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Purpose: To learn content and read expository text
critically.
Time: 40-45 minutes
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Is it necessary to teach reading in social studies, science
and other content classes? Absolutely! Why?
First, it is an essential path to learning the content. If
we love science - and would like our students to learn about
science we need to teach them how to read science. Can't
that be taken care of with literature? No! Use the
analogy of eating an apple and eating an orange. Indeed,
both are fruits, and both are round - but we eat them with very
different strategies. So too is the reading of literature
and the reading of content different. Today, we have many
students who do not realize there is a difference in the reading
of literature and the reading of content. What is the
result? We have students picking up that orange (content
text) and biting into it as though it was an apple (literature).
The result is bitter.
The purpose of the reading lesson is to teach reading
comprehension strategies that will enable students to acquire,
interpret, apply, and evaluate expository text. We are no
longer focused on only low-level knowledge regurgitation such as
"What is the capital of France?" Rather, we now
are focused on higher level critical thinking such as "How
does the economic growth of Paris compare to the economic growth
of London?"
We must be aware of the expository text structure if we are
to teach students how to read text. Our goal is then to
assist students in developing an awareness of the structure so
they may use appropriate reading strategies as they analyze the
text. Expository text has specific text structure:
- Compare/contrast
- Cause and effect
- Sequencing
- Listing
- Problem/Solution
- Main Idea/Supporting details
The Reading Lesson is divided into three parts:
Prereading time 10-15 minutes
All reading lessons begin with prereading. Prereading
prepares the reader to comprehend text.
Building
or Activating Prior Knowledge
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Brainstorm
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KWL
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DRTA
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Anticipation
Guide
Concept
Vocabulary
Preview
and Predict
Feature
Analysis
Set
the Purpose for Reading
During
Reading time 15-20 minutes
Students
read the text in a variety of ways. Instruction during
reading is essential. Assigning - though easy for the
teacher - is bad for learning. Therefore, never would we
say, "Open your book to Chapter 3 and read". Nor
would we say "Read Chapter 3 for homework." And never
would we allow round-robin reading to occur, as this is an
ineffective instructional strategy. How then would we read
the text?
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Shared
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Paired
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Independent
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Reciprocally
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Jigsaw
Post
Reading time 10-15 minutes
Once
the reading is complete we now go back into the text to
critically analyze. If we used a KWL, DRTA, or
Anticipation Guide we would need to complete. Then,
dependent upon the text structure, we use a graphic organizer to
visually analyze the text.
Post
reading activities may be:
-
Whole
class, teacher led
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Collaborative
groups
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Independent
Note:
Answering questions orally or in written format is not
comprehension instruction -- it is assessment of comprehension.
Management
Time
is needed to plan the lesson. Just reading a chapter and
doing an activity will not increase comprehension. A good
lesson plan will use the comprehension structure embedded in the
text. A graphic organizer will always be used. The
teacher must actively teach -- assigning or lecturing is easy,
but it is not productive and does not promote learning.
Material
Needed
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