Incorporating Novels in Social Studies

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Incorporating Novels in Social Studies

• 8th Annual UCF Literacy Symposium
• Brian Dorman
• April 7, 2006

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Who am I?

• Currently Sanford Middle Schools Reading Coach
  but,
• I taught 7th Grade World Geography for 5 years

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Why did I change my course structure?

• There were many reasons I thought about
  changing
• Lessons learned from participating in Florida
  Online Reading Professional Development (FORPD)
• Textbook had a lack of higher level questions
• Realized the students had limited opportunities
  to read
• Active member of the schools literacy council

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What is a literacy council?

• Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence (FLaRE)
  began working with Title I schools 2000
• Group of teachers (from all content areas) who
  attended summer training with FLaRE to learn how
  to put together an effective Literacy Team the
  model most schools use today
• Work together to address the needs of the
  students, faculty and community regarding reading

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What information drove the decision to change?

• FCAT statistics
• Easy access to novels with Language Arts teacher
  creating almost a cross-curricular class

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Drawback?

• According to FCAT data 40 text is fiction, 60
  non fiction
• BUTnovels chosen were historically accurate
  texts that were read for information, not for
  pure pleasure
• FCAT passages average 500-700 words, grades 6-8

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How?

• Read aloud / guided reading
• Partner reading
• Vocabulary development
• Inner voice (Tovani, 2000)
• Coding the text

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Read Aloud / Guided Reading

• Research shows
• Can generate interest in a topic
• Give struggling readers access to information in
  difficult texts used in classroom
• Provide opportunity to model thinking process to
  comprehend text
• (Vacca Vacca, 2005)

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Read Aloud / Guided Reading

• Method
• 1st Select books or text that
• Hold interest
• Stimulate discussion
• Reflect many different cultures
• Match social and emotional levels of listeners

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Read Aloud / Guided Reading

• Method
• 2nd Prepare by practicing
• Last no longer than 15 minutes
• Use props (maps or pictures)
• 3rd No need to read cover to cover
• Reading excerpts from book, magazine, newspaper
  article can be more effective

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Read Aloud / Guided Reading
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Partner Reading

• Research shows
• Partner reading supports less able readers and
  can increase motivation
• Rasinski, 2003

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Partner Reading

• Method
• Partners help each other clarify confusing parts
• Partners retell main idea or events
• Partners can also predict what might happen next
• Teacher circulates during partner reading to
  assess comprehension

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Partner Reading
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Vocabulary Development

• Research shows
• Readers will encounter unfamiliar content
  vocabulary during reading
• Most effective to learn a few key terms in depth
  rather than learn many words superficially
• Learning vocabulary is a gradual process that
  needs repeated exposure to the word
• (Vacca Vacca, 2005)

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Vocabulary Development

• Method
• Frayer model
• 3 column method

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Vocabulary

• Joint occupation
• Mountain man
• Rendezvous
• Emigrant
• Manifest Destiny
• Decree
• Annex
• Cede

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Vocabulary Development
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Vocabulary terms defined

• Joint occupation two countries control an area
  of land
• Mountain men adventurers who spent much of
  their time trapping and hunting in the Rocky
  Mountains
• Rendezvous French word for meeting
• Emigrant people who leave their country to live
  somewhere else

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Vocabulary terms defined

• Manifest Destiny idea that America was meant to
  stretch from Atlantic to Pacific
• Decree official government order
• Annex take control of an area
• Cede to give over control of an area

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Inner Voice

• Tovani stated
• Good readers carry on a conversation with the
  author called a conversational voice
• Good readers know when they are using their
  recital voice (not paying attention to what is
  read) and begin to get distracted

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Inner Voice

• Method
• Mark text with stopping points
• Have students record what they were thinking
  about on a sheet of paper
• Reveals where students get distracted
• Many students are not aware that they are
  distracted and no longer comprehending the text

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Inner Voice
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Coding the text

• Research shows
• Confident readers connect what they already know
  to what they are reading

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Coding the text

• Method
• Teach 3 symbols (check mark, ! and ?)
• Check means I knew this (background knowledge)
• ! Means this is important to remember
• ? Means I am confused or dont understand

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Coding the Text

• ? Are topics for discussion or further inquiry

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Coding the text
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References

• Appleby, J., Brinkley, A., McPherson, J. M.
  (1998). The American Journey. New York
  Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.
• FCAT Design Summary. (2005). Retrieved March 27,
  2006 from http//www.firn.edu/doe/sas/fcat/pdf/
• fc05designsummary.pdf.
• Rasinski, T. V. (2003). The fluent reader. New
  York Scholastic Professional Books
• Tovani, C. (2000). I read it, but I dont get it
  Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers.
  Portland, MA Stenhouse.
• Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L. (2005). Content area
  reading Literacy and learning across the
  curriculum. Boston Allyn and Bacon.

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Contact Information

• Brian Dorman,
• Reading Coach
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Sanford Middle School
• 1700 French Avenue
• Sanford, FL 32771
• Seminole County Public Schools
• Brian_Dorman_at_scps.k12.fl.us