7.1 Point of View Reading Guide

When and Where Did I Find It:  I found this term in the Wood (1988) article that was an optional reading for our LTED 625 class readings.

Full citation:  Wood, K. D. (1988).  Guiding students through informational texts.  The Reading Teacher, 41(9), 912-920.

What it means:  This is a specific type of reading guide, designed and assigned by the teacher to aid students reading comprehension both during reading and after reading.  As Wood (1988) describes, 

The point of view reading guide uses questions in an interview format to allow students to experience events from alternative perspectives. Instead of just reading about a particular character, students actually become that individual...The interview questions elicit both text based and reader based contributions from the reader.  Because readers must essentially assume the schemata or more simply "get inside the head" of the character, their comprehension and subsequent recall are positively affected.  (Wood, p. 913)    

Level of Familiarity: I have a fairly well-developed understanding of this instructional strategy, although I rarely use it myself.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes. I guess what I want is to remember this type of guide.   I often consider creating anticipation guides, interactive guides, or QtA guides when designing instructional activities for my students, but I often forget about this particular type of guide Wood suggests. 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think this is certainly another type of instructional strategy I want my LTED 625 students to know exists, but whether or not they need to know it well is highly dependent upon what their specific content literacy instructional goals are as well as who their students are.  They might find it a useful type of instructional strategy to include as a part of their Multigenre Project?    

6.2 Classroom Workshop

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a  an instructional strategy which is discussed throughout Chapter 8 in our LTED 625 text, Content Area Writing Instruction. 
Full citation Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing:  Every teacher's guide.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: The authors describe a classroom (writing) workshop as including the following:    

•  Building engagement (teacher takes time to introduce project, build student interest, and create purpose for their writing)
• Choice (students have the opportunity to make choices for the focus of their efforts)
• Individual Goal Setting (students set some of their own goals for learning the subject matter and developing their writing)
•  Students Working Independently in the Classroom (the teacher allows time for writing in class)
• Brief, Focused Teaching (teacher uses brief, focused, mini-lessons)
• Modeling (teacher helps students understand the task by demonstrating how its done)
• Teacher-student Conferences and Observations
• Conference Records
• Writing Folders
• Sharing the Results (Students have an immediate, real audience for their writing so that it contributes to everyone's learning)  

 (Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke, 2007, pp. 195-196).  

Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this concept; although I find what I need to do to set up the rules and routines for workshop changes with every class. 

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I think knowing what a workshop is as well as how to foster a workshop in any classroom learning experience is essential to a teacher educator's professional reportoire. As Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke suggest, it is through a workshop that " a teacher can individualize instruction so you can help, explain or teach a lesson to just the students who need it.  Just when their issues is on their minds."  (p. 188). 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   Actually, it is my expectation that the students of LTED 625 will learn this concept fully through actively participating in a LTED 625 Classroom Workshop.

6.1 Write-Aloud

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a label for an instructional strategy which is discussed in Chapter 6 (p. 123) of our LTED 625 text, Content Area Writing Instruction. 
Full citation Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007).  Content-area writing:  Every teacher's guide.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: The authors describe a write-aloud as an instructional strategy in which the teacher "models the writing task by talking your thoughts aloud as you project your draft for students to see."( Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke, 2007, p. 123).  

Level of Familiarity: I am familiar type of instructional strategy; although in my professional training it was simply called modeling or a writing mini-lesson. 

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, not only do I want to know this word well, I want to be able to use this strategy in my own practices. As Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke suggest, " modeling a writing task aloud....not only show the kind of thinking and organizing and explaining that smark writers use but also allows you to lead the way in taking some risks, yourself, just as you are asking the students to do." (p. 123). 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I would hope my teacher of literacy would recognize the value in knowing how to use "think alouds" and "modeling" when teaching both writing and reading across the content areas.  

5.2 Proficient or Expert Learners

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is another term I introduced to my LTED 625 students on the first night of class through the Content Interest Inventory.   The term is found in the same discussion in their Handbook of Reading Research (vol. 3.) in Chapter 19, that I noted in my 5.1 post for this blog.
Full citation Alexander, P.A. & Jetton, T.L. (2000).  Learning from text:  A multidimensional and developmental perspective.  In M.L.Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R.Barr, (Eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (vol.3, pp. 285-310).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

What it means: To be an expert or proficient as a learner through reading requires one to "acquire a unique combination of extensive subject-matter knowledge, strategic sophistication, and deep personal interest in the domain and the topic." The authors  think it is important to also note that "Alexander argued that few who set out on the road toward expertise ever achieve this laudable end, because the demands on knowledge, strategic ability, and motivation are so great." (as cited in Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 301).  

Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this "Developmental View" of learners (specifically how to describer those who are learning from texts) and with the terms, acclimated, competent and proficient/expertise.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think this descriptor (along with the other two developmental levels) are helpful to know because it allows me to plan instruction in more appropriate ways.  In fact, this entire Developmental Continuum is essential to my work as a professor of Literacy Education.   It is because I (and all of the faculty who work in the Literacy Program) want our students to become LITERACY EXPERTS -- LITERACY SPECIALISTS, that I designed this Content Area Literacy Multigenre Assignment. This assignment is designed in such a way to allow students the "choice" "autonomy" and learning outcomes designed to stimulate creativity or higher level processing" that Alexander and Jetton describe.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think these terms are useful for my students to know -- both as learners and as teachers.  Knowing these different levels gives them more careful and critical descriptions to self-analyze their own background knowledge and level of preparedness.  At the same time, they can better describe their own students' progress

5.1 Acclimated Learners

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is a term I introduced to my LTED 625 students on the first night of class through the Content Interest Inventory.   The term is found in their Handbook of Reading Research (vol. 3.) in Chapter 19, which I asked them to survey, scan and note this week as part of their reading.  (I include the actual sentence where I found the word in the next section of this post.)  
Full citation Alexander, P.A. & Jetton, T.L. (2000).  Learning from text:  A multidimensional and developmental perspective.  In M.L.Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R.Barr, (Eds.) Handbook of Reading Research (vol.3, pp. 285-310).  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

What it means: The term was defined by "Alexander (1997b) [who] chose the label acclimated for the first stage in students' academic development to emphasize the orientation and adaptation characteristic of this period....Because background knowledge is an essential variable in what and how readers learn, acclimated learners are disadvantaged in their initial attempts to make sense of domain-related texts.  ...Further because acclimated students have little principled knowledge, they are unlikely to have any deep-seated interest in the content of the text (Garner et al, 1991).  (as cited in Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 299).  


Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with this "Developmental View" of learners (specifically how to describer those who are learning from texts) and with the terms, acclimated, competent and proficient/expertise.

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think this descriptor (along with the other two developmental levels) are helpful to know because it allows me to plan instruction in more appropriate ways.  For example, the types of instructional activities I plan for 625 class are designed for COMPETENT LEARNERS at times -- when exploring literacy concepts in general and at other times for ACCLIMATED LEARNERS -- when introducing more content area literacy specific concepts.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I think these terms are useful for my students to know -- both as learners and as teachers.  Knowing these different levels gives them more careful and critical descriptions to self-analyze their own background knowledge and level of preparedness.  At the same time, they can better describe their own students' progress.

4.2 Conditionalized

When and Where Did I Find It:   This is one of the key terms I asked LTED 625 students to revisit as a part of the Jigsaw Activity during Session 4.  The word is found in the Fisher and Frey (2009) chapter I had students read.   The authors introduce this term as part of a quote from "the National Research Council's (2000, p. 11) report How People Learn:  Brain, Mind, Experience and School" (Fisher & Frey, 2009, p. 3).  They quote the following passage: 
"The new science of learning does not deny that facts are important for thinking and problem solving....However , the research also shows clearly that "usable knowledge" is not the same as a mere list of facts.  Experts' knowledge is connected and organized around important concepts (e.g., Newton's second law of motion); it is "conditionalized" to specify the context in which it is applicable; it supports understanding and transfer (to other contexts) rather than only the ability to remember. (National Research Council, 2000, p. 11 as cited in Fisher & Frey, p. 3).  
Full citation Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2009).  Background knowledge:  The missing piece of the comprehension puzzle.   Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.  

What it means: The term is partially defined in the sentence cited above.  "conditionalize refers to the state of being able to specify the context in which something is applicable."  To further detail this discussion the authors state:   "background knowledge must be conditionalized -- that is, the learner must know where and when to apply it."  In addition, it is important to note that if a person is motivated, he is more likely to apply what he knows almost automatically." (Fisher & Frey, p. 5).



Level of Familiarity:  Honestly, even though I have spent a great deal of time over the course of my academic/professional career studying schema theory; I cannot say that this term "conditionalized" is one that I am very familiar with.   As I read this chapter I had to spend a great deal of time thinking about how this feature of background knowledge is different from the features of being organized and transferable.  


Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   
Yes, I do think this term (along with the others) are useful to have a working understanding of.   It gives me a more fuller way to conceptualize Background Knowledge 
as well as a more targeted description which I can use it with my students. 


Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I certainly think my LTED 625 students (as well as all teachers) should have a deep and principled understanding of what Background Knowledge is -- and how the three factors, including CONDITIONALIZED -- interplay as well as operate in unique ways.  

4.1 Satiate

When and Where Did I Find It:   I found this word in our Fisher and Frey (2008) text, Word Wise & Content Rich.  The authors state, "Secondary students satiate very quickly on any one vocabulary activity, so we've found it helpful to get into the mindset of offering up a few different types of peer activities each week" (p. 65).

Full citation Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2008).  Word wise & content rich:  Five essential steps to teacing academic vocabulary.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

What it means: Most people think the word simply is a synonym for "to satisfy."  But there is a subtle, yet significance, with the meaning of this word generally and specifically with the way it is used in the context of the sentence where I found it.  According to Dictionary.Com the word means "(1) to supply with anything to excess, so as to disgust or weary;(2) to satisfy to the full; sate."     

Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with this concept, but I hadn't associated it with a factor to consider in instructional planning. 
   
Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Yes, I do think it is a great word to know -- just in terms of incorporating it into my general vocabulary.   However, I also think it is a useful term to use in this more specialized way, as Fisher and Frey have.


Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I am curious to know if my LTED 625 students think this word provides a useful descriptor when considering students' level of engagement in the instructional activity at hand.   I am not sure I feel strongly that they SHOULD know this word, but I think it would be an interesting to hear their thoughts on this.   
Any of my LTED 625 readers have any opinions?