ELA Shifts of Instruction Principal’s Meeting 9.26.13

Belief Statements Teachers will provide students with access to: 1. A multi-tiered system of support for all students 2. Rigorous and relevant curriculum and instruction

Belief Statements 3. A balance of informational reading and fiction reading 4. Independent, academic and complex texts for reading Independent reading (student choice, on student lexile level) Academic reading (student and teacher choice/thematically linked, just above student lexile level) Complex, grade level text (course packs)

We are ALL going to do this! Belief Statements 5. Writing everyday Use of the writer’s notebook If they can write it, they can assess it, and they can improve it Students should write four times as much as we can grade 6. Explicit Academic Vocabulary Instruction We are ALL going to do this!

Questions/Prompts When planning for instruction, where do you begin? Texts Assessments (what kinds of questions/answers) How do you build background? How do you address the needs of all readers? Overwhelmingly, teachers start with texts and content, not skills and students…..

Activating Schema: Shifts in Practice 6 Shifts in ELA/Literacy Balancing Informational and Literary Text Building Knowledge in the Disciplines Staircase of Complexity Text-based Answers Writing from Sources Academic Vocabulary

ELA/Literacy Shift 1: Balancing Informational and Literary Text What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… Build content knowledge Exposure to the world through reading Apply strategies Balance informational & literary text Scaffold for informational texts Teach “through” and “with” informational texts

ELA/Literacy Shift 2: Knowledge in the Disciplines What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… Build content knowledge through text Handle primary source documents Find Evidence Shift identity: “I teach reading.” Stop referring and summarizing and start reading Slow down the history and science classroom

ELA/Literacy Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… Re-read Read material at own level to enjoy reading tolerate frustration more complex texts at every grade level Give students less to read, let them re-read More time on more complex texts Provide scaffolding & strategies Engage with texts w/ other adults

ELA/Literacy Shift 4: Text Based Answers What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… find evidence to support their argument Form own judgments and become scholars Conducting reading as a close reading of the text engage with the author and his/her choices Facilitate evidence based conversations about text Plan and conduct rich conversations Keep students in the text Identify questions that are text-dependent, worth asking/exploring, deliver richly Spend much more time preparing for instruction by reading deeply.

ELA/Literacy Shift 5: Writing from Sources What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… generate informational texts Make arguments using evidence Organize for persuasion Compare multiple sources Reduce time on personal narratives Present opportunities to write from multiple sources Give opportunities to analyze, synthesize ideas. Develop students’ voice so that they can argue a point with evidence Give permission to reach and articulate their own conclusions about what they read

ELA/Literacy Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does… Use high octane words across content areas Build “language of power” database Develop students’ ability to use and access words Be strategic about the new vocab words Work with words students will use frequently Teach fewer words more deeply

Application-Questions for teachers What are some of the key shifts that you personally are going to need to make in your instruction? How do you share with your evaluator? What are the areas you personally need coaching in? Management of different levels of texts in room

Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) Three types of writing Argumentation Informational/explanatory Narrative Text structures Compare, definition, problem-solution, cause- effect, evaluation, description, procedural, synthesis Connection to text-based answers……

Sample Writing Prompt In your own way explore the theme social justice using examples from your life, text and the world around you. Include at least three examples in your response. What kind of writing will this produce? Explanatory? Argumentation? Informative? Narrative?

Thinking Frames After Research Essential Question

Explain: Grades 3-5 What is social justice? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, write a short, constructed response in which you answer your question and explain your reason. Give several examples from the text to support your opinion.

Argumentation/evaluation: 6-12 After reading The Diary of Anne Frank/Night, write an essay that discusses social justice and evaluates society’s role in imprisoning Jews during the Holocaust. Be sure to support your position with evidence from the text.

Informational/Synthesis: 6-12 After reading The Diary of Anne Frank/Night, write an essay that explains social justice. What conclusions or implications can you draw? Cite at least three sources, pointing out key elements from each source.

Narrative/Description: 6-12 How do characters send a message in a novel? After reading The Diary of Anne Frank, write a narrative from the perspective of Anne’s dad. Use imagery and tone to develop a narrative effect in your work.

Text-dependent questions What is the purpose of the prompt? What kind of writing is the student expected to produce? Informational Argumentative Narrative

The following problem is done incorrectly The following problem is done incorrectly. Use the ABC writing protocol to explain the error(s) that were made and describe a method to correctly solve the problem. What is the purpose of the prompt? What kind of writing is expected?

After reading the article Urban Eyes, argue the claim statement below. Claim statement: Too much time indoors can result in nearsightedness. What is the purpose of the prompt? What kind of writing is expected?

Stimulus: Lord of the Flies video clip Prompt: After watching the video, you are to assume the role of one of the survivors. As the group struggles to organize, you assume a leadership role and try to form a government. What form to you want to propose? Defend your position.

This is a pre-test to determine your writing abilities This is a pre-test to determine your writing abilities. Respond to the following prompt using the ABC Writing strategy. A=Address the prompt B=Back it up C=Conclude your thinking Teachers should be allowed to carry guns in school.

Based on the article you read, should teen driver’s licenses be based on attendance or grades?

Explain Newton’s three laws of motion.

Student responses are only as good as the questions we ask