Schoenback, Greenleaf, Cziko, & Hurwitz, 1999
"When you read," she says, " there should be a little voice in your head like a storyteller is saying it. If it's not there, then you're just lookin' at the words." LaKeisha, 9th grader after one year in required Academic Literacy course. Pg.xv
This book is written by four educators who are involved in a professional development project called Strategic Literacy Initiative, http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/pj/179, developed in San Francisco. It was written to train and assist teachers in improving students' reading abilities through reading apprenticeship. This method is appropriate not just for English classes but for content area classrooms as well. It was written ten years after Gee's article, but the Initiative continues today, and presents a model of apprenticeship teaching that I found to reference back to Gee's theory of Discourse.
Part One: Confronting the Problem of Middle and High School Reading
Studies referenced by Schoenback, Greenleaf, Cziko, & Hurwitz indicate that there is a "quiet crisis" in reading ability of adolescent students. These students are capable of reading at a basic level and are able to decode words but are lacking in skills necessary to gain comprehension of the text that they are reading. When this happens the students reach a "literacy ceiling" which limits what the teacher will be able to accomplish in the classroom with the student. It also limits what achievements the student will attain in the classroom and in life.
As the quote by LaKeisha above shows us, when the students are taught the skills necessary to comprehend text through a master/apprentice relationship with the teacher they are able to use metacognition to continue to advance their reading skills when reading individually. Students are concerned about their abilities as well. Some give up hope, and others develop strategies to prevent their lack of reading skills from being exposed. These may include acting out to distract the class, attempting invisibility or just pretending they don't care about it. It seems to be an example of Gee's "mushfake Discourse" or Pretending.
The research shows that it is not too late to improve reading ability at the middle school or high school levels. It just needs to be done through apprenticeship, not by sending remedial readers back to learning how to decode words. They need to learn skills in comprehension strategies, not just sounding out the words. These strategies are something all teachers used when they went through college, but they may not have thought about their thinking (metacognition) and sharing these strategies with their students. These untapped resources from teachers a huge resource for assisting students. Teachers need to work together to help each other discover the ways they find meaning in a text, so they can share it with their apprentice readers.
Students have resources as well, if they are recognized. Adolescence is a time when they are trying on new identities and is a great time for encouraging them to try on new reader identities, and giving them the power to control an option for what their lives could be like in the future. Inviting the students to share in a collaborative inquiry into the reading process is one way to avoid placing students into a situation which might possibly be humiliating. When the class rewards skill in finding confusing texts and incomprehensible areas, the students can assist in finding where the groups' skills are lacking.
The master/apprentice teaching style was adopted in a required class for all 9th graders at a San Francisco High School in 1996. Reading comprehension rose approx. 2 grade levels within the school year, and were consistent across ethnic groups and multiple teachers. The follow-up studies showed that gains continued to be accelerated a year later, and students related they were using the strategies in other classes and outside school. Using the reader apprenticeship program in subject area classes was also successful.
So why is it that over 10 years later we don't see more apprenticeship reading programs in our local schools? Some teachers have given up expecting independent reading or even any reading from their students and have found strategies to teach the content matter without books. This becomes a self-perpetuating practice as the students never learn the skills to self-initiate learning from curriculum. Without this skill, they may not be able to read "gatekeeper texts" such as SAT exams, college & job applications, directions for applying for student loans or mortgages. As Gee explains, gatekeeper texts block social gains to those who don't show mastery of a Discourse.
Next- the Reading Apprenticeship Framework
WOW! Your last paragraph reminds me of a math teacher I had in high school who told the student sitting next to me "ahh you'll never learn how to add or subtract much less do fractions just use a calculator from this point on." YIKES...I'll never forget that. I was so interested in this book and I most got it because I want to know what happens to students once they leave elementary school and they still cannot read. I am an elementary teacher so I did't pick it up, I sure will be following your blog though! I wonder why schools are so set in their ways and just won't change even when things are not working?
ReplyDeleteHi Anna,
ReplyDeleteI thought that was a wonderful post about your book. The passage about the "literacy ceiling" is familiar to me. I have always loved reading, but I have seen many middle/high school students who seem to be at this ceiling. I have seen something similar in the high school art classroom where the learners may see a piece of art, say how and by whom it was made but are not able to make any connection beyond that with the piece. More disturbingly, I see them do it with their own art. It is something that goes beyond just not being interested in making art, but I'm not sure what "that something" is...
Wow Anna your post is so moving. You took the same type of material thta I have been reading and presented back to our class in a way that is "real". You also were able to better introduce Gee's material in a applicaible way. Anna you are certainly going to be an asset as an educator. You are proving to be an asset in the class. Thanks Anna
ReplyDeleteI am reading the same book. This will be great to be able to talk about what we are learning. I would like to try this approach in my class in a year or so.
ReplyDeleteI find it very challenging to work with a fourth grader who isn't able to read. I can't imagine working with middle- or high-schoolers who can't read! I made a connection to my own experience while reading your last paragraph. Whenever I needed to assemble or make something, I always preferred having someone show me how over trying to read the instructions. Amazingly enough, one day I realized all I needed to understand assembly instructions was good reading comprehension! A high-schooler who is "given the content matter" doesn't have the skills for doing something as simple as following assembly instructions.
ReplyDeleteAs you read, I'd love to hear how you might apply what these folks are saying about reading text to reading visual art. It seems like there might be a cross over.
ReplyDeleteExcellent Blog. I admire the works of Greenleaf. I like the part about reading and decoding verse true comprehension. I feel the more oral language we give students in grades K-3, the stronger their comprehension skills will be as they get older. This continues to relate to Gee's theory about mastery. Some teachers are too excited because children are reading words rather than checking for understanding, some look for how many words they can read per minute. I would like to read this book also. I can't wait to read your next writing.
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