RA+Reference+Guide

//Good readers employ reading strategies at all phases of the reading process, including before reading, during reading, and after reading. Below are core RA strategies broken into all three phases of reading.//
 * RA Reference Guide **


 * Strategies for __Before__ Reading **** : **

Addresses the **Personal Domain**.
 * Personal Reading History **

An exercise in which each reader remembers and writes about their development as a reader noting particular highs and lows, insider and outsider moments, and supports or lack of support for literacy development. Students share some highlights in pairs and then as a whole group.

Addresses the **Social/Cognitive Domain**.
 * Think Aloud (with pipe cleaners or play doh) **

This activity provides an introduction to think aloud and metacognitive conversation in a non-academic, non-threatening way. Students are given pipe cleaners and asked to shape it into an object of your choice while verbalizing their thought process. It is a good idea to do this activity to introduce the idea of metacognition.

Addresses the **Social/Cognitive Domain**.
 * Talk Aloud (Scaffold to Think aloud) **

This activity provides an introduction to think aloud and metacognitive conversation by allowing students practice in verbalizing their thinking in small increments of time. Students are given a discussion prompt and asked to simply “talk aloud” with a partner about what they think about the subject. Guidelines are placed on the amount of time (30 seconds, one minute). This also gives teachers a good chance to teach listening skills as the partner who is not talking should be intently listening.

Addresses the **Cognitive Domain**.
 * K-W-L **

A K-W-L helps students activate their prior knowledge before reading, develop a purpose for reading, and make connections between their own experiential base and what they read. Prior to reading students are asked : What they already __K__NOW about the subject and What they __W__ANT to learn. After reading, students respond by writing or discussing What they __L__EARNED about the subject.

Addresses the **Knowledge** **Building** **Domain**.
 * LINK **(is actually used before, during, and after)

List/Inquire/Note/Know is a brainstorming and discussion strategy featuring group interaction that helps students access and build their background knowledge and delve into a topic in preparation for reading.

Students are given a term related to an upcoming reading and are guided through a **//list//** (where they individually list everything they think they know about a topic and then share one item from that list to compile a class list) and **//inquire//** (where they get to ask for clarification about why fellow students placed items on the list). As the students discuss/read, they take **//notes//** about what they are reading/learning. After reading they write and discuss what they **//know//** after they have read the new material.

Addresses the **Knowledge** **Building** **Domain**.
 * Test As Genre ** (is actually used before, during, and after)

"Test As Genre" gives students opportunities to analyze passages and text items similar to those on high-stakes standardized tests. Students learn about the assumptions behind the tests, how test questions are constructed, and what the test is asking them to do. Using sample test passages, the teacher models approaching the test by thinking aloud. The students practice by using a **Think Aloud** or **Talking to the Text**. As a class use **QAR** to review question types. The class generates a "Test-Taking Strategies List" based on the students' ideas.

Addresses metacognition and all four domains.
 * Reciprocal Teaching ** ( is used before, during, and after)

Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional procedure designed to help struggling readers improve their reading comprehension through interactive dialogue. Students orchestrate group dialogue to deepen understanding of content of text by students assuming the responsibility of four cognitive strategies - Summarizing, Questioning, Clarifying and Predicting. (Visualizing is also an option for a 5th group member).

Addresses the Cognitive Domain.
 * Strategies for __During__ Reading: **
 * Talking to the Text **

TttT is a scaffold that provides students with an opportunity to engage with the text independently before sharing their process.

Students are given a passage to read independently and encouraged to write in the margins, make notes, designate unfamiliar vocabulary, ask questions, and make comments and predictions. In pairs and then as a class students use their notes to help each other clarify meaning.

Addresses the **Social and Cognitive Domains**.
 * Think Aloud **

A Think Aloud helps students practice the mental strategies engaged in by good readers. Teacher reads a piece of text to the class that he or she has not seen before. The teacher verbalizes his thought process, modeling his interaction with his inner voice, enabling the students to see how he makes sense of the text.

Addresses the **Personal Domain**.
 * Capturing Your Reading Process **

While reading a piece of challenging text, students are asked to pay attention to the strategies they use to make sense of the text and then answer some questions regarding their reading process. Share and record reading strategies as a whole group. Post the list in the classroom as a //Good Reader Tool Kit// so the strategies can be referred to as needed. It is a good idea to do this activity pretty early on in your implementation of RA strategies.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domain**s.
 * Double/Triple Entry Journals **

A note-taking activity that is useful and adaptable across content areas. The reader records quotes or ideas from the reading in one column and makes observations, personal connections, and comments about the comprehension process in other columns.

Addresses Metacognition and **all four Domains.**
 * Metacognitive Graphic Organizers **

Graphic organizers are tools that can help students think about their own learning process and understand how they clarify new concepts and relinquish old ones that interfere with comprehension.

Students should have the opportunity to experience a variety of graphic organizers and how they are used. They may also learn to create their own and explain their metacognitive process in creating it. Examples are Webs, Venn Diagrams, etc.

Addresses metacognition and all four domains.
 * Extensive Reading **

ExtensiveReadingis wide-ranging, independent reading in any content area class that supports and supplements subject area knowledge and offers students some choice over reading selections. One type of extensive reading is Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) where students read any text of their choosing for a set period of time on a regular basis. A second type of extensive reading uses Thematic Text Sets in which a content area teacher (with the help of a librarian) pulls together texts of varying reading levels and styles on a particular unit or topic. Students read any text from that "thematic text set" for a set period of time on a regular basis.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains**.
 * Pause and Reflect **

The Pause and Reflect strategy involves a continual evaluation of one's own understanding by periodically summarizing what is being read. The reading assignment is divided into logical, equal parts. Students note a main K-point, a question, and a connection for each session.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains**.
 * Stop and Talk, Write, Highlight, Draw **

These four instructional tools can stand alone or be used in any combination with each other. Each one involves a different way of interacting with the text to enhance comprehension.
 * Stop and Talk**= Students stop reading and discuss with a partner or group whether they agree or disagree with what they are reading.
 * Stop and Write**=Students stop reading and write down new information.
 * Stop and Highlight**=Students stop reading and highlight everything they understand in one color and everything they DON'T understand in a different color.
 * Stop and Draw**=Students stop reading and draw what they are picturing in their minds.

Addresses the all Domains
 * Strategies for __After__ Reading: **
 * Think- pair- share **

Think pair share is a fundamental routine in RA classrooms. Students are posed a question, given time to THINK about possible answers, discuss their answers with a partner (PAIR), and then SHARE these answers with the class as a whole group.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains**.
 * Question-Answer Relationships **

QAR is a reading strategy for deepening comprehension and a classroom tool for having meaningful text-based discussions in which students direct the focus. Questions are categorized into four types - Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, and On My Own. Using text from either the core curriculum or supplemental materials, students develop all four types of questions, then pose their questions to their peers, who in turn answer the questions and identify their type.

Addresses the **Cognitive Domain**.
 * This Is About **

"This Is About" uses group work to teach students how to infer the main idea about a text when it is implied but not stated and to construct summaries from these main ideas. Students read and reread a passage combining independent, pair, and whole group work to work through details and get the big picture idea.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains**.
 * VIP/MVP **

This strategy assists students in breaking down a lengthy piece of text and determining its main ideas.

While reading the text, students use post-it notes to mark the Very Important Points in the selection and after completion, determine their Most Valuable Points. Students use these points to share out in pairs and whole group, debating as a pair or groups which points are very important or most valuable and why.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge-Building Domains**.
 * Twenty-five Word Abstract **

This activity is a summarization strategy designed to better access text. Students work independently and then in groups to read a piece of text, discuss as a group any comprehension roadblocks, and discuss similarities and differences in their choices of main ideas. Their final goal is an individual and then collaborative twenty-five word abstract which is shared with the whole class.

Addresses the **Social Domain**.
 * Final Word Protocal **

Final Word Protocal is a discussion format whose purpose is to give each person in the group an opportunity to have his or her ideas, understandings, and perspective enhanced by hearing from others.

Each person has three minutes to share thoughts about a specific idea or quote in the reading and each group member gives a response. The person who began has the "final word" and the process is continued with each group member.

Addresses the **Cognitive and Knowledge Building Domains.** This application illustrates for students the importance of activating their own network of prior knowledge, or schema, to aid in comprehension.
 * Analyzing Knowledge Demands of Text **

Use this activity with a medium such as comic strips or newspaper headlines with multiple meanings. Allow students time to interact with the text individually then discuss the meaning of the text and prior knowledge used to determine the meaning. This is a good strategy to use when your students will need some content-specific prior knowledge to make sense of a piece of text.

Addresses metacognition and the **Cognitive Domain**.
 * Metacognitive Logs **

Metacognitive Logs help students become more aware of their thinking as readers and give them more control over how well they learn. They are a place for students to think and write about their own reading process.

Students choose a prompt from a list of sentence starters provided for them (such as "I was confused when..." and respond thoughtfully to the prompt in their metacognitive logs or notebooks. This should become part of their Extended Reading routine.


 * KEYS TO HAVING A SUCCESSFUL RA CLASSROOM **

*MODELING --- MODELING --- MODELING --- The teacher models first!

*All strategies link together through METACOGNITIVE DISCUSSION!

-Create a mentality in the classroom that it’s “cool to be confused” -Students should expect to learn from each other as well as the teacher -It’s ok to struggle and make mistakes