"In Your Mind and On the Paper": Teaching Students to Transform (and Own) Texts

How can we empower students to comprehend and use the various texts they are exposed to in social studies? How can students master the skills to appropriately evaluate and manage the vast body of information about the world that confronts them? The complexities of social studies texts makes this an almost overwhelming task. Students must learn to read for information from contemporary sources as well as historical documents. Beyond that, they must write summaries, persuasive arguments, and reports. Further, they must listen to teachers, guest speakers, and authentic recordings. Students must also answer questions orally, talk with partners about the content, and give public speeches. And finally, they must interpret complex visual information. In other words, the learning of social studies is language-based. Students process information by reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. Entire papers could be written on each of these subjects, so we are going to limit our present discussion to the realm of reading. More specifically, we will explore the various ways in which we, as teachers, can facilitate text comprehension. We will focus our discussion on the range of texts that students typically encounter in the social studies classroom, including the core textbook, associated literature selections, primary source documents, and Internet sites. Our goal is to ensure that students engage with the various texts they are exposed to and learn from these texts (Alvermann, 2002).

TRANSFORMING TEXT-WHAT DO WE MEAN?

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary indicates that the word transform means "to change in composition or structure." This dictionary also indicates that the word "implies a major change in form, nature, or function as in transformed a small company into a corporate giant." We think that this word and its definition fit just right. Our work with students learning history and social studies content from texts suggests that they must transform the text in some way. This transformation allows students to learn with and through the texts. In other words, just reading the text is not sufficient, they must do something with it - they must transform the text so that it becomes part of them and their memory (e.g., Fisher & Frey, 2004).

The interesting question, then, is how can we get students to transform texts? We have organized our thinking about this question into two areas: 1) strategies that require students to transform the text in their mind; and 2) strategies that require students to transform the text on paper. We'll explore each of these as they relate to social studies texts.

"IN YOUR MIND" STRATEGIES FOR TRANSFORMING THE TEXT

There are a number of ways that students can transform the text in their minds including making connections, engaging in partner conversations, and visualizing.

Making connections: One of the ways that students can transform the text in their minds is by making connections with the text. Harvey and Goudvis (2000) suggest that there are at least three kinds of connections that students can make: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Of course students must be taught how to make these connections with their reading materials and must focus on connections that help them understand, remember, and apply the reading.

In terms of teaching these connections, our experience suggests that teachers should select specific passages and invite students to make connections across the three categories. The teacher should model the type of connection that is useful. For example, a teacher might select the following passage from the social studies text to read aloud and then model making connections:

Under Shihuangdi's leadership, unified China grew bigger and stronger. The empire also became increasingly rich as taxes flowed into the capital. As time went by, the government began making ever greater demands on its people. (Ancient World, 1999, p. 244)

Text-to-self:

I remember playing field hockey in high school. When we had good leadership, our team was big and strong. Everyone worked hard to be apart of our team. We took our games seriously and listened to the team captain. When she wanted us to work harder, we did. I have also participated on teams that had poor leadership. We did not want to work hard and as a result, we performed poorly.

Text-to-text:

So far in this chapter about China, no one has been mentioned as a great leader. I have only read about the changes and turmoil in early Chinese history. Leadership must be important to the success of a nation.

This reminds me of someone we read about earlier in the year. His name was Hammurabi and he was a strong leader, too. Shihuangdi also reminds me of some of the Egyptian pharaohs that we read about.

I read a book about Ancient China last year. I was fascinated by this terra cotta army that the emperor had built. I think Shihuangdi was that emperor!

Text-to-world:

My parents are always talking about taxes and how it's the fault of the governor and the president. I guess taxing workers is not a new concept. Have empires, or governments, always tried to become rich by taxing the people? I wonder if there is another way to become rich.

In another classroom, a teacher paused after the students had read the following passage:

At age 20, Spartan men entered the regular army. The men remained in military barracks for 10 more years. They ate all of their meals in dining halls with other soldiers. A typical meal was a viletasting dish called black broth - pork boiled in animal blood, salt and vinegar.

Spartans returned home at age 30 but stayed in the army until age 60. They continued to train for combat. They expected to either win on the battlefield or die, but never to surrender. One Spartan mother ordered her son to "Come home carrying your shield or being carried on it." (Spielvogel, 2005, p. 126-127)

The teacher then invited students to make the following connections: Do you have family members or friends who are 20 years old? What would they say if there were required to serve in the army for 40 years? Have you ever tasted food that looks like "black broth?"

It is important to remember that not all connections are equal. Making the text-to-self connection, "I have been to Greece," is probably less helpful in aiding comprehension than a text-to-self connection, "1 remember when my dad went to fight in the Gulf War. 1 bet the kids in Sparta were sad when the Peloponnesian War started." Similarly, the text-to-text connection "This reminds me of the book / Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert (Bunting, 1997) where her arms were folded neatly across her chest, too" is probably more powerful than the text-to-text connection, "We read a book about mummies when I was in fourth grade."

Text connections provide ample opportunities for students to make personal, textual and real-world connections to the information they encounter in social studies texts. We have found that facilitating student engagement with texts through questions and conversations about these text connections during and after reading can help students to increase their understanding and guide their thinking during independent reading.

Partner conversations: Another way that students can transform the text in their minds is through partner conversations in which they talk about the reading. While we do not suggest that students just randomly talk about their readings, we also do not suggest that the discussion become too contrived. We are particularly fond of the work done by the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburg (2001) on accountable talk. According to the Institute for Learning (www.instituteforlearning.org), there are three core principles for accountable talk, including:

* Accountability to the learning community. Accountable talk encourages students to build on the comments of their peers in a respectful and inclusive manner.

* Accountability to accurate knowledge. Students are educated in the importance of making sure the facts they use to support an argument are accurate.

* Accountability to rigorous thinking. Students are expected to use methods of reasoning appropriate to the discipline. In the case of social studies, students should exercise their chronological and spatial thinking skills in the context of their conversations and pay attention to multiple perspectives, point of view, interpretation, and evidence.

Our work suggests that students must be taught to have these kinds of conversations and that most teachers introduce the idea of accountable talk as a whole group activity before moving to partner conversations. In teaching this, the teacher should:

* Press for clarification and explanation.

* Require justifications of proposals and challenges.

* Recognize and challenge misconceptions.

* Demand evidence for claims or arguments.

* Have students interpret and use each others' statements.

Over time, students will hold one another accountable for each of these points as they have conversations about their texts.

Visualizing: A third way to encourage students to transform texts in their minds is through visualizing. We know that good readers create mental images in their minds as they read. Unfortunately, not all students do this. Further, students are less likely to visualize when the text becomes too technical, too factual or too foreign. As a result, students are not engaging in one of the most powerful transformation strategies exactly when they need to.

Visualizing has been used to teach all kinds of content, from molecular models in chemistry (Wu, Krajcik, & Soloway, 2001) to geography (Chatterjea, 1999) to literature (Goodman, 2003). Harvey and Goudvis (2000) remind us, "when we visualize, we create pictures in our minds that belong to us and no one else" (p. 97). Teachers can use this approach to transforming text to encourage students to create those mental images and to store those images as representations of the texts that they are reading. Students may need to be reminded to use all of their senses in their visualizations - what they could taste, touch, smell, and hear are as important as what they "see." Inviting students to share their visualizations with partners or the whole class provides students an opportunity to understand that people visualize text in different ways and that there is not one right way to do this.

"ON THE PAPER" STRATEGIES

Just like strategies that students can use in their minds, there are a number of ways that students can transform the text on the paper, including note-making, using graphic organizers, and writing to learn prompts.

Note-making: We make a distinction between the task students have when they are listening to a lecture or film (note-taking) and the task they have when they are thinking about and recording information from text (note-making). While both serve as an external storage feature (e.g., Callison, 2003), note-making adds a transformation step which builds comprehension and understanding of the content. In note-making, students take a piece of text and distill its essential features, key ideas, or main points to record in their notes. Over time, and with instruction, students not only use their notes for external storage of information, but also for encoding their ideas (Ganske, 1981). Importantly, as Peverly, Brobst, Graham, and Shaw (2003) showed, background knowledge and note-taking are significant predictors of success on tests.

But the question remains, what kind of notetaking and note-making system works? According to a number of studies, a two-column format such as Cornell Note Taking is effective (e.g., Fisher, 2001). Using this format, students take notes and complete the tasks on the right side of the page while the left side provides a guide and key points. These key points help students quickly find information, locate references, and study for exams. As Faber, Morris and Lieberman (2000) found, the Cornell Note Taking system increases comprehension (and test scores!). A sample student note-making page is found in Figure 1.

Wolfe (2004) presents another successful strategy to use in note-making, which requires students to "lift a line" from the text as they read and add the line to their notes. Lines may be lifted for various reasons, including connections made with the content, curiosity about the content or presentation of information, or reactions to the statement. The line may be lifted, added to the student's notes, and then later used for further writing, discussions, or research. If you are using Big Ideas (McTighe & Wiggins, 1998) or themes, students may be encouraged to lift lines that support or challenge Big Ideas or themes presented within or across units of study.

Graphic organizers: Graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams, concept maps, semantic webs, compare and contrast charts, cause and effect charts, and the like, also help students transform information presented in texts (Fisher, Frey, & Williams, 2002). The idea is for students to take the text they are reading and transform it into a graphic representation. This requires considerable thought and planning as well as re-reading and critical thinking. In addition to serving as a text transformation activity, graphic organizers are a good way of summarizing information and will aid students in remembering and recalling content (Irwin-DeVitis & Pease, 1995; Wilson, 2002). A sample graphic organizer can be found in Figure 2.

Writing to learn prompts: Writing is an excellent way to learn. Writing requires that students consider what they already know, what they have read, and what they think. Throughout the Social Studies curriculum, students are exposed to a variety of writings from and about people and events from the past. Models for a variety of forms and purposes for writing are abundant. With wellconstructed prompts, students will transform texts as they respond. We recently had the opportunity to observe an 8"' grade teacher discussing the Civil War with his students. On the board was a writing prompt, which read "You are a Southerner (or a Northerner) in 1861. Write ajournai entry that explains your reasons for joining the Confederate (or Union) army." As you can see, this prompt requires that students understand the positions of the North and South, what the Confederate and Union armies were, and why they were fighting. One of our favorite writing prompts/ structures is called RAFT (Santa & Havens, 1995). RAFT is an acronym for:

* Role - what is the role of the writer?

* Audience - to whom is the writer writing?

* Format - what is the format for the writing?

* Topic - what is the focus of the writing?

Using this framework, students will transform their background and prior knowledge as they respond to the prompt. They will also use their assigned readings, class discussions, teacher lectures, and any other sources of information they have to take a perspective as they write. For example, a RAFT might read:

R = Sailor in the U.S. Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41

A = American citizens on the U.S. mainland

F = Telegram

T = We have been attacked!

RAFT assignments empower students to use their historical analysis and thinking skills as they consider multiple perspectives, pose relevant questions, summarize key events, identify and interpret multiple causes of events, distinguish between fact and opinion, and draw conclusions using historical characters and events. While students may not practice all of these skills simultaneously in transforming texts, integrating a variety of RAFT assignments overtime will allow students to practice these skills and demonstrate their abilities to use research, writing and thinking skills in a meaningful context.

Conclusion

Of course there are many other ways that students can transform texts and learn from them. It is also important to note that we are not suggesting that all of these strategies be used within the same lesson or unit. While we know that students need to transform the text, they should learn many ways to do so. By teaching students to transform texts, facilitating the process, and providing them the time and space to do so, students will learn to utilize these strategies independently and consistently as they read for information.

References

Alvermann, D. E. (2002). Effective literacy instruction for adolescents. Journal of Literacy Research, 34, 189-208.

Bunting, E. (1997). I am the mummy Heb-Nefert. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company.

Callison, D. (2003). Note-taking: Different notes for different research stages. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 19(7), 33-37,45.

Chatterjea, K. (1999). Use of visual images in the teaching of geography. Geographical Education, 12, 49-55.

Faber, J. E., Morris, J. D., & Lieberman, M. G (2000). The effect of note taking on ninth grade students' comprehension. Reading Psychology, 21, 257-270.

Fisher, D. (2001). "We're moving on up": Creating a schoolwide literacy effort in an urban high school. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45, 92-101.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2004). Improving adolescent literacy: Strategies at work. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Williams, D. (2002). Seven literacy strategies that work. Educational Leadership, 60(3), 70-73.

Ganske, L. (1981). Note-taking: A significant and integral part of learning environments. Educational Communication and Technology: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Development, 29, 155-175.

Goodman, A. (2003). Get A.C.T.I.V.E: Engaging middle school readers with text. Voices from the Middle, 11(1), 15-23.

Harvey, S., & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work. York, ME: Stenhouse.

Irwin-DeVitis, L., & Pease, D. (1995). Using graphic organizers for learning and assessment in middle level classrooms. Middle School Journal, 26(5), 57-64.

Peverly, S. T., Brobst, K. E., Graham, M., Shaw, R. (2003). (2003). College adults are not good at self-regulation: A study on the relationship of self-regulation, note taking, and test taking. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 335-346.

Santa, C., & Havens, L. (1995). Creating independence through student-owned strategies: Project CRISS. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt.

Spielvogel, J. J. (2005). World history: Journey across time: The early ages. Columbus, OH: Glencoe/ McGraw Hill.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wilson, E. (2002). Literature and literacy in the social studies classroom: Strategies to enhance social studies instruction. Southern Social Studies Journal, 28(1), 45-57.

Wolfe, S. (2004). Interpreting literature with children. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wu, H., Krajcik, J. S., & Soloway, E. (2001). Promoting understanding of chemical representations: Students' use of a visualization tool in the classroom. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38, 821-842.

Douglas Fisher, Emily Schell, & Nancy Frey San Diego State University

Emily M. Schell, Ed.D., is a visiting professor at San Diego State University and serves as the Social Studies Education Director for the City Heights Educational Collaborative in San Diego.

Douglas Fisher is Professor of Teacher Education at San Diego State University and Director of Professional Development for the City Heights Educational Collaborative.

Nancy Frey is Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at San Diego State University and Coordinator of Professional Development Schools for the City Heights Educational Collaborative.

Copyright California Council for the Social Studies Fall 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved