Transcript The Chambered Nautilus

SKYLINE NEXT
Madelaine Love & Courtney Morgan
Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Literacy
Cross-curricular
• Education is moving
away from “stove
pipe” curricula
• Education is moving
to integrating popular
culture, multimedia,
and new technology
into curricula
• Education is moving
to the blurring of
boundaries among
content areas
Educational Relevance
• Students see no
connection among
their varying classes.
• Students number one
question “When will I
ever use it again?”
• Students don’t see
how knowledge
interrelates & don’t
apply what they know.
• Teachers don’t show
the connections
among content areas.
• Teachers may not
know how to answer
the question.
• Rarely do teachers
“blur the boundaries
between content
areas.”
Cooperation
• Teachers must collaborate to help
students see the “big picture.”
• Teachers must cooperate to show the
importance of education to the students’
live now and in the future.
• Teachers must buy into the idea of
collegiality to truly educate the modern
student.
Collaboration
• Students’ time is used more efficiently if
teachers sit down and make schedules for
collaboration.
• Departments must list and share their
course standards and identify overlapping
objectives.
• Develop curriculum outlines.
“Building” Connections
• Breaking boundaries among content
areas.
• Sharing lesson plans.
• Developing thematic units across the
curriculum.
• Culturally neutral school (posters,
language, literature, extra-curricular
events, etc.)
“Building” Connections (cont.)
• Writing across the curricula using 6-traits
or 6-traits plus 1(presentation)
• English teachers should not be
responsible for teaching reading in
science, math, chemistry, history, etc.
• English teachers should not be
responsible for teaching writing in science,
math, chemistry, history, etc.
“RECONCEPTUALIZE”
• All subject area teachers must be proficient in
the language and use of 6-traits or 6 traits plus 1
writing across the curriculum assessment.
• All subject area teachers must use a common
note taking format, e.g. two-column or Cornell.
• All subject area teachers must agree to follow
the MLA style for all written assignments.
• All subject area teachers need to “coordinate
their instruction to reinforce important strategies
and concepts.”
Professional development
• Ongoing
• Long-term
• Systemic
Not just for classroom teachers, but for
1. administrators
2. librarians
3. resource room personnel
Academic + PTE
• Collaborate with the
Professional/Technical teachers
• Use the state’s 6-cluster model
• More “real world” classrooms
• Community involvement
Extended Time for Literacy
• Two-four hours of literacy connected
learning DAILY.
• Text-centered reading and effective writing
practice.
• Not just language arts, but all other
subjects as well.
• Consistency in literacy instruction
“TUNED IN”
• Not limited to language arts classrooms
• Student choice
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Literary circles or book clubs (self-selected readings).
Research topics
Relevancy to the now
Increased interaction among students
Text-based collaborative learning
Topic diversity
High-interest and low-difficulty texts
Multiple ability levels
Technology component
Intensive writing
ALITERACY
• Students who can read but choose not to
• Now make up a growing number of
population
– First, skills become diminished
– Second, the nation faces a division between
“the knowledgeable elite and the masses”
Types of Aliterates
• Dormant: Like to read but find no time to
read
• Uncommitted: “A book-at-a-time” reader
• Unmotivated: Have a negative attitude
because they don’t value reading or
students who like to read
• Unskilled: Have a negative attitude
because it is so difficult for them
“Writing to Learn”
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Writing improves reading comprehension
Writing improves vocabulary
Writing improves grammar
Writing improves spelling
Writing improves modes of argumentation
Writing must move out of the classroom
into “real world” applications
Writing’s Roles
• First, writing develops organizational skills
and uses the skills and processes of
grammar, punctuation, word usage, etc.
• Second, writing is a means to deepen a
student’s knowledge
• The goal should be:
– To move students from retelling information to
transforming information
Our Writing Proposition
• Move from persuasive writing to expository
• Reinstate the DWA
• Add a writing component to all District
ECAs
• Writing required in every subject area
Our Writing Proposition Cont.
• Not limited to language arts classrooms
• All subject areas should use same
assessment rubrics
• Assessment rubrics should allow for selfevaluation and peer-editing
Ongoing Summative Assessment
• Students
– Track students throughout the school year
– Progress-monitoring systems
– Assessments should go beyond state
assessments
– Need to demonstrate progress specific to
school and program goals
– Sharing of assessments in a timely fashion for
planning instruction
The NEXT Challenge
• Student literacy must be a shared vision—
not just for the English teachers.
• Recognize the changing student
population and adjust curricula for
students’ success in the real world.
• Add the Gates Foundations 3Rs Solution
– Rigor
– Relevance
– Relationships
Works Cited
Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can’t Read.
Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH. 2003.
Biancarosa, G.,and C. E. Snow. Reading Next. A
Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Alliance for Excellent Education: Washington, D.
C. 2007.
Graham, Steve, and Dolores Perin. Writing Next. A
Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Alliance for Excellent Education: Washington,
D.C. 2007.
Spiraling into the Future