Wonders/Maravillas has so many pieces and parts. Is there a recommendation on how to best utilize this resource?

Achieve the Core, an organization focused on helping educators best implement the CCSS, has given some guidance on how to best use the Wonders/Maravillas resource. There are as follows:

• Always support foundational skills, ALWAYS!

• Elevate the best texts, they're there!

• Let rereading of less complex texts happen outside of whole group instruction (in small group or independently).

• Cut to the heart of the instructional purpose of the lessons (avoid extraneous activities or questions).

• Build knowledge and vocabulary, whenever possible!

• Reduce the numbers of transitions your students have to make each day.

Want to know more? check out the grade level suggestions here.

It is difficult for my students to make meaning from the Wonders/Maravillas texts due to the level of complexity. What strategies should I try to support students and make the input comprehensible?

This is a question many teachers in TCSD are grappling with as we launch into a new resource. In fact, this topic is the focus for many of our cycle one PLCS. Here are some ideas that different teachers are trying.

Create interest in the topic: stamina drops when a text is difficult for students. Therefore, to sustain the text and be motivated to keep working, students need to genuinely be interest in the topic/text. 

• Watch a video that relates to the topic to build curiosity.

• Present a picture from the text-present a question to class about the picture or ask them "what do you notice?"

• Highlight key vocabulary in the text- include pictures and TPR when appropriate

• Highlight cultural connections

• Do a vocabulary flood with words on the genre study topic-see article attached

Wonders/Maravillas asks students to do a lot of close reading. This process seem repetitive. Are there any tips to make close reading more engaging?

According to Beers & Probst (2013), close reading "should not imply that we ignore the reader's experience and attend closely to the text and nothing else. It should imply that we bring the text and the reader close together". So how do we do that? 

In Notice and Note (Beers & Probst, 2013) suggest that we bolster discussion during the close reading process to ensure that students have time to share relevant experiences, memories, and thoughts that relate to the text being presented. For instance, if our students can remember what it feels like to be extremely hungry, they may have a better chance at relating to Anne Frank in a close reading passage about her experiences in hiding.

Additionally, these literacy experts believe that the following are best practices for engaging in a close reading:

• It works in a short passage. Find short texts or chunk the text to place a focus on a particular passage.

• The focus is intense

• It will extend from the passage itself to other parts of the text-for instance, a close reading on the climax of the story may lead readers to look back at earlier sections that foreshadowed the scene.

• It should involve a great deal of explanatory discussion-allow students to lead the discussion at times to avoid too much teacher talk.