Day 3 ELA Sessions Building Knowledge and Fluency Through a Volume of Text Grades 6-8 Winter Institute 2018 1
Table of Contents Day 3 Objectives: Self-Assessment... 3 Staying on Topic... 4 How Background Knowledge Plays Out... 5 Fluency Resources... 6 Anostraca... 7 Ephemeral Ponds... 8 Dexteria Floridana... 11 Two Florida Species Declared Extinct... 13 What Have You Learned?... 14 Assessing Learning Part 1... 14 Debrief the Process... 15 Qualitative Measures... 16 Sequencing Texts... 17 Sequencing Texts... 18 Perusing a Text Set... 19 2
Day 3 Objectives: Self-Assessment DAY 3 OBJECTIVES SELF-ASSESSMENT Pre-Day 1 Session 1= Not Capable 2=Unsure 3= I Believe So, With Some Practice 4=Absolutely, Yes Post-Day 1 Session 1= Not Capable 2=Unsure 3= I Believe So, With Some Practice 4=Absolutely, Yes I can make instructional decisions that incorporate fluency practice to support reading comprehension I can evaluate the instructional utility of a text for knowledge building I can leverage texts to build student knowledge based on an understanding of the link between building knowledge, achieving fluency, and comprehension. 3
Staying on Topic 4
How Background Knowledge Plays Out As you watch the video, consider the text that you use in your classroom and think about your student population. How can you scaffold to ensure that students who struggle understand what they are reading? What are the central take-aways from this video? Which equity principles are you seeing being honored and/or unaddressed in this video? 5
Fluency Resources 6
Anostraca 7
Ephemeral Ponds 8
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Shrimpy Shrimp You might think shrimp just live in the ocean, but tiny, mysterious fairy shrimp can only live in vernal pools and other temporary wetlands formed from rain or melted snow. You will be very lucky if you see fairy shrimp, because they don t live in all vernal pools, they only live about six weeks, and they are very small. The biggest fairy shrimp are only about one to one-and-one-half inches long. Fairy shrimp usually hatch in very early spring and sometimes again later in the summer. They tend to gather in sunny patches in vernal pools. Fairy shrimp eat microscopic animals called zooplankton, which can affect the color of their bodies. Fairy shrimp lay their tiny eggs on the bottom of vernal pools. These eggs must dry out completely and freeze in order to hatch the following spring. Some fairy shrimp eggs can last fifteen years before hatching. 10
Dexteria Floridana 11
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Two Florida Species Declared Extinct 13
What Have You Learned? Based on what you ve learned so far, write a paragraph in which you describe two reasons why it s important to protect fresh water. Include evidence from the texts you ve read this morning to support your claims. Assessing Learning Part 1 What reading and writing standard could you use to assess students in this activity? Finish this writing prompt using the standard that you think best captures the learning from this activity and be prepared to share: STUDENT ASSIGNMENT: Take the next 15 minutes to answer the question. Based on what you have learned from the texts we just read, write a paragraph 14
Debrief the Process 1. How could this activity consciously address the language gap that most students struggle with? 2. How does this activity empower students to use language? 3. How could this kind of activity honor the knowledge and cultures our students bring to the classroom? 4. How does this activity scaffold students toward independence with complex tasks instead of simplifying text language and task complexity? 5. How could this activity honor the fact that content and language develop inseparably and in integrated ways, and that language develops over time and in a nonlinear manner? 6. How does this activity provide well-structured opportunities to practice language to learn it. How does this activity amplify language? 7. How does this activity align with the Equity Principles we have been exploring this week? 15
Qualitative Measures 16
Sequencing Texts 17
Sequencing Texts 18
Perusing a Text Set Review the text set for Dragon Wings or Bud Not Buddy online and respond to the following questions: Without specifically knowing the content of the central texts for this module, what background information does this text seem to strongly develop? What strategies and/or student activities in this text set could transfer to general instruction within a unit? What would the benefit to students be? How does this text set emphasize principles of equity while building background knowledge and working on fluency? 19
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