Chapter 7: Give It Up For Text Sets by Jeanie Schneider

Texts sets are collections of resources from different genre, media, levels of reading difficulty that are designed to be supportive of the learning of readers with a range of experiences and interests. A text set collection focuses on one concept or topic and can include multiple supplemental items: songs, interviews, poetry, plays, videos, maps, articles, picture books, etc.

 

I am glad I was chosen to discuss this chapter because I have sent a lot of time deliberately collecting items for specific history topics. I know, you have done the same for your particular content area. I have typically found that narrowing down what to use becomes the greatest problem because there is so much information available today. For example, the shear magnitude of information on the Civil War would allow me to teach on the topic for months and never get it all covered. So how do we know what is the best information to include in a text set? Use your best judgment combined with state standards. Gather all the things that you would have been interested in when you were a kid. Remember to include materials that cover a range of reading levels. Now, take these items and display them throughout the classroom as you teach the topic. This helps to create interest in your students. Allow them to interact with the materials and include examples of work from former students.

 

After you finish a particular topic and are about to move on, save all your materials in a well labeled folder or clear container so that you may easily add items that you pick up throughout the school year.

 

Questions for thought:

 

Teachers know their content and want students to become passionate about the concepts that build and infuse their disciplines, but teachers become discouraged when they see the vast amount of content taunting them from the pages of their teacher's editions. Do you control your textbook or does your textbook control you? Do you use the textbook as a jumping off point or as a "must complete" single reference tool for instruction?

 

Using the websites on pages 154-155 or your own research this summer, share with us one or two new items you will be adding either to a current text set or one you are starting this school.

Chapter 6 - Assessing for Learning - Missy McCallen

Assessment

Background Knowledge:

Formative assessment helps teachers form ideas for teaching and gives us knowledge of students’ strengths and weaknesses.  Students can use the feedback from this type of assessment to begin taking responsibility for their own learning and develop valuable lifelong skills such as self-evaluation, self-assessment, and goal setting.

 

Summative assessment sums up what we have taught and gives a grade for the grade book, but may not tell us what students have retained and can use later. This type of test is usually based on a time period or at the conclusion of a chapter or unit. This feedback generally helps teachers know what to teach next year.

Personal Connection:

I love to see growth in students and celebrate with them as they meet and exceed expectations.  Throughout my teaching career, I have taught many multi-skill leveled classrooms.  One multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, or True/False assessment could never give me the information I considered necessary to determine if students were actually making progress or mastering skills. I know many teachers feel that once they teach the content the students should “get it” and be able to spit it back out. But is this really how learning takes place? Do we want students leaving middle school to only have the skill of memorizing and writing down exactly what we have told them?

Reflection:

Take a minute and think/write/post about the bigger ideas of the types of activities and assessments that took place in your classroom this past year. Think about these questions as you frame your response:

1. Did more than 80%of my students grow academically, spiritually, and emotionally? How do I know this?
2. Could I name 10 students who I worry about moving to the next grade due to lack of skills? What were the skills? Did I provide a way for them to improve? Could all of my students have improved in this area?
3. Did I refrain from activities or types of assessments due to my students’ lack of skills?
4. What did my assessments tell me about my students?
5. What did my assessments tell about me about my teaching style?
6. What could I change about my assessment and expectations to help my students achieve at a higher standard?

 

Exemplar:

Here is a practical example. Writing is an area in the lower school that we will be working on next year through small group instruction.  The following is my reflection on assessment as I begin thinking about writing in grades 1-4 next year:

1. Assess for the bigger ideas: reading, writing, cause and effect, sequential order, problem to solution, vocabulary, skills for life, etc.

1. Ask students to pre-write, use a graphic organizer create or research a topic of interest.
2. Learn to write using ideas of interest, not manufactured prompts.
3. Look for the foundational skills that will make them excellent writers.
4. Allow time for students to make connections to self, media, culture, history,  and, real-life activities.

1. Give consistent feedback in a timely manner that shows students how to perform better the next time.
2. Allow students to try several attempts at getting it right.
3. Keep track of individual students’ struggles so I can look for growth and then do number 5.
4. Re-teach skills that have been missed, misunderstood, or are not up to expectations.
5. Spend time conferencing with students at least once every nine weeks.
6. Assess using a rubric and give examples of writing for each grade level.

 

Your thoughts:

So blog about any of the ideas mentioned in this chapter or my response. Before you do, watch this video by Matthew West: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8  (Sorry about the advertisement!)

 

Expand your knowledge:

A blog on formative assessment and technology:  http://www.nwea.org/blog/2014/update-36-digital-formative-assessment-tools-classroom/

An article on assessment, choice, and the brain: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-choice-and-learning-brain-glenn-whitman (Make sure you click on the Tic Tac Toe Link)

Chapter 5 - Writing to Learn by Cristal Watkins

Chapter 5- Writing to Learn

 

In the past few years, teachers have been encouraged to incorporate writing throughout various content areas.  While all teachers may not feel that English is their forte, subject leveled writing can extend lessons to not just promote learning for a short period of time but allow students to actually understanding the concepts being taught.

 

The author pointed out a vital flaw in many textbooks: writing assignments that are not mentally stimulating.  Often these assignments are available at the end of a unit and lead the students to simply complete a task.  Writing should not be used as a form of busy work.  It needs to have purpose and promote learning.  My high school history teacher gave my class the assignment to present information on a country, not in research paper format, but from the perspective of a travel agent.  This changed the way that I viewed the assignment since I was able to take the class on a virtual tour of the country I selected.  While the facts were still obtained, as it would have been in a research paper,  it was something that was personal for me since I was able to highlight the aspects that were of interest to me. 

 

I really enjoyed the self-reflection sheet in figure 5.1.  This can be incorporated after lessons or units to help see how the progress of each student is developing.  I have given review assessments where there was a combination of pervious concepts learned only to be discouraged because while the students scored well on assignments, they didn't grasp the big picture of putting it all together.  Self-reflection sheets can give insight on concepts that may need to be reviewed for a longer period of time. 

 

Whether choosing to use a given writing prompt or create your own, the author pointed out four components of effective writing assignments: content and scope, organization and development, audience and communication, and finally engagement and choice.  All are vital to creating effective writing.  The use of technology can greatly help in the process.  While instructing students to use five sentences to answer an essay may discourage many, the same concept, but presented as a Facebook, page may change a student whole outlook on the learning process.  Pages 106, 117-118 offer a plethora of resources that teachers can use to promote writing as a tool in the learning process. 

 

Points for discussion:

 

1.  Using the tools for content-area writing (interactive notebooks/learning logs, journals, RAFT writing activities) how would students benefit academically in your content area? 

 

2.  How can peer feedback promote "writing to learn" in collaborative assignments for both students (the author and reader) involved?

 

 

 

"Writing is easy, all you have to do is cross out the wrong words." Mark Twain

Chapter 4 - Reading to Learn by Wendy Doig

I was excited to learn that I was assigned this chapter to start our discussions on "Reading to Learn". I attended a seminar about three years ago instructed by Sue Beers, a reading specialist, who opened the seminar with this exercise  that I would love you to try. (Really, please try it! The results are profound!) Read the following passage and answer the questions:

         

                    A Marsden Giberter

 

Glis was very fraper.  She had dernarpen Farfle’s marsden.  She did not talp a giberter for him.  So, she conlanted to plimp a marsden binky for him.  She had just sparved the binky when he jibbed in the gorger.

“Clorsty marsden!” she boffed.

“That ‘s a crouistish marsden binky,” boffed Farfle,  “but my marsden is on Stansan.  Agsan is Kelsan.”

“In that ruspen,” boffed Glis, “I won’t wank you your giberter until Stansan.”

 

Why was Glis fraper?

What did Glis plimp?

Who jibbed the gorger when Glis sparved the blinky?

Why didn’t Glis wank Farfle his giberter?

 

 

Do you understand anything you just read? So, how are you able to answer the questions? This exercise made me realize how many assessments I had done that I assumed the kids were"getting it" because they answered the questions correctly. In reality, they weren't comprehending anything. Our students have learned to "play the game", and they play it well.

 

We have a responsibility to re-train them to read for learning, not just to get the answer to the question correct. This responsibility of teaching them to read for learning should not fall exclusively to the Language Arts teachers.(HaHa! Like this!) Teachers of each content area are in the strongest position to help students know how to use their textbooks or any selected text as a resource for learning. Content area teachers know their subject matter and the standards they should be meeting. They also understand the literary demands of their content; how to read the different kinds of text; how to write in formats associated with each subject; how to recognize key concepts and vocabulary terms. Teaching reading in the content areas is NOT so much about teaching students basic reading skills as it is about teaching students how to use reading as a tool for thinking and learning.

 

As teachers our objective should be to effectively use before, during, and after reading strategies within the classroom to accelerate and improve student learning.

 

Before reading strategies should activate prior knowledge and focus attention on the purpose of reading.

 

During reading strategies should give the students the opportunity to think critically, organize and question while they are interacting with the text. We need to teach them to be active readers. Instruction that encourages students to continually summarize, visualize, connect, predict, question, and infer will increase their comprehension.

 

After reading strategies should help students consolidate their learning, reflect on the new information and integrate it to prior knowledge by applying new concepts.

 

Questions for discussion:

1. The author suggests that each of us should help students to read  in our discipline they way that we learned when we were novices in our field. What would that look like in your classroom?

 

2. The following are links to some resources,in addition to what we find in the chapter, that provide strategies to use before, during and after reading. Share strategies that you think you will be able to incorporate in your classroom this year.

 

www.clintweb.net/ctw/reading_strategies.pdf

 

www.tennessee.gov/education/standards/english/ENG_3081.pdf