Hello colleagues, Some of you may be familiar with the text Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms by Schoenbach, Greenleaf, and Murphy. This book has transformed my approach to teaching reading in many ways. One thing I have learned from the book is to approach reading as a problem-solving activity. The authors insist that "confusion can be a powerful starting point for learning" (p. 98), and when teachers spoon feed by explaining everything, learners miss the opportunity to work through their confusion. In fact, it is through struggling with text and interacting with one another around these struggles that learners can build their reading comprehension muscles and develop a set of metacognitive strategies that can become part of their reading comprehension toolbox..
Recently Patsy Egan, one of our wonderful colleagues from Minnesota, shared a classroom video of teacher Jessica Jones teaching a reading passage to a class of intermediate English learners. In viewing this video, I saw some of the practices recommended in the Reading Apprenticeship approach. Jones definitely gives the learners time to struggle with the text both alone and together. She does not spoon feed or jump in to explain everything. Instead she supports learners to dig into the text and interact with one another to suss out the text's meaning.
My question for our community is about the value of allowing learners to struggle with a complex text.
- What are your initial thoughts about the value of the struggle?
- How can we ensure that we offer learners the opportunity to struggle but not overwhelm them?
- What kind of scaffolding supports might be needed from the teacher and how much support should we provide?
If you are interested in learning more about the Reading Apprenticeship approach, you can find many downloadable resources at the WestEd website. You can also check out the book discussion on the text Reading for Understanding that was held here in the LINCS community in 2015.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition and Teaching & Learning CoPs
Comments
I became familiar with this text while teaching reading to non and low literate learners. Although I used a reading program that was designed to cover the components of reading in a phonics based, explicit, systematic program, I was still able to incorporate some of the Reading for Understanding strategies into the lessons. I believe that it is good for students to struggle with the texts they are reading. In my classroom, I did not allow students with more experience to "feed words" to struggling students as I deemed this a disservice and disrespect of that student's ability to figure things out for themselves. Feeding words actually implies that one person does not believe that the other has the ability to think critically and use the tools taught in class. Of course, there was a limit to how long I allowed a student to struggle, in order to deter frustration.
I would model fluency while reading to the class, which aids in comprehension, in addition to "think alouds" so that the class would see my process of making sense of the text. Included in my think alouds were questions of why the author may have chosen to write in a particular style or the reasons a character may have reacted the way they did to a particular situation. I would also sit in with the students so as not to be the leader, but a fellow participant.
In my opinion, everyone has the ability to think, however, we do need to be taught how to do it so that it is done critically. In fact, I would tell my students that I used math and reading to teach critical thinking, not the other way around.
Hello Grayla, There is so much wisdom in what you wrote. I'm pleased to hear that you have implemented the strategies recommended in the Reading Apprenticeship approach which are focused on metacognition, critical thinking and allowing learners to struggle together to figure out complex text.
As you note, when the teacher "thinks aloud," we model for learners what good readers do to figure out the meaning of text. "Talking to the text" is another Reading Apprenticeship strategy, where learners make notes to ask questions about what they are reading and add personal comments about the content.
You wrote, "Of course, there was a limit to how long I allowed a student to struggle, in order to deter frustration." I'm really curious how you determined when to step in and what level of support you would provide as the teacher. I realize this would always depend on the specific student, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Members please weigh in!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition and Teaching & Learning CoPs
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your follow up question.
I had the opportunity to meet each student and administer the assessment tool of the reading program I used. This gave me the opportunity to get to know the history of students in the class. In addition, on the first day of class, I would have students write on an index card , one sentence telling me one thing about themselves that they wanted me to know. Having insight into the students strengths and weakness helped me determine the length of time I would allow them to struggle. I also considered the class as a whole. How long would I have them patiently wait as a fellow student struggled? If a fellow class member became impatient before I had determined to intervene, I would ask them how they would wish to be treated in this situation. Most answered that they would want to have the opportunity work it out for themselves. I also believe that empathy can go a long way in the adult education classroom. If a student was struggling because they were not using the strategies/ tools taught in the class, I would remind them to do so. If they were still unable to figure things out, I would ask the class as a whole to join that student in using the correct strategy depending on whether it was a decoding, fluency or comprehension issue.
I really appreciate the comments shared so far on this great topic of allowing or encouraging students to struggle with content. Thanks.
In my view, the ultimate goal of AE instruction is not to teach reading, writing, or other academic or workplace skills. It is, instead, to promote independent and lifelong learning. The practice of allowing students to struggle with reading passages, if done well, can certainly lead to independent learning, where students gain growing self confidence in the process. As with all instruction, the art, not the technique, of teaching lies in when to and how far to challenge learners, and the secret to determining that dimension is to know students. That doesn't mean individualizing instruction; rather, it means taking measured risks to allow students to fail, to encourage them to go slightly beyond their expectations of themselves, and to be aware of when to catch them before they actually fail. That's why I call good instruction an art! LeecyLeecy wrote,
"In my view, the ultimate goal of AE instruction is not to teach reading, writing, or other academic or workplace skills. It is, instead, to promote independent and lifelong learning. The practice of allowing students to struggle with reading passages, if done well, can certainly lead to independent learning, where students gain growing self confidence in the process." "As with all instruction, the art, not the technique, of teaching lies in when to and how far to challenge learners, and the secret to determining that dimension is to know students. That doesn't mean individualizing instruction; rather, it means taking measured risks to allow students to fail, to encourage them to go slightly beyond their expectations of themselves, and to be aware of when to catch them before they actually fail. That's why I call good instruction an art! "Well put, Leecy!
David J. Rosen