Too Dumb for Hard Text?

Laura GilchristEnglish Language Arts CoordinatorJoint School District No. 2

First Things First

Appointment Book: Find four people you will meet with throughout the session to discuss your thoughts about specific topics. Write down names.

ASCD Article, Feb., 2011

“Too Dumb for Complex Texts?” by Mark Bauerlein, ASCD, Feb. 2011, Vol. 68, 5.

Bauerlein posits: “The primary cause of unreadiness [for college] is the inability [of students] to grasp complex text.”

Bauerlein further asserts:

For teenagers who send up to 3,000 text messages per month and who spend their entire school day surrounded by the tools of acceleration, decelerating their reading when complex texts come up in class becomes nearly impossible.

What is Complex Text?

Let’s define it:

What is Complex Text?

Bauerlein defines complex text as ”works characterized by dense meanings, elaborate structure, sophisticated vocabulary, and subtle authorial intentions” such as “a US Supreme Court Decision, an epic poem, or ethical treatise.”

Common Core ELA Appendix B Exemplar Informational Text for Grade 11-

12

Title: THE COST CONUNDRUM. Authors: Gawande, Atul Source: New Yorker; 6/1/2009, Vol. 85

Issue 16, p36-44, 9p, 1 Color Photograph Document Type: Article

Accessible through EBSCO, library databaseprovided by LiLI(Libraries Linking Idaho)

Do You Agree or Disagree? Why? Meet with your 9:00 and discuss

When teachers fill the syllabus with digital texts, having students read and write blogs...multimedia assemblages, and the like, they do little to address the primary reason that so many students end up not ready for college-level reading.

Do You Agree or Disagree? Why?Meet with your 9:30 and discuss.

When teachers assign traditional texts—novels, speeches, science articles, and so on—in digital format with embedded links, hypertext, word-search capability, and other aids, they likewise avoid the primary cause of unreadiness.

Six Assumptions About LearningLearning is:

Goal-oriented The linking of new information to

prior knowledge The organization of information The acquisition of cognitive and

meta-cognitive structures Nonlinear, yet occurring in phases Influenced by cognitive development

Billmeyer, R. & Barton, M.L. (2002). Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If not Me, Then Who? Alexandria: ASCD

Making Learning Goal-Oriented Teach students to set goals and then

ask them to reflect regularly on them

Set Purposes: Tell students why they are reading and what they should pay attention to while they read

Have students determine if they met the purpose for reading and explain how (metacognition)

Linking the New to the Known(Building Background Knowledge)

Students come to us with their own background knowledge and experiences (called schemata)

The reader constructs meaning based on connecting new information to what he/she already knows

Example of Schemata

The questions that p_______ face as they raise ch________ from in_________ to adult life are not easy to answer. Both f______ and m______can become concerned when health problems such as co________ arise any time after the e________ stage to later life. Expertsrecommend that young ch_________ should have plenty of s_________ and nutritious food for healthy growth. B_________ and g______should not share the same b________ or even sleep in the same r__________. They may beafraid of the d_________. Source: Billmeyer and Barton

2002, adapted from Madeline Hunter

Example of Schemata

The questions that poultrymen face as they raise chickens from incubation to adult life are not easy to answer. Both farmers and

merchantscan become concerned when health problems such as coccidiosis arise any time after the Egg stage to later life. Experts recommend thatyoung chicks should have plenty of sunshine and nutritious food for healthy growth. Bantiesand geese should not share the same barnyardor even sleep in the same roost. They may beafraid of the dark.

Source: Billmeyer and Barton 2002, adapted from Madeline Hunter

Ways to Build Background Knowledge

Anticipation Guides (could use clickers so entire class can see thinking)

K-W-L-Plus Prereading Plan Making Prereading Predictions Vocabulary Self Assessment Interactive Notes

If students just take notes, the overall effect of act is less than if they actually do something with the notes! Notes alone are not super-effective. Discussion helps address misconceptions.

Prereading Plan (Langer, 1981)

1. Identify the central concept and introduce to students (What comes to mind when. . “)

2. Students individually write all associations and then share onto composite list

3. Students reflect on why each association was made

4. Conclude activity by saying, “As a result of our discussion, can you think of any other information you know about this topic?”

Billmeyer, R. & Barton, M.L. (2002). Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If not Me, Then Who? Alexandria: ASCD

Let’s Try it:

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Write down your thoughts. . .

Meet with your 10:00 to share your thoughts.

Meet with your 10:00 to share your thoughts.

Let’s generate a group list. . .

“As a result of our discussion, can you think of any other information you know about this topic?”

Extend Further: What questions did you think of when you first heard the quote?

How to Extend using Digital Tools:

Students can respond digitally Prereading guides don’t have to be

printed!

Share compiled lists on class wiki

Assign groups of students to be in charge of posting summaries of class discussion

Revisit lists after learning

Interactive Notes

Burke, J. (2002). Tools for Thought. Heinemann: Portsmouth.

Organizing Information

Remember this?When teachers assign traditional texts—novels, speeches, science articles, and so on—in digital format with embedded links, hypertext, word-search capability, and other aids, they likewise avoid the primary cause of unreadiness.

Organizing Information

Digital formats do not excuse students from deep reading

Teachers can teach reading strategies for digital text. Have students to read without accessing links

(except for dictionary tools) Design activities around exploring hyperlinks

—how do they relate to the text? If they don’t why not?

Have students reread Have students reread

Organizing Information

Digital formats do not excuse students from deep reading

Teachers can teach reading strategies for digital text. Utilize tools available such as highlighting or

creating note taking template to support reading▪ Reader response▪ Concept Definition▪ Proposition/Support Outline▪ PowerPoint

Proposition/SupportTopic:

Proposition:

Support 1. Facts

2. Statistics

3. Examples

4. Expert Authority

5. Logic and Reasoning

Billmeyer, R. & Barton, M.L. (2002). Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If not Me, Then Who? Alexandria: ASCD

Proposition/SupportTopic: Rain Forests

Proposition:

The loss of our rain forests will lead to an environmental disaster

Support 1. Facts• Rain forests use up carbon dioxide• There is increased carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere• The rain forests contain many endangered plant and animal species• Deforestation leads to widespread soil erosion in many areas

2. Statistics (can cite if needed)• 2000-2010 was the hottest decade in the last 100 years

(http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recenttc.html)• 4 million acres of rainforest disappear every year • 50 to 100 species are destroyed with each acre of cleared rain forest

3. Examples• India has almost no remaining rain forest• Current plans target eliminating much of the Congo’s rain forests• Run-off from the deforestation in Indonesia threatens their coral reefs and

diminishes the fish population• Cutting of rain forests in Bangladesh and the Philllipines has led to killer

floods

4. Expert Authority• National Center for Atmospheric Research believes increased carbon

dioxide will lead to Greenhouse Effect and global warming• Computers predict doubling of carbon dioxide over next 10 years

5. Logic and Reasoning• Warmer temperatures will harm crops and increase energy costs; temp will raise

3 to 9 degrees• More people will starve because of less food • Polar glaciers will melt and raise sea level, flooding coastlines• Changes in temp and water level will effect ecology resulting in loss of species • More sections of world will be come uninhabitable due to soil loss, overgrazing,

over-cultivation

Have Students Use PPT to Organize Information

If students have access to PowerPoint they can use the smart art tool to create graphic organizers

Have Students Use PPT to Organize Information

PublishReviseEditDraftPrewrit

e

Yes, this is a very SIMPLE example. . .

Cycle: Weathering

Erosion

Transportation

Deposition

Sedimentary Rock

Metamorphic Rock

Volcanic Activity

Folding, Faulting and Uplift

Insert -> Smart Art -> Choose Graphic Organizer ->Fill in the blanks

Model first, then practice with students before independent practice

Students should be able to eventually choose the tool that matches the appropriate graphic (cycle, list, hierarchy, etc.)

Developing Cognitive and Metacognitive Structures

Having students reflect as they read and after they read is very important

If students just take notes, the overall effect of act is less than if they actually do something with the notes

Notes alone are not super-effective

Developing Cognitive and Metacognitive Structures

Students need to know specific strategies as well as how and when to use them

All teachers must be content teachers and “learner” teachers in that they help students learn strategies and how/when to implement them

Strategy Instruction as Differentiation

Students need to be taught specific strategies

If a student already utilizes an effective content area reading strategy, don’t make him/her change to an unfamiliar one

Practice and ask students to evaluate use

Digitize

Developing Non-Linear Thinking

Researchers believe that learning occurs in three phases that are non-linear:

Pre-active thought or preparing for learning

Interactive though or processing that occurs during the actual learning

Reflective thought to integrate, extend, refine and apply what has been learned

Costa and Garmston, 1994, Buehl, 1995,

Implications for Education

Increasingly, purchasing texts (printed or electronic) are delayed because of lack of funding. . . Yet text demands are growing

Students will be accessing digital text

We need to support students to read digital text successfully

Meet with your 10:30 appointment

Do agree with Bauerline’s statement? Why or why not:

“The more high school teachers place complex texts on the syllabus and concoct slow, deliberate reading exercises for students to complete, the more they will inculcate the habit.”

Complex Text Requires

Time

Teacher support/scaffolding

Deliberate Reading Assignments

Students (and teachers) need to be taught how to access digital texts

Teachers need to hold students accountable to reading complex texts

(Do you know how to access materials through your school’s library home page? Through the state’s LiLI homepage?)