Close Reading Bookmarks

We are almost halfway through the 2013-2014 school year.  I have had an opportunity to address close reading in professional development with different pockets of people.  I hope that the second semester brings more people into understanding and implementing close reading, which literacy expert Dr. Douglas Fisher calls a careful, purposeful rereading of a text.

Here is a gift to help with your reading instruction:  

click here for a sheet of close reading strategy bookmarks to share with students! 

(Image of the close reading bookmark.  Use the link above to get a printable copy.)

Hit the Target

Students who can identify what they are learning significantly outscore those who cannot.
~ Robert Marzano

One of the most important things in getting students to take responsibility for their learning is to give them a clear vision of what they are going to be learning so they can begin to make meaning out of it. Empowering students by using LEARNING TARGETS is an effective way to motivate them. Learning Targets are usually I CAN statements that clearly outline a path for students to take to achieve mastery of concepts, skills, and knowledge essential in a particular class or discipline. 

Learning Targets should be the following:

1. Written in student-friendly language
2. Reflective of the skills/knowledge/concepts they are expected to learn
3. A daily statement that is referred to at the beginning of class and revisited at the end
4. Tied directly to assessment

Examples of Learning Targets:

I can introduce myself to another person in French.

I can explain the impact of third parties on an election outcome.

I can identify the parts of an ecosystem and explain how they relate to each other.

Resource:

http://www.educationalleadership-digital.com/educationalleadership/201103/?pg=68#pg68

Check this out!

	Look inside >
Knowing Your Learning Target

Blog post contents and resources from:

Lynn Fisher

AHS Social Studies Teacher 

AHS Literacy Leadership Team

Blogging in the Classroom

Blogging is simply the publishing of a personal website or online journal that contains opinions,

reflections or comments about a specific topic or a range of topics. With millions of traditional blogs available online, and the popularity of many micro-blogging based social networking sites like Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram, there is a good chance that blogging, in one form or another, is something that your students are not only familiar with, but are already doing. It’s time we harness that energy in the classroom to facilitate learning, engage students, and provide an effective platform for self-reflection and collaboration among teachers. 

Blogging for Learning

Blogs provide an excellent outlet for students to demonstrate their understanding of course content and concepts. For example, students can post or link to digital research papers, current events, special interest topics, or additional resources, such as pictures and embedded or linked multimedia content. Those visual resources make blogs more appealing and help classmates with lower literacy skills.  

Blogs also lend themselves well to a divide and conquer (jigsawing) strategy of covering some topics.

Creating and maintaining a class blog over the course of the semester or year can provide a great way for students to review when it comes time for a unit test or year-end exam. Design a rotating schedule where each week, a few students are responsible for creating one or more blog posts that cover the important concepts, naturally written in kid-friendly language, learned that week. Over the course of the class, students will have easy access to a central location with all the important concepts learned throughout the course.

Blogging for Engagement

• Freedom with visual design encourages ownership.
• Student control over the content is an excellent way to get students excited about contributing to their blog.
• Allow students the opportunity to align their blogs according to their interests.
• It is a great outlet for outspoken students and the quieter ones as well.
• Kick it up a notch and have students visit, read and leave comments on each other’s blog posts. Feeling like no one is listening can kill blogging enthusiasm, but having a thoughtful comment from someone on a post can be a catalyst for sustained involvement and improved quality. 

Blogging for Teachers

Teachers can also benefit from blogging. At blogging’s fundamental core is journaling. Teachers can create blogs as a vehicle for self-reflection. They can be used to review effective (or ineffective) strategies and resources. When finished with a post, links can be easily forwarded to colleagues who may benefit from the information. Additionally, teachers can create and maintain blogs with multiple authors and each make their own unique contributions. At a time when teamwork and collaboration are highly valued and expected, blogs offer a powerful tool for teachers to utilize.

Important/Helpful Tips

• Blogger.com is the largest blogging site and since it is owned by Google; students within Asheboro City Schools already have access to it within their Google apps.
• Security is an important issue to be aware of when having students post content online. Require students to not publish any identifying information in their posts or comments. Additionally, blogs can be removed from the results of search engines, meaning the only people with access would be people provided with a direct link.
• Set expectations from the beginning about what is to be included and not included in each blog post and reply comment. Regularly check blogs and comments to verify compliance.
• It is important to make sure students fully understand how to navigate their blog dashboard before moving forward. Some students who don’t understand will inevitably create a different blog for each one of their posts.
• Have a central place open to all students where they can go to access their classmates’ blogs. The links provided should be to the student’s main blog page and not to a certain blog post.
• Be organized, especially if you are creating a class blog that will have lots of content and will likely require searching. Create tags to apply to each post so that posts are grouped together within categories and can be easily found. For example, a post on the trial of Socrates gets tagged “Ancient Greece”.
• I am not the top expert, but if you have questions, you may email me at jfaircloth@asheboro.k12.nc.us and I will do my best to help where I can. 
• For further study on blogging in the classroom, check out this post: "Blogging Beyond One Classroom" 

Josh Faircloth

AHS Social Studies Teacher 

AHS Literacy Leadership Team Member


Image credits: http://bizgovsoc2.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/blog.gif

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Graphic Organizers for Reading Strategies

Several people have provided good feedback on www.newsela.com, the leveled news articles website I shared a couple of weeks ago.  Please share how your are using it in your classrooms.  Let's get stronger by learning from each other.

Lee Wright, 7th grade science teacher at SAMS, recently emailed me this site with several graphic organizers:  http://pacehighschool.net/Documents/GraphicOrganizersforReading.pdf .  She is working hard to have appropriate resources to support literacy in her classroom.  Lee was excited for me to share with all of you, so please thank her for the resource!