Embedding Apprenticeship Strategies in Subject Area Classrooms

According to Schoenbach (1999) the Reading Apprenticeship approach has been successful when, "In the process of integrating new approaches to teaching reading, these teachers came to understand that helping students become more independent, critical readers of subject area texts is not a diversion from real teaching. Rather it is essential to students' understanding of curriculum content. 

History teachers should not only ask their students, "What did you find out in your reading?" but also "How did you figure that out?" "How did you get that idea?" and "How did you reach that conclusion?" (Schoenbach, 1999, p. 118).  The history teacher mentioned in this book..."introduced the process of being metacognitive about reading by putting a text up on the overhead projector and then 'thinking on paper' as she read, making her own reading process visible to her students.  Thereafter, she had students think on paper as they read these back-ground materials-writing notes in the margins about what they were thinking, questioning, or not understanding. Afterward, students usually met in groups of four to share their reading processes and to clarify vocabulary, ideas, and responses to the text. In full class discussion the teacher then continued the think-aloud by having students question her about the reading" (p. 118). 

Helping students find reasons to read is extremely important.  Without a legitimate reason to read many students will fail to see the importance of reading and fail to learn to read and will struggle with reading to learn.  Many teachers have attempted literature circles and the teacher either likes them or doesn't.  This book recommends literature circles as a method of teaching reading and a clear example of how to set this up so that it doesn't drive the teacher crazy.

Making the reading process safe and visible is very important in guiding the understanding of students.  Most of the reading process is invisible so some students get lost because they need to see the process. According to Schoenbach (1999), " Many network participants working to develop reading apprenticeships with their students have found that teacher think-alouds serve two important purposes.  In addition to making teachers' formerly invisible reading processes visible to students, the think-alouds make it safe for students to take risks in the classroom community.  After all if the teacher - the master reader - is willing to reveal his or her own confusion about a text, a student who feels confused won't feel so alone.  More important, students will begin to see confusion is a natural state of being for all readers at various points in their reading experience" (p. 123).

In my classroom I never pretend to know everything.  I was fortunate to have a mentor teacher who taught me that I am only human, and there is no possible way for me to know it all, so with that said I learned to demonstrate the processes of thinking or figuring out what I don't know to my students.  The answer is never simply "I don't know.", but it is always "I don't know, lets figure it out."