Guided Inquiry Equals Inquiry Circles at the High School Level?

In a earlier post, I mentioned that a group of teachers from Livermore Falls High School, engaged in a 3 year literacy initiative, are reading and implementing the instructional framework from the new Harvey and Daniels book, Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action.  While this appears to be a huge leap for most high school staffs, this group had been working on implementing literacy strategies for 2 years and this text organizes the strategies and takes them to the next level - guided inquiry.

"Inquiry helps kids to think creatively.  When you capture their imagination they begin to think creatively and creativity solves problems for life."   taken from Guided Inquiry, Learning in the 21st Century.

 
We decided to take on this challenge for two reasons:  1. the literacy team's proven expertise in the area of literacy strategies and 2.a need for increasing student engagement.  We viewed this approach as a way to invite students in and make the mandated curriculum pertinent to them by teaching them how to make connections as well as ask and answer real, individual questions.  WOW! what a tall order and a lot of work!

Early on, I followed the conversations on the English Companion NING book club it became apparent that implementation of this format might look different at the high school level.  However, the staff decided to give it a go and on October 28, 2009 I coached 4 teachers.  Using the following framework from Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action.

"Students gain competence by being guided through an inquiry process by teachers and librarians...Guided inquiry is grounded in sound research findings and built on solid professional practice.  Through Guided Inquiry students gain the ability to use tools and resources for learning in and beyond the information age while they are learning the content of the curriculum and meeting subject area curriculum standards."

_ Immerse   _Investigate     _Coalesce     __Go Public    

__Student Voice and Choice
__Questions and Concepts
__Collaborative Work
__Strategic Thinking
__Authentic Investigations
__Student Responsibility
__Interaction and Talk
__Teacher as Model and Coach 
__Cross-Disciplinary Studies 
__Multiple Resources
__Multimodal Learning
__Engaging in Discipline
__Real Purpose and Audience
__Caring and Taking Action
__Performance and Self-Assessment

Following is a brief summary of three excellent lessons demonstrated as we start to implement this new instructional framework.  Stay tuned as we follow our students and teachers.

Guided inquiry to Teach Theme?

The first lesson I observed was presented by Sarah F.,  English teacher.  One of the challenges all teachers face is how to teach students to how to infer/interpret theme.  During our pre-conference Sarah stated clearly that she believed her students had to be able to connect literature to their own life or it was a meaningless experience for them - so she had devised a plan for them.

Students were given the overall framework of the lesson which consisted of: 

1.  Students broke into small groups.
2. Each group received 4 Aesops fables to read.
3. After reading the fables, each group was to do the following:
1. using a quote from the fable, state what the theme is
2. rewrite each theme in modern English
3. brainstorm and list at least two modern experiences (per fable) that can teach the same lesson as the fable

NEXT Groups were asked to:

1.  Think about four lessons and the experiences that today can teach us the same lesson
2.    As a group, decide which theme is most relevant and universal and come up with an argument to prove it
3. Report and support your decision as we debrief

As students worked, Sarah moved around the room asking clarifying questions and supporting the group process.  Students were held accountable for their interactions as a group, following many of the guidelines outlined for inquiry circles.

__Responsibility
__Listen Actively
__Speak Up
__Share the Air and Encourage Others
__Support your Views and Findings
__Show Tolerance and Respect
__ Reflect and Correct

Students moved through this process smoothly.  Groups were heterogeneous.  This is an example of immersion.  Sarah was clear with her students regarding the purposes of this lesson: 1.  reading books this year, would focus on theme and 2.  theme comes from one's life and experiences.  The lesson was a great success.

Social Studies/Research Meet in a Guided Inquiry Unit.

Michelle B.


and

 Cathi H.

introduced a 9th grade social studies class to a guided inquiry unit on countries.  The lesson was very well written and taught. 

 Michelle and Cathi balanced teacher choices and student choices extremely well.  For example, Michelle chose the countries while she allowed the students to choose 10 topics from the ABC's of World Culture poster. Both teachers modeled think alouds, prioritizing, webs, etc. - a number of pertinent literacy strategies.

Next Cathi previewed types of books available to the students, modeled how to locate information on
MARVEL, choose the just right level for them, and then reviewed the boxes of books prepared on each topic.  By framing her comments around what was just right - as well as Michelle supporting her by reiterating what just right is - students were comfortable with the idea of differentiated reading materials.


Michelle then turned the last set of decisions over to the student groups.  Each group was allowed to choose a country to research - based on what number they drew.  However, every team member had to agree.  This worked well for all but one group.  Next, students were set to the task of writing contracts for group expectations - re: responsibility, behavior, conversations, etc.  Michelle collected the lists and agreed to write rubrics based on this information for students to use during the project.

This lesson was a powerful example of slowly releasing teacher responsibility and turning decisions over to students.  It is also an excellent example of teaching students the basics of information literacy - starting with how to locate and choose information accessible to themselves.  We need to remember that information literacy is a new concept - especially when combined with technology - and most students come to us with little or no background regardless of grade level.

Math and Guided Inquiry

Robin M.  demonstrated guided inquiry during the last period of the day.  She focused on providing a learning opportunity to all her students to develop a structure for small group work.   The format she used was PALS, where two students review the problem solving process regarding a particular equation.  Students take turns as student and instructor.  Questions and responses are scripted.

Robin opened the class by explaining why the students learning this process and then proceeded to scaffold them as they practiced the strategy.

This group has presented a number of challenges, therefore, Robin tried this format to see what the results would be.  As we watched, students became more comfortable with the process and said it had helped them with their review for the test.  The team then reviewed the demonstration afterwards and brainstormed ideas to assist these students.

This is a clear example of how to prepare students for guided inquiry by beginning where they are and taking them to where they are capable of going.  Contrary to many misconceptions, students are not all at one level when they move up to the high school and the staff needs to be receptive to individual differences.

Literacy Fair at Mt. Blue High School

On October 21, 2009  Mt. Blue teachers shared literacy strategies during a early release day.  Teachers involved in the literacy initiative displayed lesson plans and student samples based on effective literacy strategies they were using in their classrooms.  One teacher even had a student attend and talk to teachers (see at the left).  What a great experience for this young man!


During the 45 minutes session,  fellow teachers visited their colleagues, asked questions, discussed the use of strategies in their own classrooms, and posted comments.



The conversations were rich, individual, and relaxed.  The enthusiasm was obvious - as was the volume!

The session was brought to closure with break out sessions chaired by groups from the literacy initiative.  Teachers were asked to bring ideas and lessons to these sessions and discuss plans for their individual classrooms.   Together, colleagues collaborated by exploring options for strategy use, tailoring strategies to individual classrooms by focusing on content and student need, and locating resources.   Bravo for a productive, teacher - friendly  staff development!

Can a group demonstrate habits of mind?

I chose this image for this post because, like many people, I often understand concepts through images and the interconnectedness represented here helps me clarify my thinking about my answer.

It reminds me of the language pathways or neurons in the brain where electrical energy (we know as ideas) move along pathways, sending messages and eliciting responses. As responses become habituated, the neuron thickens, making the response quicker and smoother.  

Sometimes as I sit "outside" of a group and watch the interaction, I visualize a big brain.  If the synergy is good and the group is functional, the ideas ping around the group, gaining meaning, clarity, and engery as they move across the members.  Harvey and Daniels address this in their book on Inquiry Circles. 

As an agent of change, I have often analyzed groups and tried to focus on what it is that makes one group or staff more productive than another.  This year I have worked with the Mt. Blue year two teachers, our study of Costa's habits of mind has intersected with some of my group observations.  I am beginning to speculate that people who practice habits of the mind carry them over into their group interactions.  Here is an example.

Last Thursday we met as a group to review the literacy fair the staff participated in on October.  It was a pretty intense day and the different levels of buy in were apparent on this day.  As in all schools, every staff comes to a point when change is moving ahead and some teachers are hesitant.  How they handle this varies.

Clearly, this is a vulnerable time for any implementation, so we decided to address the situation during our debriefing - first thing.  

We began by reporting out separately.  We slowly recreated the day and identified our challenges and successes.   Next we analyzed the dynamics of the "change landscape."   We were soon into our problem solving mode, trying to formulate a plan for addressing the elements we had identified.

Here are the traits I identified at work in our collaboration.

1.  Persisting= Everyone was engaged and committed to formulating an effective, doable plan. 

2. Listening with Understanding and Empathy= Each of our team had different experiences during the early release day.  As they shared, everyone respected and supported the other's experience.

3. Thinking Flexibly= Moving through our options, we looked at all of the suggested solutions - building a model together =Thinking Interdependently.

4. Thinking about Thinking (Metacognition) and  Managing Impulsivity =We carefully thought through our options and were sensitive to those present and those not present  - playing out a variety of scenarios = Striving for Accuracy,Questioning and Posing Problems, and Applying Past Knowledge. The level of reflection - emotional and cognitive - was shared freely, honestly and was received in a respectful manner.

5.  Remaining Open to Continuous Learning=The final solution we came up with came from the material that had just been introduced to the group.  However, the group took it in a completely different level, from a new perspective= Creating, Imagining, Innovating.

6. Taking Responsible Risks= After examining the proposed solution thoroughly, we devised a plan to put our solution  in place.

7. Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision= the first part of our plan would be to present our idea to the faculty and then to gather input from them in order to work with them as part of a team.

8.  And of course as always, we laughed all the way through our time together=Finding Humor.

I am aware that this is a surface analysis of an indepth, complicated situation. This is my starting point, my basic thesis and I will be trying to categorize my observations in this manner, looking for confirmation or eventually reshaping my ideas or disproving them.

As my time with this group increases, it will be interesting to see how automated their problem solving becomes.  They work well together, always in a similar format and always ending with a solution or a next step that works. 

Stay tuned!  It will be interesting - and as always - join in the discussion. 

Literacy Strategies at Jay High School

On the day I visited Karina, she was working with a group of students at the high school, who were faced with challenges in the language arts area.  Since the support Karina provides for these students is linked to classroom activities, she was working on providing assistance with biology notes.  The plan of action they decided on was to meet with each student for a period of time and have each one take notes on key concepts using text features and then summarizing.  She began with the first statement with, "Without reading anything what do you think is happening in the diagram?"  As the student explained his understanding of the diagram, she supported him with clarifying comments.  Next, he read the first paragraph silently.  Throughout this section of the chapter, they talked back and forth, students summarizing their understanding at the end of chunks of meaning.

As students progressed through this process, Karina created class notes on large chart paper to allow students access to the information - to share later, but also to summarize for each student as they began their section of text.  Students appeared engaged throughout the process, one exclaiming, "This is easy! I thought it would be like 25 minutes."  Obviously, students were able to comprehend ideas several grade levels above their reading level - well supported with research.

Pairs of students worked around the room, relaxed and focused.  Karina provided support as needed.

Mt. Blue High School Teachers Move Into Year Two

This is a very exciting time for Mt. Blue High School.  They are moving into year two of the Literacy Initiative and are maintaining the same momentum and focus as year one.  This is largely due to a team effort between the staff and Monique Poulin, the principal.

This is year two as principal of Mt. Blue High School for Monique.   she and members from the staff attended the Model Schools Conference in Atlanta, Georgia this summer and spent a great deal of time planning the 2009-2010 school year.  Monique and I met in August to schedule staff development days, she was very clear on the high school's intent to focus on literacy until it had been embedded in all classes.  This had been the message at the Model Schools Conference - be focused, consistent and thorough when dealing with schoolwide staff development.  In this time of state and federal mandates, it is refreshing to hear the voice of common sense and best practices.  Bravo, Monique.

On October 15, I visited the following teachers.

Jake B. teaches science.  I observed him teaching a physics class.  Jake was using the Frayer for vocabulary, but with a twist.  Students were divided into groups, given a word, and were asked to follow the standard Frayer model.  Students built the model on a brain board, but with held the vocabulary term.  Photos were taken of the brain boards and then projected with the LCD  projector.  Groups presented the frayer model and the rest of the class attempted to guess what the vocabulary term was.  Jake guided the presentation by asking clarifying questions and modeling connections for the students.  He modeled think alouds throughout the entire class.  As I moved among the groups I observed a high level of engagement, students embedding the strategic language Jake modeled as well as the strategies themselves, and a high level of metacognitive awareness.  Student feedback was very positive regarding how this process helped them understand the language and concepts involved.

A few key points common to all Frayer use in the content areas.

• non-examples are the hardest, but require the highest level of thinking
• teachers scaffold students during group work
• many contents, like physics, are like a foreign language to students, so teaching key concepts in depth is definitely not a waste of time
  

Therese H. also teaches science.  Her lesson involved  living and nonliving things, focusing specifically on the cell.  Like so many teachers, Therese wanted to find ways to engage her students and increase their participation/learning.  She decided to go with a think pair share format that included a word sorting.   As the students worked in groups, deciding what was living and nonliving Therese moved around the room scaffolding students where needed.  The pace of the lesson was good and everyone was involved.  Therese also included a text feature preview of the chapter in the science textbook and focused on how the vocabulary is displayed and defined in this particular book.  She then included directions for dealing with the vocabulary and its importance to this topic.  The group was interactive and the lesson was a success. 

In order to provide the students with the opportunity to learn through conversation and collaboration, here are a few key points common to think, pair, share.

• there needs to be a framework for the use of this strategy
• think, pair share should begin with each student writing a response to the assignment
  
• students need to be given a time limitation and be notified halfway through
• students need to have purposeful language (discussion extenders) modeled for them
• students need to use appropriate, purposeful language during the pair share
• debriefing is key, giving the rationale for choices

I ended the day with a visit to Lisa D.'s room.  She is a foreign language teacher.  It was a pleasure watching her with her class.  Lisa's lesson embedded many literacy strategies.  Students monitored their understandings by identifying phrases that were difficult for them and then practiced saying and translating the phrases.  Students practiced meaningful chunks of language orally, written, and then identified them in reading.  Students were immersed in oral language with Lisa speaking to them in a meaningful context in class - giving them a context to boost their comprehension. (I even got the GIST of it!!)  Students were all engaged - often in pairs, groups, or as a class. 

As I watched her, I was reminded of the similarities between her class and the others I had observed that day.  Truly, content at the high school level is often like learning a foreign language.  It is concept dense - both in vocabulary and experience - and the texts, much like the language structure in Lisa's class, are presented to students in a text structure format they do not know.

Our challenge is to provide the bridges for our students to cross in order to access and comprehend the information.  All of these lessons supported students to that end.

On October 16, we began our first year of peer coaching.  Teachers who have completed year one  spend year two refining and expanding their literacy strategy teaching in the classroom with students and colleagues alike.  Based on Costa's meta-cognitive coaching framework, teachers teamed - one demonstrating a strategy, the other observing and debriefing.  It was great!

I began the day with Jocelyn W., a math teacher (demonstrating), and Beth W., a special education teacher (coaching).  

Jocelyn was introducing a new chapter in Geometry.  In order to tailor her teaching to her students' needs, she decided to use this first lesson to discover what her students knew.  She opened her lesson by explaining what and why they were going to be talking about triangles by reminding them that math texts are like building block, each chapter supporting the next and expanding the idea.  The strategy she used was KWL.  After asking what students knew about the strategy, Jo had  students brainstorm ideas while she recorded.  As they students shared prior knowledge, Jo asked clarifying questions - making sure concepts were untangled and clear - and modeled connections between previous learning and texts.  Next, Jo asked students what they wanted to know/expected to learn in the upcoming chapter.  Due to Jo's knowledge of her students and content, the pace was excellent and everyone participated.

Jo completed the lesson with a concept sort.  She used a closed sort, having students identify types of triangles from examples she provided.

Jo demonstrated several key factors teachers need to think about when activating prior knowledge or frontloading.

• ask clarifying questions in order to identify confusions
  
• clear up confusions - the extra time is worth it in the long run
• have students use prior knowledge in order to firm up understandings as well as embed the information in the students' schema
  

Next, I visited Jim. B.'s room, a social studies teacher, with Hattie D. as a coach.  I had been looking forward to this visit.  Jim has taught both English and social studies and I was anticipating a cross curriculum approach.  I was not disappointed!

The class was transitioning periods of history and Jim was front-loading information with them.  He began the period with British terms - historically appropriate - some known, some new.  The students were engaged and enjoyed this.  My favorite was candy floss - ask Jim:)

Next, he introduced the frayer, with a twist.  Instead of a word, he used a concept - attitudes towards women in the middle ages.  Jim followed this with a read aloud from  The Fishmonger, a book by Edward Rutherford.  He modeled a think aloud as he read the book, making connections from text to text, text to self, and text to world.  During the think aloud, he invited the students to participate and make connections with him. In conclusion, he asked the students to infer attitudes as discussed by the book and the connections - extending the attitudes to the students' mothers lives.  This was higher level thinking at its best!  He kept the pace moving along and every student engaged.   The link between historical fiction and nonfiction at this level can enrich the students' understanding of history and make it  come alive.

Reflecting on Jim's demonstration, I drew three conclusions to offer you.

1. Adjusting the strategies to your content area is what good teaching is all about - as long as you keep the cognitive process intact, as Jim did.
2. Read alouds when combined with think alouds are powerful for all grade levels.  New language along with different text structures need to be presented in this manner, building a background for the student.  This is time well spent in all content areas and will assist students later when trying to access text independently.
3. Many teachers use literacy strategies intuitively.  Teaching them explicitly and using the common terminology shared by the rest of the staff assists students in acquiring and applying them sooner.

 I concluded the day with a visit to Meadow S.'s room, an English teacher, who was coached by Sam D., a social studies teacher.  Meadow demonstrated a literacy strategy with a honors English class.  Meadow chose a strategy due to her concern regarding her students' ability to compare themes.  She wrote,

"I personally want to see that students are engaged and actually working/discussing.  I also want to make sure that students are actively reading and showing understanding and synthesis.  I think some of them have a tendency to say "good enough".  This should show them that YES the selected poem works well or NO the selected poem does not."

The lesson I observed was part of a unit that began with the entire class reading, The House on Mango Street.  Meadow and the class then recognized and labeled the key themes explored in the book.  Next, students paired up and were asked to find pictures, quotes from poems, books, and songs that supported the themes.  Meadow completed this activity by demonstrating how to make a text to text connection (including inference) and instructed the students to review their choices using this format.

As I observed this process, it was obvious Meadow had assessed her students accurately.  They did struggle with this process as outlined regarding the text to text connections.  Meadow moved around the room, scaffolding students as needed.


Lesson learned:  regardless of level, all students can use support in the area of literacy strategies and higher level thinking.


On Monday, October 21, I visited 3 of the teachers involved in the second year of the literacy initiative - and what an awesome day!  While all three presented great lessons, I want to focus on the teaming they were doing.

Dan R. and Sam D. are co-teaching a humanities course - social studies and English.  With the support of the administration they planned and scheduled the course this summer.  They have 30+ students with the two teachers in the room at one time.  While I could go on at length about the literacy strategies they have incorporated, our discussion today demonstrated the rich opportunities they are providing their students.  During class, they shared with the literacy team a think aloud they teamed on - one read and did a think aloud for the first paragraph followed by the other teacher for the next paragraph.  They switched off all the way through the text.  What better way to collaborate and model interdependency?  

As we continued to debrief, they shared the following insights.

1. The content overlaps and creates a natural fit:  
• Grade 9 English deals with issues of identity, belief systems
• Grade 9 Social Studies deals with geography and contemporary issues 

       2.  Sam and Dan work well together building on one another's strengths and reflecting/problem           solving specific student needs
     3.  The course is formatted as a pilot, building on students' learning styles
     4.  Students were selected for the pilot by identifying those who don't work well in traditional 
          setting
     5.  Students are taught to recognize their own needs, i.e. which article can you read?
     6.  Students are challenged to think in a way they haven't thought before

Matthew A. and Maureen P. are teaming in another way.  Matthew is a math teacher and Maureen is a English teacher.  They are teaming around one of their freshman classes where they have a large number of students who overlap.  They went in a slight different direction.


Recognizing the link between literacy strategies and thinking strategies, this team went in a different direction.  Matt and Maureen co-authored a graphic organizer to teach students to read math problems and solve them.  

Students were asked to write what they know from the problem as well as any other pertinent information.  Next, they guess what the answer might be and then they attempt to solve the problem.  


This is an excellent format.  It requires students to engage in  a cognitive process involving:

1. identify the important information
2. decide what strategy (mathematical process) to use to solve the problem
3. predict what the answer might be
4. perform the process
5. check the answer against the prediction (guess)

This process can be transferred to many other problem solving processes - math or not.


For freshman this is crucial.  There is a large body of research that supports the difficulty of the transition freshman are faced with and unfortunately, many students are so defeated by this experience they decide not to pursue post secondary education.  Some even decide to drop out.


Lesson learned: all four teachers have identified a need specific to this grade level and have put in place a plan to assist their students, targeting literacy strategies used in all content areas.  We will follow these pilots as the year moves ahead.  Stay tuned~

Jay High School Teachers Demonstrate Literacy Strategies

On October 13, I spent a great day coaching teachers at the Jay High School.  I love visiting classrooms and observing skilled teachers and this day was a treat.  This district has focused on literacy - reading and writing - for 5 years.  Dr. Robert Wall, superintendent, has supported teachers by supporting the teachers with resources - staff development time, materials, subs, and other finances.  The majority of the teachers have completed one or two year programs and have received graduate credits or continuing contact credits.

Thank you, Dr. Wall.  Teachers must have administrative support in order to succeed.

I began the day with Michael H.  in a social studies classroom.  Mike is an experienced teacher who has developed many of the strategies we are exploring this year.  He is intuitive and does what he finds works.

We began the class by reviewing the vocabulary graphics Mike had given the students the day before.  He chose 8 key concepts and had students write the definition in their own words, write examples and non-examples and then illustrate the term.  Because this was the first time this class had used this method, Mike projected the student examples up on the board for the class to share.  Through out the review, Mike did a think aloud, modeling connections and questions in order to help students clarify their understandings.  Like many high schools students, Mike received a mixed response to this assignment and we brainstormed during our debriefing trying to think of ways to engage these students.  Illustrating is often a stumbling block for older students because they view drawing as a younger student activity.  However, as they begin to become comfortable with the process, they will hopefully begin to explore graphic analogies that will move their thinking to a higher level.  If any of you have any ideas, please comment and share with us.

During the second part of the class, Mike had students orally share their summaries of famous Romans who lived during the great age of the Roman empire.  Two students had been assigned the same character and reported out to the class and one another at the front of the room.  Mike used a pair/share structure for the entire group.  His guidelines were:

1. One speaker shares the most interesting points of his Roman's life
2. Speaker number two listens and adds any other interesting information they might have discovered
3. The class is asked to:

• take notes
• ask clarifying questions
• add any further information  they might have about this character

By using these guidelines, it assured the students were engaged and monitoring the discussion - something we all sttrive towards in our classrooms.

Thank you Mike!

Next, I visited Kristel A.'s room.  She is a young teacher, a graduate of UMF, who loves reading and writing.  Her period would be focusing on teaching writing - often a challenge with students of all ages.

Kristel began the lesson with an activity to organize a pair/share grouping for her entire class.  She provided students with a "social calendar" - a great graphic organizer - that each student had to fill in with a "date" for each day.  The students had great fun with this and moved along enthusiastically.

Once this task was completed, Kristel called them all back and explained to them how they would be using this information and what their focus of the class would be for this day.  She presented an awesome powerpoint - focused and to the point.  Her slides were engaging and she used analogies - PEE_WEE Herman and Superman - throughout the class to discuss supporting details.  Clear, concise.

Kristel then used a text, Clear Thinking and Writing by John Langan.  The book provided examples of paragraphs with supporting details - one with Pee Wee Herman details and one with Superman details.  Kristel modeled her thinking for the students in response to the first paragraph and then began to  provide students with scaffolded practice within the pair/share format she had organized - including a graphic organizer for responding.  This consisted of having a student write down their own thoughts, then sharing their thoughts with each other, and then choosing one idea to share with the class.  This all moved along at an appropriate pace and the students were engaged and on task.

However, what I was most impressed with was her way of teaching the power of the details.  She moved to real reader response by asking students what images stayed with them from each paragraph.  This is crucial and addressed metacognition in a real way.  Students get the opportunity, first hand to experience the power of good writing and trace their own response back to the specific text that generated it.  This strategy is crucial for reading especially at a higher level, for example when students are called on to inference.  Kristen continued to scaffold her students' practice for the rest of the period.

Great job, Kristel.

I ended my day with Sherry H. in science.  During this period, Sherry taught biology.  Her students thoroughly enjoyed the class and gave her many endorsements:)  Sherry is a reflective teacher.  She tries out a variety of approaches, using those that work best for her students.

Sherry is very comfortable with small group work.  She began the class by having students work in small groups and correct their previous quiz.  She then moved to word wall work (she has word walls for every class), using a word sort.  She introduced the sort by talking to the students about categorizing and using the books in the back of the room to explain there are many different ways to categorize.  Students then broke up into groups and Sherry distributed a graphic organizer to help students with the sort.  Sherry told the students they would be working on closed sorts, assigned by her.  She began by giving them the first category.  As students worked, she moved around the room supporting, guiding, and keeping everyone on task.  There were no confusions allowed.  Periodically, she would mention common concerns to the students and clarify for them.  For example, "This list will be short.  Don't be worried if it is short."  Her awareness of her students and her ability to individualize in this format is excellent.  This is what scaffolded practice looks like.

What impressed me the most, was the students' independent use of their textbooks and their old exams.  As I moved among the groups, I asked students how they were checking their answers.  Each one had developed a way to monitor their work by checking back to a primary source - not just throwing it out to the group.  They could explain how as well as talk about the effectiveness and how it helped them learn.  YES!

Sherry and I talked after the lesson about ways to support the students and help them stay focused.  What we talked about was eventually having them report out at the end of each sort and timing them once they had mastered the process for word sorts.

Super job, Sherry.

Thanks to the staff for an excellent day.

On October 14, I returned to Jay to visit Melissa A.'s room.  Melissa is a art teacher who participated in staff development last year and began to see parallels between visual literacy in art and the literacy strategies we are exploring this year.  Many of the strategies involve similar  processes.  I observed this during her lesson.

Melissa has posted a word wall of artists in her room.  The students are asked to look at the artists' work and then compare two artists' work that deal with similar content - and have some similarities in their composition.  This type of analysis - compare and contrast - is a strategy we use when dealing with ideas and text structure.

Melissa opened her lesson using comic life.  Students were very excited about using their computers. Melissa introduced the 7 elements of art with a powerpoint presentation and handouts for the students.  They then discussed the elements in relation to the pictures they were drawing - tying prior knowledge to abstract terms.  Next, she asked the students to use the cameras on their laptops to photograph different types of lines.  The students became quickly engaged and moved around the room looking for samples or creating drawings that demonstrated the specific descriptors Melissa had given them.   Students then used the comic life program to add the descriptors using the conversation bubbles.
They were so engaged, they were disappointed when the bell rang and some of them did not have the chance to  print their final products. 

Bravo Melissa!

If anyone has any ideas or questions they would like to share in response to these lessons, please post a comment or click on the reaction button at the bottom of the page.

Keep posted, we have more coming:)