Black History Month and the Common Core

Thinkfinity offers hundreds of free K-12 lessons that cover many content areas such as art, history, English, economics, geography, science, and mathematics.

Thinkfinity has teamed with EDSITEment, a top humanities resource for interactive lessons and activities, to compile a list of Black History lessons that align to ELA/Literacy Common Core Shift 1 "Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction" and Shift 3 "Regular practice with complex text and its academic language".

The page of resources can be found  here:
http://www.thinkfinity.org/community/hub/blog/2013/02/05/black-history-month-and-the-common-core

African-American Lives

Several years ago, PBS presented "African-American Lives," a series where African-American celebrities traced their roots.  This fascinating series, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,  connects to so many content areas such as History, Science, and English/Language Arts.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/2006/index.html 

When you click on the "For Educators" link, teachers can access three lesson plans:

1. Analyzing Evidence (grades 6-8):  students develop strategies for analyzing history.
2. My Place in History (grades 6-8):  students learn how individual stories reflect larger events or trends in history
3. Following the Thread (grades 9-12):  students learn about genetic lineages and various DNA tests.

~Chandra

Close Reading Practice with MLK

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail," written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has become a Common Core State Standards exemplar text because of it complexity and craft.  Here is a video of David Coleman, a contributing author to the CCSS, modeling a close reading of the letter.

Kathy Saunders, AHS English teacher, has shared a lesser-known persuasive piece from Dr. King, "The Other America."  It can be used to supplement reading "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," or as an alternative.  The link will take you to a video and transcript.  

Check back every week throughout the month of February for other ideas for incorporating Black History, diversity, and/or cultural awareness in your curriculum.

Determining Tier 2 Words

WordSift, mentioned in a previous post, is a Web 2.0 tool that can be helpful in determining Tier 2 words.  However, it does not replace a knowledgeable educator.  Click here to access an Academic Vocabulary rubric from NC DPI.  Please use it to think through which words are critical to teach for comprehension.

~Chandra

Word Walls

What is a word wall?  A word wall is a display area in the classroom devoted strictly to high-frequency vocabulary that will be used or is being used during the course of a particular unit of study.

What is the purpose? 

• Students need teachers who create an interest in words.
• In order to learn a word, students need to see, hear, and use terms in many contexts.
• Vocabulary knowledge directly impacts reading comprehension.

What are ways to make it work?
Make Them Memorable- Use text as the context for identifying key words to place on your word wall. Remember, if the key words are any old words, they are likely to be treated as such.
Make Them Useful- The more you use the word wall the more your students will do the same.  Demonstrations and think-alouds take only a few seconds, if done frequently, will give you more bang for your buck.  It is important that you show students how to use the word wall.  Putting the words up at the beginning of the year and telling kids to use it without showing them how is setting your word wall up for failure.
Make Them Practical- Incorporate words walls into your daily instruction.  By incorporating the word wall in daily instruction, students will gain automaticity in using this classroom reference.
Make Them Space Efficient- If you lack space, use three-panel display boards.  These freestanding materials don't require any wall space, and can be moved around the room and placed on a table for greater visibility.
Make Them Your Way- There is no right or wrong way to build a word wall.  What to build, what words to add, and when to add them, all depend on what your students need.  Organize your walls in a way that is practical to students.  Be creative!

What steps can I take to make it an active words wall?
Check out this packet of activities:  http://www.curriculum.org/storage/258/1334340769/World_Walls_-_A_Support_for_Literacy_in_Secondary_School_Classrooms.pdf

~Chandra

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WordSift

OK, now we understand that all teachers are responsible for vocabulary instruction.  As mentioned in the previous post, an important aspect of vocabulary instruction is in the selection of words to teach.  I have a web tool that can help you!

I first heard about wordsift.com this summer in our English/Language Arts PLC from Donna Beck, ESL teacher at South Asheboro Middle School.  It is a neat way to identify words key terms from a text to focus on for instruction.   Please watch the 5 minute video I embedded below to see how the site can be beneficial to your planning and teaching.  The video sample uses "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a text exemplar straight from Common Core State Standards.

~Chandra

New Year, New Words

It is that time when people start to set personal goals for the new year, like losing weight, getting organized, or saving money.  I am encouraging us all to set a few professional goals as well.  I am going to highlight academic vocabulary instruction for January 2013.

When I was in high school, all of my teachers approached vocabulary in a similar way.  They gave long lists of words, made students use the back of the book or dictionaries to look up definitions, and then gave a quiz/test on those words.  That is how I thought vocabulary was supposed to be.  WRONG!

The first goal I would like to start with is tiering vocabulary.  That simply means that we must choose words that will help students comprehend the text.  That really means that vocabulary must be rooted in the text.  Here is how:

There are several teachers who are leading the pack with this.  Here are just a couple of snapshots from teachers at NAMS. Contact me if you would like me to come to you or your PLC to provide more information.

Amy Smith, 6th grade Science 

Meredith Wolfe, 6th grade ELA