International Reading Association May 9, 2014 Peggy Coyne Universal Design for Learning, Comprehension and Online Dialogues: Engaging Struggling Middle School Students

Thank You Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Content Scholastic Read Word Generation (SERP)-

A Focus on Adolescent Readers A significant national challenge persists in closing the gap for struggling readers at the middle school level, especially among those with disabilities (e.g., Carnegie Corporation’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy, 2010) Research shows that it is critical to provide instruction in reading comprehension strategies, opportunities for discussion of and writing about text to improve comprehension, and supporting the development of student motivation for and engagement in reading (e.g., Graham & Hebert, 2010; Biascarosa & Snow, 2004 )

Background A transformative approach to the problem of adolescent literacy will need to provide opportunities for reading instruction as well as adequate and active practice across the curriculum (Heward, 2006; Snell & Brown, 2006; Rayner, Foorman, Perfetti, Pesetsky, & Seidenberg, 2001).

Background The National Center on the Use of Emerging Technologies to Improve Literacy Achievement for Students with Disabilities in Middle School (CET) is researching and developing a technology-rich learning environment called “Udio.” Udio makes it possible for schools to provide all middle school students with Universally Designed for Learning (UDL) literacy experiences as they read independently across the curriculum.

Udio

Udio: A Transformative Approach

Udio: Theory of Change

Carrying Out the Theory of Change in Udio: Motivation and Comprehension Voluminous reading Engage in reading comprehension activities through reciprocal teaching Within a reciprocal teaching framework, express what has been learned Get peers excited about text

UDL Framework

UDL Variability is the Norm! Curriculum Must be Designed to Address the Predicted Variablity!

Carrying Out the Theory of Change in Udio: Motivation and Comprehension Voluminous reading Engage in reading comprehension activities through reciprocal teaching Within a reciprocal teaching framework, express what has been learned Get peers excited about text

Why Voluminous Reading? The typical middle school student reads less than 5 minutes a day for his or her own interest, while a few students (about 10%) read voluntarily for 30 minutes per day or more. Most do not spend any voluntary time reading books (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1994). Our theory of change indicates that middle school students who struggle with reading should have access to a broad variety of content on which they are able to exercise their interests through reading.

Voluminous Reading in Udio

Carrying Out the Theory of Change in Udio: Motivation and Comprehension Voluminous reading Engage in reading comprehension activities through reciprocal teaching Within a reciprocal teaching framework, express what has been learned Get peers excited about text

Reciprocal Teaching Two features “Discuss It!” and “Check Your Understanding.” The “Discuss It!” feature reflects the process of reciprocal teaching (Palincsar, A., & Brown, A., 1984) where students ultimately teach each other about reading comprehension strategies. Reciprocal teaching encourages students to engage directly with the text, cite textual evidence, and draw (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).

Reciprocal Teaching

Comprehension Strategies Prediction Making Connections Visualize Summarize Clarify Question

Carrying Out the Theory of Change in Udio: Motivation and Comprehension Voluminous reading Engage in reading comprehension activities through reciprocal teaching Within a reciprocal teaching framework, express what has been learned Get peers excited about text

Why Have Students Express What They Learned From Reading? “If students are to make knowledge their own, they must struggle with the details, wrestle with the facts, and rework raw information and dimly understood concepts into language they can communicate to someone else.” National Commission on Writing (2004)

Why Have Students Express What They Learned From Reading? Writing about what you read facilitates reading comprehension skills development in five ways (Applebee, 1984; Emig, 1977; Graham & Hebert, 2010; Klein, 1999; Stosky, 1982). Writing fosters explicitness- the writer must select which information is most important. Writing is integrative- the writer to organize ideas from their reading experiences into a coherent whole and to establish explicit relations between these ideas. Writing facilitates reflection- the permanence of writing makes it easier to review, reexamine, connect, critique, and construct new understandings of ideas. Writing fosters a personal involvement with ideas and concepts Writing requires that students put ideas they have garnered from reading into their own words.

Expressing in Udio

Carrying Out the Theory of Change in Udio: Motivation and Comprehension Voluminous reading Engage in reading comprehension activities through reciprocal teaching Within a reciprocal teaching framework, express what has been learned Get peers excited about text

Perceptions of Udio Overall Overall they like it- only 4% (n=51) said they did not want to use it- The three most common words to describe Udio were: “fun,” “reading,” and “helpful.” Dashboard Students selected the Explore Page Over 50% liked the notifications

Perceptions of Udio Explore Page- Read and Interact with Text Topic driven decisions about what they read- drawn to” Real World Issues”, huge variety Twenty-five % want fiction They like that projects connected the with their peers “I thought [sharing projects] was fun … because I could see what other people thought about certain things and they could see what I thought about different things.”

Perceptions of Udio Projects- Create Meaning from Text They like that projects connected the with their peers “I thought [sharing projects] was fun … because I could see what other people thought about certain things and they could see what I thought about different things.” Choices about what they expressed I like how we like gave our opinion about what we were, like, [reading]” and “I liked that I/. could like create [a project]… that no one could tell me [what] -- to do [that] -- I could do what I [wanted] on the project.” Sharing “I felt good [about sharing projects] 'cause then they could see like how much work and effort and thought I put into it.”

Perceptions of Udio Projects- Create Meaning from Text Feedback “if they didn't like it, I could put more stuff into it if I needed to…They give you feedback… what I should do … next time.” Choosing Questions Pick Your Own or Make a Connection

Perceptions of Udio Discussion and Comments Mixed Liked – helped with understanding the article social- “Well you can like talk about the article and see what they think about it because I usually discuss an article and then -- I put my opinion on it of what I think about it and then like some people agree with me about it.” Disliked- distraction from reading frustrated when students would make comments that had nothing to do with the article.

Read Articles

Create Project

Now it’s your turn

Supporting Comprehension

Other Resources- Web Sites Glogster EDU- Tumblr- Twitter- Voice Thread- BookBuilder-

Other Resources- Apps Trading Cards- Read Write Think resources/mobile-apps/trading-cards html