Class+Notes+2014

= Class Notes, Fall 2014! =

Tuesday, September 9, 2014: Defining Reading Comprehension
Reading due:

Class Padlet: What skills are required to be a good reader? (Download pdf of the padlet results):

Thursday, September 11: Assessing and Addressing Student Comprehension Needs
Reading due:

** Tuesday, September 16: Redefining Reading Comprehension **
Comprehension as problem-solving:

HOMEWORK: (DUE THURSDAY, Sept. 18): Read parts of the Common Core Standards, including the Introduction (p. 3-8), Key Standards for Reading Literature and Informational Text in Grades K-5 (p. 10-14), Key Standards for Speaking and Listening Grades K-5 (p. 23-24) and for Language (p. 27-29). Get a general sense of the standards in each category and how expectations change as children develop from Kindergarten through Grade 5.

Extended Homework (Due Tuesday, Sept. 23) - Book Activity 1 - Comprehension Self-Assessment

Thursday, September 18
Part A. Results of your class-wide collaborative construction of the definition of reading comprehension

Part B. Making sense of [|The Common Core State Standards]

** Tuesday, September 23: Comprehension Factors - The Reader **

 * Metacognition**

1. Continue CCSS Activity 2. Discuss Reader Variables and Role of Prior Knowledge

HOMEWORK: Study for Quiz 1 on Thursday
 * How is reading comprehension defined (in your textbook, from our discussions, and from Van den Broek & Kremer
 * What are the factors that influence comprehension and can you give examples of each; explain how these elements work together to inform reading comprehension instruction
 * What strategies do good readers use before, during, and after reading? How often do YOU use these strategies?

** Thursday, September 25 **
Supporting students __ B __ efore- __ D __ uring- __ A __ fter reading

Pre-Reading/Launching a text

 * Long intro to [|Stellaluna], Reading Rainbow
 * [|True Story of Three Little Pigs], courthouse setting
 * [|Mrs. Katz and Tush], Reading Rainbow

Tuesday, September 30: Comprehension Factors - The Text

 * Building a Classroom Library with Quality Texts**
 * Slideshow from Class**: Choosing texts for your classroom library, understanding features and structures of narrative, expository, and hybrid texts

Begin reading your Magic Treehouse Book. Download and Preview Book Activity 2 and bring any questions about the assignment to class on Thursday. The book and your Book Activity 2 assignment will be due on Thursday, October 9.
 * Homework:**

** Thursday, October 2: Big Ideas/Main Ideas, Text Types **

 * ==== Big Ideas vs. Main Ideas, Pre-Reading BIG ideas ====
 * Big ideas ideas for texts: Ideas from [|Baltimore Schools]

** Tuesday, October 7: Big Ideas/Main Ideas, Text Types **
>
 * Text Types
 * Narrative and informational texts
 * Powerpoint Slides from Class: Teaching Practices Before, During, After Reading; Designing a Book Launch

Thursday, October 9: Text Difficulty
A. Examining Text Difficulty (in class sorting and discussion of what makes text easy or difficult)

HOMEWORK (Due Tues. October 14) 1. Begin reading Pictures of Hollis Woods (pay attention to author's craft, main ideas vs. big ideas, and text locations where making inferences helps build understanding of what you are reading)

1. Computing Text Difficulty Using the Fry Readability Graph Traditional readability formulas use sentence length and word length to estimate the difficulty of a text. To calculate the readability using this kind of formula, take three random 100 word samples from your new book, Pictures of Hollis Woods. Count the number of sentences in each of the three samples, average them. Count the number of syllables in the 100 words, average across the three samples. Using the Fry Readability Graph, plot the intersection of average sentences (on the side) and average syllables (on the top). That is the approximate grade level of the text.

2. Watch the [|Lexile overview]video and come to class with three key insights gleaned from the video about what a lexile is and how it's used to compute text difficulty and match readers to text.

** What grades go with what levels? **
> >
 * [|Lexile grade ranges]
 * [|Guided Reading/Reading Recovery/Reading A-Z levels and grades]
 * What does Lexile Measure Mean?
 * What are some examples of texts at different lexile levels?


 * How to quickly find the readability/level of a book: **
 * [|Find a book] based on lexile range
 * Figure out the [|lexile range] of something you wrote or of a digitized text!
 * [|Scholastic]
 * [|A-Z leveling]
 * [|Reading at Advanced Levels] (Grades K-2) - excellent examples and explanations of text features and links to student reading goals for levels 4, 6, 16, and M from Maryland Public Schools


 * HOMEWORK (Due Oct. 16) **
 * Continue Reading Hollis Woods (marking spots of inferences and main ideas; big ideas)
 * Read Cornett Chapter 4 (Assessing Comprehension)

** Tuesday, Oct. 21: **

 * Be careful with apostrophes! [|Using its or it's (Which one to use)] **

** Understanding what else makes reading hard (other than computed difficulty) **

 * ==== **Decontextualized language**: [|The Lion King] ====
 * ====** Metaphorical language: **====
 * ====[|Puff the Magic Dragon] Peter, Paul, and Mary (What happened to Jackie?) ====
 * //Eleven//, by Sandra Cisneros (Challenges)
 * Being 11 is being 10, 9, 8, etc.
 * Metaphorical language as examples (onion, nesting dolls, tree rings)
 * Why is the girl upset? Why does she want to be 102? Should be able to use her voice but can't

How do we mediate this difficulty? Shrek: [|Onions have layers]


 * HOMEWORK (Due Thursday Oct. 23) **
 * Finish Reading Hollis Woods (marking spots of inferences and main ideas; big ideas; post THREE examples of inferences you found on [|the Google Docs page] before class on Thursday)

Thursday, October 23 - Making inferences
Inferences in Pictures of Hollis Woods How does an author use chronology as a form of Author's Craft?

>>
 * HOMEWORK (Due Tuesday Oct. 28) **
 * **Study for Quiz #2: Quiz will be based on the following:**
 * Cornett, Chapter 4 and 6
 * Slideshows: Day 8 (Choosing Texts) and Day 11-12 (Text Analysis)
 * Assessing text difficulty and readability;
 * Before, during, and after activities (review in your text as well);
 * Big ideas vs. Main ideas;
 * What text features (and language features) support or increase the difficulty of comprehension?
 * Narrative texts vs. informational texts (features/elements of each)
 * Decontextualized language;
 * Types of inferences that build coherence (van den Broek article)
 * **Mediating Students' Ability to Make Inferences:** **Read Herrell & Jordan's article on Using Realia to Support Readers and e**xplore this [|website about realia] for additional ideas. [[file:Herrell & Jordan Realia.pdf]]
 * **Come to class with two examples of realia** you might use to support both English-Language Learners (ELLs) and English-Only Learners (ELOs) in their understanding of key/challenging ideas in the book Pictures of Hollis Woods. Be prepared to share with classmates a brief explanation for each that explains when you will use the realia (before reading the chapter/selection, during, or after) and why (how will it support comprehension of a potentially challenging concept, main idea, or even big idea). Download template to record your ideas:

Tuesday, October 28 - Close Reading, Inferencing, and Realia

 * Quiz #2
 * Inferencing and Realia Activity
 * **Homework:** Read Cornett text, Chapter 7 (Questioning), especially note ideas on p. 191, 206, 215-216: **Bring a two column journal** (at least one page to hand in) with Key Author Points (left column) and Your Connections, Interpretations, Questions, Reactions (right column)

Thursday, October 30: Supporting Comprehension Through Text-Based Discussion
>
 * ===Watch the video and discuss key elements of text-based discussions===
 * Begin analyzing Pompeii text to consider challenges and resources
 * HOMEWORK: Continue analyzing challenges and resources and bring to next class for small group work.

Tuesday Nov. 4: Supporting Comprehension Through Text-Based Discussion
> >
 * Pass back Quiz 2
 * Discuss challenges, resources, learning goals, and potential stopping points in Pompeii text.
 * Slideshow on opening questions and follow-up questions as part of text-based discussions.
 * Homework: Complete planning guide for your section of the Pompeii Text - bring to class on Thursday. Download and type into this file:

Other resources to explore about Text-Based Discussion
 * [|TTMM site]
 * [|Improving Participation with Talk Moves]
 * [|Think-Time and Collaborative Learning]

Click HERE to find the directions for your Text-Based Discussion Assignment. This is worth 50 points and is due on Thursday November 20.
[|Digital version of the Cheetahs article]

For homework: Please read the Cheetahs text and come prepared to select a partner and spent part of class thinking about/planning your discussion.

** Wednesday, November 12: Text-Based Discussions (Designing Exit Activities and Asking Questions) **
Slides from today's class

**PLEASE NOTE:** We have decided you can complete the entire information text-discussion assignment about cheetahs together with a partner, if you choose. Some of you were not in class today so be thinking of a possible partner that you can link up with tomorrow. You can work on your assignment in Google Docs for example, to share your ideas without meeting.

Basically, you will read an article, explore a website, and complete a small literature circle role sheet using the Pictures of Hollis Woods book. Bring your complete notes, role sheet and your Hollis Woods book to class with you tomorrow (Nov. 13) to participate in a student-led literature circle.
 * Homework: (Complete Book Activity 3 and bring to class Thursday ) - click here for directions)**

** Thursday, November 13 - Student-led Text Discussions (Literature Circles) **
Slideshow:

How to the five factors that influence comprehension play a role in your teaching of literature circles?




 * Homework:**
 * **Please [|click here to sign up] for working on your Informational Text-Discussion assignment with a partner or by yourself. Decisions should be made by Saturday, Nov. 15.**
 * Read Cornett Chapter 9: Diverse Responses to Text

** Tuesday, November 18: Responding to Text **


>> >>
 * Questioning
 * [|Question-Answer Relationships]
 * Another site [[file:literacymalden/QAR Strategy Explaination and Examples.pdf|about Question Answer Relationships]]
 * Responses
 * Written Responses - Journal Responses
 * Artistic Responses
 * Digital Responses - Digital Literature Circles
 * A little time for Cheetah text with partner

** Thursday, Nov. 20 and Tuesday, Nov. 25: High Stakes Testing **

 * Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers [|(PARCC):]
 * Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey
 * [|RIDE Resources for PARCC and English Language Arts Teachers]
 * includes [|useful evidence tables] aligning each grade level standard to evidence of student responses
 * [|PARCC Item Type Examples]
 * [|Smarter Balanced Assessment Timeline:]
 * Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire
 * [|Practice and Training Tests]
 * [|Teacher Fact Sheet] and


 * Homework (Due Tuesday Nov. 25)**
 * Complete the Grade 4 Sample Items - align to CCSS


 * Homework:**
 * (Due Monday Dec. 1 by midnight) Make revisions to Text Discussion Plan and upload to website
 * **ELL Webinar Assignment (Due Dec. 4):** [|Reading to Learn: English Language Learners in Grades 4-6]
 * Please watch webinar (52 minutes) and complete **a two column journal** (at least one TYPED page to hand in) with Key Author Points (left column) and Your Connections, Interpretations, Questions, Reactions (right column).

** Tuesday, December 2: **** Text Analysis (in class) **
In-class assignment (Post-Study Survey)


 * Topics to study for Quiz #3 (on Thursday Dec. 4)**
 * Chapter 7: Questioning and Chapter 9: Responding to Texts
 * Using Realia to Scaffold Comprehension
 * Planning for and Conducting Text-Based Discussions
 * Question-Answer Relationships: questions that require literal, inferential, and evaluative levels of thinking
 * Planning for and Conducting Literature Circles; challenges associated with literature circles
 * Responding to Texts: Written, artistic, and digital response options
 * Assessment linked to Common Core Standards

** Thursday, December 4: **** Quiz #3 **

 * Complete Student Evaluations
 * Take Quiz #3
 * Pass in typed copy of your two-column journal notes from ELL Webinar (make sure your name is on it)