LITERACY DESIGN COLLABORATIVE

Shelia D. Banks: LDC Trainer, Science Teacher

CCSS=Literacy taught in content areas

Literacy Teachers

Technical

subjects

Social Studie

s

Science

“While the English language arts classroom has often been seen as the proper site for literacy instruction, this document acknowledges that the responsibility for teaching such skills must also extend to other content areas.”

http://www.corestandards.org

In addition to ELA Teachers:

The Relationship to CCSS

LDC is a FRAMEWORK for implementing CCSS in the classroom

Science, Social Studies, and Technical teachers have not necessarily been trained to teach and assess literacy

LDC is a way to seamlessly implement the Literacy standards into these classrooms without losing content

A Blueprint for Instruction

The Freedom!

Teachers choose the content, the skills, the instruction, and the product

Teachers choose the length of the module (usually 1.5-2 weeks)

Teachers choose when to implement (beginning of year, middle, etc.)

LDC is designed to give teachers the freedom to

choose how skills are taught and what content is

embedded

The Modules

Teachers create modules-analogous to unit plans

Focus is on literacy skills related to content

Skills vary depending on grade level, content, and product required

Teacher decides how to teach those skills (called “mini-tasks”)

How are LDC lessons Structured?

3 Main Categories for Modules

Informative

Argumentative

Narrative

The Module

The module is the complete plan consisting of: The task The skills The instruction The results

Tell Me More How do those parts work together?

Shelia’s Bridge Module

What Task?

LDC contains a collection of Template Tasks

These are fill in the blank prompts

Words should not be added or deleted from the template-only fill in the blanks

Think about what kind of product you want Essay? Lab report? Editorial? Abstract?

Think about what text(s) the students will read

Template TasksHow do I choose a template?

Click here to view the template task collection

Click here to view Science templates

What Task?The texts embedded into the task are

essential.

Qualities of a Good Text

• Rigorous and contains complex vocabulary

• Related to the content taught• Necessary to write the product

(essay or other)Task 2 Template (Argumentation/Analysis L1, L2, L3):[Insert question]. After reading _____ (literature or informationaltexts), write an _________(essay or substitute) that addresses thequestion and support your position with evidence from the text(s).L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examplesfrom past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify yourposition.

The Texts: What kind should I use?

Journal Articles

Historical Documents

Newspaper Articles

Excerpts from textsELA Only: NovelsPublications

*Suggestions Only

What Task?The essential question or research topic is

critical.

Qualities of a Good Essential Question• Intriguing and motivating• Guides the student through the

module• Can only be answered by reading

the text(s)• Is interesting to the students• Opens the door to design and inquiry• Is purposeful and meaningful

Examples of Tasks with Essential Questions

• Does Eiseley’s explanation of how evolution in nature affects us make scientific sense? After reading “How Flowers Changed the World” by Loren Eiseley on evolution, write an essay that argues the causes of natural beauty and explains the effects on the human psyche from the author’s point of view and address the question.

• Should cryobiology techniques be used to preserve living matter for future use? After reading texts on cryobiology, write an article that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the texts.

• What combination of market and command systems do you believe creates an ideal mixed economy? After reading informational and opinion texts, write an essay that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the texts. Be sure to acknowledge competing views.

• When should the United States become involved in foreign wars? After reading informational and argumentative texts on foreign wars, write a letter to the President that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the texts.

After researching forces on the structure and function of bridges by reading informational texts, using technology as a resource , developing a hypothesis, and conducting an experiment examining live load forces on bridge stability , write a laboratory report that explains your procedures and results and confirms or rejects your hypothesis.

After researching essays and articles on existentialism, write a report that defines existentialism and explains its impact on Franz Kafka’s work The Metamorphosis.

After researching various websites and informational texts on current countries in crisis, write a report that analyzes the human rights violations in that country by applying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, providing evidence to clarify your analysis.

Examples of Researching Tasks

What Skills?

Task engagement Task and rubric

analysis Pre-reading Active reading Note taking Bridging conversations Initiation of task Planning Development Revising and editing

Skill Clusters

Teacher can delete skills that won’t be covered in the module

For each skill that appears in the module, there must be a mini-task that teaches and reinforces that skill

What Instruction?

Mini-tasks=lessons aligned to each skill

2 types: Focuses on

literacy skills Focuses on

content

Mini-Tasks

The Teacher Decides How to Teach

the Skills

Graphic

organizers?

Writer’s

notebook?

Outlines?

Cornell note taking

?

Template

s?

The Mini-Tasks

More Freedom!

Align to skills Skill: Mini-task (one to one ratio) Teacher designed-you teach the

skill the way you want Use your existing lessons and

develop new ones that align to skills and CCSS

Serve purpose of increasing capability of students to complete the teaching task

The Mini-Tasks: Align to CCSS

What types of lessons are CCSS compliant?

Require some sort of reading/writing Short quick-writes Read and respond (text-dependent questions) Generate ideas Prep questions for Socratic seminar

Rigorous-require reading higher levels of text with complex vocabulary

To address speaking & listening standards: can include presentations, Socratic seminars, discussions, etc.

Include communication with peers (i.e. peer editing, feedback, etc.)

What does a mini-task look like?

Skill Cluster

Type of task

Length

Expectations

How task was taught

Accommodations

Option: The Writer’s Notebook

Some teachers elect to create a writer’s notebook-contains all mini-tasks

Also includes room for notes & initial drafts

Shelia’s Writer’s Notebook

Mini-Tasks: Things to Remember Number of skills

needs to equal number of mini-tasks

Teacher’s choice as to how to teach the skill

Keep consistent with the CCSS

Teacher’s choice as to how many, length, etc.

What Results?

Requires reading the text to complete

Can be assessed using the LDC rubric

Serves the purpose of the teaching task (does it answer the essential question?)

The ProductCharacteristics of a Good Product

This is the major writing product that is constructed after completing mini-tasks

Depends on which template task was used

Essay, lab report, editorial, abstract, proposal-whatever the teacher chose

Templates allow students to stay organized

Gives students a vision of how to format final product

If you don’t provide scaffolded guidance, then they will invent their own format

Consider providing a template Sample Templates

What Results?

Template for formal lab report in APA

Template for writing Essay APA style

The Rubric-Cannot be Changed

*Students need to be exposed to the rubric before writing the product

• Implements the Common Core State Standards seamlessly

• Teacher retains creative rights to his or her instruction

• Lessons are planned, outlined, and prepared for at least 2 weeks of instruction and student work

• Builds relationships between students and teachers and raises the bar of cognition

Literacy Design Collaborative in a Nutshell

Funding for LDC