BCIU_EllinKeene_New Horizons With What's Essential Feb 2012

8/2/2019 BCIU_EllinKeene_New Horizons With What's Essential Feb 2012

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New Horizons in ComprehensionTeaching and Learning

Ellin Oliver Keene

[email protected]


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I believe in the power and mysteryof naming things. Language has thecapacity to transform our cells,

rearrange our learned patterns ofbehavior, and redirect our thinking.

I believe in naming whats right infront of us because that is oftenwhat is most invisible.

Eve Ensler (This I Believe)


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Three Questions to Guideour Inquiry Today What is characteristic of the most

effective comprehension teachers?(pg. 3)

What does it mean to understanddeeply How can we raiseexpectations for childrens literacy

learning by rethinkingcomprehension? (pg 4 10)

What is essential in literacylearning? (pg. 10 - 14)


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The most effective literacyteachers. . . Raise expectations for childrens

learning by exploring wherecomprehension strategies lead

with their students andcolleagues recognize and

explore the dimensions andoutcomes of understanding withtheir students;


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We can begin by asking: Whatdoes it mean to understand?

Jamikas question what does make sense mean? Too often, we think of comprehension as:

Answering questions, Retelling, Teaching comprehension strategies

Is this definition worthy of our students intellectualcapacity?

Are we teaching comprehension or are we testingcomprehension?

Is the text were using more appropriate for fluencyinstruction or comprehension instruction?

What does it mean to understand deeply? What are the indicators that we understand deeply?


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Celebration of the Human Voice/2

Their hands were tied or handcuffed, yet their fingers danced, flew, drew words. The

prisoners were hooded, but leaning back they could see a bit, just a bit, down below.Although they were forbidden to speak, they spoke with their hands. Pinio Ungerfeld

taught me the finger alphabet which he had learned in prison without a teacher:

Some of us had bad handwritinghe told me. Others were masters of calligraphy.

The Uruguayan dictatorship wanted everyone to stand alone, everyone to be no one: inprisons and in barracks and throughout the country, communication was a crime.

Some prisoners spent more than ten years buried in solitary cells the size of coffins,hearing nothing but clanging bars or footsteps in the corridors. Fernandez Huidobro andMauricio Rosencof, thus condemned survived because they could talk to each other bytapping on the wall. In that way, they told of dreams and memories, fallings in and out of

love; they discussed, embraced, fought; they shared beliefs and beauties, doubts andguilts, and those questions that have no answer.

When it is genuine, when it is born of the need to speak, no one can stop the humanvoice. When denied a mouth, it speaks with the hands or the eyes, or the pores, or

anything at all. Because every single one of us has something to say to others, somethingthat deserves to be celebrated or forgiven, by others.

Eduardo Galleano

The Book of EmbracesPg. 37

C h i t t i t l


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Comprehension strategies are tools weuse in all genres in order to understandmore deeplyProficient readers:

Monitor for meaning,Ask questions,Use schema,Infer,Create sensory and emotional

images,

Determine importanceSynthesizein order to develop:


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In our minds. . . (pg. 4) Empathy -- a belief that the reader

is actually a part of the setting,knows the characters, stands

alongside them in their trials,brings something of himself to theevents and resolution -- emotions

are aroused Darrell determining importance in Dear Mr.

Henshaw Its me in there.


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In our minds. . .Experience a memorableemotional response the sensethat what the reader feels may bepart of his/her emotional life for a

long time Raj inferring in Remember Kids here

may not know that people around theworld have been segregated.


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In our minds. . . A sense of the aesthetic a

desire to linger with portions ofthe text or linger with the events

the reader finds beautiful,original, funny or moving the

desire to experience the textagain Gigi using schema in If Youre Not

From the Prairie I know how I like to

do it. I just have to read it again andagain to feel that way.


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In our lives. . . (pg. 6) The behaviors associated with

understanding (what we mightobserve in the classroom when

children are understandingdeeply)


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In our lives. . .A desire to act children mayact in some way to mitigate or

resolve related conflicts in theworld

Hannah synthesizing in Wilfrid GordonMcDonald Partridge We gotta get

over there right now!


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In our lives. . .

We concentrate intensively, we arefervent we lose ourselves in the

experience of thought, the worlddisappears and we work hard to learnmore, we choose to challenge

ourselves on topics about which we arepassionate Kevin and The Stranger


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In Our Lives. . .

We struggle for insight, we savorand learn from the struggle itself,we take ventures into newlearning territory and fight the

debilitating influence of judgment Kevin and The Stranger


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The most effective literacyteachers Focus on a few concepts, Of great import, Taught in real depth, Over a long period of time, Asking students to apply them in

a variety of texts and contexts


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Whats Essential? Instructional focus on 3 surface

structure and 3 deep structuresystems

Instruction in text structures andelements

An environment that invites rigor,intimacy and inquiry

A wide variety of genres and textlevel


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essential for childrens literacylearning?

Research has fairly clear answers We understand that effective literacy

learning (reading, writing, speaking

and listening) is dependent on ouruse of3 surface structure systemsand 3 deep structure systems

We need to seek a balance betweensurface and deep structureinstruction: 50/50 balance in primary grades 20/80 balance thereafter


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A Closer Look at theSystems

Surface Structure Systems (word identification,fluency related to the visible, audible aspectsof language)

Grapho Phonic Letters, sounds, alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness,decoding, encoding pronouncing words for the first time

Lexical Instantaneous word recognition, visual memory for words,

spelling up to 300,000 words in our lexicon pulling up

words in ourmind

s eye

, teaching students to store wordsin their lexicon

Syntactic Understanding and using language structures at the word,

sentence and whole text level using our minds ear tohear when words, sentences and longer text sound likelanguage

l k h


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A Closer Look at theSystemsDeep Structure Systems (creating meaning using the

invisible/inaudible aspects of language)

Semantic Understanding word meanings ~ word usage,

building associations and memories related tonew words ~ incidental and intentionalacquisition of new words

Schematic Understanding ideas, themes, connecting

existing schema to new information, creatingschema, writing and speaking meaningfully

Pragmatic Using what one understands to interact with

others and/or deepen understanding, writing

and speaking tailored to a particular audienceor purpose

Cl k h


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A Closer Look at theSystems

Deep Structure Systems (creating meaning using theinvisible/inaudible aspects of language)

Semantic Understanding word meanings ~ word usage,

building associations and memories related to

new words ~ incidental and intentionalacquisition of new words

Schematic Understanding ideas, themes, connecting

existing schema to new information, creating

schema, writing and speaking meaningfully Pragmatic

Using what one understands to interact withothers and/or deepen understanding, writingand speaking tailored to a particular audience

or purpose


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The Most Effective LiteracyTeachers Use a wide variety of texts

including leveled texts to developfluency and word learning and

texts rich in ideas to developcomprehension;

Teach text elements and textstructures to help children

navigate different genres.


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Cognitive Strategies TextElements and Structures

Narrative Text Elements(character, setting, conflict,sequence of events, resolution)

Expository Text Structures(cause/effect, compare/contrast,

descriptive, chronological,enumerative, problem/solution)

Expository Text Hurdles


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What is essential: Text levelsand genreText Genres

Teaching key features and elementsfrom a wide variety of genres

Text Levels Consider students needs in both

surface and deep structure learning Leveled text for surface structure learning More challenging text for deep structure

learning


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The most effective literacyteachers. . .

Provide lengthy periods of timefor students to read and writeindependently every day;

Create a Literacy Studio(workshop setting) that allows

daily time to for teachers toconfer with individuals and meet

with invitational groups (small,needs-based);


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The most effective literacyteachers Create a classroom environment

conducive to scholarly oralinteractions, intimate conversation

focused on deeper comprehensionand growing independence forstudents;

Are themselves readers and avidlearners, constantly scrutinizing theirown reading and understandingprocesses in order to provide the

most precise and responsive

l li d


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classroom climate andenvironmentRigor, Inquiry and Intimacy

Authentic experiences for childrenbased on our own literate lives

Thinking aloud, modeling anddemonstrating

Time for independent reading andwriting

Providing opportunities for readers andwriters to interact with one another

and work with ideas


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Focus is essential

We need to compare our currentcurricula and standards to theresearch-based list of whats

essential We need to deemphasize or

eliminate those skills and

strategies that dont correlatewith research

We need to direct our focusedattention and instructionalartistry to that which is most


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Pulling it all together

In the video clip, please watchfor

Initial management tactics Outcomes of Understanding Vocabulary instruction Focus on the strategy Oral language patterns

Our language with children


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Our language with children

Matters as much as any otherteaching move we make

We need to be conscious aboutour word choice and non-verbalsignals

We need to take time to considerwhat and how we speak to

children

Our language choices haveeverything to do with whether

Why our oral language


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Why our oral languagematters Children long to be intellectually

engaged;

Depth and breadth in language useintroduces them to the life of themind

Children can learn howto beintellectually engaged if we, andeventually, they can name and

describe the thinking processes theyuse.


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I believe freedom beginswith naming things.

Humanity is preserved byit.Eve Ensler

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BCIU_EllinKeene_New Horizons With What's Essential Feb 2012