Secondary Reading Instruction (Part 1): Teaching Vocabulary and Comprehension in the Content Areas
Assessment
Take some time now to answer the following questions. Please note that the IRIS Center does not collect your Assessment responses. If this is a course assignment, you should turn them in to your professor using whatever method he or she requires. If you have trouble answering any of the questions, go back and review the Perspectives & Resources pages in this module.
- List at least three benefits for students that occur when content-area teachers provide literacy instruction.
- In the video (a portion of which you saw earlier in this module), Anita Archer offers vocabulary instruction for a middle school language-arts class. She explicitly teaches the word intention.
- Of the four effective vocabulary practices—selecting essential words, defining and contextualizing the terms, helping students actively process the terms, providing multiple exposures to vocabulary—you have learned about in this module, which one best describes how Anita Archer helps students to understand the term intention?
- Give at least two specific examples to support your answer.
- Describe how you would implement one of the other vocabulary practices to deepen students’ understanding of the word intention.
- Explain how graphic organizers help students improve their vocabulary and reading comprehension. What should you keep in mind when selecting a graphic organizer for students to use?
- Mr. Hammond, a high school biology teacher, will soon be starting a lesson on genetics. In addition to using the textbook chapter, he will incorporate articles from journals, supplementary texts, Website material, and news clips. Mr. Hammond would like to start including literacy instruction in his classes to help his students understand the content better. Select any two of the reading comprehension strategies you have learned about in this module and explain how they can help Mr. Hammond’s students to better comprehend the reading content.
