Research-Based Strategies to Promote Higher Literacy

1. Research-Based Strategies to Promote Higher Literacy https://bit.ly/olsonUCTE Carol Booth Olson cbolson@uci.edu Utah Council of Teachers of English November 9, 2018

3. https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/b7/5f/b75fba81-16cb-422d-ab59-373a6a07eb74/ccny_report_2004_reading.pdfhttps://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/b7/5f/b75fba81-16cb-422d-ab59-373a6a07eb74/ccny_report_2004_reading.pdf

4. https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/3c/f5/3cf58727-34f4-4140-a014-723a00ac56f7/ccny_report_2007_writing.pdfhttps://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/3c/f5/3cf58727-34f4-4140-a014-723a00ac56f7/ccny_report_2007_writing.pdf

5. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/writing_pg_062612.pdfhttps://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/writing_pg_062612.pdf

6. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_secondary_writing_110116.pdfhttps://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_secondary_writing_110116.pdf

8. RESEARCH IDENTIFIES THESE BEST PRACTICES • Create a community of learners • Implement strategy instruction • Connect reading and writing, model with mentor texts, scaffold instruction to lessen constraints on readers and writers • Offer frequent opportunities to write and practice different text types • Provide explicit vocabulary instruction • Administer formative assessments to inform instruction

9. CREATE A COMMUNITY OF LEARNERS Number one recommendation of the research community: “Create a classroom culture that nurtures literacy motivation by integrating choice, collaboration, and relevance in literacy tasks” to develop an engaged community of writers. Gambrell et al., (2015)

10. “Students need both the skill and the will to become confident and competent readers and writers.” Gambrell, Malloy & Mazzoni, 2007

11. Here is one activity to create community

13. My Hair By: Mary Widtmann The best part of me is my hair. It is red. It is curly. It is WILD! It has its own personality! Sometimes it is my best friend. The curls go to the right place at the right time and the color compliments my eyes. It makes a perfect first impression that helps me stand out from others. With it as a friend, I am memorable and look my best. Other times it is NOT my friend. It curls and frizzes in unexpected places. It can also be thin and flat with weird straight parts hanging down. On those unfriendly days, it is memorable and is the definition of a bad hair day. It is independent, creative, and very impulsive. Like living with a precocious child, every day is a surprise! Whether its being fun, curly, and sassy or a hurricane out to destroy my image, My hair is the best part of me. It is what makes me, Mary.

14. Building Community: Another IdeasName Activity

15. Coat of Arms If my name were an animal, it would be sloth because I am very lethargic. If my name were a plant, it would be maple tree because of my reminiscence of childhood in Canada. If my name were a song it would be immigrant song because of how the song describes lands like all the unknown that I fear.

17. With an elbow partner, please share one activity that you use to build community.

18. IMPLEMENT STRATEGY INSTRUCTION Graham & Perin (2007) indicate that strategy instruction is the most effective of eleven elements of writing instruction. “Teaching students cognitive strategies is a way to develop students’ strategic thinking skills, ultimately helping them to write more effectively.”

19. “Numerous reports from blue ribbon panels implicate poor understandings of cognitive strategies as the primary reason why adolescents struggle with reading and writing.” Mark Conley, 2008

20. Tool Kit

22. Strategy Instruction “Virtually all recommendations coming out of the research on fostering cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies emphasize the importance of beginning with teacher-led explicit instruction, followed by a gradual release of responsibility to the students themselves.” Linda Baker 2008

23. One way to Teach and Model Strategy Use Think-Aloud Teachers have translated Think-Aloud research to classroom practice by modeling their own process of meaning construction in front of their students, verbally articulating their internal thoughts out loud during the act of reading or writing. The goal is to make the cognitive strategy use visible to students. Kucan & Beck, 1997

24. Haiti: Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel by Leonard Pitts Jr./Syndicated columnist So, Pitts is personifying nature. Sometimes, the earth is cruel. That is ultimately the fundamental lesson here, as children wail, families sleep out of doors, and the dead lie unclaimed in the rubble that once was Port-au-Prince. I remember this

25. Sometimes the rains fall and will not stop. Sometimes the skies turn barren and will not rain. Sometimes the seas rise and smack the shoreline like a fist. Sometimes the wind bullies the land. And sometimes, the land rattles and heaves and splits itself in two. Wow! I can really picture this and even feel it because of the strong verbs.

26. Sometimes the earth is cruel. I think the repetition makes us feel like we’re being hit hard again and again.

27. Haiti: Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel by Leonard Pitts Jr./Syndicated columnist So, Pitts is personifying nature. (AAC) Sometimes, the earth is cruel. That is ultimately the fundamental lesson here, as children wail, families sleep out of doors, and the dead lie unclaimed in the rubble that once was Port-au-Prince. I remember this. (TPK)

28. Sometimes the rains fall and will not stop. Sometimes the skies turn barren and will not rain. Sometimes the seas rise and smack the shoreline like a fist. Sometimes the wind bullies the land. And sometimes, the land rattles and heaves and splits itself in two. Wow! I can really picture this and even feel it because of the strong verbs. (V)

29. Sometimes the earth is cruel. I think the repetition makes us feel like we’re being hit hard again. (FI)

30. Now, you try with the next two chucks of text. • Reader #1 reads section 2 and thinks aloud. Listener identifies their cognitive strategy use. • Reader #2 reads Section 3 aloud. Listener identifies cognitive strategy use.

31. Cognitive Strategies

32. Writing Planning and Goal Setting Strategy: Do/What Chart Writing Directions After reading “Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel,” select one important theme to write an essay about. Create a theme statement which expresses the author’s main point, lesson, or message in the article. Your theme statement will be the thesis of your essay-the claim you make about the writer’s message or main idea. As you develop the main body of your essay: • Discuss Pitt’s description of the Haitian people’s actions after the earthquake • Analyze the language Pitts uses to describe nature and the relationship between the Haitian people and nature (including similies, metaphors, symbols, personification, or other figurative language) • Discuss Pitt’s response to the way the Haitian people deal with their tragedy In your conclusion: • Explore Pitt’s purpose in writing “Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel.” • Revisit the message he wants his readers to take way from reading his articles. Explain why it is especially significant.

35. Connect Reading and Writing

36. One way to connect reading and writing is through Book Clubs Book Club Research Findings: • Increasingly focused and expert-like conversations • Students were pushed to think critically • Students constructed meaning collaboratively • Culturally and linguistically diverse students flourished • Command of vocabulary increased • Students become more aware of cognitive strategies they were using • Kong &Pearsin, 2003

37. Shelfies from Marianne Stewart’s 8th Grade Classroom

41. Recipe for “Eleven” 1. Start with base of 10 birthdays of excitement 2. Add: 1 lost red sweater A pinch of cruel classmate 1 teacher who won’t listen 3. Sift to combine ingredients 4. Cut in socially imposed role 5. Mix in tears of a 3 year old 6. Pour into a middle school classroom 7. Chill until set 8. Divide into miserable minutes and bake in embarrassed shame 9. Yields one sad short story and bitter 11th birthday

42. Model with Mentor Texts “The study of models provides adolescents with good models for each type of writing that is the focus of instruction students are encouraged to analyze those examples and to emulate the critical elements, patterns, and forms embodied in the models in their own writing.” Graham & Perin, 2007

43. One modeling activity: Copy-Change for Stylistic Imitation “We imitate not so much to be like someone else as to learn what he/she has already learned. When we know enough about how a poem is made, we are free to put our own stamp on things.” Dunning & Stafford, 1997

45. Scaffold Instruction to Lessen Constraints Scaffolding is the “tutorial assistance” provided by a more skilled language user to make challenging academic tasks more manageable by providing examples of what is expected, guided steps, structure and routines, tools, and frequent opportunities to practice to help the more novice learner succeed in undertaking complex tasks he or she would have difficulty accomplishing independently without support. Bruner, 1928 Langer and Applebee, 1986

46. Topic vs. ThemeWorksheet • Example: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry • Topic – Growing up • Theme — Part of growing up is learning when to choose your battles. • There can be multiple topics and themes of a work of fiction or nonfiction.

47. “Overcomer” by Mandisa

48. “Overcomer” by Mandisa

49. Possible Topic Words

50. Provide Explicit Vocabulary Instruction “Of the many compelling reasons for providing students with instruction to build vocabulary, none is more important than the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to reading instruction.” National Reading Panel, 2000