512+Agenda+7.29.13

Whadya Think?
Post __questions__, comments, ideas to discuss based on your professional engagement research on text-based instruction. (To post - 1) Sign in, 2) Click "edit", 3) Type your entry, 4) Sign your post (three tildes ~), 5) Click "save")

These were some awesome resources to be able to draw from, especially the reading strategies. Social Studies is such a reading intensive subject that it is important for all teachers, not just reading specialists, to have tools to help struggling readings get at the content (the good stuff). Engaged, __questions__ readers would get much more pleasure from reading as well as knowledge, I think. Loved more of the tech incorporation. The kids doing the textbook and __#|tablet__ commercial cracked me up! user:potterkc

The __#|new ideas__ about literacy were mind-blowing! Rather than emphasize acquiring skills such as reading and writing, the new literacy definition emphasizes __#|application__ of these techniques in the modern world. It made me think about what it means to be mathematically literate, and pose the question, 'what do I really want my students to learn, as a math teacher' (besides the required stuff)? user:kdobler1

The word cloud in the 8th grade science class is a great idea, in any subject area. Why does it always seem when we into a classroom, technologically speaking, it often seems we are back ten years in the past? Where are the misbehaving kids in all the videos? user:wbrown84

It was both awesome and useful to consider literacy in the contexts of individual disciplines, especially as it relates to learning in the __#|21st__ century. History/social studies is especially heavy on reading and comprehension of primary and secondary texts is essential to extract context and for the student to form their own analysis. With such an emphasis on standards and getting through established curriculums, how much time could realistically be spent on improving students' learning comprehension? How can technology be further implemented in the classroom? user:hutchesonk

i've used the "word cloud" several times...and it's a pretty neat tool! students get really excited by the design and how "fun" it looks...i've had several cut them out __#|and tape__ them onto notebooks/binders :) also, i love doing inquiry- based teaching ....when i did my student teaching @ gonzaga for the ma tesl program, i decided to do a unit on "to kill a mockingbird"....at first, i wasn't sure if would be too heavy a topic/difficult text, but it worked out wonderfully...which (i must say) had VERY little to do with me, but through the support of my practicum teacher and sheer brilliance of our students, it was truly one of the best moments of my teaching life...just watching them engage in really important and high-thinking debates, discussions, character development...it was truly incredible...blew my mind! user:nanako_32

I loved that the US now defines illiterate as being unable to learn from reading, not just unable to read. I always have hated reading from a text book because I get bored and my mind wanders off. I find I have "read" 3 pages without actually taking in any information. I liked the 5 steps for increasing reading skills and wished I had learned them. Science literature can be so boring that this would definitely be helpful. I don't remember ever using my chemistry textbook in high school for anything other than an additional study resource. Also, I loved the video by the New Brunswick public __#|schools__ and I really hope that some of those techniques trickle down to us. Also, the video on trustworthy sites is hugely relevant to science education, because often students go online for additional help in a specific area. Often, the most popular sites are inaccurate and inadequate for what they are looking for. I am excited to implement some of these things in my own class. user:marinhatcher

I really liked the inquiry-based teaching. The teacher used open-ended __questions__ to engage the students and dive into the primary source documents. He challenged the students to use their own ideas to interact with the documents. I wonder how much teachers can use this method of teaching and which standards this methods point towards. I was surprised when the teacher used the "N-word" but I think it was an appropriate use of it. But I think it's important not to censor History, and it's important not to forget slavery and its many moral issues. using this method invites the students to think for themselves.user:Matt1777

I think it is really important to keep in mid that our world is changing so quickly and that much of what we and our students learn might be obsolete in the next decade. All of this rapid technological change is changing the way we read and gain information. I liked the idea that we should expand our definition of literacy as students have access to so much information in a variety of formats. I also think it is important for me to remember that not all students are able to learn easily from reading. I think that I personally learn well through reading and I will definitely try to stay sensitive to other people's struggles. English and Social Studies are both very text based practices and so it will be useful for me to have strategies that I can employ with students who have difficulty learning through texts.user:Ltormey

I found multimodal texts to be the concept that I would most like to use in my own classroom, both as a teacher and as something that students could create. I also think that the term text, in a lot of cases, should just be replaced with media. A fair portion of my learning did not come from a text. For my question I am wondering what are some of the discipline specific barriers to literacy? For me, in Science I find that a lot of the language can be overwhelming and is not used in any other disciplines so students lack that particular structure when they are learning science for the first time.user:ccoffin12

9:00 - 9:15 - Welcome and Review (Leah)
 * Notetaker - Katherine & Kari
 * Photographer - Charlie
 * Reviewer for Tues - Marin

Bloom's Taxonomy: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating...should write objectives that encourage specific levels of Bloom's Taxonomy
 * Remember: Bloom's is not necessarily hierarchical
 * Strategies: stop, wait and smile, lower voice, proximity, non-verbal actions, avoid engaging in power struggles!
 * Direct instruction: hook, clear objective, opportunities to interact, check for understanding, conclusion
 * Pros/Cons of D.I.: can be boring, but can deliver large amounts of info, teacher in control
 * 3 types of assessment - diagnostic, formative, summative

9:15 - 9:30 - Introduction to Text-based instruction Goals: Define literacy, describe how teaching with texts occurs across disciplines, write lesson plans
 * Hot potato of various texts: webpage, magic school bus game, interview, fieldtrip, short story, campaign commerical, graph, documentary, etc.
 * Products: Most classic teaching with text - textbooks! Also, novels, maps, smartphones, etc.
 * Practices: What do we do with these texts? The venn diagram operationalizes literacy (offers strategies, ways to understand through literacy)
 * Common core says that we should be able to learn from the text; it can be a primary source of learning. The text is not just supplementary.
 * Different types of literacy: information literacy, statistical literacy, data literacy, communication literacy, and many others
 * Teachers are being asked to support a variety of literacies
 * Pie chart teacher evaluation shows that teachers will be evaluated on professional standards (80%), student growth classroom (15%), and student growth in the school (5%).
 * General literacy vs. Content learning...Whose job is it?...What does it mean to be literate?

9:30 - 10:15 - Discussion on text-based instruction and literacy (including reSearching)
 * [|http://agoogleaday.com/#game=started]
 * What are "texts" in your subject area?


 * Google search game has ties to literacy: certain skills you can learn to search, understanding context, be able to tell if an answer is right/wrong
 * Does your age level affect how quickly you search? Are there advantages/disadvantages associated with being able or not being able to search effectively? Definitely an advantage.
 * The more hyper-linked you are, the more likely you are to be at the top of the search list. i.e. google lets you decide how valuable a source is...students need to able to discern what is good/bad!
 * At the very basic, literacy means to decode letters, then words, then comprehend the idea
 * 21st century literacy extends the definition to incorporate new technology

10:15 - 11:00 - Pre-During-Post Activities - teaching demo and discussion
 * [[file:Pre-during-post.docx]]
 * http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/Jack-Andrakas-Pancreatic-Cancer-Breakthrough.html
 * [|Suffrage] - []
 * http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/newton2.html

- Helps focus attention - Can use surveys, visuals, provocative questions, vocab, etc. - Can use graphic organizers, note-taking, response, answering __questions__, and predicts - Can use critical response, review game, quiz, teach your neighbor, debate` - Your knowledge can bridge gaps (you bring the knowledge to connect ideas) - Your knowledge resolves ambiguity (Your knowledge about laundry made the paragraph easier to read) - Practicing reading strategies doesn't really help comprehension. Comprehension requires prior knowledge
 * Pre-reading: 3 reasons - engagement, tools, purpose. Before giving a text, need to engage the students. Also, prepare students for the reading and any vocab, ask what they anticipate will happen, draws on prior knowledg, give students a purpose.
 * During activity: helps keep you on task, check for understanding, goal is to support comprehension
 * Post activity: Provides an opportunity to see if you learned, what you learned, see how their knowledge has changed, sum it all up, reinforce content learning, synthesize/internalize
 * Need knowledge of the world to read (and to take standardized tests like the West B)

11:00 - 11:10 - Break YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brainstorm strategies
 * Pre
 * ask prior knowledge __questions__, set context, critical vocab, word cloud, connect to student's lives, establish relevance, focus __questions__, skim/walk-through
 * During
 * pause & sum, fill-in concept map or graphic organizer, pause for activity and return, underline challenging words, students pose __questions__, explaining visuals
 * Post
 * teach someone, find relevancy, summarize (role play, diagram), segway into next topic, answer __questions__, critiquing text, question perspective

11:10 - 11:45 - Writing lesson plans, how and why
 * What __questions__ do you have about the lesson design plan?
 * Why do we write them? - purposeful planning yields successful learning, organize (order, materials), ideas not to forget
 * audience - for yourself (simple), for professional audience (detail and quality - they will infer nothing), for substitute (somewhere in between)
 * pedagogy - in early stage requires more thinking and detailed planning, will internalize with practice (teaching is a profession - learning value)
 * How do you write them? - detailed form (not required as often), outlines, templates, sticky note?
 * how much detail is enough? - need topic, time, __questions__, description, clarity, but not scripted word-for-word
 * enough that someone else can follow it
 * example lesson plans: too much, too little, and just right __(clear about process, content, expected learning outcome__
 * segments, phrases are practical, don't always need flowery academic language

11:45 - 12:15 - NTSG - Classroom Management - Channeling Energy To lower energy - calm music (yoga, classical) - focus task - just for 1-2 minutes To increase energy - dance music - fast paced activity or competition - 1-2 minutes - evoke emotion To just focus - pencil tap - "hot potato" question - toss a ball for 1 min - question for class (trivia or personal interest) - pull from jar
 * Focus - pencil tap
 * Calm down - http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=yoga
 * Energize - -http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=don%27t+stop+believin
 * Refresh - trivia questions, exercise, song - 2 minute rejuvenation

Not about discipline or power - creating an environment!

12:15 - 1:15 - Lunch - Work on text-based instruction activity guides

1:15 - 2:30 - Teaching Demos

2:30 - 2:45 - Housekeeping

2:45 - 3:00 - Closing Thoughts

To do . ..

 * Professional Engagement - ** Discussion-Based Instruction ** Post questions/issues/comments ** here ** :
 * Start working on your first full lesson plan using the lesson design plan. Draft of one plan is due on Wednesday. Final versions of both plans due on Monday, Aug 5 at noon. (The final "exam" task is to write two connected lesson plans using the lesson design plan. Plans should demonstrate at least two different teaching strategies and follow the TPA focus guidelines. For the context of learning, just provide a brief description of the class/group of students you are targeting.) Submit plans as email attachments or under "misc assignments" on GoogleDocs.
 * TPA Focus
 * English – “construct meaning from and interpret a complex text”
 * History/Social Studies – “critically evaluate accounts or interpretations about an historical event or social studies phenomenon, and to defend their claims/arguments”
 * Math – “develop their understanding of mathematical concepts, procedures, and reasoning/problem solving”
 * Science – “develop their science inquiry skills to collect and record scientific evidence, using the evidence along with science concepts to explain a phenomenon”
 * World Languages – “develop students’ communicative proficiency in the target language in a meaningful cultural context.”
 * Reviewer for Tues: