
Asian/Pacific 5 280 10 90 54 5
4proficient readers
- fluent
- deep and broad vocabularies
- read strategically
- self-directed and engaged
5what works
Kamil et al. (2008)
- explicit instruction vocabulary
- explicit instruction comprehension strategies
- extended discussions of text
- student engagement
- intensive interventions for struggling readers
6explicit vocabulary instruction
- 3,000 new words per year, grades 3-12
- extensive reading, but
- direct instruction
- new words
- Tier 1,2,3
- How to learn words independently
- ? word consciousness
7explicit vocabulary instruction
- multiple exposures in multiple contexts
- strategies
- semantic feature analysis, semantic mapping
- games
- running records
- word-rich classrooms
- dictionaries, thesauruses, word walls, crossword
puzzles, Scrabble and other word games,
literature, poetry books, and word-play and joke
books
8direct instruction of comprehension strategies
- active comprehension monitoring fix-up
strategies - graphic and semantic organizers story maps
- question generation
- summarization and paraphrasing
- selective rereading
9direct instruction of comprehension strategies
- content reading strategies
- win-win solutions
- boost discipline learning and general reading
- explicit instruction
- demonstrations (e.g., teacher think-alouds)
- Discussion
-
- professional development support.
10extended discussion of text
- engage students in
- predicting
- questioning
- clarifying
- summarizing
- interpreting
- connecting to prior learning
- examples
- anticipation Guides
- directed reading and thinking activities
- reciprocal teaching
11extended discussion of text
- students scaffold each other
- model literate thinking
- ? Comprehension of difficult text
- adjustments to curriculum
- tension between depth and breadth
12motivation and engagement
- interesting and relevant content
- goals tied to big picture
- being challenged (academic press)
- examples
- range of choice and autonomy
- hands-on learning experiences
- interesting and accessible tests
- collaboration through discussions and assignments.
13motivation and engagement
- understanding the potential of non-canonical
literacies - canon of methods
- ELLs funds of knowledge
- girls portrayed in traditional pop culture
- African American boys and masculinity
- digital literacies
14intensive interventions
- struggling readers triaged
- those with word-level proficiency
- content area reading support for vocabulary,
fluency and comprehension. - those lacking word-level proficiency
- specialized intensive help
- if significantly behind, (e.g., 2 years)
- system approach such as Response to Intervention
15intensive interventions
- all learners, including ELLs and struggling
readers, - benefit from
- formative assessment
- differentiated instruction
16formative assessment differentiated instruction
- rich questioning discussion to uncover student
thinking - comment-only marking
- sharing (co-constructing) scoring and grading
criteria - ? opportunities for peer- and self-assessment.
- group review of outcomes from tests.
17formative assessment differentiated instruction
- differentiation starts with accurate assessment
- FA starts with clear knowledge of standards
tasks. - classroom-based FA
- unpack State standards
- butsome literacy standards point to competencies
that have less well-developed theory of task - e.g., describe the relationship between theme,
setting, and character
18formative assessment differentiated instruction
- differentiation starts with accurate assessment
- FA starts with clear knowledge of standards
tasks. - intervention classrooms
- targeting word-level skills (e.g., phonics)
- maintain meaningful purposes for reading
- NAEP is insensitive to instructional needs of
struggling readers - NAEP treats literacy as general skill, not
content specific
19formative assessment differentiated instruction
- challenges changing attitudes and instructional
practices - tensions between teachers and administrators
- educators attitudes beliefs about indicators
of student success - teachers need concrete FA examples
- assessment exemplars
- discussion questions
- think alouds
- text sets
- student-constructed rubrics
20other findings
- integrate SOLs essential knowledge with
instruction - buy-in at all levels
- teachers focus on no more than 2-4 strategies
- content teachers need incentives PD
-
- content teachers need to know what is and is not
expected of them - each discipline needs to define its own essential
literacy skills.
21conclusions
- fostering
- deep knowledge of the tasks
- deep understanding of our students
- making connections between the two