Posts tagged english

englishteacheronline:

Questioning

It is essential that pupils have the opportunity to interact and engage with texts and move beyond literal comprehension. They need to consider questions that require them to deduce, infer, justify and evaluate.

Literal questions: repeating directly, or in own words what the text says.
e.g. Can you tell me what happened when/where/who? What are the main points in this non fiction text?

Inferential questions: reading between the lines, drawing out conclusions which are based on, but go beyond, the information given in the text.
e.g. Will Robbie stay or leave and what makes you think this?

Deductive questions: drawing conclusions from the information given throughout the text.
e.g. Explain … using two or more points to justify this. Where does it imply that?

Justification: finding evidence in the text to justify responses.
e.g. What in the text makes you say that?

Evaluative questions: making critical judgements relating to the text.
e.g. Is this a successful piece of persuasive writing? What makes you think that? Does this passage succeed in creating suspense? Why/How?

Discussion questions and statement prompts

What makes you think that? 

What do you think? 

What words give you that impression? 

How do you feel about…? 

Can you explain why…? 

Do you agree with …’s opinion? 

Do you like the bit where…? 

I wonder if… 

Is there anything that puzzles you? 

I’m not sure what I think about… I wonder what the writer intended… 

This bit reminds me of… 

I would hate to have that happen to me - would you? 

I like the way the writer has… 

Are there any patterns you notice (e.g. familiar story structure, images) 

I wonder why the writer has decided to…

Prior knowledge activation

Activation of prior knowledge can develop children’s understanding by helping them see links between what they already know and new information they are encountering.

Brainstorming around the title, chapter heading, picture on the front cover (these can be written, oral or drawn) 

Word association chain around key word in title or an image in the text 

Ask for memories around key word in title or an artefact (this reminds me of … it makes me think of) 

Filling in a mind-mapping, concept mapping or other grids/proforma (e.g. the first column of a KWL grid).

Prediction/group prediction

The children read the text a section at a time as they do so the teacher encourages them to explain what is happening, predict what will happen next, predict how it will end, revise their earlier predications in the light of new evidence found in the text. This can be oral, or children could make written predictions/revisions in a reading journal.

Constructing images (visualising, drawing, drama)

During and after reading children can sketch what they see, undertake freeze frames of key moments in a story and make models based on the text .e.g. creating the Borrowers living room in design and technology sessions.

Summarising

Model skim reading a text. Then encourage skim reading or rereading and ask for oral summaries 

Go through a text paragraph by paragraph highlighting the key sentence/sentences in each 

Children can be asked to write brief summaries at the end of each chapter outlining key events and further insights into character and plot

Talk to Author or characters

A text is provided (with wide margins). Questions to the author are written in the margin, for example ‘Who was this? Why did this happen?’ The teacher models the process initially and then the children try

Reading Journals

A reading journal provides pupils with an opportunity to reflect upon and respond to text; it also provides teachers with useful information about pupils’ thinking processes and comprehension as they interact with text. It also offers opportunities to develop a written response to a text.

Format of reading journals may vary. It may depend on age and experience of pupils or the approach of the teacher.

A journal could include:

A set of personal goals for reading 

A list of texts read with commencements dates 

Thoughts or feelings, recorded in response to reading 

Drawings of setting, characters or events 

Phrases or words that have excited or puzzled the reader 

Suggested changes the reader would have made if they had been the author 

Comments on characters illustrations, diagrams, layout or language used 

Glossary of technical terms with their meanings

It is important that both teachers and children understand the purpose of journals. They can be shared in whole class time or group time. Journal work can also provide purposeful homework activities.

Story maps or story charts

Children draw a ‘map’/chart of the events in a story.

Structural organisers

Recognising the structure of non-fiction texts and then mapping the content in different ways. Draw a diagram, grid, flow chart etc to show information e.g. life cycle of a butterfly.

Character development

Imaging how a character might feel; identifying with a character, charting the development of a character over time in a longer text.  There are many strategies that require children to make explicit response to and knowledge of a character. These include:

Feeling graphs or maps showing how emotions develop throughout the story 

Hot seating 

TV interviews. Compile a list of questions to ask if you were to interview the character 

Drawing characters and surrounding the drawing with phrases from the text 

Writing thought bubbles for characters at key moments in the text when they don’t actually speak 

Relationship grid with each character listed along the top and down the side. Each cell represents a relationship to be explored 

Speculating on actions and motives e.g. asking why did, what if? 

Character emotions register. This involves creating a 5-point emotions scale with pupils for the possible range of reactions at certain specific points in the story (for example from ‘mildly irritated’ to ‘incandescent with rage’). Pupils then rate characters on the scale.

Identifying themes/information

The author’s chair - Child takes on role of the author, answering questions about the book and justifying what ‘they’ have written 

Draw strip cartoon/story board identifying 4/5 main points from story or information 

Highlight words, phrases which link together to build a picture of character or mood, or setting and so on 

Write a blurb for the book 

Identify facts and opinion and consider how they are woven together - highlight facts in red, opinion in blue

Reading for multiple meanings

Rank characters according to criteria e.g. most powerful to least powerful, kindest to meanest. 

‘The roles we play’. In an outline character shape pupils record all the different roles they play in a story - e.g. daughter, friend 

Identify and discuss any differences or additional information to be found between text and illustrations 

Give the text only or pictures only from a multi-layered picture book and ask children to tell the story/read the prose story before reading the complete book. Discuss any changes in their perceptions and responses. Any changes? 

Retell a scene from the point of view of a minor character within it 

Justify the actions of a ‘villain’. 

Problem solving. Stop at the point where a character faces a problem or dilemma. List alternative suggestions from the group. Consider the consequences of each suggestion. Arrive at a group decision

Looking for/challenging a consistent point of view

Genre Exchange - ask children to transpose something from one written genre they have just read into another written genre 

Criteria rating certain scenes at a crucial point - mostly likely to happen/least likely to happen, mostly likely to be true, least likely to be true 

Story comparison charts. Several versions of a story are read (e.g. Cinderella tales) and a comparative chart is completed

Relating texts to person experiences

Say what they would have done at certain points in the story 

Chose the funniest, scariest, most interesting moment from a story or information book. Justify their choice 

Response journals (ongoing throughout the reading of long books) 

Relate to other books by same author or on same topic, read by the group or individual. Discuss similarities or differences.

Preview vocabulary

The teacher provides a list of words relating to the book/topic. The meanings of the words are then discussed before reading.

Building banks of new/interesting words

As children read they mark or note on post-it notes or in vocabulary journals any new words/words they are unsure of. After reading the group discusses ways of working out the meaning. 

Why did the author decide to use the word whispered instead of said - or raced instead of ran? Discuss and record choices of words made by the author. 

Making dictionaries and glossaries

Children can find words whose meanings are unclear e.g. technical words, dialect words, slang and so on. They then investigate the meanings and create text specific dictionaries or glossaries.

http://www.leics.gov.uk/strategies_to_develop_children.doc

How do you teach grammar? Is there something fun or different you do with grammar, or do you stick to worksheets? Do you find other methods of teaching grammar as effective as basic notes, worksheets and tests? Does the effectiveness of each technique vary by grade?

practicingempathy:

My good friend #hithertokat asked me about my experience as a high school writing center tutor.

She asked:
How students were selected and trained
How it was run
How it was utilized within the school

And I thought it would be important to add:
How the student-tutors were evaluated

Student-tutors were recruited through a couple of ways. The official requirement/prerequisite was to have completed two one-semester courses entitled Advanced Composition A and B, a junior level writing course sequence. However, I was recruited (and many of my cohort) because we completed AP English Literature as juniors and had no where challenging to go in the curriculum. The AP English teacher also mentored the writing tutors and had us all apply.

We were trained the first six weeks or so of the semester, during which time the centers were closed.  Since we were all seniors, our first assignment was to write and edit a college essay. We started with a first draft contributed by a previous tutor. We learned about making sure we understood the point of a piece. Or the thesis, in a persuasive essay. We learned about using specific, telling details as opposed to generalizations. Or evidence. We learned about structure, which was of course more than the five paragraph essay. And finally we learned about originality — no cliches, no plagiarism, etc. This was drummed into our heads as the acronym PESO.

Then we learned about the criticism sandwich. Compliment (as opposed to praise), criticize constructively/offer coaching, compliment. We learned that that makes it easier to hear and accept criticism.

(Grammar was to be the least of our worries as tutors. There was too much content-wise to worry about. To this day, I am not good at grammar editing, but damn if I can edit for content.)

Finally, we learned about True Colors. This is a personality test, based on similar things to Myer-Briggs, that helped us understand ourselves, each other (helping the group dynamic), and our student-clients in the short 15 minute time we have with them (to help us connect with them).

There were also team building exercises, etc. We practiced conferencing with each other, we had conferences with our mentor teachers, we observed each other and just learned.

The writing center was open during lunch four days a week. The fifth day was used as an in-service for the tutors to get more training and work on their own projects. Students could either make an appointment or walk in. Sometimes teachers required their classes to bring their papers to the writing center, or offered extra credit for showing that you wrote a draft and revised it based on the tutoring session.  (When there was a class with a requirement, you needed to make an appointment.)

We did everything from freshman personal narratives to five paragraph essays to research papers, literary analysis and college application essays.

It was an expensive class to run, as it took two teachers to supervise a very small group of students (between five and ten). Since it was held during lunch, both teachers needed to take their lunch for union purposes, though they often spent it with us. It got a lot of resistance from the budget makers, but they got resistance right back from parents and students.

The tutors were evaluated thusly on a one semester course:
*We had a creative log book that we had to write in several times weekly.
*We had to read articles in the professional writing center journal and evaluate how they helped our practice as tutors in or log books.
*We had to reflect on our tutoring, particularly difficult conferences, and think about how to improve and our control the situation better the next time. *We had to write an I-search research paper, each leg of which would be conferenced three times.
*We had to have two polished pieces (also at least three peer conferences), ready to be published and attempted to be so — our college essays were the first one, but I also wrote a poem that I read at a poetry slam, submitted something to a literary journal, and the like.
*We had to have a certain number of conferences, and our conference notes and evaluations were reviewed. We were also observed discretely by the mentor teachers from time to time.

This is work I loved doing, and still enjoy. I’d be happy to answer clarifying questions, and expound if necessary. I am pretty sure I have a number of the forms at home, but I am far away from home until mid August. I certainly still have my log!

This sounds really cool. I’d love to start/sponsor a writing center wherever I end up teaching.