Module Three: Activities
Coaching Readers in the "Dug Out" and the "On Deck Circle"
Activity 1— Motivating Readers
Step 1: Read the instructor’s module introduction.
Step 2: Complete the following Required Readings
- “Getting Started: A very brief introductions to principles, research, and theory, and how to use this book.” Pxii-20 in Serrvallo, J. (2015) Reading strategies book: Your everything guide to developing skilled readers.
- Modeling the Relationships Among Reading Instruction, Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement for Adolescents
This study modeled the interrelationships of reading instruction, motivation, engagement, and achievement in two contexts, employing data from 1,159 seventh graders.
- Adolescents’ Engagement in Academic Literacy (Chapter 1 of the ebook, pages 1-47)
John Guthrie, a reading researcher, provides a survey of information relative to what motivates readers, particularly reluctant readers.
Step 4: Discussion Posting
Discussion Topic: How will you identify a struggling reader?
After you post your initial discussion posting, read and respond to one student's posting.
This assignment will be evaluated with the discussion rubric.
Choose One for a Discussion Response —
Choice 1:
In John Guthrie’s model, he points out that motivation is the key factor to creating successful reading achievement. However, most content area teachers do not recognize a student that is struggling with reading.
Questions:
How do you or would you recognize students in your content area that are struggling?
What activity would you use to motivate them towards understanding and comprehension of the content?
Choice 2:
You teach adolescents. Most of your students are from a lower income and are unmotivated to read. Their lower reading ability was never addressed in elementary school, and now in middle and high school, they find themselves struggling so much that they have “turned off” on reading anything.
Questions:
How would you address Guthrie’s (2013) question, “Can instruction influence motivation, engagement, and achievement?“
What would you do in your classroom to achieve this?
Choice 3:
Students, today, tend not to be interested in reading outside of class. Because of social media, they are actually reading more short text than ever before.
Guthrie, Wigfield and Klauda (2014) address this issue in their textbook, Adolescents’ Engagement in Academic Literacy, when they say, “Students’ declarations in their interviews show that when they experience successes in learning from books, choices in selecting learning materials and texts, interactive opportunities with peers, personal connections to information in academic texts, and thematic linkages across time in their coursework, they show high dedication for informational reading.
Adversely, classroom experiences may also be connected to avoidance of reading information books. Students report stunning levels of reading avoidance when they experience no success in reading, teacher control of materials, excessive individual work, absence of personal connections to text, and a fragmented series of topics for reading. We expect that classroom experiences and reading Motivation, Achievement, and Classroom Contexts for Information Book Reading 3 dedication are reciprocal, with each fueling the other. Our central theme is that dedication is promoted and avoidance is prevented by clearly identifiable teacher-generated classroom experiences.”
Questions
What will you do in your classroom to ensure that students read outside of
the classroom?
How will you adapt this concept to struggling readers?
Activity 2 — Reading Strategies in your Classroom
Step 1: Complete the Required Readings in the etextbooks.
- Billmeyer, Rachel. (2006). Strategies to Engage the Mind of the Learner, 2nd edition.
Chapters 1 and 2, pages 1 - 12 - Billmeyer, Rachel. (2010). Strategic Reading in the Content Area: Practical Application for Creating a Thinking Environment, 2nd edition.
Chapter 5 - Read to find out about the three interactive reading ingredients present when a student sits down to a text reading assignment.
Step 2: Select a reading strategy and search online for implementation ideas.
From the following list, select one reading strategy that sounds interesting to you. Search online for information about the reading strategy.
| Analogy Charting Anticipation Guides Prediction Guides Author Says/I Say Say Something Read Alouds B/D/A Questioning Charts Brainstorming Prior Knowledge LINK Knowledge Mapping Knowledge Ladders Alphabet Brainstorming Chapter Tours Character Quotes Reading with Attitude Concept/Definition Mapping Frayer Model Connect Two Possible Sentences Different Perspectives for Reading Discussion Web Point-Counterpoint Charts Double-Entry Diaries First-Person Reading Eyewitness Testimony Charts First Impressions You Ought to Be in Pictures Follow the Characters Guided Imagery Hands-On Reading History Change Frame History Memory Bubbles Inquiry Charts Interactive Reading Guides Knowledge/Question/Response Charts K–W–L Plus Confirming to Extending Grid |
Magnet Summaries Math Reading Keys Review/New Charts Mind Mapping Paired Reviews 3-Minute Pause Paired Verbal Fluency Think/Pair/Share Reflect/Reflect/Reflect Line-Up Reviews Power Notes Power Notes and Concept Maps Pyramid Diagram Questioning the Author Question-Answer Relationships Elaborative Interrogation Quick-Writes Learning Logs Admit and exit Slips Template Frames RAFT Role-Playing as Readers Point-of-View Study Guides Vocabulary Interviews Readers Theatre Save the Last Word for Me Science Connection Overview Self-Questioning Taxonomy Story Impressions Story Mapping Structured Note-Taking Proposition/Support Outlines Pyramid Notes Student-Friendly Vocabulary Explanations Text Coding Three-Level Reading Guides Vocabulary Overview Guide |
Step 3: Discussion Posting
On the Discussion Board:
- Post the URL of the website describing the strategy.
- Write a one-paragraph description of the strategy.
- Discuss in one or two sentences how this strategy might help your struggling readers understand what they are reading in a specific content area.
NOTE: No response to classmates' postings is required.
When you have completed your work for this module, please proceed to the next module.