 |
| ELA Reading into the Day |
Reading into the Day
This morning we were able to start the day off by reading "Is the Sky Falling? The Literacy Crisis" by J.D. Wilhelm. While reading the article, each of us were instructed to pick out the line that felt most important to us and write a short paragraph explaining why we chose that line. This strategy is known as Lifting a Line. We then discussed our lines as a small group and shared out about common themes, similarities, and differences. Within the science content, 3 of the 7 individuals chose the same line: "A high level of literacy is central to academic, economic, and social success" (p. 1). The Box and T-chart showing all of the community members' ideas is pictured below.
Following this, we were able to have one of our own, Shauna, lead us in a community building activity that she does with her students. My Top 5 was not just a great way to get to know your students, but a great way to build trust in your classroom community. Each student writes down 5 things they really wish their teacher knows about them. This includes who you are, where you come from, how you learn best, what you want to learn in the class, and what distracts you from learning. The student then must write a paragraph using evidence to support their claim in the most important thing about themselves. My favorite part was how clear Shauna made it to the students that this information was safe with her. She builds trust by closing the door, folding the papers, and locking them up.
 |
| Great Job Shauna! |
Limitations of Test Prep
Mike facilitated a discussion on the Limitations of Test Prep. We addressed the adverse effect that excessive testing has on the educational process. After reading the articles "Don't Teach to the Test" and "Standardized Testing and Its Victims" we had a very spirited discussion. Several teachers fron PLA schools ( Melissa, Whitney, Mary, Robin) weighed in with their experiences in high stakes testing environments. We concluded that it is our responsibility as educators to advocate for our students best interest and not succumb to the pressure to teach to the test.
 |
| Does it look like Mike likes to teach to the test? |
QAR & Beyond by Elizabeth Best
This portion of the day was about the Question-Answer Relationship. We learned about the signifigance of teaching students complex questioning skills. When students are able to ask qustions to demonstrate their learning they improve their reading comprehension skills. This strategy is highly supported by research. The implications for classroom practices is that as educators we can teach students how to create their own questions and help them disect texts to and make relevent connections and extensions. We also received materials for the application of this strategy.
-Natalie Williams
We have learned so many strategies throughout the past week and a half during LLALI. Today we took the time to discuss what we will be bringing back to our home schools to focus on. We are a diverse group, with diverse students therefore each school chose to focus on one main goal.
 |
| Stuart Middle deep in conversation |
Seneca: Address student weaknesses in writing and spoken analysis
Westport: Questioning and reasoning strategies
Olmstead: Vocabulary instructional techniques
Myers: Role out strategies during department meetings, goal is to hold everyone accountable
South: Accountable Talk with Rigor
Atherton: Teach students how to use accountable talk
Thomas Jefferson: Role out different strategies in teams, then next year to the whole school
Stuart: Accountable talk as a "norm" for the whole school
Overall our goal is to reach all students in the best way possible. We need to integrate subjects and help students make connections between them. In the real world students will not just use math, or reading individually but intertwined.
-Sarah Reinhart
Photography by Shelly Jackson-Hall
No comments:
Post a Comment