Open Response Strategies in Content Area Classrooms:

1. Open Response Strategies in Content Area Classrooms: New Bedford High School Professional Development Session Thursday, October 24, 2013 An overview of the NBHS Literacy Initiative 2010-2013.

2. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach YourSubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

3. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach YourSubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

4. Literacy Initiative Objectives Primary Objective: • Implement content-specific reading comprehension and writing activities to develop deeper student understanding and the ability to communicate within each separate content-area. Ancillary Objectives • Develop a common language and common practice in school-wide literacy instruction. • Increase teachers’ use of writing in day-to-day class activities. • Increase students’ depth of understanding of content matter.

5. Literacy Initiative Focus Skill Open Response (not just MCAS Open Response)

6. Implementation • Twice each year (concurrent with their department), each teacher will employ a prescribed “Open Response” lessons using content relevant to their curriculum. • Students will experience this procedure 6-8 times in various classes. Repeated practice is crucial to skill development. • During this lesson teachers will take time to teach/reinforce the process of Open response writing in addition to teaching their own subject content.

7. Materials Provided to Teachers • School-wide common rubric • unified assessment strategies • 10-step Open Response Process • unified instruction/process for students • Step-by-step lesson guides • powerpoints and handouts available if needed

8. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach YourSubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

9. Review of ABC Method • Please continue to reinforce this with students. • Responses are better when students follow the process, but many still won’t follow through without being reminded.

10. Unified Process Open Response is a process. Active Reading - Thinking - Writing Process required by all teachers Student habit Increased achievement in class and on standardized testing

11. Unified Process A nalyze the question. Build a plan. Create the response. A, B, C's of Open Response:

12. A nalyze the Question 1. Read the question carefully. 2. Circle or underline key words. • Circle key direction verbs • i.e. explain, compare, or show • Underline important information. 3. Restate the question as a thesis leaving blanks for information that must be found in the text.

13. A nalyze the Question 1. Read the question carefully. - Read every word. Make sure you know exactly what the question is asking. EXAMPLE QUESTION: (See packet for primary documents.) Analyze the attitudes and reactions of Protestants and Catholics toward the Scientific Revolution.

14. A nalyze the Question EXAMPLE QUESTION: (See packet for primary documents.) Analyze the attitudes and reactions of Protestants and Catholics toward the Scientific Revolution. • 2. Circle or underline key words. • Circle key direction verbs (explain, compare, show) • See list of examples in handout. • Underline important information.

15. A nalyze the Question 3. Restate the question as a thesis. • Leave blanks for information that must be found in the text. • After the student reads the excerpt these blanks will be filled in. EXAMPLE: The Scientific Revolution posited that truth about nature’s laws was based on ______________ and ______________. Protestants believed _____________, _____________, and ____________, while Catholics countered those beliefs with ______________, and _________________.

16. Build the Plan 4. Read the passage carefully. 5. Take notes that respond to the question. Brainstorm and map out the answer. 6. Complete your thesis.

17. Build the Plan 4. Read the passage carefully. • Read every word of the passage slowly. • Use context clues to deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words. • Look for the key information you underlined in the question or that you need to fill in your thesis.

18. Build the Plan 5. Take notes that respond to the question. Brainstorm and map out the answer. • Use note taking strategies and graphic organizers as appropriate to the question being answered. Note-taking organizers:

19. Build the Plan 5. Take notes that respond to the question. Brainstorm and map out the answer. • Use note taking strategies and graphic organizers as appropriate to the question being answered. Mapping organizer:

20. Build the Plan 6. Complete your thesis. EXAMPLE: The Scientific Revolution posited that truth about nature’s laws was based on _reason and observation_, and _natural laws_. Protestants believed _that the Bible is the source of faith that everyone must read__, _that the Pope has no authority over the Church_, and _that man is justified by faith alone_, while Catholics countered those beliefs with _salvation by faith and good works_, and _sacraments as a means toward “grace”.

21. Create the Response 7. Write the response carefully, using your map as a guide. 8. Strategically repeat key words from your thesis in your body and in your end sentence. 9. Paragraph your response. 10. Reread and edit your response.

22. Create the Response 7. Write the response carefully, using your map as a guide.

23. Create the Response 8. Strategically repeat key words from your thesis in your body and in your end sentence. EXAMPLE: The Scientific Revolution posited that truth about nature’s laws was based on _reason and observation_, and _natural laws_. Protestants believed _that the Bible is the source of faith that everyone must read__, _that the Pope has no authority over the Church_, and _that man is justified by faith alone_, while Catholics countered those beliefs with _salvation by faith and good works_, and _sacraments as a means toward “grace”.

24. Create the Response 9. Paragraph your response.

25. Create the Response 10. Reread and edit your response. **See Collins Writing Program “Revision and Editing Symbols” document.

26. Scoring Reponses The NBHS Open Response Rubric uses four standards: • Content • Form • Legibility • Length Content and Form have three indicators each.

27. NBHS Open Response Rubric • Content: • Does the response have a thesis statement that actually answers the question? • How good is the evidence the student provides to support their thesis (answer)? • Is the evidence explained in such a way as to demonstrate mastery of the concepts addressed in the prompt?

28. NBHS Open Response Rubric • Form: • Does the response use good transitions to get from one idea to the next? • Is the response organized and well structured using paragraphs and flow to effectively present its ideas? • Are their major errors in grammar or sentence structure that interfere with the effectiveness of the essay?

29. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach Your SubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

30. Response Forms • Not all Open Response Questions need to be answered with a full essay. • Short Essay (1-2 paragraphs) • Ex: Name the various types of brushstrokes employed in this painting and tell which elements were painted using each technique. • Long Essay (3 or more paragraphs) • Ex: Analyze the expressive effects that can be created by using different bush techniques. Cite specific examples from paintings mentioned in the article to support your analysis.

31. Response Forms • Shorter response forms (short essay) are easier to implement on a day-to-day basis. • RAWAC: Reading And Writing Across the Curriculum • Ideally 30 minutes per class per week. • Longer response forms better for independent student learning or summative assessment.

32. Day-to-day Implementation • Prompts should reference authentic examples (paintings, recordings, printed music, scripts, videos, etc.) and/or text. • Responses can be short or long, but should: • demonstrate understanding of the material already in the curriculum • use appropriate language skills (i.e. grammar, sentence structure, organization of ideas, etc.) to communicate students’ thinking.

33. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach Your SubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

34. Annotation Strategies • Onion Article -- What not to do! • Annotation should show an engagement with the text. • Students should be asking themselves questions and finding answers. • We do this all the time when analyzing text. Consider your own process, then model it to students. • They don’t know what questions to ask themselves until they hear you ask yourself.

35. Grading Annotation • Simplest Idea (my personal recommendation -- not the Literacy Committee’s) • Grade out of 20 points: • 4 points for annotating (see rubric in handout) • 2 points for mapping out the response before writing it out. • 14 points for the scripted response (using NBHS Open Response Rubric) • Do we want to adopt one rubric for department-wide use?

36. Session Agenda • About the Open Response Initiative • The ABC Method of Open Response • Using Open Response to Teach Your SubjectContent • Annotation (a comprehension strategy) • Preparing Your Literacy Submissions

37. Literacy Submissions Activities for submissions to the Literacy Committee: • can be part of already planned activities. (Encouraged!) • should be directly connected to your curriculum. • should have some text from which students need to draw information. • can be combined with authentic examples. • should require students to articulate in words the concepts, skills, and understanding they are already developing through your other teaching/learning techniques.

38. Submission Guidelines(Submissions go to Paula Brown in Green House.) • As per Mr. Kulak, the Literacy Committee will collect 3 students samples AND a completed data collection page from each teacher’s respective classes. • Submissions should include: • Teacher Name • Date • Course Name and Level • Period/Block • A copy of the question(s)/prompt(s) with active reading strategies • Text with Tovani Reading Strategies applied • Student open response writing sample • Evaluated Open Response Rubric

39. Session Complete • Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our students. • This powerpoint and more materials will be available to teachers at http://www.ericdrew.net/NBHSPD102413 • Also check out the NBHS Literacy Initiative page http://www.newbedfordschools.org/high.htm (and click on “Literacy Initiative” in the left-hand column)