Glossary of Terms
The list below is a compilation of terms typically used in a Reading Apprenticeship classroom.
Cognitive Dimension
One of the 4 dimensions of the Reading Apprenticeship Framework. Most traditional content-area reading instruction focuses on the Cognitive Dimension. Cognition refers to the mental processes skilled readers use, including their repertoire of specific comprehension and problem-solving strategies such as re-reading, questioning, paraphrasing, and summarizing. In a RA classroom students pay attention not only to what effective reading strategies are, but to why and when readers need to use them.
Comprehension
Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read.
To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to
be able to (1) decode what they read; (2) make connections between what
they read and what they already know; and (3) think deeply about what
they have read. One big part of comprehension is having a sufficient
vocabulary, or knowing the meanings of enough words. (From http://www.readingrockets.org)
Connections
Text connections occur when the reader makes a
personal connection from the text with something in their own life, another
text, or something occurring in the world
Double-entry journal
A two-column note-taking format usually containing a fact-based side and a personal response side
Evaluating (Determining Importance)
Readers must determine their purpose for reading and then the overall message from the author in order to decide what supportive statements are important and which are superfluous.
Fishbowl
A modeling exercise consisting of a space in the middle of the classroom in which one group of students work while the rest of the class observes and takes notes on what they see.
Gallery Walk
Classroom activity where individual students or groups of students rotate around the room looking and commenting on pieces of student work. Called a "gallery walk" because of the similarity between this activity and walking around an art gallery and evaluating pieces of art.
Inference
To draw a conclusion — to conclude or surmise from presenting evidence.
An inference is the conclusion drawn from a set of facts or
circumstances. If a person infers that something has happened, he does
not see, hear, feel, smell, or taste the actual event. But from what he
knows, it makes sense to think that it has happened. Sometimes inferring
is described as "reading between the lines."
Jigsaw
Teaching strategy where a large chunk of content is divided into smaller sections for student groups to learn. Each group masters their own section and prepares a lesson to teach to the whole group. The "jigsaw" is assembled when each small group comes together to teach the whole group their segment.
K-W-L
An activity that forces students to think about prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading.
Prior to reading students are asked:
1. What they already KNOW about the subject
2. What they WANT to learn about the subject.
After reading, students respond by writing or discussing:
3. What they LEARNED about the subject.
Prior to reading students are asked:
1. What they already KNOW about the subject
2. What they WANT to learn about the subject.
After reading, students respond by writing or discussing:
3. What they LEARNED about the subject.
Knowledge-Building Dimension
One of the 4 dimensions of the Reading Apprenticeship Framework. In the Knowledge Building Dimension, students learn to develop and draw on many forms of knowledge in order to make sense of text: background knowledge, text-based knowledge, and content area knowledge are just a few of the knowledge students learn to use while reading.
LINK
Activity used to build schema prior to reading.
List/Inquire/Note/Know is a brainstorming and discussion strategy featuring group interaction that helps students access and build their background knowledge and delve into a topic in preparation for reading.
LIST- students individually list everything they think they know about a topic and then share one item from that list to compile a class list
INQUIRE - students get to ask for clarification about why fellow students placed items on the list.
NOTE - As students discuss and read they take notes about what they are reading/learning.
KNOW - After reading they write and discuss what they know after they have read the new material.
List/Inquire/Note/Know is a brainstorming and discussion strategy featuring group interaction that helps students access and build their background knowledge and delve into a topic in preparation for reading.
LIST- students individually list everything they think they know about a topic and then share one item from that list to compile a class list
INQUIRE - students get to ask for clarification about why fellow students placed items on the list.
NOTE - As students discuss and read they take notes about what they are reading/learning.
KNOW - After reading they write and discuss what they know after they have read the new material.
Metacognition
Thinking about one's thinking and thought process.
Personal Dimension
One of the 4 dimensions of the Reading Apprenticeship Framework. The personal dimension of a RA classroom focuses on developing and extending students' individual identities and self-awareness as readers. Students explore their reading interests, their purpose for reading, and their goals for reading improvement.
QAR
QAR (Question-Answer Relationships) is a reading strategy for deepening comprehension and a classroom tool for having meaningful text-based discussions in which students direct the focus. Questions are categorized into four types - Right There, Think and Search, Author and Me, and On My Own.
Using text from either the core curriculum or supplemental materials, students develop all four types of questions, then pose their questions to their peers, who in turn answer the questions and identify their type.
Using text from either the core curriculum or supplemental materials, students develop all four types of questions, then pose their questions to their peers, who in turn answer the questions and identify their type.
Questioning
Questioning is a reading strategy that gets readers to wonder about outcomes, characters, new information, and concepts. Questioning happens before, during and after reading.
Schema
A pattern or arrangement of knowledge that a person already has stored in his brain that helps him understand new information
Social Dimension
One of the 4 dimensions of the Reading Apprenticeship Framework. The social dimension is the creation of a nurturing social environment in the classroom focused on safety, sharing, and collaboration. Relationships are built in the social dimension between both teacher-student and student-student.
SSR
Sustained Silent Reading: Students read any text of the choosing for a set period of time on a regular basis. In a Reading Apprenticeship classroom, extensive reading will be used in place of SSR.
Synthesizing
Synthesizing is an ongoing process in reading that requires the reader to merge new information with prior knowledge to form a new idea, perspective or opinion or to generate insight. As new knowledge is acquired, it is synthesized with prior knowledge to create new understandings.
Talking to the Text
Also known as T4 or TttT, this is a reading strategy used while reading. Students write comments, connections, questions, interpretations, and any other thoughts down on the document they are reading.
Text-rendering
Reading activity where students identify one sentence, one phrase, and one word from a particular passage. Sharing and discussion spawn from the underlined sentence, phrases, and words.
Think-Pair-Share
Think pair share is a fundamental routine in RA classrooms. Students are posed a question, given time to THINK about possible answers, discuss their answers with a partner (PAIR), and then SHARE these answers with the class as a whole group.
Think Aloud
A strategy used to get kids to share their thought process, making the "invisible visible"
Visualizing
Picturing in your mind what is happening in the text.
