"Studium discendi voluntate quae cogi non potest constat" - Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

Saturday Sessions

Saturday Sessions

21st Century Testing: Teaching Visual Literacy Via Foldables

CEU Code LD-51
Nancy F. Wisker
Notebook foldables today.
How can we get our students get learning with visuals?
Today's goal: To Share Ideas with Us.
If students can't read visuals, they're sunk.
To reach 21st Cent. Learners, we must begin our instruction with images.
Sumo wrestlers: Balanced sumos, Sumo vs. Kid. Balanced vs. Unbalanced forces.
Foldables are a perfect fit for teaching visual literacy.
Dina describes Foldables as "three dimensional interactive graphic organizers that make data and concepts visual and kinesthetic."
"Chunk, Chunk, Chew, Chunk, Chunk, Chew, Chunk, Chunk, Big Chew"
Basic folds: The Fast Food Five.
Hamburger fold
Hot Dog fold
Shutter Fold (thirds) (A McDonald's Drive through window)
Taco: Form right triangles
Burrito: Roll, don't fold.
Mountains and Valleys
Inside fold: Valley
Outside fold: Mountain.
Why teach visual literacy?
Visual literacy is a learned skill, not an intuitive one. (T.Simons, 2004, Presentations Magazine)
Students learn more, faster, and retain it better with image-rich instruction. (L.Burmark, 2002, Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn)
Visual literacy can help children connect with each other and the world, develop their critical thinking skills, and "gain new ways to make meaning." (C. Cornett, 2003, Crating meaning through literature and the arts.)
Anchor Tab: Where the Glue Lives.
To make an anchor tab: Pick one edge of a paper and fold about a half inch on one edge of a flat piece of paper and then unfold it. That's the edge the glue goes
Glue
School glue is worse than all purpose glue.
Glue stick is not the best . . .
Glue Mantra: Dot, Dot, Not A Lot
Oozers are Losers!
Anchor Tab: Line, Line, Keep It Fine

Note: vaseline around the inside of the tip. Keeps it from clogging. Start at the tip and work down.
Why the duct tape around the mini-bottle of glue?
It reinforces the strength of the bottle.
The Law of More: If I give you more, you'll use it. Don't give more. :-)
Pyramid Notebook Foldable.
Visual Literacy = Intelligent Vision
Begin by asking a few key questions:
What am I looking at?
What is the relationship between the image and the displayed text message?
How is this message effective?
Pockets in Notebooks
Use a map as the pocket and then stick vocab strips in the "pocket".
Concept Cut: Make it purposeful
Maps, fault lines,
Where is the division I can use for the cut?
Three-Tab Notebook Foldable

She Will email slides w/out pics to us if we give her our email.


Taking the Lead in Learning: Student-Generated History Documentaries and Websites

National History Day
Intro Music Video: "We Didn't Start The Fire"
The documents and handouts are online and free from National History Day
Are middle school history teachers hitting their heads against the wall?
Cartoon: Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow
"Listen my children and you shall hear/ Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere/ On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;/ Hardly a man is now alive/ Who remembers that famous day and year."
Picture illustration: Paul in a low-rider shouting the message at night.
A small disconnect.
How do you reach the other 91%?
Wikispaces
Audience participation: She teaches Utah History.
Project Based Learning that works well in groups.
Business teacher: A Business simulation
History of the United States in 8 minutes
Slideshow w/music
Animoto
Keynote
Powerpoint
iMovie
Introduction: What is National History Day?
National Day is Innovative
Year-long academic program for 6th to 12 grade students
Not a stand-alone program. Designed to be supplementary.
Topics are in the book on page 12. See book in packet.
Revolution, Reaction, Reform.
Page that explains the words.
Centered around historical research, interpretation, and creative expression.
Teachers guide students through a step-by-step process of historical research and creative expression.
Students choose to create projects in one of five categories:
Academic paper
Exhibit
Documentary
Play/Theater
Website
Students submit their projects to local and state level History Day contests in the Spring.
Culminates in an exciting National History Day annual competition in the nation's capital in June.
From Ashes to Moon Dust . . .
6th grader: Shruti Vardharagan.
Theme: Triumph and Tragedy in History
Student Choice: Love of Science/ Technology
Learning the Content and Skills:
Reading with purpose: vocabulary development . . .
Writing Process
She was detailed, exact, factually correct, and multimedia.
Brainstorming Ideas for National History Day
See the National History Day Website: http://nhd.org
See the classroom connections link on the site also.
An Evaluation Study of the NHD Program
An evaluation study conducted by research firm . . .
NHD ...
Teaches critical thinking writing and research
She goes way too fast through slides!
NHD Inspires students to do more than they ever thought they could
NHD has a positive impact among students whose interests in academic subjects may wane in high school.
Among Black and Latino students, NHD students outperform non-NHD students, posting higher performance assessment scores and levels of interest and skills.
Compared to non-NHD boys and to all girls, boys participating in NHD reported significantly higher levels of interest in history, civic engagement, and confidence in research skills, on both pre-and post-surveys.
NHD stance on Wikipedia
Evaluating Internet Research Sources
'The central work of life is interpretation." -Proverb
Information is a commodity available in many flavors.
CARS (see website)
Credibility
Accuracy
Reasonableness
Support
YouTube idea: Type in topic and type "safe mode" and it will filter.
Tools
iMovie
Weebly for websites
Has templates
Parental Permissions
Most are covered by the school's internet/media policy signed at the beginning of the year. Bug check!
How to get more electronic devices?
BYOD type of plan.



Urban Literacy


Striving Readers Grant Cohort
Memphis City Schools
Grant: $16,074,687
Background & Content (See flow chart)
University instruction
Instructional coaches would model
Teachers plan with coach
Teaching rehersal
Debrief and Lesson Revision
Performance Teaching
Final debrief with coach
Research for Better Schools was the evaluator for this process
What did we want to know?
Are there traits or characteristics that are useful to describe how prepared or ho often teachers use literacy strategies?
Does strategy use differ?
Among teachers with different
MCLA stus
primary content area ssignments
fidelity of implementation (FOI) ratings
highest observed level of cognitive demand
Spring 2010 Teacher Survey
Completed MCLA (n=63, 57.8%
Attended MCS n-53, 48.6%
Teacher Characteristics
Age in years
50-69: 25%
40-49%: 17%
20-29: 17%
30-39: 40%
Experience
Professional Preparation:
What did they find?
No significant demographic differences:
between MCLA & non-MCLA teachers
among teachers of different content areas
among high vs. lower FOI teachers
among teachers with different cognitive demand ratings.
Significant differences
MCLA teachers reported higher preparedness and frequent using all but three strategies
Math teachers reported being less prepared than other teachers to establish the purpose for reading
Social studies teachers reported being more prepared than Math teachers to use concept maps to summarize main points.
Differences between Teachers with High and Lower FOI
High FOI had higher levels of preparedness to:
Read Aloud
Show relationships using GOs
Have students read in pairs
Provide guided practice with feedback (from peers or teacher) using new skills
High FOI reported more frequesntly
Showing relationships using Graphic Organizers
Pulling it all together
Any theater (who wants to) can learn to use literacy strategies (well).
No differences in science, ELA and social studies teachers' preparedness and frequency using strategies.
Math teachers report feeling less prepared use and less frequent use of only 3 out of 24 literacy strategies
High FOI teachers report greater preparedness to use active interactive learning approaches and more frequent use of Graphic Organizers
The Big Twelve
Fluency
Read Aloud
Choral Reading
Reader's Theater
Repeated Reading
Vocabulary
Word walls
Concept maps
Frayer Model
Semantic Feature Analysis
Comprehension
RAFT
QAR
Retelling
Previewing Text
Practice:
If the World Were a Village by David Smith
Frayer Model
Put a term that you'd like them to understand in the middle.
Boxes:
Definition
Characteristics
Examples
Picture or Non-Examples
Concept Map
Arrange by hierarchy.
Level 1: Circles
Level 2: Rectangles
Level 3: Other
Example:
Food supply in center
Level 1:
Developing Countries
War Zone
Developed Nation
Natural Disaster
Level 2:
Unrefined foods
Malnutrition
Contamination
Access/Distribution halted
The powerful get more food
Women and children victims
Junk food
Obesity
Semantic Feature Analysis
Terms horizontal boxes
Features of the words in the vertical boxes.
Vocab terms in the text are taken and put in the Concept Terms column
Features column gets the things that are decided on by the group.
In the example the horizontal gets Equal distribution, Food producing animal, and Animal eaten for food.
Features gets
Sheep/goats
Cows/Bulls/Oxen
Pigs
Camels/Horses
Chickens
Gallery Walk



Teaching Civil Discourse in Middle Grades Classrooms During Uncivil Times

Dr. Kimberlee A Sharp
Associate Professor, Department of Middle Grades and Secondary Education
Morehead State University
(606) 783-2853
k.sharp@moreheadstate.edu
Who, What, Purpose
Appalacihia, Central Appalachia is still the most economically depressed area in the United States.
Her research areas:
Citizenship education
How well are her teachers teaching citizenship skills to grow their area economically as a means of supporting the State and Union economically?
What do these events have in common?
1. The assassination attempts of Congresswoman, Gabby Giffords
2. The sexual harassment accusations of Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain.
Lack of communication between people.
With the freedom of speech comes the responsibility to use it.
Forces contributing to incivility today:
increased time spent using social media and technology as a means to communicate
increased polarization of the news media
decreased engagement in political and issue-oriented talk among people, especially in group settings. (Hess, 2009)
Where has Mayberry gone? People are spending less time talking with others in coffee houses, or similar locations.
Ideological Amplification
"a process by which your pre-existing ideological tendencies beome more pronounced and more extreme" (Hess, 2009)
"Group Think" takes over.
Factors causing teachers to think twice about discussion:
current national and state political climate
high-stakes testing/accountability
maturity of the students/appropriateness of the subject
lack of preparation/training to teach using discussion
lack of support by administrators and community (Sharp, 2010)
Discussions are often controversial:
Many teachers feel an aversion to teach issues
Issues can incite emotional and divisive attitudes in students and teachers.
Because of this, many teachers avoid them as a way to maintain decorum in the classroom.
What my research has shown:
Most teachers do not know if their school district has a policy for teaching controversial issues (53% out of sample)
Most school districts do not place restrictions on teachers when teaching controversial issues (73.6% out of sample).
94% of teachers think controversials issues discussion is important to students' participatory citizenship development
Read more about it: Eric #ED 507171
School districts DO have policies regarding the teaching of controversial issues;
School district policies provide significant latitude in teacher selection of appropriate controversial issues to discuss;
School district policies stipulate teacher training, objectivity, and age-appropriateness as requirements for the open discussion of controversial issues. (Sharp & Weckenbrock -- manuscript in process)
(also see Hunt & Metcalf)
The importance is . . .
There is a perceived disconnect between what teachers think they can teach and what the policies in their districts actually allow them to do.
Research into practice
Translating my research into practical and easy solutions for teachers!
Let's practice establishing a civil classroom climate!
The PEOPLE SCAVENGE:
1. five questions on next slide
2. write them in your notes
3. walk around and introduce yourself to someone you haven't met
4. ask that person a question from your list
5. write the person's name next to the question and the answer he/she gives
Adapted from Thomas Turner
The Questions
1. __________ Name one Republican presidential candidate. Haley
2. __________ Name the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Shula
3. __________ What did the 1969 Supreme Court ruling Tinker v. Des Moines State? Why is this important for schools?
The kids who wore the black arm bands during the Vietnam War. In Loco Parentis: Cannot limit student free speech unless it disrupts school climate or potential to disrupt school climate.
4. __________ What was the "3rd. U.S. Department" that Rick Perry could not remember this week in a presidential debate?
5. __________ Who is the current U.S. Dept. of Ed. Secretary?
The Discussion Web:
Divide the room into small groups
An equal number of groups will address the YE side of the issue and the NO side of the issue.
The topic:: "All middle school students should be exposed to sex education."
Sample topic for us to play with:
We take the YES side for this:
It is a hallmark of the transescent
Should be taught instead of discovered w/out education
Kids raising kids
Accurate information
Health reasons: STDs
Job security
Define: It's a study of our whole lives because it is a study of our whole being.
Responsibility, Respect, and Relationships
The Roundtable