On Reading (from WPA-L)

Date:    Wed, 13 Dec 2017 20:07:47 +0000
From:    "Bninski, Julia" <jbninski@LUC.EDU>
Subject: Reading across the curriculum

Hello everyone,

I work at a 2-year college where there is growing faculty interest in Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum. However, none of us have any actual training in RAWAC. I've found plenty of resources related to WAC, but fewer resources related to improving literacy instruction across the curriculum. Most of the articles I've found relate to the Common Core state standards. They seem helpful, but it would be even more useful to find some resources aimed at college instructors.

Do you have any recommendations for resources that we should check out as we begin this venture to strengthen reading across the curriculum?

Thank you for your time!

Julia


Julia Bninski, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Writing and Literature
Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago

Date:    Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:52:49 -0500
From:    Nick Carbone <nick.carbone@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Reading across the curriculum

Julia

Start here:

"Reading Across the Curriculum as the Key to Student Success" by Alice S.
Horning at https://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/horning2007.cfm

There is also Ellen Carillo's A Writer's Guide to Mindful Reading, which
can be adapted as well at. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/mindful/

Then see a special issue on Reading Across the Curriculum Alice Horning
edited for _Across the Disciplines_ at

https://wac.colostate.edu/atd/reading/index.cfm

Description:

When faculty members are asked what they consider the single greatest
problem they face in their classrooms on a daily basis, they almost always
include reading as a key issue. Faculty comments reflect what could be
described as the "don't, won't, can't" problem. That is, students don't
read in the ways that faculty expect, and they won't unless faculty find
ways to force or coerce reading compliance. Underlying these two
significant aspects of the problem is a third, much bigger problem, which
is that many students are not able read in the ways faculty would like.
This situation is becoming increasingly serious in the face of ever larger
amounts of material available in print and online that faculty expect
students to read, comprehend, and critically assess. The most effective
solution will require work on the part of both students and faculty, in all
courses. The articles in this issue present useful findings and approaches
that address the problem from both the student side and the faculty side.
Contents

Introduction
Alice S. Horning

Reading to Write in East Asian Studies
Leora Freedman

Reading at the Threshold
Brian Gogan

It's Not that They Can't Read; It's that They Can't Read: Can We Create
"Citizen Experts" Through Interactive Assessment?
Steven J. Pearlman

Reading and Engaging Sources: What Students' Use of Sources Reveals About
Advanced Reading Skills
Sandra Jamieson

Not Just for Writing Anymore: What WAC Can Teach Us About Reading to Learn
Mary Lou Odom

When is Writing Also Reading?
Lynne A. Rhodes

High Profile Football Players' Reading at a Research University: ACT
Scores, Interview Responses, and Personal Preferences
Martha Townsend

The Problem of Academic Discourse: Assessing the Role of Academic
Literacies in Reading Across the K-16 Curriculum
Justin A. Young and Charlie R. Potter

Date:    Thu, 14 Dec 2017 08:07:13 -0500
From:    Brian Hendrickson <bhendrickson@RWU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Reading across the curriculum

Julia,

In addition to Nick's above suggestions from the WAC Clearinghouse, there's
also Horning et al, What Is College Reading?
<https://wac.colostate.edu/books/collegereading/> and D'Angelo et al,
Information
Literacy: Research and Collaboration Across Disciplines
<https://wac.colostate.edu/books/infolit/>.

Brian

Date:    Thu, 14 Dec 2017 09:29:46 -0500
From:    "Ellen C. Carillo" <eccarillo@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Link to Free Podcast with Daniel Willingham about Critical Thinking, Reading, and Teaching

Dear Colleagues,
Following up on Julia Bninski's thread asking for reading across the
curriculum resources, I would like to direct your attention to a newly
released podcast with Daniel Willingham. You may have seen his recent
(11/25) piece in *The New York Times *entitled "How to Get Your Mind to
Read" available here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-your-mind-to-read.html


Here is the information about the podcast:

New Podcast Episode: Critical Thinking & Reading with Dan Willingham

Critical thinking pioneer and guru Dan Willingham joins Dave and Steve in
discussing the relationship among critical thinking, reading, and teaching.
They delve into the role that existing bodies of knowledge play in decoding
thinking. News of the week examines whether or not reading to evaluate
produces stronger outcomes than reading to comprehend. Also, to get "meta,"
Dave talks about the role attention plays in thinking, such as when
listening to a podcast ... or not.


iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-critical-thinking-in
itiative/id1274615583?mt=2

Podcast Page:
http://thecriticalthinkinginitiative.libsyn.com

Main Website:
www.TheCriticalThinkingInitiative.org
<http://www.thecriticalthinkinginitiative.org/>


Best,
Ellen Carillo, Associate Professor of English and Writing Coordinator
University of Connecticut

Date:    Sat, 17 Feb 2018 05:21:57 -0500
From:    Nick Carbone <nick.carbone@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Teaching the Art of Reading in the Digital Era - Pacific Standard

There's lots to think on in this piece that makes an argument for print
books by exploring research on their benefits for close and sustained
reading


"Reading," says Steve Mannheimer, professor of Media Arts and Science at
Indiana University, "doesn't occur without some fairly specific and
concrete combination of physical objects, environment, and purpose." So one
technique is to focus on the book as a book. "Intuitively, I would say that
the paper book invites far more physical manipulation with at least the
fingers and hands," he says. "All that finger/hand fidgeting is part of the
cognitive process, or at least reinforces the cognitive process of reading."

....

Another thing electronic books cannot provide is something that many
reading experts believe is essential for creating an environment conducive
to lifelong reading: a room filled with actual books.

...

And indeed the physical book seems on the verge of a comeback. Actual
bookstores are experiencing a notable resurgence. According to the American
Booksellers Association, the number of independent bookstores rose 27
percent between 2009 and 2014.

full essay is at
https://psmag.com/magazine/teaching-the-art-of-reading-in-the-digital-era


nick.carbone@gmail.com
http://ncarbone.blogspot.com

Hearing or Ignoring Audience: the Dilemma of the Freshman Writer (Wenner)

Hearing or Ignoring Audience: the Dilemma of the Freshman Writer (ERIC ED332197)

Teaching Reading

1. Summarizing

Round One: For a difficult reading assignment, ask students to write a 250-word summary (or whatever you think would be an appropriate length), and bring 3-4 copies to class. In small groups or pairs, have students exchange and read each other’s summaries, marking up any points they think need to be changed or revised. I ask students to underline inaccuracies, mark passages that are the student’s views or evaluations rather than author’s, and indicate with an asterisk any portion of the summary that provides disproportionate coverage of a minor point. Then the group should discuss the differences they see, with the goal of choosing the most accurate of the summaries to share with a larger group in round two. Groups can also choose to combine and/or revise the summaries based on their discussion. When two summaries diverge in their interpretation of some aspect of the assigned reading, students must examine the differences, consult the text for clarification, and d!

ebate why one student’s understanding is more accurate than another’s. This discussion requires close, attentive reading, and in the process students will deepen or complicate other group members’ assumptions about particular points in the text. Inevitably, students will also begin to share their reactions to and views on the material, and this provides an excellent starting point for further classroom debate and application.

Round Two: This round serves as a “check point” to ensure that each group has accurately understood the material. Have two or more groups combine into a larger group. Each smaller group then reads its selected summary out loud, and then the larger group examines their differences and similarities in order to choose the best one. These can then be shared aloud with the entire class as the basis for a deeper discussion and clarification of key concepts. It may also be an opportunity to examine the structure of the assigned reading, and to evaluate its logic, evidence, and/or methodology.

Round Three: Ask each group to take their summary and further condense it into a much smaller number of sentences. As the groups finish, have a representative type the short summary on the computer so that the class can compare and discuss them together. These shorter summaries require students to identify the center of the reading and distinguish it from important (but peripheral or supporting) arguments.

At any stage in this activity, you can focus the discussion on matters such as: difficult passages or terms around which there still may be confusion; how students discerned major points from examples, supporting evidence, or sub-arguments; and what students learned about summary writing by engaging in the class activity. You may even want to survey students about the extent of revision their own summaries needed once they had discussed the reading with classmates, or, depending on the course level, you might spend some time on basic summary conventions such as using attributive tags.

2. Marginalia:

I've developed two different activites using marginal notes, but I'll describe just one here. I give students a check list with four different types of marginal notes that a reader can make: summarize/comprehend; interact/evaluate; extend; rhetorically analyze.

Their assignment is to mark up a reading only with marginalia -- no underlining or highlighting. I require that they include marginal notes from all four categories. In class, discussing their notations results in a rich discussion. Most important, it makes the reading process explicit and discussing this is the most valuable part of the activity.

From WPA-L

Mary Goldschmidt, Ph.D.
Director, The Writing Program
The College of New Jersey
609.771.2864

10/31/09

Also:

Shelley's Quick Guides for Writing Teachers:

Critical Reading Assignments