Things That Stay Alive Personalizing Thematic Units in the Content Areas

Things That Stay Alive: Using Reading and Writing to Create Enduring Understandings in the Content AreasEDCI 40101/24/2011

A Conversation at the Copy MachineTeacher 1: Whats your next unit?Teacher 2: The French Revolution.Teacher 3: A Tale of Two Cities.

And, in our classrooms, What are we REALLY teaching?What are our students REALLY learning?How well will this knowledge serve them in the future?

The 5 Minute University

Essential Questions to Guide Reading Instruction

Why is knowledge associated w/ opportunity and accomplishment? In what ways do people acquire information, build knowledge, and demonstrate/communicate understanding? What makes reading enjoyable or satisfying?What motivates people to read different texts?What is the relationship between reading and obtaining academic, personal, and/or professional goals?How does a study of themes in texts (esp. media) contribute to the development of values? How does an investigation of values prepare individuals to participate responsibly in society (e.g. doctrine of fair use )?How does a reading habit position individuals for lifelong learning? Enduring Understandings(The Value of Text)In its broadest definition, literature includes everything ever written. Because of this, it captures and records human experience, aspiration, imagination, and discovery. Literature evokes emotional and intellectual response; it is this response, often as much as content, that makes text memorable.Literature reflects both the depth and truth of human experience.Literature was the first form of globalization, revealing diverse texts and cultures .Literature is part of heritage, belongs to a people.

Essential Questions to Guide Content Area Reading and Writing Instruction

Vocabulary in math contains numbers and operations, Latin and Greek roots (geo-earth, metrimeasure, geometry ), uses abbreviations (kg), combines symbols which may be concepts or indicate relationships ( , >).Symbols in math are the equivalent of sight words. Order of important information may be different; unlike topic sentences at the beginning of a paragraph, key information - often in the form of a question may be at the end of a word problem.Math problems generally contain information that is relevant, as well as information that does not directly contribute to setting up and solving a problem.Math text can be read top to bottom, left to right , and sometimes diagonally.

How is math different from other CA?

Reading and writing in science is often recursive, involving multiple representations of concepts using graphs, text, charts, diagrams, and pictures.

Reading and writing in science often requires the ability to use mathematical operations/procedures to calculate and analyze scientific data and ideas.

The ability to access and assess the relevance and credibility of information (found in various print and electronic media) is essential to scientific literacy. Knowing that Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is not a real animal, regardless of what the website says.How is science different ?Students use multiple print and non-print documents, together, to produce historical interpretations.The value of a text may be relative to whether it is a primary source (eyewitness account in a journal), a secondary source (newspaper article describing an event), or a tertiary source (textbook, encyclopedia entry).Students use the heuristic methods of contextualization (considering how the political, geographic, and cultural contexts influenced what documents were produced and why), sourcing (considering the source of a document when attempting to understand and evaluate it the idea of an imperfect witness), and corroboration (considering the content of a text against others) to develop historical literacy. How is social studies different?Topic/Text Essential Question(E.Q. lead to Conceptual Understanding)20th Century World LeadersWhat makes a person a leader?Are effective leaders always good people?(Macbeth, The Prince, Profiles in Courage)

The House of the ScorpionIn what ways can scientific advances be manipulated for personal gain?When does can mean should?Cloning, Evolution, Genetic EngineeringThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time; Rain Man; A Beautiful MindWhat is the actual incidence of superior mathematical reasoning (or any other type of genius) in the general population? What types of specialized abilities correlate with different disabilities?

Conflict (external, internal)How does conflict or unrest act as a catalyst for self-determination or self-destruction?In what ways is conflict (moral, spiritual intellectual, political, military, gender, physical, social/class, cultural) agency?

(The Hot Zone; Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea; The Gathering Storm)

Conceptual Curriculum & Essential Questions Differentiated Instruction for a Personalized, Content Area Classroom(texts, interests, learning styles, assessments) ACHIEVEMENT GAINS thinking, reading, writing, listening, speakingWhat One Does to Construct Meaning (or CONCEPTUALIZE) while ReadingA reader.Makes connections- Uses context cluesAsks/answers questions- SummarizesVisualizes- Infers/PredictsSynthesizes information- Reacts & InterpretsDecides whats importantMonitors comprehension and repairs faulty understanding

What Happens When Students Lose Meaning During Reading (flatline!) The voices in the readers head stop. Essentially, when we read, we hear two voices (think Me and Mini Me). One voice recites the text while the other talks back this second voice is the one that interacts more fully with the text. If a reader is bored or confused by a text, its likely he/she only hears the recitation voice.

Flatlining continuedReaders are unable to visualize the text the lens cap is on so to speak. Readers begin to daydream and find themselves easily distracted. While anyone can have difficulty concentrating on difficult text, skilled readers find that they can reconnect with the text (or seek appropriate guidance) so meaning isnt lost.Readers cant remember what was read.Clarifying questions that students might ask themselves go unanswered.During Reading Activities(or, How to Keep Students Thinking)Write-Around (Vlad the Impaler)Highlighting and Annotating Graphic Organizers (Character Webs - use Vlad, Conflict Maps, SRA Demon in the Freezer)Think-Aloud, Guided ReadingInference Exercises (Ordeal by Cheque)Visualizing & RepresentingDialectical Notes (Double Entry, Inquiry, 4-Column) Leveled Questions (a type of QAR, L/I/C, from Night)