The following research report was written in August 2006 and describes exploratory work conducted in the Summer of 2006. The goal of this research was to determine whether Visual Thesaurus was a possible tool for providing translational resources to middle school students with learning disabilities.
Initial Component Analysis:
Visual Thesaurus and Reading Comprehension
August 8 – 10, 2006
BACKGROUND
In our work with the National Center for the Study of Supported Electronic Learning Environments, EDC’s project group is focusing on supported electronic learning environments in middle-grades English language arts. Our target students are those in grades 6-8 with mild to moderate learning disabilities and cognitive delays. We are interested in these students because their disabilities can have a direct impact on their ability to make meaning when reading—the crux of comprehension, and features of electronic learning environments may assist them in this comprehension process.
These students struggle with several aspects of reading: lack of word knowledge (vocabulary), lack of fluency, difficulty in literal comprehension, difficulty in inferential comprehension, poor ability to read strategically, lack of ability to identify text structures, and an inability to apply fix-up strategies. The first aspect—a lack of word knowledge (vocabulary)— characterizes most students with cognitive delay and many students with learning disabilities (LD) and contributes to several of the other aspects. Lacking word knowledge, the students focus on individual words, process slowly (lack of fluency), and fail to grasp the literal meaning (difficulty in literal comprehension). These all contribute to difficulty in making inferences from longer “chunks of text.” With impoverished word knowledge, students have difficulty reading and may bring less background knowledge to their content area learning.
Because of the central importance of word knowledge in comprehension, we have begun our electronic text study with a tool designed to build word knowledge. Visual Thesaurus is designed for a wide age-range of readers and allows the reader to look up a word directly from a piece of electronic text. The tool provides a visual array of word meanings in web format. The array opens before the viewer’s eyes, adding descriptors around the focal word; if the viewer wishes to make a different word in the display the focal word, she clicks on it and the array moves to reorient items around that word. This mobile, three-dimensional quality is immediately appealing to adults and young people.
A viewer can adjust the display to include a narrow or wide range of kinds of word meanings. For example, the word “sail” can be a noun (part of boat), verb (guide a boat through the water), or adjective (sail cloth, sail boat); the Thesaurus can be constrained to define just the noun or verb. The tool is appealing to both adults and young learners because of the array of meanings and the ways that the learner can manipulate the array (rearrange around one of the synonyms, expand the array of descriptors) and see it move quickly in response. Additional features allow the user to search the Internet for images related to the target word, hear the word read aloud and perform searches in a variety of languages (i.e. Spanish, French, German, Italian, etc.), and access Visual Thesaurus from Microsoft Word (PCs only). This tool embodies four of the categories of resource components outlined in the final proposal of the National Center for Supported Text (as shown in Figure 1):
Figure 1: Selected Supported E-Text Resources
Category Specific Features
Translational Provides dictionary definitions and explanations
Illustrative Links to related visual information on the Internet
Enrichment Provides related terms and concepts such as synonyms, antonyms, in the form of a concept map; can be linked to related Internet websites
Collaborative Can be used in a small group context and can be linked to blogs
Exploratory Observations
Although the tool is appealing and also promising for middle grades learners, there is no systematic research on its use by students with disabilities. The goal of our initial set of observations was to determine, using a component analysis with a small sample of students, whether they can use the tool and find it appealing, whether they can use it to understand words in a passage, and which features of the tool are most and least useful for this population of students. Our questions for exploration included:
• How quickly and easily can students learn to use the tool? What difficulties do they have?
• To what extent does the tool engage the students and motivate them to look up words?
• What tool features are helpful? What features are confusing?
• What student characteristics are important to the success of the tool?
• What activity and text features are important to the success of the tool?
• What are directions for further study?
The Students
Assisted by the Jamesville Public Schools in Jamesville (a suburb of a medium-sized city in a Northeastern state), and a special education teacher, Rose Smith, we selected four middle school students to work with. Each researcher worked with one male and one female student: Cathy worked with Stephen and Lisa; Alise worked with Margaret and David. The students were participating in a summer program in July and early August for students with identified reading and learning difficulties. All have individual education plans (IEPs). With the exception of Margaret, all students had just completed 6th grade (Margaret had just completed 7th grade). Lisa, David and Stephen are all placed in self-contained classrooms, while Margaret is placed in the general education classroom. Figure 2 presents information on each of the four children, including age and grade level, placement in school, scores on standardized reading tests, and other pertinent information about their learning strengths and difficulties from their Individual Education Plans (IEPs).
Figure 2: Student Information from IEP
Student Relevant Student Information
Lisa DOB: 1994
Grade: Entering 7th
Exhibits difficulties in comprehending vocabulary, grasping concepts and retrieving information
Speech and language testing yielded scores ranging from below average to average; most difficulty on subtest involving recalling sentences
Stephen No IEP information available
Margaret DOB: 1992
Grade: Entering 8th
In self-contained class for LA and math; general education classroom for Social Studies and Science
Cognitive testing indicate that overall, Margaret is functioning within the intellectually impaired range. Verbal score in the low average range, and was significantly higher than all of the other index scores, which fell within the intellectually impaired range.
Visual and auditory recognition memory is much stronger than her ability to retrieve information.
Margaret is unable to decode and comprehend grade level text
David DOB: 1994
Grade: Entering 7th
David has been successful in a functional academic program with his peers who have intellectual impairments in a self-contained class.
Low cognitive functioning impacts progress in classroom setting. Functioning at first grade level, overall. Reading vocabulary comprehension (first grade), comprehends passages (lower first grade)
The Setting
We met with the students in a room adjacent to the one where they were doing academic work with Rose Smith. The door was open between the rooms, so that we could easily move from our room to the printer. A computer cart was open and available with computers with various programs for young students. The school is wired for the Internet, although on the first day of our observations, the school was having problems with their Internet connection. Because of difficulties with the Internet connectivity, we were forced to work in ‘hard copy’ with both Margaret and Lisa on the first day. Additionally, work being done on the school (at times right outside our window!) made conversation difficult and affected the quality of our tape recordings.
Activity Design
We designed an activity that would introduce students to Visual Thesaurus and apply the tool to reading assignments related to recent work in school. We assumed that students would then be bringing some background knowledge to their use of the tool and that we could provide them readings that interested them.
At Rose Smith’s suggestion, we selected readings related to four states, New Mexico, Hawaii, Florida and Texas, which students studied in class during 2005-2006. We identified readings with estimated varying levels of difficulty for each state; however, we did not analyze them for vocabulary level, lexile level, or other measure of reading difficulty. We decided that both observers should begin with readings on Florida, since we were able to find interesting readings on Florida’s animals and early Native American inhabitants. Using a set of common texts would enable us to compare how students with different reading challenges and strengths used VT on a common set of texts. Appendix C includes the Florida readings
Appendix A presents a chart that we prepared to guide our work with each of four readings on Florida. For each reading (e.g., Florida Manatees, Zebra Longwing Butterflies, Florida Wild cats, and the Seminoles) we identified a series of comprehension questions and pinpointed words in the text that was likely to pose a challenge to the students’ answering the question. Figure 3 outlines the procedure we developed for a work session, including our preparation for the session and the steps in our actual work with each student.
Approach to Data Gathering
Our strategies for documenting our interactions with the students and their work with VT included the following:
• Tape recorded our full interactions with the student and transcribed portions
• Annotated the hard copy text as the student read, by circling words that posed difficulty for the student, noting points where decoding was slow or difficult, writing questions, or noting the students’ affect (high interest).
• Periodically printed out the VT display that the student was discussing.
• Asked the teacher about aspects of the students’ reading or behavior. “Is this typical?”
• Annotated the chart in Appendix A
WORKING WITH LISA (2 DAYS)
Lisa’s Profile
Lisa is a slight 7th grader with a sweet face, who looks younger than her age. She was eager to spend time with me on the computer, and enjoyed having my undivided attention. I spent about 2 and 1/2 hours with Lisa across two days. The wireless Internet connection was down the first day (the first day this occurred all summer). I used that first day to find out more about Lisa and her reading abilities and background knowledge off-line. The Florida readings interested Lisa because she has visited family in Florida once, where she saw a small lizard, and she was leaving for Florida the day following our observations. She selected the Zebra Longwings as her first reading.
Lisa’s Background Knowledge
Lisa is eager to talk about her experiences, particularly with animals. She pointed accurately to Boston on a US map I showed her and was able to point to Florida. Asked whether she knows any other states, she points to Texas and says she’s never been there. Asked where she has been, she said “Boston and Salem,” then points to Hawaii, where “my mother went on her honeymoon and to Las Vegas.” She remembers that she went to Florida and New Hampshire, but does not know where NH was on the map.
Her one memory of her trip to Florida “as a kid” was seeing a gecko “a type of small lizard.” She said she “saw one doing a push up” and gestures herself how the arms went up and down. She recounted a series of stories about animals and pets such as turtles and parakeets.
Lisa’s incidental knowledge of animals came up also during our reading. When I showed her the reading of the Zebra Longwing, with a picture in color, she asked, “A Monarch?” When I asked her what it reminded her of, she answered, “An owl.” I asked if she knew other black and white animals and she said, “Skunk.” She also guessed (trying to get what was in my head) whale (possibly having seen a picture of a black and white killer whale? With another cue, “looks like a horse” she recalled “zebra!” Later, when we worked on the reading about Florida bobcats, she described a television program about an African group that considered certain cats to be sacred. L: To them they’re like sacred. (O: What do you mean?) L: They think that Jesus or God is the cat.
Day 1: Understanding Lisa’s Reading Ability
Lisa’s comprehension is seriously impeded by poor decoding skills and probably some memory issues. As we sat at the computer checking on the Internet connection, I asked her if she could read the message on the screen (“You are not connected to the Internet”). She said, “no, not really”. When I prompted her by pointing to the word “you.” She guessed “The” then said “You” without more prompting and then slowly read, “are not c (sounding first letter) connected to the Internet.” She said it meant “You are not fully connected to the Internet.” She is aware that she has reading difficulties. When I said that she could read that line just fine, she said, “But I can’t read chapter books.”
Her decoding and memory difficulties were further apparent on Day 1 as she showed me her computer screen and the icon for Internet connection—Safari. The word seemed unfamiliar to her, although she has to click on it any time she gets onto a reading program that she uses. When I reminded her that it’s the word she has to click on to get to her reading program, she still didn’t recall it and she didn’t try to sound it out. When I said, “Safari” she said, “Oh, Safari!” I suggested that safari would be a good word to look up on Visual Thesaurus. She tried to sound out other messages on the screen, and slowly and word by word decoded “…cannot open the page” (of her reading program because it is on the Internet). She does not know the idea of “address” on the Internet.
Lisa doesn’t easily focus in on text, probably because reading is difficult. I mentioned the idea of looking at information of Florida animals several times, but she kept up a rapid stream of talk about the animal and pet stories. When she does begin to try to read, she tends to associate to related memories or stories. In looking at the section on the Bobcat, she sounded the b, said “Bobcat” then immediately said, “I learned about bobcats they growl at each other…” This shows her interest in animals, but also, perhaps, to get away from difficult reading to talking about familiar things.
She demonstrated limitations in phonemic awareness, word recognition (even of a high frequency word, “found”), and memory (Florida) may be contributing to her difficulty with decoding and fluency. Her records and more formal diagnostic testing would be needed to confirm these informal observations.
When we switched to additional sections that appeared to be closer to Lisa’s reading level (see excerpt 1), problems were still apparent. For example, in the sentence: “Zebras fly slowly and don’t startle easily” she ‘recognized’ Zebra and ‘and’ and could very slowly sound out all of the other words, with me present as support.
Excerpt 1. Zebra Longwing
Zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonius) are one of four longwing and fritillary butterflies found in Florida.
In 1996, Governor Chiles designated the Zebra Longwing as Florida's official state butterfly. The zebra, easily identified by its long black wings striped with yellow, is found in all parts of the state year round.
Zebras fly slowly and don't startle easily, making them easy to follow and observe. A zebra resting at dusk can be gently coaxed to climb on your finger and to return, unflustered, to its perch. Zebras roost in groups, returning to the same location each night.
Zebra longwings feed on nectar and pollen. They are the only butterflies known to eat pollen which is probably why they have a long lifespan of about six months. If denied pollen, they live a more typical lifespan of about one month.
In summary, Lisa has a much larger listening than reading vocabulary, has fair skills in sounding out words, and fair word recognition. When she hears a word, she often recognizes it and knows the meaning. Her decoding is slow however, and phonemic awareness limited, so on her own, she will quickly get stuck. It’s difficult to predict what high incidence words she will be able to recognize or sound out.
The next question for exploration is then, how does a child with these characteristics interact with Visual Thesaurus? Can it be helpful to her problems with recognizing and understanding words? My prediction at the end of this first day was that VT would not be a good fit for her. The audio feature of VT—that it will pronounce words in the display, could be helpful because she often recognizes the word and its meaning when she hears it. But she is likely to have difficulty reading the definitions. The number of defining relationships and words are likely to be overwhelming and take her focus on the original text. And I predict that in bringing up multiple meanings of the word, even if we limit it to one part of speech in a word that can be both (e.g. “seed”) will make it too cognitively complex for her.
Day 2: Working with Visual Thesaurus
Learning the Tool
I ask Lisa to choose a color so that we could play with that word on VT. She chose “purple” and I had her write it, coaching her through the spelling. We opened VT and she typed it purple, again with some spelling prompts, the Look it Up space. When the array opened, Lisa has difficulty recognizing ‘purple’ at the center of the array (Figure 3). I show her the speaker icon but we need to figure out the volume adjustments on her computer before she is able to hear the word. Even then, it is faint. She clicks many times, fascinated at making the word “speak.” Again, she has difficulty finding the word “purple’ in the display. She looks and still has difficulty. Note in the exchange below, that she has difficulty spelling the word, even when looking at it on the display.
O: Where’s the word, purple. It should be in the …the word that you’re looking for should be right in the middle of the display. Right there (pointing). Can you spell it?
L: Purppl? (she misspells it while looking at the word, in bold at the center of the display. This makes me wonder about her visual processing)
O: Isn’t it just one ‘p’? p u r
L: l e (seems to omit the p as we’re doing it together and to be looking at a different word in the display. Is she distracted by the other words?)
O: The one in the middle is your word (again). Can you spell it?
L: P u r p l e (spells correctly).
I show her the lines leading from purple to other words in the display. In retrospect, I should have “turned off” the verbs and nouns to reduce the complexity of the display. Lisa handled the complexity by focusing on the adjective sections (with the gold dots), staring with “regal” and then (with my cue) going to “violet.”
O: These are other words that are very much like purple. Can you read any of these out here?
L: ur eh oo ur (trying to sound out regal with difficulty. She stops)
O: You’re sounding out r e g a l? Regal. Regal. (I spell and pronounce it for her).
L: Regal
O: (Seeing the difficulty of other words, I select ‘violet’). How about this word. Here’s another word that’s very similar to purple. Can you say that word? (point to violet)
L: Violet (immediately says it correctly)
O: You got it! Terrific.
L: What are those dots? (noticing the colored dots connecting words)
O: This dot, it says (I click on it). Can you read it? It tells you a definition. (the definition on the dot that connects “purplish” and “violet” to purple comes up quite light on the screen. The definition reads “of a color midway between red and blue”)
L: (tries to sound out the definition) a color mi di mi
O: mid-way mid-way
L: mid-way buh i t in be
O: between
L: red and blue.
O: Yeah! Okay, so a color midway between red and blue It’s telling you that about purple
L: Oh, so if you mix red with blue it’s purple.
O: Exactly.
The definition includes a potentially confusing syntax element (“of”) which we ignore. It includes a concept of colors as mixes of colors, which Lisa clearly understands at the end of this “tutorial.” To get there required coaching through the decoding of “mid-way” and “between.” Lisa herself could recognize “red” and “blue.” O also cued H to think about what “midway between red and blue mean. The process was successful, but also labor intensive for us both. Had this taken place in the context of reading a text, Lisa would have needed further cuing in reconnecting purple back to its meaning in context.
When I suggested that Lisa try another color, blue, she was not able to spell it, even though she had just read it in the definition for purple. She types “blou” and does not recall the silent e. When a huge array comes on and O cues her to click on the dot for the definition:
O: What just happened? L: Wow! It messed it all up. A whole bunch of words!
O: What’s in the middle now? Before you had “purple” in the middle.
L: Now it’s blue.
O: Now you have blue, okay.
Unlike the first time, when she did not understand the concept of placing the focal word in the center, now H quickly sees that blue is in the middle, even with a much more extensive array of words than were present with “purple.” She successfully uses the sound function and is delighted to hear “blue.” We realize that she has to click precisely on the megaphone icon in order for it to sound.
Using VT in the Context of Reading a Passage
The example that follows shows the many barriers that come up as Lisa tries to use VT, including persistent difficulty in reading the core text, difficulty spelling the words that she wants to look up in VT, cognitive complexity of the tool, greater interest in the mechanics of the tool than in understanding the laborious text, (numbers of word choices), and difficulty of decoding the VT definitions.
We return to the Zebra Longwing reading, and I suggest that we look up the word “coax” which Lisa said, in the previous day, she did not know. I remind her that she thought the word meant “force” and the VT would tell us if that’s right. I ask her to read the sentence with “coax” and am interested in whether it will be easier for her to read the second time around. The sentence is “A zebra resting at dusk can be gently coaxed to climb on your finger and to return, unflustered, to its perch.” She is able to sound out “resting” on her own, and “dusk” and “gently with help. The sentence is still difficult and I read it aloud with her rather than having her continue the slow struggle (persistent difficulty with text).
Even with the word “coax” in front of her in the reading, she struggles to spell in VT. Being able to drag or cut and paste it would help. She doesn’t automatically look at the model (Difficulty spelling a word for VT).
H types in “cocs” without looking at the word on the page.
O: You have c o c s Can you do c o Look at the word here (pointing to the page)
L: c o
O: What’s that letter?
L: a
O: a good. And then the next letter
L: x
O: x Good Okay, coax. Click on “look it up” and let’s see if we can see what we find. (display opens)
H looks at the display and clicks on the megaphone which is on two different pronunciations. VT pronounces the word “co ax” (like axe, or the word “coaxial” which is in the display. We have a conversation about how the same spelling can be pronounced differently and have different meanings. (Complexity of the tool) (Figure 3 shows the coax display)
Figure 3: Coax display
Lisa is intrigued by the tool and asks twice to look up another word (she is interested in the tool as an end at this point, not as a means to understand the article). (Greater interest in the mechanics than reading the core text) Lisa types in “f u n n y” and opens a display (Figure 4) I say “It’s like a clock, you can read around it.” We have all of the parts of speech on, but only adjectives and adverbs come up. She starts with “ill” and I (taking the tutorial lead again) click on the definition that connects “sick” and “ill” (experiencing odd bodily sensations) and ask her how we could have gotten from “funny” to “ill”. I pretty much lead the “conversation” by asking if she hasn’t said to her mom, “I feel funny today” She understands this but puts the cursor on the megaphone again, in order to hear the pronunciation of “funny.” She clicks on the “concept/definition dot” that connects several synonyms (amusing, comic, comical, laughable, mirthful) and tries to decode the definition (arousing or provoking laughter plus a long list of examples) and can’t get through “arousing.” I ask her if any of that array are familiar; most aren’t and she doesn’t think she’s heard of the word “comic.” (Difficulty decoding VT definitions).
Figure 4: Funny display
She types in “laugh” which give a much easier array of words and we discover that she can recognize the word “expression.” Because of the difficulty of using VT to help her read, we spend the rest of the time entering various words that Lisa selects: acquatic, yes, no. She likes the mechanical aspects and is delighted by the displays. I encourage her in sounding out words in the displays, but we’re at the word recognition level, far from comprehension of chunks of text. She is reluctant to end, and wants to print out her “play” with the word “no” to take with her.
Directions for Lisa
This session suggests some directions for Lisa, and other students with reading difficulties similar to hers. It also suggests some areas of “readiness” that VT users need in order to find it helpful to comprehending texts. Lisa could benefit from a much simpler program, designed to provide an instant, simple definition at her own reading level. It is too many steps to shift to VT type in the word and then find the “hidden” definition within the complex array. A program with a text to speech function would help her connect her listening vocabulary to what she reads. She needs to be able to click on the difficult word, sound it, and only if she needs it, ask for a definition. Many words she understands when she hears it. So the sounding out should be a separate function. I think she could go a long way in using such a tool on her own, if the design was simple. In particular, two features of VT were difficult for Lisa.
1. Length and complexity of definitions. While they would be helpful to a better reader, elaborated definitions are beyond Lisa’s reading ability. When searching for the color ‘blue’ the definition with examples includes: “Having the color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky with elaborations, ‘October’s bright blue weather’—Helen Hunt Jackson, ‘blue flame’ ‘blue haze of tobacco smoke.’ (see Figure 5)
2. Organization of definitions by clusters of synonyms, rather than by individual word. Lisa understands that the adjective, “blue,” has multiple meanings. When O asks, Have you ever heard somebody say they were feeling kind of blue today? H says they mean “they’re being really sad.” And Lisa follows when the O then finds “gloomy” on the VT. But Lisa can’t get a definition of gloomy by just clicking on it; arrays of synonyms (dark depressing disconsolate grim and more) are grouped with the definition, “causing dejection.” Definitions reside with synonyms clusters, a powerful feature for an advanced reader, but an overly indirect strategy for a struggling reader.
Figure 5: Blue display
WORKING WITH STEPHEN (1 DAY)
Stephen’s Profile
Stephen is a pleasant-faced, somewhat overweight boy. He was eager to work with me. He is sometimes very intense and demanding and at other times seems to tune out and become unresponsive. The teacher suggested that I work with him; we think it’s because he is closer to Lisa than David is his abilities, and I had survived the slow pace with Lisa. He some times blurs words together; a few times, I could not understand him. Like Lisa, he seems younger than his age group. He has a fixed interest in trains and the teacher warned me not to have him go to his favorite train website until the end of the session. Stephen’s writing of his name (below) shows some problems with letter formation, particularly r and n.
Stephen’s Reading Ability
As a context for introducing VT, I have Stephen select one of the Florida topics. Like Lisa, he is intrigued by the Zebra Longwing (See Exerpt 1 above), and wants to know more. This fairly painful reading aloud session illustrates his limited word recognition and lack of phonemic skills.
I read the opening sentences through “all parts of the state year round.”) and then say, “Your turn.” Word by word, Stephen reads the sentence, “Zebras fly slowly and don’t startle easily, making them easy to follow and observe.” He stops before “observe.” I model, “Ob” to encourage him to sound it out but he doesn’t pick up on it and doesn’t know the meaning when I say the word. To check his comprehension of that sentence,” I ask, “Why is it easy to watch?” But Stephen reads on. The sentence is
A zebra resting at dusk can be gently coaxed to climb on your finger and to return, unflustered, to its perch. Zebras roost in groups, returning to the same location each night.
Stephen reads, “A Zebra resting at…” and stops at “dusk.” He asks, “What that thing?” I prompt, “How does it start?” and he answers by saying “d” the letter, not the phonetic sound. I say, “It sounds like du…” and he reads “dusk.” He stops on “gently” and asks, “What’s that?” and “coaxed” which I simply read to him. I suggest to Stephen that he start the sentence over, now that he knows more of the words, but he says, “I just did” and reads on, with “climb on your finger” and stops at “return.” I tell him the word, and also tell him “unflustered” which he does not recognize and can’t sound out, and I also supply “perch.” He presses on to the next sentence, stopped by “roost” and “groups”. He reads “resting” instead of “returning” and “small” for “same.” It’s clear that it has become a decoding task without meaning. I refer him back to the words, “returning to the same location each night” and explain that like, him, the butterfly goes back to sleep in the same “bed” each night, but Stephen is unresponsive and seems lost. In the struggle to read, he did understand enough to have a conversation.
I learned from this session that Stephen reads quickly the words he recognizes. He does not sound out unfamiliar words and did not show evidence phonetics training or phonemic awareness. His word recognition is uneven. He recognizes many high incidence words, but quickly gets stuck on multi syllabic words. Where he has some familiarity with the content—state names (probably from spring classwork) and many words related to trains (see below)—his vocabulary seems more advanced. The texts we brought were too difficult for him, except for some passages on Texas snakes, and even then, he required a partner to be prompting unfamiliar words so that he could get the gist and actually have a conversation about the reading.
Perhaps stimulated by the content (butterflies, snakes, trains), Stephen was persistent in trying to read, as long as I was there to answer his, “What’s this?” about a word and take over the reading some, to keep up the pace.
Working with Visual Thesaurus
Selecting a Difficult Word from Zebra
After the reading session on the Zebra Longwing, I said that we should try out VT. Stephen suggested “observe,” the first word that had stopped him. I type in “observe”. Stephen is intrigued and is able to locate and read “observe” in the center of the display. I click on the dot above “observe” and get the definition “watch attentively.” Stephen reads “watch.” And I explain that these are some words that are just like observe. Stephen is more successful with this reading, and reads aloud, “keep an eye on” and “keep watch over.” I point to other words in the display; he reads “discover.” I click on “discover” to demonstrate how the display can reorient around another word.
Stephen points to “key” and “key out” in the much more complex new display around “discover” and asks, “What’s this?” but the connection between “key” and “observe” is not clear to either of us. (Key and key out are part of a cluster that are related by the concept “identify as in biology or botany” but this is revealed only by clicking on the cluster dot). Within this “discover” display, Stephen points to and reads “chance upon” which I explain is another way to say “discover.” Stephen yawns. We are far from “observe” and the butterfly context. I point us back to the Zebra Longwing article and read the sentence with “observe.” (Zebras fly slowly and don't startle easily, making them easy to follow and observe.) I ask, “Could you look at it or would they just fly away?” Stephen shakes his shoulders (gesture of I don’t know). I ask again, and he answers, “It would fly away. Where’s Margaret?” Clearly we lost the connection to the text, if he ever did comprehend the original sentence.
We look up his favorite color—blue—but the adjective has eight different meanings with associated clusters (including morally rigorous and strict, belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy, causing dejection and more) and so we don’t stay with this display.
Applying VT to Venomous Snakes
We are slightly more successful in linking VT to the reading on venomous snakes in Texas. This time I begin by entering “snake” into VT and keeping both the noun and verb meanings. VT focuses on concepts and it presents six verb and six noun meanings, with the concept meanings “hidden” until one clicks on the dot that connect words with a share concept. Stephen reads “snake in the grass” (hidden meaning: a deceitful or treacherous person) and asks, “Who ever heard of that one before?” I say that it means he’s sneaky, that you can’t see what he is doing, just like a snake stays hidden in the grass. Stephen ignores this and reads “Snake River” (hidden meaning: a tributary of the Columbia River). I ask if he knows the word “Serpent.” No. I ask why “curve” would be on a display about snake and explain that when a road curves around a lot we might say it curves like a snake. Stephen did not respond to this. We go to the Venomous Texas Snakes reading. The first two sentences follow:
The State of Texas is home to 15 potentially dangerous snake species or subspecies. Despite this, each year there have been more deaths in Texas attributed to lightning strikes than to venomous snakebites.
Stephen has difficulty with potentially, species, despite, deaths, attributed, lightening. He is more able to handle a later section on how to keep safe from snakes if you live in Texas. He was very interested in this material and with my filling in some difficult words; he was able to read at enough of a pace to get some meaning. When he read “habitat” we had a conversation about where various animals live. We quickly looked up “burrow” and because we limited VT to nouns, only the word “tunnel” came up and he read, “tunnel!” in triumph, and then had a conversation about why you wouldn’t put your hand into a hole in Texas. We were less successful in using VT to understand the phrase, “freeze when snakes are known to be nearby.” He noticed a cluster with “freeze down” and “freeze out” and the word, “halt” which would have been helpful, was buried in the display. Despite the difficulties posed by the reading level and VT, Stephen persisted, really wanting to know more about snakes.
Using VT in the Context of Trains
Toward the end of our session, I tried to find some more readable text as a platform for using VT by going into the web to train sites. This did not work well because Stephen was distracted by the pictures of trains, which had little accompanying text. Again, I observed his zeal in reading material on something that excites him. Without a reading partner, however, none of these reading excursions, including those related to trains, would have gone very far. We tried “railway” “railroad” and “diesel” and on the later display I prompted him to find the connection between diesel and transport. Stephen was excited when he thought of a word with the same stem: “Transportation!”
Directions for Stephen
Stephen’s strengths as a reader are that he is almost tireless in working at a text if he is interested in the text and has a willing partner. He has a foundation of high incidence words, which he pronounces correctly. His weaknesses are that he shows no phonemic awareness or ability to sound out a word, and his vocabulary is fairly limited. Even if the partner says the word out loud, it often is not familiar.
Visual Thesaurus, while mechanically intriguing, does not help Stephen. It does not provide definitions or examples, either of which might help him. Definitions and examples are hidden behind cluster dots and the clusters are dense and often filled with difficult words and concepts themselves. The definitions are lighter in tone and often the syntax is odd and the definition abstract. Arrays are unpredictable; some like “burrow” are simple, with one related word; most have multiple meanings.
He needs readable text for his reading level. A simple dictionary program that pronounces a word and gives one simple definition might help him. He needs teaching in decoding skills that would give him more of an edge with unfamiliar words. For texts above his reading level, rearing a whole text read aloud and following it along might help him comprehend chunks, which his slow pace prevents.
WORKING WITH MARGARET (2 DAYS)
Margaret’s Profile
Margaret is a quiet girl who is one year older than the other students in the summer program (she is about to enter 8th grade). She seemed unenthusiastic about working with me and came along with me somewhat reluctantly. Her demeanor, posture and mostly monosyllabic answers made it clear that she was unhappy to be singled out for attention and that she was not interested in what I had to say. She spent most of our time together slumped in her chair and avoiding eye contact. Needless to say, this attitude was extremely discouraging and I set about trying to engage her in conversation. As Margaret and I spent more time together, I began to suspect that most of her negative attitude was due to being the oldest student in the summer program, as well as the only student who spent most of her day in the general education classroom. She felt that she was at a higher level academically and socially than the other students. Margaret did warm up to me considerably after we had spent some time together. However, she still tended towards monosyllabic answers unless we were talking about something that interested her (the Pink Panther movie, jumping into a lake from a rope swing with her cousins, etc.); in these instances she would briefly light up and speak in full, complete and animated sentences.
Day 1: Understanding Margaret’s Reading Ability
The first day that Margaret and I worked together the Internet was not working so we spent approximately an hour getting to know each other and talking a little bit about Visual Thesaurus. We also read a few of the reading selections so I could gauge her reading ability. We began our lesson together by talking about what a thesaurus was – Margaret had used one in class and while she was unable to define it well, did know what its purpose was. I asked her if she would like to read one of the articles together since we could not access the internet. She chose the article on Florida Manatees as she had been to Florida on vacation with her family and seen several manatees swimming in the canals of Fort Lauderdale.
Margaret had a fair amount of background knowledge about manatees – she knew that they were mammals, what they looked like and thought she knew what type of environment they might like (warm water, Florida).
Margaret’s reading ability was difficult to get a handle on. We began the manatee article with me reading the first section (Excerpt 2).
Excerpt 2: Florida Manatees (See Appendix C for full text)
Manatees or sea cows (order Sirenia) are large aquatic mammals that live in warm coastal waters and, during the winter, inland spring-fed rivers. The forelimbs are flippers; there are no hindlimbs. The tail, used for propulsion, is wide and flat. They are herbivores, eating only vegetation. Only four species exist, one of which lives in Florida.
Manatees can remain submerged for up to 15 minutes but usually surface to breathe every 3-5 minutes.
Manatees are docile creatures and have no natural predators. Recreational boat propellers account for many manatee injuries and deaths. American Scientist reports on a study, Manatees, Bioacoustics and Boats that examined the hearing abilities of manatees and underwater acoustics and concludes with suggestions to reduce collisions.
After I had read the first few paragraphs I asked Margaret if any of the words I had read had been unfamiliar to her or were words that she might be interested in looking up using the Visual Thesaurus. She replied that there had not been any words that were unfamiliar, so I pressed her a little further:
A: What about submerged? That’s a pretty tough word…
M: I know what that means; it means the manatee is under water.
A: Great! What about this other word I read…propulsion?
M: I know what that means; it is how the manatee moves under water…
A: Wow, great! Okay what about further on in the article when it talks about bioacoustics?
M: Acoustics means sound, so it is probably something about the sound and manatees…
Based on our conversation, I assumed that the manatee article would pose no problems for Margaret as she read her portion aloud. When Margaret read, however, it became clear that while she had a fairly extensive vocabulary at her disposal, she lacked any phonemic awareness and was unable to decode even relatively simple words. Below is an example of her oral reading:
Excerpt 3: Florida Cats (See Appendix C for full text)
Original Text Margaret’s Reading
The panther prefers true wilderness habitats, actively avoiding humans. It is usually inactive during the day except in winter. It needs a large area for hunting, as it usually moves 15-20 miles per day. It feeds primarily on wild hogs and white-tailed deer, but will eat smaller mammals. It will occasionally kill livestock; however, there has never been a panther attack on a human.
In 1958, the Florida panther was declared an endangered species. Today there are only 30-50 left. Humans and dogs are their only predators. From 1978 to 1988, there were 20 known panther deaths. Of these, 11 were the result of vehicle collisions and 5 were shootings. In Collier County fences have been placed along Interstate 75 with tunnels every few miles. Panthers are using the tunnels.
The panther, by a vote of school children, became the state mammal in 1982. It is also called the puma, cougar, catamount and mountain lion. For more info, check with the Florida Panther Society and Florida Panther Net. The Florida panther protects two wild habitats activities avoiding humans. It is usual… [usually] during the day expecting win (left out part of a sentence)…it needs a large area for hunting as usual moving 15-20 miles per day. It feeds primerly on wild hogs and wild dare…wild duh…wild…white-tailed deer? [excellent]. But it will eat similar mammals. It will occur killing livestock. While there has never been a panther attacking a human…
In 1958 the Florida panther was discovered in during a species. Today there are only 30 to 500 left…Humans and dogs are their only predators. From 1978 to 1988 there was 20 known panthers death of these 11 were resulted printer occurred (???) and the 5 were shootings. In the con country they have been placed along the indiduous [break it up into 2 smaller words…what’s this smaller one?] …inter…state…in 75 was during a few miles. Panthers are using the…(continued to the next page without finishing).
The panthers are voice [by a vote] of school children becoming the state mammal in 1982. It is also called the puma, cougar, catmount and a mountain lion. For more information check out the Florida Panther Social and Florida Panther Net.
Day 2: Working with Visual Thesaurus
Learning the Tool
The next day with the internet back up Margaret and I began our actual work with Visual Thesaurus. After Margaret’s perplexing reading difficulties of the day before, I was unsure about what reading material to use for our next lesson. We decided to allow Margaret to read anything she chose online (i.e. a favorite website, an article on a topic of interest to her, etc.). While Margaret’s reading ability and subsequent reading comprehension was problematic, we felt that given her age (older than the other students), obvious discomfort with being in a summer program with student who were not her peers (self-contained classroom vs. general education) and her strengths in listening comprehension, an article of her choice would be the most likely to motivate her. We were concerned that if we selected an article that was low-level enough for Margaret to read on her own she would feel insulted and shut down completely.
Margaret quickly picked up the basics of Visual Thesaurus after a brief introduction. During the introductory lesson looking up colors, Margaret particularly enjoyed following the ‘path’ between words – she spent several minutes clicking a random word and then finding another random word in the next array and clicking that. She didn’t seem to have any purpose or direction in her selections; she just seemed to enjoy creating new arrays.
Once Margaret had mastered the basic controls of Visual Thesaurus (dragging and dropping words, using control-click to access the search menu, looking at definitions, hearing the word read aloud, etc.), I asked her to choose something she might like to read. She asked to read something about her favorite band Fall Out Boy. I found the band’s website and Margaret and I took turns reading the band biography.
Applying VT to a Reading Passage
While Margaret seemed to enjoy clicking around on Visual Thesaurus, she did not show any interest in using the tool independently and had to be prodded to look up unfamiliar words from the text. As with the articles we read the first day, Margaret approximated words that she did not recognize or waited silently for me to give her the word. The article Margaret selected (Excerpt 5) was particularly difficult and had many words that were unfamiliar to her.
Excerpt 4: Biography of Fall Out Boy (See Appendix C for full text)
Original Text Margaret’s Reading
“I think it’s an amazing metaphor for how people can be,” Wentz says. “There’s something really honorable about following your own path and not doing what’s expected of you.”
It’s a lesson Fall Out Boy have taken to heart. When the Chicago band finished touring for their debut album, Take This To Your Grave, they were flooded with accolades from critics and fans, which clamored for a follow-up. However, rather than jump right into writing and recording mode, as they had for their debut, Fall Out Boy took their time experimenting with different sounds and textures in order to make From Under the Cork Tree as crafty, infectious and enduring as possible.
I think it is an amazing…metaphor for how people can be Winston said. He sometimes feels about finding your own pattern than what’s exciting for you…expected of you.
If I listen Fall Out…It’s a lesson Fall [it’s a lesson Fall Out Boy] has taken to their heart. When the Chicago band finishes the tour for their developed album Take This to Give (inaudible) they were flooded…[that’s a tough word – accolades. Do you know that word? M: No. A: We’ll save that for Visual Thesaurus] from their cities and fans which clored for a follow-up. However, rather than jumped right into playing the record as they heard for developer (hard to understand Margaret at this point on the tape) Fall Out Boy looking their time expecting with different sounds and texts in to From Under the Cork Tree as…[crafty, infectious and enduring]…
Despite being interested in the band, Margaret’s level of interest in the reading and our subsequent discussion was minimal. In response to my questions Margaret either answered monosyllabically or not at all.
A: Have you ever read any other interviews with these guys before?
M: No
A: Did you know that that was how they chose the album title, because it was one of his favorite children’s stories?
M: No
A: Did you ever read that book when you were little? It’s one of my favorite books too…
M: Oh wait, I think I might have read that…
A: So he said here in this paragraph that you were reading “I think that it is an amazing metaphor for how people can be. There’s something really honorable about following your own path and not doing what’s expected of you.” What do you think he means by that?
M: Um.
A: Do you know what honorable means? If somebody is honored, what do you think that means?
M: mmm
A: Well, that’s what Visual Thesaurus is for. You read that word really well by the way, metaphor. Do you know what that means?
M: It is kind of like a thing that…I know what it means.
A: Let’s see what else can we add to our list of words to look up? Inspirational…Some of these you may already know but we’re going to see what happens when we put them into Visual Thesaurus. Okay, so he talks about how his favorite book was the story of Ferdinand, this giant bull who just sits under a cork tree all day instead of getting into the ring and battling a bull fighter and it was so inspirational that’s why he titled the record Under the Cork Tree. Have you ever seen a cork tree?
M: No
A: Me either. Let’s look it up and see what it looks like.
[Re-read the something honorable paragraph]
A: What about this word, ‘debut’? Do you know that word?
M: No
Based on Margaret’s answers, I began putting together a list of words that we could look up together in Visual Thesaurus. As we compiled the list, I continued to ask Margaret about words that might be unfamiliar. When asked if a word was unfamiliar, she would say ‘no’ but would then be unable to give me the meaning.
I moved forward trying to lead Margaret to an understanding of the album title and why Fall Out Boy had decided to focus on a children’s story. We moved to a word that she had read without any difficulty (metaphor) and entered it into Visual Thesaurus. During our entire exchange, Margaret slumped in her seat and avoided eye contact. At times her voice became so quiet that it was difficult to hear.
A: So, if you hold your mouse over this connecting line it tells you that metaphor is a type of…
M: Figure of speech
A: Right. It says figure of speech or image. So let’s go back to the article. It says that the story is ‘an amazing metaphor…or figure of speech or image…for how people can be. There is something really honorable about not doing what’s expected of you.’ Let’s look up honorable too, just so we really understand what he’s trying to say. Because I think that this sentence is probably one of the most important sentences in the whole article. Because it really talks about not just why he named the album Under the Cork Tree, but also why he makes the kind of music that he does. So let’s look at what we get for honorable…So for honorable it says ‘showing or characterized by honor or integrity’, ‘not disposed to cheat, not deceptive’, ‘honest’, ‘respectable’, ‘good’… So what did he mean by that when he said ‘there is something honorable…’?
M: It like honors?
A: Is he trying to say it’s a bad thing to follow your own path?
M: No
A: Right, he’s saying there is something really good and respectable about somebody saying I’m going to go my own way. What do you think about that? Does it make you think differently about the lyrics to any of his songs?
M: …
A: So has it changed how you think about the album at all, knowing that he named it because…that it was all about this story that he loved so much as a kid?
M: …
At this point I was becoming concerned that I was losing Margaret’s interest. From our previous readings it was clear that she had good listening comprehension, but in our discussion about ‘metaphor’ and ‘honorable’ she did not seem to gain anything from either VT or my assistance. Even after much discussion, she seemed unsure about what honorable meant. My suspicions about Margaret’s dwindling interest were confirmed when we began looking up debut. For the first time all morning, Margaret used Visual Thesaurus independently – she reached for the mouse and began clicking on various words in the web for ‘debut’. As she worked, she selected words at random and followed their paths through other synonyms. At this point, her entire demeanor altered – she sat up straighter, her eyes lit up and she began to talk with me more normally. Though her activities had nothing to do with the reading and very little to do with using VT to improve comprehension, I allowed her to ‘play’ as it was obviously of interest to her. Additionally, I wanted to see how a student like Margaret might use VT independently.
Independent Use of the Tool
Margaret quickly picked up using the Visual Thesaurus and exploring connections between words. She seemed to enjoy going from word to word and seeing how you got there. This was one of the few activities that seemed to hold her interest. She also enjoyed hearing the word read aloud and found this quite amusing. When she looked up words on her own she tended to skip reading the definitions and just kept clicking words to make new word webs.
A: So what are you doing now, you’re just experimenting?
M: Yeah
A: So isn’t that neat? You started with the word ‘debut’ and you ended up with the word ‘move’.
M: Yeah
A: Because all of these synonyms you can keep connecting to other words. Let’s go back for a second and see how you got there. How did you get to ‘move’?
M: (Margaret clicks the speak aloud button several times for the word ‘move’)
A: (we go back to ‘debut’) So I think you clicked on ‘perform’…and then…
M: (inaudible)
A: What does it say here? So it says type of…Oh…then you clicked on…so you went from debut to perform…let me write this down. These are sort of fun, I like to play with this program for fun; I do the same thing you’re doing, just click on things to see where I end up. So you went from ‘debut’ to ‘perform’ to ‘move’. (See Figure 4 for progression)
Figure 6: Progression from Debut to Move
I told Margaret that there were games you could play with Visual Thesaurus; that you could look up a word “tree” and try to get to another word, such as “dog” in a certain number of steps by following the synonyms. Margaret thought that this sounded fun.
Next Margaret looked up verb – according to the web the word verb is derived from ‘verbify’, so she clicked on that next. Verbify then led Margaret to the word ‘modify’. (see Figure 5)
A: What are you selecting now? ‘Modify’?
A: Modify means to change, so you’re clicking on change. I bet you’re going to get a lot for change. Just off the top of your head without even looking can you think of at least two different meanings of the word change?
M: Like you change?
A: Right. And then what do you carry in your pocket?
M: Change. Money. It’s a different spelling though…
A: Nope, it’s the same…
A: You change your clothes, you change your behavior sometimes…Right here it says to ‘change clothes’, so it talks about that. It talks about cash, currency…yeah there’s a lot for change. But they’re all nouns and verbs. Now you’re clicking from ‘change’ to ‘switch’.
M: (Margaret listens to the word switch read aloud)
A: What did you click on now?
M: trade
A: So what you’re doing right now is just experimenting and clicking on different words. You’ve made it from what? Verb all the way to switch?
M: Yeah (very difficult to get Margaret to articulate her methods, what she’s doing, thinking etc.)
Figure 7: Verb to Modify
Margaret’s Overall Experience with Visual Thesaurus
My experience with Margaret and Visual Thesaurus was perplexing on a number of levels. Margaret’s reading ability was difficult to get a handle on – she seemed to understand a significant number of difficult words (propulsion, submerged, acoustics) when listening to me read them aloud, yet lacked knowledge about some other fairly basic words (honorable, infected). Her background knowledge and vocabulary were very uneven and reading aloud was particularly challenging. Compounding these difficulties was Margaret’s obvious reluctance to work with me and engage in any activities. At times Margaret would seem interested in something and would take part in discussion, but at other times she would shut down almost completely.
Because of these issues, it was difficult to gauge what benefit (if any) Margaret received from using Visual Thesaurus. She was most alive and engaged when I allowed her to ‘play’ with VT. At one point, towards the end of our lesson I gave Margaret the option of returning to the article on Fall Out Boy or trying something different with the Visual Thesaurus. I told her that we could make up sentences and then substitute more complex synonyms for the simple words in the original sentence. I also offered her the choice of continuing to play with VT as she had been (clicking words to see where she ended up) or reading something else. She eagerly chose making up our own sentences. It was the first thing she had seemed genuinely interested in all morning! So Margaret and I made up a few sentences (My dog Nala is yellow) and then replacing the simple words with synonyms (My canine Nala is golden). She also enjoyed looking at other words for yellow and figuring out why they wouldn’t work in her sentence (My canine Nala is jaundiced). Margaret then continued with her previous ‘game’ of clicking on various words. Again she didn’t seem to be too interested in word meaning; for her the game is more about creating new word webs. It is questionable how much actual learning Margaret got from this experience, but I got the sense that seeing how words connected to each other was fascinating for her and that this fascination with words was a new experience. On that basis alone, working with Margaret was valuable for us both.
Based on Margaret’s reading, it is difficult to tell whether she could use Visual Thesaurus independently to aid in her reading comprehension. I can see particular utility for Margaret when doing her reading for Social Studies or Science to help her understand the broader concepts around the content language. Margaret’s ready knowledge of words such as propulsion, acoustics, and submerged suggest that she may have some strengths in science. If that is the case, it would be interesting to see how Margaret might use VT with her science textbook.
As the end of our session approached I asked Margaret about her impressions of Visual Thesaurus. As this was the end of our second day together, Margaret’s attitude towards me was considerably warmer than when we had begun; her answers were more audible and more animated. And she seemed to have genuinely enjoyed learning about Visual Thesaurus and getting a chance to do something different.
WORKING WITH DAVID (1 DAY)
David’s Profile
David is a pleasant, heavyset seventh grade student currently in a self-contained special education classroom. David presented as very quiet and shy with a childlike demeanor, but seemed to be engaged and eager to work with me. Throughout our work together, David was very sweet and respectful, but often seemed much younger than his 13 years. David was interested in learning about the Visual Thesaurus, but needed substantial assistance in using the program. Despite his language limitations, David was fairly computer savvy and picked up on the technical aspects of using the program (control-click to access menus, dragging and dropping words into the VT window) very quickly and was able to use them independently.
David’s Reading Ability
David can read fairly well, he has a good repertoire of sight words, and obviously has some phonemic awareness, as he was able to sound out many words. He has likely had instruction in Wilson Reading or some other reading program. However, his background knowledge is limited on many topics. Additionally, he seems to have difficulty making connections between words and then connecting back to the topic at hand. This is illustrated by our conversation about the words brought up for ‘gray’.
A: This is interesting…if you say it is a gray rainy afternoon, you’re saying that they sky is kind of dark and dull. So Visual Thesaurus tells us that you can say it is a gray rainy afternoon, but you can also say it is a dull sky. And you can say that the sky was ‘leaden’. Do you know where that word comes from? Do you see a short word if I cover up part of it?
D: …
A: Let’s listen to the word read aloud: ‘leaden’. What’s the tip of a pencil called, do you know?
D: Lead?
A: Yes. So why do you think they would use that word to talk about the sky when it is gray? What color is a pencil?
D: Yellow
A: The pencil lead part, what color is that?
A: Black.
D: Yeah, it is sort of like a dark grayish black. So if somebody says the sky is leaden, they’re kind of saying it looks like lead, like pencil lead.
While my question may have been unclear – asking what color is a pencil, when I was referring to a pencil lead – David did not make the connection to our discussion of gray, pencil lead, leaden, etc. In most of our interactions, David needed to be led towards understanding and had few moments of making that mental leap between definitions and comprehension.
Once we began reading, David did fairly well at either reading words on sight or sounding out more difficult words. We read the article Texas Poisonous (Venomous) Snakes (see Appendix C). David read a small section (excerpt 6) with relative ease, stumbling on more difficult words such as ‘frequently’, ‘skilled’ (read as skulled) and ‘nature’ (read as normalshure).
Working with Visual Thesaurus
Learning the Tool
David and I began by talking about what a thesaurus was – he had never used a thesaurus and was unsure what one was, so the lesson needed to begin with a brief description of a “regular” hard copy thesaurus. Once David had a basic understanding of the thesaurus, I demonstrated the basic features of the Visual Thesaurus. Once we began, it became obvious that David’s knowledge of language was limited. When demonstrating the parts of speech aspect of VT, David indicated that he did not know what an adjective was. David and I spent a few minutes discussing adjectives and how they were used in writing. This led into my planned introductory lesson of looking up various colors using the Visual Thesaurus. At this time, I did not go into more in-depth features of VT (such as dragging and dropping words from other websites); rather I typed in colors as David chose them, showing him how the program responds to searching for words.
We began our lesson looking up the word orange (David’s choice) and examined the resulting word web. I asked David to name some of the connections that came up; he read aloud the entries orange tree and Orange River. We discussed that while orange was a color, it also was a fruit and could refer to other items. I then brought up the search menu for the entry orange tree. David immediately read aloud search for images. I told David that one of the neat things about Visual Thesaurus is that you can search for images of the word you searched for to help you learn more about it. I then helped David access the menu himself and look for images. He looked up pictures of orange trees and said “a tree that grows oranges”. David then said “I want to see that…Orange River”. He accessed the menu himself and looked at the pictures of the Orange River. His immediate comment was “it doesn’t even look orange”.
Alise: You’re right, I wonder why they call it ‘orange’? It looks a little orange in this picture. Kind of reddish-brown, maybe it is from the soil. But it could also be orange because they named it after someone whose last name was Orange. You never know with the names of rivers.
David: Mr. Orange
David’s Reading Ability
Excerpt 5: Texas Venomous Snakes (See Appendix C for full text)
Snakes are skilled predators. How would you catch prey without arms or legs? Venomous snakes have poison to inject in their prey. The venom keeps small prey still so the snake can grab it with its mouth and swallow it whole. This is a helpful adaptation for snakes. Snakes help the balance of nature by eating prey that reproduces frequently, everything from earthworms to rabbits. Snakes also eat eggs. Snakes are especially important in the control of mice and rats.
Despite reading the paragraph with few major errors, when I asked David some comprehension questions to gauge his understanding, he was unable to recall how snakes catch their prey without significant prodding from me.
With other sections, David’s reading comprehension was further hindered by a lack of background knowledge. Although he recognized the word predator and read it correctly each time he encountered it, when the word came up in the context of another definition, he did not immediately know what a predator did, even with some prodding:
After looking up several words, we continued reading and came to a section discussing coral snakes; leading David to look up the word ‘aggressive’. David easily highlighted the word and dragged it into the Visual Thesaurus window.
D: Voila!
A: Voila! Okay, so let’s see…belligerent…that’s a good word. Let’s see what else we’ve got here…predatory…Does that sound like another word we were reading about? Predator? What does a predator do? A snake is predator, a lion is a predator…
D: Hide from their…(unintelligible) enemies…
A: Close…a deer is not a predator, a squirrel is not a predator. But a wolf is a predator, or a bear, or a lion, or a snake. What do those animals all do?
D: Attack
Ultimately, David was able to make the connection between the animals I listed and ‘predator’ and what those animals do. However, this knowledge was not immediately available to him and required a little assistance to bring it out. Other examples with the text demonstrated similar issues.
David’s Overall Experience with Visual Thesaurus
Despite David’s obvious enjoyment during the Visual Thesaurus activities, the tool is not one he would be able to use without a teacher present. His dependence upon teacher (or observer) assistance was due in large part to the reading material being too difficult for David, and his deficits in reading comprehension and background knowledge. The complexity of Visual Thesaurus was also a hindrance to David using the tool independently.
Reading Material
The selection of reading material for David was particularly challenging. Given his strengths with decoding and phonemic awareness, the article on venomous snakes was appropriate, if a little above David’s comfort level. However, the gap between what David is able to decode and what he is able to understand is fairly large. While David read most of the text fairly easily, his comprehension was very limited. His lack of background knowledge also inhibited his ability to make meaning of the text.
Complexity of the Tool
David picked up the technical aspects of navigating Visual Thesaurus very quickly. After a brief tutorial he was able to drag words from the online text and ‘drop’ them into the VT search window, use the control click to access search for images, hear words read aloud and explore the connections between words. However, because David’s familiarity with parts of speech, word meanings and vocabulary was limited, he was unable to use the tool independently. This became clear once we began looking up more challenging words with multiple meanings and multiple parts of speech. When David and I looked up the word ‘adaptation’, the first definition listed referred to a written work, while the second definition read “the process of adapting to something”. This highlighted two potential difficulties when using Visual Thesaurus with students like David – definitions are often complicated, and students must know when a definition for a word does not make sense in the context (as with ‘a written work’). This was not something that David was able to do on his own, so I led him through to the correct definition to avoid confusion. Even after lengthy discussion, it is unclear whether David understood.
David’s difficulties with figuring out which word meaning worked best in the context arose again when reading about pit vipers. The text stated that pit vipers have pits that are sensitive to heat. David did not know the word sensitive so we looked it up. He read the various connected words, but was unable to filter inappropriate words. That is, his understanding of the text was so limited that he couldn’t make the distinction between words that made sense in the context and those that did not. When looking up ‘sensitive’, David read the first word that he saw:
D: Sore
A: Sore. That’s if you’re using the word sensitive to talk about something that hurts. Like if you say ‘oh, my tooth is really sensitive because I have a toothache. My tooth is really tender and sore’.
Whenever a word arose that did not have the meaning we were looking for, I had to stop the process and talk about what that word meant and why it would not be quite what we’re looking for.
David genuinely enjoyed working with Visual Thesaurus and seemed to benefit from using it. When we read additional paragraphs with the word ‘aggressive’, David remembered the definition and was able to use his understanding to further his comprehension of the paragraph at hand. However, it is highly unlikely that David would have reached that point on his own, given the relatively high reading level of the definitions used by VT. David particularly liked being able to hear words read aloud and searching for images. He picked up the drag and drop feature very quickly, so this will likely not be a problem for most students, as it is something they use frequently.
When using Visual Thesaurus with extremely low-level readers like David, it would make the most sense to use the program as part of a whole class activity or in one-on-one work with a teacher or aide. Given David’s enjoyment of the program, I would not recommend excluding low-level learners. In our brief time together, I saw David’s knowledge base increase and his comprehension improve. Perhaps more interesting, and more important, using Visual Thesaurus opened a new world to David. He was working with words and having fun! Seeing that different words have different meanings was interesting to David and being able to search for images and see the words as pictures was a revelation. In this sense, Visual Thesaurus was incredibly successful. However, if the program is to be used independently by students, we would have to ensure that the students are much closer to grade level in terms of reading ability.
FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS
Visual Thesaurus has potential utility in helping students who are struggling readers improve their reading comprehension. The presentation of words as concept maps with connections to other words and other ideas can help students gain a deeper understanding of their reading than they would simply reading a straightforward definition. However, comprehension at this level is complex and not appropriate for students who lack the basic foundation reading skills necessary to understand a text.
Using Visual Thesaurus to Make Meaning from Text
For a struggling reader (just below grade level), the Visual Thesaurus can be a powerful aid to reading comprehension, because it provides the user with a concept as opposed to a simple definition. However, we found that for a low-level reader, this complexity can make independent use of the tool impossible. Each of the students enjoyed playing with VT, but the features of the program that make it dazzling to a much older and more expert reader are the very ones that make it overwhelming for them. These features are best illustrated by looking at several examples of actual Visual Thesaurus searches and how the results might help or hinder struggling readers.
Figure 8: Potato display
VT does not directly define words for the user; rather it presents an array of concepts that capture the varied word meanings. This cluster of words represents the idea or concept of potato quite well. A potato is a root vegetable; it is part of the genus Solanum; potatoes can be used to make French fries, baked potatoes and hash browns; potatoes are native to South America; and potatoes are a staple food in Ireland. Were the student reading about crops and their relationship to a particular culture in Social Studies class, this concept map of ‘potato’ could help increase understanding. However, if the student had no background knowledge of the word potato, or French fries, or Ireland, the concept map would be utterly useless.
While Visual Thesaurus does provide definitions for the variety of meanings that a word can have, the definitions are often challenging and require a fairly high level vocabulary. For example, potato is defined by Visual Thesaurus as: “an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland” and “annual native to South America and having underground stolons bearing edible starchy tubers; widely cultivated as a garden vegetable; vines are poisonous”. In order to make meaning based on this definition, students would need to know the words edible, native, starchy, cultivated, and tuber. They would also need to have at least some knowledge of South America and Ireland. If the student were to look up the same word using the American Heritage Dictionary, they would see potato defined as: 1. A South American plant (Solanum tuberosum) widely cultivated for its starchy edible tubers. 2. A tuber of this plant. 3. A sweet potato. While the definitions are similar, the dictionary definition is certainly the more descriptive of the two.
VT is very powerful around “what can this word mean.” An advanced reader could use it to get at an unfamiliar use of a word, or to more thoroughly understand a concept in their reading. That reader already knows familiar uses of the word, which would help a learner like Stephen get more information about a topic of interest.
The full complexity of a tool like Visual Thesaurus is illustrated when a student looks up a word rich with multiple meanings, such as the word ‘blue’:
Figure 9: Blue display
If a student had entered the word blue because they were unfamiliar with the meaning, they would be confronted with a mind-boggling selection. The more advanced reader could hone in on the correct array based on the context of their reading. For example, if the student were reading the poem Hemlock and Cedar by Carl Sandberg,
THIN sheets of blue smoke among white slabs … near the shingle mill … winter morning. Falling of a dry leaf might be heard … circular steel tears through a log. Slope of woodland … brown … soft … tinge of blue such as pansy eyes. Farther, field fires … funnel of yellow smoke … spellings of other yellow in corn stubble. Bobsled on a down-hill road … February snow mud … horses steaming … Oscar the driver sings ragtime under a spot of red seen a mile … the red wool yarn of Oscar’s stocking cap is seen from the shingle mill to the ridge of hemlock and cedar.
they may be able to gather based on the use of other colors (red, brown, white) that Sandberg was using blue to refer to “the color of the clear sky in the daytime” rather than “morally rigorous and strict”. Were the student to click the definition “the color of the clear sky in the day time” from the list of definitions, all other uses of the word blue would disappear leaving only synonyms for the color blue.
Figure 10: Blue display (color only)
Between the possible parts of speech that a word can serve, and the multiple meanings within any part of speech, and the size of the clusters of words that are associated with that meaning, you have multiple levels. For students like David or Lisa who were unable to grasp the basic meaning, isolating word meanings or parts of speech that do not make sense in the context of the reading would be impossible.
VT does not immediately present the kind of elaborative information that one gets from many thesauruses. For example, synonyms for the color “blue” (e.g., cerulean, cobalt, azure, peacock, etc), or species of snakes (e.g. garter, garden, python, etc), or types of trees (deciduous, evergreen) because it is focused on the range of concepts it can represent. Students must find the right word meaning (color) and expand upon that limited selection.
Prerequisite Skills
VT assumes that students have moderately good foundation reading skills of phonemic awareness, ability to decode text, reading fluency, and word recognition. It also assumes that students have a strong foundation vocabulary of high incidence words. Our experience with these students and their ensemble of difficulties suggest several readiness skills that students need to bring to the tool.
Figure 11: Readiness for Using Visual Thesaurus
• Good foundation reading skills, including phonemic awareness, ability to decode unfamiliar words, moderately strong sight vocabulary for high incidence words.
• Able to learn and manage the procedural demands of the tool, moving cursor, typing in text, clicking on Look it up, ‘drag and drop’, copy and paste words into search field; understands the system for revealing definitions and examples.
• Able to self-limit the complexity of the array (e.g. recognizes the part of speech of the word and turns off /limits functions).
• Understands the concept of “synonym”
• Able to read “chunks” of text and hold the gist in mind while searching for the meaning of a particular word.
• Able to filter extraneous information when definitions don’t make sense in the context of the reading
DIRECTIONS FOR NEXT STEPS
Our work with these students suggest that:
1. These observations were “technology driven” in focusing on one tool; through it we discovered a lot about the students. If we were to continue with these students, we would need to become student-driven and ask what kind of reading assistance each student needs and whether some digital tools could be a part of that assistance.
2. We need to know as much as possible about students’ reading abilities and comprehension process before using the tool, in the future.
3. Even with readable text, students with poor foundation skills are not going to find VT a useful tool. Nevertheless, it’s valuable for them to know how it works, so that they are “aware” members of their reading communities.
4. VT could be powerful tool for teachers. It would be very intriguing to work with teachers on how they could use the tool in teaching reading, writing, and comprehension skills and awareness. That is off track from the project’s focus however, which seems to be on features that are built into digital text and can more directly assist the reader.
We understand more about Visual Thesaurus, and what it can and can’t do. In deciding where to go next, we can consider these questions:
• What’s our “theory” about how a tool like VT can build comprehension? I suspect is a more indirect approach than we thought, not like getting a quick definition and reading on. Given its special strengths, what is its role in comprehension?
• It is likely that the problems that these students have with VT will be issues for many better readers too. What are the benefits of further studying this tool, with other groups of middle grades students?
• To what extent do we want to focus on one tool? It inevitable makes us “tool driven” rather than student driven. Should we consider a set of e-text literacy tools? And for what students?
Appendix A. Comprehension Questions for Jamesville Texts
Florida Manatees
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
What have you heard or read about Manatees? Have you seen one?
What do Manatees like to eat? Vegetation
Is the Florida Manatee a fish or a mammal? How do you know? Breeding
Why is Florida a good place for Manatees? Why can it be dangerous for them? Predators
Mortality
The Zebra Longwing
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
What have you noticed about butterflies? Have you read anything about butterflies before? What did you learn?
How is the Zebra Longwing different from other butterflies? Nectar
Pollen
Why might other animals avoid eating this butterfly? Toxins
Poisonous
Predators
What are some important steps in the reproduction of the Zebra Longwings? Larvae
Foliage
Chrysalis
Florida Wild Cats: Panthers
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
What kinds of wild cats do you think might live in Florida?
Is the Panther a carnivore or an herbivore? Carnivore
Herbivore
Are there many panthers in Florida today? Why or why not? Endangered
Collisions
What special environments do panthers require? Solitary
Wilderness
Should people worry about being attacked by this panther?
Florida Wild Cats: Bobcats
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
What kinds of wild cats do you think might live in Florida?
Are you most likely to observe this cat in the daytime or at night? Nocturnal
Inactive
Avoid
Is the Bobcat a carnivore or an herbivore? Carnivore
Herbivore
Rodents
Can you find the Bobcat in the Florida swamps and everglades? Why or why not? Non-aquatic
Habitat
Thicket
Seminoles in Florida
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
Have you ever heard of the Seminole Indians? What do you know about Native Americans?
Why do the Seminoles in Florida call themselves the “Unconquered People”? What does that mean? Unconquered
Descendants
Elude
Why did the Creek Indians move to Florida from Georgia and Alabama? How did they get the name Seminole? Dominance
Migrations
Buffer
Collectively
What is life like for the Seminoles in Florida today? Economically
Infrastructure
Industries
Evolution
Florida History: Early Humans
Question Vocabulary Needed to Answer Question Response
What do you know about what the United States was like when humans first arrived? What kinds of animals do you think lived here back then?
What was Florida like when humans first arrived? Were the animals the same or different as the animals in Florida today? Environments
Prehistoric
Mammals
Extinct
Mastadon
roamed
Did Florida look the same as it does today? If not, how was it different? Peninsula
How did the first settlers of Florida decide where to live? Why did they choose to live where they did? Inhabited
Consisted
Shellfish
Appendix B. Activity Procedure for Exploratory Observations of Visual Thesaurus with Students with Disabilities
PROCEDURE
SET UP
Open VT
Have web addresses handy.
Have a US map handy
Have tape recorders ready to go for each observer
Have the question chart and pencils ready to go.
Have hard copies of the texts to annotate during the observation.
Make certain the connection between the student computer and the print are set up.
INTRODUCE OURSELVES
9:15 Talk with the 3-5 kids. Introduce ourselves and invite them to be our partners in seeing how VT works for kids in their school. Their ideas will help us work in the school next year. How it helps kids understand difficult words in their reading. As our partner, you can help us by telling us how you’re working and what you’re thinking. We might ask you “tell what you’re doing” because we’re curious about.
ACTIVITY PROCEDURE
Introduce the student to Visual Thesaurus, giving him/her a word to explore. Get VT from the Internet. VT lesson guide: Look up purple, blue, red. What are you getting? Let them choose a word, unstructured. They are doing the typing.
MAKE SURE THE TAPE RECORDER IS ON!!
Show students how to print out a VT screen.
Introduce the student to the reading topics. “We are going to talk about Florida and here are some topics kids can read about. What interests you? Big cats, state butterfly, snakes, and panthers? Or are you more interested in native American history?”
Leaving VT open, go on-line and open the topic/text they have chosen to look at first. Remind them that they might see unfamiliar words and can use the VT to understand them. Show them how they can highlight and drag a word from the article to VT and how they can copy and paste a word into VT..
Introduce the reading and the pre- and post-reading questions, e.g. “Here are some things I thought about.”
Use the Chart of readings, questions, and words as a guide to working with the student, but be flexible in following the student’s questions and focus. Student may read the questions aloud. (Include one prior knowledge question)
Read the selection together. Ask the student if s/he would like to start. If they say no, the observer can start by reading one or more sentences and then ask the student to read.
Talk about the text and ask them if they see words that are unfamiliar to them or might be hard for other kids. Circle or highlight on the hard copy and then have them look them up. Have the student print out the VT display periodically as we go along.
Relate words back to the questions. Look up other words related to that question. Keep a focus on that question if possible.
Continue with other words, linking back to the key questions whenever possible, but also playing with VT, and talking with the student. Encourage them to “think aloud” as they work with VT; get them to verbalize what they are doing and why.
Go to another topic or text if they are ready to move on. And do the same steps.
At the end of the session, ask “Do you think this would help you understand your reading? How would you use it? Would it help you write a paper? What part of VT might help you (go back to VT and have it on the monitor at this point.). If a student next year asked you what this is for, what would you tell him/her?
Appendix C. Reading selections
The Zebra Longwing
Zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonius) are one of four longwing and fritillary butterflies found in Florida.
In 1996, Governor Chiles designated the Zebra Longwing as Florida's official state butterfly. The zebra, easily identified by its long black wings striped with yellow, is found in all parts of the state year round.
Zebras fly slowly and don't startle easily, making them easy to follow and observe. A zebra resting at dusk can be gently coaxed to climb on your finger and to return, unflustered, to its perch. Zebras roost in groups, returning to the same location each night.
Zebra longwings feed on nectar and pollen. They are the only butterflies known to eat pollen which is probably why they have a long lifespan of about six months. If denied pollen, they live a more typical lifespan of about one month.
Zebras are especially fond of the nectar of plants of the Verbena family. During the spring and early summer, the zebras in my yard concentrated on the red pentas and occasionally visited the blue porterweed nearby. During the late summer, their attention shifted to the golden dewdrop. In winter, they're attracted to poinsettia flowers.
Passion vines host zebra eggs and larvae. Passion vines contain toxins that are consumed by the larvae and make the adult butterflies poisonous to predators. The tiny (1.2mm x 0.7mm) yellow egg is usually laid on new foliage, sometimes in a group. The newly emerging caterpillar is yellow. It will go through four or five instars (moltings), becoming white with six bands of black spots and black branched spines and a greenish-white head that is also spotted and has two spines. When it pupates it forms a chrysalis that looks like a spiny curled, dried leaf. If disturbed, the chrysalis makes a rasping sound.
The entire process, from the time the egg is laid until the butterfly emerges, is dependent on temperature, taking longer during cool weather. Under optimum conditions, it make take as little as three weeks.
http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly-sp-long-zebra.html
Cats
Cats (Felidae) have 5 toes on the front feet and 4 toes on the hind feet. While there are many common names for Florida cats, there are actually only two species.
The Florida Panther, Felis concolor coryi, is found primarily in southern Florida in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. It is a large, slender cat with a tawny coat and white belly. Black marks the sides of the muzzle and top of the tail. It has a broad head with small, rounded ears. Length varies from 74-86", and weight ranges from 70-160 pounds. Males are larger than females.
The Florida panther remains solitary except when mating and during the period the female raises her young. Known litters have included 1-4 kittens. They remain with the mother for 12-18 months, leaving the nest to accompany her while hunting when they're about 2 months old.
The panther prefers true wilderness habitats, actively avoiding humans. It is usually inactive during the day except in winter. It needs a large area for hunting, as it usually moves 15-20 miles per day. It feeds primarily on wild hogs and white-tailed deer, but will eat smaller mammals. It will occasionally kill livestock; however, there has never been a panther attack on a human.
In 1958, the Florida panther was declared an endangered species. Today there are only 30-50 left. Humans and dogs are their only predators. From 1978 to 1988, there were 20 known panther deaths. Of these, 11 were the result of vehicle collisions and 5 were shootings. In Collier County fences have been placed along Interstate 75 with tunnels every few miles. Panthers are using the tunnels.
The panther, by a vote of school children, became the state mammal in 1982.
It is also called the puma, cougar, catamount and mountain lion.
For more info, check with the Florida Panther Society and Florida Panther Net.
http://www.nsis.org/wildlife/mamm/cat.html
Manatees
Manatees or sea cows (order Sirenia) are large aquatic mammals that live in warm coastal waters and, during the winter, inland spring-fed rivers. The forelimbs are flippers; there are no hindlimbs. The tail, used for propulsion, is wide and flat. They are herbivores, eating only vegetation. Only four species exist, one of which lives in Florida.
Manatees can remain submerged for up to 15 minutes but usually surface to breathe every 3-5 minutes.
Manatees are docile creatures and have no natural predators. Recreational boat propellers account for many manatee injuries and deaths. American Scientist reports on a study, Manatees, Bioacoustics and Boats. that examined the hearing abilities of manatees and underwater acoustics and concludes with suggestions to reduce collisions.
The Florida Manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, is gray with a broad, square, bristled snout. It reaches a length of 8-14 feet and may weigh 600-2000 pounds (average 10', 1000 pounds).
It migrates seasonally. During the warmer months, the Florida manatee is found in bays and estuaries along both coasts. During cooler months, unable to tolerate water temperatures below 65°F, manatees congregate in large groups in warm waters, such as spring-fed rivers and industrial plant outflows.
Diet consists of sea- and bank grasses, mangrove, and submerged and floating vegetation.
Breeding occurs at any time of the year, but most often in spring and summer. The calf, weighing 30-60 pounds, is born 12-13 months later and will remain with the mother for up to two years.
Man is the only predator of adult manatees. Calves are preyed on by alligators, crocodiles, and sharks.
The ultimate source of Florida manatee information is the Save the Manatee Club. The Florida Marine Research Institute also has information including photographs and mortality statistics.
If you see a sick, injured, or dead manatee call 1-800-DIAL-FMP (Florida Marine Patrol).
http://www.nsis.org/wildlife/mamm/manatee.html
Texas Poisonous (Venomous) Snakes
Snakes! Are they sneaky, slimy, scary?…or…skillful and simply sensational? People either love 'em or hate 'em, but either way, snakes play an important role in our world!
Snakes are reptiles. Reptiles are cold-blooded so they must warm themselves in the sun or on rocks. Snakes have skin covered with scales and most lay eggs. Some snakes hold their eggs inside until they hatch. Snakes have no legs and no ears.
Snakes are skilled predators. How would you catch prey without arms or legs? Venomous snakes have poison to inject in their prey. The venom keeps small prey still so the snake can grab it with its mouth and swallow it whole. This is a helpful adaptation for snakes. Snakes help the balance of nature by eating prey that reproduces frequently, everything from earthworms to rabbits. Snakes also eat eggs. Snakes are especially important in the control of mice and rats.
Venomous Snakes in Texas
There are four kinds of venomous snakes in Texas: coral snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths (water moccasins) and rattlesnakes.
Coral Snakes
Only one species of coral snake is native to Texas. The coral snake is shy and rarely seen. It has, in order, red, yellow and black colors. The coral snake has a small mouth, and is usually not aggressive. Its bites are dangerous, but very rare.
Other, harmless snakes have similar colors in a different order. The rhyme "red and yellow kill a fellow" can help you remember that the coral snake's red and yellow colors touch, but the harmless milk snake has red touching black.
What is a Pit Viper?
A pit viper is a type of venomous snake. Copperheads, cottonmouths and rattlesnakes are called pit-vipers because they have a pit near each nostril which is highly sensitive to heat. This pit helps the snake in locating warm-blooded prey.
Copperheads
Copperhead snakes have bands of gray and/or brown with a copper-colored heard. They blend in with leaf-covered forest floors and it's possible to stare right at a copperhead without seeing it! Copperheads bite rather than strike. Because they are so well camouflaged, most bites occur when a snake is accidentally picked up or sat or laid on. Always use care when picking up or flipping over logs, boards, old tin or other items where copperheads may be resting.
Cottonmouths
The cottonmouth, or water moccasin, rarely strays far from water. It can be found in marshes, swamps, ponds, lakes, ditches, and canals in East and Central Texas and along the Gulf coast. It is a stubby, muscular snake and can grow to nearly six feet. When threatened, it will open its mouth to show its fangs. The inside of its mouth is white and reminded people of cotton, hence the name cottonmouth. They eat frogs, fish an small animals. These snakes can be very defensive and sometimes aggressive. They can bite underwater. Swimmers, bathers and anglers on river banks should always keep an eye open for these snakes.
(relevant text excerpted here; full text available online)
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/kids/wild_things/wildlife/snakes.phtml
Fall Out Boy Band Biography
When he was a little boy, Fall Out Boy bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz enjoyed reading “Curious George,” “Babar” and Richard Scarry books, but his favorite children’s book was “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf. The story, about a giant bull who sits under a cork tree and smells flowers instead of getting into the ring and battling a bullfighter, was so inspirational to Wentz that he titled the band’s breakthrough record From Under the Cork Tree.
“I think it’s an amazing metaphor for how people can be,” Wentz says. “There’s something really honorable about following your own path and not doing what’s expected of you.”
It’s a lesson Fall Out Boy have taken to heart. When the Chicago band finished touring for their debut album, Take This To Your Grave, they were flooded with accolades from critics and fans, which clamored for a follow-up. However, rather than jump right into writing and recording mode, as they had for their debut, Fall Out Boy took their time experimenting with different sounds and textures in order to make From Under the Cork Tree as crafty, infectious and enduring as possible.
“We could have easily regurgitated our last record which is what certain people expected us to do,” Wentz says. “But when it’s all over, we want to be remembered as a rock band that pushed limits and was sincere and totally honest to itself and its fans. When we are 90 years old and on our death beds, it will matter to us that at least we took chances.”
From Under the Cork Tree bursts with the energy of a championship sporting event, and resonates with the vibe of good party, while retaining the honesty of a confessional conversation. The first single, “Sugar, We’re Going Down” is a dynamic blend of surging guitars, slamming drums and longing vocals; “Dance, Dance” starts with a buoyant bass line reminiscent of the Cure and mutates into a stomping rocker with an undeniable refrain and “Champagne For my Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends” swells with one catchy riff after another, and is colored by transitory drum machine clatter and point/counterpoint vocals.
(relevant text excerpted; full text online)
http://www6.falloutboyrock.com/falloutboy/bio.php