IRA CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Favorite Sessions

Lesson Study

Vocabulary

Conferring

Observing lessons with a group to study effective design

How to select the best words to pre-teach

Talking with students about reading is an essential component of literacy instruction

Lesson Study

Focused more on the Japanese format of professional development

Shifts from Answers given to questions asked Driven by the expert to driven by

the participants Communicated by trainer to

communicated among participants www.teachers.ed.pdx.edu

Lesson Study

Process Develop one or more lesson

plans that include some type of literary element

Use the Lesson Study design Have one or more collective

observations Revise lesson as a group Possibly teach the lesson again Submit it to the website

THE PROCESS

Lesson Study—Designing the Research Lesson

Steps in the Research Lesson

Teacher Actions

Predicting Student Actions

Observation of Student Behavior

• connecting goals to previous learning, standards• introduction of new concept • demonstrate, model, explore new concepts• engage student in learning• give students opportunities to practice• have students share, apply new learning

• script as closely as possible what the teacher will do during the lesson• write down, verbatim, teacher directions• include some aspect of literacy

• what should the students be doing?• predict student questions and obstacles to learning• include Plan B

• partners observe the students, not the teacher• think about what can be observed/ evaluated• think about how to determine student learning• develop a system to gather observations (i.e. A=on task, B= stalling, etc.)

Vocabulary

Five presentations in one: What is the importance of

vocabulary study? How to select the best words to

teach Instruction for struggling readers The importance of vocabulary

instruction for ELLs Using data

http://www.reading.org/General/Conferences/AnnualConvention/PresenterHandouts.aspx

Vocabulary

The importance of teaching vocabulary Vocabulary is the single best predictor of

reading comprehension The narrowing of the curriculum (reducing

science and social studies) is counter-productive because these two subjects are heavy in academic vocabulary.

Robust vocabulary instruction is necessary: Pick the right words Engage in multiple contexts Repeated exposures (12 rec.) of student

friendly definitions

Vocabulary

How to select the words to teach: Crucial to the understanding of the text Words that students know with

different meanings important words that students may

need to know for general use Words you are planning to use for word

study Do not pick words that students can

puzzle out from the context Do not choose words that students can

figure out from structural analysisDiscuss these after

reading

Vocabulary

Trust Conservation

Transmitter Jolts Lichens Electric Ibex Petroglyphs

Not necessary to text Important word (word

study) Important to text Multimeaning-confusing Important to text Multimeaning-confusing Not necessary (photo) Important-defined in

text

Vocabulary

Teach before reading: Conservation (general

knowledge and for word study)

Transmitter (important to the text)

Lichens (important to the text)

Marked (multimeaning, important to the text)

Drew (multimeaning, important to the text)

Discuss after reading Petroglyphs

(defined in text) Scrape (defined in

text) Jolts (use context) Electric (use

context) Ibex (use context) Spray (use context)

Vocabulary

WORDS 0=Don’t know1= Have heard2= Know & use

Predicted meaning before reading

Meaning after reading

Context clues

Astronomer 1 A person who goes out to space to study the moon

A scientist who studies the moon and planets

StudiedStarsPlanets

Axis 0 It goes around the earth

An imaginary line that lies from north to south

Imaginary lineCenter of the planet

Motor imaging—best for words that are knew labels for known conceptsSeated pantomime of word’s meaning; repeat the pantomime every time the word is used appropriately in class.

Vocabulary

Other interesting thoughts: Try to find words that appear multiple

times within a narrow set of reading Pay attention to if it’s a new concept

or just a new label—AND—if it’s concrete or abstract (this determines how much time will be required for instruction)

It is recommended that we teach only 5-8 words before a reading—more than that is too much.

Conferring

The cornerstone of literacy, according to Patrick Allen Conferring: The Keystone of

Reader’s Workshop http://all-en-a-days-work.blogspot.

com patrickallen6@msn.com

Defined as a purposeful conversation in which readers talk about their reading (both process and product)

Conferring

Allows you to discover Reader’s attitude about reading Reader’s work ethic/ stamina

(managing their reading) Reader’s process Reader’s diet (what they read

and why) Reader’s relationship between

intimacy and rigor (how they interact with the text)

Conferring Process

R—review, read aloud, record The student starts by reviewing what he/she

has been reading and reads aloud an excerpt. This is recorded on the note-taking log (of your choice).

I—instruction, insights, intrigue The teacher provides necessary instruction

while the student and teacher discuss their insights and intriguing pieces of the reading.

P—plan, progress, purpose Set aside a purpose and plan for the next

conference and discusses with the student their progress.

Conclusion

This PowerPoint, as well as other links, are on the cohort wiki.