Collab writing with Google Docs Email Share September 3, 2012 - by Susan Oxnevad 0 Email Share Sharon J. “Today’s young people are using a range of digital tools to compose and create in new and exciting ways. Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Writing Workshop at a Glance Teachers start by defining cooperative grouping jobs for peer editing that are appropriate for the the level and needs of the learners in the class. Design jobs to meet the needs of the learners in your class Sharing and Commenting for Collaboration and Immediate Feedback Document sharing and comments provide students with opportunities to receive immediate feedback in the 24/7 classroom. To insert a comment, highlight the text, then choose Insert a Comment under the Insert Menu. Research Tool Perhaps the most impressive Google Docs writing support to date is an integrated research tool that’s available right on the page. Templates
Balancing Informational Text and Literature This is a 10 minute video which features a discussion between NYS Commissioner of Education John B. King Jr., David Coleman (contributing author to the Common Core) and Kate Gerson (a Sr. Fellow with the Regents Research Fund) addressing Shift 1 – PK-5: Balancing Informational Text and Literature. By unpacking Shift 1, the discussion addresses the role of the elementary teacher and the benefits of giving informational text the time it deserves in the elementary classroom. Participants might also work together to select informational texts for a single unit, ensuring that these texts both challenge students with grade level complexity as modeled in Appendix B of the CCSS, but also “teach” new ideas, concepts, or ways of making an argument. This is just one way of conducting professional development around this video.
Common Core Practice | A King's Skeleton, a Musical Mystery, a Territorial Dispute Andrew Testa for The New York TimesA council worker fixed a camera at the parking lot in Leicester, England, where archaeologists unearthed a skeleton, very likely Richard III’s, amid the remains of an ancient priory. Go to related article » Each Friday we post three short tasks that Sarah Gross and Jonathan Olsen, New Jersey team-teachers, tried that week with their ninth-grade humanities students. In their classroom, The New York Times is part of every day’s lesson plan, and, as they described in our initial post, they begin most mornings with quick exercises like the ones you see below. Of course, this feature is just one of many ways we suggest using The Times, a daily flood of “informational text,” to teach and learn. We also hope you’ll encourage students to choose their own Times articles (or multimedia) to read and write about. Let us know what you think. Common Core Practice Tasks | Week of Sept. 24 – 28, 2012 Informative Writing Before you do the task, you might…. Narrative Writing
30 Ideas for Teaching Writing Summary: Few sources available today offer writing teachers such succinct, practice-based help—which is one reason why 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing was the winner of the Association of Education Publishers 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Materials. The National Writing Project's 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing offers successful strategies contributed by experienced Writing Project teachers. Since NWP does not promote a single approach to teaching writing, readers will benefit from a variety of eclectic, classroom-tested techniques. These ideas originated as full-length articles in NWP publications (a link to the full article accompanies each idea below). Table of Contents: 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing 1. Debbie Rotkow, a co-director of the Coastal Georgia Writing Project, makes use of the real-life circumstances of her first grade students to help them compose writing that, in Frank Smith's words, is "natural and purposeful." ROTKOW, DEBBIE. 2003. Back to top 2. 3. 4.
Four Major Shifts in Literacy This video mini-series has been designed to provide an efficient pathway for understanding and implementing the most significant shifts in English/language arts and literacy instruction. Ranging from seven to ten minutes in length, each video tackles one important topic and then provides tools that educators can begin using in their classrooms immediately. The order in which the videos are watched in not critical, so please feel free to start with the one that seems the most intriguing. Major Shift 1: Emphasizing Informational Text The Common Core State Standards insist on the use of more information texts throughout the school day. This video discusses why and provides educators guidance on where to find high-quality informational texts. Major Shift 2: Literacy Standards for All Content Areas Content-area teachers are not English teachers by training. Major Shift 3: Text Complexity Students must have opportunities to read challenging texts. Major Shift 4: The Special place of Argument
Persuasive Picture Books « Read… Write… Talk… This week we have been working on persuasive writing and speaking skills. Some of the picture books I use are explained below. I read to my students are Earrings! by Judith Voirst. This is a cute book written in which a young girl tries to convince her parents to let her get her ears pierce. We also read Hey Little Ant by Phillip Hoose . Another picture book that you can have students write persuasively is Old Henry. I talked about this book in an older post ( to see that click here). My student’s favorite activity we do with persuasion is I have them create a product and then create a persuasive commercial to sell it using two of the techniques we study in class. Like this: Like Loading...
Text Difficulty and Adolescents I recently received the following letter and thought you might be interested in my responses: "I found your August 21, 2011 blog post on "Rejecting Instructional Level Theory" eye-opening and helpful. I'm a high school English teacher and instructional coach specializing in adolescent literacy remediation, so I've worked with leveled text a lot. If you have a moment, I'd love to hear your thoughts on a couple of follow-up questions:" Are the implications of your findings different for adolescents needing remediation? It depends on how low the students are and how much scaffolding is available. Is "accessible text" still important for fluency-building? Same issue. What about sheer volume? That makes so much sense, and yet, surveys tell us (as do teachers) that even with the easier materials, adolescents aren’t reading much.
Five close reading strategies to support the Common Core I walked in to my first college class, Political Science 101, eager to learn. For my inaugural college assignment, my professor asked the class to read the first three chapters of the textbook for the next class period. That night, I returned to my dorm room, determined to learn everything I could in those three chapters. I pulled out my textbook and highlighter. Growing up, that is what I always saw the “older kids” using when they read a textbook. However, when I opened my textbook it was unlike anything I had read in high school. I shrugged, pulled out my highlighter and started highlighting. I quickly realized that I had no real game plan for reading this complicated textbook. Flash forward to my first few years of teaching. While this method may have been slightly more effective than what I used that first day of college, it was still too vague and ambiguous for my students. Last fall, I attended an AVID workshop about critical reading strategies. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. · Ask questions.
Common Core Resources: DarkeNet Resources for the Common Core English Language Arts Standards We are in a very transitional time with revised standards in the state of Ohio. We (the State of Ohio) have adopted the common core standards as our English Language Arts Standards. This page is intended to provide resources and links to other pages where you will find information about the common core standards for English Language Arts. I have created some of these resources, others have been created by various other entities. If you have questions about information provided on this site, please email me. The Standards and Appendices (A-C) can be found on the Core Standards Website.Learning Targets - you will find a PDF document for each grade level.
CAIS21stcentury - List of 21st Century Skills Cooperation '''Cooperation, co-operation, or coöperation''' is the process of working or acting together, which can be accomplished by both intentional and non-intentional agents. In its simplest form it involves things working in harmony, side by side, while in its more complicated forms, it can involve something as complex as the inner workings of a human being or even the social patterns of a nation. It is the alternative to working separately in competition. Cooperation can also be accomplished by computers, which can handle shared resources simultaneously, while sharing processor time. Cooperation, more formally speaking is how the components of a system work together to achieve the global properties. Communication '''Communication''' is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Creativity Organization Problem Solving '''Problem solving''' forms part of thinking. Self-Direction & Social Responsibility Technology Fluency
Standards of Learning Information Center :: Practice Items Your browser does not support JavaScript! This site uses JavaScript but is fully functional without it. Standards of Learning (SOL) & Testing These practice items provide examples of the new content and increased rigor represented by the revised Standards of Learning (SOL) and illustrate the new Technology-Enhanced Item types for the mathematics, reading, science, and writing SOL tests. Technology-Enhanced Items (TEI) require students to indicate their responses in ways other than a multiple-choice format. Please note that the practice items are not intended to be a complete test and are not intended to cover all content for the grade level or course. Audio versions of the practice items are available for those students whose Individualized Education Plan (IEP), 504 Plan or Limited English Proficient Student Assessment Participation Plan includes an audio accommodation on a Standards of Learning test. For technical assistance, see Technical Suggestions for Opening the Practice Items (PDF)
Common Core State Standards Initiative | PTA (select any of the links below) The Common Core State Standards (CCSSI) is a joint effort led by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers to develop a common core of K-12 standards in English language arts and Mathematics. Read more about National PTA's position on Education Standards. The goal initiative is to develop internationally-benchmarked standards that ensure all students are held to consistent expectations that will prepare them for college and career. More than 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoan Islands, U.S. CCSSI Toolkit Articles of Interest National PTA Position on Education Standards National PTA volunteers have adopted several position statements and resolutions, beginning in 1981, in support of voluntary, clearer, higher academic standards for all students. Supports nationally agreed upon voluntary standards if they are derived by consensus at the state and local levels.
Draft 21st Century Skills List « Skills for the 21st Century Below is a list we’ve collected of the ‘meta-skills’/cognitive skills Adults will need to Succeed in the 21st Century. These were drafted by a small group of Tech folks at the Center for Literacy Studies and then added to/refined some at COABE 2010. We plan to update this list based on blog discussions, research we find, and comments on this page. please let us know what you think! Purple were added at COABE – the most recent update. *We think teaching these skills is a real challenge and would welcome ideas! Like this: Like Loading... How to Write a DBQ Essay How do I answer a DBQ question? DBQ questions are composed of two sections. In Part A, documents are provided for students to read, analyze, and then answer questions about each one. In Part B, students are provided with a specific task which must be addressed in an essay response. The essay response can be organized into three sections: the introduction, body, and conclusion. Step 1: Answer each question in Part A. Carefully read or view each document in Part A of the DBQ question, and answer the question that follows each document. Step 2: Read through the grading rubric. A DBQ essay question will always be accompanied by a grading rubric which explains how the essay response will be graded. Step 3: Compose a thesis statement. Read the task section in Part B of the DBQ essay question and analyze it in order to figure out what it is asking you to do. Discuss means "to make observations about something using facts, reasoning, and argument; to present in some detail." Describe Show Explain A. B.