Adolescent Literacy “Literacy is typically measured as reading and writing. The Fail-Safe definition of literacy is defined as listening, viewing, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, and expressing through multiple symbol systems at a developmentally appropriate level.” ~Rosemary Taylor ActivatingActivating Organizing Comprehending SummarizingOrganizingComprehendingSummarizing Lesson Planning NCTA SIOP ResourcesLesson PlanningNCTASIOPResources

Activating Strategies  Aid in connecting to prior knowledge and help students to understand new information by activating sensory receptors: sight, sound, touch, taste and maybe even emotion.  Adolescent students need strategies to help them comprehend and retain information.  Sample Strategies Sample Strategies Sample Strategies

Organizing Strategies  Planning an activity that requires students to transform or organize information helps the brain with processing and builds capacity.  “The average student with the aid of graphic organizers and thinking maps learns as much as a 90 percentile student studying the same material without assistance of the organizational ideas.” Wang (1986)

The brain filters out 99% of what it receives using selective auditory and selective attention. This is called the “Cocktail Party Effect.”  This explains why students cannot simultaneously listen to the teacher and take notes effectively.  Students cannot distinguish from what is being said and what is important enough to write down.

“In most learning situations, we are required to hold some bits of information in our minds while manipulating it.” Patricia Wolfe (2001) There are two major ways to help students process information: There are two major ways to help students process information:  Transforming—writing, discussion, social/interactive activity  Transforming information into a graphic organizer  Sample Strategies Sample Strategies Sample Strategies

 To comprehend is to “grasp the meaning.”  Comprehension is “knowledge gained by comprehending” and it is also the “capacity for understanding.”  Sample Strategies Sample Strategies Sample Strategies Comprehending Strategies

To maintain information in long-term memory, students need rehearsal of the material and a mechanism through which to transfer the information into long-term memory.  Rote rehearsal is deliberate repetition in the same fashion.  Elaborate rehearsal is elaborating or integrating information, giving it some kind of meaning, resulting in creating chunks of meaningful material.

What happens when we don’t provide students time to rehearse and comprehend?  We produce students with fragile knowledge that don’t remember after the test or don’t know how to use the information.  There is no transfer to long term memory for life-long use.

Transfer to Long Term Memory  “If the teacher does all the interacting with the materials, the teacher’s—not the student’s—brain will grow.” (Pat Wolfe, 2001)  The use of comprehending strategies begins the brain’s transfer of information from short term to long term memory.

Summarizing Strategies  Summarizing strategies are used to further promote the retention of knowledge.  Through the use of engaging strategies designed to rehearse and practice skills, students are able to move knowledge into their long-term memories.  Sample Strategies Sample Strategies Sample Strategies

Lesson Planning  The North Carolina Teacher Academy (NCTA) has developed a lesson format to use for embedding literacy strategies into the lesson plans for every content area. The North Carolina Teacher Academy (NCTA) The North Carolina Teacher Academy (NCTA)  The Sheltered Instruction Operations Protocol (SIOP), commonly used for instruction with English Language Learners, also embeds literacy strategies for use in all content areas. Sheltered Instruction Operations Protocol (SIOP)Sheltered Instruction Operations Protocol (SIOP)

The NCTA lesson plan includes 5 basic elements which teachers may use to embed literacy training into their daily lessons:  Essential Question Essential Question Essential Question  Activating Strategy  Organizing Strategy  Comprehending Strategy  Applying/Summarizing Strategy

The SIOP lesson plan includes 8 basic elements which aid teachers in embedding literacy strategies into daily instruction:  Preparation  Building Background  Comprehensible Input  Strategies  Interaction  Practice/Application  Lesson Delivery  Review/Assessment   Sample SIOP Lesson Plans Sample SIOP Lesson Plans

Additional Resources  50+ Strategies 50+ Strategies 50+ Strategies  Inspiration – makes/edits graphic organizers Inspiration  Reading Strategies and Practice Reading Strategies and Practice Reading Strategies and Practice  Rubistar Rubistar

Source Credit   Wang, M. C., Reynolds, M. C., & Walberg, H. J. (1986). Rethinking special education. Educational Leadership, 44,   Wolfe, Pat, Brain Matters: Translating the Research to Classroom Practice, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, 2001