Reading Is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Reading is Thinking:

Active Literacy Practices Grades 2-3

2009-2010 School Year

East Meadow Public Schools

Bowling GreenElementary School

CAP WRITERS

Jennie Re

Ellen Kelter

Jocelyn Weston

Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Table of Contents

Rationale 1

New YorkState Standards 2

Literacy Strategy #1FQR Think Sheet 3-4

Literacy Strategy #2K-W-L-S 5-6

Literacy Strategy #3Visualization7-9

Literacy Strategy #4Noticing and Thinking about New Learning 10-11

Literacy Strategy #5: Double Entry Journals12

Literacy Strategy #6: Reciprocal Questioning13-14

Literacy Strategy #7: Carousel Brainstorm15-16

Bibliography17

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Readingis Thinking: Active Literacy Practices Grades 2-3

Rationale

This CAP will provide specific teaching strategies in the area of comprehension skills to permit students to practice active literacy strategies. The teachers who use this curriculum will find materials and plans to enable their students to interact with text in the following ways:

Activating background knowledge
Making text connections [text-to-self; text-to-text; text-to-world]
Predicting
Generating questions
Determining important information
Visualizing

Each literacy strategy presented in this CAP includes the following components:

Description ofprocedure
Application of strategy
Samples and resources

The strategies suggested by the writers are applicable to content area texts that may be used across the curriculum in both small group settings and whole-class instruction. These strategies will enable the teacher to differentiate instruction to best meet the needs of each student.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

New YorkState Standards

English Language Arts
Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.
Standard 2: Language for Literary Response and Expression
Students will read and listen to oral, written, and electronically produced texts and performances from American and world literature; relate texts and performances to their own lives; and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.
Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.
Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #1: FQR Think Sheet [Harvey and Goudvis, 2007]

Goal:

FQR Think Sheet is used to determine important information, elicit student questions based on the text, and engage students in active response to the text.

Resource:

Isaacs, Sally Senzell. “A Child’s Day.” Picture the PastLife in a ColonialTown. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2000, pp. 16-17.

Procedure:

Provide copies of the passage below.
The teacher reads a portion of the passage aloud and models how s/he jots down important facts in the first column of the FQR Think Sheet
Students are then encouraged to ask questions based on those facts. The questions are written in the second column of the FQR Think Sheet
The teacher models a personal responseor an opinion based on the facts and questions. These responses are recorded in the third column of the FQR Think Sheet
The completed FQR Think Sheet may be used to review a topic or chapter and as a reference for further study and investigation.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Name ______Date ______

Title: ______

Author: ______

Directions: Read the selection. First, record the important facts from the text. Next, write your own questions about each of the facts. Finally, provide a personal response to the text information.

FACTS / QUESTIONS / RESPONSE

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #2: K-W-L-S[Ogle, 1986]

Goal: K-W-L-S stands for the following:

What I Know – What I Want to know – What I Leaned – what I Still need to know.

It is a model based on Donna Ogle’s original K-W-L technique. Here it adapted to help students activate prior knowledge and to encourage students to formulate purposeful questions. The chart is a roadmap to guide active thinking and reading for information.

Resource: Ervin, Jane.Early Reading Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter Book C. Cambridge: Educators Publishing Service, Inc., 1982.

Procedure:

Initiate discussion with the students about what they already know about the topic of the text. Record the responses in the K column of the response form.
In the Wcolumn, the students will write down specific questions that they want to know about the topic.
Next, text material is read with the purpose of seeking answers to the questions in the W column.
After reading the text, students will write down what they learned in the L column.
The teacher should guide the students to determine if any of their questions were answered in the text.
The S column is used to record the questions that are still unanswered.

Sample Passage

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

K
What I KNOW / W
What I WANT to know / L
What I learned / S
What I STILL want to know.

Name______Date______

Topic______Title of Source ______Author ______

Isaacs, Sally. Picture the Past: Life in a ColonialTown. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2000. Print.

Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #3: Visualization: Thinking in PicturesPart I

Goal:

Visualization enables the teacher to activate prior knowledge of the topic and to raise sensory and visual memories the students may have prior to reading.
Visualizing personalizes reading and keeps the reader engaged.
Visualization deepens a person’s understanding of the text and is a strategy that improves comprehension.

Resources:

Ervin, Jane. Early Reading Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter Book C. Cambridge: Educators Publishing Service, Inc., 1982.

Harvey, Stephanie, and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work. 2nd ed. Portland: Stenhouse, 2007. [pp.130-154]

Isaacs, Sally. Picture the Past: Life in a ColonialTown. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2000.

Procedures:

The teacher reads a descriptive passage and models active visualizing by describing images that can be seen in the mind’s eye:
The words in bold printcontribute to the visualization of the passage. These words may be elicited from the students or selected by the teacher for less able learners.
Key wordsthat most contribute to the visualization should be highlighted or recorded on chart paper or white board and discussed with the class

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #3: Visualization: Thinking in PicturesPart II

Procedures[continued]:

Guided practice using a different text permits the teacher to determine the level of understanding and application of the visualization skills.
The teacher asks the class to listen carefully to a passage in order to visualize the scene that the words describe.
The teacher tells the student that the passage will be read twice
After the first reading, the students draw their own visualization.
Finally, the students may turn and talk to share the words that produced the most vivid images.
Sample text for guided practice:
At the conclusion of the lesson, the teacher should remind students to use the visualization strategy when listening to or reading descriptive text in order to better comprehend the author’s message.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #4: Noticing and Thinking about New Learning

Goal: Students will merge their own thinking with new information. Connections between the known information and the new learning will build a storehouse of knowledge. When readers interact with the text in this way, it is more likely that the information will be retained.

Resource:

Harvey, Stephanie, and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work. 2nd ed. Portland: Stenhouse, 2007. [pp.130-154].

Tishman, S., & Perkins, D. N. (1997)."The language of thinking." Phi Delta Kappan, 78(5), 368374.

Procedure:

Select a short and detailed piece of non-fiction.
The selection should be rich in new information for the students, but not written on a frustration level for the class. A selection from a newspaper or one of the texts they use in class would work well.
The selection should be written on a Smartboard or overhead so that all of the students can see all of the sample text.
Model your own thought process following the reading by saying, “Oh I never knew about this,” or “What surprising information!” or “This information gives me a new idea.”
Code your reactions with an “L” to indicate new learning and recorded on sticky notes that are large enough for the students to see.
After modeling this process, engage the students by asking them to contribute sticky notes of their own.
Direct the students to apply the strategy of using “inner conversations” to a new text at their instructional level. This can be a continuation of the sample text that was modeled.
At the end of the session, students share their discoveries.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #4: Noticing and Thinking about New Learning [page two]

Sample text adapted from:

Randell, Beverley. Hippos. Crystal Lake: Rigby Press, 1998.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #5: Double Entry Journals [Barone, 1990]

Goal: A double entry journal is a reading log in which the pages are divided into two columns. Students read to notice information from the text such as important quotes or “Big Ideas” and then write their reaction, reflection or text connections. This strategy will help students structure their thinking about the text they are reading. Their choices of quotations or Big Ideas and their responses will reveal their understanding of the text.

Resource: Tompkins, Gail, E. Fifty Literacy Strategies: Step by Step. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1998

Procedure:

Each student will fold a page into two columns. The left side will be labeled Quotations [or Big Ideas] and the right side will be labeled Reflections. Inform students that reflections = their thoughts about their selected quotations.
Students are directed to copy one or more interesting quotations or important ideas from the text in the left column, either during reading or immediately after reading.
Next, students will reread their quotations or important ideas and make notes in the right column. Notes include their thoughts, their connections to the reading and what it means to them.
Ideas may be shared with buddies [“Turn and Talk”] or shared later with the class.

Sample Text for Guided Practice:

Sample text adapted from: Take Care of Your Teeth, Don L. Curry

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #6: Reciprocal Questioning [Manzo, 1969]

Goal: The teacher and students read segments of text and ask each other questions about important information. The text can be taken from textbook chapters or informational books or articles.

Types of questions include the meaning of key words, text-to-text questions, text-to-self questions, text-to-world questions and “I Wonder Why” questions that go beyond the literal information in the text.

Teachers should model a range of question types from literal to interpretative.

Resource: Tompkins, Gail, E. Fifty Literacy Strategies: Step by Step. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1998

Procedure:

Teacher selects the text and chunks it into segments to prepare for questioning.
Teacher introduces the reading and then has students read a small segment.
Students prepare several questions about the text.
Students then take turns asking the teacher their questions.
The teacher answers the student questions as fully as possible without looking at the text.
Finally, questioning roles are reversed; the teacher will question the students- no looking back at the text.
After a discussion of appropriate key points, teacher may direct students to complete the reading independently or with buddies.

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #6: Reciprocal Questioning [page two]

Sample Text for Guided Practice:

Sample Text adapted fromGrizzly Bears, M. Woolley and K. Pigdon

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Literacy Strategy #7: Carousel Brainstorm

Goal: This strategy can be used to activate background knowledge or to check for understanding after a unit of study. Carousel brainstorm allows students to think about information they know about different aspects of a broader topic.

Resource: Guillaume, Andrea M., R. H. Yopp, H. K. Yopp. FiftyStrategies for Active Teaching: Engaging K-12 Learners in the Classroom. Pearson Education, Inc., New Jersey, 2007

Procedure:

The teacher selects a subject area to investigate and divides the topic into 3-5 sub-topics.
The teacher labelslarge chart papers.
Each piece of chart paper is labeled with one sub-topic.
The students are then divided into the same number of groups as there are sub-topics.
Each group is given a distinctly different colored marker. The marker is assigned to one member of the group.
The groups are given a short amount of time at each table to record all of the terms and ideas that they can brainstorm or associate with that sub-topic.
The teacher should remind the students that they are not permitted to repeat any previously written information.
The teacher will signal the group to let them know when it is time to move to the next table. Each subsequent time the students move to a new chart, they will need a few additional minutes than the group before.
When all of the groups have responded to each sub-topic, the students return to their seats. The teacher facilitates a sharing of all the brainstorming ideas focusing on the vocabulary, concepts and text connections that were recorded.

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Extensions of Learning:

The teacher leads a discussion to select the three most important ideas that were noted for each topic.
The students may choose one of the important ideas and write a paragraph about their own experiences with the topic [text-to-self connections]

Samples of Topics:

Community Helpers: People who Teach Us, People who Care for Us, People who Keep Us Safe, People in Government

Life Cycles: Butterfly, Frog, Plant, Spider

Literature/Genres: Folk Tales/Tall Tales, Fairy Tales, Science Fiction,Poetry,

Non-fiction Text

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Reading is Thinking: Active Literacy Practices

Bibliography

Ervin, Jane. Early Reading Comprehension in Varied Subject Matter Book C. Cambridge: Educators Publishing Service, Inc., 1982.

Guillaume, Andrea M., R. H. Yopp, H. K. Yopp. Fifty Strategies for Active Teaching: Engaging K-12 Learners in the Classroom. Pearson Education, Inc., New Jersey, 2007

Isaacs, Sally. Picture the Past: Life in a ColonialTown. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2000. Print.

Harvey, Stephanie, and Anne Goudvis. Strategies That Work. 2nd ed. Portland: Stenhouse, 2007. Print.

Randell, Beverley. Hippos. Crystal Lake: Rigby Press, 1998.

Read Write Think.International Reading Association. Summer 2009 <readwritethink.org>.

Tishman, S., & Perkins, D. N. (1997)."The language of thinking." Phi Delta Kappan, 78(5), 368374.

Tompkins, Gail, E. Fifty Literacy Strategies: Step by Step. Prentice Hall, Inc., 1998

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