R eading First Action Seminar

1. Reading First Action Seminar Los Angeles Unified School District April 21, 2005

2. Objective & Outcomes Participants will: • Assess the quality of the evidence. • Develop our understanding of the elements of the narrative genre. • Analyze selections to experience explicitly reading with a writer’s eye.

3. Creating a Learning Environment Better quality questions result in more challenge to the thought processes of the brain (Berliner, 1984). The ability to ask questions allows individuals to be creative, to imagine beyond what is given, to search for missing information, physical rationales, and human purposes that will explain the given (Harpaz & Lefstien, 2000).

4. Follow-up Conversation Let’s look at our evidence. Let’s learn together.

5. Queries • What do you notice about your evidence? • How does this evidence reflect conceptual development of this unit? • What preparation is necessary?

6. Objective & Outcomes Participants will: • Assess the quality of the evidence. • Develop our understanding of the elements of the narrative genre. • Analyze selections to experience explicitly reading with a writer’s eye.

7. Knowledge of the Standards What adds up to good writing instruction? ( ) = Quality Writing Instruction Writing Process Conceptual Development + + Genre

8. Let’s talk • Why do humans communicate? • What is the relationship of writing to communication?

9. Narrative writing is… • Add your ideas to your Inquiry Journal

10. BREAK

11. Discussion Story Crafting

12. Action Steps • How much do your students know about narrative genre? • Talk with your school team and decide on the evidence that you will need to collect in order answer this question. • Use your teacher’s edition to find multiple opportunities to learn about and observe Grade 2 lessons that have students “read with a writer’s eye.”

13. There is no room for failure… As pioneers, it is impossible to get it right the first time. No one has yet drawn accurate maps - explorers learn as they go. The maps that pioneers create will make it easy for large populations to migrate easily to the future, but their own explorations require great sacrifice and constant learning. Our present culture doesn't support this kind of experimentation. We want right answers quickly; we ask people to demonstrate success early in their ventures. We evaluate them based on short-term measures. We seldom give adequate time for the explorations and failures that are part of mapping a new territory. Instead of offering additional resources to their explorations and experiment, we abandon them in favor of safer projects that employ familiar, flawed means. -From Supporting Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice: How to Rapidly Develop New Leaders in Great Numbers

14. Follow-up WorkReading First Action Seminar When you return to your school: • Look for evidence of genre and standards-based instruction. For the May Action Seminar: • Bring all the evidence of genre and standards-based instruction to discuss.