Close Encounters of the Metacognitive Mind Teaching Close Reading Strategies to Create Reflective Re

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Close Encounters of theMetacognitive Mind
Teaching Close Reading Strategies to Create
Reflective ReadersRebecca Jamme, Dunbar High
SchoolBetsy Vaughn, Estero High School
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Overview

• Teachers will acquire and implement metacognitive
  close reading strategies in the classroom in
  order to increase comprehension and create more
  reflective readers.

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Outcomes

• Teachers will understand the concept of perfect
  practice and be able to create it in their
  classrooms.
• Teachers will utilize key research-based
  instructional strategies for teaching in a block
  schedule.

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Meta WHAT?

• Group Discussion
• What is metacogntion? What are your experiences
  (if any) using it in your teaching?

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Meta WHAT?

• Metacognition refers to ones knowledge
  concerning ones own cognitive processes or
  anything related to them, e.g., the
  learning-relevant properties of information or
  data. For example, I am engaging in metacognition
  if I notice that I am having more trouble
  learning A than B if it strikes me that I should
  double check C before accepting it as fact.
• -J. H. Flavell (1976, p. 232).

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Metacognitive Survey

• This is an excellent resource to use with
• your students.
• Metacognitive Reading
• Awareness Survey

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Thinking Notes
• This procedure helps students become more
  involved in their reading by recording their
  thoughts about the text. The strategy consists of
  a notation system that records students
  reactions to what they read.

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These are some common thinking notes that
students might use

• yes agree
• X disagree
• new
• ! WOW
• ? I wonder
• ?? Dont understand
• important

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Thinking Notes
• Since marking in a book is an issue at times,
  strips of paper or sticky notes can be labeled
  with the marking systems and placed on the page.
• It is advisable for students to add page numbers
  to their thinking notes.
• Different colored sticky notes can be used by
  students to track a variety of targeted literary
  elements such as theme, character development and
  relationships, motifs, and many more.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Aloud
• Students are never too old to be read to nor
  are they ever too old to read aloud.
• Reading aloud allows students the chance to
  demonstrate their personal interpretations of
  characters and stories.
• The Read, Pause, Think method provides
  opportunities for teachers to discuss audience,
  point of view, and especially tone.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Thinking Aloud
• This technique encourages students to discuss
  their thinking processes intermittently while
  they read aloud.
• In the annotation that follows, the poem has been
  bracketed into natural reflection points with
  comments indicating possible reflections students
  might have during an initial reading.

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Hazel Tells Laverne
Funny names, I wonder what she will tell

• last night
• Im cleaning out my
• howard johnsons ladies room
• when all of the sudden
• up pops this frog
• musta come out from the sewer
• swimmin around tryin a
• climb up the sida the bowl
• so i goes ta flushm down
• but sohelpmegod he starts talkin
• bout a golden ball
• and how i can be a princess

Why my? Words look strange no punctuation
Where does the frog come from?
Gross! The frog is in the toilet! Id scream and
run.
Reminds me of a fairy tale she will have to
kiss him.
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Metacognitive Strategies

• Ladders of Questions
• Teachers are familiar with creating study
  questions for quizzes, tests, and discussions.
• To help students learn how answering questions
  leads to greater understanding, teachers can
  create sets or ladders of questions that promote
  progressive thinking and closer reading.
• The ladder can be divided into three types of
  questions literal, interpretive, and
  experience-based.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Ladders of Questions

Questions Answers -Connecting -Found by
testing the ideas of a text against -Link text to
prior knowledge, readers schema other texts,
or experiences -Good answers lead to an
appreciation of the text and further
discussion.
Experience-Based
Questions Answers -Inferential -Found by
following patterns and seeing -Motive of author
or character relationships among parts of the
text -Good answers lead to an identification
of significant patterns
Interpretive
Questions Answers -Factual -Found directly in
text -Address key elements -Good answers lead to
an accurate and complete summary of text
Literal
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Ladders of Questions Jigsaw

• For the following passage from Marigolds,
  create four good examples of literal,
  interpretive, or experience-based questions,
  depending on which rung of the question ladder
  your group is responsible for.
• Regroup, taking your groups questions with you.
  In your new group, choose two of the best
  questions from each rung and have all members of
  the group answer them individually as a group
  assignment on poster sheets. Be sure to include
  all group members names as well.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Journals
• Students can enhance their close reading skills
  by keeping reading journals.
• These journals consist of written responses that
  express students understanding of questions
  about a piece of literature.
• Teachers need not mark or line-edit reading
  journals, but will probably wish to search for
  patterns in the responses that indicate growth.
• This is an excellent low-stakes exercise, and a
  formative assessment students may refer back to
  when composing a formal literary analysis.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Strategies
• Questioning
• Ask questions about what is happening.
• Explore (determine) reasons for what is going on
  in a story.
• Explain how a character feels.
• Write down what confuses you.
• Determine why the author chose some distinctive
  words.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Strategies
• Connecting and Reflecting
• Describe similarities between what you are
  reading and what you have experienced.
• Explore the ways this book makes you think and
  feel.
• Describe similarities between what you are
  reading and what you have heard about or read
  about

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Strategies
• Predicting
• Try to figure out what will happen next in the
  story.
• Try to predict how the story will end.
• Reviewing
• Stop at times to review what you have read.
• Summarize.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Strategies
• Evaluating
• Form opinions about what you have read.
• Develop images and ideas about characters and
  events.
• Think about how this nook compares to others you
  have read.
• Citing Quotations
• Cite parts of the book that you think are
  examples of good writing.
• Comment on your thoughts about each quotation.

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Reading Strategies
• Recognizing Words
• Use context clues to determine meaning.
• Consult a dictionary.
• Self-Correction
• Read to make sense.
• Read on.
• Reread.

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Magic Squares Vocabulary Review

• Directions Match the vocabulary words with the
  corresponding definitions. Then, fill in the
  magic square by putting the correct number of the
  definition into the box that corresponds with the
  correct letter of the vocabulary word. If your
  work is correct, then the numerical total will be
  the same for each row across and each column
  down. Make sure to add up the rows and columns
  as you work, to ensure that you are coming up
  with the same number each time. If not, go back
  and check your terms and definitions, fix any
  errors, and try again! If you solve the magic
  square correctly you will earn 3 extra credit
  points on your vocabulary test!
• Good luck!

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Metacognitive Strategies

• Annotating Texts
• While annotating texts, students mark that pages
  of the book, passage, or poem that they read.
• Some readers mark up the text extensively, while
  others mark only the parts they consider most
  significant or problematic.
• What is important is not how students annotate or
  even how much they annotate, but that they
  annotate.
• The mere act of marking the page as they read
  makes it more likely that students will read
  closely and attentively.

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Self-Reflection Partner Discussion

• What was the most valuable tool that you learned
  today?
• What could we have done better to help you learn
  today?
• How can the tools you learned today be used in
  your grade level and classroom?

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Sources

• Metacognitive Reading Awareness Survey Teaching
  Reading in Social Studies by Jane K. Doty,
  Gregory N. Cameron, and Mary Lee Barton, McREL,
  Aurora, CO 2003.
• The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English, The
  College Board
• Tools for Teaching the Block, Roberta L. Senjost
• Magic Squares Student Activity, Nicole Lemme