Strategy of the Month

3 Personal Standards and Scouts

Students need to have agency in

their behavior, not just comply.

Research:

California Department of Education (CDE) - Teacher Performance Expectancies (TPE)

Critical Thinking - 21st Century Skills

Habits of Mind - College & Career Readiness (CCR)

Johnson Institute-Drug/Alcohol Awareness Program

High Scope Educational Research Foundation

Brechtel/Haley

Purpose:

Management tool
3 personal standards are shared classroom expectations and values to follow.
Gestures to go with standards help with shared language and remembering them.
Gestures also can keep the reminders silent, and not interrupt instructional flow.
Gestures in ASL are also CCCS aligned to world languages standards

1) Show Respect

2) Make good decisions

3) Solve problems

Process:

Teach 3 personal standards with gestures...have students say and do gestures with you. Ask them to give examples of each (done over several days/lessons). Use literacy reinforcers and name the 3 personal standards as your students display them. Be sure to be specific with they why of how a student demonstrated the 3 personal standards.

When students have a clear understanding of the 3 personal standards, assign Scouts to look for the 3 personal standards and give reinforcers to students who have earned them during whole group instruction.

Beginning of the Year Reinforcers:

Copy of 3 personal standards literacy reinforcers.docx

Extended Name Tags

Process:

In the center of the name tag write your name.
In the upper right hand corner write or draw your favorite...
In the upper left hand corner write or draw someone who ...
In the lower left hand corner write your favorite...
In the lower right hand corner write or draw something you love to do.
When finished have students share name tags with other students (clock partners, A/B partners, girls/boys, play music-when it stops person near them is their partner...)

Expert Texts

Video (Please note they do not chunk expert texts over several days and ask individual students to read, but still a good resource):

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/expert-groups/?utm_source=newsletter20180120#

Research:

Spencer Kagan—Jigsaw

Adapted by Project GLAD

Purpose:

Learning to read for information--not phonics and decoding

Note taking, text features, classifying and categorizing information

Draws on the Jigsaw idea, but they work on the whole idea instead of a part

Develops study/research skills (eg highlighting main ideas, making notes, connecting images to print, transferring information)

Allows small heterogeneous groups time to negotiate for meaning and practice guided oral language

Process:

Pull one student from each team.
Show students photos. Select photos that will connect to the words you will highlight. Have students make a prediction, ask a question, or an observation about photos (one at a time).
Show mind map—blank with categories listed so they know what they are reading for (set purpose). Have students touch each category and say/read it with you.
Tell students they will be reading to gain information.
Read text together. Stop to highlight key details and sketch (connect words to sketch with a line).
Repeat for each section of text.
After entire text is read and all groups are finished, fill out the mind map. Use bulleted points on the mind map.
Use mind map to teach the rest of their team the information learned in their expert group.

Cooperative Strip Paragraph

Research:

Nancy Whisler
UCI Writing Project, Editing Checklist

Purpose:

Teach writing process from the whole to the part
Model how to reflect on the writing process
Metacognitive process of writing. Writing is not like reading, where if we read more, we read better.
Promotes problem solving and critical thinking

Process:

Have pocket chart ready. Use ELA skills to determine focus—think about the text structure (e.g., compare and contrast).
Teacher created topic sentence prepared.
Ask, “What are we going to write about? Prove it.” Highlight important words in the topic sentence to help us stay focused as we write.
Where can we find information about this? The Process Grid. Have student point to and touch the Process Grid.
Where else can we find information? The other posters/resources around the room.
Use the process grid to create sentences. Model a few first.
As a team, create a few sentences orally. Guide students to use the category headings in their sentences.
Ask teams if they have a sentence and if they agree on it.
After teacher has accepted the sentence, students write sentence on sentence strip in their team color. Everyone must write.
Next steps: Create paragraph by putting sentences on chart. Start revision process using editing checklist (found in yellow packet).
Revision—Is it true? Is it accurate? Show evidence, cite sources. Move/combine/delete sentences/phrases/words as needed. Take all input from the students. Cite their contributions by adding their initials to the changes made by them.
Editing—capitalization, spelling, punctuation. All “correction” marks made by teacher should be written in black ink. Make it look like a paragraph by indenting the first line, writing until the right margin. “Build” and manipulate the sentence in front of kids.

Variations:

Have students create a paragraph as a team task, then individually.
Make a class book out of all paragraphs.
Use ELA skills to determine focus—think about the text structure (e.g., compare and contrast).

Graffiti Wall

Component: Closure and Evaluation

Research:

Bryan Steele

Rationale:

reviews concepts

Assesses learning

Allows for academic discourse

Negotiating for Meaning

Involves the students in the creation of student-generated tests (With students proficient at writing test questions, they will approach test-taking with less anxiety and understand test format. Tier II vocabulary are words that appear on standardized tests will be comprehensible to students as well).

Process:

Place chart paper all around the room (with one per team)
The teacher will write a question at the top of each sheet using cloze, matching, open- ended, multiple choice questions, etc.
Each team will start at one of the charts. The students will have 1-2 minutes to answer and record on the chart using their own colored markers and an additional 1-2 minutes to create their own team test question on the chart.
The teams will go to another chart when all the time is up and repeat the process (20-30 minutes on Graffiti Wall and you will have questions for your next quiz/test).
This also allows you to reteach important concepts students need help with before the next quiz/test.

*End of the Year Graffiti Wall

Reflection can happen individually, in small groups, and as a large group. Create a “Graffiti Wall” by covering a wall in the classroom with bulletin board paper. Students then write and draw about their greatest learning experiences that took place in class. This activity helps students to reflect, while simultaneously providing feedback for the teacher on their practices.

Closure/Evaluation

Graffiti Wall:
- Teacher creates test questions tied to the unit and posts around the classroom. Students walk in small groups (2-3) to each poster. They answer the first question (teacher-created), then as a team, write another question about the unit using the same format (multiple choice, short response, T/F...) on the poster. The next team answers that question (the student-created one) and writes their own question. Teachers can use these questions to assess multiple ELA skills and can create the actual end-of-unit evaluation using these questions.
Jeopardy game:
- Use the Process Grid as the Jeopardy template. Cover each square on the grid with a value. Teams select their category and value, but all students have the opportunity to respond (accountability for all)
Team Presentations:
- each team creates and presents on one area of study
Assessment is ONGOING:
- learning logs, portfolios, sketch & write, anecdotal notes, conferences
Evaluation is SUMMATIVE:
- end of unit tests, standardized tests, teacher-made tests, portfolio, student completed chart-GOIC, Pictorial, Process Grid

Extended Activities:

Role-Playing/Drama
- reader's theater: excerpts from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Guided Imagery
- imagine you're a scuba diver
Cooking
- peanut butter & geology sandwiches
- roman banquette
Science Exploration/Experiments
- sink/float
- growing crystals
- rock hunts around the yard
Music/Movement
- write a rap and record
- ocean music
- chants
Poetry
Art
- Model of the Earth's layers
- Right brain art: drawing a Roman Soldier
- Mural: Roman Market
- Comic Strips: ancient civilizations
- build a volcano
Field Trips
- observation Nature Walk
Other
- adopt a whale (Friday Harbor Whale Museum)
- multi-cultural connection
- "Heroic Women: read aloud
- report writing
- reserach center
- Jeopardy game:
  - Use the Process Grid as the Jeopardy template. Cover each square on the grid with a value. Teams select their category and value, but all students have the opportunity to respond (accountability for all)
- Google slide presentation
- pen pals (real or imaginary)

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