STEM Network
Reading Apprenticeship
Jonathan was so focused on the learning and less focused on just getting something out of it. Instead of, "yeah we got the assignment done." He was analytical about how he did more reasoning when he worked through the material.
There are concepts that need to connect between courses in a sequence, Jonathan was able to connect to a previous semester's content and apply it in an applicable way. He had clearly retained something from his first semester that made it into his second semester. He found a way to make his first semester physics class relevant to his career path. This is what we would hope every student could do.
Jonathan expressed that he liked poems and short stories but not extensive reading. He was able to express that he would prefer to read things in short pieces and put them together as a whole. He told us what to do to support him with the text!
Many instructors have the experience that we assume that students have held onto previous content from other semesters, but we can't assume that. We can't build on prior knowledge unless the content is present for the student to use. We have to be aware of our blindspots as the instructor and ask ourselves: What moves can we make as an instructor to help students access prior knowledge?
How do we make a safe enviroment where we assess where students are when they start a new topic and then help revise students so that they correct misconceptions before diving into new information?
We saw that the student was missing pieces of information, but he was working metacognitively with the information that he did have. We wondered, are those metacognitive skills getting him closer to real understanding of the content?
Getting to know Jonathan
Case Studies: Lilit Haroyan's Phsyics Class
Looking into a classroom where reading apprentishship is being used can help us to see a window into how students can grapple metacognitively when they have space to enter into confusion in a safe environment. How do you see yourself bringing these routines into your own classroom so that students have space in the routines of your class to grapple with content through metacognitive conversation?
Having the right time management for content and Reading Apprenticeship is a normal struggle.
The students in this program seem to have competency in life, but in physics they have a very hard time.
The instructor is being responsive in real time. Reflection and revising based on our experiences rolling out a plan is an integral part of a Reading Apprenticeship classroom.
Reading Apprenticeship helps in the classroom to provide a window to see into where things break down for students.
Lilit has the Student Learning Outcomes that she is accountable to, but she also has a personal list of outcomes she hopes to reach with students.
There is a lot of space for students to think about their thinking. For example, they think of "What if" questions to generate wonder. They submit questions to the instructor. Metacognition becomes a routine in the semester rather than an isolated activity.
Getting to know the Classroom Context
Evidence and Interpretation Logs:
Video of Students Grappling with the text
Using E&I logs (or Metacognitive Double-Entry Journal Reading for Understanding pages 110-118.
This routine is a way that you as the intstructor can scaffold in more intentional metacognitive work with the texts of your discipline. These could be used for readings, problems, or other types of graphics. The goal of the double-entry is to get students to focus in on having a text-based discussion, referencing the evidence they found and where they found it, not what they feel through intuition. Then they become students who can interpret evidence instead of feel and guess their way through learning.