Struggling Students/Difficult Text : Before-Reading Sample

In my last posting about struggling students and difficult text, I addressed before-reading components. After reading it, someone asked if I could give a specific example of what the vocabulary lesson, the vocabulary front-loading, making connections/activating prior knowledge, and setting a purpose might look like when connected to a real text.

Let's use the article, Scorpion King's Wines from National Geographic. It will be the basis of the before-reading activities included in this blog.

While planning, I need to ask myself several questions:

1. Which words should be part of the vocabulary development for this unit?
2. Which words should I front-load because students might not know them, and therefore, comprehension might be interrupted when reading?
3. How can I get students to connect what they are going to read to something about which they already have knowledge and how can I get students to activate their prior knowledge about this subject?
4. What purpose will I give them when they begin to read?

Choosing the Vocabulary Terms

If I were a science teacher doing a unit on chemistry, I might identify the following words: residues, resins, substances, additives, synthetic, alkaloids, pharmacopoeia, empirically, collaborating, biomolecular, and analysis.

When looking from an ancient civilization perspective, I might choose: Scorpion King, Scorpion I, pharaoh, archaeochemist, archaeology, anthropology, and papyrus.

Now that I've identified words that my students might not know but need to know for my area of study, I have to choose which are most important for the unit being taught. Since this text is short and it might only take a day to read, I might only choose the word(s) that are relevant to my objective, are thought to be academic vocabulary for my content, and/or are used in other texts the class will read throughout the week. For example, in a history class that is studying Ancient Egypt, I will choose only the words that connect to my unit, are academic vocabulary in Ancient Civilizations, and will be present in other information the class will read during the week. Therefore, the 4 vocabulary words I have chosen are Scorpion I, pharaoh, archaeology, and papyrus.

I will discuss the instruction of the vocabulary terms in another blog.

Choosing Words to be Front-loaded and Front-loading

Besides Scorpion I, pharaoh, archaeology, and papyrus in my unit on Ancient Egypt, I have identified a host of other words that I am afraid will break down comprehension. Here is the entire list of words about which I'm concerned:

spiked, relation, archaeochemist, colleagues, residues, herbs, resins, substances, additives, anthropology, synthetic, alkaloids, tipples, ailments, advent, pharmacopoeia, mixology, empirically, biomolecular, analysis

This list is too long! Therefore, I need to whittle it down. I ask myself: Which of these terms might the students have some knowledge of and therefore, they will probably be able to deduce their meaning without any instruction? Which of these terms' meanings are embedded in the text or students might be able to figure out using word parts? Which of these terms are not necessary to understand the author's message? Here are my thoughts:

• I think the students will understand relation in its context. If they don't it is not necessary to the author's message. I will eliminate that word.
• Students should be able to figure out residues from the context of the sentence.
• I think the students will be able to see chemist in archaeochemist. I think I will get rid of it. Also, when we talk about archaeology, I will point out the archaeo- affix.
• I think the students will understand the word herb. Many of our adolescents have heard this term in life or on television in relation to marijuana. I think I will eliminate it.
• I hope from science class, from word parts, and from the world around them, students will have some understanding of substance, additives, synthetic, biomolecular, and analysis.
• Students should be able to use context clues to understand ailments.
• They will be able to use word parts and context to understand mixology.
• If students don't understand alkaloids completely it won't take away from the main idea.
• If they don't understand colleagues it will not take away from the author's message.

After thinking through the long list of words, I have chosen these words to front-load:
spiked, resins, anthropology, tipples, advent, pharmacopoeia, empirically

Now that I have chosen these words, I need to front-load their meanings. I want to do this as succinctly as possible. One way to do this is to have pictures or objects to illustrate concrete terms. Examples of what I would do or say to quickly introduce these words:

• I might have a piece of resin for the students to see.
• I might have a bottle of Dr. Pepper handy to illustrate a tipple.
• For spiked, I might tell a quick story. "I was at a party and I didn't know that they had spiked the punch. Someone put vodka in the punch. I thought it was just punch. So, if we spike something, it means we add something extra to it."
• Anthropology: "If I was an anthropologist, I would study the history of groups of people - their culture, their environments, their physical characteristics, and even how they got along with others."
• Advent means the same as arrival. The advent of spring means the arrival of spring.
• You will see this word pharmacopoeia. You probably notice pharma- at the beginning just like pharmacy where we get medicine. It is important in this story to know that this means the medicines they had stored up.
• Empirically - You might have seen this word in science. When someone studies something, empirical evidence is what has actually been seen or observed.

Making Connections and Activating Prior Knowledge

There are a couple of ways that I can connect this to the lives of students. First, the author has already made a connection with his comment on "the Rock" and the Scorpion King. Many of our students will have seen this movie and will be able to automatically put it in some kind of context. Therefore, I might have the students turn-and-talk: "Tell everything you can remember about The Scorpion King starring "the Rock" that you think was based in history."

I could also go in a different direction. For example, this article is about things we learn from the past. To make a connection and to activate prior knowledge, I could have the students think about things we have learned from history. For example: "With a partner, make a list of all of this things you think we use today that are based on something that was discovered somewhere in history."

When activating prior knowledge we want to build schema. To do this, we have to first set the stage so that students think: "Oh, this is about..." or "Oh, this is like..." Once the students have some picture in their head, we can begin to refine it a bit more. Perhaps in this lesson, I might use a clustering activity.

1. The students write the "nucleus" term or phrase Egyptian History at the center of their paper and circle it.
2. Around the center circle, the students write any subtopics that come to mind. For example they might write: mummies, pyramids, pharaohs, etc. The students circle the subtopics and draw lines to what they connect to.
3. After a few minutes, allow students to discuss so knowledge is shared. This activity should be very quick and you should accept all thoughts.
4. The teacher records a group cluster from a quick share out.
5. After reading the passage, come back to the cluster to see what ideas emerged from the reading and what new learning occurred.

Setting a Purpose
I have just looked at CNN on line. The latest news stories are listed as:

• Weeding the budget of $17 billion
• Manny tests positive
• Pakistan to scrap peace deal, launch offensive, source says
• 13,000 flee as California mansions go up in flames

I am going to choose to read: Weeding the budget of $17 billion. When I read it, I want to find out: What are they going to cut out of the budget to save $17 billion?

I have just set a purpose for myself. This is what we must teach our students to do. We know that "setting a purpose" is an important thinking skill. It is also imperative that teachers support students by supplying them with a purpose. The teacher usually has an agenda. She knows what she wants her students to learn from a reading.

In the example about the discovery in the tomb of the Scorpion King, we might choose one of the following:

• Read this article and find out how discoveries in the tomb of the Scorpion King have affected or may affect our lives.
• Read this article and find a connection to the discovery in the tomb to a development of medicine that leads all the way to today.

Instruction Model

The vocabulary instruction, the front-loading, the activation of prior knowledge/making connections, and the setting a purpose should take as little time as possible. We want to save the time for students to read and learn. If the students have a 45 minutes period, I suggest this instructional model:

• 8 minutes - vocabulary development
• 10 minutes - Before-reading (3-4 minutes - front-loading, 4-5 minutes - making connections/activating prior knowledge, 1 minute - setting a purpose)
• 17 minutes - During-reading
• 10 minutes - After-reading

I hope these specific examples are helpful. When I talk about this next, I will discuss the importance of teaching students to interact with text with during-reading activities.

Let me know if you have any questions about what is written here. I love to have conversations about these important instructional topics.

Jimi

High-Frequency Words - Just for Primary?

High-frequency words and/or sight words are best known from lists like Fry's Instant Sight Words, Dolch's 220 Sight Words, Fry's 1000 Word List, or Cunningham's 100 Word Wall Words. (By the way, Cunningham has a primary and intermediate list available.) These lists of words sometimes take on a life of their own. I've observed some schools that seem to ground their early reading instruction on students' memorization of these "magical" words. In primary grades, it is not uncommon for teachers to send lists of these words home for students to learn by rote. After second grade there seems to be less emphasis on high-frequency words and often by the 4th grade, teachers no longer give them a second thought. So what are these words, how important are they for readers to know, and what are some ways to teach them?


Sight Words vs. High-frequency Words

First let's look at the two types of words.

Sight words are a words that readers need to know "at sight" to read fluently. It does not matter if these words are decodable or not. These are high-utility words that occur most frequently in English.
High-frequency words are high-utility words that are used most commonly in English. Because they occur so frequently, knowing these words assist a reader in becoming more fluent.

In other words, they are pretty much the same thing. Some think of the sight words as the group of 100 - 200 words that make up most of what is written. For example, it is said that the 220 words in Dolch's list make up from 50% - 75% of words in most books. Others say that if a reader knows the first 100 of Fry's list, h/she will be able to read 50% of all words in most books. (Many of these words are not decodable; therefore, students will not learn them through phonics instruction.)

Fry has listed 1000 words that are most often used in English. He has these words listed in groups of 100. It is important for a school to decide which words are taught in which grades. A quick search on the internet will produce many samples from schools across the country.

What does it mean to KNOW these words?

As mentioned above it is really important for readers to know these words - especially the words that are not decodable. But, what do we mean by "know" them? Readers need to know these words with automaticity so that the brain does not use cognitive energy when it confronts them. High-frequency words are usually in a child's oral vocabulary; therefore, it is not necessary to include them in a vocabulary curriculum. I suggest that students should be able to read and write them fluently. Because these words are the utility words of our language, not only will fluency be effected by the reader's knowledge of these words but a student's writing skills will be impacted as well.

When mapping our curriculum, we should set expectations for students sight word knowledge. We can assign a set of words to each grade-level. We can set goals as to when students should be able to read and/or spell high-frequency words. However, be careful! Even if we have mapped when students should know them, we still have to be aware of ALL students' actual abilities to read and write them. For example, students might read the word because with automaticity in second grade, but it is not uncommon for 8th graders to misspell this seemingly primary word. Therefore, if a teacher discovers that a good portion of her class does not spell because correctly, it would be appropriate for her to revist it as a high-frequency word.

Instruction

I have found interactive Word Walls the most effective method of teaching sight words (Cunningham, 1995). Note: I specify interactive because a static list of words on display that are not used will not help students learn them. Here is a quick reminder of Cunningham's method:

• The teacher introduces 5 words a week.
• The words are added to a display in alphabetic order and in a way that all students can read them from their desks.
• On the day of introduction, the class claps the consonants and snaps the vowels while chanting the spelling.
• Each subsequent day, the teacher leads a short activity to practice the words and to draw attention to the Word Wall.

Many of Cunningham's activities require students to think about the word's use (syntactic), its meaning (semantic), and its spelling and sounds (graphophonic). This comprehensive approach embedded in the method helps students see the connection of phonics, reading, and writing.

For Primary Teachers: To add a layer of phonics instruction to the Word Wall, Cunningham has identified words on her list of 100 words that can be used to teach word patterns. For example, the word at can be used to teach the -at pattern. In fact, she suggests that a teacher should frequently ask questions such as "What other words can you read because you know how to read at?"

As you have noticed, I have not mentioned sending home lists of words, sight word card rings, etc. I think these types of strategies are very useful. However, I do not think they should take the place of classroom instruction of the words. If (when?) we place the responsibility of teaching into the hands of our students' parents, inevitably some of our students will be left behind. Not all parents have equal amounts of time to lead activities with their children. Therefore, some students will have ample opportunities to practice while others get little. If we depend on our parents for instruction, achievement gaps will persist.

Lastly, I would like to explicitly state that I do think there is room in any grade for teachers to teach high-frequency words if data shows that students cannot read and write these important words. I have given one example of how I might choose a word in 8th grade. Another approach might be to revisit the words during the middle school years to address multiple meaning words. For example, the word product is on Fry's 1000 Word List. At what grade could the multiple meanings of product be relevant? - in math? - in economics? - in science?

Let me know if you have any questions about teaching high-frequency words. Also, if your school has divvied up Fry's or Dolch's list and you would like to share it, let me know and we can attach a link to it.

Peace and happy word studying,
Jimi

Writing Instruction: In Days of Yore?

As I think about the kind of writing instruction I received as a student, I cringe. Most of my teachers would say something like this:

“I want a 3 page research report. Make sure you cite your sources and use strong topic sentences. Be sure to check for errors and spelling.”

Not having much writing experience, I would find a topic that I hoped my teacher would like. I would look in encyclopedias for information on the topic. (Give me a break. I’m old!) I would try my best to paraphrase the information I had read because I knew that I wasn’t supposed to copy or I would be thrown into jail for plagiarism. I didn’t really understand the idea of topic sentences so I just wrote things that made sense to my ears. After plodding my way to the end of the 3^rd page, I would check to see if everything “looked” right.

I turned these labors of... dread into the teacher and would wait in anticipation. (Picture the boy in A Christmas Story and you’ll have a vision of me.) After 3 days or 3 weeks, the teacher would return the graded report. I would look at the red marks on the paper and try to decipher the hieroglyphics. I would glance at the grade (usually a C), try to figure out what those marks meant, wonder why the teacher’s word choice was better than mine, and then stuff the assignment in a tattered folder.

I never saw a teacher write. The writing process was not discussed. Conferencing was yet to be invented. I never had a mini-lesson on word choice. Instead, I had the privilege of matching topic sentences to pre-written details. I had the opportunity to memorize and identify the parts of speech and diagram sentences...but I did not know how all of those things should affect my assignments.

My hope is that the kind of writing instruction (or lack of it) that I experienced has retired along with my teachers. (By the way, this is not to wag my finger at my teachers. This was before researchers were looking so closely at what effective literacy instruction looks like.) Unfortunately, I am not sure writing teachers of today know how to deliver the kind of writing instruction that research has shown to be effective. I do not know if they know how to teach differently than they were taught. For example, when I mention to folks that Writing Next reports that explicitly teaching parts of speech and sentence structures has shown to have negative results with low achieving students ( 2007, p. 21), many retort with something like, “That is how I was taught. It is important that students know these things.”

So now, I put it to you…

If you examine your writing instruction, does it look like it came from "days of yore"? What do you need to align your instruction with what research has to say about effective writing? (See Writing Next, 2007 for a reference point. There is a link to it on my website: www.comprehensiveliteracysupport.com)

Frontloading Vocabulary

Someone asked about this idea of frontloading vocabulary as opposed to teaching vocabulary. What might that look like in real life - with a text? Let's use an excerpt from an on-line Newsweek article by Nick Summers and Barrett Sheridan called "Browsing the Future" (March 5, 2009):

"At least 18 percent of you already know what Firefox is, because you're using it to read this interview. (Or so says the statistics engine behind Newsweek.com, which tracks things like that.) For the unfamiliar, Firefox is a free Web browser that is built by coders around the world whose open-source work is organized by the Mozilla Corp. and its nonprofit parent, the Mozilla Foundation. Introduced in 2004 as an alternative to Microsoft's ubiquitous, but buggy, Internet Explorer, Firefox has been a force for innovation in the browser category, with improvements such as tabbed browsing and plug-ins that work on any operating system. Commissions from search engines appear to keep Mozilla awash in revenue for now ($75 million in 2007; the foundation has not released 2008 data), although the vast majority of that comes from a company, Google, that now has its own competing browser, Chrome. Mozilla's plans for 2009 include a new version of Firefox, which will focus on user-interface polish; an overhaul of Thunderbird, its e-mail client; and taking Firefox mobile."

If a technology teacher was using this article in his/her class, s/he might decide that the following words were important to teach as vocabulary words:

• coders, open-source work, tabbed browsing, plug-ins

These words, because they are the academic vocabulary, would be taught with effective vocabulary instruction methods throughout the week. However, the teacher might also identify ubiquitous and revenue as words that will interrupt comprehension for some students. Therefore, as part of the front loading the teachers says:

"We are going to read an article about the browser Mozilla. In the article you will come across a couple of words that might trip you up. One word is ubiquitous. (The teacher displays the word.) Ubiquitous means widespread. For example, the talk of Obama's victory was ubiquitous. Another word has to do with income - the amount of money someone makes. The word is revenue. The revenue for the project grew every year. (The teacher displays the word.)"

Let me know if this example helps.

Struggling Student/Difficult Text

I've been thinking a lot about students who face difficult text everyday and the teachers who teach them. We know that students learn best when the text they confront falls in their instructional level (95 - 97% word accuracy, 75 - 89% comprehension). But let's face it, when students hit middle school and go on to high school, more often than not they are given materials that are too difficult for them. This is a very common problem! In most classes in middle and high school, teachers have lots of content to cover. In addition, these teachers don't feel they know a lot about reading. So, what's a teacher to do?

There are several things teachers can do to deal with this problem but in this posting I would like to begin to address a question I get asked a lot.

"What can I do to help my students read (and learn) from materials that are too difficult?"

First, teachers must plan ahead!

• You must know what text students will be expected to read for the week.
• Once you have chosen the amount of text for the week, split it into sections students can read each day.
  
• Sometimes it is helpful to split the daily sections into small bits so that you can guide students at the breaking points.
  
• You must identify vocabulary in the week's section of text that students need to know.
  
• Finally, it is good to know the structure of the text to be read i.e. cause/effect, problem/solution, sequential, concept/definition, etc.

Once you have chosen the text and vocabulary and have identified the text structure, it is important to think about three steps:

1. Before-reading activities
2. During-reading activities
3. After-reading activities

For now, I am only going to address the Before-reading Activities. Before-reading involves a couple of things:

• Frontloading vocabulary
• Activating prior knowledge
• Making Connections
• Setting a purpose for reading
• Giving readers a way to organize learning as they read

Vocabulary Frontloading
Teaching vocabulary and frontloading vocabulary are a bit different. In direct instruction of vocabulary you teach with the goal of students KNOWING these words - at least to a level of knowledge that they know the words in context. However, when a teacher frontloads vocabulary, s/he is giving the students a synonym or brief description of the word to avoid comprehension interruption when students are reading.

Activating Prior (Background) Knowledge and Making Connections
We know that learning occurs when we connect new learning to something we already know. We've all heard the analogy of the file cabinet in our brains with certain file folders containing knowledge of what we have already learned. The idea of activating prior knowledge plays on that same idea. Teachers want to give students an activity that forces the learner to file through his/her brain for any background knowledge s/he already has on the subject. One of the most common ways teachers do this is with the KWL (Ogle, 1982). (This strategy is actually a before-, during-, and after-reading activity.)

• Know - You ask students to brainstorm what they already know about a subject.
• Want to learn - You ask students to identify what they want to learn about the topic.
  
• Learned - You ask students to record what they have learned about the topic.

Setting the Purpose
Now that students have identified what they already know about a topic and therefore, connected it to their own lives, it is time to set a purpose for reading. (In the KWL, the "want to learn" can be the purpose.) Setting the purpose sounds something like this: "The subheading says 'Causes of the Civil War'. Read the next section of text and find the causes of the Civil War." When setting the purpose the teacher should ask a question or give a task that requires students to locate information in the text they are about to read.

Organizing New Learning
Although the organization of new learning is the during-reading activity, students must get instruction on this activity. This instruction should include teacher modeling of the activity and some guided practice of the activity. For example: The students are to read to find the causes of the Civil War. As they read, the teacher might want the students to organize the information in a bubble map or a graphic organizer. If that be the case, the teacher might begin the lesson, demonstrating finding causes of the Revolutionary War using the same bubble map the students will be using. After finding two causes from the text the teacher is reading, the teacher might have students work in pairs to find the third cause.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions about what I have shared. I will be happy to go into further detail if someone wants more information.