Professional Development in Content Area Reading for Students with

DisabilitiesGeorgette Lee

Marie Tejero HughesMichelle Parker-Katz

The Collaborative Teacher Network (CTN)

• The federally-funded network is supported by the US Department of Education through a grant provided by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

• Developed by Drs. Marie Tejero Hughes and Michelle Parker-Katz with the support of many other individuals from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago Public Schools

Goals of the Collaborative Teacher Network

• Enhance middle school content area reading instruction

• Improve the achievement of students with disabilities

• Develop collaborative relationships with general and special education teachers

Collaborative Teacher Network Model

Online ResourcesOnline Resources

Collaborative Teacher Network

Special EducatorsGeneral Educators

Special Educators PartnersAnalyze Students’Literacy Artifacts

Collaboration between Special

and General Education Teachers

Collaboration between Special

and General Education Teachers

Classroom Action

Research Inquiry

Classroom Action

Research Inquiry

Online Networkand DiscussionsOnline Network

and DiscussionsMonthly SessionsMonthly

Sessions

•Domain 1: Word Knowledge and Vocabulary Development•Domain 2: Pre-reading Strategic Knowledge and Skills•Domain 3: During- and Post-reading Strategic Knowledge and Skills•Domain 4: Assessment and Modification of Literacy Resources

Instructional Domains

Domains 1 and 2Word Knowledge and Vocabulary Development• Importance of Content Area Reading• Vocabulary in the Content Areas• Vocabulary Strategies• Breaking Down WordsPre-reading Strategic Knowledge and Skills• Overview of Pre-reading Strategies• Expository Text Structures• Examining Graphic Content• Preparing to Read Expository Text

Word Understanding is Context Specific

•Word understanding goes beyond the dictionary meaning

•Word meaning changes in different contexts

Consider the meaning of these words:BurnDriverMouse

Importance of Teaching Vocabulary Strategies

Teaching vocabulary…•Helps students connect new words to their existing knowledge and experience.

•Facilitates students’ appreciation of word knowledge across multiple contexts.

•Increases students’ word knowledge to enhance their reading comprehension and academic success.

Incorporating Vocabulary Strategies

• Context, Content, Experience

• Categories & Labels• List-Group-Label• Semantic Feature

Analysis• Concept Circles

• Visual-Verbal Word Association• Personal Definitions• Analysis Map• Frayer Model• Magnet Summary• Target Word

Strategies are “specific, learned procedures that foster active, competent, self-regulated, and intentional reading”. (p. 177, Trabasso & Bouchard, 2002).

List-Group-Label

LIST-GROUP-LABEL: List students’ associations about a topic/concept on the board; Students work in small groups to create subgroups of the listed words; Each subgroup should have three or more words, and a word may fit in more than one subgroup; Students give their subgroups a label that shows how the words are related.

NOW TRY IT! struggle, conversation, hearing,wrist, powerful, volume,press, sound, batteries,blood, doctor, button,monitor, read, warm

Importance of Pre-reading Strategies

Pre-reading Strategies…•Motivate and set purpose for reading•Activate and build background Knowledge•Build text-specific knowledge•Relate reading to students’ lives•Preteach vocabulary and concepts•Provide opportunities for questioning and predicting

Activating Prior KnowledgeThink-Pair-Share• Create an open-ended

prompt that connects to students’ lives or prior learning

• Individually, students think about the prompt

• Working in pairs, students share their thoughts, then share with class

Quickwrites• Provide a prompt about

the reading that connects to students’ prior knowledge or experience

• Students write independently for 1-3 minutes

• Students share with class or peers

Domains 3 and 4

During- and Post-Reading Strategic Knowledge and Skills

• Questioning and graphic Organizers• Interactive Reading• Independent Learning Strategies• Connections to WritingAssessment and Modification of Literacy Resources• Differentiated Instruction

Writing to Learn

Content area teachers can use writing to:Promote ThinkingFacilitate DiscussionEnhance ConceptsAssess UnderstandingPromote Reflection(Graham & Harris, 2006)

Integrating Writing While ReadingRAP- Read a paragraph or chapterAsk yourself, “What is the main idea?” and “What are

the supporting details?”Put the main idea and supporting details into your

own wordsPARAGRAPH SHRINKING1. Name the Who or What the selection is about2. Tell the most important thing about the Who or

What3. State the main idea in ten words or fewer

Literacy Artifacts

•Teachers demonstrate their classroom work by bringing in student literacy artifacts•Through discussion, they share and exchange ideas for improving their classroom practice

Key Principles of Differentiation

• Maintain Focus on students to find multiple ways for them to get the “ah-ha”.

• Find many ways for every student to participate.

• Find different ways to question students to help them to be curious and analyze ideas.

•Improvement in teacher attitude and that of their students, toward content area teaching and

learning.•Improved collaborative relationships between

participating general and special educators, especially related to making adaptations for their

students. •Teachers learned about using their students’ work to inform their instructional practices.•Students showed gains in their content area reading based on on-going observations and

classroom assessments.

Initial Outcomes

Collaborative Teacher Network (CTN)Marie Tejero Hughes: marieth@uic.eduMichelle Parker-Katz: mparker@uic.edu

Georgette Lee: glee24@uic.edu