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ENGAGE:
The transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” is not a linear journey. Students at all stages of reading development encounter new strategies and ways of interacting with the text that they will struggle with. One of the final stages of reading development is learning how to explore new information as a content expert, through the lens of disciplinary literacy. The following strategies explore how students can use effective questioning of the text to interact with it as a content expert through application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
Students begin their exploration of the text as a content expert by applying their background knowledge to the text and placing the main ideas and themes into broader categories of study.
As students grow in their understanding of content, analysis of a text can be demonstrated in a variety of fashions. Students can question what an author is saying or doing. They can also analyze the structure of the text or the evidence used to support a claim. The following instructional practice is designed for students to explore these ideas and others through the lens of a content expert.
Once students mature in their thinking as content experts, they need to develop the cognitive skills that will allow them to engage deeply with texts and rigorously question and evaluate the ideas, arguments, and conclusions made by an author.
Finally, synthesis is often the culmination of the interaction with several texts as well as the application of multiple thinking skills and learning strategies. Deeper thinking is most often born out of analysis, questioning, and academic discourse about competing ideas. The following instructional practice is designed for students to prepare themselves for rich dialogue as a content expert in an academic setting.
PREPARATION:
Identify a text that allows students to engage with the information as a content expert.
Prepare students with sufficient background knowledge to be able to question the text.
Read through the text, chunk the text, and write one or two questions for each chunk of text that correspond to the selected category of thinking as a content expert (“Apply,” “Analyze,” “Evaluate,” or “Synthesize”) depending on the reading purpose.
STEPS:
Students begin with an initial, individual reading of the text, during which they determine its main ideas.
In small reading groups, students will chunk the text and circle key terms.
Introduce the appropriate chart in Student Resource: Academic Thinking Skills: Question and Answer Stems to the class.
Before having students read in small groups, model the thought process by writing an initial question for the class using the appropriate template (“Apply,” “Analyze,” “Evaluate,” or “Synthesize”).
Have each group write another question stem that would be appropriate for the content and share it in a Whirl-Around to determine whether they are ready to write questions within their groups or are in need of additional modeling and scaffolding.
Instruct student groups to write a question for each chunk of the text.
After completing the second read-through, have students partner with an individual from another group. Each student will share the questions that they wrote, and together they will answer those questions, writing short responses next to their questions on the text.
Students complete the reading by using their questions and responses to craft a summary of the text.
EXTENSIONS:
Require students to use terms from the word bank to craft their responses to their questions.
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