Literacy Skills for All Adolescent Learners

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Literacy Skills for All Adolescent Learners

• By Adriane Hartness

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Entry Task

• Be prepared to tell the group something you
  remember about yourself as a developing reader in
  middle/junior high school or high school.

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Purpose/Objectives

• To gain a working knowledge of the Washington
  State K-12 Reading Model
• To increase knowledge of research-based
  strategies to improve literacy achievement for
  all students
• To increase capacity to lead school improvement
  efforts in literacy

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Picture the Struggling Reader

• Who is the struggling reader in your
  school/classroom?

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Struggling Reader?

• Student who gravitates to the back of the room,
  perhaps has head down or hood/baseball cap pulled
  low to conceal face?
• Student who sits to the side of the classroom
  midway backremains quiet most of the time, will
  answer if called upon but the response is barely
  audible?

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Struggling Reader?

• Student who keeps the class entertainedwell-liked
  , always willing to run an errand or help out?
• New student from Vietnam or Cambodia or Russia or
  Mexico who barely speaks English?
• Student in AP English who writes well but when
  given challenging text may struggle?

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Two Camps

• Resistive Readers - can read but choose not to
• Word Callers - can decode words but do not
  remember or understand what theyve read
• Caveat Anyone can struggle given the
  right text.
• Cris Tovani, I Read It, But I Dont Get
  It

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Washington State K-12 Reading Model

• Table of Contents
• Graphic Representation (Introduction)
• Connected to 9 Characteristics, p. 5
• Overview, p.6
• Standards
• Assessment
• Instruction and Intervention
• Leadership
• System-Wide Commitment

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Group Work

• 1s - pages 7 - 13
• 2s - pages 14 - 20
• 3s - pages 21 - 26
• Read and discuss designated pages to communicate
  the key elements
• Summarize your section using graphs, pictures,
  and or text
• Share with the whole group

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School Team Task

• Discuss and identify which elements of a
  comprehensive action plan are currently in place
  or in progress in your school.
• Prioritize the key elements which need focused
  attention in your school.
• Be prepared to share with the whole group

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Adolescent Literacy Alert

• 69 of 8th grade students fall below proficient
  level in the ability to comprehend grade level
  text (2007 NAEP)
• 26 of 8th grade students read below basic level
  (2007 NAEP)
• There are 6 million students in grades 6 through
  12 at risk of not graduating from high school or
  of graduating unprepared for success in college
  or a career. (Alliance for Excellent Education
  2003)

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Alert Continued

• Among 12th grade students, only 42 of whites,
  16 of African Americans, and 22 of Hispanics
  scored at or above a proficient literacy
  level.(Alliance for Excellent Education 2003)
• Approximately 25 of all high school students
  read below basic levels or three to four years
  below basic grade levels.(Alliance for Excellent
  Education 2003)
• 75 of students with literacy problems in 3rd
  grade will still experience literacy difficulties
  in 9th grade. (Alliance for Excellent Education
  2003)

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Key to Success

• Reading ability is a key predictor of achievement
  in mathematics and science, and the global
  information economy requiresfar more advanced
  literacy skills than those required of any
  previous generation.

Snow, Burns, and Griffin 1998
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Practice Guide

• Improving Adolescent Literacy Effective
  Classroom and Intervention
• Practices 2008 Institute of Education
  Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
• Website http//ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc
• Evidence-based Instructional Practices

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Five Recommendations

• Provide explicit vocabulary instruction
• Provide direct and explicit comprehension
  strategy instruction
• Provide opportunities for extended discussion of
  text meaning and interpretation
• Increase student motivation and engagement in
  literacy
• Make available intensive and individualized
  intervention for struggling readers that can be
  provided by trained specialists

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Group Work

• Read and discuss designated recommendation
• Summarize the critical elements of the
  recommendation using text and/or non-linguistic
  representations
• Share with the whole group

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Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

• Effective vocabulary instruction means students
• learn the words
• use the words
• remember the words
• What Teachers Can Do When Kids Cant Read

by Kylene Beers
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Vocabulary continued

• 1.Preteach difficult vocabulary
• 2.Use direct, explicit, systematic instruction
• 3.Use students prior knowledge and provide
  opportunities for multiple exposure to new words

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Impact

• Research shows a student in the 50th percentile
  in terms of ability to comprehend subject matter
  taught in school, with no direct vocabulary
  instruction, scores in the 50th percentile
  ranking
• The same student, after specific content-area
  terms have been taught in a specific way, raises
  his/her comprehension ability to the 83rd
  percentile. Robert Marzano

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6 Step Vocabulary Instruction

• Role of Vocabulary powerpoint
• http//www.mde.k12.ms.us/acad1/powerpointvocabular
  yinstruction.ppt
• Building Academic Vocabulary Teachers Manual
  powerpoint
• http//www.shannon.ws/DocumentView.asp?DID101

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Comprehension

• The process of extracting or constructing meaning
• What good readers do
• Use existing knowledge to make sense of new
  information
• Ask questions before, during, and after
  reading
• Draw inferences from the text
• Monitor their comprehension

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Good Readers continued

• Use fix up strategies when meaning breaks
  down
• Determine what is important
• Synthesize information to create new
  thinking
• I Read It, But I Dont Get It Cris Tovani

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K-12/College Success

• Draw inferences and conclusions
• Analyze conflicting source documents
• Solve complex problems with no obvious answer
• (Prepare students to)Write multiple 3-5 page
  papers supporting arguments with evidence
• Read far more books, articles, essays than they
  now read in high school (in class!) College
  Knowledge by David Conley

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Writing

• Writing is the litmus paper of thoughtthe very
  center of schooling. Ted Sizer
• In English Language Arts/Reading classes students
  should be reading or writing at least 50 of the
  timeat least 30 of the time in other content
  area classes.
• Dr. Mike Schmoker, Presentation May 2009

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Reflection

• What percentage of classroom time are students
  engaged in reading and responding to text?

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Resources for Comprehension Strategies

• I Read It, But I Dont Get It
• by Cris Tovani, 2000
• When Kids Cant Read, What Teachers Can Do
• by Kylene Beers, 2003
• Strategies That Work
• by Stephanie Harvey/Anne Goudvis, 2007
• Deeper Reading
• by Kelly Gallagher, 2004

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Motivation and Engagement

• Set clear learning goals and objectives
• Guide students to set their own improvement goals
  and track progress
• Guide students in selecting materials appropriate
  for their reading level
• Provide students with opportunities for
  interaction

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School Team Task

• Which of the five recommendations might be the
  focus of our action plan to improve literacy
  achievement for all students?
• What roadblocks do we anticipate and what can we
  do to overcome them?

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Additional Resources

• Annotated Bibliography
• OSPI Website - Classroom Resources

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Team Planning

• What will you take from todays work to help move
  literacy forward in your school?
• How will you engage all staff members in the work
  of improving literacy achievement?
• What does your school data tell you about the
  literacy needs of your students?

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The Literacy Challenge

• Who is the most important person in the
  organization?
• EVERYONE