1. IRA CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

2. Favorite Sessions  Lesson Study  Vocabulary  Conferring  Observing lessons with a group to study effective design  How to select the best words to pre-teach  Talking with students about reading is an essential component of literacy instruction

3. Lesson Study  Focused more on the Japanese format of professional development  Shifts from  Answers given to questions asked  Driven by the expert to driven by the participants  Communicated by trainer to communicated among participants  www.teachers.ed.pdx.edu www.teachers.ed.pdx.edu

4. Lesson Study  Process  Develop one or more lesson plans that include some type of literary element  Use the Lesson Study design  Have one or more collective observations  Revise lesson as a group  Possibly teach the lesson again  Submit it to the website

5. 1. Study (consider longer-term goals for students; study curriculum and standards required) 2. Plan (select and review research lesson; outline tasks; anticipate student responses; plan data collection and lesson elements) 3. Deliver research lesson (collect data) 4. Reflect (share data; what was learned about student learning, lesson design, this content?; what are the implications for this lesson and instruction more broadly?) THE PROCESS

6. Lesson Study— Designing the Research Lesson Steps in the Research Lesson Teacher ActionsPredicting Student Actions Observation of Student Behavior connecting goals to previous learning, standards introduction of new concept demonstrate, model, explore new concepts engage student in learning give students opportunities to practice have students share, apply new learning script as closely as possible what the teacher will do during the lesson write down, verbatim, teacher directions include some aspect of literacy what should the students be doing? predict student questions and obstacles to learning include Plan B partners observe the students, not the teacher think about what can be observed/ evaluated think about how to determine student learning develop a system to gather observations (i.e. A=on task, B= stalling, etc.)

8. Vocabulary  Five presentations in one:  What is the importance of vocabulary study?  How to select the best words to teach  Instruction for struggling readers  The importance of vocabulary instruction for ELLs  Using data  http://www.reading.org/General/Conferences/ AnnualConvention/PresenterHandouts.aspx http://www.reading.org/General/Conferences/ AnnualConvention/PresenterHandouts.aspx

9. Vocabulary  The importance of teaching vocabulary  Vocabulary is the single best predictor of reading comprehension  The narrowing of the curriculum (reducing science and social studies) is counter- productive because these two subjects are heavy in academic vocabulary.  Robust vocabulary instruction is necessary:  Pick the right words  Engage in multiple contexts  Repeated exposures (12 rec.) of student friendly definitions

10. Vocabulary  How to select the words to teach:  Crucial to the understanding of the text  Words that students know with different meanings  important words that students may need to know for general use  Words you are planning to use for word study  Do not pick words that students can puzzle out from the context  Do not choose words that students can figure out from structural analysis Discuss these after reading

11. Vocabulary  Trust  Conservation  Transmitter  Jolts  Lichens  Electric  Ibex  Petroglyphs  Not necessary to text  Important word (word study)  Important to text  Multimeaning-confusing  Important to text  Multimeaning-confusing  Not necessary (photo)  Important-defined in text

12. Vocabulary  Teach before reading:  Conservation (general knowledge and for word study)  Transmitter (important to the text)  Lichens (important to the text)  Marked (multimeaning, important to the text)  Drew (multimeaning, important to the text)  Discuss after reading  Petroglyphs (defined in text)  Scrape (defined in text)  Jolts (use context)  Electric (use context)  Ibex (use context)  Spray (use context)

13. Vocabulary WORDS0=Don’t know 1= Have heard 2= Know & use Predicted meaning before reading Meaning after reading Context clues Astronomer1A person who goes out to space to study the moon A scientist who studies the moon and planets Studied Stars Planets Axis0It goes around the earth An imaginary line that lies from north to south Imaginary line Center of the planet Motor imaging—best for words that are knew labels for known concepts Seated pantomime of word’s meaning; repeat the pantomime every time the word is used appropriately in class.

14. Vocabulary  Other interesting thoughts:  Try to find words that appear multiple times within a narrow set of reading  Pay attention to if it’s a new concept or just a new label—AND—if it’s concrete or abstract (this determines how much time will be required for instruction)  It is recommended that we teach only 5-8 words before a reading—more than that is too much.

15. Conferring  The cornerstone of literacy, according to Patrick Allen  Conferring: The Keystone of Reader’s Workshop  http://all-en-a-days-work.blogspot.com http://all-en-a-days-work.blogspot.com  patrickallen6@msn.com patrickallen6@msn.com  Defined as a purposeful conversation in which readers talk about their reading (both process and product)

16. Conferring  Allows you to discover  Reader’s attitude about reading  Reader’s work ethic/ stamina (managing their reading)  Reader’s process  Reader’s diet (what they read and why)  Reader’s relationship between intimacy and rigor (how they interact with the text)

17. Conferring  Process  R—review, read aloud, record  The student starts by reviewing what he/she has been reading and reads aloud an excerpt. This is recorded on the note-taking log (of your choice).  I—instruction, insights, intrigue  The teacher provides necessary instruction while the student and teacher discuss their insights and intriguing pieces of the reading.  P—plan, progress, purpose  Set aside a purpose and plan for the next conference and discusses with the student their progress.

18. Conclusion  This PowerPoint, as well as other links, are on the cohort wiki.