Transcript Chapter 2: Placing Background Knowledge in Daily Teaching

Chapter 2
Placing
Background
Knowledge in
Daily Teaching
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2009). Background
Knowledge: The Missing Piece of the
Comprehension Puzzle. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Today’s Purposes
• Examine a structured approach to
teaching
• Discuss examples of how a gradual
release of responsibility is used to
activate and build background
knowledge
Table Talk
What are the biggest challenges for
your students regarding background
knowledge? What approaches do you
use to overcome these?
3 Practices Linked to
Background Knowledge
• Assess what students already know
• Plan lessons and activities that build
background knowledge
• Design ways to activate students’ knowledge
by having them interact with content
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
“I do it”
Focus Lesson
Guided
Instruction
“We do it”
Collaborative
“You do it
together”
Independent
“You do it
alone”
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
A Model for Success for All Students
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework
for the Gradual Release of Responsibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.
Activating and Building
Background Knowledge
in One Classroom
• 8th grade social studies
• Core knowledge for the course is on growth and
conflict
• Major theme for the course: This period of U.S.
history was marked with successes and failures
brought about by the decisions of leaders and
citizens.
Assessing Background
Knowledge: Opinionnaire
What’s your opinion?
A patriot is heroic.
Sometimes the only thing left to do is fight for
what you believe in.
The American Revolutionary War could have
been avoided if both sides had compromised
on taxes.
All the colonists were in support of the war.
SA
A
D
SD
Assessing Background
Knowledge: Cloze Passage
Choosing Sides
As American colonists heard about these bat tles in Lexingt on, Concord, and Bunker Hill,
they faced a major decision. Should they join the ___1___or remain loyal t o ___2___?
Those who chose t o __3__ with Britain, the Loyalists, __4__ not consider unfair taxes
__5__ regulations good reason for __6__. Some remained loyal to __7__ king because
they were __8__ who would lose their __9__ as a result of __10__ Revolution. Others
were people __11__ had no been part __12__ the wave of discontent __13__turned so
many Americans __14__ Britain. Still others expected __15__ t o win the war
__16__wanted t o gain favor __17__the British. T he P atriots, on the other hand, were
determined t o fight the British to the endŃ until American independence was won.
Activating Background
Knowledge: Role Play
• “Loyalists” and “Patriots” use a list of
reasons offered by each to produce a
broadside (newspaper)
• Posted the broadsides in the hallway
• Read and debated
Building Background
Knowledge: Think-aloud
She reads, “The colonists
objected to paying King
George’s taxes without having
a voice in Parliament. They
called it taxation without
representation. And while the
tax on tea was a small one, just
three cents a pound, it was
regarded as a symbol of British
tyranny” (p. 2).
She says, “I’ve heard about Parliament
before. That’s the name of the group
of representatives in Britain that made
laws. I learned about Parliament when
I read about England taking over the
colonies from the Dutch one hundred
years earlier. I recall now that
Parliament also came up with the plan
to ship prisoners from English jails to
the colonies. Hmmm…it seems like
Parliament didn’t always have the
colonies’ best interests in mind when
they made decisions.”
Building Background Knowledge:
Independent Reading
• Teacher provides a range of reading
materials
• Differentiated texts reflect the range of
readers in the room
• Wide reading is effective for building
background knowledge IF the text isn’t too
difficult
Building Background Knowledge:
Guided Instruction
Name of Act
Boston Port Act
What Was It?
Why Did It
Make Colonists
Angry?
Result
Closed port of
It punished
Colonist s
Bost on a f t er
everyone inst ead
from far away
T ea Party
of jus t t he ones
sent supplies,
who d id it
and t his
helped t he m
learn t o work
t oget her
Massachusetts
Govern ment Act
Administration of
Justice Act
Quartering Act
Quebec Act
Brit ain t ook
Now t hey
T own meet ings
over
couldn’t rules
couldn’t be
Mass achuse t t s
government
t hemselves
held wit hout
perm ission
Brit ish could
Cost t oo much
Made it easier
have t rials in
for people t o go
for Brit ain t o
England
t o t he t rials
win t rials
Brit ish soldiers
T hey didn’t like
T his would
could st ay in
empt y buildings
having soldiers
hanging around
a part of t he
Consit it ut ion
Gave land t o
Pennsylvania and
Made lot s of
French west of
New Yo r k
Canadians
Appalachian
t hought t h is
friends wit h
mount ains
was t heir land
t he colonis t s
be
Table Talk
In what ways does a gradual release of
responsibility model of instruction
interact with background knowledge?
Assessing Your Practice
Building Your Own
Background Knowledge
• Learn more about a gradual release of responsibility
model of instruction in Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008).
Releasing responsibility. Educational Leadership, 66(3),
32—37.
• Read an excellent summary of scaffolded instruction
from the Ohio Department of Education at
http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/rrt/research/Content/s
caffolding_what_we_know.asp