Education without homework: Disciplinary literacy under new conditions

Transkript

1 Education without homework: Disciplinary literacy under new conditions Paper Presentation FinRA 3rd Baltic Sea-17th Nordic Literacy Conference August 2016 Peter Heller Lützen, Consultant, Ph.D. National Centre for Reading, Denmark

2 Danish high school students in a young adults program ( HF ) Reading and homework Homework is practically abandoned - not as a deliberate didactic choice - but by the students Teachers use compensating strategies - read the text aloud themselves - let the students read independently - develop their own strategies but do not discuss them with colleagues, express frustration and loneliness in their work situation

3 Before reading During reading After reading

4 After reading Before reading During reading

5 Targeting the teachers - developing analytic, detailed reading strategies for in-classroom use: - sequenzing of lessons - integration of writing in reading - expliciting purpose of reading and learning goals - emphasis on before and during reading

6 General high school Technical high school Basic school - folkeskole Higher preparation Business high shool Vocational training

7 HF: Højere Forberedelse/ Higher preparation - dates back to late 1960 s - second chance education - originally for adults only - today young adults

8 The typical HF-student: years old struggling with literacy uneducated parents, limited access to home support has dropped out/ had interruptions in previous education social and personal challenges, diagnoses limited succes in previous schools, lack sufficient studying strategies

9 From basic to disciplinary literacy Shanahan & Shanahan (2008): Disciplinary Literacy: - domain specific vocaulary and text features, subject specific discourses Intermediate Literacy: - comprehension strategies, fluent reading, common words Basic Literacy: - decoding, frequent words Disciplinary literacy Intermediate literacy Basic literacy

10 Men nu, fordi vores synder og de af dets (:Det hellige Lands) folk krævede det, er der hændt det som vi ikke kan gøre kendt uden stor bedrøvelse og sorg. From the student s perspective: text book examples Modernismebegrebet kommer af latin og betyder ny måde, efter særlige regler. Grundlæggende eksperimenterer moderne værker med og imod traditionen.

11 From basic to disciplinary literacy Domain specific vocabulary and text features A good basic reader will not necessarily become a good disciplinary reader - the older you get you meet more complicated texts and less direct instruction in comprehending and dealing with them - this causes major difficulties for the average HF-student A cause for the subject teacher

12 The good reader Activates schema before reading, makes orientations before reading - framing, sequenzing, before-during-after activities Sorts new content according to schema and previous knowledge - during-activities, underlining, writing, talking, drawing Uses different strategies adjusted to purpose, text type, genre etc. - explicit work with different reading strategies Individual silent reading and teacher s reading aloud can be parts in this - but is not sufficient - a need for detailed reading

13 Detailed reading our version Method: Read a short but complicated text (maybe an extract or parts of the text) Before: Giveaways: Give some of the content, create a context on the level of the text and not only the subject During: Detailed reading with: - pointing out important parts, concepts etc. - by underlining, making notes, answering questions etc. - common note writing - re-reading After: The student writes a resume, formulates new questions, prepares a short presentation, makes a written interpretation or evaluation

14 Impressions from observations Student attendance average % - building continuity in students s learning is very hard - emphazis on teacher s sequenzing of lectures - make sure writing is integrated in reading and undertanding Initial give aways on text level Explicity about writing - notetaking, co-writing, improving notes together Written instructions vs. oral instructions Gearshift in speed between the very detailed and the very extensive

15 Other projects Tønder Gymnasium s hf-level (Reedtz og Hansen; 2014) Five VUC s in Region Midtjylland avu-level (Olsen; 2014): Grades increased from 4,7 (2008) to 6,2 (2013) Teachers: Higher quality in teaching and student response Fewer negative relations to students Improved didactic development Students hand in more and better written work Students have easier access to support Concern over longer term development of independence

16 It is better to read few texts in depth than reading a lot in a more superficial way. Teacher response Working together with them expands their understanding. In this way we can give them something they would never achieve at home. I am worried about the world they are entering when they come out from here. Will they be able to read on their own in further education without our support? I had developed my own methods but feel much more secure now. I now know some well proven methods and feel more professional in my work.

17 Thank you!

18 References Christensen, Vibeke: Nettekster fanger og fænger : Multimodale tekster, feedback og tekstkompetence i danskundervisningen i udskolingen, Aalborg Universitetsforlag, 2015 Faber, B. og L. Mulvad (2010): Faglig læsning Vejledning til faglærere på EUD, Dansklærerforeningens Forlag, 2010 Gee, J.P.: Hvad er literacy?, ligger på literacy.dk, oprindeligt 1989 Olesen, F. B.: Rapport for Næsten lektiefri læringsrum på fem VUC er i Midtjylland, Region Midtjylland, 2015 Reedtz, Espen Rude og Ole Kamp Hansen: Næsten lektiefri undervisning på hf, i: Hansen m.fl. (red.): Hf og VUC målgrupper, pædagogik og udvikling, Dansklærerforeningens Forlag/ Systime, 2014 Shanahan, C og T. Shanahan (2008): Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents: Rethinking Content-Area Literacy, Harvard Educational Review Vol. 78 No. 1 Spring 2008 Skaftun, Solheim og Uppstad (red.): Leseboka leseopplæring i alle fag på ungdomstrinnet, Cappelen Dam Akademisk, Oslo