Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, 6–12

Martha Hougen

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781598573596
• eBook ISBN: 9781598577402
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Secondary Education

Prepare future educators to strengthen the literacy skills of students in Grades 6–12 with this introductory reading textbook, based on the latest research, the Common Core State Standards, and recommended instructional practices. The perfect first text on adolescent literacy, this expertly organized volume covers all the fundamentals of how reading and writing skills develop in older students and how to teach literacy within key academic content areas: language arts, math, science, and history. More than 20 of today's top authorities give educators the solid, practical background knowledge they'll need for the rest of their careers, as they shape the next generation of confident readers and writers. PREPARE FUTURE EDUCATORS TO

• teach the fundamental components of literacy, with special emphasis on fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
• address the Common Core State Standards
• prepare students for college and career by teaching literacy in content areas
• differentiate instruction for struggling students and English language learners
• implement the highly effective RTI model and other multi-tiered systems of support
• apply evidence-based instructional strategies in the classroom
• use current legislation to inform classroom instruction

STUDENT-FRIENDLY FEATURES: Practical sample lesson plans for use in tutoring and student teaching, classroom examples illustrating recommended practices, helpful chapter objectives and summaries, in-class exercises and homework assignments, an appendix of formative assessment strategies.

1

Teaching Literacy and Content

Martha C. Hougen

Congratulations on choosing to become a teacher: one of the most important, rewarding, and challenging occupations. You are in a unique position to change the lives of students, either by supporting their achievement and success or by contributing to their failure. You, of course, want to help students succeed, learn, and be prepared for college and meaningful careers when they leave school. This text is designed to provide you with the fundamentals to teach a diverse population of students to become literate, contributing citizens.

Objectives: After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Provide an overview of the text and explain its purpose.

2. Articulate the big idea questions that guide the text.

3. Define and discuss what constitutes effective instruction.

4. Define and discuss what constitutes differentiated instruction, including universal design for learning (UDL).

5. Explain the difference between content area reading and disciplinary literacydisciplinary literacy.

6. Discuss common instructional challenges presented by students at risk for educational failure, including students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, students who are English language learners (ELLs)English language learners (ELLs), and students who have disabilities.

7. Describe the role of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and other relevant standards.

8. Explain your responsibilities as a tutor and begin preparations to tutor a student.

Ensuring all students are college and career ready upon high school graduation has become more and more challenging. As a secondary teacher, you will be responsible for students who speak many languages, come from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds, and have a wide variety of background experiences. Some will enter school unable to read the materials you assign; others may not know how to write a complete sentence, much less an argumentative essay or a research paper. Many will lack the skills, stamina, and motivation to tackle complex text in your area of specialization. Yet all depend on you, their teacher, to motivate them, teach them, encourage them, and care for them. This book will help you address this daunting challenge. It will guide you through research and practical applications to successfully teach all your students to read and write while teaching them the content of your course. If you study these chapters, complete the recommended assignments, and apply the concepts with your students, you will become an effective teacher of literacy and of your content.

As a secondary content teacher, you are not expected to teach students the basics of reading like an elementary teacher teaches students to read. However, you are expected to support students to advance their general reading expertise and to learn to read in your discipline. By the time you complete this text, you will be able to weave literacy assessment and instruction into all your lessons. You will find that by teaching certain literacy skills, your students will not only improve their reading ability but also learn the content you are teaching them.

OVERVIEW OF THIS TEXT

The overarching goal of this text is to prepare you to teach both literacy skills and the content of your discipline. To address this goal, the text is organized in three sections. You and your instructor will decide which chapters are most relevant to your work. It is suggested that all candidates study each chapter in Section I, as those chapters explain general literacy strategies that are appropriate in most contexts. You may want to choose the most relevant chapters in Section II to delve more deeply into literacy skills and strategies essential to your discipline. Section III addresses timely topics that all teachers should be knowledgeable about. A more detailed overview follows.

Section I: Introduction to Literacy Assessment and Instruction, Grades 6–12

Chapter 1: Teaching Literacy and Content

This chapter provides the organizing framework for the text and the big idea questions addressed by each chapter. Effective instruction, needs of diverse learners, and the concept of disciplinary literacy are introduced.

Chapter 2: Social and Emotional Consequences of Reading Disabilities

Teaching students how to manage their social and emotional needs is paramount. Dr. Leslie Novosel explores the importance of social and emotional learning, the effects on students when they struggle with reading, and what educators can do to support students in developing healthy social and emotional behaviors. By learning to recognize and address the social and emotional needs of adolescents, you will be better prepared to motivate them to learn and to work cooperatively with you and their peers.

Chapter 3: Features of Effective Instruction

Becoming an efficacious teacher takes years, but this learning curve can be reduced when you learn to apply the features of effective instruction. Dr. Jennifer Wick Schnakenberg and Dr. Martha Hougen summarize evidence-based research and instructional practices effective teachers apply.

Chapter 4: Academic Vocabulary Development: Meaningful, Memorable, and Morphological

There is a wide gap in vocabulary size among groups of students when they first enter school and this gap often grows.¹1 Therefore, because we know that vocabulary correlates with reading comprehensionreading comprehension, secondary teachers must teach their students relevant, academic vocabulary in ways that accelerate vocabulary growth. Dr. Susan Ebbers and Dr. Hougen provide an in-depth background on the study of morphologymorphology and other components of vocabulary to ensure your students become independent learners of academic vocabulary.

Chapter 5: Fluency Development for the Older Student

Reading text easily with automaticityautomaticity and expression supports comprehension and motivates students to read. Developing fluent reading in secondary school is difficult but necessary. Dr. Jan Hasbrouck explains that fluent reading is not speed reading but reading at a pace that supports comprehension. This chapter describes how to assess your students’ fluencyfluency and how to support students in reaching a reasonable rate of reading that supports comprehension.

Chapter 6: “Now It Makes Sense!”: Best Practices for Reading Comprehension

The ultimate goal of reading instruction is to ensure students can comprehend what they read. Dr. Steve Ciullo and Dr. Colleen Reutebuch review the most effective strategies to increase reading comprehension skills of adolescent readers. Only 44% of high school graduates tested on the ACT met the reading-readiness benchmark, an indication that they are not prepared to read college-required texts.²2

Chapter 7: Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

Joan Sedita clarifies the most important aspects of teaching writing—an essential skill to communicate as well as to master new learning. Currently, significant numbers of students are not prepared for the rigors of the new CCSS; indeed, about one-third of first-year college students require remedial writing courses.³3 Learning to write in all the disciplines and in a variety of genres for different purposes is a necessity for students to be successful in college and careers...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• About the Downloadable Material
• About the Editor
• About the Contributors
• Foreword by Carol Jago
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Teaching Literacy and Content
• 2. Social and Emotional Consequences of Reading Disabilities
• 3. Features of Effective Instruction
• 4. Academic Vocabulary Development: Meaningful, Memorable, and Morphological
• 5. Fluency Development for the Older Student
• 6. “Now It Makes Sense!”: Best Practices for Reading Comprehension
• 7. Learning to Write and Writing to Learn
• 8. Understanding the New Demands for Text Complexity in American Secondary Schools
• 9. The What and Why of Disciplinary Literacy
• 10. Disciplinary Literacy in English Language Arts Classes
• 11. Teaching Disciplinary Literacy in History Classes
• 12. Teaching Secondary Students to Read and Write in Science
• 13. Reading and Writing as a Mathematician
• 14. Literacy in the Arts
• 15. Teaching Adolescent English Language Learners
• 16. Response to Intervention and Multi-tiered Systems for Support in Secondary Schools
• 17. Microblogging: An Example of Using Technology to Increase Engagement
• 18. Current Laws, Policies, and Initiatives
• 19. Ten Tips for Becoming an Effective Teacher
• Appendix A. Formative Assessment Strategies
• Appendix B. Helpful Web Sites
• Appendix C. Sample Lesson Plans and Instructional Tools
• Appendix D. Glossary
• Index