Literacy Need

at
My School
Everytown, USA

Specific Weaknesses
Content teachers are not teaching
literacy strategies.
Content teachers have not identified the
specific literacy needs for their discipline.
Content teachers are reluctant to accept
the role of teaching literacy strategies.
Content teachers require training to help
them understand this shift in thinking.

Metacognitive Strategies
, Mindful Reading: Strategy Training That
Facilitates Transfer, (Rhoder, 2002)
Step-by-step process to teach strategies
students can apply to various reading situations.
Begins with a whole class lesson on contentspecific text structure.
Teacher models how to identify common text
structures such as cause and effect, compare and
contrast, and sequence of events.
Students work in groups to create graphic
organizers to represent each structure, and to
create lists of cue words that signal the different
text formats.

The Think Aloud

Think-Aloud Strategy: Metacognitive Development
and Monitoring Comprehension in the Middle School
Second-Language Classroom, (McKeown, &
Gentilucci, 2007)
Begins with the teacher verbally modeling his/her own
thinking as a text is read.
Teaches students to take control of their thinking as
they read.
Explicitly teach the skills of questioning, clarifying,
connecting to prior learning, and visualizing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jjPml82TDs
Then the teacher will guide them through thinking
aloud with simplified text either in groups or with a
partner.

But, Im a Math Teacher

Reading Math Textbooks: An Algebra Teachers
Pattern of Thinking, (Massey, & Riley, 2013),
There is actually a whole separate language involved
with learning math.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7PNkfF7Sxo
Students must be taught to read mathematic symbols,
equations, textbook directions, and word problems.
Students must also learn that words often have a
different meaning in math.
One especially useful metacognitive strategy for math
comprehension is visualization, or drawing a picture of
the problem.
Learning to connect to prior knowledge is also
extremely helpful because it creates the awareness

Sample Lesson Plan

Standards/Learning Outcomes: Write informative/explanatory

texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and
information clearly and accurately through the effective selection,
organization, and analysis of content.
Objectives: Students will be able to use strategic reading to
comprehend an assigned text and write an essay that shows their
understanding of the ideas presented in that text.
Technology: A projector and a document reader will be required
for this lesson.
Instructional Procedures: Students will read The Life of
Abraham Lincoln by Henry Ketcham with a partner using the
Think Aloud strategy.
Next, review the elements of writing an essay, such as the thesis
statement, citing evidence from the text, and writing concluding
statements. Examine an example of q high quality student essay.
Finally, students would be given the writing prompt, Summarize
three main points from the passage. Support your summary with
details from the text.

Students will present their project in the form of a typed essay.

Peer Input Survey

What concepts require further clarification?
What could be added to the Specific
Weaknesses slide to make it more relatable
to the entire staff?
Provide feedback on the video links. Are
they understandable? Can you see yourself
using these strategies in your classroom?
What procedures from the lesson plan are
too vague?
Which strategy do you find most useful and
why?

References
Massey, D.D., & Riley, L.E., (2013). Reading math textbooks: An
algebra
teachers pattern of thinking. Journal of Adolescent and Adult
Literacy, 56(7), 577-586.
McKeown, R.G., & Gentilucci, J.L., (2007). Think aloud strategy:
Metacognitive development and monitoring comprehension
in
the middle school second-language classroom. Journal of
Adolescent
and Adult Literacy, 51(2), 136-148.
Rhoder, C.A., (2002). Mindful reading: Strategy training that
facilitates
transfer. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 45(6), 498512.