English Language Arts DPI Updates August 16, 2012

 Revisit three shifts  Text Dependent questions  Academic Vocabulary

Three Shifts  Shift 1: Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts  Shift 2: Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text  Shift 3: Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

Text-Dependent Questions…  are questions that can only be answered correctly by close reading of the text and demand careful attention to the text.  require an understanding that extends beyond recalling facts.  often require students to infer.  do not depend on information from outside sources.  allow students to gather evidence and build knowledge.  provide access to increasing levels of complex text.  call for careful and thoughtful teacher preparation.  require time for students to process.  are worth asking. Rhode Island Department of Education 2/2012

What are we looking for?  Rich and rigorous evidence-based conversations about text amongst students and with teachers  Discussions that stay deeply connected to the text so that students make evidentiary arguments  Students revisiting text for evidence to support their argument in a thoughtful, careful, and precise way  Students slowing down to explore and learn from the evidence Rhode Island Department of Education 2/2012

First Grade Example- David Goes to School  Read aloud-David Goes to School  Discuss related text dependent questions  Based on what we have read, what is David’s behavior like?  What in the text shows us that David is not making good choices?  Based on what we have read, do you think David has learned to behave? What clues from the story made you think that?

Rich and Worthy Texts Text selection is critical!  The text is the focus of the instruction  From texts, students gain knowledge about the world and how to express themselves  Choose text purposefully based on what we want out students to learn  We chose David goes to school because it relates to our unit of making choices, and it allows for rich discussion.

Vocabulary Tiers and how to use them

Vocab Pyramid Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary  The English Vocabulary is divided into three levels or tiers of words.  These tiers are based on the descriptive value of the word.

Example Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary Tier 1: Old “Old” is a tier 1 word. It means that something has age. Everyone knows what the word means, but it is not very specific.

Example Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary Tier 2: Old In tier 2 for the word “old” we would find words such as: enduring ageing mature elderly

Example Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary Tier 2: Old These words are more specific and descriptive than the word “old”, but they still leave room for mental interpretation by the reader.

Example Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary Tier 3: Old In tier 3 we find words such as: antique ancient decrepit

Example Tier 3: Precision Vocabulary Tier 2: Descriptive Vocabulary Tier 1: Basic and General Vocabulary Tier 3: “Old” This tier contains the most image specific words. Decrepit, for example, brings to mind age that is weak, rotten, and deteriorating.

Other Examples “Fire” Tier 1: Fire Flame Tier 2: Blaze Fiery Tier 3: Conflagration Inferno

Can You Find a Tier II Word?

Tier II Words  What examples of Tier II words did you find in the text?  Spied-Teach  Scratched-Teach  Sipped-Tell  Sliced-Tell A good rule of thumb-if it interrupts the meaning of the text being read then the word would be a Tier II word.

First Grade Example-The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola  Examples from The Art Lesson  Regular-teach  Property-teach  Monitor-teach  Collected-teach  Photograph-tell  Carpenters-tell  Smock-tell There are multiple ways of teaching vocabulary, tier 2 is only one way. We can not be so focused on tier 2 words that we neglect to teach other vocabulary words. The word selection is based on your students.

Maybe think of Tiers as Crayons… Crayola: Which box will make the best picture? Box of 8: Brown Box of 64: Sand, Tan, Khaki, Copper Box of 120: Almond, Antique Brass, Beaver, Cornflower, Tumbleweed, Chestnut

Resources  Wise owl Wise owl  