Comprehending Content
Historical Documents through a Strategy Lens

Subject and Grade Level
Suitable for grades 3-10, depending upon topic and text complexity

Focus of Lesson
This workshop session does not present a content lesson; instead, it presents strategies that students/teachers can utilize throughout the teaching of content in order to maximize learning. Teachers in this workshop will learn methods for scaffolding reading and vocabulary comprehension utilizing Colorado's Historic Newspapers. As teachers incorporate these strategies into their lessons, students will apply targeted strategies to the understanding of historical and cultural content. If time allows, the topic of utilizing the newspapers as mentor texts for writing will be explored.

Standards Assessed
Note: While reading standards are listed here as being assessed, the true assessment focus area(s) will be determined by the teacher in consideration of the text(s) chosen, the strategies applied, and the content knowledge for which students are responsible.

Reading, Standard 1: Students read and understand a variety of materials.
In order to meet this standard, students will:

• use comprehension skills such as previewing, predicting, inferring, comparing and contrasting, re-reading an self-monitoring, summarizing, identifying the author's purpose, determining the main idea, applying knowledge of foreshadowing, metaphor, simile, symbolism and other figures of speech.

Reading and Writing, Standard 4: Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
In order to meet this standard, students will:

• make predictions, analyze, draw conclusions, and discriminate between fact and opinion in writing, reading, speaking, listening, and viewing;
• identify the purpose, perspective, and historical and cultural influences of a speaker, author, or director.

Assessment
The assessment of lessons utilizing these strategies will depend upon the focus of the content lesson and the strategies utilized. Often the graphic or process used for the explicit teaching of comprehension/vocabulary strategies can also be the assessment for content knowledge. For instance, if a student is required to make inferences in order to understand a passage, the "and So" column in "It Says, I Say, and So" is actually the inference and can be assessed as such.

Standards Addressed
Reading, Standard 1: Students read and understand a variety of materials.
In order to meet this standard, students will:

• make connections between their reading and what they already know, and identify what they need to know about a topic before reading it;
  
• adjust reading strategies for different purposes such as reading carefully, idea by idea; skimming and scanning; fitting materials into an organizational pattern, such as reading a novel chronologically; finding information to support particular ideas; and finding the sequence of steps in a technical publication;
• use word recognition skills and resources such as phonics, context clues, picture clues, word origins, and word order clues; reference guides; roots, prefixes, and suffixes of words for comprehension; and
• Use information from their reading to increase vocabulary and enhance language usage.

History, Standard 2: Students know how to use the processes and resources of historical inquiry.

2.1: Students know how to formulate questions and hypotheses regarding what happened in the past and to obtain and analyze historical data to answer questions and test hypotheses.

History, Standard 4: Students understand how science, technology, and economic activity have developed, changed, and affected societies throughout history.

4.1: Students understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on individuals and societies.
4.2: Students understand how economic factors have influenced historical events.
4.3 Students understand the historical development and know the characteristics of various economic systems.

Time
These are tools intended to be used over an extended period of time, with teacher modeling, guided practice, and independent application as instructional approaches.

Materials/Teacher Preparation Section
These scaffolding strategies may be used with any content. Teachers need to consider carefully the purpose for reading any text and choose scaffolding strategies appropriate to the purpose. See handouts:

• Essential Elements of Reading Support
• Comprehension Strategies Definitions
  
• A sampling of resources
  

Teacher background information and graphics for student use are a part of this workshop. Handouts to be used in the session and/or with students:

• Vocabulary Instruction
  
• Coding the Text
• Mark Twain Has Passed On
• Knowledge Rating
• Connect Two
• Clarifying Strategies
• It Says, I Say, and So
  

Procedures for Student Learning

1. Procedures vary depending upon the focus of the lesson, but the instructional approaches of modeling with authentic/difficult text, guided practice, and independent application will be used with all lessons.
   
   
2. While the focus is on the content of each piece, these scaffolding strategies are designed to enable students to become more conscious of the "in-the-head" thinking that allows readers to make sense of text. By explicitly activating comprehension and vocabulary strategies, teachers assist students toward becoming more independent and capable readers regardless of text complexity.

Procedures for this Workshop (Teacher Learning)

Coding the text- One method to engage students in text while bringing to the fore the comprehension strategies of questioning the text, determining importance, and activating background knowledge (see Coding the Text handout, listed above).

Teachers will code the article Mark Twain Has Passed On, Summit County Journal and Breckenridge Bulletin, April 30, 1910, page 7.

We will then debrief the strategy and discuss possible applications and/or modifications.

Vocabulary Development- Several methods for enhancing student vocabulary will be shared, including Knowledge Rating, Connect Two and in-text clarification strategies. The focus here is on the strategy of clarifying. See handouts, listed above.

Teachers will complete a "Knowledge Rating" for pre-selected words in the brief article Colorado is at last a State, Golden Globe, August 5, 1876.

We will then debrief the strategy and discuss possible applications and/or modifications.

Using a portion of the article Territory vs. State, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 27, 1876, teachers will utilize in-text clarification strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. Teachers will also use the "Connect Two" strategy to demonstrate understanding.

We will also select vocabulary words to pre-teach or otherwise frontload for students based on sound practices in vocabulary instruction.

We will then debrief the strategies and discuss possible applications and/or modifications.

Making Inferences

Teachers will use the It Says, I Say, and So strategy to make inferences from the Territory vs. State article. See It Says, I Say, and So handouts listed above.

We will then debrief the strategy and discuss possible applications and/or modifications.

If time allows, we will discuss other literacy applications and scaffolding.

 

"EXTRA! EXTRA! Learn All About it: Teaching with Colorado's Historic Newspapers"
Comprehending Content: Historical Documents Through a Strategy Lens

D. Sievers