by Anna Gratz Cockerille
To research well, students must draw upon an array of reading and writing skills, flexibly, simultaneously, and confidently. They must skim through texts to locate relevant parts, read across and integrate information from multiple texts, accumulate knowledge and grow ideas, and read critically, considering the authorial intent of their sources. They must organize their thinking and their writing to communicate their learning with others.
When students research, then, the full range of their literacy skills is on display. Further, engaging in research is essential preparation for the kind of reading and thinking students will need to do as secondary and college students, and as informed citizens, attempting to make sense of the world around them. The opportunity for students to engage in research projects of all shapes and sizes is crucial.
When we teach kids to research well, we teach them to think well. Research means taking in facts and ideas as reported by someone else, and interpreting them in thoughtful ways. Inserting plenty of thinking instruction into research instruction is key. Here are a few ways to help students to move from sheer reporting of the facts to more in-depth, insightful interpretations as they research.
Classrooms engaged in research are filled with energy, learning, and independence. Of course, all of this independence and reliance on a breadth of skills means teachers have their work cut out for them. Students will need vigilance, support, and cheerleading, in ways that will pay off long term. Join staff developers Mike Ochs and Jen DeSutter for this week's TCRWP Twitter Chat tomorrow to discuss writing and the research process. Plan to share and take away a multitude of tips to help support students as they put their nonfiction reading and writing skills to work to engage in deep, powerful inquiry.
Anna was a teacher and a literacy coach in New York City and in Sydney, Australia, and later became a Staff Developer and Writer at TCRWP. She served as an adjunct instructor in the Literacy Specialist Program at Teachers College, and taught at several TCRWP institutes, including the content literacy institute, where she helped participants bring strong literacy instruction into social studies classrooms. Anna also has been a researcher for Lucy Calkins, contributing especially to Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement (Heinemann 2012), and Navigating Nonfiction in the Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3–5 series (Heinemann 2010). Most recently, Anna served as an editor for the Units of Study for Teaching Reading, K–5 series.