A Literacy Toolkit for Teachers

A Literacy Toolkit for Teachers

This is a tool kit of ideas for teachers who wish to integrate a literacy emphasis into their classrooms without abandoning content-specific lessons. Most of these activities create little grading and facilitate academic discussion. Each activity serves as an occasion for reading, thinking, speaking and writing. These routines will fit any subject area.

BEFORE READING

1. Accessing background knowledge

·  Use KWL charts

·  Assign a short quick write

·  Conduct a gallery walk of images

·  Give students a series of images to sort in order

·  Ask a directed question – “what do you know about ___?”

·  Personalize the introductory prompt for their background

·  Try a think, write, pair, share activity

·  Show a brief video clip, or play a song or speech

·  Use accessible primary sources

·  Have students create their own questions about the topic at hand

·  Create an anticipation guide - students guess what is true/false

2a. Hypothetical Graphic Organizer (HGO)

·  Use thinking maps

·  Color code the images to reinforce larger connections

·  Include a frame of reference for any visual

·  Have students complete their own copy of the HGO

·  Create a strategic overlay of photos

·  Limit extraneous information...focus on the purpose of the lesson

·  Keep your 10-2 or 5-1 breaks in mind

·  Use the vocabulary – have them say the words with you

·  Always consider how will the HGO help the students write

2b. Logical sequence of HGO and instructional hook

·  Embed questions in your presentation of the visual

·  Plan for student note taking

·  Plan a vocabulary strategy after reviewing the text

·  Limit information presented all at once

·  Decide how to make definitions student-accessible

·  Create a strategy for student engagement

·  If applicable, discuss author's purpose

3. Receptive task

·  Write or display the task clearly and in large font

·  Make sure to explain the “reason behind the reason” for the task

·  Focus on connection and application

·  Have students write it on Cornell notes... a “so what?” statement

·  Deconstruct the standard

·  Emphasize the skill (Bloom’s) that students will be using to write

4. Expressive task

·  Clarify language objectives specifically

·  Post sentence frames and stems

·  Explain the prompt they’ll be given at the end of the lesson

·  Be specific

·  Refer back to the expressive task frequently

·  Have students keep all resources in binder for later use

·  Utilize agenda to record task and due date

5. Point out text structures and features

·  Deconstruct the language within text features

·  Have students think of and write down predictions

·  Utilize the pre-reading portions of the textbook

·  “Walk through” the section to find connections

·  Ask students to identify patterns in the text features

DURING READING

6a.Set and monitor purpose for reading

·  Go back to expressive and receptive task frequently

·  Celebrate when the students find the purpose

·  Add citations and quotes to posted tasks

·  QAR and reciprocal teaching

·  Return to “before reading” activities

·  Always pose open ended questions

6b. Self-checking for understanding

·  Model how a good reader thinks aloud

·  Direct Cornell note-taking throughout

·  Conduct Think Pair Shares at the end of paragraphs or sections

·  “Chunk” text into small pieces, stopping between paragraphs or sections to check for comprehension

·  Have students generate questions for review or prediction

·  Ask student how they know and have them cite passages

·  Refer to Bloom's taxonomy and the skills you need students to use

·  Create routines for self-checking that work in your classroom

·  Check more than you think you need to

6c. Fix up strategies

·  Model practices first, then release students to independence

·  Specifically suggest one strategy for students to practice on one section with your guidance

·  Demonstrate using glossaries and an electronic dictionary

·  Examine what students learned in surrounding sentences

·  Ask students to read the complex portion aloud to a partner

·  Review what students already know and the predictions they made

·  Break complicated sentences into smaller pieces

·  Narrow down the confusing portion to the most specific point

·  Re-read the passage and deconstruct it

·  Use a simpler text in order to scaffold students to standard text

·  Have students ask a partner to paraphrase the passage

·  Examine images, if they are available

·  Use background knowledge from other disciplines

·  Review before reading activities

·  Create margin notes to keep information in front of the reader

·  Use signal words to decode (however, though, therefore, finally)

7. Vocabulary step-asides

·  Point out cognates...what words mean the same thing in Spanish?

·  Use morphology...what root words are in the vocabulary? What other forms does this word take (history, historical, historian)?

·  Examine the sentence structure to figure out part of speech

·  Define Tier 1 and 2 vocabulary words outright

·  Refer back to HGO for Tier 3 vocabulary words

·  Scan the text in advance for other words necessary to define

·  Use examples or visuals that students can relate to

·  Get back on track after definitions

8. Outlining - levels of organization

·  Link Cornell notes to the thinking map with frame of reference

·  Multiple thinking maps may apply

·  Allow students to select the appropriate thinking map

·  Facilitate group work so that students can help each others’ analysis

AFTER READING

9. Structured language practice with functional language patterns

·  Use sentence frames

·  To build frames, create a question, answer it academically, and then remove words

·  Pull your sentence frames from the thinking map, using key words for the task and skill desired, and then fill in from the text

·  Make sure to differentiate for students who need more scaffolding

10. Graphic organizer for expressive task

·  Create an additional thinking map

·  Augment current thinking map or HGO with citations and quotes

·  Organize frames into paragraph

11. Content conversation linked to the expressive task

·  Make sure task and expectations are posted

·  Go over the rubric

·  Check for comprehension

·  Allow Think Pair Share time before writing begins

·  Have students refer to notes and HGOs frequently

12. Provide feedback to students

·  Evaluate and communicate students' strengths and weaknesses

·  Model and guide peer editing, author's chair, writer's workshops

·  Conduct conferences with individual students

·  Have class examine strong student work

·  Return to the “reason behind the reason”, other applications

·  Continue motivating students