Reading for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Fall, 2011

I will be presenting Reader's Theater as my instructional strategy. This strategy allows students to become active readers. I began using Reader's Theater last year after our school developed a library of Reader's Theater scripts. My students really got into this strategy. They enjoyed making the props and the masks and they loved performing for the lunchroom ladies, the office staff, and our class. We even did an Author's Breakfast and they performed for parents as well. It is hard to find scripts that are easy enough for kindergarten students to read and this strategy is utilized more during the second semester of kindergarten when my higher reading groups are reading. I wrote a couple of my own scripts for Reader's Theater as well last year. One particular script that was fun to do was Mrs. Wishy Washy. I plan to do more of these this year.

Michelle Moffitt

I have selected the instructional strategy Three Level Guide. This strategy evokes multiple levels of comprehension, asking students to think about the text on a literal, interpretive, and applied level. Each level increases comprehension, from the most basic (literal) to the most advanced (applied), and can be applied in a variety of different content areas. After a text is selected for students to read, the teacher should then identify literal, explicit information that students should know after reading. The same should then be done for interpretive, inferred information that students should know, as well as applied information that students should consider, asking them to go beyond what is written. Three to six statements should be presented for each level, written clearly and simply. After students read the assignment, the teacher should then model the process of filling out the Three Level Guide, including how to respond to the different levels, as well as how to effectively defend and discuss their choices.

This strategy is a new to me, but I see a great deal of merit for its use in a classroom, specifically in middle grades. Teachers of all grade levels are being challenged to encourage students to think comprehensively about their reading, and I think that this simple strategy offers a terrific way for this to occur. I also feel that if teachers use it wisely, it can serve as a great discussion tool for students, so that it is not 'just another worksheet.' I look forward to using this in my classroom one day, and I would love if anyone in our class would try it in their classroom and provide feedback. I have a copy of the layout of the strategy if anyone is interested, let me know.

-Brandi Brink

Hands-On Reading from Buehl

Hands-On Reading is a strategy designed to help students with the demands of reading technical nonfiction. It is from our assigned text by Buehl.It is designed to help students read dense, comlicated texts that guide the reader through a task or a project.

It involves pre-teaching students by discussing technical writing and then brainstorming problems with it. As students read they need to take into account that they will likely be doing something with our about what they are reading as they read. Buehl suggests partner reading and the following steps: 1. size up the task 2. clarify vocabulary 3. scan the visuals 4. look out for cautions 5. read and apply 6. collaborate.


Buehl specifically mentions my teaching assignment in the introduction to this strategy. He says this strategy is especially suited for “courses that feature ‘applied’ reading as central to the curriculum.” I can do more than see this strategy in my classroom. I found its idea so appealing and useful, that I used it already.

The advantages Buehl lists for this strategy are that students will rely less on teachers (yeah!), realize the need to read and re-read sections of text and become more flexible in their approach to various text genres.I found he was correct on all counts as I applied this strategy already.

I taught this strategy to my students, and they used it in lab. It went very well. Since they relied on their recipes instead of me for instructions on what to do, I had more time to actually teach them about how our lab related to our classroom content.

My fellow department teachers and I have often complained that students won’t read their recipe. They just ask the teacher what to do. This is time-consuming and frustrating. And teenagers don’t care that they are taking away time from students who may need extra support or that their constant demands keep me on my feet and prevent me from other important work. We’ve often joked that we need lapel buttons made up that say, “READ YOUR RECIPE!”

Before we went into lab, I told the students I would not answer any questions that could be found in their recipe. They must have really believed me because it worked and so did the lab.

This was the first time that I had every group in lab succeed at making bread. Before, at least one group ruined its product by not paying attention or following instructions. That is all the proof I need of this strategy's worth.

The RWT lesson that I am reviewing is Authentic Writing Experiences and Math Problem Solving Using Shopping Lists, written by Devon Hamner. This lesson is intended for grades K-2 and is implemented in three, fifty minute lessons. In this activity, students will use literacy and math skills to create shopping lists and use problem solving skills to follow their budget and purchase items.
In the preview of the unit, Ms. Hamner gives an overview, a purpose for the lesson, and a list of featured and further resources to use. The theory she states for this lesson is important and very wise to include. She gives a resource that supports challenging students to do "real and purposeful" writing. I really like that she included this. A resource list of age-appropriate books is provided next. Some of them I have, but she listed enough that I will have new ones to review and possibly use. After the resource list, teachers can find their state standards that coincide with this unit. This was a wonderful and needed feature. I found my state standards in language arts that matched the lesson. The math and social studies standards were not accessible, that would have helpful.
"Resources and Preparation" is the next part of the unit. Hamner gives a list of materials and technology, two printouts that you can use with your students and websites to enhance the lesson. Hamner has also included an article for parents to read to provide more understanding of the strategy used in this unit for spelling and writing. This article is a great piece to include in a lesson.
The instructional plan follows with detailed steps to reach the goal of the unit. It breaks down the unit into three sessions. Each session builds and follows one another very logically. The students discuss grocery lists, a variety of literature is shared, including grocery ads, a personal pre-made grocery list is shown, and the students publish their own lists using the guidelines given to them. Finally the students reflect on the activity by using reflective questions provided by the teacher (examples were also given by Ms. Hamner). These questions were very meaningful and allow the student to write about math and their experiences. This reflection piece is a great conclusion piece to the activity.
Overall, this was a great lesson to use with second graders. I really enjoyed her resources and extra effort put into the lesson. I will use parts of this lesson in my economics unit.

Text To Self Connections
Funds of Knowledge

This reading comprehension instructional strategy focuses on relating texts to a student's life. This activity is for developing readers. It promotes making connections between literature and students' home life, communities, as well as feelings and dreams. Students can write an illustrated essay about a topic from the text. They can include their own prior knowledge and experiences about the topic. The students can also write a letter to the author explaining their feelings about the text. They can focus on the story elements of the book and how they feel about the author's choices. In this researched based strategy it was found that students comprehend literature better when they can make a connection between their own experiences and the story.

Lena Sprinkle

“Teacher’s Lounge” Instructional Strategy – Written Conversations

I found this instructional strategy in our text, Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, by Buehl on page 190. For this strategy, students put their conversations in writing after reading a given text, discussing whatever comes to mind about that text. “The rule is ‘just write!’” Students need to be informed that no talking is to take place, that all ideas, respectful comments, thoughts, and reflections are to be written and passed back and forth to their partner. The teacher can start by providing a focus for the written conversation, such as a writing prompt like, “I made a connection to…” or “I don’t really understand…” to get the students focused and ready. The students need to know that their writing does not have to be “clean, highly edited pieces,” and should not be “text message shorthand,” but it does need to readable as they jot down what they are thinking. Each partner group will write an initial idea on the paper and then switch with their partner. When each group has had the opportunity to switch three or four times, end the activity on an oral note asking if there is anything they would like to talk about with their partner now based on what they wrote. This strategy is great to get students thinking about organizing thoughts to be written down and gives them the opportunity to practice writing.

Read, Write, Think Analysis on: Guided Comprehension in Action, Using Bio-cubes

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/guided-comprehension-action-teaching-1028.html?tab=4#tabs

I chose this lesson because with the new 9 weeks coming up, my students will be exploring biographies and will have to do a biography project on their own. I figured I might as well look for something I know I’ll be able to use and would hopefully interest and engage my students too. I think this lesson is a wonderful addition to any unit on biographies.
This lesson plan is geared toward middle school students and by using multiple media can really help engage the students when learning about biographies. The lesson focuses around the bio-cube, which is an interactive way to summarize the information they find on their particular person into a foldable cube. The lesson starts out with a quick review on what information is important, using the key points included in the bio-cube as a guide, as well as what it means to summarize information. This review is very important because it prepares the student for what they are going to be doing and gets them in the mindset. The next part of the lesson is a demonstration of what is expected of the students. I find that even with middle schools students, a demonstration is necessary for any lesson that is being done. The teacher shows the students a biography on a selected person and together they start reading and looking for information to include on their bio-cube. As they are searching the teacher models note taking and self-questioning. After the demonstration has been completed, the students then get into small groups to repeat the process with a new biography. This is an excellent way to help guide the students as well as give them additional practice before they begin the biography on their own.
This lesson may be extended of a couple of class periods and can help students understand how to summarize information as well as what is important to include in a biography. Students can be assessed during class while they are participating as well as when they present their bio-cubes to each other. The only thing I feel would need to be addressed, which is not in the lesson, is that once the students have completed the bio-cubes a discussion about what other information would be important to include in a biography that is not included on the bio-cube. Thinking about my students I feel without discussion they may get stuck on the idea that what is presented on the bio-cube is the only information that should be included in a biography. It does, however, help the students understand how to summarize and what would be key things to include in a summary. The lesson also includes various ideas/activities to incorporate such as a writing activity where the students could write a cinquain poem about their chosen person. This is a great review of parts of speech and a good mini-lesson on poetry.

Somebody Wanted But So Then- Rhonda Sizemore

SWBST is a framework to help students summarize narrative texts.
Someone- Students identify the main character.
Wanted- Students identify what the main character wanted.
But- Students identify the problem/conflict keeping the main character from reaching their goal.
So- Students identify how the main character tries to solve the problem or conflict.
Then- Students identify the conclusion of the story.

By using this strategy, students can better understand the relationship between a character’s motivation and actions and how problems are resolved. Students learn how to identify the key components of the plot and develop a schema for narrative structures.

The Discussion Web is a strategy I got out of the Buehl textbook (2nd edition). It is a very interactive learning strategy which incorporates reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The Discussion Web ensures that all students participate in whole class discussions, instead of sitting passively. Students read a text which develops opposing viewpoints. After students have read the text, the teacher introduces a focus question for discussion. Assign students to work in pairs, and instruct them to defend opposing sides of the question. Each group will get a blank Discussion Web form, and then will list reasons on the web to make their argument. Each pair is then grouped with another pair of students, and they share their arguments. The groups are to reach a consensus on the question, and write it at the bottom of their Discussion Web. Next, each group presents its conclusion, along with one reason, to the class. Once all groups have presented, students are ready to write a personal response to the focus question.

Lisa Beach

This is a strategy that uses meaningful student questions as a basis to begin research on a certain topic. The chart can be used whole class, small-group, or individually. Step 1 is to select a topic familiar to students and solicit questions to explore using multiple texts. Then choose 3 or 4 of the most interesting questions to direct the inquiry. The questions are listed across the top of the chart, along with a section for Other Interesting Facts and New Questions. Down the side of the chart, there is space for What We Know, each of the sources used, and summaries. The next step is to brainstorm any prior knowledge on the subject and add it to the chart beside What We Know. Knowledge unrelated to the questions can be placed under Other Interesting Facts. The actual research takes place next. Provide access to a variety of materials, including newspaper and magazines for students to consult in cooperative groups. Each group consults a different source, writing down the information on sticky notes (one fact per sticky note). Color coded sticky notes make it easier to identify the source of information. The notes are added to the chart under the appropriate question and then the information for each question is synthesized into a summary for each question. After completing the chart, students can then write about their topic, discussing each question. They may possible use each column to comprise their paragraphs.

I chose this strategy because my school is completely inquiry based. Each grade, Junior Kindergarten-5, covers 6 large units of inquiry each school year. Each unit includes several lines of inquiry that tie back into the central idea. This would be the perfect strategy to use when introducing a new line of inquiry. I have kindergarteners, so I would tweak this to be developmentally appropriate. I would implement this whole group. Since they are emergent and beginning readers and writers I would vary my sources past reading. One station may be a read-aloud station, one may be a book or articles at the independent level of my strong readers, one may be a hands-on experiment/activity, and one may be a video on the computer. I would then group my strong readers and writers with students who possess only emergent literacy skills. Another solution would be to have parent volunteers or older students at each station to assist each group. Even if I am not able to make this work in kindergarten, I would like to share it with my coworkers who teach upper grades.

Buehl, D. (2001). Classroom strategies for interactive learning. Newark, DE: International Reading Association

These strategies will be used during read-alouds. It involves reading and using critical-thinking skills. The lesson will use character mapping to make predictions about a story. It involves story mapping to encourage independent reading. The strategies encourage students to support one another and become confident in reading. First, select a read aloud. Think about the story. Read the story and stop at various points. Discuss with the students what's happening and what they think will happen next. Next, map the characters. As the teacher reads the story, the class continually refers back to what they already know about the characters and adds new information. The children make predictions based on this information. Finally, map the story. The story map includes information about the characters, setting, problem, main events, and resolution. The students review the story map before reading a new chapter. I am currently reading a Junie B. Jones book to my kindergarten class. I began character mapping after learning of this strategy. We were already in chapter four, but the kindergarteners didn't seem to notice. They love this part of the read aloud time! I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the predictions of a few of my normally quiet students.

Say Something is a strategy that demonstrates the active role of readers when reading, and it encourages expression of personal response. A say something is also a good comprehension activity. The teacher should initially model a say something with the entire class so that students understand the procedure. The teacher selects a piece of text and divides the passage into sections, or gives students directions about how to divide the passage, or controls the amount to be read by using copies of the text to project on the television through the document camera. Each student receives one copy of the text. The selection can be read silently or aloud (if read aloud, the students take turns reading). Through initial modeling of the strategy, the teacher demonstrates that, after reading a certain predetermined portion of the text, each reader then says something to their partner about what they have read; the other person then responds with another remark about the reading. Readers can comment on what was read, make predictions, describe their visualizations, express concerns or criticisms, make intertextual connections, ask questions, relate their own experiences, or comment on their partners articulations. The second student then reads the next portion of text, and again each individual says something. After the text has been read in this manner, the teacher can engage the students in a debriefing activity asking them to reflect on the types of comments they made as they read. If students need practice at engaging in one of the strategies that we know active readers employ, the teacher may suggest a particular focus for the say something activity.

This strategy uses quotes from a character to learn more about their personality. After selecting a variety of revealing quotes, the teacher allows students to use come up character traits that would accurately describe the character whether it be fictional or a real life individual. Students should have opportunity to learn how multidimensional characters can be through the quotes selected by the teacher. Students can extend their learning by selecting additional quotes which contain insights into the character.

-Heather Miller

The bio-cube is strategy that can be used for a variety of purposes. I would use it as a final product of an author study. Each side of the box can be used to discuss a different aspect of the author and/or his/her books. Biographies, character descriptions, book lists, genres/themes, book reviews, etc., are some of the topics that could be used for the faces of the cube. Students could use the inside of the box to store objects that represent the characters and plots of the various books. The bio-cube could also be used to teach the ecosystems, regions of North Carolina, symbols of North Carolina, community roles, geometry, etc.

Holly S. Lawson

RWT Lesson Plan Analysis: Lisa Boyd- Lesson: All About Our Town: Using Brochures to Teach Informational Writing: This lesson appealed to me because it is an exciting way to get students interested in writing as well as learning about their town in a creative way. Even though it is a lengthy lesson, it will positively benefit students’ writing, editing (which will aid in their grammar and spelling), revising, analyzing, synthesizing, communication skills (used to conduct interviews) as well as learning different ways of gathering needed information.
Students will enjoy looking at different brochures and discovering things about their town that they may have not known. I like the idea of this lesson because students gain insight as to the purposes for which people read and write. They will get to write for a specific audience, work on editing/revising their writing as well as get to work collaboratively creating a brochure for new students at their school. Lessons such as this give students enthusiasm for writing, researching and collaboration, and in the process they don’t really think about it as a dreaded assignment but instead learn to use a great deal of skills that they likely would have had a negative attitude about given it had been an independent writing assignment .