Professional Development on Close Reading

This PowerPoint was presented at the Close Reading workshop on December 10th.  It is available for anyone who is interested but was unable to attend. 
PSP Workshop Close Reading

Building Vocabulary

At yesterday's high school faculty meeting, we did a great exercise to underscore the importance of vocabulary development.  Here is a pdf file of some PowerPoint slides that you can use.  I showed them to my students this fall to emphasize the need to broaden our vocabulary.  It really helped them understand and make the connection.

Building Vocabulary

Connecting the Dots: Scaffolding for Struggling Readers

Yesterday, Professional Support Providers Audrey Brownell and Daryl Leadbetter kicked off an after school work shop series designed to offer teachers strategies around the new demands of the CCLS and classroom.  If you are interested in the topic but were unable to attend, their offering, Scaffolding for Struggling Readers, is available here.

Using the skill of DETERMINING IMPORTANCE in math word problems:

I have had the opportunity to observe several  teachers use a great strategy with word problems in math that is directly linked to a skill that proficient readers use:  DETERMINING IMPORTANCE in a text.  I call it CODING THE QUESTION but I'm sure others call it something else; at any rate it is a useful strategy that is sure to help students understand what they need to do to solve word problems.  This strategy is useful for any grade level but it is a good idea to start them young so they are proficient when the going gets tough!

This simple strategy is as follows:

Before tackling a word problem, students circle the numbers or number words that they will need to solve,
THEN underline the question or key words in the word problem.  Once they've determined and identified  the important info, they can move on the solving the problem!

Examples of Supplementary Aids and Services

Physical Accommodation Ideas

• Providing preferential seating
• Providing quiet corner
• Adapting writing utensils
• Providing space for movement or breaks
• Altering physical arrangement of classroom

Instructional Modification Ideas

• Teaching to learning style
• Varying method of instruction
• Varying content of lesson
• Providing alternate assignments
• Providing extra visual and verbal cues and prompts
• Providing books on tape
• Allowing use of computer and calculator
• Providing textbooks for at home use
• Modifying time demands
• Allowing answers to be dictated
• Providing a word bank
• Providing highlighted activities
• Giving no penalty for spelling errors
• Following  routine or schedule
• Assign specific tasks of project due at specific dates

Social/Behavioral Support Ideas

• Allowing rest breaks
• Providing immediate feedback
• Conducting functional behavioral analysis
• Implementing behavioral intervention strategies
• Providing peer buddies
• Providing counseling
• Providing verbal and visual cues regarding directions or staying on task
• Giving notice, warning before change in activities

Staff Support Ideas

• Enhanced staffing
• Providing one on one aide
• Instituting Co-teaching arrangement
• Providing small group instruction
• Providing staff development

Testing Accommodation Ideas

• Allowing answers to be dictated
• Allowing frequent rest breaks
• Allowing additional time
• Allowing oral testing
• Giving choice of test(multiple-choice, essay, true-false)
• Accepting short answers
• Allowing open book or open note tests
• Shortening test
• Reading test to student
• Providing study guide prior to test
• Highlighting key directions
• Giving test in alternate site
• Allowing calculator, work processor

folders

Over the course of the past year, I have had the opportunity to visit many classrooms.  I have seen many unique and practical strategies that teachers use everyday to help their classrooms function smoothly.  I wanted to share an idea I saw in Hillory Hamilton’s room. 

Hillory’s room has a tough layout for testing.  Students are seated in groups of 4 and share a common table.  For testing, Hillory supplies each student with manila file folders.  The students stand the up and make mini study carrels. As students finish their tests, they slide the test into one of the folders, keeping it out of sight of their neighbors.  Brilliant, yet simple, solution! 

Absent Students

I've come up with a simple way to deal with absences.  When a student is absent they go to the "Absent Bin."  In high school, I organize my bin by periods, in Elementary you could do it alphabetically.  They go to the period they are in and get there absent sheet.  I've attached a picture.  Next, I have a bin of extra papers set up.  I write down the assignments they missed and make a note if they need to stay after school.  I also write the date down that everything needs to be completed.  Also, the extras bin provides a place for students to find papers that the need another copy of.

Sign

Absent bin sign

Absent sheet

Absent folders 

Extra papers bin

Resources

Here's a video a colleague shared with me, so I'm playing it forward. Professional Resources: You do need a follet username and password which is available in my shared folder: brochure1213

Working Together

“Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other's fund of collective intelligence.” 
― Mike Schmoker, Results

As we kick off our work through the Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness grant, the conversations are already exciting!  During our first meeting of building principals and PSPs, we realized that through the observation process, the administrators are seeing lots of great things, to boost student achievement, going on in classrooms throughout the building.
So the question arose.. how do we best share these practices and ideas?  Some are instructional strategies, while others are organizational in nature.

This is the result.

We decided to start a blog and write about what is going on in many of your rooms, as a collection of resources for you to access, peruse, share, adapt, and reuse as you see fit.  You are welcome to comment on any post and share any ideas you think will be helpful as well.

We need each other, and together we will be better as Aristotle pointed out, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."