Coaching Institute Presentation

1. Coaching Institute Presentation Evaluating: A Building Block of Critical Literacy Presented by Sandy Giles LNS and Laurel Whitham YRDSB

2. Learning Goals This presentation is intended to: • introduce evaluating as a comprehending strategy that requires critical thinking; • demonstrate how to use a carefully-constructed graphic organizer and the gradual release of responsibility to deepen comprehension; • familiarize participants with the second Comprehending in Action module.

3. Turn and Talk Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you. Share with your partner your most recent experience using the INTERNET.

4. Something to Think About … Turn and talk to a neighbour about your initial reactions to this media clip. High-Yield Strategy: Turn and Talk

5. Why Revisit Text? “On a first reading, aspects of craft are transparent, because you are responding to the deeper meanings. Revisiting a text, however, leaves more attention free for analysis and can add to the enjoyment and interpretation of a text.” Fountas & Pinnell, 2006, p. 41

6. Revisiting the Text … Turn and talk a different member of your table group. Discuss the intended message of the clip. How accurate is the message? High-Yield Strategy: Turn and Talk

7. One Last Look … Turn and talk to a different member of your table group. Discuss the validity of the message. What are you basing your perceptions on? High-Yield Strategy: Turn and Talk

8. What is Evaluating? As a table group, use the information in the three columns of your chart paper to write a definition of “evaluating”.

9. What is Evaluating? When you evaluate, you combine information in your head with information from the text to assess and make judgments based on standards or criteria. High-Yield Strategy: Summarizing Key Information

10. Interacting with Text Author’s Words Vocabulary Punctuation Style Syntax Strategies Using cueing systems Activating prior knowledge Predicting Visualizing Questioning Drawing inferences Finding important information Summarizing Synthesizing and evaluating Monitoring/ revising comprehension Language Knowledge Phonology Morphology Syntax Vocabulary Text Features Use of organizational tools Use of informational tools (glossary, captions) Format/Layout Use of space and graphics Use of illustrations Author’s Purpose Topic Ideas Message Text Knowledge Organizational & informational structure Artistic elements of text Print concepts Text type Self-Concept as a Reader Purpose for reading Interests & Experiences Factual Knowledge High-Yield Strategy: Visual Representation

11. Integrated Processing

12. When Evaluating You Might Say … • I like this because … • It is really clever to … because … • This is effective/not effective because … • This information sounds/does not sound correct because … • I’m sure/not sure … is accurate because … • I don’t think it is fair to … because … • That doesn’t sound right to me because … • That sounds biased to me because … High-Yield Strategy: Anchor Charts

13. Our Standards “… our tacit knowledge acts as a framework within which we understand, interpret, generate, and/or judge new ideas of strategies and evaluate the options we consider viable, acceptable and so on.” Hannay, Wideman & Seller, 2006, p.

14. Levels of Evaluating Use the Ranking Ladder and the four examples of student evaluations provided. Rank the evaluation statements from the least sophisticated on the bottom rung to the most sophisticated on the top rung. Be prepared to justify your ranking.

15. Making Judgments When you evaluate text, you can assess and make judgments about: • the suitability of the text for the intended purpose; • the quality of the writer’s craft; • the authenticity, accuracy or reliability of the content; • the validity of the perspectives presented. High-Yield Strategy: Anchor Chart

16. Placemat Activity Why teach evaluating? Think and record your ideas in one of the blank spaces on the placemat. Shift the paper to the right so that each person can read the work of the person sitting next to him/her. Continue shifting the paper in a clockwise fashion until everyone has read everyone else’s work. Synthesize the information in the middle circle.

17. Curriculum Expectations Overall Expectation: • Read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning. What specific expectations address “evaluating” for your grade level?

18. Critical Literacy “The ultimate requirement of the reader is to take a critical stance. Reading critically is a necessity in a free society. Not everything you read is accurate, often persuasive material must be judged on its merit and connected to its source. One perspective may be presented but the reader must seek other perspectives. Moreover, readers are required to judge the quality of a text.” Fountas & Pinnell, 2006, p. 59

19. Social Justice “Teaching is a matter of awakening and empowering today’s young people to name, to reflect, to imagine, and to act with more and more concrete responsibility in an increasingly multifarious world.” Maxine Greene, 2001

20. Promoting Critical Literacy • “Texts that engage students in deep thinking about societal values provide opportunities for rich dialogue and learning in the junior classroom.” • “Picture books for mature readers have many layers of meaning and are ideal for teaching critical literacy skills.” A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4 to 6, Volume One,p. 63

21. Choosing Substantive Texts

22. Let’s Review Evaluating • When you evaluate, you combine information in your head with information from the text to assess and make judgments based on standards or criteria. • When evaluating is at work in the foreground, other comprehension strategies are at work in the background. • Evaluating is an essential part of critical literacy. High-Yield Strategy: Summarizing Key Concepts

23. Evaluating in Action Run Time: 15:17 minutes Wolves Written and Illustrated by Emily Gravett Published by Macmillan Children’s Books London, UK

24. Using Diagnostic Information Take a look at the sample of assessment information gathered at the closure of the think-aloud lesson. What do the students know? What do the students need to learn next? What strategies could be used to promote this new learning? I liked… I liked… High-Yield Strategy: Graffiti Activity

25. Graffiti Activity • For a short period of time, every group in the room writes their “graffiti (words, phrases, graphics) to answer the question on the sheet of chart paper found on their table. • At the signal, each group moves in a clockwise fashion to the graffiti sheet on the next table. • The question on the new sheet is read and answers are recorded. • This continues until each group gets back to its’ original sheet of paper. • As a group, they read, discuss and summarize the “new” comments.

26. Using Graphic Organizers “A graphic organizer is a visual diagram that shows the relationships among a number of ideas. Use graphic organizers to help students see the important interrelationships in the information they are reading or to become aware of the way authors have structured a text.” Fountas & Pinnell, 2001, p. 441 High-Yield Strategy:Check for Understanding

27. Tips for Using Graphic Organizers • Co-construct the graphic organizer with your students whenever possible. • Use chart paper or a projected image to demonstrate how to use the graphic organizer. • Demonstrate the form several times in the whole group and in small groups before asking the students to use it independently. • Be sure your students understand how the graphic organizer helps them to record, analyse, and reflect upon their reading as opposed to being just another assignment.

28. Strategy Instruction High-Yield Strategy: Using Graphic Representations

29. Scaffolding the Learning • Watch the following video clips to see how one teacher utilizes scaffolding and the gradual release of responsibility model to teach her students how to formulate more effective evaluation statements. • After watching each segment, record your observations on the first section of Teacher Resource 12. Here’s What So What Now What High-Yield Strategy: Questioning the Author

30. Deconstructing the Evaluation Process Run Time: 5:11 minutes Wolves Written and Illustrated by Emily Gravett Published by Macmillan Children’s Books London, UK What are your key observations about student learning?

31. Saying Something about Your Key Observations • “Say something” is a paired learning strategy developed by Egawa & Harste (2001). • A selection of text is divided into segments. • When each partner has reached the chosen stopping point, both partners exchange comments, questions, key points, or new connections. • Partners continue saying something until all segments of the selection have been discussed. High-Yield Strategy: Accountable Talk

32. Using a Graphic Organizer Run Time: 5:16 minutes

33. Evaluating Text Run Time: 8:04 minutes

34. Key Messages • As a table group, write one item on the strip of chart paper that might appear on an anchor chart for the teaching of evaluating. i.e. Model the evaluation process using a think aloud.

35. Making Judgments When you evaluate text, you can assess and make judgments about: • the suitability of the text for the intended purpose; • the quality of the writer’s craft; • the authenticity, accuracy or reliability of the content; • the validity of the perspectives presented. High-Yield Strategy: Anchor Chart

36. Next Steps? If you were a literacy coach in this classroom, what might be your next step?

37. Other Parts of the Module • Video segment about organizing a Junior classroom for greater independence. • A Grade 6 Guided Reading lesson • A Grade 6 cross-curricular Guided Writing lesson: “A Day in the Life of an Explorer” • Information about graphic novels

38. In conclusion … • Evaluating is a comprehending strategy that requires critical thinking; • Carefully-constructed graphic organizers and the gradual release of responsibility help students to evaluate text thereby deepening their level of comprehension; • The Comprehending in Action: Evaluating module contains a variety of supports for coaches.

39. Some Evaluating Activities • Value Lines (p. 154) • Four Corners (p. 129) • Questioning the Author (p. 144) • Ranking Ladder (p. 145) The page numbers indicate information found in A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4 to 6, Volume One High-Yield Strategy: Accountable Talk

40. Evaluating the Session • How effective was this session at deepening your understanding of evaluating? • Place your sticky note on the line from “Very Ineffective” to “Very Effective” as you head out the door.