Literacy in Action

Literacy in Action Based on 6 Chapters of the book, What Content-Area Teachers Should Know About Adolescent Literacy National Institute for Literacy US Department of Education And on Strategies and Protocols found to be successful.

The Six Modules of Literacy in Action • Writing Fluency • Text Comprehension • Vocabulary • Reading Fluency • Close and Critical Reading • Reading and Writing Assessment

What is different about Literacy in Action from other literacy professional development? Evidence

Your turn… • Talk with your tablemates about what “evidence” you currently use to measure your students growth in your content area. • Share

Evidence You get credit for the module when you show the “evidence” that the strategy you used produced improvement in student learning. The first module will be Writing Fluency. You will bring to the meeting for the second module “evidence” that Writing Tracker improved student writing fluency.

Passport You received a passport. • This will be the way we can keep track of “evidence” of your progress. • It is also a way for you to make sure you complete all six modules. When you have completed all modules, we will • Issue you a certificate and • Put you on a list of teachers who have successfully completed the professional development.

Literacy in ActionWriting Tracker in Content Areas using Text Structures Meeting the Common Core Literacy Standards for Content Areas

Welcome Think about the kind of writing you have your students doing in your content-area classes. At your table, make a list of the different types of writing. Share

Expectations What are you expecting from these writing activities? At your table, make a list of what you expect from the writing. In other words, what do you hope the writing will do for the students or you? Share

Nonfiction writing There are no silver bullets in education. But writing—particularly nonfiction writing—is about as close as you can get to a single strategy that has significant and positive effects in nearly every other area of the curriculum. Nonfiction writing is the backbone of a successful literacy and student achievement strategy. Douglas B Reeves

Writing improves Reading Comprehension Research over the past decade from Columbia and Vanderbilt universities and the University of Utah, among many others, concludes that, when students improve the quantity and quality of their writing, they improve in reading comprehension, math, science, and social studies.

Trust the system Trust your hands. Forget your brain for a while, and let your fingers do the writing. Your hand bones are connected to your brain bones. I had the vaguest sense of what I wanted to say in this essay until my hands taught me. The Fluent Writer by Roy Peter Clark

Count Words! Count everything. Don Murray’s favorite motto is “Never A Day Without a Line.” Not a hundred lines. For the fluent writer, every word counts. Learn to judge your own work by quanity, not quality. The Fluent Writer by Roy Peter Clark

Writing Development Fluency Focus Form

Fluency (first) An adequate level of fluency should be developed before moving to focus and form. High School -- 150 words per 5 minutes Middle School -- 125 words per 5 minutes

Writing Tracker System The Writing Tracker system is a combination of: • Idea generators • Quickwrites • Chart recorders • Data analyzers • Reflections • Decision makers • Goal setters

General Idea Generatorsthat produce the most words. What’s in my heart Lifeline x_____x____x____ Childhood neighborhood

Your turn • For the next few minutes list some things in your heart. • Choose one. • Think about what you would say about it. • Turn to an elbow partner and take turns sharing your stories.

Content Area Idea Generators Write about… most important historical event most important invention most important use of mathematics most important event in aviation most important item in the medicine cabinet most important part in your favorite novel most important part of your car (family car) most important state in the union most important impact of drought most useful animal on earth

Your turn… In content area groups, generate a list of content-related writing prompts that would appeal to students.

Quickwrites Select one of the prompts your group generated. Write steadily for a designated period of time (two minutes). No erasures. Do not pick up pencil/pen from paper ---keep writing. If you get stuck, ask yourself questions to get going again.

Which of these did you experience? Did you… • add to your background knowledge? • surprise yourself? • clarify your thinking? • find room for improvement in your writing fluency?

Writing Tracker: Chart the Progress • Record the topic • Record the date • Record the number of words • Record the domain-specific words Writing Tracker Progress Chart Number of domain-specific words Topic Text Structure Number of words Date

Data Analyzer 250 200 150 100 50 0 1/20 1/23 1/27 1/31 2/4 2/7 2/ 11 2/13 2/15 state inventions oceans continents wars cities Create a line graph with number of words and date and topic

Scaffolding Using Domain-Specific Words • Generate a list of domain-specific words or concepts to support your response. • Read over the list. • Repeat the quickwrite activity, writing steadily for two minutes. • Record total number of words and domain-specific words used. • Compare the totals for the two quickwrites.

Your turn… • Discuss the effect of the scaffolding (generating domain-specific word list to incorporate in writing) • Identify other strategies for scaffolding to improve writing fluency. • Review suggestions provided in handout.

Reflections In looking over your data, what trends or patterns do you see? Calculate the number of words you wrote over the sessions. Total number of words _____ Reflect on the total numbers of words. Does this number surprise you? Calculate the average number of words. Calculate the average number of domain-specific words. Predict the number of words you will write if you continue this process for ten more sessions. Predict the number of words you will write when you are especially interested in the topic. How has this process helped you become a better writer?

Goal Setting • Set a goal for the next time you write. Write it down in your writing folder. Examples: • To increase my writing fluency and use of domain-specific words when I write on an unfamiliar topic. • To increase the number of words I write so that I increase my confidence.

The National Report Card • There is a lot of evidence that far too many students never do develop good processing abilities. • Year after year, the NAEP Report has shown that 70 – 75% of grade 8 and grade 11 students cannot put their thoughts on paper effectively. Only 25 – 30% achieve basic proficiency on tests of writing skills. • Nobody mentions the possibility that a lack of handwriting skills is part of the problem.

Handwriting Assessment • Handwriting speed: Letters Per Minute • Directions: Tell students to copy the provided paragraph. Tell them that they will have one and a half minutes to legibly copy as much as they can. Set the timer for one and a half minutes and tell the students to begin. After one and a half minutes, tell them to stop. Have the students count the number of letters they were able to copy and record the number in the box labeled number of letters copied in 90 seconds. At your discretion you can have your students complete the formula for converting the number of letters copied in 90 seconds to Letters Per Minute (LPM).

Text to be copied… • No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

Proficient score: Mean Handwriting Speeds: Letters Per Minute Girls Boys Grade 1 21 17 Grade 2 36 32 Grade 3 50 45 Grade 4 66 61 Grade 5 75 71 Grade 6 91 78 Grade 7 109 91 Grade 8 118 112 Grade 9 121 114

Writing Tracker in Content Areas with Text Structures

Text Structure Knowledge Supports Comprehension “Understanding the expository text structures gives readers a better shot at determining important information when reading nonfiction...The text in standardized tests and traditional textbooks frequently falls into one or another of these text structures. If students know what to look for in terms of text structure, they grasp the meaning more easily.” from Nonfiction Matters, by Stephanie Harvey

Description A topic, idea, person, place, or thing is described by listing its features, characteristics, or examples. Signal Questions What specific topic, person, idea, or thing is being described? How is it being described (what does it look like, how does it work, what does it do, etc.)? What is important to remember about it? Signal Words for instance such as… to begin with an example to illustrate characteristics

Problem and Solution Tells about a problem (and sometimes says why there is a problem) then gives one or more possible solutions. Signal Questions What is the problem? Why is this a problem? Is anything being done to try to solve the problem? What can be done to solve the problem? Signal Words question is… dilemma is… the puzzle is… to solve this… one answer is… one reason for the…

Sequence Describes items or events in order or tells the steps to follow to do something or make something. Signal Questions What items, events, or steps are listed? Do they have to happen in this order? Do they always happen in this order? Signal Words first second next then before after finally following not long after now soon

Compare and Contrast Shows how two or more things are alike and/or how they are different. Signal Questions What things are being compared? In what ways are they alike? In what ways are they different? Signal Words same as similar alike as well as not only…but also both instead of either…or on the other hand different from as opposed to

Cause and Effect Cause is why something happened. Effect is what happened. (Sometimes the effect is listed first.) Signal Questions What happened? Why did it happen? What caused it to happen? Signal Words so because since therefore if…then this led to reason why as a result may be due to effect of consequently for this reason

Persuasion Presents an opinion and tries to convince the reader to agree Signal Questions What does the author believe? What reasons support the claim? What does the author want you to do? Signal Words • surely, it is certain, therefore, consequently, convinced, • agree, conclude

Text Structure Examples Sequence Goose bumps make me shiver. First I get cold. Then I shake all over. Description Goose bumps make me shiver. I get little bumps on my skin. They look like sesame seeds. Compare and Contrast Some people get goose bumps from fear. Others get goose bumps when they are touched emotionally. Cause and Effect Goose bumps make me shiver. When the temperature drops below 45 degrees, my skin crinkles into goose bumps. Problem and Solution Goose bumps make me shiver. But they disappear as soon as I cover up with a jacket or sweater Persuasion It is healthy for you to get goose bumps. When you are cold or frightened, goose bumps help you prepare for “fight or flight” like getting your heart racing which sends oxygen to your muscles.

Your turn… Think of a prompt or word from your discipline to practice the text structures. History - civil war Geography – islands Science – photosynthesis Technology – cell phones

Your turn… • In content area groups of no more than six people, take turns drawing one of the six text structure cards and responding to one of the prompts from your content area. • Using the text structure on the drawn card, share your thinking.

Text Structure Quickwrite Select one text structure to use with the prompt your group generated earlier. Write steadily for a designated period of time (two minutes). No erasures. Do not pick up pencil/pen from paper ---keep writing. If you get stuck, ask yourself questions to get going again.

Writing Tracker: Chart the Progress Record the topic and text structure Record the date Record the number of words Record any comments Writing Tracker Progress Chart Number of domain-specific words Topic and Text Structure Number of words Date

Analyze DataCreate a line graph with number of words (vertical) and date and text structure (horizontal) • 250 • 200 • 150 • 100 • 50 • 0 1/20 1/23 1/27 1/31 2/4 2/7 2/ 11 2/13 2/15 C &A P &S Description C & C Seq. C & A C&C Seq. Description Topics:

Reflections Look over your data. What trends or patterns do you see? Calculate the number of words you wrote. Total number of words _____ Reflect on the total numbers of words. Does this number surprise you? Calculate the average number of words. Predict the number of words you will write if you continue with this process for ten more times. How has this process helped you become a better writer?

Evidence of Teacher and Student participation and growth Credit for this module… Teachers Writing Tracker folder and three student folders: One that is high, one that is medium and one that didn’t grow. Each folder must have a minimum of ten writings, recordings, graphing and a reflection. Submitted December 13, 2011

Goal Setting What will I do to continue to develop my best text structure? What will I do to improve my least familiar text structure? How will doing this make me a better writer and thinker?

Literacy in Action