Institute/Session Summary:

Bifocal Teaching: Enhance Student Comprehension of Gateway Texts

This Institute is based on constructivist thinking about learning and teaching. Participants will be provided summary information describing theories of constructivist thinkers like Vygotsky and others who commented on language and comprehension development. In addition, basic and brief discussions of linguistic theorists like Chomsky will offer a solid background in the concepts of  the “textuality of text” ideas that contribute to a teacher’s understanding of the process of reading complex texts.  The session will add what we hope are interesting and yet appropriate variations of Vygotsky’s idea of the “zone of proximal development” by locating this zone between the student and the textbooks and materials he or she confronts in a content-rich, gateway, transfer course. In addition, we will similarly modify J. Lave’s idea of “situated learning” so that the gateway text becomes the context within which the student must make his or her own meaning. Thus, the session will encourage participants to understand Vygotsky’s idea of textual “artifact” as one found in the college textbook, one created by the instructor for student learning, and one created by the successful student moving toward fluent reading. This session, then, expands both Lave and Vygotsky by demonstrating the creation of multiple “authentic texts” in the learning activity created by the teacher to promote student syntactical understanding and in the text created by the student reader who, in recognizing syntactical structures, constructs his or her original text integrating the textbook pages into his or her comprehension of that text--a comprehension which becomes both the foundation of  the student’s fluent reading and the product of his or her reading.

Although the Institute is designed for classroom teachers primarily, its content will be useful to tutors and instructive to program administrators and instruction designers faced with pressures focused on successful student transition from developmental reading to gateway courses.

The Institute is structured to achieve well-defined outcomes. Program participants in the Institute will gain a brief but content-rich theoretical background integrated in the practice of analyzing texts of currently used college-transfer courses. Other goals include the development of skill in textual analysis so that each participant may take home the ability to identify syntactical elements in textbook sentence structure and to see these elements echoed and broadened in the corresponding syntax of textbook paragraphing and chapter organization. After specific activities that demonstrate and develop these skills, participants will work in groups to rehearse the creation of appropriate learning materials for the classroom. Then, they will work individually to develop materials specifically for their own classes and students. We suggest that those who register for this Institute bring with them at least one chapter from each of two texts currently in use in gateway courses at their i
nstitution.

The full-day Institute is carefully planned and will have two components. The morning session will introduce theoretical concepts; will provide modeling by presenters; and will conclude with practice analysis of text materials provided by the presenters.  The afternoon session will begin iwth group rehearsals to reinforce the strategies of text analysis and learning activity building. The afternoon session will then proceed to a time for guided individual development.  Here each participant will analyze textbook materials that he or she brought to the Institute. Then, individuals and small groups from one school or related schools will develop individualized learning-activity materials appropriate to their texts. As the segments of the day proceed, participants will be able to observe, participate in, and perhaps to create situations of accelerated learning that will create whole-brain experiences for their students. Indeed, some general background in brain theory will be incorporated in the afternoon session as the presenters guide participants in developing lesson content and instruction delivery choices for the materials that they create.

Institute participants will enjoy carefully prepared materials. Summaries of the theorists on which the presentation is based will be prepared and distributed to Institute participants. Presentations will be supported by electronic demonstrations of syntactical analysis, and participants will be using paper-and-pencil template guides as they develop their skills in recognizing syntactical elements of a college text that are likely to be roadblocks for student comprehension. The presenters will bring appropriate example passages and chapters of a variety of text materials from books currently used in college transfer departments. The Institute will include demonstrations of various teaching technologies that provide venues for illustrating syntactical organizations of sentences and that provide means of presenting and assessing student understanding. While our general purpose is not to demonstrate technology, we will be embedding various kinds of technology into our presentations.

The presenters are Dr. Beverly Fischer and Dr. Karen Hattaway, Professors of English at San Jacinto College North in Houston, Texas. Both Dr. Fischer and Dr. Hattaway are experienced developmental and college-transfer teachers in writing and reading. In addition, both presenters have directed and been faculty in five Eisenhower and Teacher-Quality Grant Projects emphasizing the interconnection of reading and mathematics instruction. Both have been previously successful presenters at CRLA conventions in Long Beach (2005) and Austin (2006) where their presentations emphasized developing student skills to create bridges from developmental to academic transfer reading and analyzing textual layers that block student comprehension of gateway texts. Both are experienced in distance learning and the integration of technology in classroom presentation and in analysis of potential content materials that later become classroom and online instructional materials. Both presenters have made numerous professional-development and in-service presentations for loal ISD's in the College Service Area.
 
The experience of the presenters for this session at CRLA and other conferences has shown that participants have become so engaged and enthusiastic about the theoretical and demonstration parts of the presentation that they have slighted themselves of their own time for developing their individualize materials. Thus, we believe that this full-day Institute offers sufficient time for demonstration, practice, and creative response and computer-assisted learning in her classes.

Presenter1 Name: Karen Hattaway
Presenter1 Institution:CollegeReading
Presenter1 Bio: Dr. Karen Hattaway has been a college teacher for more than 30 years.  In addition, she has been a director or co-director for both Eisenhower and Teacher Quality Grants emphasizing reading and mathematics as well as inquiry learning.  She has completed training in Accelerated Learning at the University of Houston and is currently teacher trainer for the GEARUP Grant that partners the San Jacinto Community College District and the Galena Park Independent School District to develop strong student cohorts for admission to the College through Galena Park High School.  Dr. Hattaway, along with Dr. Beverly Fischer, have made numerous presentations on reading and integration of reading and language arts  in mathematics and science.  They have contributed to the meetings of the Society of Educators and Scholars, the National Association for Developmental Education, the College Reading and Learning Association (2005 and 2006), and the National Institute for Staff and Organization Development.  Dr. Hattaway is an experienced online instructor who makes extensive use of electronic resources and computer-assisted learning in her classes. Working with colleagues including Dr. Fischer, Dr. Hattaway has made presntations in half-dy pre-conference institues at the CRLA Long Beach Convenetion in 2005 and at the Austin Convention in 2006. The topic for the 2005 meeting was helping students bridge the gap between developmental reading and college-transfer courses in high-content areas. In 2006, the topic was an institute titled "Take in Off: Layered Reading--An Academic Striptease that Works."

Presenter2 Name: Beverly Fischer
Presenter2 Institution: San Jacinto College North
Presenter2 Bio: Dr. Beverly A. Fischer has been an English professor at San Jacinto Community College North in Houston, Texas for the last 19 years in both on-campus and online courses and, prior to that, had taught English at Fondren Middle School Houston, Texas in the Computer/Math/Science Magnet Program where she created interdisciplinary teaching units and Critical Thinking lessons; she also did team teaching of Reading and Science at Lake Zurich Middle School in Illinois.  She was a co-instructor in two Eisenhower Grant Projects on Reading and Mathematics, one Eisenhower Grant Project on Inquiry Learning and Reading, Mathematics, and Science, and two Teacher Quality Grant Projects on Inquiry Learning and Reading and Mathematics.  Along with Dr. Karen Hattaway, Dr. Fischer has made numerous presentations focusing on reading as fundamental to understanding college texts. These presentations include the Society of Educators and Scholars, the National Association for Developmental Education, and the College Reading and Learning Association, where we presented a three-hour Institute at the 2005 conference on Bridging the Gap and most recently a three-hour Institute at the 2006 conference on “Take It Off!  Layered Reading—An Academic Striptease That Pays.”