Using student choice to deepen student learning
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This document discusses using student choice to deepen student learning in reading. It provides research showing that time spent reading correlates to achievement, and reading books in school is linked to career success. The document advocates for student choice in reading to build reading skills and motivation. It suggests having students write literature letters and metacognitive logs to reflect on their reading, and guides teachers to help students transfer knowledge and think more deeply about texts.
Using student choice to deepen student learning
- 1. USING STUDENT CHOICE TO DEEPEN STUDENT LEARNING Teresa Bunner Coordinating Literacy Teacher for HS tbunner@wcpss.net
- 2. What Research Says About Choice in Reading… “Never lose sight that our highest priority is to raise students who become lifelong readers. What our students read in school is important; what they read the rest of their lives is more important…” Kelly Gallagher Readicide (2009) New Zealand study found strong correlation between time spent reading and reading achievement. Elley, (1991) “Reading books is the only out of school activity for 16-year-olds that is linked to getting a managerial or professional job later in life.” University of Oxford (2011)
- 3. Connecting Student Choice to Student Learning First recommendation in Reading Next report on adolescent literacy- Teachers need to provide “direct, explicit comprehension instruction” Often times, our teaching of a shared reading has us guiding students towards our understanding and interpretation of the text. Utilizing literature letters/metacog logs allows us to guide students toward their own understanding and toward helping us understand their thinking. Lit letters/metacognitive logs are formative assessment of student thinking and comprehension.
- 4. Smith and Wilhelm argue that as teachers, we need to help students with transfer of knowledge in order to become more accomplished readers. Lit letters/metacog logs allow us to help students transfer that learning Morgan and Fuchs showed a bidirectional relationship between “will and skill”- as readers struggle (“skill”) , their “will” to read diminishes. Conversely, as the “will” to read increases, the “skill” for reading improves. Choice reading is one tool for building the “will “ to read and conversely the “skill” for reading Schoenbach, Greenleaf and Murphy cite reading research that “having a sense of who one is a reader and learner is an important aspect of motivation”. Lit letters and metacog logs allow students to explore who they are as a reader and learner through an ongoing dialogue.
- 5. Metacognitive Logs Metacognitive process: Thinking about thinking… helps all readers approach increasingly complex texts and wide range of genres with sense of efficacy. Transfer of knowledge: taking metacognition and applying it to our understanding of/thinking about text Applying knowledge/deepening thinking: taking metacognition and transfer of knowledge to begin deeper understanding/analysis
- 6. A character I chose is Morwen. Morwen is a witch, but not like the normal witch. She's young, clean, and pretty. Her personality is that she is a motivated person and driven when something needs to be done. What motivates her is the people around her and her annoying, yet brilliant, cats. Melinda is still trying to find a friend. She spends time in an old janitor's closet to be alone. She's very negative and doesn't believe in herself or anyone else. She's starting to like art. She's getting used to her weird art teacher. She's getting used to high school. I'm reading Harry Potter and one thing that I like about this book is the fact that Harry's life is so similar to regular teenagers because, even though he lives in a magical world, he deals with real life situations. This helps me better understand the book I'm similar to. Just like me he worries about grades, school looks, teachers and friends.
- 7. Literature Letters A more extensive response than the metacognitive logs. Written every other week. Teacher opportunity to help student deepen thinking, address specific CCSS standards.
- 9. My response can now draw student’s attention to craft and structure. CCSS 4 and 5
- 10. Texts Cited Biancarosa, Gina, and Catherine E. Snow. Reading Next: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Rep. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2015. Elley, Warwick B. "Acquiring Literacy in a Second Language: The Effect of Book-Based Programs." Language Learning 41.3 (1991): 375- 411. Web. Gallagher, Kelly. Readicide:How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It. Portland: Stenhouse, 2009. Print. Morgan, Paul, and Douglas Fuchs. "Is There a Bidirectional Relationship between Children's Reading Skills and Reading Motivation." Exceptional Children 73.2 (2007): 165-83. Schoenbach, Ruth, Cynthia Greenleaf, and Lynn Murphy. Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms. Jossey Bass, 2012. Print. Smith, Michael W., and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Fresh Takes on Teaching Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters about Character, Setting, Point of View, and Theme. New York: Scholastic, 2010. Print. University of Oxford. "Reading at 16 linked to better job prospects." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 May 2011. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110504150539.htm>
- 11. Other Books and Resources of Interest Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina and Passion in Adolescent Readers by Penny Kittle Heinemann 2013 The Power of Reading:Insights from the Research by Stephen D. Krashen Heinemann 2004 The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in every Child by Donalyn Miller Jossey Bass 2009 Reading for Their Life: (Re)Building the Textual Lineages of African Americam Adolescent Males by Alfred Tatum Heinemann 2009