William and Mary Language Arts Curriculum for High-ability Learners

1. William and Mary Language Arts CurriculumforHigh-ability Learners Seaford School District Seaford, Delaware November 7, 2012 Presentation by Dr. Kimberley L. Chandler Curriculum Director Center for Gifted Education The College of William and Mary klchan@wm.edu 757-221-2588

2. Language Arts Units

3. Agenda • Introduction/Curriculum Framework • Concept of Change • Constructing Meaning Through Literature • Persuasive Writing • Reasoning • Research • Vocabulary and Word Study • Implementation Considerations • Questions • Work/Planning Time

4. Learner Needs What is taught Curriculum Assessment Instruction How it is delivered What is learned

5. The Integrated Curriculum Model Process-Product Dimension Advanced Content Dimension Issues/Themes Dimension - VanTassel-Baska, 1986

6. Learner Characteristics and Corresponding Emphases in the Curriculum THE LEARNER Precocity (Advanced development in some curricular area) Intensity (Capacity to focus and concentrate for long periods of time) Complexity (Can engage in high level and abstract thinking) THE CURRICULUM Advanced content (Provides opportunities for new learning) Process/product depth considerations (Enhances engagement and creative production; allows utilization of information in a generative way ) Issues/concepts/themes/ideas across domains of learning (Allows students to make connections across areas of study and to work at a level of deep understanding) 6

7. Language Arts Curriculum Framework The Literature Concept Process Understanding Change Using the Reasoning Process Content Literary Analysis and Interpretation Learning Language Arts Content and Skills Linguistic Competency Oral Communication Persuasive Writing

8. Language Arts Curriculum Goals • To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature • To develop persuasive writing skills • To develop linguistic competency • To develop listening/oral communication skills • To develop reasoning skills in LA • To understand the concept of change in the LA

9. Language Arts Units • Beyond Words (gr. 1-2) • Journeys and Destinations (gr. 2-3) • Literary Reflections (gr. 4-5) • Patterns of Change (gr. 4-6) • Autobiographies and Memoirs (gr. 5-6) • Persuasion (gr. 6-7) • The 1940s: A Decade of Change (gr. 7-9) • Utopia: Man’s Changing Ideas of the Ideal (gr. 7-9) • Threads of Change in 19th Century American Literature (gr. 8-10) • Change Through Choices (gr. 10-12)

10. Concept Development Model Literature Web Hamburger Model Dagwood Model Reasoning Model Research Model Vocabulary Web Research-BasedLA Teaching Models

11. Assessment of Learning Outcomes • Pre- and post-assessments for literary analysis and interpretation, persuasive writing, and grammar • Portfolio of writing assignments, literature and vocabulary webs, other work • Research project and oral presentation • Response journal • Unit evaluation

12. Grading Considerations • Assessing student growth • Portfolio materials (persuasive writing; literary analysis) • Research project and oral presentation • Response journal • Homework

13. Major Findings - Language Arts • Significant and important treatment effects for literary analysis and interpretation and for persuasive writing • No significant gender effects • Student performance showed that additional attention was needed to enhance higher-level thinking and elaboration skills. • Students were able to improve significantly after unit instruction regardless of the grouping model employed. • Students enhanced their learning each time they were exposed to the units and maintained their level of achievement between interventions across the years.

14. Concept Development

15. Sample Social Science Concepts

16. Concepts from The Syntopicon Aristocracy Honor Progress Astronomy Immortality Reasoning Beauty Infinity Religion BeingJudgment Revolution Cause Justice Rhetoric Chance Knowledge Science Change Labor Sense Citizen Language Signs and Symbols Courage Law Sin Custom And Convention Liberty Soul Democracy Life and Death Space Desire Logic State Dialectic Love Temperance Duty Matter Theology Emotion Metaphysics Time Eternity Mind Truth Evolution Monarchy Tyranny Family Nature Virtue and Vice Fate Necessity and Contingency Wealth Form Oligarchy Will Good and Evil One and Many Wisdom Happiness Pleasure and Pain World Adler, M.J. (1952). The great ideas: A syntopicon of great books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

17. Concept of Change • Cite examples. • Categorize. • Cite non-examples. • Generalize.

18. Generalizations About Change • Change is everywhere. • Change is linked to time. • Change may be positive or negative. • Change may be perceived as orderly or random. • Change may happen naturally or be caused by people.

19. Change Generalizations and Outcomes

20. Change may happen naturally or be caused by people. Change may be perceived as orderly or random. Change may be positive or negative. Change is linked to time. Change is everywhere. Change Model CHANGE

21. Change: Beyond WordsWrite or draw pictures to show examples of change.

22. Change Matrix: Journeys and Destinations

23. A class-generated generalization: Sometimes we make plans and things change!

24. Jodi lets go of her dad and the cat. The stairs rotting and the cat dying show that change is everywhere. After time Jodi’s dad died. Change is linked to time. Jodi’s feelings were caused by people. Her dad died so she was scared. Change is everywhere. It was negative that their dad died. Change Ghost Cat Change can happen naturally or be caused by people. Change can be perceived as negative or positive. It was positive that the Ghost Cat came to Jodi to calm her down. Change can be orderly or random. Jodi’s dad dying was either. However he died, it was going to come sometime in his life. It seemed random when Mrs. Judson offered her husband to fix the front stoop too. When Jodi’s dad died, it might have been either. Jodi’s mother seemed to know that they had to move, it seemed orderly. Relating the change generalizations to literature:

25. Constructing Meaning Through Literature

26. Criteria for Selecting Unit Literature • Challenging for high-ability learners • Appropriate multicultural literature • Concept of change

27. Criteria for Selecting Literature for Gifted Readers • Rich, varied, precise, complex, exciting language • Open-ended, with capacity to inspire contemplative behavior • Complex, leading to interpretive and evaluative behaviors • Help build problem-solving skills • Role models • Broad-based in form Baskin & Harris, 1980

28. Considerations for Multicultural Literature • General accuracy • Avoidance of stereotypes • Authentic, up-to-date, age-appropriate language • Attention to author’s perspective • Currency of facts and interpretations • Concept of audience • Integration of cultural information • Balance and multidimensionality • Accurate and appropriate illustrations -- Miller-Lachman, 1992

29. Images/Symbols Key Words Structure Feelings Ideas READING Literature Web - Full Form

30. Key Words Symbols Feelings Images Ideas READING Literature Web - Primary

31. Literature Web • Key Words: What were some words and phrases that were especially interesting or important? What words were new to you? • Feelings: What feelings did you get reading the passage? What feelings did the characters have? How were those feelings expressed? • Ideas: What was the main idea? What other major ideas and concepts were important? What was the author trying to say about those ideas? • Images/Symbols: How did the author use description and imagery in the novel? What sensory images came to your mind? How did the author use symbols? • Structure: What type of writing was this? What literary and style elements did the author use? How did the structure of the writing contribute to the meaning of the novel? May identify such features as: use of unusual time sequence in narrative, use of voice, use of figurative language, etc.

32. Each day is a journey,a leaving home,over paths that windbetween rocks and bog.Behind each rockis a shadow;behind each shadow,a flower,or a wellspring,or a trembling rabbit,or an unfolding fern Only if you lookwill you find.Only if you leavewill you arrive.One step,then another,as day unrolls itselfalong the road toward night.And at evening,look who welcomes us Grandmother Moon,waiting in the doorway,the stars in her hands –to lead us safely home.Jane Yolen .Grandmother Moon

33. Building Textual Understanding Underlying Assumption: Discourse that promotes understanding needs direction, focus, and movement towards goal. • Marking (focusing) • Revoicing (repeating student ideas) • Turning back (textual or student-based) • Recapping (synthesizing) • Modeling (thinking aloud) • Annotating (providing information) - Beck & McKeown, 1996

34. Follow-Up Questions • What is a journey? What words or phrases can you use to describe a journey? • How is a journey like a day? What important characteristics of a day is the poet trying to emphasize by calling a day a journey? How are a day and a journey different? • What does the poet mean by the words “as day unrolls itself along the road toward night”? • How is traveling, or movement in a place or space, like living in time?

35. Assessment for Literary Analysis and Interpretation • Short reading selection (poem, short story, fable, essay) • Four short-answer questions assess analysis and interpretation through focus on main idea/central theme (2 questions), quote analysis, and explication of connection to unit concept. • Rubric rates responses on 0-8 scale per question, for total possible score of 32 points. • Pre- and post-assessments are drawn from same genre.

36. Resource Book • Writing about Literature: Step by Step by Patricia McKeague ISBN-10: 0757560296 ISBN-13: 978-0757560293

37. Online Resources Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/ Poem a day for American High Schools: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/ Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/ Shakespeare on the Web: http://www.bardweb.net/ Glossary of Poetic Terms: http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html Glossary of Literary Terms: http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm

38. Persuasive Writing

39. Reason Reason Reason Hamburger Model for Persuasive Writing(primary) Introduction (State an opinion.) Conclusion

40. Introduction (State an opinion.) Elaboration Elaboration Elaboration Elaboration Elaboration Elaboration Reason Reason Reason Conclusion Hamburger Model for Persuasive Writing

41. Claim/Opinion/Introduction Details Details Background Reason Other Points of View Elaboration Elaboration Reason Other Points of View Elaboration Elaboration Reason Other Points of View Elaboration Elaboration Conclusion Dagwood Model

42. Assessment for Persuasive Writing • Writing assessment follows literature assessment and discussion of selection. • Prompt asks students to argue for or against requiring the literature selection to be read. • Rubric rates claim (0-6 points), data (0-8 points), warrant/elaboration (0-8 points), and conclusion (0-6 points) for total possible score of 28 (based on Burkhalter, 1995).

43. Persuasive Writing Scoring Rubric Claim or Opinion • 0 No clear position exists on the writer’s assertion, preference, or view, and context does not help to clarify it. • 2 Yes/no alone or writer’s position is poorly formulated, but reader is reasonably sure what the paper is about based on context. • 4 Meets expectations: A clear topic sentence exists, and the reader is reasonably sure what the paper is about based on the strength of the topic sentence alone. • 6 Exceeds expectations: A very clear, concise position is given and position is elaborated with reference to reasons; multiple sentences are used to form the claim. Must include details that explain the context. Data or Supporting Points • 0 No reasons are offered that are relevant to the claim. • 2 One or two weak reasons are offered; the reasons are relevant to the claim. • 4 At least two strong reasons are offered that are relevant to the claim. • 6 Meets expectations: At least three reasons are offered that are relevant to the claim. • 8 Exceeds expectations: At least three reasons are offered that are also accurate, convincing, and distinct. Elaboration • 0 No elaboration is provided. • 2 An attempt is made to elaborate at least one reason. • 4 More than one reason is supported with relevant details. • 6 Meets expectations: Each reason (3) is supported with relevant information that is clearly connected to the claim. • 8 Exceeds expectations: The writer explains all reasons in a very effective, convincing, multi-paragraph structure. Conclusion • 0 No conclusion/closing sentence is provided. • 2 A conclusion/closing sentence is provided. • 4 Meets expectations: A conclusion is provided that revisits the main ideas. • 6 Exceeds expectations: A strong concluding paragraph is provided that revisits and summarizes main ideas.

44. Guiding Persuasive Writing • Share models or examples that highlight positive aspects of writing or missing elements. • Use color to mark varied parts of the writing, outlining key components. • Discuss areas for improvement within the examples. • Use the rubric as a class to assess models.

45. Online Resources • http://www.kellygallagher.org/ • http://www.edmodo.com/ • http://teentribune.com/

46. Reasoning

47. Purpose/ Goal Point of View Assumptions Evidence/ Data Issue/ Problem Inferences Concepts/ Ideas Implications/ Consequences Elements of Reasoning -- Paul, 1992

48. Simplifying Reasoning Terms • Assumption: beliefs, understandings, “taking for granted • Evidence: information, details, facts, experiences • Inference: conclusions, reasons to support point of view • Concept: ideas, main topics, what the assumptions are about • Implication: consequences, what might happen, what we would have to think about if…

49. Reasoning Applications • Issue analysis (academic, societal, school/personal) • Analysis of reading selections • Foundation for questioning • Review of sources • Persuasive writing • Assessment of writing • Research • Reading organizer

50. Influences on Points of View • Culture • Discipline • Religion • Profession • Gender • Peer Group • Economic Interest • Emotional State • Knowledge of the Event • Social Role • Experience • Age Group • Emotional Involvement