Adolescent Engagement in Content Literacy John T. Guthrie University of Maryland State of Massachusetts Leadership Series May 2009

Adolescent Engagement in Adolescent Engagement in Content LiteracyContent Literacy

John T. GuthrieUniversity of Maryland

State of Massachusetts Leadership SeriesMay 2009

Causes of Reading Problemsin Grades 4 -12

1.Decreased motivation to read2.Inadequate opportunities to develop vocabulary, content knowledge3.Lack of access to comprehension instruction4.More…

National Governors’ Association’s Best Practices

1. focus on adolescent literacy2. literacy expectations all grade3. district literacy plans4. adolescent literacy instruction5. measure progress in literacy

Reading Next— Carnegie Foundation and Alliance for Excellence 1 million downloads

Keys in Adolescent Literacy Achievement (15)Direct instruction, embedded in content, motivation, and self-directed learning, collaborative learning, strategic tutoring, diverse texts, intensive writing, technology, formative assessment, time for literacy, professional development, summative assessment, teacher teams, leadership, coordinated program

1. Achievement is driven by amount of reading2. Amount of reading (achievement) is linked to

profiles of motivations (dedication, interest, valuing, self-efficacy)

3. Classroom practices foster reading motivation, amount of reading, & achievement (success, relevance, choice, collaboration, thematic units)

4. Professional development enables teachers to implement engagement support

Research—260 middle school students; interviewed 2 times, 30 min. each, 9000 pages of transcript

Textbook Other books Web sites Own notes Teachers’ notes (board) Teachers’ handouts

Amount of school reading benefits all students. Amount of reading in school matters more to

African American students than to Caucasian students.BUT, low-achieving African American students read less in school than low-achieving Caucasian students.

(Note—high achieving students from the two ethnic groups read equal amounts in school.)

What is your conclusion?





13 years old—7th grade Attached to her phone—any phone Loathes her braces—3 months to go! Flew through elementary school--memorizing Answers more teacher questions than anyone Never misses homework Prides self on being the best student Gifted in basketball, soccer, and gymnastics Facebook: “I don’t like to read.” DEDICATED AND DISINTERESTED

1. Interest2. Avoidance3. Self-efficacy4. Perceived difficulty5. Valuing6. De-valuing7. Peer acceptance8. Peer rejection

1. Interest2. Avoidance3. Self-efficacy4. Perceived difficulty5. Valuing6. De-valuing7. Peer acceptance8. Peer rejection

AvoidanceDe-valuing

Perceived difficulty

Peer rejection

Dedication Valuing

.56

Self-efficacy .17

Peer accept. .10

Basically all the academic courses in themselves? Unimportant. They won’t stick with you the rest of your life. What is the most important is the discipline you have to learn when your teachers force you to do this assignment or read that book; it’s the fact that you had to do it that will be most important in college because when your Mom and Dad are not there, you will have to lock and chain yourself to the work.

Interest High—Interested

May read a lot May achieve highly

Low—Disinterested May read under

coercion May achieve

moderately

Dedication High –Dedicated

Commitment to reading

Very likely to achieve

Low– Avoidant Does not read Cannot achieve

PROFILES Achieve Skills Motivation Percent

Dedicated-Disinterest

Dedicated-Interest

Avoidant-Disinterest

Avoidant-Interest



8.8

Dedicated-Interest

8.1


8.1

Avoidant-Interest

4.6



8.8 HIGHFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg.

Dedicated-Interest

8.1 MODERATEFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg.



Avoidant-Interest

4.6 LOWFluency, Inferencing,Know. bldg.



8.8 HIGHFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg

Moderate on all

Dedicated-Interest

8.1 MODERATEFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg

Valuing


8.1 MODERATEFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg

De-valuing

Avoidant-Interest

4.6 LOWFluency, Inferencing,Know. bldg

Perceived difficulty

PROFILES ACHIEVE Skills Motivation Percent


8.8 HIGHFluency,Inferencing,Know. bldg.

Moderate on all 23

Dedicated-Interest


Valuing 20


8.1 MODERATEFluencyInferencingKnow. bldg.

De-valuing 42

Avoidant-Interest

4.6 LOWFluency, Inferencing,Know. bldg.

Perceived difficulty 07

PROFILES ACH. % OF Ss

Motivation Needs

Instructional Approaches


8.8 23 Challenge(Competence)

Thematic challenge;Self-direction

Dedicated-Interest

8.1 20 Sustenance

Non-Undermining


8.1 42 ValuingEfficacyPeer accept.

Five Practices; Choices; Collab.High scaffold

Avoidant-Interest

4.6 07 Self-efficacy(Competence)

Success;Authenticity


profiles of motivations (dedication, interest)3. Classroom practices foster reading

motivation, amount of reading, & achievement (success, relevance, choice, collaboration, thematic units)


INTRINSIC Interest/enjoyment

IDENTIFIED Dedicated with effort

INTROJECTED Accept with reluctance

EXTERNAL Reward/Punishment

Self-efficacy (belief in capacity)

Ownership (autonomy)

Value (importance)

Social interaction(peers and teacher)

Mastery goals (deep knowledge)

Success

Choice

Relevance

Collaboration

Thematic Units

Engagement is the fusion of knowledge, strategies, internal motivations, and social interactions in reading.

Extended refers to time, opportunity, participation in book-based literacy.

Increase content reading motivation through Success, Thematic units Choices, Relevance Collaboration, Teacher relationships

Increase content reading skills through Direct instruction in inferring, summarizing, concept mapping Assuring high volume of engaged reading

Five Motivational Practices: Five Motivational Practices: SuccessSuccess

Text matched to students’ reading levels Frequent feedback for reading Authentic reading merged with skills Multiple opportunities for reading Sharing competency with peers Integrating language arts—successfully Student goal setting Rewarding effort (passing short

assessments) Rewarding resilience (effort with raised

bar)

Non-SuccessNon-Success

Text seldom matched to students’ reading levels

Little feedback for reading Skills with no authenticity Rapid pacing across content Individual tasks preclude sharing expertise Teacher goal setting; not student goal

setting Rewarding achievement over effort

Five Motivational Practices:Five Motivational Practices:Thematic ReadingThematic Reading

Instructional units have conceptual complexity and duration

Students learn “big ideas” of survival, discovery, conflict

Reading topic persists over days and weeks

Students write concept maps of pages, chapters, books, unit

Themes are substantive and fun Students become experts on theme

Non-Thematic UnitsNon-Thematic Units

Instructional units and text topics are fragmented and disconnected

Students learn facts of separate texts Reading topic changes daily Students retell pages or sections Themes are brief, fun, and on their own Students attempt to learn reading

strategies

Five Motivational Practices:Five Motivational Practices:ChoiceChoice

Teacher affords student selection of text, task, partner, expression, link.

Select story Select page to read Select sentences to explain Choose 3 of 5 questions to answer Choose one character to portray Choose one plot event to show its roles Do large, guided projects

Choice in InstructionChoice in Instruction

Grade 12—exam—Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Two equal assessments brainstormed (20 min.)

Poster—characters, quotes, 2 scenes, Theater of the Absurd, list of vocabulary

Exam—5 T/F questions, 5 MC questions, 3 essay questions

Ss showed higher commitment, enthusiasm

Teacher strongly controls text, task, partner, expression, link to outside.

Teacher selects all text Teacher questions are only questions Student predicts—only on request Teacher starts, stops all reading Text is right; student opinion is not Best answers are right or wrong

Five Motivational Practices:Five Motivational Practices:RelevanceRelevance

Instruction and text relate closely to students’ experience and knowledge

Link hands-on activity to text Raise background knowledge Find text (page) that interests you You connect 2 sentences & explain Find character’s trait like you Science video—hailstorm; waggle dance Video of historical context for literature

Non-RelevanceNon-Relevance

Instruction and text do not relate closely to students’ experience and knowledge

Three topics in one lesson—octopus, lost girl, plane

Central character is remote Links to background are absent

(Odyssey) Nothing to do with me History is past (Holocaust)

Teaching philosophy:I wanted my students to realize that each and everyone of them had an odyssey of their own, their own kind of journey, and so I wanted to make every single lesson relevant to what they already knew, and to create some kind of bridge to validate who they were and where they came from.

Students work together to gain meaning from text, and share

Partners read aloud Partner question exchange Team summarize chapter Literature circles Collaborative reasoning (CORI) Jig saw—habitat teams Peer editing

Students read independently to gain meaning from text

Students read aloud solo Individuals write questions Students summarize chapter alone Individuals choose story to read Assessments are teacher-made and student-

answered Individuals complete worksheets

Teacher RelationshipsTeacher Relationships

Student perceptions of: Respect Importance Clear goals Knows how to help me Caring

DEDICATION doing reading; believing in effort; identifying as a student.

Parental models; expectations for success Classroom experiences of:

Success, Choice, Relevance, Collaboration Interviewed 260 students on reading in

Science and Reading/Language arts.

DEDICATION SCIENCE RDG

DEDICATION READING/LA

EFFICACYREADING/LA

CLASSROOMEXPERIENCES

Success Choices

.33

.20.23.19

--00

Relevance via ConnectRelate

.34

.27.36.40

.17

.17

CollaborationPeersTeacher

.18

.18.21.19

0000

Correlations of Dedication with Classroom Experiences Correlations of Dedication with Classroom Experiences in Science and Reading/LA: Interviews - 260 in Science and Reading/LA: Interviews - 260





1. Understanding framework for engagement(Motivations and practices)

2. Experiencing practices(Choice, relevance, etc.)

3. Using Teacher’s Guide for CORI (2 weeks)

4. Planning a Unit(Guided design CORI Units for

classroom/curriculum)

Five Engagement Practices: Short-term change Long-term change Needs assessment questionnaires Curriculum evaluation rubric

Five Engagement Practices: Short-Term Change1. Do I do this already?2. How often do I do this?3. When do I do this?4. How well does it work?5. How can I do this more?6. How can I do this better?7. How can I connect this to my teaching more

deeply?

In Whitney, people were interested in who I was. They showed me I wasn’t worthless, and showed me that it’s possible to trust unconditionally. Whitney gave me something that nowhere else has truly given me: acceptance.

Documents

Adolescent Engagement in Content Literacy John T. Guthrie University of Maryland State of Massachusetts Leadership Series May 2009