Source: Middle and High School Teaching: Methods, Standards & Best Practices by James A. Duplass Ph. D.

2005 Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Three Phases of Reading Strategy The following three phases of reading, pre-reading, reading, and post-reading, is adapted from Avery & Graves (1997). Because the reading should be planned as part of a lesson, these three phases would be integrated into your instructional sequence and may include passages from the textbook, handouts of Internet materials, primary documents, charts, etc. Pre-reading Options One of the main goals of pre-reading is to prepare students for the reading material you have assigned. The OK open your books to page 73 and start reading approach is not an acceptable strategy. You should motivate your students with an attention-getter, preview the reading to entice students, and then use one of the four strategies listed in Table 13.1. Table 13.1 Pre-Reading Options Strategy Considerations Pre-teach Vocabulary Assures knowledge of new terms

Pre-teach Concepts

Terms and definitions can be placed on the chalkboard during in-class reading Points students toward the key ideas Can be particularly effective with a graphic organizer Focuses on what you want students to get out of the reading Questions are often used to focus on the expected outcomes Can be used to highlight upcoming images that are part of the reading Gives students a heads up to look for figurative, biased, covert, subtle, and emotional appeals

Promote Objectives

Promote Reading Strategies

Reading Options The reading strategies listed in Table 13.2 have relative advantages and disadvantages. Assigned reading should be required so that students acquire a baseline of information that the teacher will use to examine ideas and teach Procedural Knowledge. Table 13.2 Reading Options Strategy Considerations Reading as Homework Develops independent reading skills Students read at home Requires students to focus on information

knowledge

Reading Aloud by the Teacher Teacher reads the content

Is effective only if the teacher has evaluation following the reading, either as bell work or as an assessment prior to instruction The reading material must be at the appropriate reading level. Models the joy and practice of reading Should include teacher sharing of Metacognition. The most straightforward approach to modeling Metacognition is for the teacher to articulate his or her own thinking while reading a passage of text. This talking out loud approach explicitly teaches the underlying thinking process that one should use when reading. Failure to model Metacognitive processes can result in students failure to understand and acquire the full set of skills that are needed to empower them to be lifelong learners. Provides a model of correct pronunciation and how good reading sounds. Students do not practice reading, they just listen. Can be boring, so use short interesting pieces. Reading takes place in class, and the teacher can circulate to provide individual assistance to students with weaker reading skills. The teacher does not know who is actually reading the material or students level of comprehension without an evaluation, so it should be paired with an activity to monitor comprehension. This strategy is the least efficient approach Weaker readers often feel embarrassed; when weaker readers turns comes up, other students may exhibit displeasure Stronger readers are bored Better to have reading in supervised small groups Heterogeneous groups of four allow everyone to read multiple paragraphs. Stronger readers can be assigned to help weaker readers, or assign roles like reader, questioner,

Independent Silent Reading Students read an assigned passage in silence

Rotational or Round-Robin Reading Each student reads a paragraph or passage aloud

Reading in Groups Each student reads a paragraph or passage aloud in small groups

note-taker, etc.

Student-Teacher Shared Reading Teacher begins to read and then asks students to read; Teacher reads and ask questions to ensure comprehension; or Teacher assigns short sections to be read independently and guides their discussion. Choral Reading All students read in unison.

Weaker readers are not as inhibited in the smaller groups. Students can reflect and share ideas for reinforcement and uniformity of understanding Teacher must circulate among groups. This approach has similar shortcomings to rotational or round-robin reading, if not carefully choreographed. Questions can be interspersed to keep everyone attentive and to assure a baseline of content knowledge. It allows weaker readers to follow along in a large group with anonymity and little apprehension, but the teacher cannot access individual reading ability and participation. Often students do not participate and their minds wonder.

Post-reading Options After every reading, there needs to be a post-reading activity (see Table 13.3) in which the teacher further develops some of the ideas to reinforce the reading. Postreading usually precedes the instruction in which the teacher develops new but related Big Ideas or Procedural Knowledge and introduces new, related Information Knowledge. In many cases, post-reading become a part of the content presentation. Table 13.3 Post-Reading Options Strategy Considerations Debriefing Debriefing should not be limited only to the facts, but should also be elevated to the concept level. Teacher-centered probing of students allows the students to summarize, synthesize, and report their construction of the information. The teacher can engage students with additional concepts. Summarizing Summarizing is not as effective as debriefing, and students will learn not to read because they anticipate that the teacher is going to summarize. Discussion Students in groups of four or five should focus on discussion questions provided by the teacher that require predicting or analyzing, and the teacher should circulate among the groups. Simulation Students create a simulation (role-playing) to demonstrate their understanding of the reading: Requires a debriefing by the teacher after each skit.

Project

Basal Worksheets

Students would be given a project, writing assignment, graphic organizer, or other project to demonstrate or apply their knowledge: Requires a debriefing by the teacher upon completion of the task. Many textbook companies provide worksheets to accompany social studies textbooks. These tend to be fact-based and evaluate only lower-level learning.