EGGS-ELLENT! How to turn a short informational text into an opportunity for collaboration, writing, and deeper learning.

INTRODUCTION  Name – Dan Lollis  School – Gwinnett Online Campus, Dacula Middle, Lanier Middle  Grades and Subjects – 4 th to 8 th grade…LA, Math, SS

WHY ARE YOU HERE?  Poll Everywhere Poll Everywhere  At the very least, you will walk away from here with a lesson and ideas you can implement in your classroom this fall.

WHAT IS THE SCRAMBLED EGG ACTIVITY?  It’s more than an activity…  Chance to read an engaging, authentic, high-interest, informational text.  Opportunity for collaborative learning.  Opportunity for low-pressure practice in reading, thinking, and learning.  Opportunity for competition and formative assessment.  It’s my favorite activity to create and use in my classroom.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

I ASKED MY STUDENTS, “WHAT MADE THIS LESSON INTERESTING OR ENGAGING?”  “What made this interesting was that you would go read first, and the lesson would help you remember the text by having you answer questions, and it even had some grammar help and analogies in the lesson.”  “Being able to connect with other students talking about the text…”  “It was interesting because it was more interactive…”

LET’S JUMP RIGHT IN…

SCRAMBLED EGG DEMONSTRATION  Read the article…with me.  Decide whether you want to work by yourself or with a partner or small group  Each person/teammate should number his or her paper 1 – 13 (this number can vary based on the number of questions)

SCRAMBLED EGG DEMONSTRATION  Pick an egg-handler from your group…this person will retrieve and return the eggs during this activity.  When I say go, have the egg-handler walk to the front of the room, pick ONE egg from the pot, and return to your table.  Open your egg and read the question. With your teammates, discuss the question and the answer. Go back to the text if needed.  Each teammate should write the answer or complete the activity on his or her own sheet of paper.

SCRAMBLED EGG DEMONSTRATION  When each teammate has completed his or her answer, the egg-handler should put the question strip back in the egg, return the egg to the pot in the front of the classroom, pick a new egg and repeat the process.  Work until I say stop. If you finish early, review your answers.  Remember, this is a not a race. Accuracy and details count more than speed.  Have fun and begin!

HOW DID YOU DO?  Let’s go over our answers!  What did you like?  What did you dislike?  What problems could arise during this activity?

HOW TO USE THIS STRATEGY…  Find engaging informational texts.  Create thoughtful questions with varying degree of difficulty and skill.  Adapt to make it work in your classroom.

GREAT CREATIVE COMMONS SOURCES…     Kind News (Humane Society magazine) Kind News (Humane Society magazine)  Share what you read/share your interests.  Share what is going on in the world right now.  Use Internet access and education/fair use copyright law for other articles you may want to share.

HOW TO CREATE QUESTIONS/TASKS…  Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy  Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels  Variety of question types  Variety of question difficulty  Use specific and open-ended questions  Don’t be afraid to integrate other subject areas  Save time for discussion and answers

ADAPTATION OPTIONS…  Can be used collaboratively or individually.  Students can read the article and create their own questions for other teams.  Questions can be rotated from team to team.  Teams can be any size (groups of two or three work best).  Other content area material can be used to practice reading skills.

THE BOTTOM LINE - WHY THIS ACTIVITY WORKS…  It engages students.  It teaches curricular content.  It provides low-stress reading comprehension practice opportunity.  Coursework is provided in a social context.  Students must practice and exhibit task- and time- management behaviors.

NOT JUST A “FUN” ACTIVITY  Although there is value in reading a high-interest information text for fun, the Scrambled Egg activity lends itself to before, during, or after unit integration  The scrambled egg activity is especially useful to help increase or activate prior knowledge during the introduction of a unit…can be a scaffold.  Can be tied to the unit themes:  The Giver unit – “Who am I?” – Bethany Hamilton article  Exploration unit - Felix Baumgardner article

TKES AND SCRAMBLED EGGS  TKES and CLASS Keys Crosswalk = Improvement/Teacher-and-Leader- Effectiveness/Documents/TKES%20Crosswalk%20with%20CLASS% 20Keys.pdfhttp:// Improvement/Teacher-and-Leader- Effectiveness/Documents/TKES%20Crosswalk%20with%20CLASS% 20Keys.pdf  The Scrambled Egg activity addresses specific standards and keys:  Engages students in higher-order thinking skills  Maximizes instructional time  Allows for formative assessment  Demonstrates research-based practice (competition/games and collaboration) for student engagement

LET’S GIVE IT A TRY…  Let’s read the article about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.  Let’s use the Revised Blooms Taxonomy or Depth of Knowledge levels to create questions and activities.  What did we come up with?

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE…   Link to electronic/downloadable version of all content including:  This presentation  Three scrambled egg activities with directions, informational text, and questions.  Depth of Knowledge and Bloom’s taxonomy question guides.