Vocabulary Cards

A better way to learn vocabulary...vocabulary note cards.  Duh!  See Instructional Routines to Develop Content Literacy for any variations to the vocabulary note card strategy.  There is more than one way to do this activity.  Feel free to modify.  The students need the following: vocabulary list, note cards, a dictionary, and a pencil.

1.  Write the vocabulary word in the middle of the index card.
2.  Write a simplified definition
3.  Write an example of the word and maybe a sentence with the word.
4.  Write a non example of the word or maybe an antonym.
5.  Draw a picture of the word.
6.  Study cards to ace the test!  Awesome!

Word Grids/Semantic Feature Analysis

Word grids allow teachers and students to construct charts to give a visual representation of characteristics of a given topic. A word grid allows students to actively participate as they organize a group of related information. It allows students to demonstrate prior knowledge and also leaves room to record the new information they learn.

For instance, in Geometry, the teacher could start a word grid for quadrilaterals. Of course, students are familiar with many four sided figures such as squares and rectangles. They could quickly identify characteristics of those - four right angles, opposite sides equal, opposite sides parallel, etc. As the chapter progresses, new quadrilaterals such as parallelogram, trapezoid and rhombus could be added to the word grid. By the end of the chapter, students have an excellent study guide with all of the related shapes and characteristics in one location.

Word grids or charts are useful in all subject areas. They can be used anytime during a unit - before, during or after. How do you use word grids in your class?

Jigsaw Groups (page 47 - 50)

Jigsaw is a reading activity that can be used across any content area and can be modified to fit almost any situation. This is great for when teachers want to cover multiple readings (4-5), but does not have the time to have each student read all of them. This is an activity where students are broken up into heterogeneous jigsaw groups of about four or five students, these are called HOME groups. Each person in the home group will choose which reading they will be responsible for. Then students will break into their EXPERT groups. An expert group is where students are all reading the same text (each expert group should have at least one member of each home group). When students return to their home groups they will be able to explain the text they read and discussed. Then every student has been informed on all of the readings you wanted without having to read every single one.

How to:

11. Break students into their HOME groups: in these groups students will determine which of the readings they will be responsible for.

22. Students go to their EXPERT groups: in these groups students will all be reading the same text and then will discuss the reading. Provide adequate time for all groups to read, discuss, and determine the key points each students needs to take back to their home groups.

33. Students return to their HOME groups: back in their home groups students will take turns explaining the reading that they discussed in their expert group. This step is vital because no students will have read all of the readings.

  Helpful Hint: Keep a time frame on the board to help you and the students stay on task.

Modifications:

1. Provide a picture that you want students to analyze

2. Word Problems in math and science

3. Different parts of the same story (so after discussions students have "read" the entire story)

4. Do not use Home and Expert Groups 

In my Algebra 1 class I like to do the Jigsaw activity with word problems. I break student into groups of 3 or 4 and provide them a word problem (you could also use homogeneous groups and provide material that would be at the level of the students in that group). Each group solves the word problem together and must check their answer with me when they are done. Sometimes I do not have students in home groups, instead I have each expert group come to the front of the classroom and become the teacher and then teach the class their word problem and have the others copy down the work and ask questions. 

You could modify this activity to fit into the way your classroom runs. You could also provide discussion question guidelines or specific questions that the students must answer when reading. Everything is up to you!

Socratic Discussion

Socratic discussions allow students to participate in a whole group discussion using predetermined rules and a teacher assigned text. 

Steps for a Socratic Discussion: 
1. Choose the text
The text must be appropriate for the level of the students and have enough depth to allow for adequate discussion. You may want to have a set of contrasting views, a text with layered or ambiguous meaning, or an article addressing an ongoing issue within the field of study. Recently, I had my AP Language students participate in Socratic discussion of their summer reading book Brave New World. They did the reading outside of class, so we had not had a chance to discuss the story together and there were many issues in the story that we will be referencing throughout the course. 

2. Prepare students
Preparing for a discussion is different from being able to answer basic questions. Students will need to refer back to the text, so it will be important for them to annotate or take notes on what they are reading. You may want to provide them with sticky notes or a note-taking sheet. My students annotated the entire text as part of their summer assignment. I returned the books to them for the purpose of refreshing their memories. For other discussions, I have had students use graphic organizers to take notes. 

3. Prepare the questions
Questions should be fairly open ended. Some questions should ask students to relate the topic to their own lives, to the real-world, to the subject, and to other readings or topics. Some research suggests that it is best to start and end the discussion with questions that relate to the student's life. I also like to give my students the questions the day before the discussion and their notes are their ticket to the circle. 

4. Establish expectations
This type of discussion is student-centered. They need to understand that they are the leaders, but they also have to understand how to communicate appropriately. The Socratic discussion is not a debate, but a way for all students to be able to hear and share thoughts and observations. The class needs a good climate, and the teacher may even want to have a class discussion to allow them to establish their discussion rules. You should also discuss how often they will need to speak and how they will be graded.  For the purposes of my class discussion, we discussed showing respect to others and I explained the signalling system that we would be using. I gave each student a card with a yellow side, meaning the comment was related to the previous comment, and a white side, meaning they were adding a new idea or interpretation. The student speaking chose the next speaker.  I had a checklist that I completed during the discussion and a rubric for each student that would determine their score to be completed after the discussion. 

5. Establish the teacher's role
The teacher's role can be as small as you think the students can handle. Some teachers depending on the maturity level of the students may need to act as the moderator to judge when to move on to the next topic and guide students back to the text or topic. It is best to try to remove yourself completely and rely on other students to help guide the conversation. The pre-written questions can serve as an outline for the discussion its self. For my AP class discussion, I was primarily a moderator. I stated the question, then sat back and listened. When the students seemed stuck, I would pose additional questions to get the ball rolling again. 

6. Assess effectiveness
At the end, it is a good practice to have the students reflect on what they have heard and said. The teacher should also give feedback. This reflective activity will help review and solidify any learning that took place during the discussion and allow students to process the information. My AP students journaled about the topics from their discussion and we did a "de-briefing" discussion about ideas to take away from the discussion. They also received their rubric with feedback. 


Take Away: 
Socratic discussion is one way to build the level of inquiry and student-centered learning in your classroom. There are a lot of steps that go into the discussion and it takes several class periods and activities to lead up to discussion day. It is worth all of the effort when students embrace the process and take charge of their own learning.  Socratic seminars stress the value of inquiry and foster social learning. If done correctly, it is a very student-centered activity.

Response Writing

I'd like to write about Response Writing. Have you ever thought about how writing helps students learn? It's true. 

"Writing is thinking. Writing, in fact, is the most disciplined form of thinking. It allows us to be precise, to stand back and examine what we have thought, to see what our words really mean, to see if they stand up to our own critical eye, make sense, will be understood by somebody else." Murray, D. Writing to Learn. 

Writing allows students time to think without interruptions and to consider new information on their own. Consider these suggestions to prompt students to scaffold their learning rather than evaluate it:

1. have students write about what was clear and/or confusing to them during the lesson
2. have students apply new info to a new time, place, or context
3. pose a controversial question related to new info and have students write their opinion

I used Response Writing in my Honors Geometry classes during the first two weeks of this semester. We did an activity in which students had to describe pictures using terms we had just learned without using their hands. Their partner had to draw the picture based solely on what was described. After the activity, students wrote reflections on the activity - what made the activity difficult? Did my partner use the correct vocabulary? Did I understand the terms my partner used? etc.  A few days later, we repeated the activity with different pictures. Again, students were asked to reflect on the experience. Their reflections showed the students built on their previous knowledge and were much more successful the second time around.

Let everyone know how you use Response Writing to help students increase their understanding in your content area.

Anticipation Guide- pages 12-14

Using an anticipation guide is a literacy strategy done before the material is presented.  It is very useful in getting the students interested in what they will be learning and accessing their prior knowledge.  Basically, you identify the key concepts you want students to learn.  The material could come from a book, primary document, lecture, video, or other sources.  Write short statements for each key concept, writing them in a true/false or agree/disagree format.  Present the statements to the students and have them decide they are true or false.  You can use a google form, kahoot, or socrative** to get a class percentage and/or number of students who answered correctly for each statement (this will be useful at end of the lesson too).  Students share their answers and reasoning with a partner or together as a class.  Present the information to the class and have the students go back and decide if they were correct and answer each statement again Students include a written explanation with their answers this time.   Discuss the misconceptions the class had and why.  This is a good time to take another count and compare the percentages again from the start of class.  This can create a meaningful class discussion.

I used this strategy in my Economics class with the topic of establishing credit and the material was presented in a lecture format with a presentation.  There are many misconceptions and little subject knowledge when it comes to this topic.  You can check out the one I made below.  There are also examples in the book on the pages 13 and 14.  This strategy helped to introduce the topic and also helped students to focus on what is most important.   I think this would be a great strategy to use for the groups you have a hard time keeping focused (you know what class I'm talking about).  I will definitely be using more of these anticipation guides.

**Credit must be given to Mrs. Rickwood who helped me with these resources to include!

Reader's Theater

When I chose Reader Theater for my blog I hadn't a clue what the book study would tell about this as a literacy strategy.  I know what Reader's Theater is for me in my classes, but no real idea of how they would make it relevant for other subjects.  If you are already getting visions of students writing plays where they are historical figures, becoming Mikey Molecule, and "acting out" info, yes, that is one way to go.   The authors of our book have provided a different approach.  An approach more in line with a group presentations not theater events.  The example of Reader's Theater they give takes solidly academic material more in line with what students might turn in as a paper and creates from it a script.  Consider these two examples:

PAPER

In order to value the importance and impact of lighting on a stage production you must understand the 5 functions of lighting.  They are general illumination, establishing mood, establishing environment, changing time, changing location, and directing audience focus.

SCRIPT

Speaker 1:  In order value the importance and impact of lighting on a stage production you must understand the 5 functions of lighting.

Speaker 2:  They are general illumination.

Speaker 3: Establishing mood and establishing environment.

Speaker 2:  Changing time and changing location.

Speaker 1: And directing focus.

It's still the same information, but now because the readers are carrying equal responsibilities  in the delivery and they are dealing with smaller "bites" of information the tone is more conversational. This benefits the speakers by allowing them time look at the paper while others are speaking, grab  the next lines, and then look up when it is their turn to talk.  Because the Reader's Theater format deals with sentences instead of paragraphs students are less likely to lose their place, forget what to say, and get flustered. Reader's theater has advantages for the audience too.  It helps them stay engaged by using changes of voice and energy on a continuous level without the boring predictability of one person talking for more 2 or 4 sentences.

That's really all there is to it_ no costumes, no props, no talking equations or plant cells.  Just providing students with a tool for doing presentations which only allows them to show us what they know, but with the added benefits of  practicing strong communication skills and gaining confidence.    

 CURTAIN