FOR-PD Literacy Blog

The future of reading is already here. The way text is presented to students has changed along with a variety of changes to the way we work, talk, and socialize in society. Long gone are the days when just a textbook should be used to teach a topic or subject. We are in a digital age of learning.

What are your thoughts on the http://www.readingrockets.org/article/20832 website about 21st Century Literacies? How do the myths influence your thoughts about reading and comprehension development/instruction?

What do students need in order to be best prepared for future comprehension needs?

With regard to reading in the digital era, what strategies do you use for building your students’ critical literacy?

Reading is considered the process of constructing meaning from text. Reading involves the interaction between the reader’s knowledge, text variables, reader interest, and the quality of teaching. The National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000) defined comprehension as the intentional thinking (or transaction) during which meaning is constructed between the reader and text. This implies that the reader interacts with the text content, using his/her vocabulary, background knowledge, skills, motivation, and strategies to construct meaning.

As you consider the details of helping students understand what they read, describe what comprehension instruction looks like in your classroom? If you walked into a classroom what would you look for as evidence of effective comprehension teaching?

Somehow some educators seem to think of comprehension instruction as a set of strategies, graphic organizers, and a little bit of think alouds and explanations we can “tell” students as the opportunity arises. Much recent research has been attempting to shift our perceptions and understanding of what it really means to understad and what understanding looks like in secondary classrooms. What should comprehension instruction focus on? Recalling facts? Describing events and situations? or Equipping students with the reading and thinking tools they can use in diverse contexts to construct meaning?

What should we do to build the academic vocabulary of our middle and high school students? What is working and what is not working with students’ academic vocabulary in secondary grades?

Research has shown that the effects of well-prepared teachers on student achievement are stronger than the influences of student background factors such as poverty, language background, and minority status.  Studies have shown that teacher effects are, “additive, cumulative, and generally not compensatory” (Darling-Hammond, 2000, p. 2). Researchers have also identified several strategies effective teachers use to teach comprehension (in upper grades). For example: schema-prior knowledge, visualizing, questioning, summarizing, determining what is important, inferencing, monitoring comprehension and meaning, synthesizing, and text structures. What should comprehension instruction look like in the secondary grades?

Proficient readers read and think differently than struggling readers. What three effective comprehension strategies should we teach, and monitor student use over time, to help struggling readers begin to read and think like proficient readers?

Many of our adolescent students are struggling to comprehend. One of the reasons for this struggle is due to their underdeveloped vocabulary. What can we do to make vocabulary instruction transparent and usable?

If we want adolescents to become adults who can be literate and thoughtful citizens of the world, we must teach them to read, write, and think deeply and widely. How are you combining reading and writing to facilitate the development of deep understanding? (If you are not currently teaching, share past experiences or base your response on what research says we should be doing).

What’s happening in the world of secondary grades and reading? What do we need to do to help adolescent readers read and write more so they can meet the literacy needs of the 21st century?

Vocabulary development and instruction are core areas of focus in the secondary grades. Many students struggle with comprehension and reading because they lack adequate vocabulary. What do you think about the following? (Please respond to both items.) (a) What kind of vocabulary instruction will make words meaningful, relevant, and memorable? (b) Keene described the literacy studio model. Discuss how this model can help create a culture of rigor, inquiry, and intimacy in  secondary classrooms.