read it! talk about it! tell me what you...
TRANSCRIPT
Read It! Talk About It! Tell Me What You Think!
Using Read Aloud with Accountable Talk to TeachOpinion/Argument Reading & Writing
K-2
Phyllis Ness, Clarkston Community Schools Literacy Specialist and Subject Area Coordinatorpsness @clarkston.k12.mi.us
Welcome!
Goals for today:
• Learn from one another
• Develop strategies for enabling our learners to become critical thinkers and to share their opinions with others
• Consider the importance of diunital thinking – what is the relationship between things that appear to be opposites?
• Grow empathy
When was the last time you argued?
Persuasive dialogue is cultural!
Do we want kids to be good at argument?
Learning About Opinion/Argument is Not Optional. . .
The Michigan Academic Standards (aka The Common Core) ask our readers and writers to:
• Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
• Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
• Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Teach kids to take a stand!
A “first time” protocol for persuasive talk. . .
• Go to the wall!
• Talk with a partner to gather evidence
• Defend your position
• Set up a polarized argument -
Two clear choices
• “There are two sides to this. . .”
Thinking about read aloud. . .
“I am sure you have never done this, but I used to grab my read aloud selections on my way past the bookshelf as I walked to the read aloud area. I was convinced that any read aloud was good… and I still think it is. However, why would we settle for just "good" when we can have great? Once I paused to give my read aloud selections more conscious thought, I realized that I must take the work of selecting read-alouds very seriously. With the amazing array of quality children's literature available, we are selling ourselves, and our children, short if we settle for just any read aloud. If we give it just a bit more thought and choose carefully, read alouds can become a foundation for expansion of oral language, a challenging opportunity to stimulate deeper thinking, a rich moment when we can expose learners to beautiful art, and most certainly, a time when we can broaden world knowledge or focus on the craft of writing." Linda Hoyt
What skills could you work on as part of your read aloud that would teach evidence-based argument ?
• Supporting ideas with evidence
• Deepening logic and understanding
• Using the technical language of argument
• Constructing and defending positions with fluency and grace
• Acknowledging counter-arguments
• Arguing to come away changed with a richer nuance of understanding
Texts selected for argument read aloud work should:
• be delightfully entertaining and/or provocative;
• might be complex in terms of characters, setting, theme or issues.
• Include both words and images to engage more readers and introduce a different kind of complexity.
Close reading in the read aloud
Before you read:
• Ask kids, “What thinking work are you going to have to do at the beginning of this story?”
• Expect readers to notice what is specific and unusual about the characters, the place or the topic – move from describing to analyzing.
• What is distinct, different and unusual?
Partnerships!
Two is the magic number!
With three, someone is not engaged.
Reminders:
• Details matter! Both words and text elements contain important details.
• Evidence – What in the text is making you say that?
• As complexity grows, distinguish between traits and emotions.
Argument Protocols
• Set up the argument and the partner positions
• Allow only one minute to defend positions
• Plan for– A series of ‘stops’
– Cycles of repeated practice – layer complexity
– Crystal clear, calibrated feedback
Fly Away Homeby Eve Bunting
Defend your position:
• Partner A: The airport is a bad place to live
• Partner B: The airport is a good place to live
Procedure
• Read a page or two of text
• “Partner A, are you ready to defend your position?” (Re-state that position)
• “Think to yourself – what evidence will you cite first, second.”
• “You’ll have 1 minute to argue.”
Let the arguing begin!
Feedback
• Listen in on the arguments!
• Give feedback either between partner arguments or after both argue or both times
• Offer just ONE tip each time!
Note taking/Collecting Evidence
• Younger readers may keep track of details on their fingers.
• Expect older kids to keep track of how much evidence they have gathered by jotting.
Tips
• “Keep pointing out details as evidence for your position.”
• “Use your notes to help you go back to the evidence.”
• “Rank your points so you’re sure you have time for the most important ones.”
• “Use transition words to make your points more powerful. Say, ‘the most important reason’ . . . ‘surprisingly’ . . . and . . . ‘another thing’.”
• “Retell part of the story to frame your evidence.”
• “Say, I heard you say . . . but I disagree because . . .” OR “It’s interesting that you said that however. . .” (Make sure to cite evidence here!)
New thinking!
• The ultimate goal is to lead both people to understand new thinking.
• If we can start arguments with different positions, but finish with a consensus of the overall theme, it’s a beautiful thing!
• Margaret Wheatley: “. . . what might we create if we seek to discover those whose insights are the most different from ours? What if, at least occasionally, we came together in order to change our mind?”
We want kids to get better at argument through reading in order to:
• become more compelling and more reasonable as they talk about texts
• see more
• come to a richer, more collaborative understanding of the text
• recognize nuance, complexity and perspective
• develop new ways to engage with text and the world
Extend and integrate skills by asking kids to:
– Draw and write their arguments
– Come up with debatable ideas for partnerships and books clubs
– Film their flash debates so that they can reflect and self-assess
– Repeat the work with non-fiction texts and topics
Reflect!
• What can you take back to your classroom?
• How might your building move to alignment?
Turn and Talk
