4 Stages of Continuous Professional Development What and

4 Stages of Continuous Professional Development What and Why What does it feel like? What Now? What Next? What does it look like?

WOW! (Working on the Work!) Seven Strategies for Comprehension

“ As I read, I consciously and subconsciously synthesize. I question, I infer, I create vivid sensory images. I relate the piece to my own experience. I tease out what I think is most important. I draw conclusions about what I think the key points of the passage are. Sometimes I use the strategies purposefully, other times they surface randomly. They are tools I use, sometimes effortlessly, sometimes purposefully to construct meaning. They intertwine and merge and I switch quickly among them, frequently using them simultaneously. They are the instruments which, as I become more familiar with them, give me the ability to read more quickly. They are the means to an end. For proficient readers, they are second nature. ” Keene and Zimmerman, 1997

Metacognitive Strategies • Making Connections/Schema • Questioning • Visualizing/Sensory Images • Inferring • Determining Importance • Synthesizing • Monitoring for Meaning

Making Connections/Schema Activating relevant, prior knowledge to make connections before, during, and after reading and storing new information with other related memories

Questioning Asking questions before, during, and after reading to better understand what is read

Visualizing/Sensory Images Creating pictures in the mind using all of the senses and emotions

Inferring Using background knowledge, combined with evidence from the text, to make inferences and draw conclusions

Determining Importance Identifying the main ideas, what the author considers important, and theme

Synthesizing Combining what is known with new information to understand the text “Now I get it!” “I learned that____. ” “My thinking changed while I was reading. ”

Monitoring for Meaning Using “fix-up” strategies when coming to an unknown word or a confusing part of the text

“Fix-up” Strategies • Stop and think about what you have already read. • Make a prediction. • Ask yourself a question and try to answer it. • Retell what you’ve read. • Adjust your reading rate: slow down or speed up.

More “Fix-Up” Strategies • Visualize. • Use print conventions. • Notice patterns in text structure. • Reread. • Reflect in writing on what you have read. Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? Cris Tovani

Read the poem “The Ponds” by Mary Oliver. Think about the comprehension strategies you apply to fully construct meaning from the text. Use the box in the top corner to help you code your thinking.

“The researchers recommended that each strategy be taught with singular focus, over a long period of time, to students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and beyond, and that teachers model and students practice the strategies with a variety of texts. If teachers focused their attention on a strategy, beginning with a great deal of modeling and gradually releasing responsibility (Gallagher and Pearson, 1983) to the children to practice it independently, the researchers believed students could actually be taught to think differently as they read. ” From Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene

Why begin with Schema?

“A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading them, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through a mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept its wonders. ” John Steinbeck

Those “points of contact” from the John Steinbeck quote are the background knowledge that a reader brings to the story.

Each type of schema permits students to monitor for meaning, pose questions, make predictions, draw conclusions, create mental images, synthesize, and determine importance as they read.

How is background knowledge/schema utilized by proficient learners?

Readers • Readers spontaneously activate relevant prior knowledge before, during, and after reading text. • Readers assimilate information from text into their schemata and make changes in that schemata to accommodate new information. • Readers use schema to relate text to their world knowledge, text knowledge, and personal experience. • Readers use their schema to enhance their understanding of text and to store text information in long term memory. • Readers use their schema for authors and their style to better understand text. • Readers recognize when they have inadequate background information and know how to create it—to build schema—to get the information they need.

Writers • Writers frequently choose their own topics and write about subjects they care about. • A writer’s content comes from and builds on his/her experiences. • Writers think about and use what they know about genre, text structure, and conventions as they write. • Writers seek to better recognize and capitalize on their own voice for specific effects in their compositions. • Writers know when their schema for a topic or text format is inadequate and they create the necessary background knowledge. • Writers use knowledge of their audience to make decisions about content inclusions/exclusions.

Mathematicians • Mathematicians use current understandings as first steps in the problem solving process. • Mathematicians use their number sense to understand a problem. • Mathematicians add to schema by trying more challenging problems and hearing from others about different problem solving methods. • Mathematicians build understanding based on prior knowledge of math concepts. • Mathematicians develop purpose based on prior knowledge. • Mathematicians use their prior knowledge to generalize about similar problems and to choose problem solving strategies. • Mathematicians develop their own problems.

Researchers • Researchers frequently choose topics they know and care about. • Researchers use their prior knowledge and experience to launch investigations and ask questions. • Researchers consider what they already know to decide what they need to find out and researchers self evaluate according to background knowledge of what quality products look like.

What background knowledge is needed for students to succeed in… • Drivers’ Education • Geometry • Chemistry • United States History

In school groups, think about a specific area that you teach. • What prior knowledge is needed to be successful? • If a student doesn’t feel success, what am I doing to help build background knowledge? Each school group should be prepared to share one area with the entire group.

WOW! (Working on the Work) Where do we go from here?

Professional Development Resources • Mosaic of Thought by Ellin Keene • I Read It, But I Don’t Get It by Cris Tovani • Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey • Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller • Constructing Meaning Through Kid-Friendly Comprehension Strategy Instruction by Nancy Boyles • Teaching Reading in Middle School by Laura Robb