Digital
Storytelling Script – Joe Buffa
Title
Slide – How do you read?
Hi, my name is Joe Buffa and I am a Social Studies
teacher for an Early College program. I am not sure how familiar you might be
with an Early College system, but I do I want to clear up one thing and that is
the school I teach at is still considered an inner city public school so I
often have academic achievement gaps, although I will say behavior issues tend
to be minimal which is nice.
The concern of academic achievement gaps leads me
into the focus of my discussion today as it relates to analytical reading.
Let’s start at the beginning of the school year…
A few weeks in I gave a practice ACT timed reading
assessment to my 9th and 10th grade US HST & Civics
courses. I wanted to see how students performed in a timed setting with a
reading about a familiar topic. With ACT the majority of the questions are
geared around student comprehension of the reading. What I found is that by in
large students failed. I asked them what strategies they used and most of them told me
that they went straight to the questions and then skimmed the reading for the
answers. Unfortunately, this is a poor strategy considering often times ACT
questions ask for deeper analysis of the reading selection. It is hard to
figure out meaning through skimming. Learning about a flawed
strategy like this surprised me and made me concerned for them not just in my
class but in all of their classes. I have always tried to teach my students how
to better read/take notes from their textbooks, but I had never spent a lot of
time addressing how they should read outside sources too often.
Because of this one of my goals for the year became finding
a way to help students become better analytical readers. The problem is that I
have no background in teaching reading and had no clue how to reach this goal. In short, I needed help.
(b) The "twist"
I
knew had to adjust and I spent the next few days brainstorming the how… My goal
was to twist my instruction in how I approach and how I have my students
approach any reading we do (primary source, current issues articles, textbook,
etc.) in an effort to improve their reading comprehension. So I went looking
for some strategies to use.
One
of the strategies I uncovered came from a colleague of mine. She had learned
about this strategy through a training she went to last year. Simply put it recommended
providing students with the opportunity to read more and reflect on those
readings. I knew though that if I just dumped a bunch of additional readings on
my students that they would rebel or just as problematic, they would skim the
readings and try to continue to answer questions about them the way they did on
the ACT timed reading. Neither of these outcomes would help me reach my goal.
What
I have done instead is provide more opportunities for them to read things in
class and then discuss and analyze the readings in small groups. This way
students are still asked to read, but they have an opportunity to use those
social skills that they so love to help them better understand what they read. I
first started off modeling a few analytical reading strategies with my
students. We would read the piece out loud together and then I would model how
I wanted them to analyze it. Slowly but surely I released them into small
groups to attempt it without significant instruction on my part. What has been
occurring in my classroom has made extremely excited. Students are actually
able to summarize, discuss, and give opinions on complex primary source
readings.
This
journey has also forced me to re-think the notes that I ask my students to take
in class and at home. In the past I have simply lectured in class or assigned a
chapter for students to read and take notes on for homework without really thinking
about how they are taking those notes. When I really looked, I found out that
many students basically re-wrote everything I said in class word for word or
they basically recreated the chapter in their notes for homework. This obviously
does not work towards my goal. If they cannot pick out the important
note-worthy pieces of information in a lecture or from their textbook, then
this still signals a lack of higher order thinking that I desire.
Knowing
this, now I have implemented better note-taking strategies like Sum-It-Up notes
(they read a section of their book, take the notes, and then in another column
have to further summarize their notes in 15 words or less, forcing them to
really extract the main points of what they read). “Sum-It-Up” notes helps
train students to become more purposeful readers which ultimately improves
their reading comprehension. My students fought with me on this strategy to
begin with. In response to the complaints, I began to model the technique in
the classroom. Instead of just lecturing to them and only pausing periodically
to ask follow-up questions, I would pause and ask them what they wrote down and
we would discuss their thought process with taking notes. Also, I started to
take a little bit of time at the end of class to go through a section of their
upcoming homework with them before they left. I would read a paragraph and then
ask student feedback on what they thought was note-worthy. In both instances I
would model how to use “Sum-It-Up” notes.
(c)
Skepticism…
I
am sure this all sounds great to you, but you are probably wondering how I can
afford to lose so much direct instruction time. I will admit this has required
me to give up the reigns and not lecture so much. Therefore, I have been forced
to find ways to flip the classroom. I am still relatively new to this concept,
but I have begun the process by providing guided notes, lectures, etc. ahead of
time on our web-based learning system, Blackboard. Since I have worked with
students on how to be better note-takers, this allows students to complete
traditional “classwork” for homework, and therefore we can do difficult
readings that would traditionally be “homework” in class which allows me to
support struggling students so that they do not just skip the assignment, and
as I mentioned above, it allows students to engage in discussions with each
other about the reading.
(d)
The Rationale
Perhaps
I should have lead off with my rationale behind all of this, but I would be
lying if I told you that I had all of these thoughts nice and neat thoughts in
my head before I started this process at the beginning of the year. I all
honesty I was thinking a lot about social constructivist ideas but I did not
write any of it out until this project. When I went through and re-examined
theories about learning, there were a few key ideas that really justify my
approach to making students better readers and what eventually evolved into
better note-takers.
In thinking about Social Constructivist ideas,
Vygotsky’s Zone of proximal development really rings true in my classroom. As
teachers we all know that students can take on more complex readings with
guidance from instructor and or assistance from their classmates. Guidance is
precisely what Vygotsky proposed as a way to challenge students further without
overwhelming them. I believe that my classroom has reflected this more and more
as the year has progressed.
Santrock,
Chapter 2 – Cognitive and Language Development - www.mhhe.com/santedu3e
In addition, Observational Learning concepts come
into play here. One idea is that Behavior influences cognition . Roughly
translated into my classroom it means that as students work on changing their
reading and note-taking behaviors, improved academic performance should be
achieved. This of course can only be done initially through modeling. As I
mentioned earlier, to get things rolling, I modeled proper reading and note-taking
techniques and provided opportunities for students to practice and master those
techniques inside and outside of the classroom
Santrock,
Chapter 7 – Behavioral and Social Cognitive Approaches – www.mhhe.com/santedu3e
Finally,
I had to re-think what my classroom environment was like. In doing so, the
Cognitive Embodiment Model helps justify my idea of allowing more student
interaction in the classroom. Two ideas that really spoke two me are focusing
on active learning to make learning enjoyable, and motivating students to
remember material by understanding rather than memorization. Giving students
the opportunity to analyze and discuss readings and training them how to take
more meaningful notes, has really made my classroom a better experience for
everyone.
Cognitive
Theory – Embodiment Model
“Focus
on active learning to make learning enjoyable = making learning active provides
students with more perceptual information from which they can form strong
memories, allowing them to reperceive the activity more effectively”
Motivate
students to remember material by understanding it rather than remotely
memorizing it = focus on making connections to prior experiences, allowing
students to repercieve and build on these reperceptions”
Cognitive
Lecture Notes – Module 3: Learning About Learning à (5) Cognitive Perspective
(e) end results
So I have now discussed my early dilemma and how and
why I tweaked some of my instructional strategies to try to better serve my
students. What I am sure you are all interested in though are the results…
Formatively I have observed improved class discussions and students willing to
work through difficult readings where they in the past have been hesitant and
defiant. I have also observed better notes from my students, although it is
hard to say if this has officially led to higher test scores. It will take me
some more time to see because among all of the materials I have been modifying,
my assessment pieces are included in that. Really, upcoming ACT and MME
performance might be a better early on indicator.
Summatively I have observed better responses to
warm-up writing prompts related to notes done for homework, or readings done in
class on the day prior. Further, I have observed better scores on the periodic
ACT Timed Reading assessments I give them (average the first few times was
around 3-4. The last assessment I gave them, the scores averaged around 6-7).
Although there is definitely more improvement that needs to be observed, in my
first year of really making this a focal point, I am happy with the initial results
knowing that I will need to continue to tweak things.
There are still areas of concern though. I continue to have a number of students who are determined to skip over words that they do not know the meaning of instead of using context clues or a dictionary to figure them out. Of course if they would attempt to learn the meaning of these words, they would have a deeper understanding of the purpose of the reading. Also, a number of students are struggling with my early attempts to flip the classroom. I have heard many times throughout the year, “why can’t you just teach it to us,” or “why can’t you just tell us the answer.” It has been difficult for both the students and I to adjust to less direct instruction in class (even though I find ways to provide it for them through Blackboard). Finally, I know that I need to work more on scaffolding and begin to provide more challenging reading experiences at the individual level in and out of the classroom. Scaffolding is yet another social constructivist idea that I am working towards.
Overall though, it has been a worthwhile endeavor. I
am still asking around and searching for new materials and various strategies,
but I already know that all of my future classes will have more of an emphasis
on analytical reading and note-taking strategies. Sadly as a Social Studies
teacher I often am asked “why do we need to know this.” Despite my best efforts
to make my classes come to life and to find ways to connect material to present
day real-world experiences, some students still do not see the point. By
incorporating the teaching of a vital skill that they can translate into not
only their other high school courses, but eventually their college courses and
careers, hopefully I will have to field fewer and fewer of those questions in
the future.
1)
Picture
of my wife & I
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made available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en
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2.0) license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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BY 2.0) license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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19) Picture of me posing for the camera (looking stunning I might add)
20) “Floor Clock” is copyright © 2007 Richard Cocks and made available under Attributions 2.0 Generic (CC
By 2.0) license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
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By-NC 2.0) license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en
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29) “New Arrivals October 2012: Kaplan ACT Premier 2012” is copyright © 2012 The Quiet Library and
made available under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en
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31) Print screen of: Timed Reading (ACT Prep) (MC3 Supplemental
Materials US HST Unit 2, Lesson 4)
32)
Print screen of: Timed Reading
(ACT Prep) (MC3
Supplemental
Materials Civics
Unit 2, Lesson 8)
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34)
Picture
of my wife & I
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