The Foundation of the Curriculum Danielle Harris August 13, 2008

1. Rituals and Routines of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern The Foundation of the Curriculum Danielle Harris August 13, 2008

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3. WELCOME • Please write your name and your school on your name tent • Take a moment to introduce (or reintroduce) yourselves to the rest of the members of your table so that we can work as a community of learners today.

4. Goals for this Session • Review each section of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern • Engage in a series of lessons using the DL Pattern to identify: • How each of the sections of the pattern provide varying levels of support and build on each other • The different learning goals addressed by each of the sections of the pattern • How scaffolded tasks “open up” the text and how use of a difficult text can extend readers’ range and depth • Reflect on instruction • Discuss the roles of teachers and students within the pattern • Share some experiences with the pattern • Consider challenges and benefits

5. Instructional Design of DL Units • Reading, writing, thinking, and talking are interrelated processes • Rereading and rewriting/revising are fundamental • Language use and language choices, including grammatical choices, need to be explicitly highlighted and discussed • Scaffolding and formative assessment are built into the lessons to support all learners, including English learners, and those acquiring academic literacy skills • Questions are a central scaffold • Discussion is an essential part of rigorous and relevant intellectual work • Learning as apprenticeship invites students to act and be treated as members of a community of practice • “Getting Smarter” is a social process, a byproduct of shared experiences, discussion, and reflection

6. Core Principles of the DL Pattern • Students learn core concepts and habits of thinking within each discipline as defined by standards. • Learning activities, curricula, tasks, text, and talk apprentice students within the discipline. • Teachers apprentice students by giving them opportunities to engage in rigorous disciplinary activityand providingscaffolding through inquiry, direct instruction, models, and coaching. • Intelligence is socialized through community, class learning culture and instructional routines. • Instruction is assessment-driven.

7. The DL Pattern • The ELA Core Curriculum Units across Grades 6-12 share a common, consistent, repeated pattern of instruction. • Frequently during this pattern a “Step Back” and/or “Retrospective” occurs to encourage students to either examine, metacognitively, the learning that has occurred, or to tie it retrospectively to previous learning.

8. Read to get the gist Reread to find significant moments Read again to interpret the ideas in the text Read again differently to analyze the author’s methods Write to learn: know, express, and track thinking Write to learn: select and explain ideas; reflect on writing and thinking Write and talk to develop interpretation of ideas WriteLike - Write like the text and in imitation of an author’s syntax and grammatical structures DL Patterned Way of Reading, Writing, and Talking Write and Talk to demonstrate understanding of ideas and genre.

9. Read to Get the “Gist”Comprehension level work • Students read for comprehension or “gist” • Students write in response to open-ended comprehension questions first individuallyin their Reader’s/Writer’s Notebooks • Students pair/trio share their thinking • Then there is a whole group discussion with the teacher charting responses • The chart becomes an artifact of the learning and a scaffold for further work with the text.

10. Reread for SignificanceInterpretive/Inferential Work • Students reread/scan all or part of the text in order to pull lines that are of particular significance. • Significance is sometimes determined by the students by the impact the text had on him/her, or by the teacher to focus on a particular literary element or aspect of the author’s craft. • Students write the line and an explanation of its significance on a T-chart in their R/W Notebooks. • Students then share with a partner or small gorup before participating in whole class discussion • This work should also be charted and used later as an artifact • This is interpretive/inferential work where connections are made within and between texts as well as to prior knowledge.

11. Read Again to Interpret Ideas in the Text • Students here are given an open-ended writing prompt. This is referred to as a “Write About.” • At this point, “rereading” may simply be returning to the text to find support for one’s claims. • Students write to make and support claims for use in the Inquiry-Based Discussion which follows. • The progression here from individual and paired work moves to a more defined discussion model within protocols set by the class to assure accountability.

12. Read Again to Analyze the Author’s Methods • Students look at the text again for a new purpose. This time, they are analyzing a particular aspect of the writer’s craft/technique. • This may include stylistic, grammatical, or structural nuances. • Students may be asked to pull lines that exemplify the writer’s use of this technique and then critically evaluate the effect on the reader and text. • Students at this stage are often asked to use, or mimic the author’s use of the technique in a writing exercise of their own referred to as a “Write Like.”

13. Assessments Formative Assessment (which informs our understanding of where students are and what we need to do next with them, individually or in small/whole group) occurs at all stages in the pattern. • Over the shoulder observations of skills, deficits, interests, and approaches/patterns as the teacher circulates through independent and pair share activities • Through careful listening of what students say during group discussions • By reading their writing in the Reader/Writer Notebooks and more formal writing pieces • In addition, 4Sight and Core Curriculum Benchmarks also provide formative assessment: 4Sight using the measure of end of the year competencies on PSSA; Core Curriculum Benchmarks on the Eligible Content covered in a given section of the Core Curriculum. This information should be used to guide the teacher in her use/addition of scaffolds, models, additional practice, additional teacher support, and extended learning opportunities

14. Assessments Summative Assessments, which measure student gains at the end of a given arc of instruction include: • Culminating Projects that complete each unit • Final drafts of writing assignments • Selection assessments

15. Model Lesson Using the DL Pattern The Narrative: Perspectives on Relationships Study an Excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks

16. Chart Characteristics of a Narrative What do you already know about narrative?

17. Turn and Talk Turn to a colleague and briefly discuss the following: • What makes a narrative interesting to readers? Again, cite examples when possible. Take notes to help you in the whole group discussion

18. Chart: What Makes a Narrative Interesting to Readers?

19. Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black • As a girl growing up in a family that includes five sisters, I am amazed that our experiences were often incredibly different even though we were in the same household. Our memories reflect those differences. • Bone Black, Memories of Girlhood is my story. An unconventional memoir, it draws together the experiences, dreams, and fantasies that most preoccupied me as a girl. I share my secret world--the various names I created, for example (calling my grandmother Saru in my imagination because it was better than her real name, Sarah.)

20. Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black • This is autobiography as truth and myth--as poetic witness. That rebellious writer of the Beat generation Jack Kerouac always declared “memories are inseparable from dreams.” In Bone Black, I gather together the dreams, fantasies, experiences that preoccupied me as a girl, that stay with me in all my work. Without telling everything that happened, they document all that remains most vivid. hooks, b. (1996). Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood. Henry Holt and Co.: New York. xi-xv, foreword

21. Read to Get the Gist Excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks Follow along as I read the excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks. I will stop at a few points in the story and ask the following questions: • What is happening here? • Who are the characters? • What do you know about them? How do you know?

22. Second Reading: • Reread for Significance • Same excerpt of Bone Black by Bell Hooks

23. Reread for Significance • Reread through the selection again to individually identify two moments/sentences/phrases that strike you as most significant to the text. • Make a two-column note chart in your Reader's/Writer's Notebook to record the moments/sentences/phrases you selected. Write the significant moments in the left column of your chart. Then, across from each, do a Quick Write to explain the significance of each moment to Hooks’ narrative. • When you are finished, share your significant moments with another person by explaining why these are the most significant. Be prepared to share your moments and explanations with the whole group.

24. Model of the Significant Moment and Explanation Significant Moment Explanation It is my turn to iron. I can These two sentences, do nothing right. positioned at the beginning of paragraph three are the first time that bell hooks uses “I” rather than “we.” There is a noticeable shift in the narrative from family actions and emotions to how hooks feels as an individual about herself……

25. StepBack • How did identifying and explaining the significant moments further your understanding of the narrative? • What did you learn from sharing and explaining your significant moments with a colleague?

26. Third Reading: • Reread Again, WriteAbout, and Engage in an Inquiry-based Discussion • Develop Your Interpretation of the Narrative

27. Inquiry-based Discussion In an inquiry-based discussion, readers discuss their responses to an interpretive question about a text(s). An interpretive question stems from a genuine inquiry about a text, is thought provoking, and can sustain multiple and varied responses supported by textual evidence. The purposes of the discussion are to help readers to: • “try out” their answers and explanations anchored with specific moments from the text; • accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text (not about reaching consensus or proclaiming a winner); • rethink what they think about the text; and • understand that readers can have different valid interpretations of the same text.

28. Start of Inquiry-based Discussion • Reread/Review the chapter • Then, in your Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook, individually write a response to this question (about 3 minutes) – Why does Bell Hooks burn herself? • Then, discuss your ideas with a partner. • Be prepared to share your ideas with the whole group.

29. Whole Group Inquiry-based Discussion Why does Bell Hooks burn herself? • Cite your written response in our discussion. • Listen for different interpretations of our question.

30. Wrap up Inquiry-based Discussion • Take a minute to add any new information or modifications to your response. Then, please answer the following questions: • As a result of our discussion, did your response change? If so, how? • What are your lingering questions about Bell Hooks’ chapter and why are they unresolved?

31. StepBack: Reflect on Inquiry-based Discussion 1. What did you learn about the text’s meaning? 2. Task, Text, and Talk – What do you see as the relationship among the task (Quick Write on the guiding question); the text (the chapter from Bone Black); and the talk (the discussion you had with your colleagues and with the whole group)? – How did the text, task, and talk work together to promote this level of discussion? 3. What did you learn about participating in an inquiry based discussion?

32. Analyzing the Design of the Inquiry-based Discussion What did you notice? What intended learning did each support? • Selection of the text • Choice and development of questions • Role of the facilitator • Routines: moving impetus for talk from teacher to students (talk stems, wait time, physical space, etc.) • Activities to support talk (writing before, partner work, wait time, etc.)

33. Fourth Reading: • Examining the Author’s Craft • Deepen our understanding of what makes a narrative interesting to readers

34. Adding to Chart: • What Makes a Narrative Interesting to Readers? • What did Bell Hooks do in this chapter that made you want to keep reading? • What do we add to our chart, “What makes a narrative interesting to readers”?

35. Questions, Comments, Concerns? Have a great year!

36. The Core Curriculum Embedded Vocabulary Revisions Janine Fiorina Cody • District In-Service • August 2008

37. Today’s Objectives Examine the rationale behind the new vocabulary work in the revised units Practice instructional strategies for Rich Vocabulary Instruction Reflect upon the implications for our practice in the classroom in the upcoming school year

38. The Vocabulary Reading Proficiency ConnectionWhat we’ve been aware of for years • First-grade children from higher-SES groups knew about twice as many words as lower SES children (Graves, Brunetti, & Slater, 1982; Graves & Slater, 1987). • High school seniors near the top of their class knew about four times as many words as their lower-performing classmates (Smith, 1941). • High-knowledge third graders had vocabularies about equal to lowest-performing 12th graders (Smith 1941).

39. Walking in Their Shoes • Most readers are able to tolerate a certain number of unknown words and still make meaning using context. For example: • Alana and Toya arrived at the party at 7:00. Alana talked to everyone and danced for hours, but the evening dragged for Toya who spent most of her time sitting alone. “I wish I was as gregarious as Alana,” she thought.

40. Walking in Their Shoes • But sometimes context is not enough.Consider this example from Beck: “Beth couldn’t decide where to go for vacation, but she knew that she wanted to be free from the brumal landscape.”

41. Test • Where might Beth choose to go for her vacation? A. Someplace warm B. Somewhere cool C. To the country D. To the city

42. Test 2. As it is used in the passage, what would be a synonym for brumal? A. Rural B. Tropical C. Mountainous D. Frozen

43. What Cognitive Science has since revealed to help us design vocabulary instruction Your Working Memory can be used up in one of two ways while reading: • Figuring out the meaning of the words • Comprehending the text Strong readers have 10’s of thousands of words from prior knowledge stored for immediate retrieval in Long Term Memory. It happens in milliseconds, automatically. Weak readers use working memory to figure out words, not meaning.

44. What Do We Do With This Knowledge? • Move them from processing words to retrieving stored words. • Build up their storehouse of words and make retrieval automatic.

45. Practice Makes Permanent!

46. RICH VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION By rich vocabulary we mean instructional techniques “…designed to provide explicit explanations of word meanings, multiple exposures to word meanings and uses, and opportunities for students to interact with word meanings by discussing uses for them, making decisions about whether a word fits a context, and the like (Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2008).”

47. How large is this Task? • Strong readers read approximately 1 million words of text per year • These words were organized into 88,500 “families” or groups of related words (Ex. introduce, introduction, reintroduce, and introducing) • Half of these are so rare that even avid readers might only encounter them once in lifetime • Based on this (an some other crazy math), they figured there are 15,000 word “families” that would be encountered more than once every 10 years. • The average 3rd grader knows about 8,000 leaving approximately 7,000 word “families” at the Tier Two level to be introduced between 3rd and 12th grade.

48. So I know what you are thinking… • That would mean I was suggesting that we teach 700 words a year • Most research suggests 400 as an optimal number. • Still a bit high?? • Typical units of study • Unusual units of study • Not including new habits of speaking and Accountable Talk that happen in your classrooms

49. Tier One Words • are considered the basic of words--baby, clock, happy, etc. • are words that students are expected to or will generally pick up in everyday language acquisition and therefore are not expected to be taught.

50. Tier Three Words • are ones whose frequency of use is quite low and are often limited to certain domains--what we might call jargon--isotope, lathe, peninsula, etc. • would not be “of high utility” for most students. • are best learned when the need arises.