T HEMES AND G ENERALIZATIONS Making Connections to Foster Deeper and More Complex Thinking.

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
ELA Common Core – What We Know So Far….
Advertisements

Icons of Depth and Complexity
Understanding by Design - Stage 1 -
Understanding the Common Core Standards and Planning Lessons to Address The Standards.
PARCC Tests: An Investment in Learning Test quality and rigor increase; Costs for states generally hold steady July 2013.
Social Studies can be SPECtacular Anthony J Fitzpatrick Vice President for Professional Development Services The American Institute for History Education.
Grade 2 Common Core I Can Statements… 1. Second Grade Common Core… The Next Generation Strand: Reading: Literature RL.2.1 –
Depth and Complexity An RUSD Best Practices GATE Tune-Up.
Reading and Writing and the Common Core Standards Jen Fiegen Laura Norris Eva Petersen.
7th Grade Portfolio of the California State Standards Miss Boenigk Columbus Middle School Miss Boenigk Columbus Middle School
Common Core State Standards Professional Learning Module Series
Session 6: Writing from Sources Audience: 6-12 ELA & Content Area Teachers.
Choosing an Instructional Strategy 7 th Grade Language Arts StrategyObjectiveExample Expository InstructionThe objective is to acquire new information.
Session 6: Writing from Sources Audience: K-5 Teachers.
Edgar Allan Poe: His Contributions to American Literature.
How The Early Native Americans of California Met Their Needs An Instructional Unit for Third Grade.
Michigan Common Core Standards
Use “Standards Workshop” and Margo Healy Training this time. How to read the student IELA Report.
Unit 1 Learning Objectives Experience a science lesson that integrates CA CCSS speaking/listening, writing and reading with science content Identify Literacy.
English Department Mary Ellen Phelan, Supervisor A book is a gift you can open again and again. – Garrison Keillor.
Depth and Complexity Icons
SMART Goal All teachers should be able to recognize and implement 4 out of the 8 depth icons by the end of the workshop.
Politics of Food Day Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They.
Unit: Exploring the Unknown.  The Performance Based Task will consist of multiple tasks completed over the course of a few days.  Part 1 consists of.
Unit Portfolio Presentation Linda Hill & Jonna Wallis
Learning goals.
ELA Common Core Shifts. Shift 1 Balancing Informational & Literary Text.
PENNSYLVANIA COMMON CORE STANDARDS 1.2 Reading Informational Text Students read, understand, and respond to informational text—with emphasis on comprehension,
Session 2: Informational Text Audience: 6-12 ELA Teachers.
Do Now 9/15/14 Please take out the HW (binder p. 9) and be ready for the next direction.
LITERACY SUCCESS 11 Part A A PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION INNITIATIVE It is recommended that you view the Literacy Success 10 PowerPoint before viewing.
Curriculum Night Jessica Meade Eighth Grade Language Arts.
Opposing Viewpoints Teaching American History In Miami-Dade County December 14, 2012 Fran Macko, Ph.D.
Meeting the Challenge of Common Core: Planning Close Reading CFN 604 October 21 st, 2014.
Common Core Reading Standards for Social Studies.
Politics of Food Day Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They.
Investigating Identity Unit. Unit Summary During this unit students will participate in different activities that are all a part of Project-Based Learning.
Writing Tactics and Analyzing Text Across the Curriculum Addressing Common Core: Text Types and Purposes (Grades 6-12) Research to Build and Present Knowledge.
Common Core Standards Reading Literature Grade 7.
Understanding the Common Core Standards and Planning Lessons to Address The Standards.
1.3 Reading Literature Students read and respond to works of literature—with an emphasis on comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and making connections.
STRATEGIES FOR WRITING IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM K-5 Writing from Sources and the Common Core State Standards.
1 TEXT-BASED SYNTHESIS WRITING: INFORMATIVE / ARGUMENT OPINION NARRATIVE Silver Shores Elementary.
Common Core.  Find your group assignment.  As a group, read over the descriptors for mastery of this standard. (The writing standards apply to more.
TAKS Reading Process Analyze the Task Activate Prior Knowledge Plan and Predict Read Use Information.
S UMMARIZING : R EADING C OMPREHENSION S TRATEGY Taylor Patterson Kimbyatta Farley Brittany Donaldson Amesha Martin.
RECIPROCAL TEACHING: IN AN ESL CLASSROOM Melissa Dye EDBE /11/2014.
Module 4—Literacy Strands Arts Education. Learning Outcomes Participants will: explore the relationship between the new Essential Standards and the Common.
Argumentative Writing Grades College and Career Readiness Standards for Writing Text Types and Purposes arguments 1.Write arguments to support a.
 School site: The Preuss School  Classes: 6 th Grade Math Enrichment and 7 th Grade Honor Pre-Algebra  Student population: 816 students  Student demographic:
Wonder Lesson Plan Independent Student Inquiry Jill Dougherty
Focusing Question Focusing Question | Mini Lesson | Writer’s Work Time | Lesson SummaryMini Lesson Writer’s Work Time Lesson Summary Objective: To link.
Structuring Learning. Agenda Structuring learning. Structuring lab sessions. Engagement. Critical Thinking. Ideas for structuring learning. Activity.
Politics of Food Day Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. They.
NETA Power Point Slides to accompany: Prepared by Luigi Iannacci Trent University Copyright © 2013 by Nelson Education Ltd.
Concept-Based Teaching & Learning 2D versus 3D curriculum These slides may be used on a limited basis to share information in your school or school district.
A guide to help your students achieve deeper comprehension in order to align with the Common Core State Standards. Jacob’s Ladder Reading Comprehension.
New ELA Guidelines Shifts in ELA Common Core  Rise in Nonfiction Texts.  Content Area Literacy Close and careful reading of text  Increase Complexity.
Questions adapted from: Lanesville Community Schools Resources /RRQuestions.pdf
Read About It. Goal: 2 Insert read to be ready initiative 2 video.
Depth and Complexity Icons
Common Core Reading Standards for Social Studies
Social Studies can be SPECtacular
12th Grade Opening Session Friday, November 12, 2015
Passage Types Question Types
Learning Outcomes Learners will…
Determining Central Ideas in “The Help”
Norman L Webb.
Literature Walk Recount/Summarize Fiction SECONDARY WALKS
UNIT STANDARDS-Language Artifacts to show I have mastered:
Presentation transcript:

T HEMES AND G ENERALIZATIONS Making Connections to Foster Deeper and More Complex Thinking

P RESENTATION O VERVIEW What is the Themes and Generalizations Strategy (and why use it) How I conducted the initial lesson in my honors class How I modified the lesson for my grade-level classes Extensions of the initial lesson Goals for next year and questions

L ATHROP T ECHNOLOGY M AGNET S CHOOL “Home of the Spartans” Enrollment : 1426 Students Hispanic or Latino 98.1 % Asian 1.2 % White 0.5 % Black or African American 0.1 % Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.1 % Socioeconomically Disadvantaged 94.5 % English Learners 61.4 % Students with Disabilities 12.2 %

T HEMES AND G ENERALIZATIONS Themes and Generalizations (or Universal Themes and Generalizations) is a GATE strategy that gives deeper meaning by providing a “big idea” to a unit of study or an entire school year. The strategy allows students to make connections throughout their learning and across content areas. This is NOT a lesson on how to teach themes in literature but a strategy to have students begin to use ideas and concepts rather than facts alone.

Theme with Generalization Statements About That Theme T HINK OF IT LIKE THIS : Reading Writing InterpretationCommentary Grammar

T HE T HEMES For this strategy themes are defined as over- arching single words that are: Abstract universal concepts Leads to a higher level thinking A means to focus on essential understandings to create transferable knowledge Examples: Power Change Structure Conflict I have an unanswered question about this later…

T HE G ENERALIZATIONS Within each universal theme are generalizations, statements for which examples can be provided. Working with power as a theme, students could investigate ideas such as: Power can be used or abused Power comes in many forms Power may be seen or unseen

C OMPARISON OF T WO A PPROACHES Topic-Based Integrated Study Tends to focus on facts and information Can promote coverage as a goal Relatively low coherence among subjects Connects subjects at concrete level Allows low level thinking Low transfer potential Concept-based Integrated Study Tends to focus on ideas and principles Promotes understanding as the goal High coherence among subjects Connects subjects as a level of meaning Requires high level thinking High transfer potential

S TANDARDS CA State 2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) Students read and understand grade- level-appropriate material. They describe and connect the essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of the text by using their knowledge of text structure, organization, and purpose. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. In addition, students read one million words annually on their own, including a good representation of narrative and expository text (e.g., classic and contemporary literature, magazines, newspapers, online information). Common Core RL.8.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text. RL By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

M ETHOD C ONCEPT F ORMATION Getting the students to create generalization statements

O VERVIEW OF W HAT S TUDENTS WILL DO (I’ M SHOWING YOU, I DON ’ T SHOW THIS TO THE KIDS ) 1. Students will be given a theme 2. They will help provide data related to the concept 3. They will find conceptual patterns and make groups 4. They will verbalize the relationships and label the groups 5. They will analyze similarities among all the groups and make a generalization statement based on each group So, now travel back in time to that wonderfully hormonal period known as … 8 th grade!

S O W HAT … Amazing generalization statements have been created, then what? The first activity my students did with their statements was find them in a text we had just read, providing textual evidence and their own commentary. Like so:

Students ultimately used this log for an essay they wrote about the short story; a response to literature where they needed to provide textual evidence and commentary. Other Products/Activities For My Class: We also used our generalization statements to go deeper and more complex into texts (generating discussion questions, quickwrites, etc.) In conjunction with Depth and Complexity Icons to create very high level thinking questions. With expository writing to help find the big idea of a reading and then take those findings into writing

“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe

The thinking is that if students can understand generalizations about a “theme” (in this case relationships) then they will better understand a text and be able to make connections on a deeper level. “Our children and students also learn best when they relate new information to things and ideas that are familiar. We can help them with this by teaching universal themes/concepts. By using this technique, we also help students to form “big ideas” that are transferred to future experiences…Universal themes can make the difference between knowledge and understanding—learning many facts vs. being able to apply those facts to something meaningful”. -Carol Fertig

Analyze both character’s actions in the story and argue whether the narrator was insane or if the old man deserved to die. With examples from the text, support your answers with details.

M ODIFICATIONS For my grade level (non-honors classes) I made a few modifications to the initial creation process in the interest of time. After this modification in the beginning, most subsequent activities were the same.

I N C ONCLUSION Next Year Instead of calling the strategy “Themes and Generalizations” perhaps call “Topics and Themes.” Start this at the beginning of the year and do a more deliberate job of incorparating it in class activities. Use cross contents, have students find examples of our theme in their other classes. Questions The idea of “theme”being a single word; isn’t that a topic? Would it be more appropriate for 8 th grade to have one “theme” per unit or keep it as one “theme” for the entire school year? How else could I use the generalization statements; how can I incorporate grammar?