The Foundation of the Curriculum

Danielle Harris

August 13, 2008

Rituals and Routines of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern

1. Evaluate all programs for effectiveness and replace where necessary

2. Provide a rigorous curriculum aligned to state standards, assessments, and instruction

3. Provide ongoing professional development for all teachers and staff focused on academic objectives

4. Create a “Pittsburgh Leadership Academy” to provide professionaldevelopment for principals and central staff

5. Implement a district-wide coaching model

6. Establish Accelerated Learning Academies

7. Create individual school improvement plans with specific academic achievement goals

8. Adopt a writing program across the curricula

9. Develop a high school reform model that includes: Redesign Career & Technical programs

Expand and increase participation in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, Center for Advanced Studies, and dual enrollment courses

Continued partnership with universities

Strategies for Academic Achievement (PART 1)

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WELCOME

Please write your name and your school on your name tent

Take a moment to introduce (or reintroduce) yourselves to the rest of the members of your table so that we can work as a community of learners today.

Goals for this Session

Review each section of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern

Engage in a series of lessons using the DL Pattern to identify:

o How each of the sections of the pattern provide varying levels of support and build on each other

o The different learning goals addressed by each of the sections of the pattern

o How scaffolded tasks “open up” the text and how use of a difficult text can extend readers’ range and depth

o Reflect on instruction

o Discuss the roles of teachers and students within the pattern

o Share some experiences with the pattern

o Consider challenges and benefits

Instructional Design of DL Units

Reading, writing, thinking, and talking are interrelated

processes

Rereading and rewriting/revising are fundamental

Language use and language choices, including

grammatical choices, need to be explicitly highlighted

and discussed

Scaffolding and formative assessment are built into the

lessons to support all learners, including English

learners, and those acquiring academic literacy skills

Questions are a central scaffold

Discussion is an essential part of rigorous and relevant

intellectual work

Learning as apprenticeship invites students to act and

be treated as members of a community of practice

“Getting Smarter” is a social process, a byproduct of

shared experiences, discussion, and reflection

Core Principles of the DL Pattern

1. Students learn core concepts and habits of thinking within each discipline as defined by standards.

2. Learning activities, curricula, tasks, text, and talk apprentice students within the discipline.

3. Teachers apprentice students by giving them opportunities to engage in rigorous disciplinary activity and providing scaffolding through inquiry, direct instruction, models, and coaching.

4. Intelligence is socialized through community, class learning culture and instructional routines.

5. Instruction is assessment-driven.

The DL Pattern

The ELA Core Curriculum Units across Grades 6-12 share a common, consistent, repeated pattern of instruction.

Frequently during this pattern a “Step Back” and/or “Retrospective” occurs to encourage students to either examine, metacognitively, the learning that has occurred, or to tie it retrospectively to previous learning.

Write and Talk to demonstrate understanding of ideas and genre.

DL Patterned Way of Reading, Writing, and Talking

Read to get the gist

Reread to find significant moments

Read again to interpret the ideas in the text

Read again differently to analyze the author’s methods

Write to learn: know, express, and track thinking

Write to learn: select and explain ideas; reflect on writing and thinking

Write and talk to develop interpretation of ideas

WriteLike - Write like the text and in imitation of an author’s syntax and grammatical structures

Read to Get the “Gist”Comprehension level work

Students read for comprehension or “gist”

Students write in response to open-ended comprehension questions first individually in their Reader’s/Writer’s Notebooks

Students pair/trio share their thinking

Then there is a whole group discussion with the teacher charting responses

The chart becomes an artifact of the learning and a scaffold for further work with the text.

Reread for SignificanceInterpretive/Inferential Work

Students reread/scan all or part of the text in order to pull lines that are of particular significance.

Significance is sometimes determined by the students by the impact the text had on him/her, or by the teacher to focus on a particular literary element or aspect of the author’s craft.

Students write the line and an explanation of its significance on a T-chart in their R/W Notebooks.

Students then share with a partner or small gorup before participating in whole class discussion

This work should also be charted and used later as an artifact

This is interpretive/inferential work where connections are made within and between texts as well as to prior knowledge.

Read Again to Interpret Ideas in the Text

Students here are given an open-ended writing prompt. This is referred to as a “Write About.”

At this point, “rereading” may simply be returning to the text to find support for one’s claims.

Students write to make and support claims for use in the Inquiry-Based Discussion which follows.

The progression here from individual and paired work moves to a more defined discussion model within protocols set by the class to assure accountability.

Read Again to Analyze the Author’s Methods

Students look at the text again for a new purpose. This time, they are analyzing a particular aspect of the writer’s craft/technique.

This may include stylistic, grammatical, or structural nuances.

Students may be asked to pull lines that exemplify the writer’s use of this technique and then critically evaluate the effect on the reader and text.

Students at this stage are often asked to use, or mimic the author’s use of the technique in a writing exercise of their own referred to as a “Write Like.”

Assessments Formative Assessment (which informs our understanding of where students

are and what we need to do next with them, individually or in small/whole group) occurs at all stages in the pattern.

Over the shoulder observations of skills, deficits, interests, and approaches/patterns as the teacher circulates through independent and pair share activities

Through careful listening of what students say during group discussions

By reading their writing in the Reader/Writer Notebooks and more formal writing pieces

In addition, 4Sight and Core Curriculum Benchmarks also provide formative assessment: 4Sight using the measure of end of the year competencies on PSSA; Core Curriculum Benchmarks on the Eligible Content covered in a given section of the Core Curriculum.

This information should be used to guide the teacher in her use/addition of scaffolds, models, additional practice, additional teacher support, and extended learning opportunities

Assessments

Summative Assessments, which measure student gains at the end of a given arc of instruction include:

Culminating Projects that complete each unit

Final drafts of writing assignments

Selection assessments

Model Lesson Using the DL Pattern

The Narrative: Perspectives on

Relationships

Study an Excerpt from

Bone Black by Bell Hooks

Chart

Characteristics of a Narrative

What do you already know about narrative?

Turn and Talk

Turn to a colleague and briefly discuss the following:

• What makes a narrative interesting to readers?

Again, cite examples when possible. Take notes to help you in the whole group discussion

Chart:

What Makes a Narrative Interesting to

Readers?

• As a girl growing up in a family that includes five sisters, I am

amazed that our experiences were often incredibly different

even though we were in the same household. Our memories

reflect those differences.

• Bone Black, Memories of Girlhood is my story. An

unconventional memoir, it draws together the experiences,

dreams, and fantasies that most preoccupied me as a girl. I

share my secret world--the various names I created, for

example (calling my grandmother Saru in my imagination

because it was better than her real name, Sarah.)

Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black

Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black

This is autobiography as truth and myth--as poetic witness.

That rebellious writer of the Beat generation Jack Kerouac

always declared “memories are inseparable from dreams.” In

Bone Black, I gather together the dreams, fantasies,

experiences that preoccupied me as a girl, that stay with me in

all my work. Without telling everything that happened, they

document all that remains most vivid.

hooks, b. (1996). Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood. Henry Holt and Co.: New York. xi-xv, foreword

Read to Get the Gist

Excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks

Follow along as I read the excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks. I will stop at a few points in the story and ask the following questions:

What is happening here?

Who are the characters?

What do you know about them? How do you know?

Second Reading:

Reread for Significance

Same excerpt of Bone Black by Bell Hooks

Reread for Significance

• Reread through the selection again to individually identify two

moments/sentences/phrases that strike you as most significant

to the text.

• Make a two-column note chart in your Reader's/Writer's

Notebook to record the moments/sentences/phrases you

selected. Write the significant moments in the left column of

your chart. Then, across from each, do a Quick Write to explain

the significance of each moment to Hooks’ narrative.

• When you are finished, share your significant moments with

another person by explaining why these are the most

significant. Be prepared to share your moments and

explanations with the whole group.

Model of the Significant Moment and

Explanation

Significant Moment Explanation

It is my turn to iron. I can These two sentences,

do nothing right. positioned at the beginning of

paragraph three are the first time

that bell hooks uses “I” rather than

“we.” There is a noticeable shift in

the narrative from family actions and

emotions to how hooks feels as an

individual about herself……

StepBack

• How did identifying and explaining the significant moments further your understanding of the narrative?

• What did you learn from sharing and explaining your significant moments with a colleague?

Third Reading:

Reread Again, WriteAbout, and

Engage in an Inquiry-based

Discussion

Develop Your Interpretation of the Narrative

Inquiry-based Discussion

In an inquiry-based discussion, readers discuss their responses

to an interpretive question about a text(s). An interpretive

question stems from a genuine inquiry about a text, is thought

provoking, and can sustain multiple and varied responses

supported by textual evidence.

The purposes of the discussion are to help readers to:

• “try out” their answers and explanations anchored with specific

moments from the text;

• accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text (not

about reaching consensus or proclaiming a winner);

• rethink what they think about the text; and

• understand that readers can have different valid interpretations of the same text.

Start of Inquiry-based Discussion

• Reread/Review the chapter

• Then, in your Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook, individually write a response to this question (about 3 minutes)

– Why does Bell Hooks burn herself?

• Then, discuss your ideas with a partner.

• Be prepared to share your ideas with the whole group.

Whole Group Inquiry-based Discussion

Why does Bell Hooks burn herself?

• Cite your written response in our discussion.

• Listen for different interpretations of our question.

Wrap up Inquiry-based Discussion

Take a minute to add any new information or modifications to your response. Then, please answer the following questions:

• As a result of our discussion, did your response change? If so, how?

• What are your lingering questions about Bell Hooks’ chapter and why are they unresolved?

StepBack: Reflect on Inquiry-based Discussion

1. What did you learn about the text’s meaning?

2. Task, Text, and Talk

– What do you see as the relationship among the

task (Quick Write on the guiding question); the

text (the chapter from Bone Black); and the talk

(the discussion you had with your colleagues

and with the whole group)?

– How did the text, task, and talk work together to

promote this level of discussion?

3. What did you learn about participating in an inquiry based discussion?

Analyzing the Design of the Inquiry-basedDiscussion

What did you notice?

What intended learning did each support?

• Selection of the text

• Choice and development of questions

• Role of the facilitator

• Routines: moving impetus for talk from teacher to

students (talk stems, wait time, physical space, etc.)

• Activities to support talk (writing before, partner work,

wait time, etc.)

Fourth Reading:

Examining the Author’s Craft

Deepen our understanding of what makes a narrative interesting to readers

Adding to Chart:

What Makes a Narrative Interesting to Readers?

What did Bell Hooks do in this chapter that made you want to keep reading?

What do we add to our chart, “What makes a narrative interesting to readers”?

Questions, Comments, Concerns?

Have a great year!

The Core CurriculumEmbedded Vocabulary Revisions

Janine Fiorina Cody

District In-Service

August 2008

Today’s Objectives

Examine the rationale behind the new vocabulary work in the revised units

Practice instructional strategies for Rich Vocabulary Instruction

Reflect upon the implications for our practice in the classroom in the upcoming school year

The Vocabulary Reading Proficiency ConnectionWhat we’ve been aware of for years

First-grade children from higher-SES groups knew about twice as many words as lower SES children (Graves, Brunetti, & Slater, 1982; Graves & Slater, 1987).

High school seniors near the top of their class knew about four times as many words as their lower-performing classmates (Smith, 1941).

High-knowledge third graders had vocabularies about equal to lowest-performing 12th graders (Smith 1941).

Walking in Their Shoes

Most readers are able to tolerate a certain number of unknown words and still make meaning using context. For example:

Alana and Toya arrived at the party at 7:00. Alana talked to everyone and danced for hours, but the evening dragged for Toya who spent most of her time sitting alone. “I wish I was as gregarious as Alana,” she thought.

But sometimes context is not enough.Consider this example from Beck:

“Beth couldn’t decide where to go for vacation, but she knew that she wanted to be free from the brumal landscape.”

Walking in Their Shoes

Test1. Where might Beth choose to go for her

vacation?

A. Someplace warm

B. Somewhere cool

C. To the country

D. To the city

Test2. As it is used in the passage, what would be a

synonym for brumal?

A. Rural

B. Tropical

C. Mountainous

D. Frozen

What Cognitive Science has since revealed to help us design

vocabulary instructionYour Working Memory can be used up in one of two ways

while reading:

Figuring out the meaning of the words

Comprehending the text

Strong readers have 10’s of thousands of words from prior knowledge stored for immediate retrieval in Long Term Memory. It happens in milliseconds, automatically.

Weak readers use working memory to figure out words, not meaning.

What Do We Do With This Knowledge?

Move them from processing words to retrieving stored words.

Build up their storehouse of words and make retrieval automatic.

Practice Makes Permanent!

RICH VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

By rich vocabulary we mean instructional techniques

“…designed to provide explicit explanations of word meanings, multiple exposures to word meanings and uses, and opportunities for students to interact with word meanings by discussing uses for them, making decisions about whether a word fits a context, and the like (Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2008).”

How large is this Task?

Strong readers read approximately 1 million words of text per year

These words were organized into 88,500 “families” or groups of related words (Ex. introduce, introduction, reintroduce, and introducing)

Half of these are so rare that even avid readers might only encounter them once in lifetime

Based on this (an some other crazy math), they figured there are 15,000 word “families” that would be encountered more than once every 10 years.

The average 3rd grader knows about 8,000 leaving approximately 7,000 word “families” at the Tier Two level to be introduced between 3rd and 12th grade.

So I know what you are thinking…

That would mean I was suggesting that we teach 700 words a year

Most research suggests 400 as an optimal number.

Still a bit high??

Typical units of study

Unusual units of study

Not including new habits of speaking and Accountable Talk that happen in your classrooms

Tier One Words

are considered the basic of words--baby, clock, happy, etc.

are words that students are expected to or will generally pick up in everyday language acquisition and therefore are not expected to be taught.

Tier Three Words are ones whose frequency of use is quite low and

are often limited to certain domains--what we might call jargon--isotope, lathe, peninsula, etc.

would not be “of high utility” for most students.

are best learned when the need arises.

Tier Two Words

are high frequency words which are found across a variety of domains--coincidence, absurd, industrious, fortunate, etc.

have a high impact on verbal functioning.

should get the most instructional time in order to influence the students vocabulary that will most likely be tested.

are our primary focus today and for the district’s new core curriculum.

2 Kinds ofVocabulary Work

1. Understanding the Text (recognition) Comprehension Work. Clarifying the meaning of words that will

get in the way of students’ understanding of the story. This work should be very quick.

Minimum number of words for comprehension of story

Best if done at the point of occurrence while reading aloud or briefly before reading independently

2. Developing Expressive Vocabulary (production) Deeper Elaboration

Many encounters and contexts

Opportunities for students to use words and generate contexts

Variety of information about the word (which would interfere with the first goal)

What to Expect in the Revisions

Definition through prior knowledge in the introduction of every word to create neural connections

Synonyms and antonyms that are familiar will be used when exploring the new word.

Use of contexts that are both like the originating text and expanded beyond that context will support transfer

Multiple meaning work will support transfer and “ownership.”

Word play with familiar words in the same word family will build a familiarity with word part, roots, affixes, and parts of speech.

Students will generate their own personal contexts for the words and be supported in using them daily in the ALL speaking and writing (productive vocabulary).

Tier-the-Words Activity Read Aquatic Guests with a highlighter at the ready.

Highlight all of the words you imagine to be Tier Two words

Go back through the text, when you get to a word you have underlined, write a COMMENT in the right margin about why you would or would not consider teaching this word.

Is it essential for comprehension?

Is it a rich, high utility word?

Is it likely to be picked up in spoken language?

Go back through your words and their corresponding comment. Now add the word DECISION under each comment and write a description for how you believe the word should be handled within the framework of instruction.

Should it be covered briefly before/during reading to support comprehension?

Should it be covered in depth after reading to build vocabulary?

Go to your 6:00 meeting to share and compare.

Just an Idea…

Candidate set

ominously*

grave*

tolerate

perpetual

maneuver

urgency

raucous**

sensitive

evacuated

destination

cavorted**

Final Set

ominously

tolerate

perpetual

maneuver

urgency

sensitive

cavorted

Menu of Vocabulary Strategies

Returning to the Story Context

Examples / Nonexamples

Word Association

Generating Situations, Contexts and Examples

Word Relationships

Writing

Puzzles, Drawing, and Dramatizing

Examples / Nonexamples This is a simple and powerful early interactive activity. Ask

students to indicate if a given statement, description or comment is an instance of a given word.

Students can be asked to generate their own examples and nonexamples. This activity works for antonymic relationships as well.

Examples:

1. Which of the following sounds precarious?( make a list of…) Standing on a tall ladder on one foot Watching television with your friends Setting a glass of soda on a wobbly table

2. Often parts of the state of California go without water for a long time. Which new word goes with that sentence? (drought) Often parts of the state of California suffer from a drought.

3. After my friend fell off of her bicycle and hit her head, she acted as though she could not understand what I was saying. Which new word goes with that sentence? (dazed) After my friend fell off of her bicycle and hit her head, she was dazed.

Word Association Associating new words with familiar situation

helps students to build connections between the new and the known.

Example:

Which of these words goes with the situations below? Tedious, Extravagant, Pretentious

I spent all of the money that I’ve saved for 6 months on that MP3 player.

I just can’t face another minute of this!

You’re so lucky that I’m a part of your team.Note: Unexpected association can supports learning and evidence

understanding also, such as associating tedious with the first example by saying that it will be tedious and time consuming to have to save again for so long.

Generating Situations, Contexts and Examples

Students are asked to generate appropriate contexts, situations or statements for the words. Generation provides a more rigorous usage than Word Association.

Context constant w/ varying word application:

What might prompt a teacher to say:

What an industrious class you are.

What a splendid class you are.

What a versatile class you are.

Varying contexts

What would a splendid day for football look like?

What might an audience say about a splendid musician?

Word Relationships Have students respond to how 2 or more words

might be related.3 variations follow.

Ask student to:

1. Describe how words might be connected or related: conscientious/haphazard

2. Create a question using the words: What might a meticulous person be vulnerable to?

3. Sort a list of vocabulary word by relationship:Words that Describe People vs. Words that Describe places

Returning to the Story

After a cycle of deeper instruction with the words emulate and intimidate one would return to the line where they first encountered the word build a connection between vocabulary and understanding story ideas: Example from The Watsons Go to Birmingham p.27 :

Mr. Alums said to Byron: “If instead of trying to intimidate your young brother, you would emulate him and try to use that mind of yours, perhaps you’d find things much easier” What did he mean?

Writing Authentic, unsolicited, accurate use of new words

in speaking and writing is the most reliable indicator that a student “owns” a new word.

As with speaking, encourage students to use the words (displayed on a visible Word Wall and catalogues in their R/W Notebooks) at every opportunity.

If errors occur with word forms etc, praise the approximation and attempt and correct immediately.

For final drafts, a requirement of vocabulary inclusion may be appropriate for some students.

Puzzles, Drawing, and Dramatizing

Word/context Definition Synonym/antonym Visualization

Tumultuous – Some of the most

tumultuous events, however, have been

provoked by serendipity…

Chaotic; marked by upheaval

Turbulence/serenity

•Pantomime solemnly crossing your own heart. Ask students what other words or ideas come to mind for solemn when they see it this way. Students may say things like “It’s no joke” or “for real.” Accept these and other colloquial definitions if they are accurate in order to build cognitive connections for the work solemn.

•Have students work in pairs or small group to create a a gesture to represent each of the Target Words from Chapters 1 & 2: Sheer, Dense, Redeem, Solemn, Betray, Exuberant, Haphazard

•Distribute magazines to small groups of students and have them identify pictures that somehow represent each target work. It is centrally important that students explain the connection of the picture to the word and use the word in their explanation either verbally, in writing, or both.

Suggested Strategies for Assessment

For Verbal Usage:

For informal verbal usage during class, try using a simple marker tool like paperclips. Keep a box handy and give one to students each time they use a Target or Word Wall word appropriately. They can clip them onto their R/W Notebook for you to count up for points later.

A clip board with a roster or students’ can be used for tallying use during discussion. This is less intrusive to the flow of discussion.

For Written Usage:

Ask students to try to use the Target Words and Word Wall Cumulative Vocabulary in all R/W Notebook entries. Tell them to circle the words that they use so that you can give credit when assessing the notebooks.

Require that students incorporate Target and Word Wall vocabulary in Culminating Projects and Process Writing in order to score proficient or advanced in the Style Domain of the rubric

Tests and Quizzes:

Generate vocabulary quizzes or tests (for use at the end of the unit) that mirror the classroom and homework. Use the activities from the electronic version of the unit as a template.

Be careful that students have enough time to practice and use the words authentically before giving any summative assessment. Early testing can give false results regarding whether or not the word was actually learned.

The Key Ingredient: Engagement

Only the teacher can provide this essential aspect of instruction.

Word Play is natural to children and adults. Learning cannot happen with engagement.

The use of the prior knowledge, culturally relevant examples, synonyms and antonyms also increases engagement

Ask STUDENTS to provide local examples, current colloquialisms as synonyms/antonyms, popular culture connections.

Step Back: Reflect on Learning

How do you see this work impacting students in your buildings?

How has our work today helped you to better understand the Core Curriculum revisions?

The Instructional Handbook for English 6-12

Scavenger Hunt Activity

1. Where can one find guidelines for facilitating an inquiry discussion?

2. Name three resources that are available on the Reading/Writing 6-12 website?

3. What percent of the students’ grades will come from speaking and listening?

4. Now that there are grading guidelines for ELA 6-12, where can I find instructions on how to set up my grade book?

5. How does PA Standard 1.3.8.B differ from 1.3.11.B?

6. What is the purpose of the Teaching and Learning PD Cycle?