Content Stages Self-Study Series: Reaching Further with the Content Stages

This month’s blog builds on the Self-Study Series content from July and October. July’s post presented Read and Reflect activities that helped educators build knowledge of the Content Stages. October’s post offered tips for educators seeking to refine their Content Stage instruction. In this post, implementation leader Kari Schneider concludes the Self-Study Series by explaining how educators can support their colleagues, students, and families with reading to learn through the Content Stages.

Years ago, when I taught Grade 2, I initially struggled to understand a quirky student. Over time, I learned more about the unique way he saw the world: he was a brilliant kid, and I wanted to make sure he knew that. Recently, this student graduated from high school and reached out to me to express his gratitude. I realized that when he, his other teachers, and his family recognized his potential and met his needs, they amplified the ways I had supported him in Grade 2. This community—students, teachers, and families—built a network of support.

School communities that align on common goals and practices have positioned themselves to support student success. Just as interested parties who united around my former student helped him succeed, colleagues, students, and families in school communities who share the process for reading to learn can solidify and expand instruction’s impact. As we wrap up our Self-Study Series on the Content Stages, we’ll explore how school communities can extend the reach of the Wit & Wisdom^® reading framework.

Sharing the Content Stages with Colleagues

The Content Stages can help educators learn more about their practice by encouraging them to analyzing professional texts. For example, use “There's No Such Thing as a Reading Test” by E.D. Hirsch and Robert Pondiscio to engage in a collaborative study. Share the Content Stages with your colleagues as you deepen your understanding of reading assessment.  

The following Content Framing Questions and tasks can support your reading:

Wonder: What do you notice and wonder about “There’s No Such Thing as a Reading Test”?

• • Colleagues complete a Notice and Wonder T-Chart independently or collaboratively.
  • Colleagues share what they noticed and wondered about the article.

Organize: What is happening in paragraphs 1–9 of “There’s No Such Thing as a Reading Test”?

• • Colleagues use a graphic organizer, such as Boxes and Bullets, or an annotation strategy to summarize the article.
  • Colleagues use a Jigsaw to summarize key paragraphs in the article and share their findings with each other.

Reveal: What does a deeper exploration of the “two-lock box” reveal in “There’s No Such Thing as a Reading Test”?

• • Colleagues zoom in on the metaphor and use the surrounding text to put the key idea in their own words.
  • Colleagues use words or images to communicate the meaning of this metaphor.

Distill: What is the essential meaning of “There’s No Such Thing as a Reading Test”?

• • Colleagues consider how the article applies to their own practice.
  • Colleagues discuss the meaning of the article in a Socratic Seminar.

Know: How does “There’s No Such Thing as a Reading Test” build my understanding of the role of content knowledge in reading comprehension?

• • Colleagues write to reflect on what they learned in the article.
  • Colleagues collectively capture key takeaways to use in their own practice.

Once you and your colleagues have discussed the article, spend a few closing minutes to reflect on the Content Stages process. In what ways did the Content Stages support your learning? How might you use the Content Stages in future professional learning tasks?

Sharing the Content Stages more broadly with colleagues may deepen your own professional conversations; it may also open more classrooms to using the Content Stages to help students glean new understandings from reading.

Helping Students Transfer the Content Stages

After students learn and practice the Content Stages, they possess metacognitive strategies for engaging with complex texts. These strategies transcend content areas, as students can apply the Content Stages to texts that they read outside of English language arts. For example, the Great Minds^® PhD Science^® curriculum uses the Content Stages to support students with scientific reading. And middle grade teachers can encourage students to remember the Content Stages to process the more challenging readings they will encounter in high school.

Because the Content Stages offer a predictable and flexible approach to reading complex texts, they can also help students tackle high-stakes ELA tests. To learn more about how students use the Content Stages during assessments, check out this blog and our Testing and Wit & Wisdom professional learning session. During this session, participants consider an approach to test taking that is based on students’ daily work with the Content Stages in Wit & Wisdom.

Sharing the Content Stages with Families

When adults understand Wit & Wisdom’s reading framework, they can better support their students at home. We can help families by sharing the importance of reading and rereading complex texts. After receiving this guidance, family members will often work eagerly to strengthen students’ reading comprehension. A Family Literacy Night can also allow families to explore the Content Stages. Additionally, Wit & Wisdom provides an art-focused Content Stage activity that educators can adapt and use with families and caregivers.

Summary

Experienced educators have witnessed how individual lessons and relationships create lasting memories that students continually revisit. Once students, colleagues, and families understand what the Content Stages are, why they matter, and how to use them, their impact can transcend an individual lesson or classroom. School communities succeed when all members—students, staff, and families—feel supported and knowledgeable. I hope these tips help you strengthen reading to learn within your own school community!