Issue 63: Oct 05, 2009 Connections Newsletter
Assessment Prompts with the Reading Comprehension Strategies
Carol Brewer
Oct 05, 2009
Learning-Focused has strengthened if not perfected the Acquisition Lesson with the new Assessment Prompts. Assessment Prompts make the Distributed Summarizing and Distributed Guided Practice "come alive.” If you were not quite sure how to implement the Distributed Summarizing and Distributed Guided Practice, Assessment Prompts will guide you through the process. Use the following steps to think about and plan Assessment Prompts to help you incorporate and focus on reading comprehension throughout your lessons.
- Think about what the students need to learn to answer the question
- Look at the Essential Question for any comprehension connections or Identify the Text Structure of the reading material
- Use the Text Structure/identified comprehension strategies to develop the format of each Assessment Prompt
- Distribute the assessment prompts through the lesson at strategic points
Let's look at an example. Think about teaching Weather in Science. The Essential Question is, "How do I identify the different types of clouds?” In order to answer this question students need to know: 1) the different types of clouds, 2) the characteristics of each type of cloud and 3) be able to recognize the different types of clouds based on characteristics.
Now, ask yourself, "What are the comprehension strategies that can be used to understand this content?" In this one lesson, students could use their understanding of compare and contrast, inferencing, and any of the "ongoing" comprehension strategies such as prediction, visualization, questioning, and summarizing. Choose the ones that will best help deepen students understanding of the specific material as well as provide an opportunity for students to apply and reinforce the use of comprehension strategies they have learned. For this lesson we'll choose compare/contrast, visualization, and developing questions.
Now that we have identified what students must learn and the comprehension strategies that will assist them in learning that content we are ready to design the specific Assessment Prompts. When students are reading the text that explains the differences (compare and contrast text structure) in the types of clouds, they can stop every now and then to summarize with their partner, and add that information to their compare and contrast graphic organizer (a matrix works great for comparisons). The Assessment Prompt could be, "How do the first two types of clouds compare and contrast?" When reading through the text, the students might have to infer or visualize the location of the different clouds to assist with the characteristics. When the students stop and summarize this time, they might draw a picture of the different clouds in the sky. The Assessment Prompt would be, "Close your eyes and visualize the location of the clouds in the sky." "Share this 'picture in your mind' with your partner.” The students could read the rest of the text and the third Assessment Prompt could be to create questions to ask their partner. These questions should be answered in their Science writing journal.
Developing assessment prompts that incorporate reading comprehension skills and strategies is a powerful way to ensure that at the end of the lesson when it's time to answer the essential question; no student will be left behind.
For more on Assessment Prompts see Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquisition Lessons and Unlocking the Secrets of the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model V.7. See the Learning-Focused Reading Resources in the Literacy Collection by clicking here.
How Do You Teach Extending Thinking in the 3-5 Mathematics Classroom?
Laurian Phillips
Oct 05, 2009
Extending Thinking is the number 1 strategy that most impacts achievement. So how do we incorporate lessons in mathematics that have students use these strategies? This is part 2 of a series of articles that may give K-5 math teachers a few ideas to incorporate the top eight strategies in their classrooms. Each article will examine one of the top eight strategies and give activities or examples for each math strand for a particular cluster of grade levels.
Strategy: Compare/Contrast - How is this content and ________ similar and different?
Grades 3-5: Usually by grade 3, students should have moved past using only Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast information. They should be using organizers that allow them to contrast the information with regard to specific characteristics. These organizers can be found in the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies >Connecting Extending Thinking book on Compare/Contrast page 4. Examples 2 and 3 lead to use of the higher level thinking strategy and can be used to guide a writing assignment. Because compare and contrast is so familiar to teachers and is very easy to use, it often becomes overused. When using this strategy, reflect on the purpose of the task and depth of mathematical knowledge and understanding to be gained.
Sources: LEARNING-FOCUSED Connecting Extending Thinking and the NCTM Focal Points
What is an Alternative to Lectures?
Barbara McSwain
Oct 05, 2009
In an age where students are surrounded by multi- stimuli in every area of their lives, the traditional lecture is not only boring, but it is not likely to increase student achievement! What are some alternatives?
One suggestion is to have students use a graphic organizer that matches the text structure of their text and/or your lecture for guided note-taking. At different points in the lecture, you may want to have collaborative pairs work on their notes together or to compare the notes that they have taken to that point. At the conclusion of the lecture, you may use a Mix/Fre eze activity which will give them the opportunity to talk with groups of 3-5 students about specific content notes they have taken. You may assist them by using a teacher prompt to direct group discussions. Students will use the notes which they have recorded on their graphic organizers as a scaffold for group discussions. Students Mix- Freeze for 3 minutes and talk about the content before "Mixing" again. The teacher will call out "Freeze" and the students will again get in groups of 3-5 students to discuss a new teacher prompt. This allows students the opportunity to process important lecture information while collaborating and discussing material.
Another lecture choice is the Multiple Choice Activity. Students will need colored copy paper/colored index cards for this assignment. Students label the 4 color copy paper/index cards A, B, C or D. The teacher would need to prepare a series of multiple choice questions based on the content of the lecture. It is important to keep the integrity of the per! formance standards as a benchmark for your questions. You will want to include comprehension strategies as well as Extending Thinking skills with the content of the questions. You may place a multiple choice question on the Smart Board or Power Point. As you lecture, stop every few minutes and ask questions, giving pairs or individuals an opportunity to respond. Learners can hold up the appropriate colored paper to indicate their answer. This could also be done as a team activity. Remember, choice is the #1 motivator for students. If errors occur in student responses, take the time to have a brief discussion to clarify any errors in thinking that are occurring.
A third lecture choice is to have the students take turns role playing a TV News reporter. The reporter can interview you the teacher or another student by using a list of questions that the students provide. You may want to have some questions prepared to add to the list. The audience (students) may ask questions during the interview verbally as well.
You as teachers are the experts! Please email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or our general mailbox, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), with ideas you have to share. Together, as we share our ideas with others, we can increase student achievement/
