* Strategically organize text sets.
* "Read" a scene to practice main idea and supporting details.
* Don't ask, "Am I teaching enough informational text?". Instead ask, "What informational texts are worth reading?" Think broadly- brochures, recipes, manuals, autobiographies, primary source documents.
* Choose an anchor text. "In the universe of all the rich resources students will read in a given unit, the anchor text is like the sun: all the other articles, poems, maps, charts, and other forms of text circle around this one text."
* When analyzing text, think about checking released test items to see if the text you have chosen helps meet the standards.
* Saturate students with opportunities to build their knowledge about topics.
* "Reading for pleasure is key for building lifelong readers and enables developing readers to make choices about their own reading likes and dislikes as they construct their own reading identities."
* "Content area teachers must also become literacy teachers within their discipline."
* It is ok to let a great text guide your lesson planning.
* "Deeper learning comes from great questions, not great answers."
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Chapter 2- Bringing Text To Life
I love the ideas this chapter gives about motivating students to read and making the best use of text! In my classroom, I have had great experiences with readers' theater presentations, debates and socratic seminars and I am looking forward to trying out the text sets. I also love the idea of giving students opportunities to teach a text to their peers. I think the best way to learn something is through teaching it. I used that strategy often when I taught math, but I think it could work equally as effectively with reading comprehension on a deep level.
The case study idea is interesting as well, especially the part about finding an authentic audience. If students had a reason for learning about a topic that involved presenting to others with the idea that some issue could be improved...wow, how powerful that could be!
The BBK Workshop is another technique I want to try with my students because it reminds me of an activity AIG specialists often used to use, (and hopefully still do!) They would show students a picture of an object that was not easily recognizable, it may be an antique tool or an antique kitchen utensil. The students could only ask yes or no questions to try to identify it. The BBK Workshop would take that intriguing activity a step further and give students texts to read after their curiosity was piqued.
"Content area teachers must also become literacy teachers within their discipline." I agree wholeheartedly with this quote. Students must be encouraged to read across disciplines and there are so many rich texts that can be brought into the math and science curriculum. Reading about mathematicians, both past and present, as well as about people like Rachel Carson and John Muir in science would send the message that reading is part of life. Not simply a school subject.
The case study idea is interesting as well, especially the part about finding an authentic audience. If students had a reason for learning about a topic that involved presenting to others with the idea that some issue could be improved...wow, how powerful that could be!
The BBK Workshop is another technique I want to try with my students because it reminds me of an activity AIG specialists often used to use, (and hopefully still do!) They would show students a picture of an object that was not easily recognizable, it may be an antique tool or an antique kitchen utensil. The students could only ask yes or no questions to try to identify it. The BBK Workshop would take that intriguing activity a step further and give students texts to read after their curiosity was piqued.
"Content area teachers must also become literacy teachers within their discipline." I agree wholeheartedly with this quote. Students must be encouraged to read across disciplines and there are so many rich texts that can be brought into the math and science curriculum. Reading about mathematicians, both past and present, as well as about people like Rachel Carson and John Muir in science would send the message that reading is part of life. Not simply a school subject.
Chapter 1- Choosing Worthy Texts
Prompt: Identify a line or concept presented in Part 1 that impacted you.
"As a teacher you have analyze the heck out of [text], look closely at the assessment and what it's asking kids to do and then make sure that your instruction draws them to that standard."
This quote from Chapter 1 gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, it bothers me that a text I feel is quality and engaging for my students may not meet the expectations of standardized testing. I am all about authenticity. I want my readers to be real readers and disregarding a piece of text because it is not constructed in a way that it helps teach the test's construction is completely inauthentic.
On the other hand, I realize that our reality is that we are preparing them for the test. I still don't know if I would go so far as to eliminate a piece of text from my text set, I would be more likely to ask students to reconstruct the text in a way that meets those requirements. This would be a great activity for them to think on a very deep level while still getting the enjoyment of reading the text.
"As a teacher you have analyze the heck out of [text], look closely at the assessment and what it's asking kids to do and then make sure that your instruction draws them to that standard."
This quote from Chapter 1 gives me mixed feelings. On one hand, it bothers me that a text I feel is quality and engaging for my students may not meet the expectations of standardized testing. I am all about authenticity. I want my readers to be real readers and disregarding a piece of text because it is not constructed in a way that it helps teach the test's construction is completely inauthentic.
On the other hand, I realize that our reality is that we are preparing them for the test. I still don't know if I would go so far as to eliminate a piece of text from my text set, I would be more likely to ask students to reconstruct the text in a way that meets those requirements. This would be a great activity for them to think on a very deep level while still getting the enjoyment of reading the text.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
PLC Quick Notes 1
Why this book?
* Online curriculum!
* Offers guidance and resources to help teachers use the Common Core shifts in literacy to create more empowered and literate students.
* Provides resources that rely on powerful and worthy books, articles and primary source documents.
* Its curriculum respects and challenges students by providing complex and interesting tasks, and it asks teachers to use their professional judgement
The shifts of the Common Core:
* Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction
* Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from literary and informational text
* Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
Common Core Seven Dispositions of Students
* They demonstrate independence.
* They build strong content knowledge.
* They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
* They comprehend as well as critique.
* They value evidence.
* They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
* They come to understand other's perspectives and cultures.
* Online curriculum!
* Offers guidance and resources to help teachers use the Common Core shifts in literacy to create more empowered and literate students.
* Provides resources that rely on powerful and worthy books, articles and primary source documents.
* Its curriculum respects and challenges students by providing complex and interesting tasks, and it asks teachers to use their professional judgement
The shifts of the Common Core:
* Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction
* Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from literary and informational text
* Regular practice with complex text and its academic language
Common Core Seven Dispositions of Students
* They demonstrate independence.
* They build strong content knowledge.
* They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
* They comprehend as well as critique.
* They value evidence.
* They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
* They come to understand other's perspectives and cultures.
Introduction- Embracing Challenge
"We have to believe that students can be successful with academic challenges the same way they are with character and physical challenges...We can't wait until they are "ready", because what happens is that students in poverty and students at risk never get to attempt that kind of work. All students need the same access to academics that will prepare them for college and beyond."
I have always had the thought that not all students are college-bound. Not everyone is cut out for college, nor should they be. We need people of all vocational interests to make our society thrive. However, the idea behind Common Core is that all students should have the CHOICE of furthering their education. That is something that, in the past, has not happened. People were trained completely vocationally with deep comprehension of text and finding the "why" behind mathematical concepts neglected.
It is important, with this new way of thinking about education, that we adopt a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset. While I agree with this completely, students are sent contradictory messages as we try to convince them that they can "grow" their intelligence. EOG scores, GPAs, awards ceremonies that focus on honor roll, etc. fight against this notion.
The key to Common Core success lies in a students' ownership of their education. It is not enough to tell a child that what they are learning is important, we have to "sell" them on it to the point that they see the importance with their own eyes. One way to do this is to choose text purposely for them to read and analyze and pair it with text that takes the fictional narrative they love and enhances it with non-fiction.
I have always had the thought that not all students are college-bound. Not everyone is cut out for college, nor should they be. We need people of all vocational interests to make our society thrive. However, the idea behind Common Core is that all students should have the CHOICE of furthering their education. That is something that, in the past, has not happened. People were trained completely vocationally with deep comprehension of text and finding the "why" behind mathematical concepts neglected.
It is important, with this new way of thinking about education, that we adopt a Growth Mindset instead of a Fixed Mindset. While I agree with this completely, students are sent contradictory messages as we try to convince them that they can "grow" their intelligence. EOG scores, GPAs, awards ceremonies that focus on honor roll, etc. fight against this notion.
The key to Common Core success lies in a students' ownership of their education. It is not enough to tell a child that what they are learning is important, we have to "sell" them on it to the point that they see the importance with their own eyes. One way to do this is to choose text purposely for them to read and analyze and pair it with text that takes the fictional narrative they love and enhances it with non-fiction.
Thoughts before beginning this book study...
The reason I wanted to do this book study is because I am always looking for ways to motivate my students to read, not simply to teach them how to read for a test. Over the years I have been in education, I have watched reading instruction take a disturbing turn. Instead of the focus being to create readers, the focus has shifted to a world of leveling and small group instruction and more leveling. In elementary school classrooms, some teachers go so far as to take a book from a child because it is the wrong "level" for them to read. I've been around long enough to know that new ideas and best practices come and go in education. My fear is that, before this educational trend is replaced with something else, we are watching students walk out our classroom doors who will not become readers because they have been given the wrong impression about what reading really is all about. If we, instead, focus on building a love for reading from the first day of Kindergarten and foster that throughout each year, the assessments will almost take care of themselves. At that point, assessment instruction can be focused on test-taking strategy, not reading endurance. My goal for participating in this book study is to get some new ideas that make sense for creating READERS.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
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