1. TCR Develops Critical Reading/Writing Skills in Real-World Contexts

read. write. think.

TCR’s “Great” Eight Foundations:

Research-based, Best Teaching Practices for Reading Improvement

1. TCR develops critical reading/writing skills in real-world contexts.

Beyond rote drill and practice, in order to teach for true understanding, new skills/knowledge must be developed in meaningful contexts. Language arts material must also be worthy of understanding. It must represent important ideas that have value beyond the classroom, reside at the heart of the discipline, require student to uncover key ideas, and engage students (Wiggins & McTighe,1998).

• contextualizes all learning.
• activates student prior knowledge as a basis of constructing new knowledge.
• features relevant, real-world content from over 2,000 authenticated sources.

• challenges students with essential and important questions that naturally engage and invite deep thinking.

2. TCR helps students become strategic readers.

Reading is a process of constructing meaning by interacting with text. As individuals read, they use their prior knowledge along with content and clues from the text to construct meaning. Research indicates that effective readers are strategic (Baker & Brown, 1984). This means they have purposes for reading and adjust their reading to each task. Specifically, research indicates the effectiveness of selecting a deliberate plan to accomplish a goal or complete a task (Paris, Wasik, & Turner, 1991). Comprehension monitoring is another strategic reading skill found by researchers to improve the ability to construct mearning from text. Without strategic reading skills, students will not achieve the goal of all reading instruction…to help promote independent lifelong learning and literacy skills.

TCR Connections…

• exclusively features the Big6 model to develop strategic reading skills in all student activities in all subjects (e.g. define task, select information seeking strategy, evaluate the product and process).
• helps students learn to monitor their comprehension and task completion with online interactive graphic organizers .

• develops the lifelong literacy and learning skills used throughout adulthood as we utilize many different sources of information (not just textbooks) to be successful in school, in our careers, and in life.

3. TCR uses graphic organizers to develop analytical reading skills.

Creating graphing representations (e.g. Venn diagrams, ideawebs, fishbone diagrams, KWL charts, etc.) help learners to comprehend, summarize, and synthesize complex ideas in ways that often surpass verbal statements (Devine, 1991; Van Patten et al. 1986).

Numerous studies have shown significant differences in achievement as a result of the use of graphic organizers. Examples from ERIC (the Federal Department of Education clearinghouse on educational research include:

• Content-area reading in history
• Reading comprehension with learning disabled students
• Higher-order thinking skills with secondary students learning a second language

• Vocabulary skills in mathematics instruction for elementary students

As the focal point of standards-based education has shifted from “remembering isolated pieces of information” toward more rigorous/integrated understanding, graphic organizers are also widely recognized as important tools to support “teaching for meaning” (Hyerle, 1996). Graphic organizers help students to connect new information to prior knowledge, integrate knowledge to see the whole, and learn using different learning styles.

TCR Connections…

• features nineteen interactive and collaborative online graphic organizers.
• helps students to analyze, organize, synthesize and apply information from text.
• uses email for collaborative work on graphic organizers among peers/teachers/parents.

4. TCR models the renowned Big6 approach in all subjects.

The 21st century has been dubbed the Information Age. As such, contemporary definitions of literacy must encompass the ability to work productively with large amounts of information from many sources across a lifetime of learning and work experiences.

The research-based Big6™ model, is “the most widely-known and -used approach to teaching information and technology skills in the world” (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 2000).

The Big6 information literacy model is explicitly designed is develop the information-age literacy skills required to address problems commonly encountered in unstructured Internet use with students (e.g. Oppenheimer, 1997), such as dealing with the overabundance of information, synthesizing, and distinguishing relevant/irrelevant information.

• models the powerful Big6 literacy process in all activities in all subjects.
• is an exclusive Big6 partner.
• teaches learners to analyze, organize and synthesize information from multiple sources.

5. TCR integrates multiple instructional and assessment models.

No single teaching or learning strategy is best for all students in all tasks. Numerous instructional models have been linked to effective literacy instruction, including: directed strategy (Pressley & Harris, 1990), thematic units (Tchudi, 1991), meta-cognitive strategies, problem-based learning (Stephien, Gallagher, & Workman, 1993). Assessment also requires a multi-dimensional approach. Reliable evidence of real understanding requires teachers to gather evidence from a variety of sources and representing different types of data (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).

TCR Connections…

• supports multiple instructional models, including: directed instruction, thematic units, standardized test prep, problem-based learning, and project-based learning.
• provides in-built Self-Check’s that give instant feedback on the vocabulary and reading comprehension skills targeted by state/national standardized tests.
• provides Kaplan Test Prep Hints that give students, teachers, and parents just-in-time help on important skills targeted on high-stakes tests.
• balances open-end and close-end assessment techniques.
• incorporates project-based assessment and performance rubrics into all activities.
• links all activities to state standards via the McREL-Achieve standards database.

6. TCR helps students apply and transfer skills to all subject areas.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), while students are learning the basic information in core subjects, they are not learning to apply their knowledge effectively to thinking and reasoning. On the other hand, integrated/interdisciplinary teaching provides a meaningful way in which students can use knowledge learned in one context as a knowledge base in other contexts (Collins, Brown, & Newman (1989). Many of the important concepts, strategies, and skills taught in the language arts are portable, and transfer readily to other content areas (Perkins, 1986).

• promotes the transfer of reading/writing/thinking skills to all subjects.
• is naturally integrated, multidisciplinary.

• targets the critical thinking skills that are at the heart of standards in all disciplines (e.g. drawing conclusions, compare/contrast, cause-effect, making inference).

7. TCR links standards with curriculum, assessment, and professional development.

In many settings, students experience the curriculum as a hodgepodge of separate initiatives. Obviously this approach only leads to inconsistent student performance. Standards alone cannot change this, but can only make a difference when all curriculum, assessment, technology, and staff development is coherent and aligned (Carr & Harris, 2001).

TCR Connections…

• links all student activities to the McREL-ACHIEVE standards database.
• targets the essence of increasingly rigorous state standards, often overlooked by traditional programs.
• integrates online curriculum, online assessment, and onsite/online staff development services that all promote “best” teaching practices.

8. TCR raises expectations for all learners.

Educational opportunities for “at-risk” students who have been characterized as "economically or educationally disadvantaged" have traditionally been based on lower expectations, and focus on the acquisition of “basic skills” following rote, drill-and-practice instruction.

Research (Means and Knapp, 1991) indicates that at-risk student achievement may actually be hindered by school factors such as narrow curriculum and rigid instructional strategies. Recent findings indicate that by depriving at-risk students of challenging content and complex thinking, schools underestimate students’ capabilities, postpone interesting and meaningful work, and deprive them of a meaningful context for learning and for using the skills they are taught. Other studies specifically describe the benefits of current primary source material, such as newspaper information, as a teaching tool for at-risk students (Palmer, 1989; Zamorano, 1993).

Thomas & Collier (1997) report longitudinal research that English language learners (ESOL) achieve significantly better in programs that teach language through cognitively complex academic content (in both native and second languages) in math, science, social studies and literature, through problem-solving, discovery-learning, and other interactive learning strategies.

TCR Connections…

• challenges higher-level thinking throughout.
• motivates students to read by offering students a high level of control/choice and providing access to relevant, real-world content.
• complements and extends all textbooks and “basic skills” computer programs.
• features “hi-low” (high interest – low readability) newspaper content.
• provides multiple points of view from over 2,000 original, real-world sources.
• Naturally incorporates linguistic, cognitive and academic development in all activities in all subjects

Bibliography

Baker, L., & Brown, A.L. (1984b). Metacognitive skills in reading. In P.D. Pearson (Ed.), Handbook of reading research (353-394). New York: Longman.

Carr, J. & Harris, D. (2001). Succeeding with standards. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Collins, A., Brown, J.S., & Newman, S.E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L. Resnick (Ed.), Knowledge, learning and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (453-494). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Devine, T.G. (1991). Studying: Skills, strategies, and systems. In J. Flood, J.M. Jensen, D. Lapp, & J.R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts (743-753). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Eisenberg, M. B. & Berkowitz, R. E. (2000). The Big 6 Skills: Information Problem-Solving Approach.

Hyerle, D. (1996). Visual tools for constructing knowledge. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Means, B. & Knapp, M. S. (December 1991). Cognitive approaches to teaching advanced skills to educationally disadvantaged students. Phi Delta Kappan, 73 (4), 282-89.

Oppenheimer, T. (1997, July). “The computer delusion.” The Atlantic Monthly, pp. 45 - 62.

Palmer, B. C. (1989) An investigation of the effects of newspaper-based instruction on reading vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing performance of at-risk middle and secondary school students: Final report. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Document No. CS009935.

Paris, S.G., Wasik, B.A., & Turner, J.C. (1991). The development of strategic readers. In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 2, 609-640). New York: Longman.

Pressley, M., & Harris, K.R. (1990). What we really know about strategy instruction. Educational Leadership, 48, 31-34.

Resnick, L. B. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Stepien, W., Gallagher, S., & Workman, D. (1993). Problem-based learning for traditional and interdisciplinary classrooms. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 16(4), 338-357.

Tchudi, S. (1991). Planning and assessing the curriculum in English language arts. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Thomas, W. P. & Collier, V. P. (1997). School effectiveness for language minority students. National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

U.S. Department of Education (2001). NAEP: National Assessment of Educational Progress (2001).

Van Patten, J.R., Chao, C.I. & Reigeluth, C.M. (1986). “A review of strategies for sequencing and synthesizing information.” Review of Educational Research, 56, 437-472.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Zamorano, W. J. Eighth grade reading improvement with CNN Newsroom and USA Today. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Document No. CS011659.

TCR: Research-based, Best Teaching Practices for Improved Reading