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Ms. Maura Mills
Ms. Maura Mills
2022-2023 WVES Distinguished Literacy Teacher of the Year
2022-2023 WVES Distinguished Literacy Teacher of the Year
Ms. Maura Mills, fourth grade teacher at West View Elementary and their 2022-2023 Distinguished Literacy Teacher of the Year invited us in to her classroom to see her collaborative approach to content area integration using close reading and intentional academic conversations. Check out the resources she has provided to us and the videos of her Collaborative Academic Discourse Jigsaw strategy below.
Ms. Mills began this unit modeling close reading using a passage and video focusing on the Transcontinental Railroad a to gather some background information. Students created a KWL chart using a Google Jamboard to share their thinking. Next, they used a Jigsaw Method from the Reading Rockets website (https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/jigsaw ) to learn more about the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on Native Americans, Settlers and Immigrants, and Wildlife and Nature. Finally, Ms. Mills then provided students with an opportunity to conduct a simulation of The Great Race through a STEM challenging: building the railroad down the hallway, laying tracks by joining toothpicks and mini-marshalls. See a copy of her complete unit plan by clicking the link below:
Part 1Jigsaw Structure and Collaborative Academic Conversations in Action
Jigsaw Structure and Collaborative Academic Conversations in Action
At the beginning of today's lesson, Mrs. Mill's provided students with a short mini-lesson explaining to them what she expected them to do during each part of today's Jigsaw Strategy. See her expectations below and click on the video to the right to see this in action.
Step 1: Meet in Home Groups - we are going to read our passage and use our Central Ideas and Key Details Organizer to write down what the passage is about and what our key details we want to talk to our Expert Groups about.
Step 2: Expert Groups - in our Expert Groups we will share what we learned from each of our passages and then you will decide from what you learned from your peers what you would like to report back to your home group. Each of the passages are linked together.
Step 3: Whole Group Synthesis - when we finish our Jigsaw strategy we come back whole group on the carpet and we will talk about the impact that the Transcontinental Railroad had on Native Americans, on settlers and immigrants, and on wildlife and nature.
Step 1: Home Groups:
Step 1: Home Groups:
Close Reading in Action
Close Reading in Action
Take a look at the video clips below to see each home group's close reading in action. Click on the link below to view the modified articles Ms. Mills provided to her groups. You will notice in the video clips how quiet and engaged students were in this reading work and how Ms. Mills intentionally went from group to group to provide feedback and support.
IMG_9490.MOVIMG_9494.MOVIMG_9479.HEICIMG_9480.HEICIMG_9493.HEICIMG_9486.HEICIMG_9485.HEICIMG_9488.HEICIMG_9502.HEICIn the video below, Ms. Mills explains how her intentional selection and modification of her informational articles, her use of the research-based Jigsaw strategy, her gradual release of responsibility structure, and her effective creation of a positive and productive classroom community provided the practice and support students needed in order to be successful in their growth towards independent reading and writing. At the end of this video clip, Ms. Mills explains what students are going to do as they transition from their home groups with their individual research to their expert groups. You can click on the link below the video to view the Jigsaw strategy lesson plan.
IMG_9492.MOVIMG_9498.MOVIMG_9496.MOVStep 2: Expert Groups Collaborative Academic Conversations in Action
Step 2: Expert Groups Collaborative Academic Conversations in Action
In the video clips to the left you will see students gathered in their Expert Groups. They are expected to share with their groups what they individually learned from their home group article and graphic organizer. You can see how engaged students are in their collaborative academic conversations. As she did with their home groups, Ms. Mills rotated to each group to provide them with support and feedback. Sara Margaret West, West View's literacy coach pushed in to provide support to one of the expert groups as well intentionally asking guiding questions to help students review their research and respond to each other.
Providing Differentiated Support for Students
Providing Differentiated Support for Students
As students worked in their home groups, Ms. Mills strategically and discreetly provided differentiated support to students who needed it. In the video to the right, Mrs. Mills provided the following support to this student:
1.) She read the passage aloud to him and helped him find keywords instead of phrases for his central idea and key details chart.
2.) During expert groups she instructed the class to rehearse what they would say to their home groups so that this student and other readers would be confident in reporting back to their groups.
3.) Next, the student dictated the facts he wanted to add to his inference chart. When it came time to add a sticky note to the jamboard he came to Ms. Mills to ask if it was okay to build upon what someone else wrote. Once she confirmed he understood what he wanted to say she explained to him that this is what collaboration is all about!
IMG_9491.MOVIMG_9501.MOVIMG_9505.MOVStep 3: Whole Group Synthesis Of Information and Analysis
Step 3: Whole Group Synthesis Of Information and Analysis
In the video clip to the left, you will see how Ms. Mills gathered students to the front carpet at the conclusion of their expert group time to review what they learned overall from their individual research and their academic conversations about each of the articles. She helped students to synthesize all of the information in order to analyze the key points of today's reading in determining the impact the Transcontinental Railroad had on different groups of people and animals. At the end of their whole group synthesis time, students were asked to return to their seats to record a digital post it note sharing what they learned on the class Jam Board. See the second video clip to see student jam board posts.
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