Content Area Reading Discussion w/ Lockport Secondary Teachers
Dennis G. Mike, Ph.D.
Canisius College
miked@canisius.edu
home phone: 716-751-2082
Session Website: https://www.taskstream.com/ts/mike1/LockportContentAreaLiteracy.html

Session Overview:
For some students, the comprehension of assigned reading material seems to come naturally. As teachers, we don’t have to do anything special for these students. We assign the pages to be read and then “go over it” in class. (“Go over it” is in quotes because teachers’ ideas of “going over it” may vary widely.) Other students simply don’t understand the assigned material, even though we may think that the book has presented it clearly. It’s a natural inclination to assume that the fault lies primarily with the students – that they simply didn’t read the material carefully enough, or that they didn’t read it at all. Sometimes, this is true. Other times, it’s not. Some students make an honest effort to get through the assigned material, but they simply don’t have the wherewithal to fully comprehend it. These students frequently don’t even know that they’re not comprehending the material.

My understanding is that all of the participants in today’s session are here voluntarily. Presumably, you came because you saw a need to improve your students’ ability to learn content from text. That premise will be our starting point – and, as a consequence, the early part of the session will simply involve you in talking about your own classroom experiences with content area literacy. Because of this, the agenda for the session is largely unstructured. Participants will select the “sub-topics” of content area literacy upon which we’ll focus in latter part of the session. As I see it, your topic choices are:

Questioning Strategies (including study guides)
Vocabulary Instruction (including graphic organizers)
Media (and incorporating it into instruction) and Technology
Text Structures
Writing
Study Skills
Curricular-Specific Concerns (e.g., STEM technical vocabulary, teaching Shakespeare)

At the conclusion of the session, we’ll discuss possible options for continued staff development in this area.

Session Outline:
INTRODUCTION
YOUR SPECIFIC ISSUES AND CONCERNS, general discussion
CONTENT AREA LITERACY, a brief historical perspective
      - How long it’s been around and what’s changed in the last 25-30 years
      - Chapter: Effective Strategies for Developing Reading Comprehension
           - Why this chapter provides a good “gateway” resource
DISCUSSION OF THE TOPIC(S) YOU SELECTED FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION
CONCLUSION
      - What has been covered; what hasn’t been covered
      - What are the logical next steps?