Presenter: Todd Wegenhart
Track: Standards Based Instructional Design
Description: Reading is a difficult skill to learn and it is difficult to teach: as strong readers in our first and second languages, we can often forget the variety of skills and knowledge that are required to make a few printed words on a page have life and meaning. Fortunately, research on reading in English language has been found to be consistent with research on reading in other alphabetic languages, so we can utilize the same strategies in our Latin and Greek classes! This session and the series it is a part of will help participants understand the many elements that a reader has to negotiate to successfully comprehend a text, how a teacher can organize and structure the task of reading to make it more manageable to teach and learn, and methods for instructing and assessing the basic components of reading that ultimately develop a student's ability to comprehend a text.
Each session will focus on a particular aspect of reading, utilizing research-based ideas and approaches that have been identified as effective in the instruction and remediation of literacy skills. Because this research lies mostly in the realm of teaching reading in students' primary language, it exists outside of the typical second language teacher's experience. This series will share models of reading that are based in this research, and then break down the essential components that lead to reading comprehension: phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary.
Other webinars in the series
What is Reading? Exploring how using models for reading can help teachers plan instruction and assess students (3/19/23, 7PM EDT)
What’s that Sound? Phonological awareness instruction in the Latin and Greek classroom (4/2/2023, 7PM EDT)
Breaking the Code: Teaching and assessing phonics in a language class (4/16/23, 7PM EDT)
Date of recorded webinar: Sunday, April 30, 2023 7PM EST
Todd Wegenhart has taught all levels of Latin at Wyoming High School in the Cincinnati area for 18 years, and is also licensed as a reading specialist and intervention specialist. He has also served the American Classical League as a member of the finance committee, TMRC Director, member of various task forces and as chair of programs and scholastic services for the Junior Classical League. In his free time, Todd enjoys going on adventures with his wife and son; reading books about space, cosmology, and astronomy; and cooking. His favorite museum in Rome is the Borghese Gallery, his favorite Greek divinity is Athena, and his favorite animals are walruses and bears.