READING ACROSS DISCIPLINES Caroline Gordon Messenger, English Kelly Leary, Social Studies The Common Core and construction of meaning

WHAT DOES THE COMMON CORE SAY? “To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society, students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new.” - Introduction to the Common Core State Standards, 4

WHAT DOES THE COMMON CORE MEAN? “This is reading to learn, reading to follow an author’s reasoning, reading to analyze claims and support those claims with evidence. It is not a one-text sort of reading.”(75) -Pathways to the Common Core, Lucy Calkins, et. al. The Common Core demands that: 1.Students read “just-right” informational texts 2.Students read more nonfiction texts 3.Students engage with informational texts appropriately 4.Students have a choice in what they read

RESEARCH TO CONSIDER WHEN READING “Jeanne Chall and her colleagues (1996) studied 28 science text books that were listed as being at the fifth-grade level and found that none of the texts were actually written at a fifth grade level; they were all harder, usually by two years and in four instances, by four years. And remember, even the phrase ‘written at the fifth grade level’ means that such a text is appropriate for the average fifth grade reader, so almost half of fifth graders are likely reading below grade level.”(90) -Pathways to the Common Core, Lucy Calkins, et. al. Text books “summarize, they organize, but they do not engage students in complex reasoning.” (Lucy Calkins)

NONFICTION READINGS & STRATEGIES: FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS

STRATEGIES FOR READING NONFICTION Annotation of text Isolation of words and phrases Questions Statements of understanding Connections between and among concepts and ideas Themes (author’s intent, author’s message) Author’s craft (word choice, structure, selection of information, authority of sources, experts, etc.) Vocabulary acquisition Student choice and student-directed reading on a topic

HOW DO YOU DO IT? Annotating a Text A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah Read the text and isolate words that seem to communicate meaning to you. Look for words that are repeated or stand out. Watch Ishmael’s interview and repeat the exercise. (Beah Video)Beah Video Student samples Discussion of what students can do versus what we might expect they can do

ACTIVITIES

SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Reading and Writing Everyday Can Look Like: Working with a primary text as a whole class with directed, specific tasks for annotation. Working in small groups with a primary or secondary text, annotating for specific purposes. Author’s intent Author’s craft Specific information Specific meaning Explanatory and Informational Writing does not always mean an essay “How-To” writing Instructions/Directions Describe Provide Information/Inform Comparisons and Contrasts

Reading and Writing Everyday: Social Studies

Making the textbook secondary Textbook as initial point of inquiry: Provides an overview that can be discussed/reviewed in class Specific questions can guide readers through obtaining sufficient background knowledge Should become a gateway to primary documents Primary documents provide the learning: First-hand accounts offer a multi-dimensional view of a subject Students tangle with language as pathways to multiple meanings and perspectives Students unravel subversive language from rhetoric from a multiple truth

Another Way To Annotate Text A Sermon on Lynching by Dr. Howard E. Jones: Students are asked to isolate words and explore context and multiple meanings Students are asked to explore significance of individual words to the sermon itself Students are asked to explore potential definitions by exploring context as clue to meaning Writing To Make Meaning: Ferreting out cause and effect reasoning Reconciling an author’s diction (word choice) with an author’s communicated meaning Constructing meaning on multiple levels (within group, within self)

ANNOTATION

READING FOR INFORMATION: EXTRACTION TECHNIQUES

FINAL PRODUCT: Rough Draft to Final Copy

Getting kids to produce quality writing Providing a model/exemplar Creating one with your students Providing one and then reviewing it with them Asking students to isolate what makes the exemplar “good” and how they can replicate that in their own work Providing an easy-to-follow, precise rubric Assessment points based on CCSS Providing explanation and “grading” exemplar with your assessment tool Allowing time for a rough draft, revision and final product (the writing process)

Questions and Discussion