THE LITERACY-RICH

CLASSROOMJessica Crooker

Literacy Coach

North View Junior High

GUIDING QUESTIONS: Why should literacy be central to our

curriculum? How can teachers provide literacy-rich

experiences for their students and teach the standards?

What is the role of Language Arts and Social Studies teachers in teaching reading?To accelerate reading growth? To provide opportunities for students to read

informational texts and literature within the appropriate grade-level complexity band?

WHY SHOULD LITERACY BE CENTRAL TO OUR CURRICULUM? Adora Svitak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-bjO

JzB7LY

Her articulate dialogue? Her confidence in public speaking? Her vast vocabulary? Children grow up to be adults? The need to teach children to be better

adults than us? Her ability to ask, “why not?”

INSTRUCTIONAL INVENTORY Brainstorm typical activities in your

classroom & assigned as homework Add, if appropriate:

Reading with a purposeRe-reading for deeper learningWriting to learnWriting: expository, creative, persuasiveThinking analytically, criticallyEvaluating based on reading or writingParticipating in academic discourse

INSTRUCTIONAL INVENTORY Two most frequent * (star) Two least frequent – (minus)

Which column is more literacy-rich?Classroom activitiesHomework

Reading with a purposeRe-reading for deeper learningWriting to learnWriting: expository, creative, persuasive

Thinking analytically, criticallyEvaluating based on reading or writing

Participating in academic discourse

“Wise teachers (and coaches and orchestra conductors) do not spend time rehearsing what students, athletes, and musicians can already do well – they invest precious practice time on activities that are challenging and difficult.”

(Reeves, 2010)

“Reading, writing, and discussion—these three—are the foundation for a well-equipped mind.”

(Schmoker, 2006, p. 72)

“In a recent report, the National Commission on Writing also addresses this concern. They say, ‘If students are to make knowledge their own, they must struggle with the details, wrestle with the facts, and rework raw information and dimly understood concepts into language they can communicate to someone else. In short, if students are to learn, they must write.’”

Carnegie Corporation Writing to Read

(Graham & Hebert, 2010)

TRADITIONAL USES OF WRITING Evaluative

Evidence of understandingMeasurement of what learning has been

gained High-stakes

SummativeEnd of unit

Individualistic Not shared

Limited in genre essay, academic in nature

WRITING TO READ Learning driven

Exploratory Lower stakes

Throughout the learning process Collaborative

InteractiveShared, discussed

Flexible genres“If you want students to dig into the

content, take away the constraints of the form. Use a genre they know.” –Dr. Chris Anson, North Carolina State University(C. Anson, personal communication, April 30, 2011)

WRITING TO READ

ThinkingLearning

write

read

write

read

NOTE TAKING & SUMMARY

TAKE NOTES

SUMMARY!!5 SENTENCES ABOUT THE LESSON!

ENCOURAGE TO INCLUDE VOCABULARY WORDS!! CHECK FOR COMPLETION—CHOOSEN

RANDOMLY TO READ!

MAKE NOTES

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NOTES!!!

CHARACTER JOURNAL As you read the first few pages of

Lord of the Flies, write from the perspective of one of the boys. Include what you see, think, and feel.

Discuss the details that seem especially important considering you are stranded on this strange island?

OPINIONS – TAKING A STANCEBoundary Waters: Cell Phone Tower

Debate Take on the identity of one the parties

involved in the cell phone tower debate. TWEET a message to your “followers”

informing them of your stance on this issue.

IDENTITIES & POINTS OF VIEW facebook info page facebook status update IM chats Text messages Blog entries Emails Thank You card

“If you want students to dig into the content, take away the constraints of the form. Use a genre they know.”

–Dr. Chris Anson North Carolina State

University

(C. Anson, personal communication, April 30, 2011)

What is the role of Language Arts and Social Studies teachers?To accelerate reading growth? To provide opportunities for students to read

informational texts and literature within the appropriate grade-level complexity band?

Benchmark 6.13.10.10By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Benchmark 8.5.10.10By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Grade

Text Demand Study 2009

25th percentile to 75th percentile

"Stretch" Text Measures

25th percentile to 75th percentile

6 860L to 920L 950L to 1040L

7 880L to 960L 1000L to 1090L

8 900L to 1010L 1040L to 1160L

9 960L to 1110L 1080L to 1230L

10 920L to 1120L 1110L to 1310L

11-12

1070L to 1220L 1210L to 1360L

NEW COMPLEXITY DEMANDS

Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands

Readability measures and other scores of text complexity

Reader variables (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed)

MEASURING TEXT COMPLEXITY

Reading Growth Independent

level Choice Differentiate Supplement Mirror

Standards Grade-level

complexity One shared

text Ease will vary Likely core

text Window

WHAT IS OUR GOAL? WHAT IS OUR ROLE?

1. Observe/clarify/question—What do you see students doing when they read this type of text? What is essential for students to know? What do you want students thinking about?

2. Anticipate needs—What two places may cause students difficulty?

3. Focus/strategies—What could you model that will help students negotiate the difficult parts? Strategic think-aloud, marking-up texts, model use of graphic organizer…?

4. Focus/strategies—What could you model that will help students negotiate the difficult parts? Strategic think-aloud, marking-up texts, model use of graphic organizer…?

SUPPORTING STRIVING READERS IN ACCESSING GRADE-LEVEL TEXTS

REGARDLESS OF MATERIALS…Focus on these five practices of a literacy-

rich classroom:1. Focus on higher level thinking2. Teach word recognition and

comprehension as strategies, not simply as skills

3. Use a student support stance (modeling, coaching) towards instruction in addition to a teacher directed stance

4. Have students engaged in active vs. passive responses to literacy activities

5. Reflect on the purposes of a lesson: How will my lesson help individual students grow in literacy abilities?

(Peterson, 2011)

Teacher A MCA/GRAD Reading

Test Day 10th grade English Dead Poet’s Society

No engagement No movie. Game

day.

“Regular” English

Teacher B MCA/GRAD Reading

Test Day 10th grade English Dead Poet’s Society

Metacognition notes

Total engagement Still talking about

the movie!

“Striving Reader” English

“The value of doing in-class reading, writing, and discussion can’t be overstated…, even an additional 30 minutes of close, purposeful reading followed by regular discussion and writing adds months of growth for each school year.”

(Schmoker, p. 98)

ResourcesGraham, S., and Hebert, M. A. (2010). Writing to read:

Evidence for how writing can improve reading. A Carnegie Corporation Time to Act Report. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Peterson, D. (2011) Developing Effective Teachers of Reading through School-wide Change [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/reading/

Reeves, D. (2010, Oct. 20). Leading the Change in the Face of Criticism. Retrieved from http://www.leadandlearn.com/blog/2010/10/leading-change-face-criticism

Schmoker, M. (2006). Results Now: How we can achieve unprecedented improvements in teaching and learning. Alexandra, Virginia: ASCD.