Welcome
When you use text sets to build background knowledge, you’ll see gains in students’ content knowledge, reading comprehension, and motivation; text sets quench that human craving to build expertise. Building text sets out of increasingly complex texts that are strategic and diverse – and following through with methods for storing new information in long-term memory can help your students experience comprehension gains. The techniques described in this module integrate cognitive psychology, neurology, pedagogy, and sociology.
Time estimate: 1.5 – 2 hours
Welcome!
Welcome to the Adolescent Literacy series in the Ohio Literacy Library! This is an ever-expanding series featuring modules designed to support educators and other interested stakeholders of adolescents who desire to support their acquisition of literacy in the upper primary, middle, and high school grades. Strong literacy skills are essential for adolescents, as they are required to: (1) read to learn in a variety of disciplines; (2) build their knowledge by working with different text types, acquiring academic vocabulary, and sharing their ideas and impressions with others; and (3) master reading comprehension to take full advantage of instruction in content-area classes (Kamil et al., 2008). These skills are essential for success not only in upper grades, but beyond in the workplace and postsecondary education as well.
This series aims to support readers with evidence-based practices that provide adolescent learners engaging and relevant practice both inside and outside the classroom. Four module series are included within the Adolescent Literacy series, beginning with support strategies for students continuing to build literacy and fluency in the Word Recognition in Adolescents series. In the Teaching and Learning with Complex Texts module series, the challenges faced as adolescents begin working with the complex texts introduced in middle and high school are examined and methods of support are proposed. The Disciplinary Literacy module series continues this targeted approach as it introduces skills necessary to effectively communicate in the disciplines of secondary education. Literacy Screening and Intervention modules introduce methods of identifying difficulties in adolescents’ journey to literacy and practices you can use to support their foundational reading skills, comprehension, and writing skills.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this module.
Module Description
The science teachers among us will remind us that scientific knowledge is constantly evolving – and that when there is a change in the underlying ideas based on experimental findings, our paradigm shifts. The history teachers among us may also remind us that not all old knowledge is expired knowledge. Updating our knowledge often provides more nuance around what we first thought, but it also helps explain what was right and wrong about that earlier knowledge. That’s a shift many experienced teachers feel as they read research that clarifies their understandings of how literacy works – and there has indeed been a frenzy of new research, especially in the last decade, working hard to guide literacy instruction for adolescents. Strategizing your students’ learning with text sets has the power to transform your teaching effectiveness and their very minds – and those minds will send ripples into that far-flung future we cannot possibly imagine now.
You will explore the potential of text sets to build background knowledge and deepen student interest, nuanced understanding, and reading comprehension. This module will guide your exploration of text sets through:
- Understanding Text Sets
- Planning Text Sets Around Essential Questions
- Ways to scaffold learning of content knowledge within a text set
- How text sets can be designed to provide multiple perspectives and show deep complexity of topics and events
Learning Objectives
Explain the purpose of a text set and how it enhances background knowledge and learning.
Strategize how to scaffold learning content knowledge through backward design of increasingly complex sets of texts from varied genres, perspectives, and complexity levels.
Understand how text sets can provide multiple perspectives and demonstrate the complexity of topics.
Create an effective essential question to build a text set around.
Course Navigation, Design, and Policies
Throughout each course, you will see a Course Outline with a green ribbon and the title of the course at the top right corner of the page. The outline displays every section of the course. Click any section to jump right to it.
At any time you are in a module, you can go back to the Home Module page by clicking the Back to Module button located directly under the module outline.
As you go through the course, you will have the opportunity to click the Mark Complete box at the end of each section. When you do this, the sections you have completed will be crossed off in your outline, and you will be taken to the next section of the course.
Your progress will automatically be saved within the learning management system, and you can view your course progress through the progress bar located near the top of most sections.
Exiting and Resuming a Module
Know that your progress will automatically be saved within the learning management system. If you exit the website, once you log back in you can easily access your courses by clicking the on the My Dashboard button located on the gray ribbon on top of every page.
Note Feature within the Modules
Throughout each module, you will notice some Reflection boxes that provide various prompts. Each reflection will be in a grey box with an image of a pen/lightbulb. A built in feature of each module is the ability to take notes and save them for your future use. This feature can be used within any part of the module, but is especially helpful for the reflection activities.
To access the note feature, simply click on the purple Take Notes button fixed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. When you click on this button, a Take Notes box will appear. This box can be moved anywhere on the screen. Within the box, there is a SAVE button as well as a Print Button.
The easiest way to print all the notes you take from the entire module is to click View All Notes. When you click View All Notes, you will be taken to a page like the one below.
Click the boxes of the Notes you would like to print, and then click Download Selected. All your notes will be downloaded into one document separated by headers.
All Ohio’s comprehensive learning modules are relevant to any educator working to support students’ literacy development. In each module, you will find in-depth narrative text, linked resources, realistic scenarios, reflection activities, and embedded audio and videos.
Each module is self-paced. The approximate time for completion of the module is listed in the Simple View of Reading Module text box on the home page of the module.
Additional information included on each module’s home page include:
- Required prerequisites for the module.
- A more detailed description of the module.
- Helpful downloadable resources for the module including an outline of the module’s content and supporting resources, a step-by-step guide to assist you in navigating the professional learning modules, and an in-depth information about the purpose and key elements of the Ohio Literacy Library.
Certificates
Professional Development Certificates
are available for each comprehensive learning module. To earn a Professional Development Certificate, you must obtain a passing score of 85% or more on the module post-test. Please note that you are only allowed up to two attempts to obtain a passing score to earn your certificate.Badges
When completing professional development modules within All Ohio, you can earn badges based on your engagement in and mastery of content within each comprehensive learning module. You earn
Achievement Badges when you demonstrate proficiency with module content (i.e., obtaining a score of at least 85%), whereas Engagement Badges are awarded based on your level of participation on the site. Your earned Certificates and Badges will be displayed on your “All Ohio Dashboard.”
High standards of honesty and integrity are expected when completing professional development within this learning management system. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, dishonesty in the completion of activities and/or claiming credit for work not done or done by others. Any violation of these expectations can result in removal from this learning management system.
If you have any issues with accessing the content or functionality of this course, please email: allohioprojectteam@uc.edu
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Helpful Resources Related to this Module
Module Resources
An outline of the module’s main content and supporting resources.
Welcome & Navigation
Step-by-step guide to assist you in navigating the professional learning modules.
Ohio Literacy Library
In-depth information about the purpose and key elements of the Ohio Literacy Library.
