A directed reading thinking activity (DRTA) is a highly structured instructional technique. The approach has been refined and sharpened since it was first developed by Russell Stauffer. It can be adapted to a wide range of student ability levels and instructional situations. A comprehensive discussion of DRTA as developed by Stauffer can be found on the Web site developed by Debra Burgess. http://www.csuchico.edu/cme/educ/BLMC218/drta.html The following excerpt comes from those pages:

"The goal of Directed Reading Thinking Activities (DRTA) is to help children [students] become skillful readers by incorporating skills taught through DRTA. Russell G. Stauffer states that ‘the noblest skill we can give a reader is the freedom to examine his own thinking to raise questions, seek answers diligently and boldly, to analyze and act’. The following strategies are ones that skillful readers use:

1. recall and utilize prior knowledge
   
2. automatically draw meaning from words
   
3. confirm and disprove predictions
   
4. self question and make adaptations"

Specific steps in a lesson are also detailed on the DRTA Web site and, while they are focused on the lower grades, can easily be adapted to higher education. Using this information, here’s how the DRTA approach can implemented in using PowerWeb:

1. Select an article from PowerWeb that you want students to read.

2. Preview the article with students. Discuss its basic structure and organization. Talk about the meaning and importance of any graphic material- pictures, charts, graphs, tables, or illustrations. Note any accompanying reference or resource information such as a summary, bibliography, or sources.

3. Introduce any terms that students need to know. Let them try to explain the meaning in the context of the article. PowerWeb also makes available an interactive glossary for each discipline. It is accessed from the Interactive Activity navigation button. Students can practice defining terms online, then checking to see if they are correct. Once they have defined all the terms in the list, they can print out the list and have a handy study guide.

4. Set a purpose for reading.
• Give students some background on the content and significance of the article.
• Professors may want to first check out the PowerWeb weekly update or current news provided for the discipline and determine if there is some current information that would enlighten or expand the article itself.
• If it’s relevant, talk briefly about the author.
• Ask students if they can suggest purposes for reading the article. Motivation increases and comprehension improves when students understand why they are reading a particular selection.
• Ask students to look for specific facts, key words or terms, or ideas; analyze the author’s point of view; look for examples of author bias; compare or contrast the facts and ideas presented with those in their text or another PowerWeb article on a similar topic.

5. Reinforce and improve comprehension. One of the ways to determine if an article was understood is to rephrase sections of the material into questions, then discuss the answers students give. As an online product, PowerWeb lends itself to a variety of means of testing comprehension:

• With each article we have provided, online, a "Test Your Knowledge Form" which asks students to review the material they have read by stating the main idea, providing supporting facts, assessing the bias they may have detected, and listing new terms they’ve learned. This form can then be e-mailed to the professor.
• We have also provided a multiple-choice quiz question for each article that focuses on the purpose of the article. It can be accessed from the article page, or the navigation bar. The student’s answer is then submitted to the professor.
• Professors may choose to have students themselves rephrase the topic into a question and then e-mail the question to other students in the class. Those students must then answer the question and e-mail it back to the questioner. Several variations may present themselves depending on the size of the class.

-----Perhaps split the class in half and have half the students ask the question, and the other half provide the answer.

-----Have just one student per article ask the question and have the rest of the class provide the answer. The original questioner must then assess the quality of the responses. All student responses can then be e-mailed to the professor, or printed out and handed in.

Discuss the answers to the questions, particularly those that have to do with the purpose of the article. Part of the rationale of the DRTA concept is to have students become more focused and better readers by anticipating the purpose of the article, then verifying their predictions by actually reading the material.

6. Follow up. Have students locate additional information related to the PowerWeb article. Ask for a report or a presentation using information and ideas from the article or from several articles about a similar topic. Consider requesting that students prepare a PowerPoint presentation or develop a Web page highlighting the concepts and ideas contained in the article/s thereby utilizing the online medium not only to do research, but also to prepare an assignment. Or a writing assignment can be completed online and e- mailed to the professor.

A comprehensive listing of study guides and learning strategies can be found at the ISS/Learning Center Web site at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/

A helpful link off that page gives hints and tips on reading difficult material. http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/texred1.htm

A process study guide is designed to help students who are having difficulty applying reading skills. Marginal notes suggest where, when, and what reading skills can be applied to a passage. Notes in the margins of the reading material might include: "What signal word is used here?" "Note the cause/effect relationship." "What words show that this information is part of a list?"

To prepare a process study guide for a PowerWeb article, read the article several times first. As you read, pencil notes and comments next to examples of the reading skill you want to reinforce. Finally, write clues you’ll give your students in the margins of the article.

A process study guide is not necessary for every student or every reading assignment. However, when students are having difficulty with specific and identifiable reading skills, a process study guide may be helpful. Following is an example of a process study guide from a PowerWeb:Anthropology article.

A content study guide tells students what information and ideas to look for, highlights important information and ideas, and may even tell students exactly where important information will be found. A content study guide may also provide questions for students to think about while reading and list reading assignments for different student ability levels.

To prepare a content study guide for a PowerWeb article, read the article several times first. Identify and list words and terms that may be unfamiliar or confusing to students. You may choose to use the interactive glossary we have provided on the site (found under the Interactive Activity button on the navigation bar) either to have students study the glossary terms on their own, or to help you choose the terms that should be listed. The Instructor’s Resource Guide may provide you with some ideas/questions to help prepare students to read the article. It is accessed from the navigation bar on PowerWeb’s Home Page. Alternatively, you may decide that students would most benefit from looking at the "Test Your Knowledge Form" that we provide online (accessed from the contents page, right below each article) before they read the article rather than as a testing device after they read the article.

1. Review the section in this guide on Critical Thinking.
2. Decide which critical thinking skill you want to reinforce either in a specific article, or in a topical unit.
3. Provide students with a list of the major points to look for and consider.
4. Write the reasoning guide. Include full directions on how to use the material. Structured activities such as matching items on prepared lists or rank ordering of factual support items will make the reasoning guide somewhat easier for students to use. Please note: each PowerWeb comes with an online interactive activity that may work as an analytical/critical thinking activity. The activity is accessed from the navigation bar.
5. Students complete the activities as an individual assignment and e-mail the answers to the professor, or may collaborate and together prepare a response to be e-mailed to the professor or print it out and hand it in.
6. Follow up by discussing the responses to the activities.