The Reading-Writing Connection: Preparing GED Grads for College

CourseworkSally S. Gabb

Reading Skills SpecialistBristol Community CollegeSally.Gabb@bristolcc.edu

Agenda:I - Introduction: The path to college level reading & writingII - Testing & placementIII - Reading: comparative standardsIV – Reading: comparative instructionV - Writing: comparative standardsVI - Writing: comparative instructionVII - Connecting Reading & WritingVII - Motivation & engagement

The Reading-Writing ConnectionNCTN conference Nov. 9, 2012

“Reading and writing are a natural pair. Pre-writing requires reading for ideas; analyzing text requires writing. Research shows that this combination has potential to contribute in powerful ways to thinking.”

Dr. Lana Myers, associate professor of English, Lone Star College, Houston, TX

The Reading-Writing Connection

What are your strongest memories about the following:◦Reading assignments during your first year in

college◦Writing assignments during your first year in

college

Placement testing: Don’t confuse the road with the destination!

Placement tests may or may not provide an accurate picture of student reading & writing skills

Prepare students for placement tests with practice testsPrimary placement instruments: COMPASS; ACCUPLACER

The Reading-Writing Connection

College Placement Practice Tests:

http://www.compass-test-practice.com/

http://www.collegeboard.com

http://www.google.com

http://www.swccd.edu/~asc/

The Reading-Writing Connection

The ACCUPLACER Reading Placement:Adaptive test: increases in difficulty as test taker succeeds: higher levels = higher scores

Test content: vocabulary, text structure (main idea, details, etc.), sentence relationships (patterns of organization transition words), inference

The Reading-Writing Connection

Reading for Transition to College & Career:

Standards for mastery: ◦ GED passage vs. college readiness:

ABE ELA framesworks: identify GED level mastery www.doe.mass.edu/acls/frameworks/ELA.doc

College reading & writing standards (College Board)

www.google.com

The Reading-Writing Connection

Reading for Transition to College & Career:

Teachers who are alert to the complex interactions among these elements:engagement reading skill reading tasktext

are better equipped to differentiate their instructional strategies to help all students become effective readers.

The Reading-Writing Connection

Reading skills for college:Vocabulary: knowledge and strategiesThree stages of the reading process

Connecting to prior knowledge (schema)Basic comprehension skills/ strategies Identify the author’s purpose/intended

audience

The Reading-Writing Connection

Connecting new information to existing knowledge builds the web of knowing that enables us to retain information in our long term memory.

Reading skills for college:

Mood, tone, figures of speechAnalysis: Fiction/ non fiction; Fact or

opinion? Reading to learn: memory strategiesTextbook strategies

Vocabulary: tools for college reading and writing

http://www.swccd.edu

http://www.quizlet.com

The Reading-Writing Connection

Basic Comprehension Strategies:Three stages of the reading process –

reading to comprehend and learn from textBefore you start readingWhile you readAfter you read

Before you read:◦Identify topic◦Skim◦Connect with prior knowledge◦Predict & question

While you read:

Self monitor: do I understand

Question: am I finding answers

After you read:Did I answer my questions?What new questions did I findWhat is the author telling me about

the topic?

Textbook reading:

Get to know your textbook!!

http://faculty.bucks.edu/specpop/reading.htm

Writing for Transition to College & Career: Writing is a recursive process. Experienced writers do not usually follow a linear

progression of stages as they compose a text Experienced writers are flexible in how they

approach a writing situation Experienced writers draw on a variety of strategies

to carry out and manage the numerous complex tasks involved in composing

There are no set formulas for making these decisions

The Reading-Writing Connection

Learning to write is hard work!! To manage these processes independently,

novice writers require: effective instruction good feedback clear models

The Reading-Writing Connection

To develop, novice writers must: learn and practice effective writing

strategies receive regular feedback on their writing develop a repertoire of strategies to call

upon.

The Reading-Writing Connection

While you read:

text2mindmap pdf - adobe reader

http://www.text2mindmap.com/

The Reading-Writing Connection

Engaging students in reading:

Self selected readingBook club activitiesPersonal reading log

The Reading-Writing Connection

Engaging students in reading & writing:

Common reading experience: the BCC OneBook

Integration into content Speakers/ youtube film

The Reading-Writing Connection

Engaging students in writing:

Dialogue journals Current events summaries Class newspaper Group reports/ research

The Reading-Writing Connection

READ READREAD

WRITE WRITE WRITE

The Reading-Writing Connection

"The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Reading-Writing Connection