Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents

Douglas Fisherwww.fisherandfrey.com

Three Big Ideas

• Internalize an instructional framework.

• Develop a level of instructional consistency.

• Examine student work, with colleagues, on a regular basis.

Thanks to P. David Pearson and Robert Pritchard

Internalize an Instructional Framework

• Do I know why I’m doing what I’m doing, or am I a “strategy junkie”?

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Focus Lesson

Guided Instruction

“I do it”

“We do it”

“You do it together”

Collaborative

Independent “You do it alone”

A Structure for Instruction that Works

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

In some classrooms …TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Focus Lesson “I do it”

Independent

“You do it alone”

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

In some classrooms …TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Independent

“You do it alone”

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

And in some classrooms …TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Focus Lesson

Guided Instruction

“I do it”

“We do it”

Independent“You do it alone”

(c) Frey & Fisher, 2008

TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Focus Lesson

Guided Instruction

“I do it”

“We do it”

“You do it together”

Collaborative

Independent “You do it alone”

A Structure for Instruction that Works

Aimee Chen: First year geometry teacher

• How does she use “literacy” in her instruction?

• How does the classroom structure facilitate understanding?

• How might she improve her instruction?

Establishing Purpose• Why?

– Focuses attention– Alerts learner to key ideas– Prevents “birdwalking” and maximizes learning

time– Can be used in formative assessment

• Types– Content goal (based on the standards)– Language goal (vocabulary, language structure,

and language function)– Social goal (classroom needs or school priorities)

Samples

• Language Arts– C: Describe how a character changes in a story.– L: Use sensory detail to give readers a clear

image of the character and the changes.

• Math– C: Determine reasonableness of a solution to a

mathematical problem.– L: Use mathematical terms to explain why an

answer is reasonable.

Samples

ScienceC: Identify the steps in the life cycle of a frog.L: Use signal words to describe the life cycle of a frog.

Social StudiesC: Identify the causes of the Revolutionary War.L: Explain the meaning of “taxation without representation” to a peer and summarize the meaning in writing.

Three Types of Language Purposes

• Vocabulary: (specialized, technical)

• Structure: (the way the vocabulary is used in sentences to express ideas)

• Function: (the intended use of those ideas)

These language purposes build upon one another over a series of lessons.

Vocabulary

• Specialized– Words whose meaning changes depending on the

context (problem, simplify, value)– Multiple meaning words (run, place)

These can be “brick” or “mortar” words

• Technical– Words that represent one concept only

(denominator, photosynthesis)

These are the “bricks” of language

Language Structure

• Grammar/syntax: rules for language use (e.g., plurals, noun/verb agreement)

• Signal words: guideposts to support understanding of listener/reader (e.g., If/then, first, last, compared to)

• Frames and templates: scaffolds for apprentice language users (“On the one hand, ________. But on the other hand, _______.”)

Language Function

• Halliday identified 7 language functions (Instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, imaginative, heuristic, representational)

• These are translated into classroom interactions (express an opinion, summarize, persuade, question, entertain, inform, sequence, disagree, debate, evaluate, justify)

The “big a-ha”

• The same content objective can have many different language purposes!

CO: Identify the phases of the moon.LP #1: Name the phases of the moon. (vocabulary)LP #2: Use sequence words (first, next, last) to

describe the phases of the moon. (structure)LP #3: Explain how the moon, earth, and sun move

through the phases. (function)

Modeling

• Why?– Humans mimic or imitate– Students need examples of the type of

thinking required– Facilitates the use of academic

language

Modeling Comprehension

• Inference

• Summarize

• Predict

• Clarify

• Question

VisualizeMonitor SynthesizeEvaluateConnect

Word Solving

• Context clues

• Word parts (prefix, suffix, root, base, cognates)

• Resources (others, Internet, dictionary)

Using Text Structure

• Informational Texts– Problem/Solution, Compare/Contrast,

Sequence, Cause/Effect, Description

• Narrative Texts– Story grammar (plot, setting, character) – Dialogue– Literary devices

Using Text Features

• Headings

• Captions

• Illustrations

• Charts

• Graphs

• Bold words

Table of contents

Glossary

Index

Tables

Margin notes

Italicized words

Discover Magazine

What Happened to Phineas?Attend the tale of Phineas Gage. Honest, well liked by friends and fellow workers on the Rutland and Burlington Railroads, Gage was a young man of exemplary character and promise until one day in September 1848. While tamping down the blasting powder for a dynamite charge, Gage inadvertently sparked an explosion. The inch thick tamping rod rocketed through his cheek, obliterating his left eye, on its way through his brain and out the top of his skull.

Discover Magazine

The rod landed several yards away, and Gage fell back in a convulsive heap. Yet a moment later he stood up and spoke. His fellow workers watched, aghast, then drove him by oxcart to a hotel where a local doctor, one John Harlow, dressed his wounds. As Harlow stuck his index fingers in the holes in Gage’s face and head until their tips met, the young man inquired when he would be able to return to work.

Discover Magazine

Within two months the physical organism that was Phineas Gage had completely recovered - he could walk, speak, and demonstrate normal awareness of his surroundings. But the character of the man did not survive the tamping rod’s journey through his brain. In place of the diligent, dependable worker stood a foul-mouthed and ill-mannered liar given to extravagant schemes that were never followed through. “Gage,” said his friends, “was no longer Gage.”

Questions

• How did Phineas survive this penetrating brain injury?

• For how much longer did he live?

Develop a Level of Instructional Consistency

• Are all teachers teachers of reading?

• Are schools building habits that are transportable and transparent?

• As students develop habits, are discipline-specific practices taught?

“7 Literacy Strategies that Work”

• Anticipatory activities (building background)• Read alouds / shared reading• Vocabulary development• Graphic organizers• Note-taking• Writing to learn• Reciprocal Teaching

Anticipatory Activities

• KWL• Discovery• Anticipation guides• Questions• Quick writes• Discrepant events• Demonstrations

Read Aloud/Shared Reading

• Good selections• Connected to the class• Access to text?• “Every day, every

class”• Model thinking

Vacca & Vacca, 1999

Types of Vocabulary

• General vocabulary– Words used in everyday language, with agreed

upon meanings across contexts (e.g., pesky, bothersome)

• Specialized vocabulary– Multiple meanings in different content areas (e.g.,

loom, in, expression)

• Technical vocabulary– Specific to a field of study (e.g., concerto, meiosis)

Catherine the Great, a minor aristocrat from Germany, became Empress of Russia when her husband Peter, the grandson of Peter the Great, was killed.

Vocabulary

• Vocabulary Role Play • Language Charts• Multiple Meaning

Word Study• Word Sorts and

Making Words• Vocabulary Journals

Graphic Organizers

• Concept maps• Diagrams• Text structure charts

(cause/effect, temporal sequence, problem/solution)

• Students’ #1 choice

Notetaking and Notemaking

• Cornell notes• Text structures• Main ideas and details• Assessment of notes

Writing to Learn

• Prompt or phrase• Yesterday’s news• Crystal ball• Best thing I learned• RAFT

Reciprocal Teaching

• Students work in groups• Summarize, question,

clarify, predict• Zinger questions

It sounds so easy, what gets in the way?

• Hard Books– “Students must read books at their grade level”

• Whole Class Texts– “Read chapter 4 tonight”– Choice?

Apathy

It sounds so easy, what gets in the way?

• Interventions for Struggling Readers“I’m working on fluency”

I’ll go back to school and learn more

aboutthe brain!

400+ Page text

“Somites are blocks of dorsal mesodermal cells adjacent to the notochord during vertebrate organogensis.”

“Improved vascular definition in radiographs of the arterial phase or of the venous phase can be procured by a process of subtraction whereby positive and negative images of the overlying skull are superimposed on one another.”

Skills Versus Strategies?

I don’t know how you’re going to learn this, but it’s on the test.

Quick, Build Background!

Expand Understanding Through Reading

Reading Increasingly Difficult Texts

Read “Non-Traditional” Texts

• To date, over 100 YouTube videos!

• PBS (The Secret Life of the Brain)

• Internet quiz sites about neuroanatomy

• Talking with peers and others interested in the brain

But, the midterm comes

17 pages, single spaced

Besides Some Neuroanatomy, What Have I Learned?

You can’t learn from books you can’t read (but you can learn)

Reading widely builds background and vocabulary

Interacting with others keeps me motivated and clarifies information and extends understanding

I have choices and rely on strategies

Examine Student Work, With Colleagues, on a Regular

Basis

• Teacher-created, common formative assessments are the goal

• Teachers need time to develop, administer, and discuss the assessments

• Tests are a genre

For what purpose did Parliament vote during the Restoration?

A. To restore Puritan religion in England

B. To restore the monarch in England C. To restore Charles I to power D. To restore the idea of the divine right

of kings

37.5% of the students chose A 7.5% chose B (the correct answer) 17.5% chose C 37.5% chose D

Select key standardswith pacing guide

Identify materials and teach

Create and administercommon assessment Consensus score and

complete item analysis

Analyze results in course alike groups

Reteach

Revise pacing guide

Revise assessment

Intervention groups

Creating Literacy-Rich Schools

• We can do this.• To do this, we must increase precision

teaching (Breakthrough - Fullan, Hill, & Crevola, 2006).

• Precision requires access to assessment information, consistent instructional routines, and an understanding of the role language plays in learning.

Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents

Douglas Fisher

www.fisherandfrey.com