Bridging the Gap: Helping Learners with Longer, Non-Fiction Texts Stephanie Frame, MA, Cuyamaca College

Activity 1: Speed Dating What do your students read in class? What do they like to read? Are they motivated to read? First Activity – 10 minutes -- about theoretical issues related to the presentation

Activity 1: Speed Dating Is reading a separate course or is it combined with other skills? What are the benefits and/or drawbacks of each?

Activity 1: Speed Dating How theme-based are your classes? What benefits do you see to having students read and write about one theme during a semester? What hesitations do you have?

Activity 1: Speed Dating What hesitations do you have about making students read longer non-fiction books? What informs those hesitations? Activity is on page 4 in the handout – explain how it is adapted – concepts, important quotes or passages, difficult quotes or passages – Ss discuss each with two partners, not one + whole class feedback

Activity 2: Summary Sentences On your sticky note, write a 1-2 sentence summary of the part of “Brainology” called Mindsets and Achievement

Activity 2: Summary Sentences Now form a group of 4-5 people. Read all of your sticky note summaries and choose the best one or combine ideas to write a great summary. How this is adapted in class: text is divided into sections. When Ss are supposed to read the chapter for homework, T gives each student enough sticky notes so that they have one for each section. At home while reading, they write a summary sentence for each section on the stickies. In the next class, a station is set up for each section of the text. Students put their sticky for each section at the appropriate station. Students are assigned groups and each group works on one section of the text. They read through all of the stickies and write the perfect summary.

Activity 3: Graphic Organizer In the same groups, use the introduction and “Mindsets and Achievement” to complete the graphic organizer. Students can fill out individually as they read a chapter and then discuss in class to prepare for the tag team game (next slide).

Activity 4: Tag Team Locate the posters in the room for fixed and growth mindset. Get one marker for your team. Team members will take turns adding new ideas to the posters like a relay. You MAY NOT use an idea another team has already written. Give teams 3-4 minutes to do the relay. At the end count the unique characteristics each team has written. Explain variations – that the categories of the graphic organizer determine how many posters you will need. The graphic organizer and tag team are in the handout as one activity.

Activity 5: Round Robin Fill in the handout that looks like this: Activity to provide closure to the session. Could say that they could leave emails for questions they would like answered. Point out the categories students use to do the activity on a chapter on p. 7 of the handout. Then circulate and comment on what others wrote

Questions?

Thank you for attending! Questions or comments to stephanie.frame-day@gcccd.edu