Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy

Vocabulary

2011-06-14T09:08:00.002-04:00

Today is the first day of final exams and I am amazed at how many words my students do not know the meaning of (studious, economical, just to name two). Next year I will be starting off with a vocabulary unit that will deal with words commonly encounted, but not part of the curriculum.

Summer Reading Project

2011-06-09T15:11:00.002-04:00

This is our second year to create a list of activities for our students to do over the summer. Instead of giving them a book list and saying "Read something!" We created a flier with suggestions like read to your younger siblings or cousins, check out a book on tape from the library and listen as a family when you are driving around this summer, watch a video based on a young adult book and we put a list of suggestions on the school website. We added blogging with the librarian or myself. We want them to let us know what they are reading this summer and what they would recommend.
Our Math Specialist added four Math Projects to the flier, calculating miles per gallon, comparison shopping, and we both put in some fun websites to visit.
I'm personally looking forward to the Joy of Children's Literacy Conference in October. Thanks SURN for all you do to keep us motivated!

Visualizing

2011-06-07T10:07:00.002-04:00

I have found that visualization has helped my students get through tough literature assignments. Completing graphic organizers, drawing pictures, and acting out scenes has enhanced student reading comprehension.

End of the year

2011-06-06T13:47:00.002-04:00

Power tools has definitely benefited my classroom. We just finished reading Lord of the Flies. I can tell that the strategies have made a difference in how they approach their reading and the corresponding assignments. They are making more connections to what they read, and their comprehension has increased. On my end, I have been able to slide different power tools into lessons with ease.

The Devil's Arithmetic AKA TDA

2011-06-03T10:24:00.003-04:00

As the year ends we are (in addition to reading TDA) watching the movie (based on TDA) that appears on Showtime each passover season. As it is quite different it allows for lively discussions about the similarities and differences. Plus it is a nice break after SOLs and before finals.

Year End Motivating Tips

2011-06-02T13:46:00.001-04:00

As the year ends, students tend to get off task easily. I am finding myself using Power Tools to keep students engaged in the learning process. Reader's Theater works wonders to help student understanding of the novel we are currently reading. The students are given a chapter; they write a script and choose the cast to do the reading from the class. This activity covers writing, reading comprehension and oral presentation SOLs (an added bonus, it's fun).

Antonyms Can be Fun

2011-06-01T08:42:00.001-04:00

Even though antonyms seem simple, some students get confused about what they are. There is this wonderful book that a friend gave to me called Surviving Last period on Fridays that is full of fun language activities. The antonym activity has the students look at antonyms that have no vowels or are separated (example: bgsmll = big/small ) and attempt to figure the words out. When they have finished working independently each student will think of five additional antonyms; leave out the vowels and move the letters together. The students will trade papers and solve the new puzzles made by their classmate.

Happy Feet

2011-05-31T13:14:00.002-04:00

As a way to stimulate creative writing this year, I am showing my students the cartoon Happy Feet and will have them write an alternative ending to the movie. So far we are just now in the viewing stage, and I cannot wait to see the different endings the students come up with. They are really getting into the music and story (this is the most involved I have seen them all year), I hope this means that the writing will reflect the enthusiastic involvement I am witnessing.

Picture Books for Figurative Language

2011-05-31T13:09:00.002-04:00

Thanks to SURN, I've been able to order at least five picture books for each of my Language Arts teachers. Each grade level will have a different set of books to illustrate hyperbole, idioms, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia, plus double duty for personification. Now we can avoid the complaint of "We did that one last year!" Each grade level will be able to teach and review figurative language with original material. Students' horizons will be broadened!

Planning For Next Year

2011-05-24T13:43:00.002-04:00

Last year the Math Specialist and I created a Handbook for all the teachers scheduled for Seminar classes. A Seminar might be enrichment or it might be remediation. For the first 4 1/2 weeks, the students went back to their homerooms for Seminar. We used that time for testing and placement. The Handbooks we created helped the teachers run through the school handbook, fire drills, daily procedures, study skills, etc. We included several Get-to-Know You activities including the Bio-Poem from Power Tools. The Handbook was well received.
As I edited the Handbook for 2011-12, I pulled out the iTune to Literacy notebook from last August. If you attended that session, a whole section was devoted to Getting to Know You activities. I've selected Getting to Know One Another - THE IMPORTANT BOOK, A Penny For Your Thoughts, Web of Knowledge, and Exit Tickets to include in our Handbook for this year.

Power Tools Help with Reviews

2011-05-18T12:15:00.002-04:00

The ABC Graffiti works wonders for reviews. After the alphabet has been filled in, the student writes in depth details about each word. The template can be projected onto a screen and the entire class can work together.

Let Katy Perry Help With Figurative Language

2011-05-04T09:48:00.002-04:00

One of my English teachers downloaded the words to Katy Perry's hit song FIREWORK. She then made copies for all her students. Every adolescent in the world is familiar with the song!
Giving them highlighters, they were challenged to find as many examples of figurative language as they could.
The song is brimming with metaphors, has some good similes and examples of onomatopoeia. It also has poetry elements like rhyming and repetition. Not to mention, what is the main idea and author's purpose?
The students have really enjoyed this activity, which, of course, can be done with other songs and hip artists. FIREWORK is clean as far as inappropriate language. Some of the other things I hear on the radio, not so much. Be selective.
B. Spencer

A Novel Approach

2011-04-26T13:06:00.002-04:00

Next week we will be starting our novel unit on The Devil's Arithmetic. The book contains many Yiddish words that most students are not familiar with. I am looking forward to using the vocabulary Power Tools in order to enhance student comprehension.

Preparing Students For the Reading SOL

2011-04-15T18:18:00.002-04:00

As I am beginning to prepare my 11th grade students for the English Reading SOL, I am thinking about everything I learned from the I-Tunes Literacy conference. I am trying to implement different strategies for helping my students become better readers. My seniors are taking the Reading SOL the day we get back from spring break--keep your fingers crossed that they keep in mind all that I have taught them this year!:)

Graphic Novels Help Student Comprehension

2011-04-11T08:10:00.003-04:00

After a rocky start, the graphic novel Romeo and Juliet has finally helped some of my struggling readers. At first the students complained that it was hard to follow the cartoons and dialogue. However, we are making progress with overall comprehension as they become more comfortable with the format.

CINDERELLA

2011-04-11T07:36:00.002-04:00

Looking for an activity that will incorporate all points of the Magnificent Seven? Collect from your library or public library all the Cinderella picture books you can lay your hands on. I have 15 different ones in my chalk tray right now. The Cinderella story is in almost any culture you can name. ( There are believed to be almost 300 versions) Her name is Sootface, Princess Furball, Ashpet, Rhodopis, Yeh-Shen, and even Becan, the Irish Cinderlad. I have my students read five from my collection. For each one, they fill in information about location, who helped them, who hindered them and the outcome. Then, they have to do a little research and write a couple of facts and opinions, they write descriptions of the Cinderella character using figurative language, write two cause and effect situations and they take two of the stories to compare and contrast. I will be reading aloud ASHPET- An Appalachian Tale and we will watch the video when we complete our readings. Most students can't stop at five and continue to read until everyone is done. (This takes about three days) If you would like a copy of my Cinderella Project, email me and I'll send it to you. Don't worry about the boys not liking the project, some verisons have the stepsisters slicing off toes and heels and birds pecking out their eyes!

Teaching Figurative Language With Picture Books

2011-04-04T14:29:00.002-04:00

Working with reluctant/struggling readers, using picture books to teach figurative language is a great help. For example, I read aloud THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT. It's a very easy picture book, but the examples of metaphors are priceless. "The elephant is a wall, the elephant is a fan, the elephant is a tree, etc." Each blind man has a different perception of the elephant. Other books I use include ANIMALIA for alliteration, NIGHT IN THE COUNTRY for onomatopoeia, IF YOU HOPPED LIKE A FROG for similies, EVEN MORE PARTS, for idioms, SWAMP ANGEL for hyperbole and CINDERELLA PENGUIN for personification. As our picture book collection grows, we have five or more books we can use for each figurative language lesson. One of our lists came from CRASH, BANG, BOOM: EXPLORING LITERARY DEVICES THROUGH CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. Sorry, I don't have the author for that. Brooks Spencer - CLMS

Third Quarter

2011-04-04T11:57:00.002-04:00

At last, the third quarter is coming to a close. My classes are finishing up their assessments and hopefully we will finish Romeo and Juliet in a couple of weeks. Even with the Power Tools, getting my students through this play has been excruciating.

2011-02-02T13:56:00.002-05:00

One of our 8th grade English teachers created the neatest bulletin board for the Winter Holiday. The title was Figurative Furs. She cut out and stapled four large, at least 4 ft "Christmas Tree" silhouettes. One Fur was the Metaphor Fur, one was the Simile Fur, the Personification Fur and the Hyperbole Fur. She gave each student four ornament shaped cutouts. Their assignment was to write a seasonal metaphor, simile, idiom and hyperbole, then decorate the cutout. The ornaments were then attached to the corresponding tree. It was so creative. I took all my classes down to look at and read their examples.
I'm currently putting up a Simile Snowman and a Metaphor Mountain outside my door. The students love to have their work up and admired by others.
Talking about rice, have you had your students go to Freerice.com? It was in our SOL Review Ideas for High Student Engagement. Thank you SURN! It is a lot of fun and addictive, too.
Brooks Spencer - Cedar Lee Middle School - Fauquier County

Rice Picture Book

2011-01-20T08:18:00.002-05:00

I was telling another teacher about the picture book about the grains of rice book....what was it called again???? I don't believe it was one we were given, and I think I want to order it!

Semester Ending

2011-01-20T08:14:00.002-05:00

As the semester is ending, I feel like I have not accomplished all that I had hoped to do....I have definitely made progress, but the juggling of responsibilities has left me wanting summer to arrive so I can plan better for next year!!

Julius Casear project

2011-01-20T08:04:00.002-05:00

Wow! I implemented the lesson plan I wrote and it was exciting to see the students so engaged!! I had a crime scene investigation and even with interuptions (due to snow days), the students were loving reading real world texts about blood splatters, studing scenes to find out facts about suspects, etc! It created really strong interest and desire to get into Act 3!!

School wide focus

2011-01-20T08:01:00.002-05:00

Due to a school wide focus on improving test scores, I have been totally amazed at faculty meetings hearing other core content areas joining in the literacy focus and supporting reading instruction! It is very encouraging and I sincerely hope that all our classes will begin to implement the Magnificent Seven!

Passport Project

2011-01-07T08:10:00.005-05:00

I wanted to expose my students to a larger selection of myths and legends. Therefore, I created a project where they could use selected sites on the internet to explore myths and legends from different countries. The students have to select five different stories from five different countries. They have to create a stamp representing the country and the story, rate the story out of four stars, summarize the story, and evaluate what makes it a myth or legend and how they liked the story. Through this project, they will be using the Magnificent Seven Comprehension strategies we have worked such as determining important ideas and summarizing!
The students are currently looking through stories on the laptops and will have two weeks to complete the project. I created a document that allows them to input the information they find and save it to their account. I hope they are going to read way more than five stories. I'm honestly hoping that they will go "story shopping" and read until there are five that they actually enjoy. I can't wait to see how if it's a success.

Welcome Back

2011-01-05T08:11:00.002-05:00

Welcome back, I hope that everyone had a restful winter break. This week marks the end of The Odyssey for all of my English classes. I am looking forward to using new Power Tools in the new year.

Poetry Concept Maps

2011-01-03T12:35:00.002-05:00

We just finished up poetry a little bit ago. Concept Maps were a great help with all the terms the students needed to learn. It helped them organize them terms and provide their own examples. They even shared in groups and could combine their notes. It was definitely a good tool to help them study for the test.

Helping Struggling Readers

2010-12-11T21:53:00.002-05:00

My students are experiencing a great deal of success using a variety of reading strategies and ideas from Power Tools. Although this in not new for my students, it is for some of their other classes. I notice teachers in my building adopting some of the ideas from Power Tools into their own classrooms. I had to laugh when one of my students said he told his science teachers that she needed to "borrow some ideas from my reading class to help us understand this science stuff." "I get it in here, but it is harder in my other classes. " He said his teachers needed to give "us a purpsoe in reading like you do." :)

Scrapbooks: To Kill a Mockingbird

2010-12-11T21:40:00.002-05:00

My 9th grade reading students are combining powertools with a scrapbook project after reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will create a scrapbook from Scout's point of view. My 4th block is especially excited about the project.

Power Tools help with Understanding of Complex Text

2010-12-06T10:23:00.006-05:00

While teaching The Odyssey I am finding myself turning to the Power Tools time after time. The complexity of The Odyssey baffles most of my ninth graders, however marginalia, reading/thinking/questioning, and the occasional golden lines turns the epic poem into an easy to comprehend adventure story for the majority of my students. There are some students that are have trouble using the Power Tools. It appears that for some the extra work is something that they are choosing not to do. I am not giving up, Power Tools works when the students put forth the extra effort.

Power Tools Help with a Struggling Learner

2010-12-03T15:08:00.002-05:00

During a parent teacher conference one mom shared with me recommendations from a learning specialist her son had seen. Imagine my delight when I looked in the Power Tools book and found activities anad organizers that fit his learning needs!

easy to say

2010-11-22T09:25:00.003-05:00

I am definitely having difficulty in keeping up with my scheduled teaching of the magnificent seven. It's easy to say as an English teacher I work with "the 7" all of time. However, it takes more time to explicitly teach it. And therein lies my problem, I cannot seem to find time for the "I do, we do, you do" of it all. As this is my first year teaching 11th and 12th grade it has been a chore studying and planning for these classes and adding the 7 on top of that. However, as I am pressing through it, I do see it getting easier.

Marginalia and "The Odyssey"

2010-11-16T15:33:00.003-05:00

As we are just embarking on the incredible journey Odysseus faced returning home from Troy, marginalia has again saved the day. First I gave the students the first stanza of the Invocation to the Muse in ancient Greek (they were puzzled). I then had the translation available, which still puzzled them. Through think alouds and various questioning techniques they made notes to keep in their textbooks (as we cannot write in them). For homework they are tackling the next three stanzas on their own. Hopefully this will help the students wade through the elevated language of "The Odyssey"

ABC Graffiti and MOD loved by teachers

2010-11-16T15:20:00.002-05:00

ABC Graffiti was a big hit during my PDA presentation, and has been put to use by teachers. A former student who was visiting my room saw a graffiti that my students were working on and said "We did one of those in driver ed. It was fun." The teacher's themselves had fun guessing the Mystery Word of the Day and said they were thinking of ones to use in class.

My students had mixed feelings about ABC Graffiti though. Some would get upset if they could not find words for each letter. But all attempted to do so and had fun in the process, so I will definitely use it again to introduce a new unit.

mystery word of the day

2010-11-15T17:27:00.002-05:00

I tried approaching vocabulary using the mystery word of the day as we learned in the SURN workshop this summer. My students enjoyed this activity and it created a friendly competition between classes.

Magnificent 7

2010-11-14T16:31:00.002-05:00

We created a version of the magnificent 7 bookmark for students using our school colors. One side is for fiction and the other side in for nonfiction. Students can refer to their book marks as they read. It is a nice reminder about what they should attend to as they read.

eReaders

2010-11-14T16:23:00.002-05:00

We are considering purchasing ereaders for the reading improvement classes. I'm excited about the possibilities. I think it will prove very helpful in increasing interest in reading among the struggling readers. Has anyone else used these in their classroom? I especially like the "read to me" feature.

Clip Art Activities!

2010-11-07T18:12:00.002-05:00

One area our school is focused on in terms of learning is using non-representations. One non-linguistic representation activity my English 11 team really enjoys using is clip-art. We give students different pictures associated with the piece of literature, and the students extract quotes from the literature related to the pictures. This activity has worked especially well with pieces of literature such as "To His Excellency, General Washington" and The Crucible.

Visualizing

2010-11-04T18:02:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite reading strategies is visualizing. Students create a storyboard by illustrating the most important event from the chapter. We are currently reading an adapted version of A Tale of Two Cities. On each storyboard, students summarize the story, find the word of the day in the chapter, write out the sentence where the word was used and find a quote to support their illustration. We complied all over our storyboards into a summarizing book. When we are finished with the novel students will have the complete book summarized and illustrated. It will prove very helpful when they need to review for the test. They constantly refer back to their visualzing books. Instead of asking me about an event, word or character, they become more independent and refer to their own work for the answer. They can quickly locate the item on the storyborad or re-read their summaries. Here they can see the vocabulary word in context and answer their own questions.

Late in the Game

2010-10-29T09:54:00.002-04:00

Due to scheduling, I just received a whole new class of students last week. The getting to know you activities were a lifesaver. I had to get to know my new students very quickly, because they are the one group that I will have everyday. The bingo sheet as well as a few other really helped me out the first 2 classes. They definitely helped me build community more quickly in my classroom.

Spreading the word on picture books

2010-10-28T15:31:00.002-04:00

I recently hosted a Staff Development session for secondary teachers in our county on using Picture Books in the Secondary Classroom. I used many of the titles we looked at and enjoyed during our SURN classes. From THERE'S A NIGHTMARE IN MY CLOSET to the beautifully illustrated and researched biographies of Diane Stanley, picture books can be one of a teacher's best resources. If you have a chalk tray, it should be filled with picture books - to support your content, to enrich your content, to entice reluctant readers, and to use for read alouds. I truly cannot teach alliteration without ANIMALIA. Get a copy and you will see why; then have your students create their own alliterative sentences using sentence strips. A new favorite is IT'S A BOOK by Lane Smith.

If you would like a copy of my list of great picture books, email me and I'll send it to you.
Brooks
bspencer@fcps1.org

Getting to Know Your Students/Picture Books

2010-10-27T20:51:00.003-04:00

The first week of school students in my science class completed a learning styles survey to determine who are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Upon completing the survey, students were given a designated color of construction paper to share information about themselves in the shape of a hand (Getting to Know your Hand in the SURN Getting to Know Your Students Activity Packet). The hands are posted up on my bulletin board which makes it easier to visualize how to group my students when preparing for lessons.

They have also enjoyed several picture books...The Crow and the Pitcher, which was used during the Scientific Method standard, and Science Verse. The Dory Story will be a part of our lesson on food chains in a few weeks. I have them to write their thoughts or questions down in their notebooks as a preview/introduction for the lessons.

Power Tools to be Used for Professional Development

2010-10-22T08:22:00.005-04:00

On November 2nd, Mr. Yag and I will be presenting a session during our professional development day on using Power Tools to enhance vocabulary development. After a brief overview about vocabulary development we will be focusing primarily on two of the Power Tool strategies. We have selected Strategy 4.11 Mystery Word of the Day and Strategy 4.12 ABC Graffiti. these are two strategies that are fun and could be used across the curriculum.

Teaching Probability with a picture book

2010-10-19T22:08:00.002-04:00

As an introduction to our lesson in probability, I used the picture book "The Very Improbable Story". I showed them the cover of the book and asked what they can predict from the title itself. I modeled first the strategy "Read-Aloud" to my students and then asked them to do read-aloud with a partner. While reading, they asked questions , made inferences and connections. The students not only enjoyed the story but were able to connect what they had read to our lesson on probability.Through the picture book , they were able to determine easily the probability of an event and differentiate dependent from independent events.6th grade students always find probability very challenging, but with the use of the picture book, it was easier for them to understand the lesson.

Using literary strategies to teach Colonial, Puritan, and Revolutionary Literature

2010-10-18T20:30:00.002-04:00

The first reading unit in English 11 is on Colonial, Puritan, and Revolutionary literature. This literature is dense and difficult--especially for students who are low-level readers. I have been employing many of the literacy strategies such as making connections and paraphrasing activities to make these pieces of literature more accessible and more engaging. I definitely feel more comfortable teaching the literature this year than I have the past three years!

Marginalia

2010-10-18T10:36:00.004-04:00

My students get so excited that they can actually write and work with a text! They have taken well to writing in the margins that I have created. We read "The Pedestrian" last class. Instead of giving a role, I gave them a focus, which was how the setting can affect mood. This allowed the students to have a more detailed notes in their margins. Also, I was able to take it further by incorporating Golden Lines. The students really responded to the story and the activities.

Planning with the Magnificent Seven

2010-10-12T09:34:00.003-04:00

I have figured out how to incorporate the skills in my planning by covering one per week and spiraling back to those skills that were covered. I have noticed that it is easy for me to teach the skill because I am an English teacher. These skills we focus on anyway, however it is more work to mesh them with the other literary skills that we are covering. I see where other disciplines may have more trouble than me in doing this.
Fig.

Power Tools Rule

2010-10-04T13:43:00.003-04:00

As my class is attempting to wade their way through short stories marginalia and think alouds are saving the day. Today we had our first assessment and I cannot wait to see the results. Class discussions seem to be at a higher level than in previous years.

Bio-Poems

2010-09-28T13:18:00.002-04:00

We started our school year having our whole staff create Bio-Poems. It was fun to watch new and veteran teachers scramble over glitter, stickers, and which color construction paper they wanted to use! Several of us shared our poems with the group. The one that was most fun came from one of the ladies in our office. Her answer to : Lover of (2 things) was: Jesus Christ and football! We all agreed she had her priorities in order!
Our teachers took their poems and displayed them in their rooms. By the end of the week when the students came back, the hallways were filled with student Bio-Poems. The displays made quite an impression on our Back to School night.
If you haven't had your Back to School night, parents really like to read what their children have written about themselves. It is a very insightful activity for students, teachers and parents.

SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) = AWESOME!!

2010-09-26T19:03:00.003-04:00

After going to the I-Tunes literacy conference and discussing the benefits of SSR with my colleagues, my English department has adapted a mandatory SSR for the first ten to fifteen minutes of each class. The SSR time is awesome; I find that it is a time for all of us, including myself, to partake in the exercise of reading. Even some of my most challenging students are enjoying the time. I also love that the students pick up books and start reading when they are finished with their assignments. I absolutely love SSR, and I can already tell that my students are reaping the benefits of it.

SURN Lesson Plan

2010-09-23T08:37:00.003-04:00

Completing the SURN lesson plan ended up being a bit more challenging than I expected. I felt myself having to cut back. I kept trying to pack too much into the lesson. Once I finished it, I had to take a step back.
Then, I remembered what they told us at the conference about teaching the Magnificent 7 Comprehension Strategies. My mistake was trying to put too much in too early . Once I took that step back, I was able to rework a few things to keep it simple but hopefully effective.

Lesson plan format

2010-09-22T20:30:00.002-04:00

I just finished my model lesson plan for SURN. I like the format even though most of its elements are familiar to me with my current lesson plan template. The SURN format reminds me to engage and keeps me on task as I prepare a lesson. I think I will continue to use it!

Harder than expected

2010-09-14T07:52:00.002-04:00

Writing a lesson plan for his is turning out to be harder than expected. Since I am teaching two different (and new) subjects I am having to constantly think, "Am I covering the content that is required?" and "Am I engaging the students in the magnificent seven?" I have written this lesson plan several times in my head, so hopefully when it finally comes out on paper, it will not need that many revision.

Getting back into the swing of things

2010-09-11T18:22:00.002-04:00

This past week was the first one back to school for the students. The majority of time was spent getting back to the grind and using icebreaker activities to get to know my new students better. Monday will be the first day that will have a chance to break out the tools box and truly utilize my Power Tools. I will be explicitly teaching the Magnificent Seven Strategy visualizing. Here goes!

Teaching Students how to Summarize

2010-09-06T18:08:00.002-04:00

The I-Tunes conference really made me re-think the way I teach literacy in my classroom. The first unit for English 11 in Norfolk is the Non-fiction unit, and my 11th grade team begins with teaching students about Native American myths. When I looked in the SOL (red) warm-up book for the passage from the myth "When Grizzles Walked Upright," I noticed that the summarizing literacy strategy was used for the multiple-choice questions. Thus, thinking back on what I learned from the conference, I designed my lesson completely around the summarizing strategy. The students and I will read the first myth together, and we will complete the "Somebody Wanted But So" activity in order to summarize the myth; then, the students will read the second myth and complete the SWBS statement independently. I will then use their SWBS statement to assess whether or not they summarized the myth correctly. After I realized what "magnificent seven" strategy I wanted to use in my lesson, the rest of the lesson fell into place!

Power Tools Help With School Improvement Plan

2010-09-02T15:11:00.002-04:00

The Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy book helped to devise strategies for improving English 9 reading scores. In addition I am using three on the first day of school. Yay, Power Tools!

2010-08-30T11:48:00.002-04:00

Wow...we have already had to share an overview at a full faculty meeting. Next step, we have to do a lesson demonstration tomorrow!! And this is before we have even gotten underway!! It is really exciting to me that we are going to use and remember the wonderful strategies because our school is committed to supporting and acting on it!! I love, love, love the magnificent seven and have gotten a new zeal for preparing my lessons the first nine weeks to SLOWLY walk through them for the benefit of the students!! Thank you SURN!!

Returning to work

2010-08-20T07:19:00.006-04:00

As I drove home from Williamsburg yesterday, my mind was racing with what I needed to accomplish during the next several hours. I would be picking up my twins from my sister, squeezing in a much needed hair appointment, rushing to cheer practice and thanking the other coach who got it started for me, and eventually getting home to unload the car, unpack then pack again to leave this morning to take the kids for a last summer visit with their grandparents in N.C. Dinner ended up being a quick sandwich at 9 pm and I fell into bed relatively early.
I woke up this morning while it was still dark outside and my thoughts jumped excitedly from one idea to another and they all had to do with the iTune into Literacy conference from which I'd just returned. Even though I attended as an ambassador, I got so much out of the conference! I am emailing my principal a "plan" for the continuation of our Literacy initiative begun last school year. I love WAFL that the administrators came up with at the conference & would like our building to embrace the We are for Literacy slogan. I will share the plan I'm submitting to my principal in a future blog...I simply wanted to share my enthusiasm for the upcoming school year and my hopes that your year is phenomenal.

Thank you!

2010-04-13T10:34:00.002-04:00

As I drove to the conference last year I began to wonder why I had given up my vacation time to go to another conference. Three days later I didnot want to go home; I wanted to learn more! I have implimented many of the strategies with much success in my classroom. I use my iPod daily for "setting the mood",transitions from one task to another, and for motivation. If all of my students receive an 80% or better on a quiz or test we dance in celbration to the "Electric Slide." I teach World Geography and my students have enjoyed the tradtional cultural music from each part of the world that we have studied. I have started my personal libray of picture books to help me teach my content and I am writing a grant for the purchase of more picture books. Thank you iTune into Literacy Conference for giving me the tools to be a better teacher.

Changing the way I think ... about teaching

2010-03-30T16:40:00.003-04:00

One of the biggest challenges as a middle school teacher is keeping around 100 students engaged in learning every day. This year, I teach two different grade levels - which adds to that challenge considerably. Before attending the Power Tools workshop, I would plan my units and hope that something in the units would reach each student. I find that now, I am much more deliberate about planning specific strategies that will be helpful to the students - and ones that the students will be most likely to carry to other classes. Two of the strategies that I have found especially helpful in Language Arts are "Marking the Text" and "SWBS."

Marking the Text is a great way to help students through difficult passages, or passages that deal with a lot of specific content, such as history or science. I made bookmarks for the students that have the different code abbreviations, as well as poster sized copies for the room.

Many of my students have trouble with comprehension, or more accurately, writing a summary that demonstrates true comprehension. Using "Somebody Wanted But So" (SWBS) is a fantastic way to teach students a lifelong skill of quickly summarizing the content or explaining someone's life work. We use this a lot!

The Power Tools book is an invaluable resource, and it sits on my desk each day. I wish every teacher in my building had the chance to attend the workshop, because although all teachers were given their own copies of the book, I know they are not seeing these strategies in the same way as those of us who were lucky enough to attend.

I look forward to incorporating these strategies into a new content next year when I change subjects - and am already looking at the new materials through a different lens.

Applying Reading Strategies in a Collaborative Classroom

2010-03-04T09:09:00.002-05:00

Since the beginning of the year I have modeled and utilized many of the reading strategies. I collaborate with a general education teacher. We have found that modeling the actual reading straategy and talking students through the process has helped students greatly when we ask them to apply the actual strategy to a passage.

We have a section in our Interactive notebooks where we list the reading strategy and then have them to explain the strategy and how it helps them comprehend reading materials.

The handbook has been very useful!!

"Marginalia" for Writing

2010-01-15T06:53:00.004-05:00

So far this year, I have implemented the think-aloud, read-aloud, even dozen, and marginalia strategies that were modeled at the iTune into Literacy Conference. Marginalia has been most effective for responding to text in my writing classes. I introduced this technique with a couple of model essays; students wrote comments and questions in the margins as they read and then discussed their thoughts with a partner. Recently, my students composed a compare and contrast essay. I had them peer review using Marginalia. They were required to write at least one commendation, one question, and one recommendation on their partner's paper. I plan to continue modifying this strategy to use as we approach our SOL test in March.

Literacy Tools Aid the Order of Operations

2010-01-04T18:18:00.004-05:00

I am willing to admit that when I "volunteered" to go to the literacy sessions this summer I was wondering how it I would integrate what we learned into an already filled math curriculum. Never one to give up on a task, I immediately set out to find a way to unclude story books in the pre-algebra and algebra math classes. Our classes were very receptive to having stories read to them - we even brought in another teacher's classes to share in our story time. Then the fun really began. The story we chose to start with was "The Journey of Al and Gebra". Some students chose to illustrate the story to help them remember key points, others wrote letters to friends from the viewpoint of one of the children who had met Al and Gebra while discovering the order of operations. Several students created their own mnemonics - and decorated them - covering the walls with "PEMDAS" sayings. One group took the assignment a step further and wrote their own rap, recorded it then posted it on TeacherTube. It was quite interesting to see how one short story read to a class could be taken in so many different directions and still stay on the task of teaching a math standard. What started out as a required assignment for me spread throughout the entire eighth grade and most of the seventh grade at our school. The students were able to integrate art, math, music, and literature all in one assignment. Everyone came out a winner in this example and I know we will be doing things like this more as the year progresses.

Literacy Excel at Huntington Middle School

2009-12-18T14:27:00.003-05:00

At Huntington, we are using the magnificent 7 strategies in a 20 minute period each morning (Literay Excel) in all core classes. The goal is to help stengthen students' reading, thinking, and comprehension skills. We want students to have a carry over into all of their core classes. In the first nine weeks the focus was on asking questions and making connections. During the second nine weeks we are now focusing on finding important information (summarizing) and inference skills. (Of course we are still making connections and asking questions also). When students took the quarterly tests in reading, there was an increase in the scores, and we believe that teaching the strategies had a lot to do with it. It is also important to note that when looking at the SMART data, there was a reduction in discipline referrals during the time period when we have Literacy Excel.

Different Strategies in the Classroom

2009-12-08T15:57:00.002-05:00

In trying to develop different strategies to come up with for my lower academic achieving students to understand the content matter. The main problem was the various levels of levels and styles in the classroom. In one particular class, a mixture of different reading levels (pretty low) in addition to numerous accommodations involved with IEPs. Nevertheless, by incorporating several of the strategies learned in the SURN program. I've seen a dramatic difference with my special education students. I truly believe all kids have a base of understanding that can be reached if teachers uses different techniques in their methodology. Here are some of the strategies that have been affective for me this semester.
1) Reading with a Purpose: I used to give reading assignments with no clear-cut objectives. Now I've placed objectives ( what to find, read as a certain person, or summarizing)
2) GIST Statements - Each week, I have the students write a statement in 25 words or less explaining a certain position or job (president, chief justice, Senator). From this statement, I can evaluate mastering of the topic.
3) Picture Voc. - The students must produce voc. with their own definitions and a picture for each.
4) Read Aloud - Truthfully, I was against read alouds and now use them as an introduction to the unit to provide students with general background knowledge on the material. In addition to reading, I'll ask questions on important points I discussed during the reading.
5) Hands On Activities - The students have participated in several activities this year where they where the center of the activity. The responsibility aspect caused to deeply learn the content and not just memorize terms and concepts.

As I mentioned, there where many strategies that I picked up from the SURN conference and lecture. These were some of the many methods that I Incorporated in my lesson planning. Thanks for the opportunity to partake in this opportunity!

Take care!
Ryan

Blazing the Trail

2009-12-07T14:57:00.002-05:00

It has been exciting to see our literacy committee at work. Everyone is sharing ideas, volunteering their time and embracing change. The entire committee is committed to seeing the school culture change so that literacy strategies are used in all curriculum areas. We understand that how we go about making the change is critical. Our impact will be much greater if we can get the entire school to adopt the strategies and feel they will benefit from their implementation. It is important for us to recognize that many teachers are using literacy strategies in an informal way. Our goal is to be consistent throughout the building on how strategies are being taught and to select basic strategies to focus on across all curriculum areas.

2009-12-03T15:55:00.002-05:00

Hello!

After the power tools conference this summer I was really excited about finding more quality literature to use in my math class. I was surprised to find so many books for math. The challenging part was finding books for advanced concepts. There are plenty of books for elementary math concepts. One book that I would recommend to any math 8 or even geometry teachers is "What's Your Angle, Pythagoras" by Julie Ellis. This book is engaging and informative. The illustrations are beautiful and the mathematics in the book is elegantly laid out. I am going to share the story with my students on Monday when we begin our lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem.
For those of us who attended the SURN mathematics workshop at KFMS, the book has a perfect tie in to a hands on activity Dr. Mason showed us using the knotted rope! The knotted rope has a role in the book. How cool is it going to be to read about using the knotted rope to make right triangles and then have the kids use the knotted rope in class to make 3, 4, 5 triangles? I am going to share the book on Monday with my class. I know they are going to love story time and the rope activity!

How do you use the childrens books?

2009-12-01T15:19:00.001-05:00

Our literacy team shares a reading strategy with the entire staff each month. This is a great way to introduce and share the strategies taught to us through the content literacy academy. This allows for teachers to see the different ways you can use a strategy in any subject. One of the ideas that I shared with the staff was how to incorporate The Important Book (this book was given to all of us!) This idea can be used with any subject, I just so happen to teach Civics and U.S. History. This is a semester course so we are finished at the end of January. I use The Important Book at the end of each unit. The students follow the format given to us at the conference which basically follows the book. At the end of the semester we will spend time typing An Important Book about Civics!! For example, after learning about the legislative branch students will write an important poem all about the concepts they have learned regarding the legislative branch. I think this is a good way for the students to review those concepts at the end of the year as well as a good way to end a unit because the information is fresh and they know the material. This is one way I have used one of the books given to us, I would love to hear how you use any of the books in your classroom! Please feel free to share any ideas that would be helpful to all of us!!

Literacy Power Tools in Action

2009-11-23T09:11:00.002-05:00

I have used a variety of activities I learned through the SURN workshop in my 6th grade math class. We began the school year with a student interest survey, the About Me introduction, and the Scavenger Hunt textbook activity. The activities helped me learn more about my students and their abilities in a short period of time while allowing them to relax and get to know each other.

During the first month, I introduced the Making Connections Strategy as a part of reading in math and now they readily respond when I ask how the text connects to them, the world around them, or something they’ve studied before? This has helped them to access prior knowledge and connect new concepts to older concepts in a more natural way. By using picture books like Fraction Action as an introduction to our unit on fractions, my math class has taken on a less formal tone without being chaotic.

During October, we viewed three pod casts from the The Mathtrain TV Podcasts collection. My special needs students were able to see how other middle school students tackled and explained some of the concepts we were studying. They really enjoyed watching the pod casts on using LCD to add fractions, turning fractions into decimals, and multiplying mixed numbers. They offered constructive suggestions on how to make a pod cast more enjoyable and expressed the desire to “do one.” So as a part of their review process for the 2nd nine weeks midpoint test, they will have a choice of making a video, a PowerPoint presentation, or leading a peer tutoring session for selected math SOLs. All and all we had a great 9 weeks!

Math Lesson using Power Tools

2009-11-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

I considered myself lucky when I was given an opportunity to attend a seminar/workshop on “Power Tools for Literacy” last August. I learned so many things that would be so helpful to my students. I was able to use the strategies I learned from the seminar when I introduced the topic on percent, fractions, and decimals to all my classes. We read the book “Twizzlers – A percentages book “ and used give one-get one , mind-mapping, and read-aloud as my strategies to teach the lesson . The result was really GREAT!!! Not only my students enjoyed the lesson but they were highly motivated from the beginning up to the end of our class. Math is easier to teach for teachers and easier to learn for students using these different power tools strategies.

Maria Gotencio

How are you using your iPod?

2009-11-11T05:58:00.003-05:00

Some of the August Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy Academy participants have mentioned in their blog posts using iPods for musical transitions between activities or as a "musical timer." A second group of Academy participants will start next week (Nov. 16-18). Share with us specific ideas for using iPods in classroom settings. Tell your content area, grade level, the application, and the students' response.

Still Going!!!!

2009-11-02T07:14:00.002-05:00

Greetings Everyone!

I hope everybody is off to a great year with their literacy strategies in place!! I know that I have been using quite a few and they seem to be going very well. I was overwhelmed at first but once I started using them I got the hang of it and everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

The kids are really getting a kick out of MAGINALIA!!! They just love when that term is used! This strategy has helped so much in helping the students identify the important concepts in science literature. I have also used the Role Cards in a lesson to help students see different concepts from different perspectives. Marking the text is another biggie!!

All I can say is that I am very excited for my students that they have something that sparks their interest and they don't have to listen to long drawn out lectures with no differentiation!!

Thanks SURN Team for sharing these very positive strategies to help students with literacy!!!

2009-10-20T09:25:00.001-04:00

One of my responsibilities as Academic Coach is to model lessons. So this year, once a month in a weekly content area meeting, I plan to model one of the literacy strategies as outlined in the book Power Tools for Adolescent Learners. Teachers will then be responsible for incorporating this strategy in their classroom and then completing a reflections sheet on what they liked/disliked about the strategy and sharing this with their colleagues at our weekly content area meeting.

I had the opportunity to observe one of these literacy strategies being used by a colleague in a world geography class. It was amazing to see how eighth graders could get so engrossed in a picture book.

Making Connections and Posing Questions in Civics

2009-10-19T22:31:00.001-04:00

In Civics, we use a lot of primary source readings. I have found in the past that it is sometimes difficult and challenging for the students to fully comprehend what they are reading. So far this year I have focused on making connections and having students pose questions as they read the material. Initially, I incorporated the reading of a picture book and walked them through how to make connections to self, other text, and the world. Then presented the students with a more difficult reading in which they were to make connections back to the picture book. I found that it did make it easier for the students to comprehend the second reading when they could make connections back to the picture book. Initially it took some time for students to become acquainted with this new strategy. But now, students use it consistently. This strategy along with the questions that are posed by the students have been very enlightening not only for the students, but for me as well. Students are more involved with the reading and it has greatly enriched our classroom discussions.

Literacy Lesson Plan

2009-10-16T18:20:00.003-04:00

Hello,

I have really enjoyed using the literacy strategies that were taught at the conference in my Physical science class. It's amazing how 8th grade students enjoy picture books and literature being read to them.

I have implemented strategies such as: Somebody Wanted But So, graphic organizers, foldables and Marginalia. I can truly see a difference in my students interest and comprehension of the lessons being taught in class.

I plan to continue using these strategies as well as others with my students and share them with my team members during our planning time.

Sonya

RAFT

2009-10-12T20:28:00.006-04:00

At Blair Middle School five power strategies are in place to ensure the success of all students. With this teachers are to provide opportunities for students to read and write in all classes, connect learning to their real lives, demonstrate higher level thinking skills when problem solving, justify their answers, and analyze and track their own data to measure learning and growth.

As I diligently work to ensure that I provide these opportunities, I've found strategies from the Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy helpful. In my efforts to provide opportunities for my students to read and write in all classes and to connect to their real lives, with the assistance of our building's gifted education specialist, Lynne Barrett, I've used the RAFT writing technique as the format for an Earth's Biome project. This is strategy 5.7 in the text.

Adrienne

Power Tools Workshops for Your Colleagues

2009-10-12T12:11:00.003-04:00

The workshop that inspired this blog and led to these postings is being offered November 16-17, 2009 in Williamsburg, VA. The blog authors have already attended and gained much from their time with the Dynamic Duo of Jan Rozzelle and Carol Scearce. Consider registering for the workshop, Power Tools in Adolescent Literacy.

If you have already been to the workshop, share the "best" aspect of the workshop with others in this blog and encourage others to attend.

Literacy Lesson-Accomplished!!!

2009-10-04T17:22:00.002-04:00

Hello All,
Just wanted to let you all know that I did implement my Literacy Lesson on Matter last Thursday and Friday. It went great!

We focused on the Mag 7 (Asking Questions). I read a poem from the picture book Science Verse entitled, What's the Matter? and the kids loved it. We went through and form questions about each one of the stanzas and then I gave them a graphic organizer called Main Idea/Detail Chart in which they took notes on about Matter and its states. Upon completion of our notetaking on Matter, we then went back to our poem and answered the questions that they formed.

The lesson ended up with the students creating a 3 flap foldable on Matter's States-Solids, Liquids, and Gases while listening to the song Shake, Rattle and Roll on an iPod download. The song Shake, Rattle, and Roll help the kids to remember what the particle movement was like within a solid, liquid, or gas.

It was definitely an experience and I know my kids got much more understanding from using the strategy of Asking Questions!!

Technology Power Tools for Literacy

2009-10-01T08:40:00.002-04:00

I was very excited about using the new strategies that I learned at the conference in my technology class. I was truly amaze by my students, the strategies we learned really work in the class room. The conference and new strategies energized me for a new school year.

A Great start

2009-09-30T15:31:00.002-04:00

Hello All,

As the new school year geared up, I used some of the get-to-know-you activities, such as People Hunt, SWBS. I also downloaded music to my Ipod and as the students are working on an assignment, I play the music (old school hits, of course). My 8th grade administrator has come in several times and she has shared with the rest of the 8th grade teachers the music I use and how focused the students are on their lesson.

When I do a lab with my students, I will let them know that they have to finish the lab in 2 -3 songs. What a great way to actually keep them focused.

Implementing The Literacy Lesson Plan

2009-09-29T09:19:00.003-04:00

Well the 30th is approaching tomorrow and I have completed my lesson plan that I plan to do on the unit for matter...I think it's going to be great!

Eventhough, I hadn't tried an entire lesson as of yet, I have been using some of the strategies such as; Marginalia, SWBS, People Hunt for Grouping. Everything has worked marvelous thus far!

I am planning to do my entire lesson on Matter using a whole literacy lesson plan on Friday of this week!! Wish me luck!!

I am really enjoying this!

Math iTunes to Literacy

2009-09-28T10:42:00.007-04:00

I have been teaching math for 30 years plus and sometimes I find myself in a glorious sea of numbers. Yet, I have also been guilty of thinking that my math rules the world. Silly, silly me! Now I am seeing things from a different perspective and I know that it is not about the content, but about the thinking. This became quite clear and obvious during the three days I attended the Content Literacy Academy in August. This academy had an awesome influential impact on me. I participated in many activities while there and learned new strategies that I wanted to implement into my classes. Actually, I was rather anxious to start the school year.

I walked away knowing that my thinking had been redirected and my instructional practices were definitely going to be enhanced and geared just as much toward literacy as math. This year Huntington Middle School has implemented a 20-minute school-wide literacy initiative. As a result of this initiative, there has been an enormous amount of new learning experiences in all classes.

In math we are tuning to literacy. We tune to FM MAG7 (the Magnificent Seven Comprehension Strategies) daily. This is our #1 station. As a matter of the fact, the only station we tune to in math. During week 1, we had a great time jumping to the first strategy we implemented which was Making Connections. We used the Comprehension Strategies Instruction (CSI) Kit.

The math classes read the narrative play, Making Allowances. We had five 20 minute lessons planned and effectively used. Our students made many connections while tuning to FM MAG7. They became an active part of the narrative text as they made text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. These three connections were all real life connections.

The text-to-self connections were easy of course. The text-to-text required some explanations and I had to make it seem real to them by asking them to think about textbooks read. Students asked if movies could be included. So we went into having students to make connections to movies seen, songs heard, and sports played or interested in playing, etc. This seemed to capture students even more and they began to tune more into making connections. They actually, “pumped up the volume.” So when we got into text-to-world, they were so involved that the connections they were making were astonishing, even thought provoking to me. But they were “tuned” into the right station.

Of course, we had to talk math, so we did. As a culminating activity, to connect with text title, every student received an allowance (play money and checks) based on participation points. We gathered the data and found the mean, median, mode of the allowances. We also discussed how other data displays can represent the allowances given.

Twenty minutes a day for math to tune in to literacy isn’t enough time. Once the students start making connections there is no switching gears. When you walk into math classes it is obvious that Math iTunes to Literacy at Huntington Middle School.

One School's Journey

2009-09-27T19:03:00.002-04:00

A little over a year ago, the leadership team at Blair focused on five power strategies that they envisioned would be implemented in every classroom. In fact, the mantra was – 90% of teachers implementing the strategies 90% of the time. The five power strategies mandated that students have daily opportunities to do the following:
1. Read and write in all classes
2. Connect learning to their real lives
3. Demonstrate higher level thinking skills when problem solving
4. Justify their answers
5. Analyze and track own data to measure learning and growth

Teachers were surveyed to gauge their comfort levels with each strategy. Staff development was provided to assist teachers. Rubrics were shared to show what a classroom implementing each strategy should look like.

At first, most teachers were skeptical and uncomfortable; change is difficult. They reluctantly participated in training at the school level. Slowly, they transformed themselves into a committed learning community.The implementation of the power strategies became a natural part of collegial conversations, lesson plans, and classroom observations.

Our school has come a very long way in a year! That’s why when we were selected to send a team to participate in the Adolescent Literacy for Vertical Teams Initiative Conference, it seemed a natural progression for us. The Magnificent Seven Comprehension Strategies are not new ones to reading instructors, but the focus on explicitly teaching them and making the “invisible visible” is powerful.

After the SURN conference, our leadership team was given an overview of the conference components. Our administrators used one of the synthesis strategies, Even Dozen, to engage us in thinking about what our school did well during the last year.

During pre-service week, our faculty also participated in an overview. Our principal purchased a copy of Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy for every core content teacher in the building! The original SURN participants decided collectively to focus the first month on the strategy of making inferences and predictions, which solidified the whole school’s mission.

As a resource teacher with the opportunity to plan with many different content teams, I have watched colleagues pulling ideas from the book, enlarging the Magnificent Seven posters and hanging them in their rooms. Several have already used the Even Dozen activity with their students.

I am a witness to how our school adopted five power strategies last year that have transformed our school; teaching the seven comprehension strategies in every classroom will be equally fulfilling for our faculty and ultimately rewarding for our students!

Huntington's Literacy Blog

2009-09-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

The Huntington Viking participants at the Content Literacy Academy shared our experiences with Mrs. Holloway, our principal, and we set about incorporating the strategies from the conference into out Literacy Excel Program. Each day, beginning today, September 14, from 8:25-8:45 a.m. our school will focus on literacy instruction using the Magnificent Seven Strategies. All administrators and specialists will visit classrooms daily and provide feedback. Everyone will focus on making connections and asking questions across contents during this quarter and use Comprehension Strategies Instruction (CSI) by Pacific Learning. To prepare our teachers, we held three staff development training sessions, the first, August 27, focused on team building and the question, “Why focus on literacy?” Teachers reviewed what a nurturing literacy classroom environment should look like and every teacher’s class has the Magnificent Seven posters displayed! The second staff development, September 1, focused on the overview of the Magnificent Seven strategies and their application in the classroom with the use of the jigsaw strategy, and we modeled the use of the Bio-poem for students’ team building. On Thursday, September 3, the team facilitators planned and modeled the content literacy lesson in each subject area, and the teachers applied their experiences with the use of the literacy timeline.
All of our teachers are in professional learning communities. Marcia Little and Rosalyn Price are the facilitators for science teachers; Karen Hinton, and Sallie Herndon, are the facilitators for social studies teachers; Valerie Banks, and Vanessa Stephens are the facilitators for math teachers; and Arleatrice Winters and I, Alice M. Alexander, are the facilitators for English teachers. Our first week of Literacy Excel was a big success!

2009-09-21T16:01:00.002-04:00

I have been using my ipod nano daily! The addition of music in the classroom is something I have always wanted but in the past had found difficult to achieve. I love my nano!! I started the year with my desk in "pods" of four. I have really enjoyed watching the students grow in their level of trust of each other. Today I used the story book "Listen to the Wind" by Greg Mortenson to teach a literacy lesson like we were taught at the conference. It was a great day!

Pair & Group Work: the importance of Structure & Consistency

2009-09-20T20:42:00.003-04:00

When I was told that I had been picked to attend this conference I was happy, and thought that it would be an opportunity to pick up some new techniques to use in the classroom. What I didn't realize was that it was going to help me implement strategies in my room that I had been struggling with since I started to teach. I knew how important it was to get children interested, and had been told what to do to get them involved. Every once and awhile I would try to use group work. I would work diligently on the lesson, and when the day would come it seemed to work okay for some classes and not at all for others. I was starting to get convinced that it could only work for some teachers and not for everyone. Although I knew it was important I wasn't sure how to get there. I had a good relationship with my students so I couldn't understand why everything seemed to go chaotic when they interacted with each other. The difference with this conference was they didn't just tell you, they showed you. I, like my students, needed to see the theory in practice, and not just once but many times. When I left after the three days I was excited, rejuvenated, and a little apprehensive. Luckily my teammates were willing to try anything which is very important as we collaborate on our lesson plans. From the very first day we have been using pair & group work. We have not just told them what we expect, but we have shown them. As they do work with each other daily it is starting to become part of their routine. Although I am still working to prefect the process I am convinced that everyone including myself can implement these strategies in their classrooms. This makes the learning environment more enjoyable for the student, and the teacher.

Teaching the Magnificent Seven One at a Time

2009-09-18T21:43:00.007-04:00

While it may be evident to most, today's experience in the classroom re-inforced the fact that the magnificent seven must be taught, and it must be taught one at a time.

It was a normal day at its best. Each class was truly engaged in the before reading warm-up where they explained what they saw when I said the word, "treasure." I increased the questioning level little by little until we were differentiating between the literal and figurative definitions of "treasure." This being the case, I was not prepared for what I uncovered
during my students first exposure to a think aloud.

Wow! As I read and made the invisible(my thoughts) visible, my students struggled to put what I was doing into words. One child said, "comprehending," a possible regurgitation of what I had explained I would be doing. Several other students said things like "adding words." I had done this activity already with my honors bells who quickly identified that I was "connecting my experiences to the text," "inferring," "asking questions," "self-correcting when I had misunderstood something earlier in the text" (an intentional flaw so as to model for them my ability to catch my mistakes), but I was at a loss seeing my regular ed. students unable to connect to what was happening in my mind as I read. In fact, it took even my volunteers several tries before they were able to read the text aloud as I did, and somewhat share their thought processes.

I see now that truly these students are not engaging the text. They seem to have trouble even recognizing "visualizing" and " asking questions" let alone attempting it. All this to say, I am looking forward even more so now, to teaching our comprehension strategies one at a time.

(Post note: For those of you teaching highly challenging classes, you can do it. With the unique mix of autistic children, the farsighted child who is too embarrassed to where his glasses, many children who I am finally realizing are unable to afford supplies for my class, and two emotionally challenged students who have already manifested to the chagrin of the onslaught of troublemakers, yet I see children many or most of whom have missed the joy of comprehending and connecting with a text. All things are possible! (to him/her who believes.))

It's only the second week of school...

2009-09-16T13:50:00.004-04:00

...and I have already used a few strategies I learned at the "iTune into Literacy" conference! On the second day of school (6th grade) my students wrote a Bio Poem (based on the Bio Poem Template) to introduce themselves to their classmates. This poem was especially helpful for me because not only did students reveal the types and specific books they enjoy reading, but also the learning style they in which they respond to best. Later the first week I introduced my students to "Text Connections"...and we practiced the strategy. I plan to copy the bookmark on page 185 (of Power Tools), laminate it, and let the students use dry erase markers to jot down their text connections. Finally, I am doing "Interactive Notebooks" for the first time...and loving it! I am looking forward to using some of the vocabulary strategies starting next week. Good luck to everyone...don't be afraid to try the strategies we learned. Have a fantastic year!

What's on Your Nano?

2009-09-08T10:42:00.002-04:00

During the 2009 Summer Literacy Academy, participants received iPod Nano to encourage them to use the web to identify instructionally appropriate videos and audio/video podcasts to bring into the classroom.

Many years ago, I took an American 20th century history class (yes it was still the 20th century) in which the professor said that all too often US history classes struggle to finish in the current day. So he started with the end of World War I and went forward. The professor used a variety of video clips and laser disc clips (remember those huge disks-thank heavens for the advent of the cd-rom) throughout each class period. We'd talk history, see history, hear history, and have the opportunity to interact in ways that made our readings and discussions more meaningful. Clips were a few seconds to minutes long and helped contextualize the events.The retrospective on 20th century history that uses Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire could have been an engaging way to introduce such a history class.

The upcoming issue of Edutopia has an article on using videos in the classroom. The author observed that “teachers all across the country are finding that judiciously chosen videos help students engage more deeply with the subject matter, and recall the information they’ve learned longer.” The article highlights several websites that teachers may find helpful for getting videos. The article also includes a “primer” to YouTube.

Scholastics' 10 Podcasts for Teachers and Kids provides 10 recommended podcast sources that address core content areas, ESL, and/or are regularly produced by students.

Just yesterday, I was looking up information on Jamestown and came across the Settlement center's podcast collection. Couple with other sources from NPR to NASA to TeacherTube and YouTube there is a plethora of material available. So let's share our favorites.

If you use online videos or audio podcasts in your classroom, are sites that you recommend and share a particular video or audio podcast?

Don't Give Up! You Can Do It!

2009-08-30T11:44:00.004-04:00

Hope everyone is off to a great start! I know that I am ready to begin tomorrow. As you reflect upon all of the strategies that you were introduced to during the conference, remember to choose one or two strategies that you want to start with and not try to conquer them all in a year! As teachers we all know that flexibility is important. We never know what kind of a day it may be. And of course, if the strategy does not work well the first time, don't give up! Stay positive and try it again and again. Best of luck for an awesome school year! Remember, we are all in this together!

Textbook Tips

2009-08-20T13:48:00.002-04:00

Although there are many ways to teach content, from podcasts to picture books, the traditional textbook may still remain an important means for students to learn for many years. It’s important that we show students how to use them.

These strategies from Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy will help your students prepare to read their texts this year.

“Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” (pgs.18-19): introduces the text; generates some interest and excitement.
“Scavenger Hunt” (pgs. 66-67): leads students to see important features of the text including reference sections, the table of contents, and the index.
“Passage Prediction” (pg. 69): introduces new words and teaches prediction.

Bring students’ attention to text features before they begin to read. Show students how to change titles, headings and subheadings into questions. Use these questions to set a purpose for reading.

Each time that you assign reading from the text, direct students to practice using one of the “Magnificant Seven Comprehension Strategies” (pgs. 40-43) while they read.

If your students leave you having learned content and carrying a tool box full of reading strategies, you will have served them well. Have a great year!

Starting The Year Off Right!!

2009-08-20T06:09:00.004-04:00

Wow! What an amazing workshop last week in Williamsburg! I love the fact that after being involved with this program for 4 years now I still come away with so much to take back to my classroom and school. While learning and reviewing so many strategies in 3 days can seem overwhelming, this is the absolute best time, right before the new year starts, to start planning on how to use the Power Tools strategies in your content area. One of my absolute favorites is using picture books. They are such a fun and exciting way to introduce students of all ages to a new unit or concept! Many of our students have lost the appeal of learning, and listening, to a teacher instruct on a new topic. As I always say, taking them back to a "happy place" or a time in which they eager to learn, is one of the best ways to capture their attention even in the upper grades.

The first step in the new year will be to set routines and procedures in your classroom. As Shannon reminded us, the "Getting To Know You" activities would be one of the first steps to take in implementing the use of Power Tools. My advice from there would be to take at least 1 strategy per week and incorporate it into your lessons. Starting small will help to build not only student confidence but yours as well. Good luck to everyone! I hope you are as excited about the new year and all the new ideas you are going back to school with!

Getting to Know You

2009-08-17T00:06:00.002-04:00

Keri Lambert lead a discussion on the importance of getting to know your students. Although many teachers spend the first week getting to know their students' names and personalities, this tends to fall by the wayside as the year progresses. List one activity that you will employ at the beginning of the year to get to know your students' personalities and learning styles. Then share one way that you will attempt to continue this process of getting to know your students throughout the school year. Finally, since we are all still trying to get to know YOU. Please share one or two sentences about yourself so that we may get to know you better, as well.

Freedom Writers

2009-08-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

This of for those of you who either read the book or saw the movie Freedom Writers!

There were two books read by the class in the movie: Durango Street and The Diary of Anne Frank. Choose a book that you would like to suggest strategies for...then...using your Power Tools book, complete the following:

Choose one of the Magnificent 7 comprehension strategies and describe what that would look like in your classroom!
Choose either a before, a during or after reading strategy and describe how you would use that with the book.

If you haven't read either of the books, you don't have to! Just offer a general idea of how you would use the strategies with them.

Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy for Vertical Teams Initiative

2009-08-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

For three days next week in Williamsburg, VA instructional teams from nine middle schools in Virginia will participate in professional development on using literacy strategies in the core content areas. The workshop is the first activity of a yearlong sustained professional development initiative provided by the College of William and Mary's School Leadership Institute and SURN and is funded by the Virginia Department of Education. The presenters for the workshop are the award-winning authors of Power Tools for Adolescent Literacy book, Jan Rozzelle and Carol Scearce.

The workshop will lay the foundation for the work that instructional teams will do in their schools. The blog, emails, iTuneU SURN site, etc. will be used to grow the learning community that will begin to form next week. Each Monday, different instructional team members have been asked to post their experiences using literacy strategies in their content area. All are welcome and encourage to comment, query, and offer support.