Debate pg 22-23

The debate tactic is one that nearly every class could put to use, especially considering the multitude of ways it can be approached. In the book they suggest that, for the most part, it is all about establishing a topic and giving different people the role of being "Pro" or "Con" in terms of how they "feel" about it. I say "feel" because one of the great things about debate is that it provides students with the opportunity of looking at things from a perspective they ordinarily wouldn't. A student who says they are all for something may be assigned the Con position and therefore have to research and finds evidence to support something they do not necessarily agree with. This is so important for teens because this is the time they need to start branching out and learning to leave the box so many put themselves in in terms of thinking.


For my Journalism I class, I decided to approach this a little differently. We had just finished our units on Ethics and First Amendment Law and I decided to have the students learn about a real-life situation that deals with both. The subject was a student underground newspaper called "the OBJ" published in the mid-1990's in California in which several teens were suspended or expelled for publishing obscene, libelous articles about various students and teachers in their school. After reading a student article from a neighboring school in California that talked about the scandal that resulted from the incident, the students were randomly assigned one of the following roles: 1) Students Pro-Newspaper (Including students who wrote it), 2) Students Anti-Newspaper, 3) Parents (Of students pro- and anti-newspaper), 4) Administrators, 5) Teachers, and 6) Free-Speech Advocates. The task was to work in his/her assigned group to prepare for a town meeting in which each group would have the opportunity to present their feelings on the paper, what resulted from its publication, and whether the punishments were fair/enough. After the presentations, each group had the opportunity to respond to the arguments of other groups.


This project turned out to be a huge success. Not only did many students have to force themselves to see things from a teacher/administrator/parent perspective (which, let me tell you, was fantastic), but all of the students had to question major real-world concepts such as what effect something seemingly small has on others and society. They also used terms from previous units to defend themselves. All in all, the only flaw the project had was finding a way to consistently  keep the students calm when they were so enthusiastic about their arguments.

In summary, debates are a fun, practical, dynamic way of having students review or explore major concepts. There are a multitude of ways in which they can be done as well, which means they can never get old or worn-out. I can't wait to find more ways and opportunities for the future.

Literacy Strategy 38: Take 6 (p 110)

Description/Advantages: Take 6 is a quick and easy way to review vocab that you don't have to make a lot of preparations for in advance.  It is listed in the book as a sponge activity, but since reading about it in this book, I have used it every other week or so for review, especially right before a quiz or test.  The students work in pairs.  Each pair of students has one die (singular for dice, boys and girls), and one student rolls the over and over again until they get a 6.  In the mean time the other student is trying to write as many definitions as possible before the other student rolls a siz and time is up.  Once the first student gets a "6", they switch and the 2nd student is rolling over and over until he or she gets a 6 while the first one writes as many definitions as possible and then they switch again.  I posted a list of words on the board for them to work from, but there are other ways you could do this activity.   You could just have them think of as many terms as possible on a given topic or from a given chapter.  One teacher used it to review capitols and other locations in geography.  It makes reviewing quick and competitive, and lots of info can be covered in a short period of time.  The kids really seem to like it.  You can see a brief video of them doing this below.

Words of caution:  It is loud and it is only useful for rote memorization.  There are other ways of practicing this kind of material online.  Quizlet allows students to make their own flash cards, so they can continue the review at home.  Kahoot and Socrative both allow you to make competitive games out of multiple choice questions that the whole class can use together.  While these last 2 websites are not as useful for covering a lot of material in a short amount of time, they give you data as to who is having problems with what and Kahoot you even have a chance to stop and talk about where wrong answers come from and see how many you have in real time.

Rating:  I give "Take 6" 4.5 stars (out of 5) for how quick the set up is and how much material they can cover in a short amount of time while being completely engaged.  As long as it is used for the correct purpose, it is a great activity.

Vocabulary Self-Awareness Pg 130

Vocabulary Self-Awareness is a pre-reading strategy to assess students on what vocabulary they already know.  This activity fits with any subject.  Anytime there is a vocabulary list, students simply make a chart like below:

Word	+		-	Example	Definition
finite	+			Finite resources (such as oil)	Limited, not forever, antonym--infinite
somnambulist			-
impunity				No one attacks me with impunity and gets away with it.  (something I heard from “Cask of Amontillado” by Poe??

If a student knows the word well and can write an example and definition for that word, he will place a plus sign (+) in the chart and then provide the additional information.  If he can provide only an example or definition, he will add a check (the checks should be in the third column but won't show up here--sorry) to the chart and supply the one he knows.  If he is totally unfamiliar with the word, he may simply add a negative sign (-).  Students will later add to the chart after reading when they have a better understanding of the vocabulary.

In English, I can use this strategy with their stems or with a particularly difficult text we will read.  This strategy can be applied to any activity where learning new words is necessary.

R.A.F.T Writing Page 72 - 75

       A RAFT is a type of writing assignment that can be formatted to work for any class, and is a way to get the students to be creative with their writing. This is used a a summarizing activity where students can display what they know about a topic.
      RAFT stands for:

      R - Role

      A - Audience

      F - Format

      T - Topic

This is important when creating the assignment. You have to give the students the Role that they will be portraying, the Audience that they will be writing to, the Format that they will be using, and finally the Topic of the whole writing assignment. I have seen this used as an individual assignment or also a group assignment. More information on RAFT writing and a wide variety of examples can be found in our Professional Development Book 

I have used this in my classroom already this year to have students explain the differences between parallel and perpendicular lines. This is what their RAFT information looked like: 

Role - to be a parallel line  Audience - write to a perpendicular line  

Format - a Dear John Letter (a break up letter) Topic - the differences between them

So their assignment was to be a parallel line breaking up with the perpendicular line in a letter because of their differences. They had to include at least 2 differences to get full credit. Students enjoyed being able to be creative with their letter and it showed me their understanding of the meaning of parallel and perpendicular lines.

Please share ways that you have used RAFT Writing in your classroom!

Examples of different Raft topics that can be used in any classroom

Examples of RAFT in Science - free download at teacherspayteachers.com

Examples of RAFT in Math

Examples of different RAFT- free download at teacherspayteachers.com

One of the ways in Physical Education that we try to devlop content literacy is by bringing  the "real world" in to the classroom.  We do this by inviting guest speakers to talk to our students about their area of expertise.  In the past, we've brought in someone to teach Karate and Zumba.  This semester, we are bringing in our Student Resource Officer.  Because Human Reproduction is a part of our requirements for the freshmen we teach, our SRO will come and speak to our students about the Laws surrounding the topic of Sex. 

While the SRO speaks to the students, they have an opportunity to learn new vocabulary.  Many times students have not heard terms like "Criminal Sexual Conduct" or "Age of Consent".  This, in turn, helps students with comprehension of new material as they begin to understand more fully what each of the new terms that are presented to them means.

The book, "50 Intructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy" states that "the application of academic knowledge to real-world situations can be transformative in the lives of our students" (Fisher, Brozo, Frey, & Ivey, p. 38).  We have found this to be true in our PE classes as we bring in guest speakers to teach our students and peak their interest. 

Have you found this to be true in your classes?