1. Waiver Day – 11.08.11 Sherry Birchem Word Up! “To put it simply: students encounter unfamiliar words in their reading; they use context clues and morphology to try to deduce meaning; they consult references to verify meaning, and eventually — if the stars align — they end up using those words in a meaningful way.”

2. Agenda Reasoning skills Common Core Standards Instructional Strategies Time to share - Strategies

3. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1995/ 1/95.01.05.x.html Why Reasoning Skills? The ability to learn new words via reasoning skills is one of the key components of the English Common Core. Movement in schools that places major emphasis on higher order skills – 21st Century Skills ~ Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation. These skills encourage the ability to reason. Challenge ~ Preparing young learners for their future requires that teachers employ a great deal of inventiveness and creativity in designing lessons that meet the dual challenge of providing the basics (as in reading, language arts, and mathematics), and developing the ability to reason.

4. Common Core Standards Common Core State Standards – “They must also have extensive vocabularies, built through reading and study, enabling them to comprehend complex texts and engage in purposeful writing about and conversations around content. They need to become skilled in determining or clarifying the meaning of words and phrases they encounter, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies to aid them. They must learn to see an individual word as part of a network of other words—words, for example, that have similar denotations but different connotations. The inclusion of Language standards in their own strand should not be taken as an indication that skills related to conventions, effective language use, and vocabulary are unimportant to reading, writing, speaking, and listening; indeed, they are inseparable from such contexts.”

5. CNN Study: Schoolyard bullies not just preying on the weak Instead, the research shows that many students are involved in "social combat" -- a constant verbal, physical and cyber fight to the top of the school social hierarchy. By: Chuck Hadad CNN.com October 10, 2011 What words might you expect to find in this article?

8. Word Clouds

10. Skin Deep by Angela Shelf Medearis I wish my skin came equipped with a zipper right in the center of my belly button. Then, when I see fear creep into your eyes and your mind fill up with all those things your momma told you and the newspaper told you and you saw on the TV or heard on the radio about BLACK people Zippppp I could slip out of my skin. I’d look just like those pictures in an anatomy book, Red and blue veins everywhere. Just another naked human being, No different than you.

12. Kick Me Discussion: Why is setting a time limit essential to this activity? How can this activity be used as both a pre- teaching and review activity? What are the learning benefits of allowing students to be mobile?

13. Works Cited http://www.corestandards.org/ - Common Core Standards http://www.corestandards.org/ http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2461/ - Quote on slide 1 http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordshop/2461/ www.teachingchannel.org – Word Clouds and Kick Me video www.teachingchannel.org http://www.pluggedintononfiction.com/professional-development/free-webinars/ - Free Webinars from Janet Allen http://www.pluggedintononfiction.com/professional-development/free-webinars/ Websites to check out… www.wordle.net – Create Word Clouds www.wordle.net http://www.teachingchannel.org/ - Quick videos on instructional strategies – GREAT SITE! http://www.teachingchannel.org/ http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ - Free vocabulary games http://www.vocabulary.co.il/