Michael

Article about research-based comprehension/vocabulary

I found the four categories very helpful.
 * rich and varied oral and print language experiences
 * This matches my experience with teaching content area teaching and reaching all learners. When the playing field is leveled through RAN non fiction strategy, interactive read aloud, reader's theater, song etc I find children who are struggling readers do excel if they are motivated and make the effort
 * This also goes along with a recent workshop I attended where the speaker presented a lot of research supporting this approach - Basically, research shows that the best way to bring reading levels up (fiction and nonfiction) is through children reading at their level (guided reading), but the gap between strong readers and weak readers widens with each grade. The research also shows weaker readers do not typically get immersed in quality grade-level appropriate text. Researchers recommend affording all learners the opportunity through listening, book club etc and somehow accelerating their progress.
 * instruction in individual words - I do some of this, but would like to explore this some more.
 * word learning strategy instruction - Same comment as above.
 * fostering word consciousness - This is very effective - the use of the interactive word wall, RIP words, Children's own word lists in their Writing Journals.

I would like to explore other specific lessons, methods and strategies. The premise of the article makes a lot of sense and correlates with a lot of what I've experienced and what I've been reading and learning in workshops.

2/4/11 Shanahan Article

I found the Shanahan article enlightening and inspiring. I hadn't really thought about how a mathematician, scientist and historian would approach text with different strategies. It's interesting how they all came up with a graphic organizer type model for students to gather key information. The models were quite different and subject specific, but had some similarities. I think there are a couple of other points getting in the way of effective literacy instruction. Active content learning vs passive content learning is one. Many teachers are stuck in the "lecture" model only. Students need to be reading, processing and talking about text. Jigsaw reading and presenting is one strategy that works. If students were taught how to process the content text (i.e. teacher think-alouds and graphic organizers for notetaking)and then had to gather information in an inquiry based model more learning would go on. The other teacher issue that gets in the way is Process vs. Grading. Many teachers are too focused on grades and student talk and discussion is seen as "cheating." Social learning is an extremely effective way for students to learn that is often neglected. There's plenty of time for asseesment. Process teaching and student talk and discussion are critical to learning.

-Reflecting back on the year, can you name an idea/question/ strategy we discussed that you would like to explore further in the future? I would like to explore the implications of the Shanahan article - SS - Cause and Effect - Science - Questioning -In what ways would you like to keep the conversation about literacy in the content areas going either with this group, HVWP, or in your own school community? I would like to bring the discussion and format to my school. - What recommendations can you make to us about improving the group/experience next year? Bringing in articles focusing on research based strategies that work.