This learning module explores various topics related to literacy instruction including mind journeys, fake reading, creating literacy-rich schools, and literacy narratives. It discusses exploring these concepts through reading passages from books and articles, participating in discussion groups, and a writing activity. Specific topics that will be covered include mind journeys, fake reading, creating literacy-rich environments, using content area literacy strategies, developing teacher expertise in literacy, and analyzing sample literacy narratives.

1. Learning Module 2

2. In this power point, you will explore the following:
Mosaic of Thought: Mind Journeys
“Fake Reading” from Chris Tovani’s (2000) book, I
Read It But I Don’t Get It
Introductory Material from Creating Literacy-Rich
Schools for Adolescents
Common Threads Between Mosaic of Thought and
Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents
Sample Literacy Narratives
Literacy Narrative Writing Activity

3. “As I lay comfortably ensconced in my bed,
reading Billy Collins’ poetry, my mind took a
journey. In the space of three to five minutes, I
considered what I already knew that related to
the poem; I wove past experiences into the fabric
of the poem, posed questions, drew conclusions,
visualized, inferred, synthesized and considered
what I didn’t know at least as much as what I did
know. I longed to talk about what I had
discovered through rereading. I created more
interpretations because I had already talked to
others and my meaning was layered on top of
theirs.”

4. “My thinking led me on a journey many of us
take. The journey itself, however, is rarely
discussed….[Mosaic of Thought] is about
explicit comprehension instruction that is rich
and deep and invites children to contribute
significantly to the conversation about the
mental journey we take when we read”
(Keene & Zimmerman, 1997, p. 11).

5. What does this quote from the first edition of
Mosaic of Thought make you think about? What
is a mind journey? How can we teach this?
In your discussion groups, you will complete a
mind journey activity over Ernest Hemingway’s
short story, “Hills Like White Elephants.” Pause
here in the power point to complete this
activity.

6. 

Read Part I from Chris Tovani’s (2000) book, I
Read It But I Don’t Get It
Consider the following questions:




What is “Fake Reading”?
Have you ever engaged in “fake reading”?
How do you feel about the prospect of teaching
students who are “fake” readers?
How can you help students use more proficient
reading strategies? Or, go on mind journeys?

7. 
What does it mean to create literacy-rich schools for
adolescents? What would this look like?

“What will students need to know to participate more
fully in a technological world? To act as productive
citizens? To become critical consumers of information?
To live high-quality personal lives” (p. xiii).

Literacy is increasingly multifaceted and demanding for
adolescents. Thus, students need increasingly
sophisticated reading and writing skills embedded
within applications of New Literacies (e.g., digital
literacies).

8. 
“Content teachers are the ones who can best
model and regularly support students’
strategic reading and content learning” (Ogle,
2004, p. vi).

“Students need lots of rich, literacy-based
learning experiences across the school day, and
sometimes those experiences require specific
instruction in reading, but all have the ultimate
goal of learning and thinking” (Ivey & Fisher,
2004, p. XV).

9. Whole
School Approach to Content Area Literacy
Developed Through Participatory Action Research
Relied
on Content Teachers Modeling Literacy
Transportable
“Is
and Transparent Literacy Strategies
every teacher a teacher of reading?”(p. xiv)
“Learning
requires reading, writing, speaking, listening,
and viewing” (p. xiv)

10. Area 1: Are all students’ reading and writing development and relevant
life experiences used to explore literary concepts?
Area 2: Do all courses throughout a student’s day capitalize on the
student’s literacy and language as a way to learn new information?
Area 3: Are all students provided with an opportunity to read for
learning and pleasure during the school day?
Area 4: Do the intervention initiatives cause students to read more
and to read better?
Area 5: Is there a school-wide emphasis on literacy, and does this focus
develop teacher expertise?

11. 
Self as Reader: Teacher as Literacy Model

Explicit Comprehension Instruction

Focus on a Shared Approach to Literacy Learning

Professional Development with Teacher Buy-In

12. 



Please read the collection of literacy
narratives written by previous students in this
course.
Consider the merits of each literacy narrative.
What do you like about each paper?
Generate a list of qualities of a “good” literacy
narrative.
Consider how you can address each of these
qualities in your teaching.

13. 



Freewrite about “fake reading” experiences
you have had or observed taking place in
school for five minutes.
Add some quoted speech to your freewriting.
Incorporate a quote from Tovani’s chapter into
your discussion as either support for your
experiences or as a counter example to your
experiences.
Create a descriptive title for your writing.