Combating Resource Sprawl with Google Drive

I have found so many wonderful free resources on the internet.  Now.....if only I could find them.

Many of us have experienced resource sprawl over the past few years.  We have files on our home computers, random jump drives, Dropbox, H drives, shared drives, and several other places.  You can combat resource sprawl by saving your resources to Google Drive.  You can save PDFs, Word docs, Excel files, music files, videos, and more.  Click here for more assistance converting files to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.    Or watch this video to demonstrate how to save and/or convert a Word Doc to Drive.

Components of Literacy, using the Gradual Release Model

The past few weeks, I have written about the read aloud, or interactive reading, as well as shared reading.  The interactive reading is the focus lesson in the gradual release framework. This is the "I do" time to model the skill or strategy that we want our students learn.  As we shift the load from the teacher to the students, the shared reading provides that guided practice, or the "we do together". This is a time of moderate support. Guided Reading provides an opportunity to continue to shift this work load. At this point, students should be able to use the strategy, with low support, as the chart below suggests.  However, keep in mind a couple of others points about guided reading.

• Guided reading is a time to have students read texts that are at their level, that can be read with minimal support. These books should be read independently, with support provided with purpose. 
• Comprehension is the always the goal.  While you may have a skill or strategy you want your students to use, it is important to cycle back to other strategies and discuss the text and your students' comprehension. Efficient readers use multiple strategies for reading. 
• Guided Reading is a time to incorporate word work strategies for students, specific to the needs of the group. 
• Students should be writing in response to their guided reading.  

     

District 200 Teacher Feature-An Annotation Lesson

We all know that a large part of Common Core is the act of close reading. Close reading can be quite a daunting task to start with however, because students often lack the foundational skills that are needed to successfully close read a piece of text. A sixth grade teacher in our district is working hard to make sure her students have the skills necessary to close read. She began at the ground level with talking to her students about how to truly read deeper in a piece of text and then how to record their thinking through annotation.

What do you want students to show you?

The teacher began with the end in mind. What were the skills she wanted her students to demonstrate by the end of the lesson? These were then posted on the board for all students to see. The objectives are addressed by the teacher at the start and end of each class period. Sometimes one student will read them to the class, other times the teacher asks the students to read them silently and reflect on their learning towards meeting the objective.

Be clear about the language

As teachers, we often post objectives or goals on the board and they remain there, hanging out in the shadows and part of the background noise. This teacher not only reviews and discusses the objectives with her students, but she also makes sure they understand the words that make up the objectives. Sometimes in the daily rush of things, we can forget that some of our students aren't exactly sure what we mean by "inference" or "evidence".

Get them hooked when they walk in the door

When students enter the classroom they are directed to complete an entrance slip that allows the teacher to quickly assess which students have grasped the concept covered the day before. The additional question about what they are annotating makes a connection to independent reading as well as other subject area classes.        
                                                              

                                    

Gradual release gets us to mastery

An anchor chart assists students with annotating their text. The teacher modeled how to use these symbols to annotate during a close read she modeled to her class. This "I do" lesson was the first step in the gradual release of responsibility where the teacher explicitly showed the class her thinking. In the next "We do" lesson, students partnered with the teacher to work on a close read as a whole class. 

"We do together"

In the next stage of the lesson, students worked with a partner to do a close read of Gary Soto's poem "Ode to Family Photographs". The poem was read several times and during the second and third read, students annotated the text. Each student has a blue card that reminds them of annotation symbols that can be used. These symbols are the same as shown on the anchor chart, but having this card allows students to keep this information in their binder for use in their science and social studies classes as well. 

Annotating on our own- "You do"

When students independently read, they are also annotating the text. This allows the students to have effective and engaging book talks with the teacher and provides the teacher with a formative assessment to determine the student's understanding of annotating text.

Organizing your Drive

If your New Year's resolution includes organizing your resources, then check out these tips.  As you use Google Drive more and more you may find it challenging to find your resources at first.  It always takes some time to get used to a new system.  Here are a few tips.

1.  Create a common naming scheme-  Google Docs are all searchable.  It searches not only by the file name, but also by any text in the document.  If you can write things in a similar way each time, it's easier when searching.  For example, always write the date the same way (ie- 1/21/15 vs. Jan. 21, 2015).  Or, always name your team meeting notes the same way (7th Grade Team Meeting 1/21/15).

2.  Create Folders- You can organize your Google Drive files into folders.  Simply click the red "New" button and select "Folder" from the drop down list.  From here you can click and drag files into the folder.

3.  Color Code your Folders- Once you create your folder, you can color code them to make them easier to find.

I hope this helps as we all work toward a more organized 2015.  

More about reading aloud and interactive reading

Last week, I posted the reasons, as well as strategies, for reading aloud.  As suggested last week, reading aloud includes modeling and thinking aloud.  This is an opportunity for students to observe what efficient readers do when reading. According to Fountas and Pinnell, there are ten text characteristics to consider for choosing books and making decisions about teaching through the read aloud/interactive reading.

1. Genre- Use a variety of genres at every grade level. 
2. Text Structure- Interactive reading provide a setting to teach students to not only know the structures but to identify them within a text.
3. Content- The subject matter should be interesting and engaging to students.  Students can acquire a great deal of content knowledge through the read aloud but remember to build background knowledge, if needed, before reading. 
4. Themes and Ideas- Students need to be able to connect to the reading to understand the themes and ideas.  This understanding is developed as they discuss with other students and their viewpoints.
5. Sentence Complexity- Reading aloud allows students to be exposed to more complex sentence structures when not required to decode them. Again, discussions can build this understanding even more. 
6. Vocabulary- Reading aloud continues to expose students and build their vocabulary.  Some vocabulary may need to be explicitly taught but understanding of words may occur naturally within the reading and discussion. 
7. Words- While teachers need to consider the complexity of the words (length, syllables, etc) when choosing books for students to read, this is not an issue when reading aloud.  Vocabulary, at the word level, is the only consideration for reading aloud.   
8. Language and Literary Features- The read aloud provides opportunities to expand students' abilities to process literary language, such as dialogue or figurative language. It is also a time to develop the story elements, such as characters, plot, setting, etc.
9. Illustrations- Picture books or everybody books are for everyone, not just the very young. Illustrations, at the early reading level, provides a great deal of information.  However, students of all ages can enjoy, as well as discuss, the illustrations of a book. 
10. Book and print features- Consider the the physical aspects such as length, size, and layout.  It is also an opportunity to explicitly teach print features and tools, such as table of contents, glossary, etc.  

The Read Aloud should not be overlooked.

 Spend time everyday reading aloud to students.  Reading aloud is the opportunity to model good reading skills and strategies for our students.  It is also an integral part of the focus lesson in the gradual release of responsibility instructional model.  However, there are many other important reasons to read to our students.

• Research continues to prove that reading to our students improves their reading.  
• It builds vocabulary (which also results in better reading)
• It develops background knowledge. 
• It improves comprehension.  
• Read aloud time should include discussions, which improves oral language.
• There is a positive correlation to reading aloud and writing.  Students who are read to are better writers.
• Reading aloud has a positive affect on performance in other subjects too. 
• It also improves critical thinking skills.

At what age or grade should the read aloud stop?  Research is proving that reading aloud well into high school has benefits. 

What helps reading aloud be successful?

• Choose a consistent place and time, if possible. Bringing students to a gathering spot, if possible, encourages community in the classroom.  A consistent time builds predictability and students begin to look forward to that time of the day.
• Don't use the read aloud as a "if there is time, we will do it".  Make it a priority and part of your day. 
• Try to choose books that you like.  Students pick up on our excitement and become more engaged in the book.
• Allow yourself, once and while, to get caught up in the book and "run a bit over the time". Students will feel excited to have been given a treat...and the treat is reading!
• Have a purpose, skill, or strategy that you are wanting to teach or model.  That being said, we want it to engage and excite students into reading, which in turn will motivate them to want to read more, which in turn creates better readers! 
• Enjoy this time.  In the busy, multitasking world we live in, it is ok to enjoy some things in life. You are modeling the fun of reading!
• Let your students talk.  Talking is a great way to build deep comprehension so we want to encourage this. 
• Finally, reading aloud provides opportunities to spring board into writing.  Allow students to write about the read aloud and their thinking about the characters, problems, or content within that read aloud.  

Shared Reading Resources

Shared reading is an opportunity that gives our students access to complex texts at their grade level. It offers rich instructional opportunities as teachers share in the workload while students access the text too. Shared reading has elements of a read-aloud and guided reading, but gives teachers the opportunity to gradually release the work load to the students while giving explicit instruction on specific skills or strategies. 

A great resource for shared reading that aligns with the standards is Achieve the Core. It has many lesson plans to use at every grade level. 
http://achievethecore.org/dashboard/300/search/1/1/0/1/2/3/4/5

Guidelines for shared reading from Read, Write, Think that may be helpful.  
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/shared-reading-opportunities-direct-30823.html

Before Reading

• Select a more difficult text than one you would use for guided reading but simpler than one you would read during a teacher read-aloud. Choose based on relevant criteria such as print features, patterns in the text, and comprehension opportunities.
• Secure a copy of the text for each student because the heart of shared reading involves all students and the teacher looking at the text while reading together. Possible variations are small groups reading a common text or dyad reading (Morgan, Wilcox, & Eldredge, 2000).
• Preread the text, identifying your teaching points. Focus on a comprehension purpose, and direct the experience toward meaning work. Shared reading is highly useful for teaching about print and for illustrating strategies of cross-checking and monitoring. Plan carefully for these teaching moments to identify the lesson’s most important points.

During Reading

• Make sure everyone has access to the text.
• Support fluent shared reading in which either you or a proficient student reads the text aloud while others read aloud at the same time, with periodic stops to discuss content. This implementation may vary depending on the grade level, the purpose of the lesson, and the difficulty of the text. In kindergarten, shared reading often involves an enlarged text that everyone reads together, while middle school students engage in shared reading with partners or in small groups.
• Engage in a think-aloud, modeling the strategies that are your instructional focus for the lesson. Support students in concentrating their energies on that focus. For high school students, the lesson can be about understanding Shakespeare’s language, while a third-grade class can practice using context to determine the meanings of words.
• Regardless of grade level, shared reading should engage students in a discussion of the text. Support students in thinking deeply about their reading and in discovering things in the text.
• Incorporate the text into other reading experiences, such as students rereading the text independently or finding other texts by the same author.

After Reading

• Revisit the text during other group reading times.
• Provide students with their own copies of the text that they can carry into their independent reading.
• If the text remains difficult for some students, let them practice during guided reading or with more teacher support in a small-group, shared reading experience.