Expository Text and Technology HOW.

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Expository Text and Technology HOW.

• Jeff Piontek and Alison Inouye
• Hawaii Department of Education

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Adolescent Literacy

• More than eight million students in grades 4-12
  are struggling readers (NCES, 2003)
• Students who enter ninth grade reading
  significantly below grade level are 20 times more
  likely to drop out of high school than their
  higher achieving classmates (AEE,2005)

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50 of Graduating Seniors HSTW, 1999

• Cannot relate aspects of the text to its overall
  meaning
• Cannot connect ideas in the text to personal
  experiences
• Cannot draw conclusions
• Lack the capability to explain a reading
  selections main idea, purpose or information
  supporting the conclusion
• Deficient in their analytical skills
• Have difficulty in advancing in our
  information-based society

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Big Questions

• How long does it take to learn to read?
• In what grades should reading be taught?
• Whose job is it to teach reading?
• What should we teach?
• How should it be taught?
• How do we go beyond functional literacy and teach
  reading for leading?

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The answers so far.

• One keeps learning to read throughout ones life,
  each time one reads a new type of document.
• Reading should be taught throughout the grades
  from Kindergarten through post graduate.
• It is every educators job to teach reading.
• Reading for information should be the major focus
  of reading instruction.
• Reading should be taught directly, with the goal
  of putting the students consciously in control of
  their reading process.
• We go beyond functional literacy when we teach
  students to read strategically, critically and
  with metacognitive awareness.

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Do you know where youve been?
Do you know where youre going?
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You never know for sure..
What is around that curve..
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Think-Jot Down-Share or Reflect

• How do you think children learn to read well?
• How do you think home culture impacts the
  process?
• Why do you think so?

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New Literacy Studies

• Social orientation of reading and writing
• Literacy varies from one context to another.
• Readers and writers have different conceptions of
  the meanings of what they are doing. These
  meanings are not just individual or cognitive,
  but derive from social practices.

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Learning to Read Well

• Long-term developmental process.
• Goal read a variety of materials with ease and
  interest, for varying purposes, with
  comprehension even when materials are difficult
  and not intrinsically interesting.
• Extracting and constructing meaning through
  interaction and involvement with written language.

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The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled
Reading (Scarborough, 2001)
Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually
acquired over years of instruction and practice.
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Integrating Technology into School Curricula

• Since the 1970s a debate has persisted regarding
  the effectiveness and importance of integrating
  technology into school curricula (Butzin, 2001
  Leu Kinzer, 2000).

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Integrating Technology into School Curricula

• Advocates argue that technology
• Improves student learning outcomes and prepares
  them for a technology-rich workplace (Butzin,
  2001).
• In support of those effects, technology can be
  used to
• Present material to be learned
• Help learners solve problems
• Assist in drill and practice
• Facilitate time management
• Increase computer literacy (see Abbott Faris,
  2000)

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Integrating Technology into School Curricula

• Critics argue that
• Predictions that computers and movies would
  replace schools have not come true
• American schools have spent large sums of money
  putting technology in schools yet, American
  students score lower than their international
  peers on measures of achievement
• Tight school budgets are further constrained by
  the need to invest additional money to maintain
  the technology infrastructure in schools

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Integrating Technology into School Curricula

• A growing body of literature supports advocates
  claims that technology increases student
  achievement, engagement, their technology skills,
  motivation, and workplace preparedness.

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Integrating Technology into School Curricula
Evidence

• Project CHILD (Butzin, 2001)
• Instructional model from Florida State University
• Incorporates technology into K-5 classroom
  instruction
• Longitudinal data show increased reading,
  language arts, and mathematics test scores
• Other effects fewer discipline problems, more
  positive attitudes toward school, greater
  engagement, and more positive parent involvement

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Integrating Technology into School Curricula

• This contributes to the evidence and describes
• How technology changes literacy instruction
• How changes in literacy instruction affect what
  and how students learn
• The use of Web logs (blogs) to support K-5
  students reading and writing development

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Literacy is tied inherently to technology because
  technology profoundly affects how we communicate.

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Literacy
• A basic definition the skills needed to read and
  write
• A more complex definition the skills necessary
  to communicate effectively within a particular
  cultural context (Nixon, 2003)
• The second definition assumes social significance
  is associated with an individuals ability to
  communicate using the tools valued by a culture

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Assuming the more complex definition
• Culturally-compatible literacy instruction
  changes continually as technological changes
  influence how we communicate and how we present
  information
• Is this the case?

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Mackey (2003) notes that new readers learn about
  reading from extensive textual experiences across
  media
• These media include
• Computerized Story Books/eBooks
• Games
• Music
• Film
• Television
• Search Engines
• Instant Messaging
• Email
• Telephone calls via the Internet
• (Boone Higgins, 2003 Nixon, 2003)

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Literacy is not simply reading and writing, but
  communicating and sharing knowledge using the
  technology valued by a culture

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Literacy Instruction and Technology

• Four skill areas related to literacy instruction
• Collaborating with others
• Communicating with others
• Finding and evaluating information
• Solving problems by creating and communicating
  solutions
• How does technology influence what and how
  students learn these skills?

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What is Learned

• As technology evolves, the content of literacy
  instruction changes to include
• Non-linear texts with integrated graphics and
  hypertext
• Print and electronic formats for information
• Sharing of information beyond traditional means
  of written and spoken communication
• Instruction should foster a student-centered
  learning
• environment that encourages collaboration, active
  learning,
• and open communication

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How Students Learn

• A student-centered, constructivist learning
  environment assumes that learners actively
  construct and create their representations of
  meaning using their current and past knowledge
• Technology-mediated literacy instruction can
  support such an environment

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How Students Learn

• Social learning strategies
• As networked information resources change, no
  single individual will be fully literate in all
  technologies social learning strategies may used
  to support learning
• Learners will support each others attempts to
  become literate by modeling literate behaviors
  and sharing knowledge
• Cooperative learning activities will support the
  social negotiation of meaning and understanding
• (Leu Kinzer, 2000)

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How Students Learn

• Peer collaboration
• Elementary students used the Internet to search
  for information regarding a project
• As peer editors, the students assisted each other
  as they clarified ideas and chose which
  information to include/exclude
• The students also assisted with managing
  technical aspects of the information search
• (Kelley, Finley, Koehler, Picard, 2001)

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How Students Learn

• Self-regulated learning
• Teenage girls exposure to online communities
  encouraged them to teach themselves how to use
  different types of hardware and software
• One participant taught herself HTML and
  JavaScript in an effort to construct products
  valued by the online community
• Both girls were internally motivated to seek out
  additional information related to personal
  interests and their interactions in the online
  communities
• (Chandler-Olcott Mahar, 2003)

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How Students Learn

• The previous examples argue for authenticity when
  integrating technology into school curricula
• Web logs (blogs) can offer an authentic forum for
  practicing writing and literacy skills

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Web Logs

• Blogs can combine technology with academic
  content, practice, and assessment
• Kennedy (2003) describes blogs as part Web site,
  part journal, part free-form writing space ( 3)
• Education blogs allow students to publish their
  written work in a public forum
• Blogs also can include commentary, criticism,
  and/or interpretation (Kennedy, 2003)

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Web Logs

• In the elementary classroom
• Students write individually and may share their
  writing with other students by reading aloud or
  posting writing in the classroom
• This approach does not foster interchange among
  students
• Writing to a blog, however, may increase
  students motivation to write and their attention
  to what they have written because
• Increased attention to writing and motivation to
  write may improve organization, style, and
  sophistication of ideas (Tompkins, 2002)

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Web Logs in the Elementary Classroom

• For K-5 students, the reading/language arts
  standards are summarized as
• Print awareness
• Reading comprehension
• Literary response
• Writing for research
• Writing compositions
• Reading fluency
• Proper usage (grammar)

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Web Logs in the Elementary Classroom

• For K-5 students, the technology ideals fall into
  four categories
• Foundations
• Technology terms, acceptable use practices, using
  input devices, using software
• Information acquisition
• Acquiring and evaluating information from
  electronic sources
• Problem solving
• Using word processing and multimedia software
  using communication tools to interact with groups
• Communication
• Publishing information in a variety of media

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Expository Writing Writing to Learn

• There are many approaches and many activities to
  help students write in expository style.
• Comparing, contrasting or evaluating key points
  in a chapter
• Writing critical report, e.g. famous people,
  details and/or events
• Writing an essay on science topics related to
  knowledge and ideas they already know
• Writing letters to convey personal reactions or
  to request information on a topic
• Writing scripts to dramatize key events in
  history
• Writing historical fiction
• Writing a childrens book on a science topic
• Writing an editorial or communication on an issue
• Writing an illustrated glossary of key terms
• Creating captions for photos of a scientific
  experiment
• Creating a puzzle of key terms to use in their
  writing

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Web Logs in the Elementary Classroom

• Using Web logs to facilitate students reading
  and writing helps them acquire the needed skills
  to achieve competency
• Importantly, Web logs are an authentic writing
  and publishing technology that is
  student-centered in the tradition of the
  constructivist approach to learning

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Investigating Web Logs and Students
Reading/Writing Achievement

• Many universities are examining how the
  additional writing and reading practice created
  by posting to a Web log affects two measures of
  learning
• Students scores on grade-level reading/writing
  achievement tests
• The sophistication of students posts to the Web
  log as classified by the hierarchical levels of
  Blooms (1956) taxonomy of skills in the
  cognitive domain

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Investigating Web Logs and Students
Reading/Writing Achievement

• Primary research questions
• Are Web logs a viable technology for improving
  students reading/writing achievement?

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Blog Information

• Resources
• http//www.blogger.com
• http//www.blogspot.com
• http//www.diaryland.com
• http//www.ebloggy.com
• The Educational Blog Network
• http//www.ebn.weblogger.com/

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What do we know about reading?

• Good instruction is the most powerful means of
  promoting its development.
• Instruction designed to increase reading fluency
  leads to significant gains in word recognition
  and fluency and to moderate gains in
  comprehension (National Reading Panel
  meta-analysis of 14 studies).

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Differences in Teaching Reading

• Reading Instruction
• Reading instruction teacher teaches to help
  students with sequential development of reading
  skills
• Content Area Reading
• Content teacher teaches reading skills and
  content at the same time
• Teaches the sequential development of ideas
• Makes students better learners
• Helps students improve academic achievement
• Helps students improve their attitude toward
  learning

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Explicit instruction is essential
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Comparing Narrative and Informational text
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Expository Text Structures

• Description
• Compare/Contrast
• Cause and Effect
• Chronology/Sequence
• Procedural
• Persuasive
• Question/Answer
• Problem/Solution

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Signal Words Point the Way
Text Structure Signal Words
Description/ Hierarchical List
Cause Effect
Compare/ Contrast
Problem/ Solution
Question Answer
Sequence
For instance For example Furthermore Such
as Also To begin with Most important Also In
fact In addition And to illustrate
Since Because This led to On account of Due to As
a result of For this reason Consequentially Thens
o Therefore thus
In like manner Likewise Similar to The difference
between As opposed to After all However And
yet But Nevertheless On the other hand
One reason for the A solution A
problem Where The question is One answer
is Recommendations include
How When What Next Why Who How many The best
estimate It could be that One may conclude
Until Before After Finally Lastly Firstlast Now
then On (date) At (time) First,
second Meanwhile Not long after initially
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Examples of Expository text(From Literacy by J.
David Cooper)

• Description
• The tiger is the master of the Indian jungle. It
  stalks its prey in deadly silence. For an hour or
  more, it carefully watches and then slowly,
  placing one foot softly in front of the other
  closes in.
• Characteristics
• Presents information and gives characteristics
• Unlike other expository structures it does not
  provide clues to aid in word comprehension
• Closest to narrative text and
• Basic information for noting details and select
  important information

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Comparison

• The power of the great tigers is like that of no
  other animal in the jungle. With one steady
  lunge, it can destroy its prey, seemingly without
  any effort at all. Unlike other predators, the
  tiger basks in the sun after an attack to prepare
  for its next kill. The actions of the tiger
  resemble those of no other animal in the Indian
  jungle.
• Characteristics
• Required to note the likeliness and difference
  between two or more objects or ideas
• Found in social studies and science
• Clue words and phrases like, unlike-resemble,
  different from, same as and
• Reader must recognize the objects or ideas being
  compared and similar and different
• Key terms similarly, both, different from and
  either

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Causation

• We observed the tiger from our vehicle as it
  stalked the herd of deer. As a result of the
  slight noise from our running camera, the tiger
  turned and knew we were there. This didnt stop
  him from returning to its intended prey. Slowly
  and carefully it moved forward, not making a
  sound. The deer initially unaware of its
  presence, but because of the shifting winds they
  caught the tigers scent. This was enough to scare
  them away.
• Characteristics
• Casual relationship is either stated or implied
• Used in content area textbooks, newspapers and
  magazine articles
• Clue words therefore, consequently, because as a
  result of, since, the reason for, if/then, thus,
  so and
• Readers must identify the element being related
  and recognized or infer the cause and effect
  relationship

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Chronology/Sequence

• As master of the jungle, the male tiger plays
  many roles. First, he is the hunter of prey who
  stalks in deadly silence. He is beauty of the
  jungle, an expert at doing nothing so that he can
  rest and be ready for the hunt. Finally, the lord
  of the jungle is the active seeker of mates, who
  begins his mating with a nuzzle but ends with a
  roar.
• Characteristics
• A number if ideas or descriptions in a related
  group
• Often called a list or sequence
• Uses clue words first, second, next and finally
• Readers must infer the relationship between the
  listed points and the overall topic, noting
  details and identifying sequence of ideas

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Response

• One problem to be resolved in tiger watching is
  transportation. How is it possible for observers
  to get close to a tiger without scaring it away
  or being attacked? Nature has helped to solve
  this problem by making the tiger and the elephant
  friends. It is possible fro an elephant carrying
  several people to get very near a tiger without
  even being noticed. If it werent for this
  natural friendship, tiger watching would be
  virtually impossible.
• Characteristics
• Structure presents a question, problem, or remark
  followed by an answer or solution or reply
• Often used in mathematics, science and social
  studies
• Clue words as a problem is, the question is, one
  reason is, the problem is, one answer is

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Inference

• Rating scale for inferring
• Not likely
• Possibly
• Very likely
• Almost certain

• How to infer with nonfiction
• Think about the facts presented
• Come up with possible inferences
• If you have problems think about questions the
  fact raises
• Try to think of possible answer to your questions
• There will be your inferences
• Think about each inference
• Give each one an inference rating
• Choose the inferences that have a 3 or 4 rating

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A Student Think Aloud Checklist

• Before reading, I
• Review the title, the headings,
  illustrations yes/no
• Thought about what I already know about the
  topic yes/no
• Made predictions about what the text was
  about yes/no
• Made up my own questions yes/no

• During reading, I
• Predicted what might happen next yes/no
• Thought about ideas, not stated in the
  text yes/no
• Understood the main idea of the text yes/no
• Understood the important details in the
  text yes/no
• Summarized each section-key ideas/thoughts yes/no
  
• Made up questions to clarify information for
  myself yes/no
• Checked when I wasnt sure about
  something yes/no

• After reading, I
• Summarized everything I had read yes/no
• Thought about what I read and what I already
  know yes/no
• Made notes to help me understand certain
  ideas yes/no

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Physical Features

• Text organizers
• Index
• Preface
• Table of contents
• Glossary
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Footnote
• Photo Credit

• Fonts and effects
• Titles
• Headings
• Subheadings
• Boldface print
• Italics
• Bullets
• Captions
• Color, Size
• Labels
• Font Style

• Graphics
• Diagrams
• Cutaways
• Cross sections
• Overlays
• Tables
• Graphs
• Charts
• Word bubbles
• Timelines
• Distribution
• Maps
• Flow Charts

• Illustrations and Photographs
• Illustrations Icons
• Photographs Visual Layout

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Choosing Reading Materials for Pre-teens and
Teens

• Increasingly interested in local, national, and
  international current events
• Editorials and articles from the newspaper and
  news magazines
• Defining what makes them unique individuals and
  learning how they fit in the world
• Novels set in the past and in the present
• Novels with young characters who are experiencing
  and coping with the challenges of growing up

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Choosing Reading Materials forPre-teens and Teens

• Question authority
• Classic and modern novels that deal with big
  issues such as when the needs of a community are
  more important than those of individuals
• Striving for independence, yet still want to be
  connected to their families
• Your favorite books/explain why they are
  important to you
• Books that you can share laughter, a good
  mystery, an action-paced adventure, a science
  fiction journey

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Choosing Reading Materials forPre-teens and Teens

• Gradually learning to think abstractly and
  understand the reasons behind views that differ
  from their own
• Books that challenge them to think out of the
  box and see the world beyond their daily
  experiences
• Thinking about what they will do in their
  lives---college, careers, and more
• Books that introduce a wide range of
  opportunities and experiences
• http//www.lib.virginia.edu/databases/ebooks.html

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. . . on past objectives
Keep your eye on the priorities . . .
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The Big Ideas A summary
1. Explicit and systematic instruction in the
critical knowledge and skills required for
proficient reading
2. Extensive practice activities that are both
supervised and independent as well as engaging
3. Reliable and valid assessments beginning in
Kindergarten
4. Resources devoted to increasing intensity and
power of instruction for students lagging behind
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You Cant Tutor What Hasnt Been Taught

• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught
• You cant tutor what hasnt been taught

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The Challenge of the vocabulary gap
This gap arises because of massive differences in
opportunities to learn school vocabulary in the
home
We are still learning about the conditions that
must be in place to substantially reduce the
vocabulary gap by third grade.
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Latin Greek Roots

• http//www.quia.com/jg/275995.html
• http//english.glendale.cc.ca.us/quizr.html
• http//hyper.vcsun.org/HyperNews/nherr/get/SED646/
  S99.1/104.html?nogifs
• http//www.resourceroom.net/Comprehension/index.as
  p

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Facts (Strategy)

• Tell your partner three facts which you have
  learned from today.

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Fact or Opinion? (Strategy)

• Check what your partner said were actual facts,
  not just their opinion.
• Will everyone think the same thing?
• Can they prove what they said?
• If not, it is probably an opinion, not a fact!

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Is it important on how information is presented?
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Across a science teachers desk

• Describe momentum
• Something you give someone when they are going
  away.
• Where is the equator?
• The equator is a menagerie lion running around
  the Earth through Africa.
• Describe the body parts you have studied
• The body consists of three parts-the brainium,
  the borax and the adominable cavity. The brainium
  contains the brain, the borax contains the heart
  and lungs, and the adominable cavity contains the
  bowels, of which there are five a, e ,I o and u.

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Teachers Make a Difference!

• Teachers make decisions
• Teachers choose books
• Teachers choose instructional strategies
• Teachers assess
• Teachers remediate

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LittleFingers Online Games - Honey Pot Hunt
http//www.little-g.com/shockwave/honey.htmlQuia
- Rhyming Words http//www.quia.com/jg/65870.htm
lRhyming Words - Kindergarten http//www.quia.co
m/jg/65765.htmlBBC Education - Wordblender Game
http//www.bbc.co.uk/education/wordsandpictures/c
lusters/blender/game.shtml Storyplace Preschool
Library http//www.storyplace.org/preschool/other
.asp Storyplace Elementary Library
http//www.storyplace.org/eel/other.aspTina's
World - Real of Make Believe http//www.cogcon.co
m/gamegoo/games/tina/tina.html LittleFingers
Online Games - Space Germs!http//www.little-g.co
m/shockwave/germs.html Disney Interactive
http//disney.go.com/DisneyInteractive/flash/inde
x.html?23 Learning Planet - Alphabet Action
http//www.learningplanet.com/act/fl/aact/index.a
sp PBS Kids - Between the Lions A.B.Cow
http//pbskids.org/lions/games/abcow2.html The
Little Animals Activity Centre - Digby Mole's
Word Game http//www.bbc.co.uk/education/laac/wor
ds/dg3.html Sony Wonder Click-A-Part Choo Choo
http//www.sonywonder.com/wonderland/pool/train/i
ndex.html
67

• You can download the presentation
• http//jeff.piontek.googlepages.com
• Click on presentations and IRA
• Thank you