Instructional Practices of the Literacy Block

1. Instructional Practices of the Literacy Block Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School Monday June 28th 2010 Presenter: Mr. Chris Lowrey AUSSIE Literacy Consultant chris.lowrey@aussiepd.editure.com

2. Icebreaker – Can you identify what these people do? Oscar Arias Sanchez Alex Rodriguez Steve Jenkins Cate Blanchette Margaret ‘Molly’ Tobin Brown Jet Li Slash Susan B Anthony Budd Abbott Brian Cambourne Costa Rican President Yankees Slugger American Children's author Australian Actor Titanic survivor and woman who was determined to break the rules of "high society” Chinese Actor/Martial Arts expert Guns N Roses/Rock Band Guitarist Women's Rights Activist Comedian from New Jersey Educator famous for ‘Conditions of Learning’

3. The Reading Workshop – Balanced Literacy Instructional Practices • Shared Reading • Read Aloud • Guided Reading • Partner Reading • Reciprocal Teaching • Book Clubs / Literature Circles • Independent Reading • Conferring • Share Out

4. The Writing Workshop – Balanced Literacy Instructional Practices • Modeled Writing • Shared Writing • Interactive Writing • Guided Writing • Independent Writing • Conferring • Share Out

5. Conditions for Learning believe all studentscan learn and have uniformly high expectations for them as learners provide explicit demonstrations of the strategies proficient readers use provide a safe learning environment that encourages students to take risks successful learning occurs whenyou: give responsive feedback as you guide students’ attempts provide a print rich,stimulatingenvironment and a program thatstudents will want to engage in provide opportunities for students to practice in authentic situations

6. BALANCEDLITERACY Gradual Release ofResponsibility Continuum Teacher provides maximum support ReadAloud Shared Reading Independent Reading Guided Reading ModeledWriting Shared Writing Guided Writing Independent Writing TO WITH BY Student takes major responsibility Demonstration Expectation Responsibility Use/Practice Approximation, Response & Feedback Immersion & Demonstration Engagement Modified for presentation by Deanna M. Albert, Ph.D.

7. Gradual Release of Responsibility Teacher support Student Independence Introduce and model of the comprehension strategy (Read aloud) Observe, listen and respond Participate and respond Demonstrate how the strategy works in a shared setting ie mini-lessons Support students as they practice the strategies in small group settings Attempt with support Small group guided reading Observe, students as they practice independently Practice and problem solve Adapted from AUSSIE Interactive 2005

8. Jigsaw activity Read the following articles from your packets in groups… • An overview of balanced literacy • Values of the balanced literacy block components • Settign up your classroom • Learning areas • Balacned literacy Classroom checklist Highlight a maximum of 10 key words/phrases And report back to the group

9. A Balanced Literacy Block

10. The Writing Workshop

11. The Reading Workshop

12. Mini Lessons • What is a mini lesson? • The mini-lesson is part of a balanced Literacy Workshop and provides a short (5- to 15- minute), structured lesson on a topic related to language arts. • Topics are selected by the teacher and based on student need or curricular areas. ...

14. Mini Lessons - Activity • Design a lesson to deal with the issue of your students working terribly in groups! • You are frustrated as most of your students tend to retell rather than summarize, design a mini lesson to counter this. • Design a revision mini lesson designed to bring out the students voice in their writing? • Your students are spelling the most basic words incorrectly – design a lesson to combat this. (Look at handout for 300 common words)

15. Shared Reading What is Shared Reading? Shared Reading is exactly what it sounds like - It is a time for sharing a story and reading together! Shared reading in our kindergarten classroom may include echo reading (students echoing the words after the teacher), choral reading (students reading at the same time as the teacher), or fill in the gap reading (teacher reading the majority of the text and then pausing for students to fill in and say rhyming words or other predictable words in the story).  All of these ways of reading are ways to encourage early reading enjoyment and success with a high level of teacher support. During shared reading, students focus on both the pictures and the text to make predictions and to generate meaning. Most shared readings begin with a 'picture walk' in which the teacher guides students through a preview of the story, asking questions to elicit words and phrases that are used in the text. The book is then read to students and predictions are checked against the text of the story. The book is revisited among several days.  Further comprehension of the story takes place through questioning and discussion of each story (the author's choice of words and the illustrator's pictures), through acting out the story, making puppets and retelling boards, reviewing elements of the story (setting, characters, problem, solution),  and putting pictures of events of the story in order.

16. Once students are familiar with the story, we also look more closely at the text.  We mask certain letters and go on word hunts for small high frequency words such as I, the, to, etc. We also play with the sound of the text.  Students might be asked to listen carefully to the story and be asked to round up all the rhyming words they hear or words that begin with a certain sound.  We also frequently brainstorm other words that rhyme or begin with the same sound. They may be asked to determine the number of claps (syllables) in a word or  the number of parts (sounds) in a word.  Sometimes, students will need to listen carefully to a word that is stretched out and put it together to figure out the word from the story.   There are many learning opportunities during shared reading! During Shared Reading students are learning to.... • track print from left to right and word by word • predict and infer • enjoy and participate in reading with a high level of support • build a sense of story • expand their vocabulary • find letters and sounds in context • attend to concepts of print (spacing, capitalization, punctuation) • sequence the events of a story . focus on story elements (characters, setting, beginning, middle, end). 

17. What kinds of small group instruction do we use in our classrooms? Think - Pair - Share Report out and chart View Animal School video What came to mind about differentiation of instruction as you viewed the slideshow?

18. How does small group instruction enable you to support differentiation? Write two reasons independently, then turn to a partner and share them. Make a group of four, share your reasons and chart. What are the most important reasons? Circle them on your chart.

19. Guided Reading One Form of Small Group Instruction What is Guided Reading? Write your responses in groups of four (4). Use the activity sheet provided to respond. For example Guided Reading is: •  •  •

20. Activity – Guided and Shared Reading in action. Watch a series of short videos with a focus on : • What is the teacher doing? • What are the stduents doing? • What is the mini lesson and/or stratgey being attempted?

21. A Classroom Management Plan

22. Management of Groups Must include: • Learning centers • Task management board • Independent reading for an extended period of time.

23. How to Select, Introduce and Use Leveled Text Examine a suitable text! Use the “SEEDFOLKS” text and identify the challenges in: • Concepts, ideas and information • Text structures and vocabulary • New or tricky words

27. “SEEDFOLKS” • Watch the Guided Reading lesson where the “SEEDFOLKS” text is used. • Using the lesson planner, “back plan” onto the planner, adding to or amending what you have already noted • Share your plan with another person

28. Reciprocal Teaching and Book Clubs Two additional forms of small group instruction Begin by reviewing and confirming understandings about Guided Reading

29. Reciprocal Teaching Using Reciprocal Teaching in Shared Reading One way of introducing Reciprocal Teaching strategies is through modeling with whole class shared reading Teachers can use: • The Orbit chart or overhead • National Geographic overhead

30. Reciprocal Teaching View Pat Carney, Grade 4 teacher using reciprocal teaching strategies • What are the roles in Reciprocal Teaching? Students? Teacher? Text choice? • Chart to compare with those in Guided Reading

31. The Language of Response • I agree because… • I disagree because... • I also noticed... • I’d like to add that... • I didn’t understand... • Say more about what you mean. • I don’t understand what you mean. • Can you show where that is in the text/illustration? • What is your evidence? • Why do you think that? • I think the author meant... • How do you know that? • We’re getting far away from the text. • What does the author say that makes you think that?

32. A Third Form of Small Group Instruction Literature Circles Or Book Clubs

33. Literature Circles in Action • Form groups ( 4-5 people ) • Discuss how strategies might be used when reading “The Giver”. Try and use each of the 4 (predict, clarify, question, summarize) strategies from Reciprocal Teaching and add: • making connections • visualizing and inferring • using narrative text structure

34. Modeling a Book Introduction

35. "Jonas," she said, speaking not to him alone but to the entire community of which he was a part, "you will be trained to be our next Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood." Then she turned and left the stage, left him there alone, standing and facing the crowd, which began spontaneously the collective murmur of his name. "Jonas." It was a whisper at first: hushed, barely audible. "Jonas. Jonas." Then louder, faster. "JONAS. JONAS. JONAS." With the chant, Jonas knew, the community was accepting him and his new role, giving him life, the way they had given it to the newchild Caleb. His heart swelled with gratitude and pride. But at the same time he was filled with fear. He did not know what his selection meant. He did not know what he was to become. Or what would become of him. Lois Lowry is an award-winning author who has written many popular books. She lives in Cam-bridge, Massachusetts.

37. Gradual Release of ResponsibilityInstructional Practices Teacher provides maximum support ReadAloud Shared Reading Guided Reading Reciprocal Teaching Literature Circles Independent Reading TO WITH BY Student takes major responsibility Demonstration Expectation Responsibility Use/Practice Approximation, Response & Feedback Immersion & Demonstration Engagement Modified for presentation by Deanna M. Albert, Ph.D.

38. How can you best manage time and resources to enable • Guided Reading • Reciprocal Teaching and • Literature Circles to become part of the instructional routine of your classroom?

39. Read Aloud and/or Shared Reading Independent Reading Independent reading Social Studies Science Guided Reading Lit. Circle Writing Writing related to writer’s workshop Writing related to small group reading Response to Independent Reading Response to Read Aloud

40. And finally, • Questions • Evaluations • Professional Development Certificates • Attendance / Sign in sheets Thank you for participating in today’s workshop