Comprehension Instruction: Ongoing Through the Middle and High

Comprehension Instruction:
Ongoing Through the Middle and
High School Years
Donna Alvermann, Ph.D.
University of Georgia
[email protected]
http://www.coe.uga.edu/reading/faculty/dalvermann.html
Adolescents of the Net
Generation
Many find their own
reasons for
becoming
literate—reasons
that go beyond
reading to acquire
school knowledge
of academic texts.
Academic (school) Literacy

This is not to say that
academic literacy is
unimportant…

Rather, it is to emphasize
the need to address the
implications of
adolescents’ multiple
literacies for classroom
instruction.
Adolescents’ Multiple
Literacies
Re/Mediation

Medium

Communicating

Media

Framing

Mediate

Scaffolding
Fact or Myth?
Kids learn to read…
Before they read to
learn
Fact or Myth?
Every teacher…
A teacher of reading
Fact or Myth?
Reading across the
curriculum…
Assumes literacy is
simply a set of skills
applied to stable
content
What Do We Know About
Adolescent Literacies ?
Self-Efficacy and Motivation
Adolescents’ perceptions
of their competencies
as literate beings play
a large role in how
motivated they are
to learn from print and
nonprint texts.
Cognitive Strategies
Best understood and
implemented when
they are taught within
larger sociocultural
contexts such as
classrooms, schools,
and communities.
Comprehension Strategies







Self-monitoring
Cooperative learning
Graphic organizing
Generating questions
Answering questions
Using text structure
Summarizing
Comprehensive Reading
Instruction

Develops students’
abilities to

Maintains ties with the
regular curriculum

Attends to cultural and
linguistic differences

Connects adolescents’
in-school and out-ofschool literacies
– Comprehend
– Critique
– Discuss
– Write about the subject
matter they are
expected to learn
Readers Who Struggle
Benefit from instruction
that connects to the
world outside of
school
English Language Learners
Benefit from instruction
that connects subject
matter reading to
listening, speaking,
and writing
Transmission Model of
Teaching

Skill and drill

Teacher-centered
instruction

Passive learning
Participatory Approaches to
Reading and Learning

Involve students
directly

Avoid the boredom
often generated by
transmission models
of teaching
Kids’ Views on Discussion
Increases
comprehension
Should be small
group with “talkalikes”
Task and topic
influence degree of
participation
Relevant to Kids’ Lives
The Skin I’m In
(a first novel by Sharon
Flake)
Winner of the Coretta Scott
King Award
Is the Knowledge Base
Sufficient ?

YES, if we’re talking
about the applicability of
comprehension research to
print-based learning

NO, if we’re referring to
the newer communication
technologies
Do teachers see newer
communication technologies
as being relevant ?
Pew Report on Schools and
the Internet

78% of middle and high
school students use the
Internet

14 focus groups with 136
kids

200 responses to an online
survey
Internet-Savvy Kids
Kids say their teachers
do not create
assignments that
exploit great Web
material.
The Digital Disconnect,
American Institutes for
Research, August 2002
What else is missing ?
Media Literacy
Critical Literacy

Teaching for critical
awareness

Questioning the
underlying
assumptions
Zen Parable
A
young fish asks
an elder fish to
define the nature
 of the sea . . .
Considered from the beach…
the fish gets an
entirely new
perspective on
the sea.
Critical Literacy in the Classroom
Abandon the search for villains and heroes in
our texts, for the oppressors or the
emancipators amongst us, and for the
general labeling of oppositional categories
such as “us” and “them.”
 Morgan
(1997)
Developing a different view of
the “other”

Doing away with binaries
“us” and “others”

makes it possible to see

how people may act
provisionally, at a
particular time, and
within a particular
situation.
The Scarlatti Tilt
“It’s very hard to live in a studio apartment in
San Jose with a man who’s learning to play the
violin.”
That’s what she told the police when she
handed them the revolver.
Richard Brautigan, 1971
Assessing Readers’ Underlying
Assumptions
 Explain:
What happened?
 Elaborate:
 Defend:
Why did it happen?
How do you know you’re
right?
Summing Up

Students’ perceptions of their competencies as readers
and writers, their level of motivation, and their
background knowledge must be taken into account.

To be effective, instruction must be embedded in the
regular curriculum and make use of multiple forms of
texts read for multiple purposes in a variety of learning
contexts.

It is important that teachers create opportunities for
youth to engage actively in projects that extend
academic literacy