Enhancing Your Reading Classroom With Activities That Work

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Enhancing Your Reading Classroom With Activities
That Work

• Presenters Patricia R. Eney, Clayton Samels
• Instructors of Developmental Education
• The University of Akron Wayne College
• OADE Conference 10/ 31/01 11/ 02/01

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Outline of Presentation

• I.    Introduction
• II.   What Does the Research Say About College
• Reading Instruction?
• III.  What Needs Do Reading and Study Skills
• Students Have?
• IV.  What Specific Classroom Activities Can
  Address
• These Needs?
• V.  How Can an Instructor Access the Manual
• and/or Set Up Similar Web Pages/CDs?
• VI. Evaluation and Conclusion

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Placement at Wayne College

• Mathematics Placement Test
• The COMPASS Test
• The Learning and Study Strategies Inventory
  (LASSI)

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Three Levels of Developmental Reading Courses

• College Reading non-credit-bearing
• Students scoring below 49 on the COMPASS test
• College Reading and Study Skills
  non-credit-bearing
• Students scoring between 49 and 71 on the COMPASS
  test
• University Orientation credit-bearing
• Students who place out of College Reading and
  Study Skills but have been conditionally accepted
  based on SAT or ACT scores and/or high school
  grades.
• Students desiring to enhance their learning
  strategies.

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What Does the Research Say About College Reading
Instruction?
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Traditional College Reading Classroom

• (Pearson, 1985)
• Passive,
• receptive,
• and text-based
• (Hodge, 1993)
• Skills taught in isolation
• Practice drills
• Multiple-choice, true-false, fill-in-the-blank
  mastery tests
• Short reading passages
• Very little critical reading and thinking
• Very little student-student or student-teacher
  communication
• Instructor seen as expert

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No Significant Difference

• Bickley, Davis and Anderson (2001) found that
  students taking traditional college reading
  courses showed no significant difference from
  those who elected not to take the reading course
  when both sets of students took a reading
  intensive course the following semester.

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Modern Reading Approach

• (Gourgey, 1999) Based on metacognition
• Awareness and control of ones own learning
• (Wood, 1997) Characteristics
• Use of more varied group of reading selections
• Integration of reading and writing
• Collaborative reading activities
• Mastery of strategies instead of skill and drill
• Critical reading and thinking activities
• Instructor seen as facilitator and encourager

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Vocabulary Acquisition

• Traditional Approach -Teaching vocabulary
  using long lists of words This method has been
  proven to have few long-term effects (Simpson
  Randall, 2000).
• Modern Approach Use vocabulary in the
  context of content-area courses. (C)ontext
  allows words to become integrated with previously
  acquired knowledge (Simpson Randall, 2000).

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Study Skill Instruction

• Traditional Approach
• Based on the assumption that all students learn
  the same way.
• Modern Approach
• Teach a variety of strategies for each study
  skill.
• Link study-skill course with content-area
  curriculum.
• Use journals to get students to metacognitively
  evaluate their use of each strategy

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 What Needs Do Reading and Study Skills Students
Have?
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College Reading and Study Skills

• Fall Semester 2000
• Vocabulary (24)
• Test-Taking (20)
• Lecture Notetaking (12)
• Goal-Setting (12)
• Recognizing Main Idea (8) 

• Spring Semester 2001
• Preparing for Exams (40)
• Recognizing Main Idea (30)
• Reading Textbooks (30) 

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University Orientation

• Fall Semester 2000
• Motivation (35)
• Time Management (26)
• Preparing for Exams (18)
• Reading Textbooks (16)
• Positive Self-Talk (16)
• Lecture Notetaking (10)

• Spring Semester 2001
• Time Management (54)
• Reading Textbooks (15)
• Lecture Notetaking (15)

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What Specific Activities Can Address These Needs?
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Activities

• Constructing the Authors Intended Message
• Vocabulary Overview Guide
• Teaching Goal Setting Through the Use of Proximal
  Goal Sheets
• Using Concrete Examples to Teach Time Management
• Comprehension Modeling Using LETME
• Preparing for Exams Using Time Management and
  Organizational Skills

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 How Can an Instructor Access the Manual and/or
Set Up Similar Web Pages/CDs?
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Creating the Files

• Word Processor such as Microsoft Word
• Convert to PDF with Adobe Acrobat
• Scan in Graphic Pages
• Import Graphics Pages into Acrobat
• Enhance PDF Files with Links, etc.

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Distribute Files on Different Media

• Print PDF Files and Bind as Booklet
• Put PDF Files on Computer Media
• Floppy Disk up to 1.4 Meg.
• Zip Disk up to 100 or 250 Meg.
• CD Rom up to 650 Meg
• Put PDF Files on Web Site

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Evaluation and Conclusion