Support literacy school wide through explicit reading and metacognition instruction. Picking up a textbook, assignment, or class notes, often shows a text covered in marks, highlights, and annotation. Marking textbooks enhances comprehension, increases concentration, and supports review of material (Nist & Kirby, 1986). Additionally, it reduces effort when it comes time to study and review material (Blanchard & Mikkleson, 1987). Many students do not instinctually know how or what to mark in a text which is why as school that supports WICOR school wide, we need to explicitly teach students how to mark the text.
On the surface it may appear to be scripted procedure used across the school, but I argue that after three years of disruptions caused the COVID-19 pandemic, routines and procedures are a welcome comfort for teachers and students. Starting the school year with routines and procedures. Establishing routines and procedures at the middle school level is a trauma informed practice that is needed following the COVID-19 pandemic (Crosby et al., 2020). Most importantly it allows teachers to model metacognition and show students the strategies used by effective readers. Strategies to teach metacognition while reading have positive effects on reading comprehension (Ahmadi et al., 2021; Boulware-Gooden et al., 2007; Fesel et al., 2016; Salmerón & Llorens, 2019). Metacognition is connected to our work to become culturally responsive educators who "coach students to develop internal cognitive routines for processing new content" (Hammond, 2021, p. 8). The outline below of Journey's marking the text strategy follows AVID's Critical Reading Process of Activating, Engaging and Extending; as well Hammond's (2014) three stages of information processing: input, elaboration, and application. Throughout each step teachers guide students and model the metacognition needed to go through each step. The direct and explicit instruction is designed to be a scaffold which is gradually removed over time so students are supported to become independent critical readers and thinkers. The # in #CUBA stands for numbering the paragraphs. Numbering the paragraphs supports students to use organizational structures to help facilitate discussions later on by making the parts of the text faster to reference. Next the C in #CUBA stands for circling important words, main ideas, headings, and titles. This in combination with numbering the paragraphs can be used as a pre-reading strategy. As students skim the text looking to titles and headings to circle they should be cued to make predictions and access any prior knowledge they have on the topic. Then the U in #CUBA stands for underline key details. As an ELA teacher, I am constantly providing students with practices with distinguishing between main ideas and key details. This distinction is needed in all classes where students read to learn, and requires modeling and practices. Once students begin reading, teachers can model circling important words and underlining key details as a way to dig into the language of the text, this is called the engaging phase of AVID's Critical Reading Process. Hammond (2014) describes this as the input stage where the brain filters information according to perceived importance. Using #CUBA teachers guide students to notice important ideas and mark them on the page through circling, then support those ideas with key details to be underlined. The B in #CUBA stands for bracketing unfamiliar words. While much of middle school reading is reading to learn, students are still learning to read. Being explicit about what to do when encountering unknown or less familiar words is part of how we support students to use context clues, access reference materials, and engage in meaning making. Finally, the A in #CUBA stands for adding information (with arrows). I find this part of marking the text provides a great opportunity to model how to connect thinking and wonder. As an experienced reader it is part of my cognitive routines to think about what I'm reading and how that connects to other texts, my own experience or things from the world, but that skill took years to develop. Strong readers make inferences and connect to background knowledge (Yeari & Lantin, 2021). AVID calls this extending beyond the text. Being explicit with students about how to make connections allows for them to make these practices automatic as well. Hammond (2014) calls this elaboration as the brain “makes material memorable and meaningful” (p. 125). With a well marked paper students are ready to engage in the Hammond's (2014) application stage where the brain creates and reinforces neural pathways each time information is reviewed or a skill practiced. From a lens of AVID and WICOR a well marked paper is a tool for discussion, reflective writing, and other applications of learning. Ahmadi, M. R., Ismail, H. N., & Abdullah, M. K. K. (2013). The Importance of Metacognitive Reading Strategy Awareness in Reading Comprehension. English Language Teaching, 6(10), 235-244. Blanchard, J., & Mikkelson, V. (1987). Underlining performance outcomes in expository text. The Journal of Educational Research, 80(4), 197-201. Boulware-Gooden, R., Carreker, S., Thornhill, A., & Joshi, R. M. (2007). Instruction of metacognitive strategies enhances reading comprehension and vocabulary achievement of third-grade students. The reading teacher, 61(1), 70-77. Fesel, S. S., Segers, E., de Leeuw, L., & Verhoeven, L. (2016). Strategy training and mind-mapping facilitates children’s hypertext comprehension. Written Language & Literacy, 19(2), 131-156. Hammond, Z. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin Press. Hammond, Z. (2021). Liberatory Education: Integrating the Science of Learning and Culturally Responsive Practice. American Educator, 45(2), 4. Nist, S. L., & Hogrebe, M. C. (1987). The role of underlining and annotating in remembering textual information. Literacy Research and Instruction, 27(1), 12-25. Salmerón, L., & Llorens, A. (2019). Instruction of digital reading strategies based on eye-movements modeling examples. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(2), 343-359. Yeari, M., & Lantin, S. (2021). The origin of centrality deficit in text memory and comprehension by poor comprehenders: a think-aloud study. Reading and Writing, 34(3), 595-625.
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AuthorAmanda Vogel has been teaching since 2007. With a background in special education and literacy instruction, I have been teaching in AVID schools for my entire career. I have seen first hand the powerful impact that AVID can have both on student in the elective class but also in supporting school wide improvements that works for all students. I am by no means an expert, but I hope that by sharing the experiences at our school we can build a community together. Archives
February 2023
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