Supporting Literacy Across the Curriculum

Jennifer DormanDiscovery Education

Strategy 1

Use Media to Access or Augment Students’ Prior Knowledge

A student’s prior knowledge is critical to his/her ability to make meaning of new information.

Roaring Twenties

Prohibition

Lost Generation

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Class Warfare

World War I

Geography

The Great Book Series in DE streamingFor literature, try the Great Book series to explore the plot, characters, themes, symbols, and historical context of the author.

Strategy 2

Use video segments to provide context.

Build background through Encyclopedia articles.

Strategy 3

Use images for non-linguistic representations.

Water cycle.  2004. Image.6 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Tell the life story of a drop of rain.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940). 2005. Image.1 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Use images to help students construct understanding of the characters and symbols or as a focus for writing.

Word Cloud created with Wordle www.wordle.net

Strategy 4

Use DE streaming resources to build a Frayer Model to help students with vocabulary development.

Take it a step further by creating the Frayer Model, hyperlinking to DE media, uploading the document to DE MediaShare, and including it in a DE Assignment for students.

Use Media Make Concept Organizers Interactive

Strategy 5

Use media in guided practice for acquisition of concepts or

vocabulary.

Rain forest plants (2).  2003. Image.6 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Beans; genetic diversity.  Discovery Education, 2010. Image.6 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Genetic diversity; role of meiosis.  Discovery Education, 2010. Image.6 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Why is diversitdiversit

yy importan

t?

U.S. Capitol.  2004. Image.1 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Can you find the right angles?

Strategy 6

Video Segments can also be embedded into presentations, mind maps, and other desktop applications.

Right Angle.Classroom Media, 2000. Video Segment.1 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

The Number Crew Learns about Right Angles.Channel 4, 2003. Video Segment.1 July 2010. <http://www.discoveryeducation.com/>.

Embedding Media on a Mac

PowerPoint for Mac

1.Click on Media and select Insert Movie

2.Find the video clip on your computer

3.Use the Formatting Palette to set playback preferences

On Keynote the media can be dragged onto the Keynote slide or

Embedding Media on a PC

1.Go up to Insert

2.Select Movies and Sounds

3.Select Movie from File

4.Navigate to the file that you downloaded.

Strategy 7

Better, yet . . . Use Editable videos from Discovery Education, remove the audio, and have students record their own voiceover narration.

Use the DE Advanced Search to filter for Editable videos and video segments.

Select a video segment.

Select your download type - QuickTime for Apple and Windows Media for PC.

Select the Download icon.

You can use Windows Movie Maker on a PC to remove audio from editable DE videos and record your own narration or mute the video’s audio and layer your narration.

You can use iMovie on a Mac to remove audio from editable DE videos and record your own narration.

Either detach the video from its audio layer by right-clicking on it in the storyboard and delete it or mute the video’s audio before recording your own voiceover.

http://cliotech.blogspot.com/2010/06/converting-quicktime-files-for-imovie.html

http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie-voiceover

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/create/narration.mspx

Strategy 8

Use the DE Writing Prompt Builder for Writing-to-Learn for Pre/During/Post Reading

Strategies

Search the DE media library or items bookmarked to your My Content to add to your Writing Prompt.

Select media resources to add to your Writing Prompt.

Include instructions for the Writing Prompt.

Strategy 9

Use the DE Assignments Builder to create a WebQuest to Build Background Knowledge

You can add as many sections as needed. Each section can include DE media as well as hyperlinks to websites and embedded widgets.

Putting it All TogetherPutting it All Together

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Start the lesson with an Anticipation Guide to have students access prior knowledge, introduce vocabulary, and provide focus for the new learning.

Use a DE Assignment to collate resources for instructional input, such as video segments, encyclopedia articles, images, audio, and skill builders. Complete the Learning Resources column of the Anticipation Guide.

Challenge students with a post-learning writing activity in a DE Writing Prompt in which they select one of Anticipation Guide statements to defend their answer.

Strategy 10

Provide Visual Cues and Context Support for Audio Speeches

First, search for Audio speeches by filtering for audio. Note: some speeches are also

in video form.

Open the Speech Transcript from the Related Materials tab.

The text can be printed for students to annotate and can be copy/pasted into visualization applications.

http://wordsift.com/

WordSift

Paste the speech text into WordSift.

Click the Sift button.

A word cloud will be created. To highlight key vocabulary, use the

Custom wordlist feature.

The Visual Thesaurus widget can be used to

explore definitions and the list of

examples of word use from the source can

highlight context clues.

http://www.wordle.net/

Wordle

You can create highly visual word clouds and modify the font, layout, and color scheme. You can also selectively remove words by right-clicking on them.

Literacy Strategies for Audio Speeches and Speech Transcripts

Pairs-ReadGroup SummarizingHistorical Character MapPLAN (Predict - Locate - Add - Note)Sensory ImagerySQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review)Think - AloudRAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic)Venn Diagram

BONUS

Tap Closed Caption Support

You will need to download BOTH the video and the CC file.

1.Open the CC file in a text editing

program like Wordpad or Notepad

2.Locate the line of code that

indicates “font size”

3.Increase the font size from 10 to

30 (or whatever you prefer)

4.Save the CC file

Edit the Font Size

10 pt

30 pt

Modify the Text of the CC

Modifying the text allows teachers to highlight vocabulary and support language learners.

http://accessibilitytoolkit.hcpss.wikispaces.net/closedcaptioning

YES - CC can work on a Mac!