Basic Reading Skills I

JY6/05RevLF07090611

READING SKILLS I

INSTRUCTOR COURSE OUTLINE

TEXT:Ten Steps to BuildingCollege Reading Skills – 5thEdition

John Langan – Townsend Press, 2011

Overview of Class

Based on the placement test, the students in Reading I range in ability, but all currently read below an eighth grade level. Therefore, the textbook and curriculum are geared towards that level of development. Conveying such a curriculum to adult learners can be challenging. Andragogy, the teaching of adults, includes not only institutionalized forms of learning, but also self-directed learning. The students need to feel responsible for their progress and involved in their learning. Understanding and supporting the idea that education is a lifelong education process for adult students is important to capturing and maintaining your students’ interest in the reading material you provide.

The basic course objectives are to teach your students to read and comprehend the topic, main idea, and supporting details of a one-paragraph piece of text while focusing on various rhetorical patterns. Reading Skills I students are preparing to enter Reading Skills II and then move to Reading Skills III before entering English Composition I. However, unstated objectives of the course are to encourage the students to become habitual readers and to help them to feel like they are a part of a community of readers.

The Text and Materials

The textbook contains chapters on each of the skill areas to be taught, beginning in Chapter 3 with distinguishing between general and specific ideas, and identifying the topic and main idea of a paragraph. Chapters 1 and 2 cover dictionary use and vocabulary. Neither of these topics is directly tested in the exams; however, both are valuable skills for your students. You might consider emphasizing vocabulary and dictionary use in your lessons—particularly in your discussions of the longer essays—as a means of building background knowledge. Some teachers assign vocabulary words and ask students to write an original paragraph using all the words as a pre-reading activity.

The course outline below suggests a time frame and order for covering the skill areas. Each chapter contains a longer reading of several paragraphs, which can be used to reinforce the concepts. At the end of the textbook you will find several essays that can also be used to apply the concepts as well as to emphasize vocabulary development. You might find that the textbook, even with the inclusion of longer essays, does not provide enough challenge and stimulation for many students. To spice up your class activities you can group the students into discussion groups. Assign each group a theme such as sports or music or even a theme pertaining to their majors (nursing, criminal justice, etc.). Each week require the students to bring in an article that they’ve read on that topic. Ask the students to read each other’s articles and then help each other determine the topic, main idea, supporting details, transition words, and pattern of development for their articles. This takes at least 20 minutes and should be done as you move from group to group discussing the readings with your students briefly.

Another way you can bring in outside readings is to choose an easy, short novel or group of short stories to be read by everyone in or out of class, discussed, and evaluated by exam or written report. The department has class sets of The Price of a Child, The Color of Water, The Glass Castle, The Things They Carried, Nickel and Dimed, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Everyday Heroes, Facing Addictionand What is the What. Instructors who choose to do this must make arrangements with the students regarding their acquisition because these texts are not on order through the college bookstore. To borrow a set, follow the directions in the department handbook. Some instructors have allowed students to read books they are able to select for themselves. It is suggested that instructors NOT use class time for lengthy discussion of the assigned reading, but instead evaluate the students’ progress through some other means, such as letter writing, journaling, or responding to teacher-generated questions. For more information on letter writing, email Ellen Hernandez at .

Assessment

The department provides three exams (two exams and a final, progressively cumulative). They are to be administered according to the schedule in the course outline below. You may create and administer quizzes as you deem necessary, as well as class assignments, homework, writing assignments, and class projects. Make sure you communicate all of the requirements and their function in the grading process in writing to your students at the beginning of the semester, and send a copy to the department. The students’ final averages should be mainly based on their performance on the exams. We suggest making the exam average at least 65% of the final grade. Other activities and class participation can be distributed in whatever percentages you see fit.

Each chapter concludes with Review Tests and Mastery Tests that serve as preparation for the department exams. You might want to complete one set of these in class and assign the other for homework or group work to be reviewed as a class. Also, the Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank are other sources of quizzes and exercises. Ask the department secretary for copies.

Some students in Reading Skills I might exhibit superior progress (determined by a final class average of 90% or above). You may give these students the opportunity to take the Reading Skills II final exam to try and exempt that level and skip directly to Reading Skills III. Teachers can administer the Reading Skills II final exam to eligible students in their classroom on the last day of the course or through the campus TestingCenter if the last day is impractical (i.e., if used for presentation of reading projects or other class activities). Exemption based on passing that exam must be noted on the departmental grading documents and the student must be given a completed Departmental Reading Exemption form for use in registration.

READING SKILLS I

SUGGESTED COURSE OUTLINE

WEEK 1-2Introduction to the course – Overview of the text (pp. 3-13)

Chapter 3: General versus Specific Ideas (pp. 113-121)

Identifying the Topic (pp. 122-127)

Identifying Clue Words (pp. 128-130)

Review Tests (pp. 132-136)

Mastery Tests(pp. 143-154)

Suggested Reading “Group Pressure” (pp. 136-141)

*Emphasize the difference between the terms “topic” and “topic sentence”

WEEK 3Chapter 4:Supporting Details (pp.155-169)

Review Tests (pp. 169-172)

Mastery Tests (pp. 179-190)

Suggested Reading “A Door Swings Open” (pp.173-178)

WEEK 4Chapter 5:Location of Main Ideas (pp.191-199)

Review Tests (pp. 199-202)

Mastery Tests (pp. 209-220)

Suggested Reading “Body Language” (pp.203-208)

WEEK 5Review for exam (Chapters 3, 4,and 5)

EXAM ONE (CUMULATIVE)

Covers general & specific, topic, location of main ideas, and major/minor details.

*After reviewing the exam results, collect the exams and keep them. DO NOT LET STUDENTS TAKE THEIR EXAM WITH THEM.

WEEK 6Chapter 6: Transitions & Patterns (Relationships I) (pp.221-238) covers

transitions, list of items, time order (events and steps)

Review Tests (pp. 239-242)

Mastery Tests (pp.249-260)

Suggested Reading: “Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the Family”

(pp.243-248)

WEEK 7Chapter 7: Transitions and Patterns continued (Relationships II) (pp.261-282)

covers definition/example, comparison and contrast and cause/effect

Review Tests (pp. 282-287)

Mastery Tests (pp. 295-306)

Suggested Reading: “Wired for Touch” (pp.287-294)

ADDITIONAL PATTERN TESTS, Chaps. 6 & 7 (pp.307-312)

WEEK 8Chapter 8:Inferences (pp.313-330)

Review Tests (pp.330-334)

Mastery Tests (pp. 343-354)

Suggested Reading: “A Path to Marriage” (pp.335-342)

WEEK 9Chapter 9:Implied Main Ideas (pp.355-368)

Review Tests (pp. 368-372)

Mastery Tests (pp. 379-390)

Suggested Reading “Lighting a Match” (pp. 373-378)

WEEK 10Review for Exam

EXAM TWO – Transitions, patterns, inferences, implied main ideas

WEEK 11-12Part III:Active Reading / Combined Skill Practice (pp.529-573)

WEEK 13Review – Chs. 3-9

Wrap up independent reading projects if assigned.

WEEK 14DEPARTMENTAL FINAL EXAM – CUMULATIVE (Chs. 3-10)

Covers previous topics and active reading strategies – requires reading paragraphs and identifying topic, topic sentence, implied main idea, supporting details, and pattern