powerful literacy practices
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Define Academic Literacy
Define Academic Literacy
listening, speaking, reading, writing
Essential Questions
What are some challenges English language learners experience
in academic language learning and literacy?
How can we support English language learners' academic language proficiency?
Is the reading proficiency required to construct the meaning of content-area texts and literature
encountered in school
Encompasses the kind of reading proficiencies typically assessed on state-level accountability
measures, such as the ability to
- make inferences from text - learn new vocabulary from context - link ideas across texts - identify and summarize the most important ideas or content within a text
(Torgesen et al., 2007)
Francis, Center on Instruction
Academic Literacy
What is the Role of Vocabulary in Academic Development?
Academic vocabulary is critical to learning higher-level content and to performing well on
achievement tests.
Academic language: explains, informs, justifies, compares, describes, classifies, proves, debates,
persuades, evaluates.
David J. Francis
“Of the many compelling reasons for providing students with instruction to build vocabulary, none is more important than the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to reading comprehension. Indeed, one of the most enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students’ vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension.”
Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Baumann, Kame’enui, & Ash, 2003; Becker, 1977; Davis, 1942; Whipple, 1925)
Why Focus on Vocabulary Instruction?
The difficulty of your set could be increased
if
you do a jam followed by a peach.
Read the following and put in your own words (paraphrase)
Reading & Writing Task
The point values you can earn on your gymnastics routine can be
bigger if you include, in sequence, two particular skills on the uneven parallel bars: the “jam,” which leaves the gymnast sitting on the high bar; and the “peach,” where the gymnast moves from the high bar to the low bar.
cited from: www. readingquest.org/bkgd
The difficulty of your set could be increased if you do a jam followed by a peach.
means
Multiple word meanings
Lack of background knowledge
Technical vocabulary
Culture of gymnastics
The difficulty of your set could be increased if you do a jam followed by a peach.
SO...
Why Didn't You Use Context Clues?
But you knew the components of academic language: word meanings, language functions, and grammatical
structures.....right?
Sentence Starter
What this tells me about using context clues to infer meaning for unfamiliar vocabulary is that
________________________________
_______________________________
Complete the Sentence Starter
Tell Me Again Why I Should Care About
Bloom’s Taxonomy…
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
Less Demanding Language More Demanding Language
The degree to which a task is context-embedded depends on the number of channels of information available to the student. The more context embedded, the more manageable.
The degree to which a task is context-embedded depends on the number of channels of information available to the student. The more context embedded, the more manageable.
Bloom’s Taxonomy offers a way of determining whether a task is demanding or undemanding
Read and Remark
The research suggests that the disparity between word-level skills (decoding, word recognition, spelling) and text level skills (reading comprehension and writing) among language minority students is
oral English proficiency.
Word Level oral English proficiency Text Level
What this tells me about academic language practice is that.................
“A Focus on Vocabulary” www.prel.orgDiane August and Timothy Shanahan: (2006)
Planning for Purposeful Talk Academic Dialoging
Planning for Purposeful Talk Academic Dialoging
Collaborative tasks
Multiple opportunities for students to talk, question , discuss, clarify, and create new understandings
Meaningful student interactions
Explicitly teach the academic language students need to be able to use in academic discourse
Examining Vocabulary Practices
1. Asking students, “Does anyone know what
The following page lists "unreliable practices" and "research based practices"
Work with your elbow partner to determine which belong in the unreliable group and which represent the research based
group.
Please be prepared to discuss the rationale for your choices
Teacher directed, explicit instruction
Provide opportunities to practice using words
Teach word meanings explicitly and systematically
Teach independent word learning strategies (i.e., contextual strategies & morphemic analysis
Represent Research Based Best Practices for Vocabulary Instruction
Did You Say?
Vocabulary Practices – What’s unreliable and what is research-based?
Asking students, “Does anyone know what _____ means?”
Numerous independent activities without guidance or immediate feedback
Directing students to “look it up” then use it in a sentence
Relying on context based guessing as a primary strategy
Asking students, “Does anyone know what _____ means?”
Numerous independent activities without guidance or immediate feedback
Directing students to “look it up” then use it in a sentence
Relying on context based guessing as a primary strategy
Teacher directed, explicit instruction
Provide opportunities to practice using words
Teach word meanings explicitly and systematically
Teach independent word learning strategies (i.e., contextual strategies & morphemic analysis
Teacher directed, explicit instruction
Provide opportunities to practice using words
Teach word meanings explicitly and systematically
Teach independent word learning strategies (i.e., contextual strategies & morphemic analysis
Vocabulary Instruction for Upper Elementary and Middle Grades: Strategies for Success
"Learning to write well, especially for academic purposes, is difficult in a first language. For English learners, the process is even more complex."
Hadaway and Young, Negotiating Meaning Through Writing
Thoughts about Writing
Learning to write precedes writing Both reading and writing can only be learned in
the course of reading and writing
Writing is to communicate
with others Can be...but the first reader of writing is the
writer himself or herself
Writing involves transferring thoughts from mind to paper
Can be...but when you write you often generate and create new ideas
as you write
Writing should be right the first time Something all experienced writers know is that
writing usually requires many drafts and revision
Writing is a solitary activityWriting generally requires other people to stimulate
ideas, to listen to choice phrases, to help with word selection and spelling, etc.
From: Writing and Writing Strategies, Lynda Stack
You must have something to say in order to write
-You often have to write in order to have something to say-Thought comes with writing
Writing is learned from instruction Not even skills such as spelling, punctuation
or captitalization can be learned solely from lectures or reading about how to do it
Beginning with the End in Mind
Beginning with the End in Mind
Planning to Write with English Language Learners
What is it? -A Framework for Planning Instruction
How do I use it?
Answers the Question
-What enduring understandings do my students need to develop?
- To determine how students demonstrate their understanding
when the lesson is completed
-To determine how I will ensure that students have the skills and
understand the concepts required on the summative assessment
Understanding by Design
Knowledge and skills needed
Teaching and learning experiences
Demonstration of targeted understandings
What knowledge and skills will be needed for success?
What knowledge and skills will be needed for success?
Which learning experiences will help to promote these skills and
understandings?
Which learning experiences will help to promote these skills and
understandings?
How will students demonstrate proficiency?
How will students demonstrate proficiency?
How Do I Plan Learning Experiences Using Backward Design?
Comparing and Contrasting
How are Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies
alike and different?
Ritz Cracker Oreo Cookie
[Both]
Venn DiagramIt is frequently used as a prewriting activity to enable students to organize thoughts or textual quotations prior to writing a compare/contrast essay. This activity enables students to organize similarities and differences visually .
Using the graphicorganizer to write
descriptors
The Venn Diagramcan serve as a brainstorming
activity
This graphic organizercan also serve as the prewrite
Using a Graphic Organizer to Generate Adjectives
VOCABULARY TOOLKIT ADJECTIVES – SAMPLE list
COLOR TASTE TEXTURE NUMBER SMELL SHAPE
golden tasty crisp bunch sweet round
brown delicious rough few fragrant curved
dark bitter chewy plenty spicy oval
dim creamy crusty several stale thin
shiny luscious dry two fresh thick
dull salty hard enough smoky wide
Provide adjective lists as a resource to increase vocabulary and encourage the use of descriptors in writing
Vocabulary Tool Kit Signal words for Compare/Contrast Text Structure
Compare Contrast
same different
both unalike
alike on the other hand
similar instead of
compared to in contrast to
resembles rather than
Students use the signal word toolkit as a resourcefor reading and writing to identify author's purpose...
Model Compare/Contrast Paragraphs
You already know that there are major differences between a house and a nest. In contrast to a house, a nest is small and only has one room. Another difference is that a house is typically for humans while a nest is for birds.
However, you might be surprised to find out that nests and houses have some things that are the same. For instance, both nests and houses provide shelter. Another similarity is that both use trees in their construction. Birds use sticks and twigs while humans use lumber from trees. Lastly, they are alike because they both take up space, although a house usually takes up more space than a nest. Does it surprise you that
they share so much in common?
Downloaded from www.readwritethink.org
Model Compare/Contrast Paragraphs
You already know that there are major differences between a house and a nest. In contrast to a house, a nest is small and only has one room. Another difference is that a house is typically for humans while a nest is for birds.
However, you might be surprised to find out that nests and houses have some things that are the same. For instance, both nests and houses provide shelter. Another similarity is that both use trees in their construction. Birds use sticks and twigs while humans use lumber from trees. Lastly, they are alike because they both take up space, although a house usually takes up more space than a nest. Does it surprise you that they share so much in common?
Use the model text to read aloud to students; they can listen for the signal words and say them as you read. Model text elements by putting on overhead or power point and model locating and underlining the signal words as well as the transition words, if appropriate at this time.
Additionally, students can read text to each other in pairs and call out the signal words to each other. These are some ways this text could be used as a listening and/or speaking objective for the standard..
Sentence Frames for a Compare/Contrast Paragraph
Paragraph Frames for Scaffolding Comparing
_____________________ and ___________________
are similar in several ways. They both___________________
_______________________________________________ .
In addition, they are also _________________________. These
similarities_______________________________________.
From Developing Academic Skills, Jeff Zwiers
However, ____________and________________ also differ in some
ways. First, _______________________, whereas______________
___________________. Furthermore, they are unalike because
_______________. These differences between___________________
and ______________________________________________________
help us to see ____________.
From Developing Academic Skills, Jeff Zwiers
Chant Frame for ComparisonExcuuuuuuuuuse me, I was wondering somethingCan you help me compare the following things?One is __________________________________you see
And the other is___________________I believe
Tell me, what are the characteristics they share?It's time to break them down and compare
They both _________________________________________________And they____________________________________
Furthermore they________________________________________________And they share___________________________________________________
Tell me, how can I distinguish one from the other?Like the contrast of two different brothers?
Well, the ___________________________________________________________________
While the _________________________________________________________________
From Developing Academic Skills, Jeff Zwiers
The Myth of Age or Grade Level Vocabulary
Students do not learn vocabulary words based on their age or their
grade.
They learn words based on their experiences.
(Beck, et al, 2002)
Reading Comprehension is an Interactive Process
RAND Model, 2002
Today’s Session
What Strategies Do You Use?
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Inferring• Using background knowledge to hypothesize,
interpret, or draw conclusion from the events, information or clues in the text.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Predicting• Anticipating what will happen next in the story
or what will be described next in the informational text based on knowledge of genre, character type, or familiar sequence.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Questioning• Asking questions to clarify meaning, wonder
what will happen, or speculate about the author’s intent, style, content or format.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Making connections• Connecting information or events to personal
experience• Text-to-self• Text-to-text• Text-to-world
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Visualizing• Creating mental pictures of what is happening
in the text.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Self-monitoring• Recognizing when you understand what is
going on and when you are confused.• Recognizing when you have stopped paying
close attention to the text and therefore need to re-read
Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Inferring• Predicting• Questioning• Making connections• Visualizing• Self-monitoring
Last Thoughts On…
• Strategies are a means to an end• Potential pitfall• Strategy as scaffold for comprehension.• Recall notes
Gradual Release of Responsibility
• Journal• Active listening/creating a metaphor
“I read it, but I don’t get it.”
• This is really an invitation…• More often a pitfall:
• “Just read it again.”• “Pay better attention.”• “Find the main ideas.”• “Try harder.”
Framework as Mental Model
• We must anticipate this comment• Set Big Goals to address it• Plan Purposefully to explicitly teach it• Execute Effectively to empower our students
to read it and get it.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Explicitly
TaughtModeled Shared Guided
Independent
Gradual Release: Explicitly Taught
Naming and explaining the strategy gives students knowledge of the strategy.
Gradual Release: Modeling
• Modeling explicitly gives students comprehension of what the strategy looks like.
• Think Aloud
Gradual Release: Shared
• Shared reading gives the students the opportunity to do part of the work of using the strategy with support from teachers and peers.
Gradual Release: Guided
• Guided reading gives students the chance to do more of the work of using the strategy with teacher feedback.
• Alone or in small groups.
Gradual Release: Independent
• Independent reading gives students the chance to practice it by themselves with new text.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Explicitly
TaughtModeled Shared Guided
Independent
I Do, We Do, You Do
• With a partner, model a strategy• The tool: Think Aloud
• Our conversations:• How explicit the think-aloud was• How student-friendly the think-aloud was• Whether there might be more to say in
thinking-aloud with this strategy
Review of Mindset
• Just as students will rise or sink to meet our expectations in other ways, students will respond to the purposes and goals for reading that we set for them.
• If we expect our students to read like Scientists, Historians, Engineers, Mathematicians, Writers and Literary Critics – and if we teach them the strategies to do it – they will be able to reach those goals.
What have you added to your toolkit?