Reading History A Practical Guide to Improving Literacy

by Allen, Janet; Landaker, Christine

• ISBN13: 9780195165968
• ISBN10: 0195165969
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Having trouble interesting your students in history or the historytextbook? Concerned about the ability of your students to actually read thetextbook? Learn ways to tie reading strategies to the learning of history andsources that will help history come alive for your students.Nationally known literacy advocate Janet Allen discusses strategies forteaching nonfiction reading using Joy Hakim's award winning A History of USseries as the center of a blossoming campaign among educators to integrateliteracy and history. Classroom tested at a variety of grade levels, realstudent samples are interspersed throughout the book providing clearerunderstanding of the strategies in action.

Author Biography

Janet Allen is one of the most prominent and outspoken literacy advocates in the country. A former elementary school teacher and university instructor, hundreds of teachers attend her seminars each year. Her books Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 and Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading have been praised by elementary and secondary school teachers, education professors, adult literacy advocates, and ESL instructors. Dr. Allen lives in Orlando, Florida.
Christine Landaker has been teaching for the last ten years; her first nine were in urban and suburban schools in Orlando, Florida. Her first love is history and the social studies, followed closely by her love of reading and English. She has seemlessly combined the two in her classroom. Christine is currently an 8th grade English teacher at Pierce Middle School in Milton, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Introduction ``The Silver War'' and Other Challenges to Reading History	ix
Building Foundations for Reading Success	1	(28)
Pre-Reading Strategies for Assessing and Building Background Knowledge
Activating and Building Background Knowledge	2	(1)
Assessing Students' Background Knowledge	2	(1)
Creating Meaningful and Memorable Historical Contexts	3	(12)
Anticipating Content Language	15	(8)
Developing a Purpose for Reading	23	(6)
Providing Ongoing Support	29	(34)
Supporting and Monitoring Comprehension during Reading
Meaning Maker: Conversation, Connections, and Commitment	32	(1)
Questions Game	33	(3)
ReQuest	36	(2)
Code Breaker: Learning How to Learn Specialized Language	38	(1)
Content Language Awareness	38	(2)
Exclusion Brainstorming	40	(2)
Teaching Specialized Vocabulary Words	42	(3)
Strategies for Learning New and Unknown Words	45	(1)
Text User: Examining and Managing Text Types	46	(2)
Expository Texts	48	(9)
Functional Texts	57	(1)
Narrative Texts	57	(4)
Connecting Solid Foundations and Comprehension	61	(2)
Making Learning Meaningful	63	(28)
Extending and Transferring Knowledge after Reading
The So-What Factor: Remembering Important Ideas	64	(1)
Outlines/Story Maps	65	(1)
Mapping/Webbing	66	(1)
R.E.A.P.	66	(3)
Understanding Point of View and Multiple Perspectives	69	(2)
Multiple Sources: Multiple Perspectives	71	(3)
Owning and Translating History	74	(1)
Alphabet Books	75	(1)
RAFT	75	(3)
SPAWN	78	(2)
Timelines	80	(6)
Transfer of Knowledge to Testing	86	(1)
Environments That Support Extending and Transferring Content Knowledge	87	(4)
Best Practice in Reading History	91	(58)
Highlighting ``Best Practice''	92	(5)
Appendices
Appendix A Graphic Organizers to Support Instruction	97	(18)
Appendix B Professional Resources for Reading History	115	(6)
Appendix C Resources for Reading History	121	(8)
Appendix D Text Sets that Support Theme-Based Units in History	129	(14)
Appendix E Web Sites to Support Reading History	143	(6)
References	149	(6)
Index	155