Rules of Engagement: Reading and Middle Graders …the LDC Way

Rules of Engagement: Reading and Middle Graders…theLDC Way Latoya Y. McCormick, M.A.Ed. 8th grade ELA Pembroke Middle School Pembroke, NC

Agenda 10:30am 10:40am 10:50pm 11:00am 11:15am 11:15am

Who am I? Latoya Y. McCormick Wife, mother, 8th grade language arts teacher, book lover • 2nd year beginning, lateral entryteacher • B.A. Sociology • M.A.Ed. Adult Education and Training • 5 years experience in adolescent mental health • Married since 2010 • 2 ½ year old daughter • Busy

Being a teacher… At least what I thought teachers did… Teacher: magical beings that successfully taught all children, graded papers, wrote phenomenal lesson plans, while raising a family and looking fabulous all at the same time… Basically a unicorn.

Life Before LDC… Informational Text Difficulties before LDC Grading Papers • Lack of experience • Behavioral problems • Engaging the students • Informational Text • Time Management • Clear use and understanding of CCSS • Pacing and lesson planning Lesson Planning Engaging students Behavioral Problems Data and scores

Teaching a Novel…before LDC Lord of the Flies by William Golding Engagement: Power Point on Golding’s background Brief introduction to events in the world at the time Group Work: Literacy Circles- students read in groups while taking Cornell notes- No clear direction. No clear transition. No organization. No time line. Common Core was not clearly identified or aligned to the activities/assignments. No final project. Students struggled with staying on taskdue to the classroom chaos

Effectiveness NONE Students were bored. They struggled with concepts. They had no real direction and were not presented with opportunities to relate the novel to the real world.

Teaching a novel with video/visuals Summary video of the storyline- Information given to the students rather than students developing their own ideas or using textual evidence for proof. Film Adaptation Film adaptations vary and are rarely true to the storyline as represented in the novel. Students were not asked to make note of the differences or similarities between the film and the text…this caused failure in students on summative assessments as they related all things true to the film rather than the text.

And then came LiteracyDesign Collaborative…

My interests at 13 …20 years later

Student Interests Student Knowledge Prior to 2000

How do you combine educational need and student interest? LDC

What exactly is LDC? LDC is a national community of educators providing a teacher-designed and research-proven framework, online tools, and resources for creating literacy-rich assignments and courses across content areas (SREB, 2014).

EngagingStudents…the LDC way • Meet the students at their level. • Determine student interest via survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5GRPXMV • Student conferences (EOG, Benchmark data, history, RTI) • Outline expectations

EngagingStudents…the LDC way • Rules for videos/visual aids • Always give students a point of focus. • Students MUST know that there is a reason for which they are viewing the film/visual aid. • Facilitate this by rotating the classroom. • Allow students to use various exchange of information strategies, i.e. “think-pair-share” This allows students to collaborate. • Initiate and facilitate classroom discussion. Essential Questions, Teaching Task, Critical Focus, etc. • THERE MUST BE AN ACTIVITY WITH ANY VIDEO/VISUAL

Novel Study…the LDC Way The Hunger Gamesby Suzanne Collins Organization: Allows students, parents and teacher to have an overview of assignments, expectations, due dates, etc. Teaching Task—this gives students an understanding of the purpose for reading the text. Students are supplied with required resources in packets on day 1 of the study. Students keep track of their own study materials.

Teaching Task: Is survival more important than basic human rights? After reading The Hunger Games, "Band in Fatal Hazing to Perform Again," "An End to War vs. The Animal Instinct to Survive," and excerpts from “The Lottery,” Night, Lord of the Flies, and The Diary of Anne Frank on survival, write a survival guide for a character from The Hunger Games or create a cookbook for survival from District 12 in which you define and explain the conflict between human rights and survival. Support your discussion with evidence from the texts.

Engagement: • A short 10 minute video on the story of human rights providing students with information about human rights. • Students write Cornell notes during the video. The class discusses the concept and completes a short quiz utilizing notes video link: “The Story of Human Rights” Impact/Effectiveness This initial engagement activity admonished students of the expectations for this novel study. Students learn to take responsibility for their learning.

Learning Target: I can identify the 30 human rights and prove whether or not the rights of the characters in the text are being protected. LT represents what the student will be able to do upon the end of the lesson Essential Question: What is a lottery and what are the similarities and differences between it and the reaping? How do you know? EQ represents the level of thinking for student performance using textual evidence, process of elimination, etc. It provides students with a focus on what they should know upon the end of the lesson.

Literature/Reading Circles Students work in groups of 4 (5 max) Each student has a role in the reading circle. Dictionary Detective Making Connections Illustrator Reader/Discussion Director Story Mapper

Rubrics & Grading • Eliminates inconsistencies in grading • Provides students with clear expectations • Provides a framework/guide for the assignment

SIFT NAME:________________________DATE:__________PERIOD:_____ SIFT Literary Analysis Strategy Directions: Use the table below to record examples of each of the poetic devices from the literary work Title:________________________Author:____________________ An annotation strategy Synonyms Imagery Figurative Language Tone/Theme Using The SIFT Method Analyze Literature Critically

Gist A summarizing strategy. Students write summaries of what they have read in no more, no less than 20 words. The Hunger Games—Students created Twitter posts from the perspective of a character to another character in the text. The post must adhere to the rules of Twitter by only utilizing 140 characters

Assessments Engagement through Formative and Summative Assessments

Engagement through Characterization Students created paper “Fakebook” pages for assigned characters. Students could not use any visuals from the film. Information must show textual evidence.

Speed Dating Using the Speed dating format, students exchanged profile pages for 2 minutes and wrote posts from the perspective of the character that they were assigned. In order to do this, students must be knowledgeable about the characters in the text. This was used as a formative assessment

Final Project } Survival Guide • Create a survival guide that would be used in the games. • Could be written from the perspective of a participant in the games or a spectator. Both projects must show textual evidence to support the claims being made. This project is used as a summative assessment. Cookbook Create a cookbook written specifically for survival when living in District 12.

Engaging Students using technology • Book Trailers • Using Animoto.com, Students create trailers for books they have read. • Green- minimal paper • Fun • Effective • Technology (Standards) • Organization of plot • Allows expression and creativity • http://animoto.com/play/YzST1L0I70mUbdyL2W9Sfg Book Reports • Old School • Students are uncertain about what to do. • Usually a rephrasing of the author’s original work. • Rudimentary for 8th graders—below grade level • Boring • Does not adhere to CCSS • Does not allow students to make inferences and relate the text to the real world VS

Engaging Students using technology Using QR codes • Students can do interactive gallery walks • Teachers can conduct scavenger hunts • Students can scan codes for study guides, homework, etc. • Facilitates curiosity and interest

My Experiences Discussing LDC with teachers not involved offered difficulties. Students liked the organization of the lessons and the hands-on approach. I LOVED the organization of the lessons and pre-planning. Students became more responsible for their learning. Students were more engaged than non-LDC lessons.

Why does any of this matter? • Students become more invested in their education. • Increase in test scores • They understand the “whys” of learning • If WE as teachers are not successful, we are failing ourselves, students, and future generations.

Our job is important Without teachers, there would not be any other professions.

Resources • http://www.qrstuff.com/ • www.Animoto.com • www.Youtube.com • Common Core Standards (app) and flip • chart • Depth of Knowledge chart • www.discoveryeducation.com • www.newsela.com • www.readwritethink.org • www.ereadingworksheets.com • www.teenbiz3000.com • Accelerated Reader • www.huffingtonpost.com/teen/ (Teen Huffington Post) • Curriculum Coach handbook • SREB LDC handbook • The teaching channel • Pinterest

Contact Information Email:latoya.mccormick@robeson.k12.nc.us School webpage: http://www.robeson.k12.nc.us/Domain/5158

Rules of Engagement: Reading and Middle Graders …the LDC Way