Mt. Airy Elementary School: Case Study
Mt. Airy, Maryland
Readers at Risk
When we are out driving in an unfamiliar region, we need a map. The reading comprehension landscape is much more complex as students' eyes hit the page running. Reading instruction traditionally walks students right up to the road of comprehension and says, "Now you're on your own." After being motivated and developing prior knowledge, students had been expected by teachers to cross the road of comprehension alone, greeted on the other side with comprehension questions. Students, especially at-risk children, so often make a run for it, thinking that the faster they get down the page, the better. Then teachers provide "fix-up" or "remedial" strategies when students can't respond to the questions. Lev Vygotsky's (1962) zone of proximal development is the critical region beyond a learner's immediate, autonomous performance, where instructional guidance is crucial. Yet it is exactly in this zone of comprehension where there are limited instructional strategies available.
Rather than dropping students off at the edge of the road, Thinking Maps help them see their way through to the end. By guiding them across an unfamiliar text with Thinking Maps, we are providing direct instruction for using reading strategies independently. Providing direct Thinking Map instruction for use during reading allows students to cross the reading comprehension road safely. Ultimately, Thinking Map instruction for reading and writing provides students with instruction beyond what- and how to use strategies. Thinking Maps require students to understand why and when to use them. Strategic reading behavior-and writing processesrequire that it is the learner who selects an action for a specific purpose. It is the intentional self-selection of and self-regulation of a particular strategy to achieve a specific goal that is the critical component of strategic reading behavior (See Chapter 3, Leveling The Playing Field for All Students).