Student-Centered LiteracyTuesday, December 7, 2010

Presented by:

Carolyn Wiezorek

Jennifer Huinker

Who are we?

Inservice Objectives:

• Participants will further their

understanding of constructivist/student-

centered teaching and learning.

• Participants will gain a clearer

understanding of how to set up a student-

centered literacy environment.

• Participants will understand the

connections between the Daily 5 practices

and research.

Why don‟t you just find this

information yourselves?

Constructivist Learning Theory

• Constructivism is a theory describing how

learning happens.

• Learners construct knowledge out of their

experiences.

• Constructivism acknowledges the

uniqueness and complexity of the learner

John Dewey

1859 – 1952 • Education and learning are social

and interactive processes.

• Education should not revolve around the acquisition of a pre-determined set of skills, but rather the realization of one‟s full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good.

• Students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum

• All students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning

Maria Montessori

(1870 – 1952)• “Scientific observation has

established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.”

• The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference.

Jean Piaget 1896 – 1980

• Piaget's works inspired

the transformation of

European and

American education,

including both theory

and practice, leading to

a more „child-centered‟

approach.

• Children developed

best in a classroom with

interaction.

Lev Vygotsky1896 – 1934

• “Zone of proximal

development" (ZPD) is

Vygotsky‟s term for the range

of tasks that a child can

complete independently and

those completed with the

guidance and assistance of

adults or more-skilled children.

• Scaffolding is a concept

closely related to the idea of

ZPD. Scaffolding is changing

the level of support.

Jerome Bruner

(1915 - present)

• In his research on the

development of children (1966),

Bruner proposed three modes

of representation: enactive

representation (action-based),

iconic representation (image-

based), and symbolic

representation (language-

based)

The Learner-Centered Psychological Principles

(LCPs)

• COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE FACTORS

• MOTIVATIONAL AND AFFECTIVE FACTORS

• DEVELOPMENTAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS

• INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES FACTORS

Source: APA Work Group of the Board of Educational Affairs (1997, November)

COGNITIVE AND

METACOGNITIVE FACTORS

• Principle 1: Nature of the Learning process

• Principle 2: Goals of the learning process

• Principle 3: Construction of knowledge

• Principle 4: Strategic thinking

• Principle 5: Thinking about thinking

• Principle 6: Context of learning

***Share with neighbor how this relates to your

classroom and how it relates to what you know

about the Daily 5.

MOTIVATIONAL AND

AFFECTIVE FACTORS

• Principle 7: Motivational and emotional influences on learning

• Principle 8: Intrinsic motivation to learn

• Principle 9: Effects of motivation on effort

***Share with neighbor how this relates to your classroom and how it relates to what you know about the Daily 5.

DEVELOPMENTAL AND SOCIAL

FACTORS

• Principle 10: Developmental influence on

learning

• Principle 11: Social influences on learning

***Share with neighbor how this relates to

your classroom and how it relates to what

you know about the Daily 5.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

FACTORS

• Principle 12: Individual differences in learning

• Principle 13: Learning and diversity

• Principle 14: „Standards and assessment

***Share with neighbor how this relates to your classroom and how it relates to what you know about the Daily 5.

Classroom Practices Survey

• Please take 5 – 7 minutes to complete the

Classroom Practices Survey.

• For today‟s purposes, only consider

literacy instruction.

• Do it quickly, circling your first response.

• This will serve as baseline data and will be

for you to keep.

Daily 5 - Foundation

1. Community

2. Trust

3. Choice

4. Purpose/urgency

5. Stamina

6. Release of Responsibility

Activity

• Write 3 – 5 ideas, connections, examples, thoughts, etc. on a piece on paper.

• The activity: Stand and when the music begins, move throughout the auditorium until the music stops. Then partner up with someone close and share your 3 – 5 ideas, etc.

• When the music starts again, repeat the process – new partner each time.

Take a Break!

Be back in 15 minutes.

Deconstructing the Daily 5

Good Fit Books

• Research shows when children are reading independently, they should be reading books they understand and can read.

• Reading books that are too difficult can lead to frustration, inability to understand the story, and then reading is no longer enjoyable.

• We want children to enjoy reading, which means it is important they are reading books they are interested in and on their just right level!

• Research also shows that children are motivated to read when they can choose their own books.

Good Fit Books

• Purpose – Point of reference for entire

year

• Good Fit Books Shoe Lesson

• Student Story

Daily 5 – Read to Self

• 3 ways to Read a Book (read and talk about the pictures, read the words, retell a previously read book)

• Read-to-self I-chart (students - read the whole time, stay in one spot, read quietly, work on stamina, get started right away; teachers – work with groups of students, listen to children read, help students with reading)

• Modeling (appropriate, inappropriate, appropriate again with same student)

• Practice – build stamina – no judgment (training muscle memory w/short practices for correct behavior)

• Share celebrations

• Review I-chart, practice, model, practice, model, etc.

Read to Self Research

• We know that struggling adolescents need

purposeful instruction in reading skills and

strategies, access to a wide variety of texts,

motivation to read, and authentic opportunities

to read and write both inside and outside of

school (Alvermann, 2001; Ivey, 1999; Paterson

& Elliott, 2006; Williams, 2001).

• There is extensive research to support the

premise that the best way to become a better

reader is to read more. (Allington, 2001).

Time to Consider…

What is the difference between Read to

Self and DEAR time or other silent

sustained reading periods?

Daily 5 - Read to Others

• Benefits (students learn to control volume; gain increased attention to reading; are motivated; work on rate, fluency, word-attack skills; enjoy reading)

• EEKK (sit elbow-to-elbow, knee-to-knee)

• Different ways to read (I read, you read; choral read, reading one book, reading different books

• Check for understanding

• I-chart (students - sit EEKK, use soft voice, read whole time, stay in one spot, get started right away; teachers – work with students)

Read to Others Research

• In an ideal literacy program, children are

constantly reading, writing, listening, and

speaking. They are engaged learners who

are constantly expected to apply what they

are learning to new contexts. (Michael F.

Optiz)

• Kids need to be allowed to talk and think

about their reading (Allington, 2006)

Questions to Discuss

• What are the strengths of a quiet

classroom vs. the strengths of a buzzing

classroom?

• What are the benefits of allowing kids to

think and talk about their reading?

Listen to Reading

• Benefits (fluency, new vocabulary)

• I-Chart (Students – get out materials,

listen to the whole story, may listen to

another story if time, follow along, stay in

one spot, listen quietly, get started quickly,

put materials away neatly; Teachers –

work with students)

Listen to Reading Research

• The more kids are exposed to high quality,

fluent reading, the more comprehension,

fluency and literacy grow.

• By kindergarten, a gap of 32 million words

already separates some children in

linguistically impoverished homes from

their more stimulated peers (Wolf, 2007, p.

20)

What do you think?

• How could the Daily 5 structure impact

those students who are linguistically

impoverished, both through lack of

conversations and lack of being read to?

Work on Writing

• Sustained writing of the student‟s choice

• Writer‟s workshop is separate

• May work alone or in pairs

• Urgency (helps us become better readers and writers; we care about writing and the people that read it; choice; it‟s fun; works on fluency of writing)

• I-Chart (Students – write the whole time; stay in one spot; work quietly; choice of what to write; get started quickly; underline words we are not sure how to spell and move on)

• Model how to underline words and how to brainstorm what to write about

Work on Words Research

• Study after study suggests that

handwriting is important for brain

development and cognition

• Writing by hand can get ideas out faster

• Writing increases neural activity

How much time to your students

get to practice writing when it

isn’t assessed?

Where do you find the time to fit

it in?

Work on Words

• Benefits (allows students to: experiment with words for learning and practicing a spelling pattern; memorize high-frequency words; generalize spelling patterns; add to curiosity of unique and interesting words

• Urgency (helps us become better writers; we care about writing and the people who read it; it‟s fun)

• I-Charts (can create one for material set up and one for word work)

Word Work Research

• Research conducted in the past ten years

reveals that vocabulary knowledge is the

single most important factor contributing to

reading comprehension (Laflamme, 1997).

How would Word Work look in your

present grade level?

How would it be different than current

practices?

Barriers, Solutions, Possibilities

• Write down 2-3 potential barriers to implementing Daily 5 practices in your classroom.

• When finished, move to the area of the room that best fits your teaching assignment (K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8)

• Take turns sharing potential barriers. As people share, brainstorm possible solutions.

literacy, that you want to accomplish by

our January meeting.

Welcome Panel Members

• 1st Grade – Carla Brosius

• 4th Grade - Jenny Huinker

• 7-8th Grades – Mary Kluesner

• Q & A

Thank you

for sharing your afternoon with us!

Please fill out the evaluation in your handouts.