June 10, 2013--Day 1

Today we launched our second summer institute of the Leveraged Adolescent Literacy and Learning Initiative.  There were a few familiar faces and many new ones as we greeted each other over the sign-in table, treats (doughnuts from Georgetown!) and coffee, and pretty binders.

Importantly, we started the day by setting norms to maximize our productivity during this ten-day (plus two follow-up sessions) institute.  We had our priorities set right when we started the list with "Snack at will!"  Cell phones can be troublesome, so we designated a "Cell Zone" and determined that technology use stay professional.


After the opening day surveys, Penny led us through a community building exercise in which we learned the name of someone we didn't already know.  Charged with the challenge of learning everyone's name by the end of the institute, I hope to have more opportunities to strengthen that memory muscle!  These opening activities rolled into the discussion about Accountable Talk, a tool that many teachers have already begun using in their classrooms.  The Accountable Talk standards became the backbone for discussions about claims, evidence, and, in our small group discussion, connections to the Common Core Standards.  Last year's LALLI participants, Angela and Whitney, demonstrated classroom posters and discussed the benefits of AT in all the reaches of instruction, including classroom management.

What do students talk about?  Talk about the text, of course.  We walked through a Harvey Daniels' Text and Lesson sequence to demonstrate the power of annotation and to share annotation strategies.  Writing helps students prepare for a discussion and rehearse what they will contribute.  It became apparent through this and later discussions that time to think, time to write, and time to talk will be a recurring theme both in our institute and hopefully in our classrooms.

We closed by headlining our content groups' ideas.  The high school group, led by Jean, shared the connections they made between Accountable Talk and Bloom's Taxonomy.  What a great day!

See typed list

Headliners – Monday, June 10, 2013

Introducing Accountable Talk:

            Accountable talk must be set up within the classroom in order to have success.

            Student buy-ins are necessary for success.

            Participation!

            Have students create sentence strips in their language.

            This year I would like to use better modeling to set up AT in my classroom.

            Stick with it! It takes time to get the system in place, but it works!

Students can use their language within the classroom to express themselves within the standard of AT.

Talk at library voice level, actively listen, stay focused in your group, keep comments, and will definitely use the rubric.

Teach how to do it, be consistent!

I really like that I have a better understanding of how to use AK in a math classroom after today’s meeting.

A good incorporation of AT is through writing also. Setting up norms in beginning of year is key!

WHY?

            AT is a great way to keep students engaged!

            Using AT to benefit ALL students.

So in other words, students internalize knowledge better when they are able to talk about what they are learning.

The students who are talking are the students who are learning

AT is the catalyst for helping students achieve their highest goal in any subject they’re taught.

“Students learn to Own their learning”

HOW

            Explicitly ask kids to connect to other disciplines with their AT

I need to get better at having all students participate in AT.  This can often be done through peer encouragement.

From SS group: With AT – start small and annotate primary sources like the Bill of Rights.

“Own your words.” Be confident in what you (your students) say, back it up with support from text and community.

Allowing students to hold one another accountable and pushing them to challenge one another positively.

I like adding math specific stems to the literacy strategies page.

Coming back to see if idea’s change during AT.

Giving students a time frame - "10 secs." "You have from a countdown of 3." As a high school teacher I sometimes forget the importance to remind students of this.

By Marsha Buerger and Amy Vujaklija