Reading First Action Seminar Los Angeles Unified Schools February 2005

1. Reading First Action Seminar Los Angeles Unified Schools February 2005

2. It’s not the I.Q., but the I WILL that is important in education.-anonymous

3. A Quick Review • Support networks and collegial groups keep us thinking about improving our work! • We can’t evaluate what we do not know. • When we hear incorrect information, we have to be willing to have the discussion! • The road to improved student achievement is through adult learning. • Fail to plan….Plan to fail!

4. Objectives and Outcomes: • Determine how analysis of student of writing can be used to inform teaching decisions. • Identify how the lesson design of Open Court contributes to the schema necessary for quality writing.

5. Follow-up Conversation: Vocabulary cas·ti·ga·tion n. Criticism or punishment delivered in a severe manner (formal)

6. Follow-up Conversation: Vocabulary • 1. What evidence did you see of robust vocabulary instruction and development at your school? • 2. How did you use the information provided in the last professional development? • 3. What correlations are there between your SOAR data and your responses to the previous questions? Share the data collected, evidence seen, and the actions taken since the last seminar. Colleagues will give constructive feedback.

9. Insert LD writing data disaggregated by ethnicity.

10. Insert LD writing data disaggregated by language proficiency.

11. Examining School Site Writing Data 1. Examine your Grade 3 writing data. 2. Discuss with your school team: What observations can you make? • What are the implications for instruction?

12. A Closer Look at Writing Instruction • During your classroom observations, what evidence do you have that writing instruction is taking place daily? • What is the evidence that teachers understand the connection between the core components of OCR and writing instruction?

13. What does it take to write? • Turn to the graphic organizer (Handout page 8). • Describe the function and parts of a carburetor. • You have 3 minutes to begin your prewrite. Go! What do you need to know to write about this subject?

14. The goal of a carburetor is to mix just the right amount of gasoline with air so that the engine runs properly. If there is not enough fuel mixed with the air, the engine “runs lean” and either will not run or potentially damages the engine. If there is too much fuel mixed with the air, the engine “runs rich” and either will not run (it floods), runs smoky, runs poorly (bogs down, stalls easily) or at the very least wastes fuel. The carb is in charge of getting the mixture just right.

15. A carburetor is essentially a tube. There is an adjustable plate across the tube called the throttle plate that controls how much air can flow through the tube. At some point in the tube there is a narrowing, called the venturi, and in this narrowing a vacuum is created.

16. In this narrowing there is a hole, called a jet, that lets the vacuum draw in fuel.

18. Please read… The excerpt from Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom By Katie Wood Ray Please afford others the gift of silence.

19. Compare and Contrast Inexperienced writers Experienced writers

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

21. Tonight’s Objectives: • Determine how analysis of student of writing can be used to inform teaching decisions. • Identify how the lesson design of Open Court contributes to the schema necessary for quality writing.

22. What are the traits of good writing? • In order to better answer this question, think about the following: • a novel you have enjoyed • the newspaper you read this morning • an email communication shared • a great article you have studied • Then, list traits common to good writing.

23. Activity #1 • Read Sample A of student writing, focusing on content and applications. • Identify strengths and weaknesses of the writing. • Be prepared to report your findings.

24. Activity #2 • Read Sample B of student writing, focusing on content and applications. • Identify strengths and weaknesses of the writing. • Be prepared to report your findings.

25. Focusing on content and applications, what is it going to take for this student and others like him to become proficient writers?

26. Tonight’s Objectives: • Determine how analysis of student of writing can be used to inform teaching decisions. • Identify how the lesson design of Open Court contributes to the schema necessary for quality writing. ( ) = Quality Writing Instruction Knowledge of the Standards Writing Process + Conceptual Development + Genre

27. Unit Opener Inquiry Journal Concept/Question Board Build Background Preview and Prepare Phonics/Fluency Word Knowledge (2002) Developing Oral Language Selection Vocabulary Comprehension Skills Discussing the Selection Theme Connections (small group discussion) Concept/Question Board Exploring the Theme Inquiry Journal Concept/Question Board What are the OCR ingredients that contribute to the knowledge base necessary for quality writing?

28. Taking a Closer Look How does the City Wildlife unit opener contribute to the schema necessary for quality writing ?

30. Activity #3 • Read the schema map for City Wildlife. • Learning Goals • Selection Concepts • 2. Highlight conceptual knowledge and vocabulary that would support the student writing. • What key concepts and vocabulary taught in the City Wildlife unit will enhance student writing?

31. Activity #3, cont. • Read the Unit Overview page on the Unit Opener. Page numbers:

32. Think Aloud Model • Let’s look at the Unit Opener • What knowledge base (schema) do my students need about ____ to enhance their writing? • What vocabulary do I want to preteach? • What concepts can I illustrate that will support the theme? • What literature, activities, and realia will help activate prior knowledge and build background?

33. Unit Opener: City Wildlife Realia: bird nest, insects, plants in a pot, pictures (pet vs. wild animals) Vocabulary: habitat, survive, adapt, pet (domestic), wildlife Activities: nature walk with observation journal, read aloud Resources: Wild in the City by Jan Thornhill, When the Pigs Took Over by Arthur Dorros, internet sites, Thinking Maps®

34. Activity #4What are the OCR ingredients that contribute to the knowledge base necessary for quality writing? • Divide OCR components equally amongst colleagues. • Read the lesson. • Determine how each component will contribute to students’ schema necessary for quality writing. • Record you answers on a puzzle piece. • Be specific. • Share with your colleagues and build your puzzle on the chart paper.

35. Think-Write-Pair-Share Several OCR components contribute to the schema necessary for quality writing. What discoveries did you make about this statement? Individually, quick-write. (3 minutes) At the cue, find a partner to discuss your responses with, noting similarities and differences. (4 minutes total) You will be invited to share publicly. (3 minutes)

36. Do these C/Q Boards build schema?

37. How does this vocabulary evidence add to students’ schema?

38. Content Standards and Instructional Practices: Kindergarten - Grade 3 Read the Overview from page 26 and 27 of the Reading/Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools (provided in your participant packet). “Of particular interest here are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. The first five involve content (rather than spelling and mechanics) and directly address aspects of decontextualized communication that many students find challenging.” - page 26

39. Activity #5What evidence of conceptual knowledge do you find in your students’ writing? • Look at the samples of student writing you brought with you. • As you read the work, discuss as a team:  What do we notice?  What tend to be strengths?  What tend to be challenges?  Which students look well on their way and which students need more instruction? • What area do we want to focus on first? • What are the implications for professional development?

40. Writing Objectives S = Specific M = Measurable A = Actionable R = Realistic T = Time-bound

41. Fuzzy Objective “Our objective is to improve student achievement.”

42. “By June, 90% of our Kindergarten students will be at or above grade level in phonemic awareness (as measured by the Kindergarten End-of-the-Year assessment) through all of our Kindergarten teachers meeting regularly to plan phonemic awareness lessons, practice teaching, and gain feedback from each other.” S•M•A•R•T Objective

43. Effective Objectives Addresses, or aligns with, the current situation Objective is SMART Reaching objective will have a significant impact on success at your site

44. Action Plan

45. An Opportunity to Share • Pair up with another school team. • Share your action plan. • Team A Team B (7 minutes) • Team B Team A (7 minutes)

46. Reminders!

47. Improving Student Writing Students must be challenged to do the deep thinking that leads to works like those of Toni Morrison and Isabelle Allende and Kurt Vonnegut and Daisaku Ikeda and Shakespeare and J. K. Rowling, Emerson, Tolstoy, Pushkin.  They were thinkers first.  We’ve got to push thinking as the measure of writing capacity just as we push phonemic awareness, automaticity, and fluency before comprehension. -Alta Ray former reporter for LIFE magazine Expert, Elementary Literacy