Supported Literacy for Adolescents: Transforming Teaching and Content Learning for the Twenty-First Century

226 Pages·2008·2.2 MB·English

by  Catherine Cobb Morocco

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ffirs.indd i 5/9/08 2:57:52 PM
SUPPORTED
LITERACY FOR
ADOLESCENTS
Transforming Teaching
and Content L earning for
the Twenty-First C entury
CATHERINE COBB MOROCCO
CYNTHIA MATA AGUILAR
CAROL BERSHAD
ANDREA WINOKUR KOTULA
ALISA HINDIN
CO-PUBLISHED WITH THE
EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT

CENTER, INC.
ffirs.indd iii 5/9/08 2:57:56 PM
Copyright © 2008 by Education Development Center All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.
Supported literacy for adolescents : transforming teaching and content learning for the
twenty-fi rst century / Catherine Cobb Morocco . . . [et al.].
p. cm. — (Jossey-Bass teacher)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-22269-0 (pbk.)
1. Literacy—United States. 2. Teenagers—Education—United States. 3. Curriculum
planning—United States. I. Morocco, Catherine Cobb.
LC151.S86 2008
302.2'244—dc22
2008018497
Printed in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION
PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Preface vii
The Authors ix
The Contributors xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Education Development Center xv
Chapter One: A New Vision of Adolescent Literacy 1
Chapter Two: Inside the Supported Literacy Framework 23
Chapter Three: Using the Framework to Teach Content:
A Science Unit 48
Chapter Four: Teaching Writing to Understand Text:
A Fiction Unit 87
Chapter Five: Meaning Making with Special Education
Students 116
Alisa Hindin
Chapter Six: Responding to Adolescent Reading Diffi culties 131
Andrea Winokur Kotula
Chapter Seven: Engaging the Whole School in Supported
Literacy 152
Key Terms 179
Appendix A: Lesson Unit for “Understanding Climate Change” 181
Appendix B: Lesson Unit for “How Far Would You Go to Fit In?” 185
v
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vi
Contents
Appendix C: Reading Assessment: Sample Diagnostic Tests 191
Appendix D: A Schoolwide Approach to Reading Diffi culties 193
Appendix E: Digital and Multimedia Tools for Content Inquiry 199
References 202
Index 209
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PREFACE
In writing this book, our author group held many conversations about what the future
holds for the adolescents of today and how we can best prepare them to live and
work in a global society. Our young people are using ‘phones, computers, and iPods
to network across the country with each other; they link to sports, music, and infor-
mation in ways that we could not have imagined for ourselves as adolescents. They
understand that a tsunami thousands of miles away may show up as waves lapping
our own shores.
We asked ourselves, “ What does a fi fteen - or eighteen - year - old need to know and
be able to do in a volatile and changing world? What does it mean to be a ‘ literate ’
young person? What ways of using literacy are important for these times?”
This book is our attempt to answer these questions. The fi rst two chapters pres-
ent a teaching framework that identifi es the competencies that all adolescents need
in a global world and the specifi c literacy tools that adolescents can use to develop
those competencies. Many twenty- fi rst - century learning reports have outlined the
competencies that a global society requires of students. These reports emphasize
that the ability to manage information and understand complex issues will be prized
in the workplace. They argue that inquiry is rigorous when students are engaging in
competencies that include conceptual understanding, critical thinking, creative think-
ing, and collaboration and communication with culturally diverse peers. In most
of the rest of the chapters, the book brings these competencies into the classroom
and links them with a set of “ multiliteracy tools ” that students need to develop and
engage in these competencies. Reading to understand, writing to think, accountable
talk, and digital and media fl uency provide the students the means by which to hone
their twenty - fi rst - century competencies in all the content areas they encounter.
The book brings together the content area competencies and literacy tools in les-
sons and curriculum units organized around some of the most compelling questions
of our times. In the science classroom, students use digital and multimedia images to
ask “What is the evidence of climate change in our country and across the world?”
They use writing, drawing, and peer discussion to investigate what our human role
is in global warming. In history and literature class, they engage in peer discussion
of historical texts and a memoir of a Japanese family after World War II, asking what
impact war has on families and what countries and families themselves do to sur-
vive war. In their English class, they follow the development of a character who is
struggling to fi t into her peer group and also hold on to her self - respect. They write
and support their interpretations about the characters in persuasive essays. And in
the social studies class, they read articles, pose questions, and create podcasts about
vii
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viii
Preface
immigration to explore the questions of why people leave one country for another
and how immigration affects communities.
The book shows teachers engaging their students in these big twenty- fi rst -
century questions as critical inquiries that involve thinking about the causes of con-
fl ict for individuals and families. Within the Supported Literacy framework, critical
inquiries involve all students, including those with disabilities, struggling readers,
and English language learners, in using their minds actively. Students fi nd personal
connections to the questions. (For example, What is my family ’ s own immigration
history? What is the carbon footprint of my school?) Critical inquiry is active and
goes beyond simply gathering inert information. It links personal development with
social critique and action.
But what about the sixth- or ninth - grade reader who still struggles to make sense
of the written word? In addition to addressing the needs of typically developing learn-
ers, the Supported Literacy Intensive component addresses the needs of these strug-
gling readers. And the book shows how a special education teacher, whose students
have moderate cognitive diffi culties, teaches her students the reading and peer col-
laboration skills they need to compare and contrast characters in a novel. This book
takes the stand that all teachers in a school need to be connected and to work toward
supporting all their students.
At a time when teachers are pulled in many directions and schools are seek-
ing to provide professional development, Supported Literacy provides an accessible
resource. This book includes classroom snapshots that capture the creative decision -
making processes teachers use in developing their lessons. You can hear the voices
of many teachers and students across different content domains and grade levels as
they engage in a series of lessons from an extended curriculum unit. The book pro-
vides examples of curriculum units that can structure learning in a whole content
area, building twenty- fi rst - century competencies through a coherent and connected
set of lessons.
Over the past decade, we authors developed the Supported Literacy framework
through a series of collaborations between our organization, Education Development
Center, Inc., in Newton, Massachusetts, and teams of teachers and administra-
tors in Massachusetts and New York State and in the Southern states of Arkansas,
Mississippi, and Louisiana. We supported these teams in working as learning com-
munities to refi ne ideas, to use the framework to design sample curriculum units, and
to develop new ways of integrating twenty- fi rst - century competencies and literacy
tools into content teaching. These teachers are the heart of the story; we hope they
inspire you as they use the Supported Literacy framework to take their students into
the twenty- fi rst century.
Catherine Cobb Morocco and Cynthia Mata Aguilar
Newton, Massachusetts
March 2008
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THE AUTHORS
Catherine Cobb Morocco is senior scientist and associate director at Education
Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts. Her work focuses on
improving students’ writing, comprehension, and discourse skills and teachers’
instructional expertise in literacy. As principal investigator of the REACH Institute
(a fi ve - year program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Offi ce of Special
Education Programs, she coordinated the work of three university partners to design
instructional materials for content area classrooms, and oversaw the development of
a schoolwide literacy approach — Supported Literacy ™ — for the language arts class-
room. Through additional grants, she and her colleagues expanded the classroom
component of Supported Literacy to a tutorial model to provide additional tutoring
for adolescents lacking foundation reading skills of phonemic awareness, decoding,
word identifi cation, and comprehension skills. She has also directed or served as prin-
cipal investigator for a series of studies of middle schools and high schools that have
strong participation and positive results for their students with disabilities. She was
fi rst author of a recent a book, Visionary Middle Schools: Signature Practices and the
Power of Local Innovation Disabilities, with colleagues Cynthia Aguilar and Nancy
Brigham, and also produced a special journal issue, “ Good High Schools for Students
with Disabilities.” She has published in numerous scholarly journals and regularly
presents at national conferences. She received her doctorate in language and literature
from Harvard University.
Cynthia Mata Aguilar is a senior project director and adolescent literacy spe-
cialist at EDC. Her expertise includes adolescent literacy, special education and
inclusive practices, school reform in the middle and high school, and diversity,
multicultural, and anti - racism training. She is the author of several research articles
and publications, including V isionary Middle Schools: Signature Practices and the
Power of Local Invention. The August 2006 issue of L earning Disabilities: Research
& Practice features “ Good High Schools for Students with Disabilities, ” another of
Aguilar’ s projects. Currently, she is adolescent literacy team leader for the New York
and New England Comprehensive Centers, federally funded technical assistance cen-
ters that support states’ efforts to raise the academic achievement of secondary school
students and meet the goals of No Child Left Behind. Her experience as a teacher,
union president, researcher, and professional development specialist informs her
work. She is the co - writer for several Supported Literacy curriculum units including
“ How Far Would You Go to Fit In? ”
Carol Bershad brings more than twenty- fi ve years of experience in develop-
ing curricula, books, simulations, and online courses in science, literacy, health,
ix
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x
The Authors
leadership, and school change, as well as designing and conducting professional
development for educators. Carol was a co - writer for the Supported Literacy cur-
riculum unit titled “ How Far Would You Go to Fit In? ” and designed and conducted
Supported Literacy professional development for teachers and coaches. Carol has
also written other middle school curricula integrating literacy and life skills, includ-
ing a literacy - based module titled “ Taking Action to Stop Bullying. ” Bershad has
co - written books on nutrition and fi tness for children, including Bodyworks (Random
House). She also wrote an online teacher course for the WGBH public broadcasting
station’s series titled Evolution ( www.pbs.org/evolution ). In addition, Carol has been
a consultant for systemic school change, conducting national workshops and presenta-
tions for educators using the simulation she co- developed, Systems Thinking/Systems
Changing ™ . She is currently completing two other simulations, one on leadership and
academic achievement and the other on professional development design for science,
“ Building Systems for Quality Teaching and Learning in Science,” funded by the
National Science Foundation. Bershad earned her M.S. in biology from the University
of Michigan and has eight years of classroom experience teaching biology in the
Newton Public Schools, Newton, Massachusetts.
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THE CONTRIBUTORS
Andrea Winokur Kotula is a project director and literacy specialist at EDC. She is
completing a study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Offi ce of Special
Education Programs, to develop a model of intensive differentiated reading instruc-
tion for the lowest quarter of readers at an urban middle school. This model has
become a part of the Supported Literacy framework. She works with EDC’s technical
assistance team in the New York Comprehensive Center to provide assistance to New
York City and New York State literacy leaders and professional development to lit-
eracy coaches and leadership teams on implementing scientifi cally based reading
research. Kotula’s special expertise is the diagnosis and correction of reading dif-
fi culties. Prior to coming to EDC, she was the director of reading and educational
resources at the Franciscan Hospital for Children, where she trained and supervised
staff who conducted educational evaluations as part of multidisciplinary teams. She
has teaching experience at the elementary level, as a reading specialist, and at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. She earned a doctorate in reading, language,
and learning disabilities at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she was a
research assistant to Jeanne S. Chall, a world-renowned expert on reading instruction,
reading disability, and readability. She has been the president of the International
Reading Association’s Special Interest Group on Readability since 1997 and fre-
quently presents at national conferences.
Alisa Hindin is an assistant professor of educational studies at Seton Hall University
(New Jersey), where she teaches courses in literacy and teacher education. Her research
interests include literacy instruction, teacher preparation in literacy, and family liter-
acy. She was a research associate for the REACH Institute at Education Development
Center, Inc. (EDC), where she played a major role in the development and fi eld test-
ing of Supported Literacy, providing professional development support to teachers in the
project, and writing and publishing journal articles related to the work. Her most recent
journal publications are forthcoming in the Journal of Literacy Research and Teachers
and Teaching: Theory and Practice. Her doctorate is from Boston University.
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