Text Features

Whether you teach English/Language Arts or Health Occupations, your students need to understand informational text features.  I discovered this lesson on the web (courtesy of Milton High School in Milton, FL).  It has some great resources to teach text features.

Introduction to Text Features 
(PPT with Cornell Notes Guide)

Text Features Presentation from mrsweeks

Click here for Cornell Notes to match presentation.

"A Close-up Look at the Ol' Pigskin" Lesson

Attention Grabber
Video Clip
Review
Text Features in the Real Word PPT
Application
Text Features Team Comparison Handout
After reviewing text features with the students, give them a chance to apply their knowledge.  The handout challenges students to use the provided text features to quickly find information on the teams.
Applying to Content 
Text Feature Detective Handout
This allows students to transfer reading skills to other content areas.
Assessment
Article:  "On the Offense"
The Lexile Level is 1180 (bottom of 9-10 grade band range).  Students should read the article and then be asked to identify, explain, analyze, and determine meaning for a variety of text features.

Lesson Planning 2.0

Every year I got a blue lesson planning book to start the school year.  As I spent more time working from my computer, it became more challenging to find the time to hand write in that blue book.  Cortney Mere, an English/Language Arts Grade 8 teacher at South Asheboro Middle School, has found a site that can really help you with lesson planning for the 21st Century Teacher.  She has already shared it within her building at their Collaborative Conversations Meeting.  I asked her if she would also share with all of you!  The site is http://planbookedu.com .  Here are some of the advantages of using this service:

• Share lessons with others (administrators, teachers, parents) or even co-write lessons
• Contains Common Core State Standards--just click the ones your want for the day
• Can be embedded into webpages, blogs, wikis
• Easy to color code and make templates

Click here for a tutorial sheet created by Miss Mere.  If you need additional help, she said she will gladly help with any questions.  Just search for Cortney Mere in the ACS email address book.

http://planbookedu.com

~Chandra with Cortney

Student-Generated Higher Order Thinking Questions

Bloom's Taxonomy, in its various forms, represents the process of learning.  It was developed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom and modified again in the 1990's by Bloom's former student, Lorin Anderson.

Many teachers create lessons and assessments based on Revised Bloom's Taxonomy (RBT) question stems in order to promote higher order thinking skills (HOTS).  How many of us push our students to create their own HOT questions???

I recently visited two 6th grade ELA classrooms at North Asheboro Middle School.  Co-teachers Chris Burian and Matt Edwards collaborated with co-teachers Meredith Wolfe and Kerry Brooks to create a lesson that scaffolded HOT question creation for students.  Here are pictures of their key word "thermometers" that took students from mild to medium to HOT!

HOT Questions Lesson at NAMS on PhotoPeach

Now it's your turn to think about how you can get students to create HOT questions.  If you need another idea, check out this Youtube video about using your SMART board  for a student-generated HOT review  game.


~Chandra

9/11 Teaching Activities

Kathy Saunders, an English teacher at Asheboro High School, has found a great resource for a 9/11 remembrance lesson.  "The Man in the Red Bandana"  is a powerful video, courtesy of ESPN, that can lead into great writing or discussion tasks.

Kathy first shared it with me last year.  She started with the lesson EQ:  What would you do in the last hour? Ask the question, but caution students about writing to their audience (the teacher).  The video works great to teach symbolism.  I used it last year and it fit nicely with our work on epic heroes.  The cross-curricular potential is endless. 

I also found a LiveBinder with 9/11 Teaching Activities.

September 11th Student Activities

Please share any ideas you may have on this topic or how you could use the video in your class.

~Chandra