1. In this module we will learn about:

• Why troubled readers have difficulty with content area reading.
• How to know if a student will need help with content material.
• How to make content reading accessible to students.
• Specific strategies for teaching content area reading.

2. We will:

• Adapt content area text to the specific needs of our students.
• Instruct students using the adapted materials and content area strategies.

3. Written Assignment:

None. Continue working on case study and theme unit.

4. Progress check-list:

Check to see that assignments align with the syllabus.

5. Comments:

Content reading involves factual, expository writing such as found in science, social studies and other academic disciplines. Because of unfamiliar vocabulary, structured formatting, and special text features, it is very often in the content areas where troubled readers suffer most.Content teaching is one of the most challenging areas in which to help troubled readers, but when an instructor sees the light of understanding dawn in a student's eyes, the extra work is well worth the effort.

When planning for content instruction, the teacher should remember that comprehension involves gaining meaning from print, and one cannot gain meaning without having some foundation of experience when working in the content areas. I'm sure many of you remember with distaste content areas in which the entire course was endless reading, filling in workbook pages, and regurgitating memorized facts. This is probably the most ineffective teaching method for students having reading difficulty. Several years ago, as a new, inexperienced fourth-grade teacher, I discovered one of the students could not handle the Social Studies text. Today, I would have many ways to help such a child, but at that time, I asked one of better readers in class to take the student aside and read each assignment to him. It was amazing to see the change in this poor reader when he had access to information shared by the majority of the class. He began to take part in class discussions, stopped misbehaving, and answered oral test questions confidently. How many students do poorly in content areas because they don't want us to know they can't read. Since my fourth-grade experience, I've determined to do all possible to help students deal with content area materials.

According to Harp and Brewer (1996, p. 367) three conditions are optimal for gaining meaning in content reading:

• A strong motivation to read the material. (Provide rich, relevant, accessible text and child-centered instruction.)
• Provision of authentic classroom activities that accompany the reading. (Give students real reasons to read and write.)
• Integrating content skills along with the material to be learned. (Teach children how do deal with content reading as they read. For example, rather than teaching content vocabulary separately, use the "Creating a Gloss" strategy in Ideas and Strategies to teach vocabulary during the reading)

Literature, especially children's, has a natural flow, engaging, recognizable plot, much predictable vocabulary, and many picture cues. Content reading, on the other hand, offers three major challenges by:

Maintaining a highly structured text organization (see the Billy Bat example).

• Containing specialized vocabulary often unfamiliar to students.
• Including special text features such as charts, graphs, tables, and maps.

How can the teacher meet content area challenges? Here are some simple ideas to help you:

• Know if the material is too difficult. We often identify reading levels as independent, instructional, and frustration. Students can read material at the independent level unaided. Materials at the frustration level can be read with help. The frustration level is so difficult that the student cannot possibly read it. Insecure readers should NEVER be given material at the frustration level. Here is an easy way to determine these levels quickly for content reading. Select a passage of about 250 words from the reading material you plan to use. Leave a blank every fifth or seventh word. Have students guess words to fill in blanks. If student accurately guesses:
  • over 60% = independent level
  • 45-59% = instructional level
  • less than 45% = Frustration level
• Some teachers allow students to determine if material is too difficult by holding up a finger for every unknown word. If five fingers are up on the first page, the material is probably too hard and should not be used without some kind of adaptation. What does one do if class materials are too difficult? Finding alternative materials is one option; rewriting is another. However, rewriting takes time and skill. If you use the same text over the years, rewriting might be warranted. Other good teaching ideas for content area reading are listed in Content Ideas and Strategies. Some of these are especially useful for difficult materials.
  
• Enrich the student's background of experience. Background plays a major role in a reader's choice of strategies for dealing with text. Good readers tend to be wide readers who have sampled many kinds of texts and topics. Since poor readers often shun the reading experience, they lack the background in understanding content organization and information. Many years ago educator Edgar Dale developed a widely known tool called the "Dale's Cone of Experience" which shows how to develop experience from the concrete to abstract. I have found the cone to be extremely helpful in introducing and developing content reading topics. Begin your instruction with the "Doing" activities at the bottom which support the "Unlocking Symbolization" at the apex:

• Allow students to study topics of interest. Summarize several possible content area topics, and allow students to choose the ones they want to study. There will be students who appear to have no interests. In such cases offering them two or three possibilities in the form of suggestions or invitations might be an option. Invitations are centers where students can explore topics. Invitations can include hands-on activities, manipulatives, books and pictures, music, an interesting video, or other experiences to engender interest. For an in-depth look at theory and practice regarding invitations, see Reggie Routman's excellent book INVITATIONS: CHANGING AS TEACHERS AND LEARNERS (1994), published by Heinemann in Portsmouth, NH.
• Discuss with students how the text is organized. (Harp and Brewer (1996) say that research shows students can remember two times as much after examining how the text is organized than before.) Here are some organizational patterns: major idea/supporting details, details/conclusion, time sequence, cause/effect, compare/contrast, flashback, question/answer.
• Locate a variety of materials (See below).

  1. Use student authored materials (make a copy of student written books on a topic and include in classroom library)
  2. A few weeks before you begin a unit, start collecting trade books on the topic. Have librarian help you.
  3. Use periodicals (there are several for children such as Cobblestone, Ranger Rick, Highlights, International Wildlife).
  4. Tape record relevant selections that are difficult but good.
  5.Use other kinds of media such as films, records, CDs, videos, computer software.
  6. Provide guest speakers and field trips.
  7.Have children predict what they will find; then read to confirm.
  8. Use word study. Vocabulary should grow vertically (learning more words) and horizontally (adding new meanings to known words). Make the study of words interesting. Students love to play with words in a non-intimidating setting!
  9. Use semantic mapping in which major ideas, sub-topics, and information are mapped out visually.
  10. Teach students strategies to figure out words, and give them support in using reference materials.
  a. Help children see they read and write for a variety of purposes. The best purposes grow out of student questions.
  b. Focus on inquiry-oriented learning. Have students ask, "What do I already know, what do I want to know, and how do I find out?"
  
  Click here for more detailed descriptions of content ideas and strategies.
  

Harp, B. & Brewer J. (1996). READING AND WRITING: TEACHING FOR THE CONNECTIONS. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace.