Transcript Parent Education and Empowerment

Elements of Effective Literacy
Instruction
Kim Bowen (9-12)
Capital Area Writing Project
NC State University
[email protected]
21st Century Literacy
• “Adolescents entering the adult world in the 21st
century will read and write more than at any other
time in human history. They will need advanced
levels of literacy to perform their jobs, run their
households, act as citizens, and conduct their
personal lives. They will need literacy to cope with
the flood of information they will find everywhere
they turn. They will need literacy to feed their
imaginations so they can create the world of the
future.”
• (IRA: Adolescent Literacy: A Position Statement)
Reading Next, Alliance for Excellent
Education, 2004
• Recommendation for how to meet literacy needs
of adolescents (grades 4 – 12)
• 15 elements of effective adolescent literacy
programs
Reading Next, Alliance for Excellent
Education, 2004
• Recommendation for how to meet literacy needs
of adolescents (grades 4 – 12)
• 15 elements of effective adolescent literacy
programs
Pulling it Together
• Teaching Strategies (RNext, #1)
▫ Tools for Teaching Content Literacy, Janet Allen,
2004
• LEP Concerns
▫ Double the Work: Challenges and Solutions to
Acquiring Language and Academic Literacy for
Adolescent English Language Learners,
Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007
Anticipation Guide
• Read the statements and
determine which are true and
which are false.
• Discuss each statement and
justify your responses with the
colleagues at your table.
• Think carefully about each
statement.
• Consider the evidence you
have to support your position.
• Listen thoughtfully to your
colleagues’ responses –
especially those that differ
from yours.
• Feel free to change your mind
after discussion and / or
presentation of additional
information.
Reciprocal Teaching
• Working with a partner, read
the selection
(DTW, p. 69-71(top)).
•
• Take turns asking questions or
making comments that lead to
real discussion at the end of
each paragraph (or so).
• Predict what will happen next
or will result from this
information.
• Ask questions you have (or
that you think others would
have).
• Clarify words or information
by talking through confusion.
• Connect to prior knowledge.
• Summarize important ideas.
Concept Mapping
• Develop a concept map (or
graphic organizer) that
illustrates relationships among
the key ideas of the selection
(DTW p. 33-38)
• (Don’t worry – NO one right
way!)
• Determine key words or ideas
and write them on sticky
notes.
• Share and discuss sticky notes
with tablemates.
• Organize notes on poster.
• Draw connecting lines (or
figures) and label them to
indicate relationships between
ideas (notes).
• Post your map on the wall. As
time permits, “walk the room”
and discuss maps from
different groups.
Writing to Learn
• Take five minutes and write
about the most important or
useful information you have
learned this afternoon (so far).
• How can you use this with the
teachers in the school(s) you
support?
• Think about the topic and as
thoughts come, jot them down
in whatever format works for
you.
• Write quickly.
• Don’t worry about correctness
– this strategy focuses on ideas
more than grammar/language
usage or getting the “right
answer.”
• Keep writing; even if you
think you’re out of ideas, keep
going with something related
and you might be surprised.
Writing Next, Alliance for Excellent
Education, 2007
• Meta-Analysis of research on adolescent writing
instruction
• Comparing effectiveness of specific teaching
strategies
• 11 recommendations ranked by strength of effect
(statistical analysis)
• Pages 12-13
1. Strategy Instruction
• ES = .82 (General Writing)
• Explicitly teach students strategies for planning,
revising, and/or editing text.
• Greater effect size on low-achievers (1.02)
2. Teaching Summarization
• ES = .82 (Write better summaries)
• Explicitly teach students how to summarize
texts.
• Also has significant effect on reading
comprehension
3. Collaborative Writing
• ES = .75 (General Writing)
• Have students work together to plan, draft,
and/or revise their compositions.
4. Specific Product Goals
• ES = .70 (General Writing)
• Assign students specific, reachable goals for
their writing.
▫ Purpose of assignment
▫ Characteristics of final product
5. Word Processing
• ES = .55 (General Writing)
• Have students use word processing and related
software when writing.
• Greater effect size on low-achievers (.70)
6. Sentence Combining
• ES = .50 (General Writing)
• Teach students to construct more sophisticated
sentences by combining simpler sentences into a
more complex one.
7. Pre-Writing Activities
• ES = .32 (General Writing)
• Engage students in activities prior to writing that
help them generate and/or organize ideas for
their papers.
8. Inquiry
• ES = .32 (General Writing)
• Engage students in inquiry activities that help
them develop ideas and content that they use
when writing.
9. Process Approach
• ES = .32 (General Writing)
▫ Stress extended opportunities for writing, writing
for real audiences, self-reflection, personalized
instruction and goals, and cycles of planning,
translating and reviewing
▫ Teacher training key to significant positive effect
(.46 vs. .27)
10. Study of Models
• ES = .25 (General Writing)
• Have students study and emulate models of
good writing.
11. Writing As A Tool for Learning
• ES = .23 (Content Learning)
• Have students use writing as a tool for learning
content material.
Fool’s Gold -- Grammar
• ES = -.32 (NEGATIVE effect on writing)
• Explicit teaching of grammar
▫ Parts of speech
▫ Structure of sentences
“The answer is not eliminating grammar but teaching it with
relevance in the context of writing.”
In the Right Direction: Approaches to Teaching Grammar and
Language Usage
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/languagearts/secondary/
Grammar in Context
• Objectives determined by student data
(observation, writing samples, etc.)
• Demonstration of concept
• Guided application in student writing
• Independent application in subsequent writing
• Assessment through continued collection of data
Reading/ Writing Activity
• Read the assigned text individually and
summarize on index card – no more than 25
words.
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Group 1 – p. 3-5
Group 2 – p. 7-9
Group 3 – p. 22-24
Group 4 – p. 25-28
Reading/ Writing Activity
• At table, each person reads individual summary
aloud.
• Compare summaries.
• Write a new group summary of no more than 25
words. This summary will be shared with the
whole group to let your peers know the
information in your section.
• Copy summary onto chart paper to post in room.
Discussion of
Reading/Writing Activity
• Which of the 11 elements were involved in the
activity?
• How did individual responses deepen group
members’ understanding?
Sentence Combining
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Helps students broaden their sentence sense.
Introduces new patterns.
Encourages true revision.
Develops precision in language.
Emphasizes language as communication.
Provides a helpful reading strategy.
Sentence Combining -- Example
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The men were old.
They were at a soup kitchen.
The men were hungry.
They were watching the plates.
The food was steaming.
The plates were being handed out.
They were being handed over the counter.
• The old men were hungrily eyeing the plates of
steaming food as they were handed out over the
soup kitchen counter.
Sentence Combining Activity
• In your group, read the sentence kernels that
you have been given. Each person should
combine those kernels into 1-2 sentences.
Sentence Combining Activity
• At table, each person reads individual sentences.
• Compare sentences. Discuss differences in
meaning and in style.
• Select one or more to read to the whole group.
Discussion of Sentence Combining
Activity
• Which of the 11 elements were involved in the
activity?
• How were sentences different within the group?
• How could this activity complement an
instructional unit?
• How else can teachers use sentence combining
in the classroom?
Freewrite
• Review your freewrite from the beginning of the
session. Write about how your understanding
about writing instruction has been affirmed
and/or challenged?