Article on Close Reading. Welcome to the first post in our 7-week blog-a-thon on #closereading. We invite YOU to join in! Find more on how-to here. Several selected posts will be linked to on the Contributors page. Let’s closely read the practice of close reading together! Close Reading Isn’t Just Anything Just as I suddenly–and against my will–have now heard hundreds of people use the term “twerking” in near constant use, from the VMAs to news anchors to walking into the grocery store… and I don’t think everyone is using it correctly (if you don’t know the definition, please do not hold me accountable for what you google)…, it seems that once a term comes in vogue everyone uses it to define everything.
The term “close reading” seems to be experiencing a similar misapplied overuse: What were once called “textbook questions” are now being called close reading.Excuse me, is that classroom of students independently reading? Close Reading Is… We find Patricia Kain’s work from the Writing Center at Harvard instructive. Writing Discursive compositions (Secondary level) (Part 5): Introduction of Discursive essay (use of case studies) | ENRICHING THE INTELLECTUAL FABRIC OF YOUR MIND. This is my fifth post on discursive writing. For my first post, please click here. Having discussed the technique of historical development and cause and effect, let’s take a look at writing the introduction using a case study or case studies. This is a more challenging technique since students are expected to not only have prior knowledge of the subject matter in the questions, but they also need to know specific, preferably historical or contemporary understanding of current happenings to do well in their writings.
Students who wish to use this technique should read newspapers and magazines very regularly to get a firm and all-rounded grasp of global events and specific details of incidents such that they are able to elaborate well in their introductions using specific case studies. Consider the following discursive questions: i. Ii. Iii. Iv. V. Once again, let’s consider how to write the introductory paragraph from two of the above: ii. Introduction: iv. Like this: Like Loading... A Great Poster on The 6 Questions Critical Thinker Asks. Deeper Learning Video Series | Deeper Learning. Writing Good Multiple Choice Test Questions. Text message (SMS) polls and voting, audience response system | Poll Everywhere. Sqworl. 5 Excellent Web Tools For Giving Students Narrative Feedback.
5 Web Tools for Giving Students Narrative Feedback by Mark Barnes Teachers may reside in a society driven by standards and high stakes testing, but this doesn’t change the fact that the best way to evaluate learning is with formative assessment and narrative feedback. When evaluation becomes a conversation, students are transformed into critics of their own progress and achievement improves. In decades researching more than 250 million students worldwide, John Hattie, author of Visible Learning, discovered that student self-assessment and teacher feedback impact achievement over the course of a school year far more than traditional assessment techniques. Assuming this is true, and it’s difficult to argue with a sample of 250 million, teachers should be providing meaningful narrative feedback daily to students. Digital Tools Make Providing Feedback Easy and Engaging 5 Web Tools for Feedback 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Providing daily narrative feedback is challenging and time consuming. Top 10 Picture Books for the Secondary Classroom. As a teacher of future English teachers, I am always trying to open my students’ eyes to the wonder and power of the picture book, both as an art form and as a terrific instructional tool for the secondary classroom. Being students of capital-L literature, my teacher-babies sometimes forget to consider these compact and powerful texts.
It’s the best way I know to get numerous, diverse and COMPLETE texts into students’ minds. It’s hard enough to squeeze out the time in the overcrowded middle and high school English curriculum to read young adult and classic novels, but with picture books, you can read the entire work aloud, model the focus you want students to concentrate on, let them explore the craft, have the discussion, and even try it out in their own writing–all in one period! So here, in no particular order: my top ten. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Nerdy friends, you are never too old for picture books–I feel like you know that! Making Inferences, Too Many Tamales (Lesson Plan. Connections and Schema - The Reading Lady. Six Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students.
What’s the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? Saying to students, “Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and turn it in by Wednesday.” Yikes! No safety net, no parachute—they’re just left to their own devices. Let’s start by agreeing that scaffolding a lesson and differentiating instruction are two different things.
Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. When scaffolding reading, for example, you might preview the text and discuss key vocabulary, or chunk the text and then read and discuss as you go. Simply put, scaffolding is what you do first with kids. Scaffolding and differentiation do have something in common, though. So let’s get to some scaffolding strategies you may or may not have tried yet. 1. How many of us say that we learn best by seeing something rather than hearing about it? 2. 3. All learners need time to process new ideas and information. 4. 5. 6. Historyteachers. 25 Of The Best Research Apps For iPad & Android. 25 Of The Best Research Apps For iPad & Android Out of all the reasons to use a tablet or smartphone in the classroom–or the library–mobile research might be among the most natural.
Whether a student is… …Google’ing, Wikipedia’ing, facebook’ing; saving a resource, taking a picture of a page so they don’t have to check out the whole book, or sharing a pdf with themselves from one account to another; seeing if the National Archives, twitter, or Questia makes more sense for what they’re looking for; need to ask a peer, a teacher, or a community member about the best source for a certain data point or tidbit; need to ping reddit, Google+, or instagram community to see what important guiding question they’re failing to ask… Using a tablet–whether from Apple, Google, or Windows–is often the most seamless way for them to do so. Coupled with a pencil and a notepad, a tablet or smartphone–and all the apps and networks they give you access too–can make for a powerful combination. A 6-Point Plan for Writing Success: Giving Our Students “The Write Stuff” - Columbus, OH.
Most of us have counted down the days until spring. But this year, March, April, and May bring a bit of trepidation to many in the education community. With the heightened demands of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and forthcoming next-generation assessments—which require a renewed emphasis on writing—many districts are concerned that students won’t be prepared. No longer will students find tests comprised of dozens and dozens of “bubble-filled” multiple-choice questions. Instead, writing—assessed at every tested grade level—will be a key factor in the next-generation assessments developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). The importance of writing skills on these new tests far exceeds traditional expectations.
During the first half of the school year, I traveled across the country delivering presentations on CCSS writing and upcoming assessments. Engagement and Personalization: Feedback Part 2. We know the relationship between feedback and achievement is strong. What about the relationship between feedback, personalization and, hence, motivation? The recently-released Gallup poll on American education in which hundreds of thousands students and teachers were polled is quite revealing.
Personalized learning and feedback – and, more specifically, personal recognition for work well done – matters greatly: Among the 600,000 students who took the poll in 2013, those who strongly agreed with two simple statements were 30 times as likely as those who strongly disagreed with both to be emotionally engaged at school.
Those two statements were: 1. 2. The Gallup folks note, however, that our current approach to teaching and testing makes it harder for teachers to “tailor their instructional approach to individual students’ needs and to ensure that the praise they offer is personal and meaningful.” Harder, but not impossible. “Meaningful interactions at school drive student engagement. Rubrics. Making Feedback on Writing Easy - Poetica.com. Earlier today, I received an email from Poetica.com's Anna regarding a beta service for offering feedback on online student writing. What's fascinating is the approach they take to accomplishing the feedback, which give the online feedback a "paper" approach.
Here's an excerpt from the email Anna Maybank, co-founder, sent me: We've created an editing experience that closely resembles scribbling notes over a physical piece of paper - something we think that's ideal for grading, giving student feedback and peer-to-peer support. We're still in private beta and we have a limited number of invitations to give away to any students (and professors!) This link should be good for 50 accounts: The feedback Poetica enables more finely grained controls that what you see in GoogleDocs, which is what Poetica.com looked like to me when I first saw it. You'll see what I mean in the screenshots below... For now, it’s just accessible in the browser. A Peek into our Nonfiction Research and Research Based Argument Essay Unit.
Last week, we completed our Nonfiction Research Unit and Research Based Argument Essay Unit, which are integrated units in reading and writing workshops. Below are the charts we created as a class during the unit. I tried to put the charts in the order (somewhat) that we created them in to help give you a snapshot of what our work looked like in our classroom. At the beginning of each unit, I always launch it by discussing the purpose of the unit with my students and WHY we are learning this set of skills. After identifying the purpose, we also think about which skills/strategies we can transfer from our previous unit to the new unit. Below you will see our two charts for these lessons: During each reading and writing unit, we create class charts that identify the teaching points taught in each mini-lesson so students can refer to the charts throughout the unit.
Below you will see various teaching point charts that students constantly referred to while working independently. #CommonCore Radio. Common Core Radio. Depth of Knowledge. Dok_bloom.pdf. Dok_chart.pdf. CognitiveRigorMatrixReadingWriting. How to Create a Bibliography in Google Documents. One of the most useful new Add-ons for Google Documents is the EasyBib Bibliography Creator. The EasyBib Bibliography Creator makes it easy to properly cite resources and format a bibliography in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. The screenshots below provide directions for the process.
(Click the images to view them in full size). Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: 5 Assessment Forms That Promote Content Retention. If we hope to construct enduring understanding in our students, it's critical that, now more than ever, we know their strengths and interests. By incorporating students' strengths and weakness into authentic learning experiences from the beginning of each unit, while at the same time including opportunities for feedback, metacognition and revision, we promote a variety of cognitive and emotional benefits that can lead to academic success.
For example, students with interpersonal learning strengths find that cooperative group work increases perseverance. Students with artistic, computer, dramatic or organizational skills benefit from appropriate opportunities to engage in building knowledge through their strengths and interests. It follows that assessments should also provide opportunities for each student's unique learning style to access his or her highest performance success level.
The First 3 Assessment Forms Tests Where Notes or Textbooks are PermittedTake-Home TestsStudent-Made Tests. Class Discussion to Encourage Critical Thinking: Resources for Grades 9-12. About Socratic Seminars Socratic Seminars: Patience & Practice <img class="media-image media-element file-content-image" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content_image_breakpoints_theme_edutopia_desktop_1x/public/content/73/video.gif? Itok=pmoQLTDv" alt="" /> (Teaching Channel, 2013) At Mountain View High School in Mountain View, California, teacher Paige Price discusses how she uses Socratic Seminars in her classroom to address the question, “What’s the purpose of poetic language?” Make sure to check out the supporting materials related to the featured activities, including scoring and student preparation guides.
How KIPP Teachers Learn to Teach Critical Thinking <img class="media-image media-element file-content-image" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content_image_breakpoints_theme_edutopia_desktop_1x/public/content/73/video.gif? Back to Top Downloads from Schools that Work More Blogs About Class Discussion. Deeper Learning: Resources. Writing Discursive compositions (Secondary level) (Part I): Differences between discursive and argumentative essays | ENRICHING THE INTELLECTUAL FABRIC OF YOUR MIND. I am going to start a series of blog posts on discursive writing at the secondary level, beginning with this post on the differences between discursive writing and argumentative writing.
I hope that this series of post will benefit secondary school students in Singapore who have a strong interest in penning such essays but lack the technical and/or logical reasoning skills to write a remarkable piece of writing. Please note that discursive essays are at times known as “expository essays”, although I prefer to use the term “discursive”, and will be using this term for this blog. Discursive and argumentative essays are very different. For starters, let’s look at the obvious differences and defining signatures of discursive and argumentative essays in typical test and exam questions (Note: please click on the image for an enlarged, clearer version): To better illustrate the differences between discursive and argumentative essays, let’s take a look at some essay questions: Discursive essays: 1.
PrepTEC Post 1. Hacker, The Bedford Handbook 8e BCS. Special Field Exam « Graduate Resources « The Center for Writing Studies, Illinois. Writing In/Across the Disciplines - Karen J. Lunsford Theory and Practice Anderson, Benedict. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Rev., expanded ed.). Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich. (1981). Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich. (1986). Bauman, Marcy Lassota. (1999). Bawarshi, Anis. (2000). Bazerman, Charles. (1988). Bazerman, Charles. (1994). Bazerman, Charles & Paradis, James. Beaufort, Anne. (1997). Bishop, Wendy. (1999). Blakeslee, Ann M. (1997). Bové, Paul A. (1988). Britton, James. (1992). Brown, Ann L.; Ash, Doris; Rutherford, Martha; Nakagawa, Kathryn; Gordon, Ann; & Campione, Joseph C. (1993).
Bruffee, Kenneth A. (1999). Carlton, Susan Brown. (1995). Cole, Michael & Engeström, Yrjö. (1993). Couture, Barbara & Rymer, Jone. (1993). Cross, Geoffrey A. (1994). Cross, Geoffrey A. (2000). Cushman, Ellen. (1999). Dannels, Deanna P. (2000). Dewey, John. (1985). Dias, Patrick; Freedman, Aviva; Medway, Peter; & Paré, Anthony. (1999). Martin, J. Shaped By Writing. Preparing Students for the Future | Deeper Learning. RSA Animate. Teaching Complex Texts: A Guide. El201403_takeaways. ELA Resources. Ford Destroys Cadillac's Rich Guy Ad. Written Conversations about Reading. Teacher (Primary_Ed) sur Twitter. Teaching Graphic Novels | Learning at the Library. Timeless Advice on Writing from Famous Authors. Nonfiction Reading Comprehension Worksheets. Depth of Knowledge with Karin Hess. Depth of Knowledge in the 21st Century. Technology and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge | SBBC • Department of Instructional Technology.
Static.pdesas.org/Content/Documents/Keystone_Exams_Understanding_Depth_of_Knowledge_and_Cognitive_Complexity. One-Page Nonfiction Reading/Thinking Passages Aligned with Core Priorities. The Real Story of a “Rosie the Riveter”: a Ford Motor Company Employee - Press Release. Writing about Reading...Constructed Response Resources. 70 useful sentences for academic writing. BlogRubric-vvs4bd. Great Gatsby movie compared to the book: How faithful is it to F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel? A detailed comparison. Writing BIG 8.doc. 20110928111055_949.pdf. Squishy Not Slick - A list of reasons why teaching The Great Gatsby is so much better now than it was five years ago. Research shows long-run benefit of English instruction. Infographic: “How Does The Act Of Writing Affect Your Brain? College readiness article.
Text Complexity. DEEPER READING ARTICLES, WEB SITES, AND APPS. More close reading. Scaffolding reading and writing to the CC. Mentor texts. RIGOR Required by CC. Feedback. Protocols. Writing Well. Writing to Text ELA course resources. Videos.