Sometimes I’m asked how I incorporate all of the components of effective literacy instruction into one class. First of all, we’re lucky to have 90-minute classes, instead of the traditional 50 minutes. Here is a sample of the daily agenda for my English classes:
Agenda 1. Inference Warm-up (5-10 Minutes) 2. Fluency (10 minutes) Read and Graph Complete Reciprocal Teaching Vocabulary Fluency 3. Words Their Way Sort or Activity (10 Minutes) 4. Core Literature/Novel, play, or poem (10 Minutes) 5. ELD Portfolio/Textbook (30-45 Minutes) 6. Game or Closing Activity (5-25 Minutes) The students enjoy the agenda because it provides variety with enough structure that they are able to run portions of the class. I enjoy it because it gives me a break while they are leading the portion that they are familiar with. Additionally, the agenda encompasses the five domains of effective literacy instruction: phonics/phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension. Please post any questions/comments, and I’ll be happy to respond!
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There are so many wonderful programs and strategies to help students improve their reading skills. The issue that I run into is how to fit all the components of effective reading instruction into each class: decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. This is my third year doing The Six-Minute Solution, and I have seen students’ fluency rates dramatically increase. Building fluency (accuracy, pace, and expression) is supposed to positively affect comprehension, but I began to wonder if the students were really understanding the text more, or if they were just focused on saying the words as quickly as they possibly could, so I decided to add in Reciprocal Teaching (summarize, question, clarify, predict) to our fluency practice. I use this comprehension strategy for various texts in the classroom anyway, but adding it to our daily routine has been incredibly valuable, and it only takes a couple minutes. Here is how I have adapted our fluency practice to include comprehension: Monday Fluency: Teacher says, “Draw a line that divides your fluency passage in half. You will have 90 seconds to read that first half of the passage to yourself. Mark any words you are unsure of and raise your hand when you are done, so we can help you pronounce the words.” Students read and ask for clarification of words. Teacher says, “Now read the first half of the passage with your partner, if you get to the halfway mark, start from the beginning again, add your score up, and graph it.” Monday Reciprocal Teaching: Predict--After you have read the first section of the passage, make a prediction about what the last section will be about. Teacher says, “When you are done raise your hand, read your prediction to us, and we will check it off.” Tuesday Fluency: Teacher says, “Read your prediction out loud to your partner.” Now read the last half of the passage. You will have 90 seconds to read the last half of the passage to yourself. Mark any words that you are unsure of and raise your hand when you are done, so we can help you pronounce the words.” Students read and ask for clarification of words. Teacher says, “Now read the last half of the passage with your partner, if you get to the end, start from the beginning again, add your score up, and graph it.” Tuesday Reciprocal Teaching: Question--Ask 1 literal question (point to it) and 1 inferential question (in your mind). Teacher says, “When you are done raise your hand, read your questions to us, and we will check it off.” Wednesday Fluency: Students read entire passage with their partner, but they get two minutes on the timer instead of one. Students graph their CWPM. Wednesday Reciprocal Teaching: Clarify—Look for one thing you don’t understand and try to figure it out. Teacher says, “When you are done raise your hand, read your clarification to us, and we will check it off.” Thursday Fluency: Students read with their partner for one minute and graph their CWPM. Thursday Reciprocal Teaching: Summarize—Decide what information is important and state it clearly: Who, What, When, Where, Why. Teacher says, “When you are done raise your hand, read your summary to us, and we will check it off.” Friday Fluency: Read your passage silently for one minute and graph your CWPM. Please let me know, did you read slower or faster than when you read it out loud? Friday Reciprocal Teaching: Put your important information from Thursday into one complete sentence. If you include all of the important information in fewer than 25 words receive bonus points! Teacher says, “When you are done raise your hand, read your summary to us, and we will check it off.” The benefits of this practice are plentiful. First of all, students have said that they really understand the passage at the end of the week, and this is serving to increase their knowledge base; the passages cover a wide variety of interesting subjects. Also, it is making students more and more familiar with these comprehension strategies, so we can easily use them on any text, and finally, this is an easy item for teachers to grade especially if you have students read it to you each day and give them a check mark. At the end of the week, simply count the check marks! I have posted a student sample that went with a passage on Helen Keller and a blank template for your use. Enjoy!
As I am getting my room ready for the upcoming school year, I love that I am able to purchase materials from other teachers because they truly know what works. Teachers Pay Teachers has also been a great way to share the Directed Reading and Thinking Activities that I am so passionate about. If you haven't checked out the sample on my website please do so, and there is an additional free sample on Teachers Pay Teachers. With over 1,000 downloads and feedback from teachers, I know they have had the same experience I have. Check out the back to school sale August 4-5 for 20% off. Click the banner to go to my store. Have a wonderful first day of school! At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, my class was selected to participate in a project with The Getty Center and The Teaching Channel. I have been using The Getty Center's Language through Art curriculum in my classes for the past three years. These lessons are fabulous. They allow students to learn and practice higher order thinking and analytical skills before applying these skills to complex written texts. This is especially beneficial for English language learners and/or struggling readers. The Getty Center has teacher workshops that are convenient if you live in the Los Angeles area, but they also post all of their resources online, so even if you don't live in the area you can take advantage of this wonderful resource by visiting: http://www.getty.edu/education/. Also, be sure to check out our lesson on The Teaching Channel in September. In addition to a video, the complete two day lesson will be available online.
For a while now, I have struggled with the fact that my students seem perplexed over the grades they receive. After a lot of tweaking, I think I have found a solution to this problem.
I really want my students to understand why they earn the grade that they do because I want to teach goal setting, goal achievement, and the fact that effort and outcome are intertwined. If they are surprised by their grade, believe it is somehow randomly assigned, or simply do not understand the criteria by which they are graded then the aforementioned messages are lost. We have 10-week grading periods, so I decided that I would give students 100 possible points per week to earn (this makes it easier if any of the misunderstandings are due to math). I collect grades every Friday, and first thing Monday morning we return graded work and students fill out their individual grading form (see picture above). They write in the grade for the week (out of 100). For example, "This week I received 75 out of 100 points. This means that I have a C for the week." Then, we also give them there cumulative grade for whatever week we are on. After this, students must fill in what they want their final 10-week grade to be and select what they will do to achieve that grade. Finally, there is one more accountability system: "Grading Reflection." I don't pass this out every week, only every once in a while (see sample below). Again, this helps students to see the connection between work quality and the grade they are receiving. They must select one piece of graded work that they are getting back and use it as evidence to support their current grade. Whether students have an A or F, this is an effective way to get them to take responsibility for their grade. When I first started teaching, I knew that if I could get students working immediately when the bell rang, that I could plan well enough to keep them engaged and on task the entire period. The real problem seemed to be how to get them to come to class on time, with all their materials, and ready to work! I had students who just didn't care about being tardy. Even if they got to the room before the bell rang it seemed like it took them forever to sit down and start the warm-up. Additionally, when it was time to switch tasks they would not have their materials for the next activity. All of these issues led to the above checklist. For some classes, I use the checklist with a ticket system, and they can redeem the tickets for rewards (I have put a picture of my rewards list below), but if the class is motivated by grades, you can use the checklist for points. Students have to be "In their seat when the bell rings, ready to work." At the beginning of the semester, I explicitly teach this. We have fun with it, and I have volunteers perform examples and non-examples of what this looks like. Sometimes it is necessary to reteach because "ready to work" is subjective. However, having one's materials and being seated is NOT subjective. I am fortunate in my classroom to have drawers, so each student is able to have a place to store their materials. Also, I don't care where they get their pencil from. Whenever I find a pencil/pen on the floor I put it in a holder on my desk and students are free to take one from there, and they can still get a ticket as long as they are in their seat when the bell rings. This is an effective way to get students on task immediately. For vocabulary instruction, I am currently using Words Their Way: Sorts for Derivational Spellers. At this stage, students begin looking at Greek/Latin Root Words. In an effort to get students think about vocabulary outside of my 90-minute class I created "Root Word Wars." This is a weekly competition between periods in which students try to bring in the most words that have their period's preassigned root word (see picture). Homework has never been met with such enthusiasm! Steps for the Assignment 1. Find a tree that has blank space for writing on Google images. 2. Blow it up to poster size (parent center at my school does this), or you could draw trees on chart paper. 3. Use hangers (see picture) to hang the posters around the room. 4. Decide on a different root word for each class, but roots that are equally common, so it won't be an unfair competition. 5. Students can bring a maximum of one word daily, this places the emphasis on participation. They should have some idea of the meaning, but have a class discussion and try to figure it out based on the meaning of the root word. 6. At the end of the week (or two depending on the prize) tell students that you will count the words and whichever class brings in the most words wins. The first week we brought milk and doughnuts for the winning period (Final score: 17-8). Next week, I am going to offer them a pizza party, but I am extending the time period to two weeks. 8. Ultimately, the students really enjoyed sharing their words with the class in a public way (I let them do it right after vocabulary instruction). Also, more and more students started doing the homework, and hopefully, thinking about the vocabulary they encounter on a daily basis. Troubleshooting 1. If students claim it is not fair because one class is bigger than another you can make it fair by allowing several (pre-designated) students to bring in two words, so that the maximum amount of words they can bring in is equal. 2. I don't want students to do the assignment in class, so the requirement is that they had to have the word on a piece of scrap paper or pulled up on their phone. This is informal, but it just proves to me that they thought about it before class. Their oral sharing of the word is the important part. 3. Finally, I am a special educator, so I have smaller class sizes 10-15. If you use this in a larger class, please post a comment and let me know how you would adapt it! Jane Schaffer Writing In the classroom, I have been using the Jane Schaffer model for paragraph writing. Generally, when students get to high school they have the idea stuck in their head that "one paragraph = five sentences." The Jane Schaffer paragraph is eight sentences, and it forces the students to include concrete details, or as one student said, "Oh, you mean facts." In the graphic organizer I use, I have included not only the Schaffer terminology, but terminology I think students might encounter when they get to college, or in another class. I want them to use the model, but not get overly attached to the terms. If a student needs a more simplistic version I will write in the margins "fact, opinion, opinion, fact, opinion, opinion." The quality of the paragraphs that the students are producing using this method is amazing. Some critics claim that it is too stifling and that writing is a creative process. I agree, but playing a musical instrument is also creative, and one must learn the basic chords before improvising. I know this would have helped me when I was learning to write. Finally, when I have the students write five-paragraph essays, I tell them that they must use this format for their three body paragraphs, but the introduction and conclusion they can get "creative" with. We read a short story in class titled "The Keeping Quilt." As an extension activity, the class created a quilt. Each student received four pieces of card stock and yarn to tie their "square" together any way they wanted to. On one square they were directed to write their name, on one square they were told to write their earliest memory, and on the final two squares they were to paste copies of their baby pictures. The students loved it. I teach 9th-12th graders and they really enjoyed looking at pictures of themselves as "innocent" children (their words). Finally, students did an oral presentation of their square for the class. If you plan to do this activity with high schoolers, who sometimes have difficulty remembering to bring things in, I would start asking for baby pictures at the beginning of the year. I had an assistant make copies during class time and immediately return their originals. Also, there may be students who do not have any baby pictures. One option is to try and get permission to make copies of pictures from their cumulative record- they often have elementary school pictures available. One student requested that she be able to find a picture of a baby online and use that as her picture, which we let her do. I will continue to do this every year. It was nice to see students (especially ones with challenging behavior) in this light. |
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November 2023
AuthorMs. Young is a teacher who wants to keep a record of what works! Categories |