ELA Best Practice #1: READING

1. ELA Best Practice #1: READING Pre-reading activities that focus students on the big ideas of the text: Examples: Provide a list of statements and ask students to agree or disagree; then, adjust after reading 2. THIEVVES: Overview the title, heading, introductory paragraph, every first sentence of each paragraph, key vocabulary, visuals, end-of-chapter questions, summary Generate a word bank on the topic before reading Consider the genre: How do we expect the text to be organized?

2. ELA Best Practice #2: READING MId-reading activities that clarify: Examples: GPS: Where are we? Who is there? What are tensions? Annotate: K (I already know this); N (New); ? (Don’t understand) ! (Am surprised) R (I notice repetition) Rx Reread: Cultivate the habit of repairing lapses in comprehension 4. Assessing Tone (see handout)

3. ELA Best Practice #3: READING Post-reading activities that consolidate, clarify, and connect: Examples: Socratic seminars: Teachers ask questions that explore ideas in text and require reasoning, justification, evidence, connections 2. Literature circles: Small, peer-led discussion groups promoting dialogue about literature; may be tightly or loosely structured Title-making: Using important words from the text, students decide on appropriate titles and subtitles for the text Test creation: Students create test questions of various types and for various purposes

4. ELA Best Practice #4: READING • Program Designthat fosters reading for various purposes • Examples: • Balance between whole class assigned reading and • books of choice • Guided practice in the “four gears” of reading: • Gear 1: Skim • Gear 2: Scan • Gear 3: Read • Gear 4: Study • Variety of genres: fiction, literary non-fiction, informational, • poetry, drama, journalism, persuasive essays, etc.

5. ASSESSING TONE: 30 Second Skim Serious, formal, somber, warning Comical, informal, silly, whimsical, frivolous Exciting, action-packed, fast-paced Soothing, tranquil, slow-paced How did you know? (situation, audience, purpose)

6. ELA Best Practice #1: WRITING Pre-writing activities that generate ideas, create organizational plan, focus the writer toward audience and purpose: Examples: Semantic maps (see Visual Thesaurus) Formality Dial Outlining

7. ELA Best Practice #2: WRITING Opportunities and structures for students to monitor progress, identify strengths and weakness, improve performance Examples: “Where do I need help?” chart Sentence Frames Rubrics Proofreading Guide

8. Where do I need help? Answering the question Organizing my ideas Getting Started; Writing the introduction Development Vocabulary Writing the Conclusion Capitalizing Using punctuation Spelling Writing neatly and clearly

9. Sentence Frames for Argumentation Use this frame to establish common ground on a controversial issue: When it comes to the topic of ______________________, most of us would agree that ____________________________. Where this agreement ends, however, is on the question of _____________________. Whereas some are convinced that _______________________________. others maintain that___________________________________________. My own view is that____________________________________________.

10. Sentence Frames for Argumentation Use these frames as you acknowledge that the opposing side has a certain degree to validity: While at one time it may have been true that__________________, we can now state that____________________________________. ___________________ makes sense when he/she/they say________ ________________, but _____________________________________. Despite the validity of ______________________’s claim about ____________, he/she/they miss the mark when it comes to________________________ because___________________________________________________.

11. _____________’s Proofreading List When I proofread my pre-final draft, I need to look carefully at these things, which might be problems: • _______________________ • _______________________ • _______________________

12. ELA Best Practice #3: WRITING Opportunities to emulate models of good writing Examples: Use a model sentence as a template: “Find a sentence that you like. Write a similar one.” 2. Consider text for style as well as content; give students the language for describing sentence parts, tone, figurative language

13. ELA Best Practice #4: WRITING Developing the mental habit of thinking about the reader’s needs: Examples: Picture your audience. What are their expectations? What would give you credibility in their eyes? Write same message in different style for a variety of audiences.

14. ELA Best Practice #5: WRITING Program Designthat fosters writing for various purposes , to various audiences, and under various conditions Examples: Balance between processed and on-demandwriting Balance between student-selected and teacher-assigned topics Class blogs and other authentic experiences for written communication 4. Quick writes, free writes, :”focused” free writes

15. ELA Best Practice #1: VOCABULARY Incidental instruction that exposes students to new words Examples: Rich reading experiences Teacher talk with elevated, scaffolded vocabulary Exposure to eloquent public speakers

16. ELA Best Practice #2: VOCABULARY Explicit instruction for useful words encountered in general academic discourse: Examples: Purposeful repetition Depth of processing Revisiting of previously learned words

17. Target Word: Vocabulary Chart: Glossary Definition: Visual: Draw or find a picture: My guess: Definition in my own words: Complete sentence of at least ____words: Must contain an action verb and a visual image.

18. ELA Best Practice #3: VOCABULARY Explicit instruction on literary words encountered in poetry and fiction: Examples: Don’t expect context to provide full meaning Focus on words that bear key meaning s to the literature Focus on words likely to be encountered again Connect words to characterization

19. ELA Best Practice #4: VOCABULARY Program Designthat fosters an interest in words and an understanding of the development of the English language Examples: Analysis: Latin and Greek components Morphology Connections to other languages (esp. Spanish) Words with interesting stories: boycott, nostalgia, sardonic; Other connections: sarcastic-caustic 5. Arrays of degree of a given concept

20. Morphology Chart

21. This “Morphology Kit” is a great way to expand vocabulary because most of the words created by these suffixes express abstract ideas. Morphology Kit Adverb-making suffix: -ly 5

22. How can students benefit from a vocabulary list? Classify Analyze Morph Synthesize Build Students break words down into prefixes, roots, suffixes (Word Study) Students build words into phrases; phrases into simple sentences; simple sentences into complex sentences Students use their words to generate ideas for a writing piece: Purposes: To inform, To entertain, To persuade, To socialize Students think of ways in which the words on their lists can be classified (sorted, arranged, organized) Students manipulate the words into different parts of speech by adding endings

23. Words with High Leverage Value: INTERMITTENT REFLECT SUBTRACT COMPLIANCE CORRESPONDENT PROPELLER TRANSPORTATION DESTRUCTIVE PERSPECTIVE intermittent transmit admit commit remit submit missive admissible submissive commission mission permission

24. ELA Best Practice #1: GRAMMAR Place grammar instruction in the heart of the writing process, not as an “add-on.” (see chart)

25. Point of intervention for substantial language improvement Point of intervention for surface error correction GRAMMAR IN THE HEART OF THE WRITING PROCESS: Sharpen your nouns Minimize your modifiers Replace BE verbs and weak verbs with strong action verbs Achieve parallel structure Combine sentences: create complex sentences use appositives use absolutes Expand and shrink noun phrases. Turn clauses into modifying phrases. Decide where to place modifiers for desired effect. Pre-writing experience: (non-sentence form) Drafting Revising Publication Editing

26. ELA Best Practice #2: GRAMMAR Analyze and emulate the strengths found in student writing and literature. Example: Notice what you like; find out what the structures that you like are called; apply these structures to your own language (Notice, Name, Apply)

27. ELA Best Practice #3: GRAMMAR Teach students to hear and see the patterns of Standard English. Examples: “I don’t have any….” chant A was an apple pie. B bit it; C clawed it; D dropped it; E engulfed it; F found it; G gnawed it…

28. ELA Best Practice #4: GRAMMAR Program Designthat uses authentic language (rather than worksheets); that respects language variation; that understands language change; that connects language to characterization; that develops “the language of the language”

29. Seeing Grammar With New Eyes Visuals Manipulatives Role-Play Problem-solving Wordplay Inquiry Respect for Language Change and Variation Inductive Reasoning High Level of Student Engagement

30. Grammar is a system of making sentences out of parts. The parts have to match (agree): Number (singular or plural) Gender (masculine, feminine, neutral) Case (subjective, objective, possessive) Tense (past, present, future; progressive perfect) The two main parts of language are nouns and verbs. Everything else either modifies nouns or verbs or joins words, phrases, and clauses.

31. ELA Best Practice #1: SPEECH Program Designthat fosters speaking for various purposes , to various audiences Examples: Literature circles Exhibitions explained by individuals, partners, or groups Choral reading Improvisation Formal presentations Recitations of memorized literature Role-play Debates, panel discussions Students in the role of teacher