Reading Apprenticeship: An Introduction

1 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 1 Reading Apprenticeship: An Introduction Reading Apprenticeship (RA) is an approach to reading instruction that helps students develop the knowledge, strategies, and dispositions they need to become more effective readers. RA is a powerful framework for literacy development across all subject areas. Through the use of reading to learn strategies and extensive classroom collaboration, students increase their comprehension of text and build an awareness of how they think (metacognition) as they read. Reading Apprenticeship features a multi-dimensional approach to teaching and learning. In the personal dimension, students develop an understanding of themselves as readers. In the social dimension, students are seen as apprentices, learning effective skills and strategies from their teacher and other students to achieve mastery and confidence as readers. In the cognitive dimension, students learn about the reading process and how to use strategies more effectively. Finally, in the knowledge dimension, students increase their understanding of complex, subject-specific texts. Through metacognitive conversation (i.e. conversations about the thinking processes students and teachers engage in as they read) these four dimensions are integrated as teachers and students work collaboratively to make sense of texts. This metacognitive conversation is carried on both internally, as teacher and students reflect on their own mental processes, and externally, as they share their reading processes, strategies, and responses to texts. In Reading Apprenticeship (RA), the role of the teacher shifts from one who retells and interprets text for students to one who supports students in making meaning of text for themselves. The goal of the RA teacher is to help students to become more confident, strategic, and independent readers by: 1) supporting their discovery of reasons for reading; 2) modeling ways of reading various disciplinary texts and genres; and 3) guiding them to assess, explore, and strengthen their own reading. Reading Apprenticeship encourages collaboration between students and teachers and among students themselves. In a RA classroom, students feel comfortable to express doubts, frustrations, and confusion with their reading and learning. Students are actively engaged in discussions, making connections, and using strategies to enhance their comprehension. In summary, Reading Apprenticeship views effective readers as: Mentally engaged, Motivated to read and to learn, Socially active around reading tasks, Setting goals that shape their reading processes, Monitoring their emerging understanding of a text, and Coordinating a variety of comprehension strategies to control the reading process.

2 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 2 THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF READING APPRENTICESHIP THE SOCIAL DIMENSION is Creating a safe, open, and trusting environment in the classroom Understanding the relationship between being literate and having personal power Discussing insights about reading books and other texts Sharing one s own reading processes, problems, and solutions Learning to use effective strategies that others use The PERSONAL DIMENSION is Developing one s identity as a reader how, why, and what one reads Increasing metacognition an awareness of one s thinking processes Building the stamina to stick with challenging text Recognizing that effort leads to success Developing reader confidence and range in reading different kinds of texts Identifying one s purpose and motivation for reading THE COGNITIVE DIMENSION is Getting the big picture & breaking it into its component parts (synthesis & analysis) Monitoring comprehension Using a variety of reading strategies independently to decrease confusion and increase comprehension Setting a purpose for reading and adjusting reading strategies accordingly Noticing one s improvement assessing one s performance and setting goals THE CONTENT KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING DIMENSION is Mobilizing and building knowledge structures (schemata) Developing content or topic knowledge Developing knowledge of word construction and vocabulary Developing knowledge and use of specific subject text structures Developing discipline- and discoursespecific knowledge

3 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 3 The Reading Apprenticeship Framework Reading Apprenticeship is an approach to reading instruction that helps young people develop the knowledge, strategies, and dispositions they need to become more powerful readers. It is at heart a partnership of expertise, drawing on what teachers know and do as discipline-based readers, and on adolescents unique and often underestimated strengths as learners. Reading Apprenticeship helps students become better readers by: engaging students in more reading for recreation as well as for subject-area learning and self-challenge; making the teacher s discipline-based reading processes and knowledge visible to students; making students reading processes, motivations, strategies, knowledge, and understandings visible to the teacher and to one another; helping students gain insight into their own reading processes; and helping them develop a repertoire of problem-solving strategies for overcoming obstacles and deepening comprehension of texts from various academic disciplines. Dimensions of Reading Apprenticeship SOCIAL DIMENSION Me M t Creating safety Investigating relationships between literacy and power Sharing book talk Sharing reading processes, problems, and solutions Noticing and appropriating others' ways of reading aco eta c g ogn PERSONAL DIMENSION nit i Developing reader identity Developing metacognition Developing reader fluency and stamina Developing reader confidence and range Assessing performance and setting goals i tiv ve C o n v ers a ti o n COGNITIVE DIMENSION Getting the big picture Breaking it down Monitoring comprehension Using problem-solving strategies to assist and restore comprehension Setting reading purposes and adjusting reading processes KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING DIMENSION Mobilizing and building knowledge structures (schemata) Developing content or topic knowledge Developing knowledge of word construction and vocabulary Developing knowledge and use of text structures Developing discipline- and discourse-specific knowledge R E A D GOAL: I N G To A help P P Rstudents E N T become I C E S Hmore I P active, strategic, and independent readers by Strategic 1) Literacy supporting Initiative students' discovery of their own reasons to read and ways of reading 2005 WestEd Page 1 2) modeling disciplinary ways of reading in different subject areas and genres 3) guiding students to explore, strengthen, and assess their own reading

4 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 4 Reading Apprenticeship Framework In other words, in a Reading Apprenticeship classroom, the curriculum expands to include how we read and why we read in the ways we do, as well as what we read in subject area classes. Reading Apprenticeship involves teachers in orchestrating and integrating four interacting dimensions of classroom life that support reading development. These dimensions are woven into subject-area teaching through metacognitive conversations conversations about the thinking processes students and teachers engage in as they read. Social: The social dimension draws on adolescents interests in peer interaction as well as larger social, political, economic, and cultural issues. A safe environment is created for students to share their confusion and difficulties with texts, and to recognize the diverse perspectives and resources brought by each member. Personal: This dimension draws on strategic skills used by students in out-of-school settings; their interest in exploring new aspects of their own identities and self-awareness as readers; and their purposes for reading and goals for reading improvement. Cognitive: The cognitive dimension involves developing readers mental processes, including their repertoire of specific comprehension and problem-solving strategies. Importantly, the work of generating cognitive strategies that support reading comprehension is carried out through classroom inquiry. Knowledge-Building: This dimension includes identifying and expanding the knowledge readers bring to a text and further develop through personal and social interaction with that text, including knowledge about word construction, vocabulary, text structure, genre, language, topics and content embedded in the text. In Metacognitive Conversation, these four dimensions are integrated as teachers and students work collaboratively to make sense of texts, while simultaneously engaging in a conversation about what constitutes reading and how they are going about it. This metacognitive conversation is carried on both internally, as teacher and students reflect on their own mental processes, and externally, as they share their reading processes, strategies, knowledge resources, motivations, and interactions with, and affective responses to texts. For more information about Reading Apprenticeship see Reading for Understanding: A Guide to Improving Reading in Middle and High School Classrooms, by Ruth Schoenbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, Christine Cziko and Lori Hurwitz; Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA, 1999. Also, visit the Strategic Literacy Initiative website: http://www.wested.org/strategicliteracy R E A D I N G A P P R E N T I C E S H I P Strategic Literacy Initiative 2005 WestEd Page 2

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11 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 11 READING APPRENTICESHIP GLOSSARY READING APPRENTICESHIP IS an approach to reading instruction that helps young people develop the knowledge, strategies, and dispositions they need to become more powerful readers. at heart a partnership of expertise, drawing on what teachers know and do as discipline-based readers, and on adolescents unique and often underestimated strengths as learners. framed around four dimensions: a) the personal dimension; b) the social dimension, c) the cognitive dimension, and d) the content knowledge-building dimension. (See below definitions.) THE ACADEMIC LITERACY COURSE FROM READING APPRENTICESHIP IS a yearlong course designed to accelerate 9th grade students' reading achievement, engagement, and fluency. appropriate for a wide range of students, from struggling readers to students reading at or above grade level. designed to build students' motivation and increases their strategic and critical reading capabilities, enabling them to construct meaning from academic texts. designed to engage students with high-interest, challenging texts; analyze the way words and sentences are constructed; and use writing as a tool for learning. organized around three thematic units: Unit 1: Reading Self and Society; Unit 2: Reading History; and Unit 3: Reading Science. THE COGNITIVE DIMENSION IS Getting the big picture & breaking it into its component parts (synthesis & analysis) Monitoring comprehension Using a variety of reading strategies independently to decrease confusion and increase comprehension Setting a purpose for reading and adjusting reading strategies accordingly Noticing one s improvement assessing one s performance and setting goals THE CONTENT KNOWLEDGE BUILDING DIMENSION IS Mobilizing and building knowledge structures (schemata) 1

12 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 12 Developing content or topic knowledge Developing knowledge of word construction and vocabulary Developing knowledge and use of specific subject text structures Developing discipline- and discourse-specific knowledge THE PERSONAL DIMENSION is Developing one s identity as a reader how, why, and what one reads Increasing metacognition an awareness of one s attention, noticing what s happening in one s mind, tolerating ambiguity Building the stamina to stick with challenging text Recognizing that effort leads to success Developing reader confidence and range in reading different kinds of texts Identifying one s purpose and motivation for reading QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIP (QAR) IS When students learn to classify questions and locate answers, recognizing in the process that reading is influenced by the characteristics of the reader, the text, and the context. READING IS not a basic skill but a complex process. problem solving. not the same thing as decoding. situationally bound. characterized by common strategies that proficient readers use. READING WELFARE IS a form of instruction in which the teacher presents the key concepts in the text to students to compensate for their lack of reading comprehension skills. As in public welfare, the receiver of the aid becomes dependent on the help and rarely learns the needed reading comprehension skills. RECIPROCAL TEACHING IS an instructional approach characterized by an interactive dialogue between the teacher and students in response to segments of a reading selection. when teachers structure the dialogue based on four processes: questioning, summarizing, clarifying, and predicting. 2

13 Tab 2 - Intro to Reading Appr. - Page 13 SCHEMA (PL. SCHEMATA) IS A schema describes both the mental and physical actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemata are categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand the world. In Piaget s view, a schema includes both a category of knowledge and the process of obtaining that knowledge. SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS IS an activity in which students identify important characteristics of a category of concepts, compare specific features of individual concepts in the category, and then distinguish between those specific features THE SOCIAL DIMENSION IS Creating a safe, open, and trusting environment in the classroom Understanding the relationship between being literate and having personal power Discussing insights about reading books and other texts Sharing one s own reading processes, problems, and solutions Learning to use effective strategies that others use TALKING TO THE TEXT IS When teachers ask students, as they are reading, to write down any questions, comments, connections that come to mind as they read. Students circling words they don't know and writing down predicted definitions using context clues. THE THINK ALOUD STRATEGY IS an approach in which teachers provide a model for students of how they are processing the information in the text as they read orally to students. an approach in which students then orally process the information in the text as they read. 3