Reading ApprenticeshipBy Sarah Cermak

Reading Apprenticeship

Reading Apprenticeship approach is an instructional framework embedded in the process of teaching subject-area content. This PowerPoint is designed to give a brief summary to whoever may be interested in knowing more about this instructional approach for teaching subject-area content and helpful strategies to help students become better readers.

How did Reading Apprenticeship come about?

Reading Apprenticeship is the result of a literacy research and professional development project at WestEd – a nonprofit education research, development and service agency headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

What is Reading Apprenticeship?

Reading Apprenticeship is the metacognitive conversations that teacher and students have as they read subject-area texts.VocabMetacognitive : awareness or analysis of one's own learning or thinking processes Metacognitive Conversations: investigations into the thinking processes that students and teachers employ while they readApprenticeship: an expert practitioner or mentor consciously models, directs, supports and shapes an apprentice's growing repertoire of practice. The apprentice actively engages in the task, learning by doing with appropriate support and gradually moving toward skillful independence in the desired practice

Why do we need to think metacognitively?The Metacognitive Process

The metacognitive process enhances learning by guiding students' thinking, and by helping the learner follow a wise course of action as he or she thinks through a problem, makes decisions, or attempts to understand a situation or text. In this rapidly changing world, the challenge of teaching is to help students develop skills that will not become obsolete. Metacognitive strategies are essential for the twenty-first century because they enable students to cope successfully with new situations.

Learners who are well developed metacognitively: Are confident that they can learn. Make accurate assessments of why they succeed in learning. Think clearly about inaccuracies when failure occurs during tasks. Actively seek to expand their repertoire of strategies for learning. Match strategies to the learning task, making adjustments when necessary. Ask for guidance from peers or the teacher. Take time to think about their own thinking. View themselves as continual learners and thinkers.

Adapted from Strategic Teaching and Reading Project Guidebook. (1995, NCREL, rev. ed.).

Metacognition helps students understand that reading happens in our minds and not on the page!!!!!!

Reading apprenticeship helps students become better readers

by… Engaging students in more reading Making the teacher’s discipline-based reading

processes and knowledge visible to students Making the students’ reading processes,

knowledge and understanding visible to the teacher and to one another

Helping students gain insight into their own reading processes as a means of gaining strategic control over these processes

Helping acquire a repertoire of problem-solving strategies for deepening comprehension of texts in various academic disciplines

Reading Apprenticeship FrameworkReading Apprenticeship instructional routines and approaches are based on a framework that describes classroom life in terms

of four interacting dimensions that support reading development:

Strategies Before, During and After

Before Reading1. Personal Reading History 2. Making Thinking Visible (Making Creations

with Pipe Cleaners)3. Anticipation Guide 4. LINK (is actually used before, during, and after)5. Test As Genre (is actually used before, during,

and after) 6. Reciprocal Teaching (is used before, during,

and after)7. K-W-L (is used before and after)

1. Personal Reading History Addresses the Personal Domain.

An exercise in which each reader remembers and writes about their development as a reader noting particular highs and lows, insider and outsider moments, and supports or lack of support for literacy development.

Students share some highlights in pairs and then as a whole group.

2. Making Thinking Visible (Making Creations with Pipe Cleaners)

Addresses the Social/Cognitive Domain.

This activity provides an introduction to think aloud and metacognitive conversation in a non-academic, non-threatening way.

Students are given pipe cleaners to form into a specific object while verbalizing their thought process. It is a good idea to do this activity to introduce the idea of metacognition.

3. Anticipation Guide Addresses the Cognitive Domain.

An Anticipation Guide helps students activate their prior knowledge before reading, develop a purpose for reading, and make connections between their own experiential base and what they read.

Students complete the Anticipation Guide before reading and discuss their responses. After completing the reading, they return to the Anticipation Guide for revision.

4. LINK Addresses the Knowledge Building Domain.

List/Inquire/Note/Know is a brainstorming and discussion strategy featuring group interaction that helps students access and build their background knowledge and delve into a topic in preparation for reading.

Students are given a term related to an upcoming reading and are guided through a list (where they individually list everything they think they know about a topic and then share one item from that list to compile a class list) and inquire (where they get to ask for clarification about why fellow students placed items on the list). As the students discuss/read, they take notes about what they are reading/learning. After reading they write and discuss what they know after they have read the new material.

5. Test As GenreAddresses the Knowledge Building Domain.

"Test As Genre" gives students opportunities to analyze passages and text items similar to those on high-stakes standardized tests. Students learn about the assumptions behind the tests, how test questions are constructed, and what the test is asking them to do. Using sample test passages, the teacher models approaching the test by thinking aloud. The students practice by using a Think Aloud or Talking to the Text. As a class use QAR to review question types. The class generates a "Test-Taking Strategies List" based on the students' ideas.

6. Reciprocal TeachingAddresses metacognition and all four domains.

Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional procedure designed to help struggling readers improve their reading comprehension through interactive dialogue. Students orchestrate group dialogue to deepen understanding of content of text by students assuming the responsibility of four cognitive strategies - Summarizing, Questioning, Clarifying and Predicting. (Visualizing is also an option for a 5th group member).

Reciprocal teaching(a collaboration strategy) Everyone reads the passage Divide the class into groups of 4-5 Each member of the group will lead a

discussion about the passage Summary Predictions Visualizations Questions Connections Clarifications

7. K-W-LAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.

K-W-L is a strategy that aids students in thinking actively while reading by recording what they already know about a topic, what they want to know about a topic (both before reading), and what they learned about the topic (after reading).

Strategies for During Reading:1. Talking to the Text 2. Think Aloud 3. Capturing Your Reading Process 4. Double/Triple Entry Journals5. Metacognitive Graphic Organizers 6. Extensive Reading7. Pause and Reflect 8. Stop and Talk, Write, Highlight, Draw

1. Talking to the Text Addresses the Cognitive Domain.

TttT is a scaffold that provides students with an opportunity to engage with the text independently before sharing their process.

Students are given a passage to read independently and encouraged to write in the margins, make notes, designate unfamiliar vocabulary, ask questions, and make comments and predictions. In pairs and then as a class students use their notes to help each other clarify meaning.

Advantages of Talking to the Text

Allows students to feel safer and better prepared to discuss texts

Allows time to analyze personal reading processes

Allows students to choose which comments to share

Engages students with the text Especially helpful for second language learners Leaves an enduring record of the students’

thinking

Tips for Talking to the Text• Be sure to have plenty of “white space” in which to have

students write.

• When copying is an issue, try using post it notes.

• Try using “pre-written” post it notes to save students from writing repeated comments.

• Try folding a piece of paper lengthwise for students to place next to the text with their comments.

• Set expectations for a variety and quantity of questions and comments.

• Allow yourself the luxury of taking time – It does take time for the students to use TttT initially.

2. Think Aloud Addresses the Social and Cognitive Domains.

A Think Aloud helps students practice the mental strategies engaged in by good readers.

Teacher reads a piece of text to the class that he or she has not seen before. The teacher verbalizes his thought process, modeling his interaction with his inner voice, enabling the students to see how he makes sense of the text.

3. Capturing Your Reading Process Addresses the Personal Domain.

While reading a piece of challenging text, students are asked to pay attention to the strategies they use to make sense of the text and then answer some questions regarding their reading process.

Share and record reading strategies as a whole group. Post the list in the classroom as a Good Reader Tool Kit so the strategies can be referred to as needed. It is a good idea to do this activity pretty early on in your implementation of RA strategies.

4. Double/Triple Entry JournalsAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.

A note-taking activity that is useful and adaptable across content areas. The reader records quotes or ideas from the reading in one column and makes observations, personal connections, and comments about the comprehension process in other columns.

5. Metacognitive Graphic OrganizersAddresses Metacognition and all four Domains.

Graphic organizers are tools that can help students think about their own learning process and understand how they clarify new concepts and relinquish old ones that interfere with comprehension.

Students should have the opportunity to experience a variety of graphic organizers and how they are used. They may also learn to create their own and explain their metacognitive process in creating it. Examples are Webs, Venn Diagrams, etc.

6. Extensive ReadingAddresses metacognition and all four domains.

Extensive Reading is wide-ranging, independent reading in any content area class that supports and supplements subject area knowledge and offers students some choice over reading selections. One type of extensive reading is Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) where students read any text of their choosing for a set period of time on a regular basis. A second type of extensive reading uses Thematic Text Sets in which a content area teacher (with the help of a librarian) pulls together texts of varying reading levels and styles on a particular unit or topic. Students read any text from that "thematic text set" for a set period of time on a regular basis.

7. Pause and ReflectAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.

The Pause and Reflect strategy involves a continual evaluation of one's own understanding by periodically summarizing what is being read.

The reading assignment is divided into logical, equal parts. Students note a main K-point, a question, and a connection for each session.

8. Stop and Talk, Write, Highlight, DrawAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.

These four instructional tools can stand alone or be used in any combination with each other. Each one involves a different way of interacting with the text to enhance comprehension.

Stop and Talk= Students stop reading and discuss with a partner or group whether they agree or disagree with what they are reading.

Stop and Write=Students stop reading and write down new information.

Stop and Highlight=Students stop reading and highlight everything they understand in one color and everything they DON'T understand in a different color.

Stop and Draw=Students stop reading and draw what they are picturing in their minds.

Strategies for After Reading:1. Question-Answer Relationships 2. This Is About3. VIP/MVP 4. Twenty-five Word Abstract5. Final Word Protocal 6. Analyzing Knowledge Demands of

Text7. Metacognitive Logs

1. Question-Answer Relationships Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.

QAR is a reading strategy for deepening comprehension and a classroom tool for having meaningful text-based discussions in which students direct the focus. Questions are categorized into four types - Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, and On My Own.Using text from either the core curriculum or supplemental materials, students develop all four types of questions, then pose their questions to their peers, who in turn answer the questions and identify their type.

2. This Is AboutAddresses the Cognitive Domain.

"This Is About" uses group work to teach students how to infer the main idea about a text when it is implied but not stated and to construct summaries from these main ideas. Students read and reread a passage combining independent, pair, and whole group work to work through details and get the big picture idea.

This is About…(Finding deeper meaning) Everyone reads the passage. While you read make a list in the first column

of the literal objects/ideas in the passage Compile a class list of all ideas/objects

literally mentioned in the passage Read the passage again. While you read make inferences and

interpretations to determine what the passage is really about write these in the second column

Summarize what the passage is about by combining the information in the two columns.

25 word abstract(a summarization strategy) As you read write out the main ideas of

each paragraph Note any troublesome vocabulary

After everyone has read, share as a group. Everyone shares main ideas and problem

solves for the troublesome vocabulary Reach a consensus on the main points Write an individual 25 word abstract Share individual summaries with the group Compile a group summary (25 words or

less)

3. VIP/MVP Addresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.

This strategy assists students in breaking down a lengthy piece of text and determining its main ideas.

While reading the text, students use post-it notes to mark the Very Important Points in the selection and after completion, determine their Most Valuable Points. Students use these points to share out in pairs and whole group, debating as a pair or groups which points are very important or most valuable and why.

VIP/MVP (a summarization strategy)

Use post – it notes to label/write out 4 Very Important Points from the article

Use a post – it note to label/write out the 1 Most Valuable Point from the article.

4. Twenty-five Word AbstractAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains.

This activity is a summarization strategy designed to better access text. Students work independently and then in groups to read a piece of text, discuss as a group any comprehension roadblocks, and discuss similarities and differences in their choices of main ideas. Their final goal is an individual and then collaborative twenty-five word abstract which is shared with the whole class.

5. Final Word ProtocalAddresses the Social Domain.

Final Word Protocal is a discussion format whose purpose is to give each person in the group an opportunity to have his or her ideas, understandings, and perspective enhanced by hearing from others.

Each person has three minutes to share thoughts about a specific idea or quote in the reading and each group member gives a response. The person who began has the "final word" and the process is continued with each group member.

6. Analyzing Knowledge Demands of TextAddresses the Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.

This application illustrates for students the importance of activating their own network of prior knowledge, or schema, to aid in comprehension.

Use this activity with a medium such as comic strips or newspaper headlines with multiple meanings. Allow students time to interact with the text individually then discuss the meaning of the text and prior knowledge used to determine the meaning. This is a good strategy to use when your students will need some content-specific prior knowledge to make sense of a piece of text.

7. Metacognitive LogsAddresses metacognition and the Cognitive Domain.

Metacognitive Logs help students become more aware of their thinking as readers and give them more control over how well they learn. They are a place for students to think and write about their own reading process.

Students choose a prompt from a list of sentence starters provided for them (such as "I was confused when..." and respond thoughtfully to the prompt in their metacognitive logs or notebooks. This should become part of their Extended Reading routine.

Stories

Dixon High School Cites Role of Reading Apprenticeship in Schoolwide Literacy Gains

Dixon High School is an ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse school in California’s agricultural Central Valley. In the school’s successful application for recognition as a “California Distinguished School,” staff at Dixon High cited the core, long-term role of Reading Apprenticeship in improving teacher practice and student outcomes:

“Before Dixon High School began implementing the Reading Apprenticeship model, all students, but particularly Latino and Economically Disadvantaged students, were underperforming. [In 2000, the school was designated “underperforming” by the state.] While Reading Apprenticeship is not the only program Dixon High School has implemented over the last decade, it is the most far-reaching in terms of duration and student exposure. Reading Apprenticeship permeates our academic curriculum, from humanities courses to the electives. Most teachers, regardless of field, see themselves as reading teachers and work diligently to help their students access complex and pertinent texts.... "For nearly the past decade, Reading Apprenticeship has enabled Dixon High School students to become more proficient and confident readers throughout their studies." Evidence from criterion-referenced and standardized tests supports the Distinguished Schools award. Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) scores, for example, weigh in at almost triple the increase expected from a year of instruction. In 2009–2010, Dixon students gained 2.9 points compared with an expected 1.0 point. On the California Standards Test for English Language Arts, Dixon students’ scores have increased steadily, and achievement gaps are closing. As shown in the graphs below, over the period 2007–2010, all students’ scores increased by 31 percent, scores for Latino students increased by 46 percent, and scores for low-income students increased by 92 percent. (Earlier standardized score gains at Dixon are reported in a three-year research study funded by The Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Walter S. Johnson Foundation.)

Reading Apprenticeship in Washtenaw and Livingston

Counties, Michigan

On the U.S. Department of Education's Doing What Works (DWW) website, Literacy Coordinators William Loyd and Ronnie Connors discuss the principles behind their four-phase plan for supporting improvements in content area literacy in middle and high schools in both Washtenaw and Livingston Counties, Michigan. Beginning in the 2006-2007 academic year, Loyd and Connors have supported teams of teachers and teacher leaders to embed the routines of Reading Apprenticeship into classrooms as diverse as 7th grade social studies, 8th grade science, and high school drama and theater.

"One thing that's really helped us, in addition to the teachers' enthusiasm for the model, has been the results that we've seen in summative measures that we have used," explains Loyd. Ronnie Connors, his co-facilitator in the countywide Adolescent Literacy Initiative, elaborates, "...we're seeing that in our classrooms where Reading Apprenticeship has been implemented, our students are making gains beyond the national norm. In fact, we're seeing in some classrooms between two and ten times the gain in the national norm..."

In addition to the interview and materials describing the overview of this two county initiative and work from other schools and districts, the DWW website also features classroom photographs, lesson plans and materials and interviews featuring a social studies and a science teacher from two Washtenaw/Livingston County schools (Saline Middle School and Three Fires Middle Schools).

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