SIM/Schools in the Middle:
The SIM Effective Leadership, Effective Schools strategy is designed to support the work of school teams as they work within networks of schools in order to improve instructional effectiveness and pedagogy within and across schools and to further develop instructional leadership.
Through professional dialogue and study, system and school improvement teams will further develop their capacity to:
– observe, describe, and analyze student work
– set specific goals and targets for student learning
– plan and implement specific teaching and learning strategies
– monitor student achievement results and adjust strategies as needed
– support the professional learning required to raise achievement
– align resources to meet achievement goals
The School Effectiveness Framework provides a focus for the work of the system and school leadership groups as we share and develop processes for collaboration.
Learning Goals:
›Share expectations for SIM Literacy
›Learn about the “Four Roles of the Literate Learner” as a lesson planner
›Review the characteristics of guided reading
›Outline the process for co-planning, co-teaching, co-reflecting
›Complete initial research data
Expectations/What:
›Use the four roles of the literate learner to develop questions that will provide our student with opportunities to think critically about texts
›Use flexible, small grouping to differentiate instruction
›Use flexible, small groupings to support student independence
›Provide engaging tasks that connect reading and writing
Expectations/How:
›Co-planning lessons, co-teaching lessons, co-reflecting on lessons with other teachers (including School Program Staff)
›Network with teachers inside your school and possibly outside of your school
›Moderation of student work (oral and written)
Expectations/Monitoring/Who:
›Focus on 5 students including:
›Working at level 2 moving to level 3
›Working at level 3 moving to level 4
›At least one student from the each of the following:
›ELL
›Student with special needs
›Male
Expectations/Monitoring/How:
›Moderation of student work throughout the TLCP cycle
›Who is progressing?
›Who is not progressing?
›What strategies will be used to support students who are struggling?
›Data wall
›Classroom
School
System Data collected by HDSB research dept.
Four Roles of the Literate Learner
MEANING MAKER Uses prior knowledge and personal and/or world experiences to construct and communicate meaning when reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing. The literate learner is a ‘text participant’, forming and communicating their own interpretation in light of their own knowledge and point of view. | CODE USER Recognizes and uses the features and structures of written, visual, and multi-modal texts, including the alphabet, sounds in words, phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, conventions, sentence structure, text organization, and graphics, as well as other visual and non- visual cues to break the “code” of texts. |
TEXT USER Understands that purpose and audience help to determine the way text is constructed: form, format, medium, structure, tone, the degree of formality, and sequence of components. The literate learner uses this knowledge and a variety of thinking processes to read, listen, and view, as well as to write, speak and represent ideas. | TEXT ANALYZER Understands that texts are not neutral; that they represent particular views, beliefs, values and perspectives to serve different interests; that other views and perspectives may be missing; that the design and messages of texts can be interpreted, critiqued, challenged and alternatives considered. The literate learner decides what to think now, considers possibilities and when to take action. |
›
Webcast for Educators Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat:
Activating and Building Schema and English language Learners:
As teachers we often take for granted that students share our common schema for example:
Strategies That Work, Chapter 6 Making Connections: A Bridge from the New to the Known
“When we begin strategy instruction with children, stories close to their own lives and experiences are helpful for introducing new ways of thinking about reading. Readers naturally make connections between books and their own lives. Once they have heard a wealth of stories and narratives, they begin to connect themes, characters, and issues from one book to another. When children understand how to connect the texts they read to their lives, they begin to make connections between what they read and the larger world. This nudges them into thinking about bigger, more expansive issues beyond their universe of home, school, and neighborhood Strategies That Work.”
In fact there is nothing farther than the truth for English language learners.Ells enter school with a rich cultural capital, however it is not often a “shared” schema that is familiar to teachers or all the other students in the classroom. This puts them at disadvantage and must be addressed by educators if our goal is equity and inclusion in our classrooms.
As educators we must provide opportunities for English language Learners to build Schema as they are learning the academic vocabulary of the curriculum.Teachers cannot assume that students are familiar with Eurocentric stories or curriculum.
We must know our learners and decide if they need additional background information about the topic, format, or language of the text they will be reading.
We must know our learners and decide if they need additional background information about the topic, format, or language of the text they will be reading.
Readers
§ Activate relevant prior knowledge before, during, and after reading
§ Decide it they need additional background information about the topic, format, or language of the text they will be reading
§ Use their schema to enhance their understandings and to provide a framework for learning new information
§ Add to / change their schema as they discover new ideas and / or information in their reading
Pearson, Dole, Roeler, and Duffy say, “Reading is a process of actively constructing of meaning and connecting prior knowledge with new information.”
When choosing resources Teachers must ask themselves do all my students
Have all three kinds of prior knowledge or schema:
- Specific knowledge about topic of the text
- General world knowledge about social relationships and casual structures
- Knowledge about the text’s organization (genre)
Good readers use their prior knowledge to:
- make predictions
- visualize
- ask questions to monitor comprehension
- draw inferences
- confirm hypothesis… that’s what I expected
- determine what is important in the text
- demonstrate to others that they have understood what they have read
Two Column Chart
Encouraging the students to fill in a chart after a story walk or picture preview with an elbow partner helps them build schema. Students can draw, use First language or Write what the story is about in the first column and respond to a memory, some prior knowledge, or a past experience in the second column. Flexible groupings are important to consider to provide the scaffolding Ells need to make connections. The only connection they may haqve is one shared with them by a peer.
For example:
What the Story is about… | What it reminds me of… |
The turtle swims in the water. The turtle eats insects. | I once saw a turtle swimming in a pond at my grandma’s house. We fed the turtle at school flakes the teacher bought at the store in Kindergarten. |
After several books, the teacher should introduce the idea of coding the responses.
R this reminds me of…
T-S text to self
T-T text to text
T-W text to world
Just making a connection won’t due. Make sure you provide opportunities to build schema or students will not be able to make connections. The purpose for coding the text is to monitor comprehension, think about meaning, and enhance understanding.
Remember to ask your students, “How does that connection help you understand?”
What the Story is about… | What it reminds me of… |
Making Connections:
If teachers know their learners and provide opportunities for accountable talk with peers, readers can make connections while reading, synthesizing new information, deepening existing understandings, broadening beliefs and informing misconceptions.
There are three types of connections:
Text to Self Connections between different books and the
reader’s current personal background knowledge
and experience base
- choose texts with characters the same age as the students, or had similar problems and experiences
- share connections from past experiences
Text to Text Connections between books and different authors
- comparing characters, their personalities, and actions
- comparing story events and plot lines
- comparing lessons, themes, or messages in stories
- finding common themes, writing style, or perspectives in the work of a single author
- comparing treatment of common themes by different authors
- comparing different versions of familiar stories
Text to World Connections between books and information about
the world around us
- We must build background knowledge to help our students be successful with gaining new information.
- Encouraging our students to build text to world connections supports our efforts to teach students social studies
Think-Alouds
Teacher modelling to Build schema. This is a paraphrasing from Debbie Miller’s book, Reading With Meaning, pages 54-57.
Think Alouds are a wonderful way to show our students how to build schema, but we must be genuine. We must be deliberate. Our think alouds must be genuine, with precise language, with thoughtful responses.
We require proper planning. What do I want students to understand about this strategy? Of all the places in the text where I could authentically think out loud, which two or three would best illustrate my point? Mark those places before your lesson, and think about what you will say and how you will say it. Only model the point you are trying to make, don’t model another thinking strategy during this read aloud. Be aware of your focus and keep it.
Authenticity matters. The teacher’s connections, questions, inferences, must be genuine. That’s why book selection is key. The book won’t be perfect for your lesson unless you can connect with it and put your personal stamp on it in some way.
Use precise language. Be precise when you share your thinking. Say what you need to say as clearly and concisely as you can, then move on. Use real language and standard terminology. Define the strategy. Decide how you’ll format your responses to the reading.
As we teach the students to think through the text we encourage the students to respond using this terminology:
“When I read [of heard] these words… it reminded me of…”
“When I saw the picture of… it made me think about…”
Teachers should encourage the students to explain why they are thinking about that connection. “What were the words in the story that made you think about….”
It is important for teachers to become aware of what’s going on inside their heads as they read, to learn how to articulate their thinking for themselves and others, and think aloud about their connections and mental images. As children’s thinking grows, the students construct meaning, the ability to reflect on what they read, and opportunities to share their insight.
Talking Drawings
Purpose:
To activate/build schema
To provide information that shapes future teaching
To provide a vehicle for students to measure learning
Process:
Provide visual cues and manipulatives on the subject/content/book, provide students with time for accountable talk with their peers.
Invite students to draw or sketch a picture that shows everything they know about the subject they are going to explore. Ask them to let their drawings carry their entire background knowledge. Provide a short time for sketching.
Once everyone has their schema represented in their drawing, have the students turn to a neighbor and tell the neighbor about their drawings and all about the topic. The students can look for differences between their drawings. The students can also discuss how they know what they know. The students can now add one or two word labels to their drawings, which capture major concepts from their background knowledge.
Collect the drawings and use the information they contain to develop the unit of study. These initial drawings can also be used as a basis of comparison after the unit of study is completed and compare it to a post drawing.
Source: Talking Drawings: A Strategy for Assisting Learners by Suzanne McConnell, Journal of Reading, Dec.92-Jan. 93.
Working with School Programs:
Each school may look differently but the following is “The Work”
›Co-planning
›Planning guided reading lessons together
›Co-teaching
›Each teaching a guided reading group in the classroom
›Co- reflecting
Going Deeper:
1)Running records:
›During guided NOT add on
›When to use seen/unseen text
2)Stringing books
3)Reading-writing connection strategies
›Both school program and teachers reflect on their lessons together
Tracking Board:
›Take 1-2 running records per day DURING guided reading
›Post updated data on monthly basis
›Brainstorm ideas as a divisional team for students who do not move
›Coordinate extra reads (5-10mins) for slower moving students (Adoptions) as a team
No comments:
Post a Comment