Reciprocal Teaching: A Reading Comprehension Package The intervention package teaches students to use reading comprehension strategies independently, including text prediction, summarization,question generation, and clarification of unknown or unclear content. For effective-teaching tips to use when introducing this strategy, consult the guidelines presented introducing Academic Strategies to Students: A Direct-Instruction Approach. Materials: Overhead transparencies of practice reading passages, transparency markers Student copies of Be a Careful Reader! Preparation: Prepare overheads of sample passages. Step 1: Set aside at least four successive instructional days to introduce students to each of the following comprehension strategies: Day 1: Prediction,Day 2: Summarization ("list main ideas"),Day 3: Question Generation,Day 4: Clarifying. Step 2: After students have been introduced to the key strategies, the group is now ready to apply all four strategies from the Reciprocal Teaching package to a sample reading passage. Jim's Hints
Primary Source Materials & Document Based Questions Primary Source Materials & Document Based QuestionsAn Internet Hotlist on Document Based Questions created by Paula GoldsteinNassau BOCES Introduction | Primary Source Materials | Document Based Questions | Assessments | General Resources | Constructed Response Questions Introduction Don't depend on someone else's interpretation of a document. Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. Document based questions (DBQs) are a major focus in schools today.
US History Websites with the Common Core Forty-five states have implemented the Common Core State Standards in ELA and Mathematics for every subject. These standards are not intended to drive history and other subjects away from the curriculum, but they are designed to encourage our students to be critical readers who can apply the knowledge they learned. These standards are intended to engage students in the history curriculum and teach them skills needed to be successful. The websites listed below are useful to supplement the curriculum and teach students the skills needed to be successful 21st century learners. Under Common Core Student’s will be encouraged to: Examine and analyze primary sourcesUse evidence to support an argumentUnderstand historical contextRead multiple accounts and perspectivesQuestion: Who? Websites: Docs Teach: This website is a wonderful resource that has over Four Thousand primary documents from the National Archives.
Socratic Questioning Techniques > Questioning > Socratic Questions Conceptual | Assumptions | Rationale | Viewpoint | Implications | Question | See also Socrates was one of the greatest educators who taught by asking questions and thus drawing out answers from his pupils ('ex duco', means to 'lead out', which is the root of 'education'). Sadly, he martyred himself by drinking hemlock rather than compromise his principles. Bold, but not a good survival strategy. But then he lived very frugally and was known for his eccentricity. Here are the six types of questions that Socrates asked his pupils. The overall purpose of Socratic questioning, is to challenge accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that acts to move people towards their ultimate goal. Conceptual clarification questions Get them to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Why are you saying that? Probing assumptions What else could we assume? Probing rationale, reasons and evidence Why is that happening? See also
10 Great Tools for Tech Savvy Teachers Prezi A fantastic tool to liven up presentations, Prezi does away with traditional, crowded slides by allowing you to zoom in and out, so you can create an entire presentation on one slide and guide your audience through it step-by-step. Zoom in to the details, but zoom out to show how your ideas fit together as a whole. Edmodo Edmodo turns your classroom into an online community by providing you with a secure online social learning environment. That Quiz A great, simple-to-use online tool for creating your own quizzes on the topics your students are working on. Crossword Puzzle Maker A fantastic, fun resource to engage your class; particularly useful with language, vocabulary and spelling or complex definitions for subjects like science. Doink A simple, online program for creating your own animations. Flashcard DB Free online tool for making your own flashcards, which students can then use in an online test format. Collaborize Classroom Certificate Street Simple Booklet Think Quest
Making Sense of Common Core: Textual Evidence | Roz Linder.com The first standard under Reading for Literature and Reading for Informational Text is the same. This standard focuses on textual evidence. I like to refer to this standard as the How do you know?standard. The focus here is on proving that what you see in the text is true. Backing up your claims with facts is a powerful cognitive step for students. In grades, K-2 students are simply to use the text to answer questions about who, what, when, where, and why. Implications for Instruction: K-2 When planning for this particular standard, teachers in the lower elementary school grades are laying the foundational groundwork. K-1: The focus is on the 5Ws. 2: Teachers need to select text that incites curiosity. Implications for Instruction 3-5 3-4: In third grade, things get exciting! 5: Fifth grade teachers need to follow the same goals as the third and fourth, but there is a strong focus here on writing. Implications for Instruction 6-8 Implications for Instruction 9-12
How Reliable Are the Social Sciences? The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. Public policy debates often involve appeals to results of work in social sciences like economics and sociology. For example, in his State of the Union address this year, President Obama cited a recent high-profile study to support his emphasis on evaluating teachers by their students’ test scores. The study purportedly shows that students with teachers who raise their standardized test scores are “more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, live in better neighborhoods and save more for retirement.” Beware the journalistically exciting result. How much authority should we give to such work in our policy decisions? A rational assessment of a scientific result must first take account of the broader context of the particular science involved. Second, and even more important, there is our overall assessment of work in a given science in comparison with other sciences.
How to Design Text Based Questions (And Teach Students to Answer Them!) - School Leadership 2 The following blog post is part of a blog series called "Comments on the Common Core," written by Eye On Education's Senior Editor,Lauren Davis. When I was a teacher, it was common practice to ask students for their personal responses to literature. I did that a lot in my classroom as a way to engage reluctant readers in a story. Now, the Common Core is emphasizing the importance of focused, text-based questions over personal opinion-based ones. This shift is making some teachers uneasy. An effective set of discussion questions might begin with relatively simple questions requiring attention to specific words, details, and arguments and then move on to explore the impact of those specifics on the text as a whole. In other words, don’t ask broad or opinion-based questions until it’s clear students understand the work itself—otherwise students will be able to answer from their own experiences and won’t be learning critical reading skills.
5 iPad Apps Every Teacher Should Have Just to wrap up our week of apps for teachers here are some favourites that will make your iPad a little more productive in the classroom. Enjoy iWork Until Microsoft release office for the iPad iWork offers the MS Works equivalent of a productivity suite for the iPad. Teaching & Classroom Resources @ www.theteachinglab.com The Elements: A Visual Exploration: Sounds a bit pricey for a periodic table, but the vividly animated illustrations of every substance our world is made of more than make up for it. $14 Bento: Organize your Life Mobile Air Mouse: Do you use an Interactive whiteboard and have wireless keyboards and mice floating around the place that either don’t work or you have to actually sit in front of a computer to type something on your IWB. DropBox: I own a laptop, 2 desktop PC’s at home, have files on the network at school and now have some stuff on my iPhone and an iPad. WorldBook – This Day in History.