Comprehension and Content the Key to the High Stakes Assessments… Close Reading is Reading at the TEXT BASE and the Foundation for “Successful Outcomes”

What Must Students Do…With Automaticity? While engaging with text, a reader continually constructs a “Mental Model.” The Mental Model evolves from the ability of the reader to critically address the “Text Base.” The reader’s understanding of what the text actually says and their knowledge base builds a concrete and definitive understanding. The reader’s “Knowledge Base” is the reader’s accurate knowledge schema and experience: content, ideas, types of texts, organizational patterns, terms, etc.

Moving from Comprehension to Cognitive Fluency… Reader Knowledge + Text Base + Close Reading Frame = “Cognitive Fluency” The comprehension of informational text is contingent on the interaction of text and reader, especially the reader ’ s knowledge. The knowledge frame is critical inside core disciplines such as, social studies, science, math, technology etc.

Constructing a Mental Model in Social Studies Inaccurate reading at the text base will distort the mental model and thus interfere with comprehension. Social Studies Text is embedded with:  Unfamiliar names and terms: Readers must either know the words or know that the definition is often included within the text itself. They should also know about Tables of Contents, indexes, and glossaries.  Organization by topic: Readers must understand that the first paragraph of a section and the first sentence of a paragraph often introduce upcoming details.  Complex sentences: Readers must understand the ways that ideas are linked within sentences. Yet the mental model that the reader constructs must be even more accurate than is needed to understand narrative texts.

The Interaction Between the Reader and the Text in Narrative… In Narrative Text, for example, we could understand the fear, the thoughts, and the actions of the main character even if we didn ’ t pay strict attention to the clues that the author provided.  We could follow the plot.  We could feel empathy and fear.  We could even predict, with some accuracy, the outcome.

When we Engage with a “Historical Fiction” Narrative Text…the Frame Changes…  In Historical Fiction, students will begin by reading a Historical Novel, a narrative, and will augment their understanding by regularly reading informational text during social studies.  It is critical to align the content if you want to build strong analytical, argumentative, and knowledge rich conversations.

Constructing a Mental Model Many readers, especially struggling readers often have difficulty reading Social Studies, Science, and Math because there is a flaw in their knowledge base. This distorts the “Mental Model.” Often, students lack both the “Text Base” fluency and the “Accurate Knowledge Base” that is critical to construct concrete, accurate concepts.

Social Studies Text What Could Pose A Challenge? Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born a slave in When her owner died 28 years later, she fled for freedom in the North. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, she made 19 trips back to the South to guide other slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was part of the Underground Railroad that rescued thousands from the horrors of slavery described in Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin. That novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published soon after Harriet Tubman became free. Until then, many people said that slavery was a political issue. Following the publication of Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin, many people finally admitted that slavery was a moral issue. At last, slavery would be called what it was -- a crime against humanity.

What Must the Student Have in Their Knowledge Base?  In order to understand this passage, the student would need to understand a number of terms, concepts, and ideas.  These terms, concepts, and ideas are the “content” of social studies.

Possible Knowledge Base Challenges for The Student… Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born a slave in When her owner died 28 years later, she fled for freedom in the North. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, she made 19 trips back to the South to guide other slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was part of the Underground Railroad that rescued thousands from the horrors of slavery described in Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin. That novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published soon after Harriet Tubman became free. Until then, many people said that slavery was a political issue. Following the publication of Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin, many people finally admitted that slavery was a moral issue. At last, slavery would be called what it was -- a crime against humanity.

Reader Knowledge and Comprehension At the knowledge base: When readers do not have adequate knowledge of the content, the language, or the references, then comprehension suffers. This is a common challenge when students read social studies text.

Text-base challenges in Social Studies Additionally, a number of challenges arise from form of social studies text. Readers often have difficulty * Retrieving concepts behind unfamiliar terms * Linking ideas (propositions) together to form meaning * Understanding syntactic relationships nouns, nominalization and pronoun reference font colors, sizes, and meanings in-text definitions

Links, Syntax  Sentences often contain two or more propositions, and the reader who has difficulty navigating the syntax can easily be confused.  To understand, the reader must know both the propositions and the relationship between them.  Note the relationships:

Links Between Ideas (propositions) Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born a slave in When her owner died 28 years later, she fled for freedom in the North. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, she made 19 trips back to the South to guide other slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was part of the Underground Railroad that rescued thousands from the horrors of slavery described in Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin. That novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published soon after Harriet Tubman became free. Until then, many people said that slavery was a political issue. Following the publication of Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin, many people finally admitted that slavery was a moral issue. At last, slavery would be called what it was -- a crime against humanity. Green: Introductory Clauses Indicating Time – Brown: Introductory Phrases Indicating Time Turquoise: Noun Clause (Nominalization) – Red: Noun Phrase Light Blue: Dependent Clause Providing a Definition - Purple: Participial Phrase

Nouns, Nominalization, and Pronoun Reference In Social Studies text the topics change often synonyms replace nouns (nominalization) pronouns replace nouns Note the nouns, nominalizations, and pronouns in this text:

Nouns, Nominalization, and Pronoun Reference Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born a slave in When her owner died 28 years later, she fled for freedom in the North. After passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, she made 19 trips back to the South to guide other slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was part of the Underground Railroad that rescued thousands from the horrors of slavery described in Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin. That novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was published soon after Harriet Tubman became free. Until then, many people said that slavery was a political issue. Following the publication of Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin, many people finally admitted that slavery was a moral issue. At last, slavery would be called what it was -- a crime against humanity.

Reading at the Text Base In addition to the words on the page, readers must also understand Phrases Propositions Connections between the propositions Nominalizations Pronouns

Discipline Knowledge is Critical…. Social Studies resources are framed by the following attributes… The content is usually: Organized by topic rather than by time: instead of a “ plot, ” there is a series of topics and subtopics Designed to inform rather than to entertain Written to introduce real people and places rather than to describe characters and settings Abstract, including unfamiliar content, people, places, and ideas

Help Students Make These Strategic Moves To Improve Cognition…. Invite students to actively build mental models during by asking questions such as: What is going on here? Why is it important? How does this change what we know? What will happen next? Why do you think so? What in the text makes you think that? When using multiple texts, you must explicitly help your students build mental models of both the narrative and the informational texts that they read. All thinking must be visible…

HELP PREPARE OUR STUDENTS TO READ AT THE TEXT BASE AND “CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING”…  If students’ mental models seem to be inaccurate or incomplete, you will need to take them back to the text: What did the text say? What happen first, next, then….? Who said (did) that? Why did that happen? What did the text say about it?

What the Teacher must do to Support Reading at the Text Base...  Have students summarize and paraphrase difficult text.  In whole class or small group shared reading lessons, model how to link ideas in a text.  Use the syntax lessons to teach relationship words--therefore, however, on the other hand, previously, etc.  Help students understand pronouns and referents

Include these frames to build “Cognitive Fluency”… Teach common text structures-- compare/contrast, chronology, cause/effect, fact and generalizations,etc. Build genre knowledge by  Using texts that are appropriate to the content  Making text structures explicit  Connecting writing to reading Teach students to use graphic displays such as diagrams, timelines, maps.

Continue with…  Teach students to use a range of graphic organizers (eventually – encourage students to design their own)  Build background knowledge. Discussion, comparisons, experiments, pictures, video, eyewitnesses, curiosity, reading  Build word knowledge. Teach concept first then word Teach specialized vocabulary

 You will find the following in Social Studies… Headings and subheadings The use of font and color to indicate meaning Sidebars Maps Timelines Captions In-text definitions Footnotes, glossaries, indices, Tables of Contents Remember, each discipline has their own unique Textual Designs…

What does this mean for SCIENCE?  If we want students to be more successful, we must support their efforts in “Reading at the Text Base.”  Close Reading is critically important and must be addressed across the day.  Reading at the text base and constructing accurate mental models builds “Cognitive Fluency.”

What is Science All About?  Science is a “Body of Knowledge” Facts Definitions Concepts Theories Laws and more…

Science is…  A Set of Methods/Processes Observing Measuring Estimating Inferring Predicting Clarifying Hypothesizing Experimenting Concluding and more…

Science is…  A Way of Knowing Scientific evidence is based on knowledge Scientific knowledge can change over time Creativity plays an important role in Science Background knowledge influences how Scientists view data

The Relationship Between Process Skills and the Relevant Nature of Science Concepts…  Observing: Scientific knowledge is based on evidence. Scientific knowledge changes as new evidence becomes available.  Inferring: Scientific knowledge involves observation and inference (not just observation alone).

Process Skills and the Relevant Nature of Science Concepts cont.  Classifying: There is often no single “right answer” in science.  Predicting/Hypothesizing: Scientific theories provide the foundation on which predictions and hypotheses are built.

Process Skills and the Relevant Nature of Science Concepts cont.  Investigating: There are many ways to do science. There is no single scientific method that all scientists follow.  Concluding: Scientific conclusions can be influenced by scientists’ background knowledge. Theories provide frameworks for data interpretation.

When Engaging Students with Science Text…  It is critical to connect the science to be learned to the reality of the students’ life, the relevance of their age appropriate experiences (Frame of Reference).  The rigor of the science concepts will promote understandings that are unique and meaningful for each student resulting in a more engaged learning experience.