Message Time Plus (MTP) Intro Seminar My name is Adriana Hernandez. I am your new teacher coach. I was a preschool, kindergarten and first grade teacher at Forest for 8 years. Today I am going to introduce you to a new practice that will be an addition to you reading and writing instruction, which is called Message Time Plus.

Let’s Break the Ice!! Everyone has a penny in front of you. Take a look at the year that is on your penny. Think about something that happened to you in that year that you would like to share with the group. If the year on the penny is a year before you were born look up what happened in that year using your phone/computer.

Activating Prior Knowledge On your 4 post-its respond to the following questions then place them on the appropriate charts. 1. How do you teach children to read? 2. How do you teach children to write? 3. How do children learn to read best? 4. How do children learn to write best?

What is Message Time Plus Message Time Plus is a modeled writing and shared reading instructional practice that follows seven steps for planning and implementation. The seven steps have been carefully designed to support young readers and writers through a meaningful and authentic reading and writing experience. Each step is supported by research-based effective practices.

The Seven Step Process of MTP

Step 1: Planning Step 1: Planning- Planning for Message Time Plus occurs before the lesson and planning notes are recorded on a lesson plan template. The students are not present It is important to plan because you are then able to be explicit in your teaching. A copy of a planning template is provided for you in your packet. We will have the opportunity to look over the template before we leave.

Step 2: Thinking Aloud Although labeled as step two, this is actually the first step that a teacher would implement in a Message Time Plus lesson (with the students). Thinking aloud is one of the best comprehension tools teachers can share with children. New information is much more likely to be understood and remembered if it can be linked in the mind to concepts which are already clear. Thinking Aloud before beginning to read or write explicitly makes the connection between the unknown and the known, especially when the thinking process involves activating prior knowledge.

Step 3: Writing and Reading This step occurs as the teacher is writing the message and the students are simultaneously reading the message. After the teacher thinks aloud, the teacher begins to write the message in front of the class, a research based instructional practice known as modeled writing. The teacher begins to compose a piece of written text on an unlined white board or chart paper—carefully forming letters, modeling concepts of print, and sound stretching words, as necessary. • As the writing is happening, the teacher and students read the message together, a research based instructional practice known as shared reading. During shared reading, the teacher varies the level of support she gives readers while reading together.

Step 4: Predicting and Assessing Step four is occurring simultaneously with step three. During modeled writing and shared reading, students are making predictions, the teacher is offering feedback, and the teacher is assessing students “on the fly.” • While the teacher is modeling writing, she may occasionally stop to note certain writing behaviors such as indenting, needing to go onto the next line, and sound stretching words when necessary. • In addition to being explicit about writing behaviors, the teacher makes decisions to stop and praise readers during shared reading on their use of good reading strategies (for example, when they predict words based upon letter patterns and/or predict a word by thinking about what makes sense). • During this step the teacher is also mentally assessing students’ abilities during shared reading, noting their predictions and use of strategies.

Step 5: Re-reading After each sentence that is written, the teacher guides the students to re-read, allowing them to put all the words they read into a meaningful sentence that “sounds right.” This re-reading happens again after the entire message is written. With each opportunity to re-read, the students’ reading becomes more automatic, accurate, and smooth.

Step 6: Analyzing and Scaffolding After the message is composed and read, the teacher calls three to five students to the message board for an individualized “scaffolding experience.” During or after the scaffolding of three to five individuals, a brief and focused whole class mini-lesson also occurs. • The teacher calls three to five students to the board, one at a time, to “analyze” the message by identifying letters, words, or marks of punctuation that they know. • After a student has pointed to what s/he knows and the teacher has marked the element, she proceeds by questioning and supporting the student in order to bring the student from his or her independent learning level – where s/he had success in finding a letter, word, or mark of punctuation – to his or her instructional learning level, a place where the teacher must guide the student towards new learning or learning s/he needs additional practice with. • Scaffolding is an individual experience for each student as it builds upon his or her individual level of knowledge and ability. During the planning stage, the teacher pre-plans scaffolding for each student by thinking about what they might find and naming what they should learn in accordance with assessment data. • As a result of an individual scaffolding experience, or after all scaffolding experiences have taken place, the teacher delivers a whole class mini-lesson on the topic of the primary literacy objective. This mini-lesson addresses the needs of the whole class.

Step 7: Re-reading the Message: After analyzing the message, the students are guided to re-read the message one final time. The final re-reading allows the students to see the individual elements of the message that they focused on during step six in a meaningful context, while further increasing their ability to fluently read the message.

What MTP is Not Morning Message Daily News Pre-Written Interactive Writing

How is the Message Written? The message should be written in legible print, large enough for the students to read easily. Teacher must stand to the side of the board so the students can see the message as it is being written. Write the message with a single, dark colored marker. Try to use a board that is wider than it is tall. Leave space at the bottom for mini-lesson during step six. If your board is small you can use a smaller write and wipe board or you can use chart paper for your mini-lesson.

Break Time 10 minutes… We will be watching a video of me doing a message with my last year’s class when we come back together.

Video Message Time Plus First Grade Classroom This video was shot after writing a message everyday for about a month and a half with students that came to me reading at an “A” Level.

Video Discussion Turn to a partner and discuss what were some of the things you noticed in the video that you would like to try in class.

Strategies to Help You Get Started… Plan a mini-lesson on the expected behaviors for MTP Use a method for calling students to the board. Example: (popsicle sticks) Start off by only writing a couple of sentences in the beginning making them predicable especially for beginning of Kindergarten

Rhyme Time Song Sing to the tune of the Adams Family Song There’s cat and hat, sat and bat, rat and mat the “at” family. Rhyme time “snap, snap” Rhyme time, Rhyme time, Rhyme time “snap, snap” Super Duper “snap, snap” Peter Di Duper “snap, snap” Super Duper, Peter Di Duper, Super Duper

Planning Time You will count yourselves off 1-6 and plan a message together. With a book of your own or a book from the room. Your group will begin to create a message together using the planning template.