The reading crisis Narrative text Expository text Informational text Literary text

ACT report  In 2006, ACT, Inc., released a report called Reading Between the Lines that showed which skills differentiated those students who equaled or exceeded the benchmark score in the reading section of the ACT college admissions

ACT report  Surprisingly, what chiefly distinguished the performance of those students who had earned the benchmark score or better from those who had not was not their relative ability in making inferences while reading or answering questions.  Instead, the clearest differentiator was students’ ability to answer questions associated with complex texts

College and career readiness  The most important implication of this study was that a pedagogy focused only on “higher-order” or “critical” thinking was insufficient to ensure that students were ready for college and careers  What students could read, in terms of its complexity, was at least as important as what they could do with what they read

Reading comprehension  A decline in K–12 text complexity and a lack of focus on independent reading of complex texts, is a contributing factor to the decline of the reading population.  According to NAEP in 2007, high school students are scoring lower than they did in 1992.

What research tells us  Early learning gains in reading disappear by the time a student is in 8 th grade  Early reading skills do not develop into complex skills needed to access and comprehend disciplinary texts  A high school student who does well reading in English class can suffer in biology

State of US high schools  No grade specific or subject specific reading standards before the common core  Departmentalized teaching that limits the possibility of extended literacy instruction  Limited parental awareness of literacy development and limited help in reading after a certain age

What research tells us..  There are differences in how the disciplines create, disseminate and evaluate knowledge: writing and reading needs to become more disciplinary  Need to look at the ‘intellectual” values of the discipline which means that we need to teach students to read like historians- comprehension is fostered when teachers provide direct strategy instruction within the context of their subject

Anchor standard for CCR  Analyze how 2 or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take

Stepping up Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose grades 6-8 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts grades 9-10 Evaluate author’s differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning and evidence grades 11-12

Scaffolding Reading Comprehension  1. Main idea -use of graphic organizers  2. Note-taking- ability to distinguish and identify main ideas and relevant details (2 column notes)  3. Summarizing – to express main ideas  4. Connect new information to old information

Scaffolding reading comprehension  5. Monitor reading comprehension through questioning by slowing down the reading process  6. Read for purpose- usually implies asking an essential question  7. Gradual release of responsibility model (Pearson and Gallagher)- idea of making thinking visible by using think alouds

Academic vocabulary Adequate reading comprehension depends on a person already adequately knowing 90-95% of the text Adequate reading comprehension depends on a person already adequately knowing 90-95% of the text Disciplinary literacy Disciplinary literacy Intermediate Literacy Basic

Reading Like a Historian

Reading Like an Historian 1. Establish/review relevant content and historical context…context situates a document in time and place 2. Set the historical question(s) that will guide students’ course of study. 3. Work with sources, keeping the emphasis on the historical question. 4. Engage in a whole class/small group discussion around the central historical question. 5. Produce an account (Answer the historical question).

Historical Thinking as an “Unnatural Act”-Sam Wineburg  Historians read differently than many of our students have been taught  Importance of guiding students to do sourcing, contextualizing, and close reading as they work with a document

Wineburg “study”-  Sat down with 8 historians and had them “think aloud”on Battles of Lexington and Concord-asked them to rank “trustworthiness” of document by “looking at subtext-”a text of hidden meanings  Then sat down with 8 students who understood a text but didn’t understand such things as author’s intent, the connotations, inferences

Wineburg (con’t)  First thing that the historians did was look at the source in contrast to students who looked at the words of the document  Attribution of document more important than text for historian  For students account and author were only “loosely connected”- they believe that the “truth” lies in the text- can’t move beyond the literal

Central Historical Questions  Why did the founding fathers keep slavery in the Constitution if the Declaration of Independence claimed, “all men are created equal?”  What are the international connections in the founders’ and historians’ interpretations of the issue of slavery in the Constitution?

Excerpt form Jefferson’s Slavery grievance He [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This … is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain, determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has… suppress[ed] every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, & murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

Working with the evidence  Sourcing: think about the author and creation of text  Contextualizing: situate the document in time and place  Close Reading: consider what the source says and the language used to say it  72Ajqs3XY1uiE 72Ajqs3XY1uiE 72Ajqs3XY1uiE

Guided Questions 1. How does the Slavery Grievance describe slavery? Who does Jefferson blame for the continuation of the slave trade? 2. Why does Jefferson italicize the word “Christian?” 3. Why do you think that Thomas Jefferson wrote a paragraph about slavery when he wrote the Declaration of Independence?

The Slavery Grievance did not make it into the Declaration of Independence despite the claim that, “all men are created equal.” Eleven years later, in 1787, the founders drafted the Constitution and they did not eliminate slavery.

Historical Questions  Why did the founding fathers keep slavery in the Constitution if the Declaration of Independence claimed, “all men are created equal?  What are the international connections in the founders’ and historians’ interpretations of the issue of slavery in the Constitution?

Historical Evidence   The Records of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787   Historians Interpretations of Slavery in the Constitution

Debrief: Class Discussion of the Historical Questions  Why did the founding fathers keep slavery in the Constitution if the Declaration of Independence claimed, “all men are created equal?”  What are the international connections in the founders’ and historians’ interpretations of the issue of slavery in the Constitution?

Debriefing Might Also Focus On:   Overall did these men realize that slavery was a problem or contradiction?   Who did think it was a problem and who didn’t?   For those who did think it was a problem, why didn’t they do anything to abolish slavery/end the slave trade?   How does this issue extend beyond the borders of the United States?

Debrief Comment Protocol  Claim: Provide an answer/claim to the historical question  Evidence: Point out the evidence/source that supports your claim  Analysis: Connect your evidence back to your claim

Focusing a Discussion: Writing to Learn

Producing an Account  Guide students to create a written response to the historical questions