strategic teaching middle and high school (1)

Using Strategic Teaching

in the Middle and High School to Promote High

Levels Of Active Engagement And

Student Learning

Shelby County Schools Strategic Teaching Overview 2.18.10

Strategic Teaching Defined…

Strategic teaching is the process of using a variety of literacy strategies.

It maximizes the understanding and retention of content material.

It incorporates before, during, and after reading strategies.

It incorporates a variety of vocabulary development and writing strategies.

The strategies a teacher chooses will depend on the purpose of the lesson and the nature of the material

being studied.

Why is Strategic Teaching Necessary?

• The student performance drops off in the

middle school and high school years (International Reading

Association and National Middle School Association, 2002).

• Research has shown that many children who

read at grade level in grade 3 will not automatically

become proficient comprehenders in later grades.

Therefore, teachers must teach comprehension

explicitly, beginning in the primary grades and

continuing through high school (RAND Reading Study Group,

2002).

It benefits ALL of our students.

Struggling Readers

Striving Readers

Expanding Readers

The Strategic Teacher

The strategic teacher plans lessons with the outcome in mind. The outcomes of strategic lessons move the students toward mastery of content standards.

The strategic teacher plans and facilitates engaging lessons. Students in strategic classrooms have the opportunity to talk, listen, read, write, and investigate everyday while actively involved in the learning process.

The strategic teacher builds assessment into every lesson. The lesson contains elements that allow the teacher to know which students have and have not met the stated outcome(s).

Connection to Comprehension

The following six strategies appear to have a firm scientific basis for improving text comprehension. These findings are from Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, 2001.

Monitoring comprehension Using graphic and semantic organizers Answering questions Generating questions Recognizing text structure Summarizing

The following strategies have received some support from the research.

Making use of prior knowledge Using mental imagery

Before Reading Strategies

activate background knowledge

establish a purpose for reading

generate questions

make predictions about text

encounter new vocabulary

connect writing to reading

During Reading Strategies

engage with the text

use cognitive process

verify and reformulate predictions

integrate new information with prior knowledge

self-monitor comprehension

construct graphic organizers

summarize text

After Reading Strategies

reflect on what they read

evaluate predictions

examine questions that guided reading

respond to text through discussion

respond to text through writing

retell or summarize

Strategic Teaching Involves

Purposeful Planning- Make before, during, and after literacy connections by choosing strategies depending on the purpose of the lesson, student’s needs, and the nature of the material being studied.

Multiple Strategies - Incorporate strategies that support various learning styles and preferences.

Connected Strategies – Incorporate before, during, and after reading strategies that include a variety of vocabulary development and writing strategies.

Explicit Instruction – Maximize the understanding and retention of content material through direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, and independent application. (I do, we do, you do.)

Strategic Teaching Should Include…

The Five Literacies in Every Lesson

Reading

Writing

Talking

Listening

Investigating

Strategic Lesson ExampleTopic: Survival Course of Study

Objectives: N/ALesson Objectives: to use comprehension skills

Before ReadingOutcome: activate prior knowledge and build vocabulary.Strategy: Interview and response

Teacher Activity: Teacher will model the interview and response strategy .

Student Activity: Students will interview three people with the question: What does survival mean to you? Write responses on note card. Then turn note card over and write a statement that includes interviews as well as personal response.

During ReadingOutcome: Students focus on skills needed as one reads.Strategy: Grand Conversations

Teacher Activity:The teacher reads aloud article (Hiker Resorts to Self-Amputation) encouraging students to use cards.

Student Activity: Respond to the reading with Wonder, Notice, Prior Knowledge, or Spark card.

After ReadingOutcome: To reflect on article and respond to the reading through writing. Strategy: Reflection Circle

Teacher Activity:Model the use of the reflection circle graphic organizer (Venn diagram)

Student Activity: Respond to each phase of the circle about how this man’s survival affected him, his family, his community, and other hikers.

Wonder, Notice, Prior Knowledge, or Spark card

Grand Conversations Strategy

Grand conversations are discussions held by the entire class community. This strategy allows for dialogue among students that is student directed and each one has the opportunity to critique, debate and extend upon each other’s ideas.

Objectives -To provide a skillful strategy to students that helps them focus on comprehending and thinking as they read -To develop deeper understanding.


Procedure:

1. Hand out the think aloud cards to students and a reading passage such as an article, a text or a novel.

2. The teacher or a fluent reader from the class reads aloud. As the reading takes place, the students are directed to use the cards as follows:

W – “I Wonder” card- use when you have a question about what is being read or “wonder” about the information.

N – “I Notice” card – use when you notice something interesting about the text or pictures, any connections or incongruence’s.

P – “Prior Knowledge” card – use when you have any prior knowledge to share about the topic.

S – “Spark” card – use when someone else says something that makes you think of something else related to the text. This can only be used during a discussion.


3. As each student uses a card, the card is turned over. All students must use their cards before starting over.

4. When all students have used their cards, turn them back to front and start the process over.


N S

WP


Venn Diagram

Literacy Strategies to Promote Students Engagement

Quick Write

Purposes: (1) introduce a concept and connect this concept with prior knowledge or experiences and (2) allow students to discuss and learn from each other

Procedure:

1. Introduce a single word or phrase to the class

2. Students copy the concept on index cards.

3. Students are given two minutes to write whatever comes to their minds relative to the concept. They may write freely using single words, phrases, sentences, etc.

4. After time is called, students may volunteer to share their thoughts on the subject.

Exit Slips

Purpose: (1) reflect on content of lesson

The exit-slip strategy requires students to write responses to questions you pose at the end of class. Exit slips help students reflect on what they have learned and express what or how they are thinking about the new information. Exit slips easily incorporate writing into your content area classroom and require students to think critically.(Fisher & Frey, 2004)


X Marks the Spot

Purpose: engage with the text

Procedure:

1. Teacher puts key on the board: X = Key point ! = I get it! I can explain this! ? = I don’t get this.

2. Teacher models the procedure for students using first chunk of text.

3. Students practice using this procedure independently

* copied text may be written on directly, but sticky notes work well in books.


Say Something

Purposes: (1) make connections with texts during reading and (2) enhance comprehension of written material through short readings and oral discussions

Procedure:1. Choose a text for the students to read and have them work in pairs.

2. Designate a stopping point for reading.

3. Have students read to the stopping point and then “say something” about the text to their partners.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until they finish reading the text.Source: Short, K., Harste, J., & Burke, C. (1996). Creating classrooms for authors and inquirers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.


References

http://lc3.littlechute.k12.wi.us/literacy/Grand%20Conversations.pdf

http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/2nd/more/graphic_organizers.htm

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbegleycom/GOs-and-Paperwork

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/Exit%20Slips.pdf

http://www.thoughtfulclassroom.com/PDFs/TheStrategicTeacher-BetterInstruction.pdf

http://www.shelbyed.k12.al.us/instruction/doc/StrategicTeaching.pdf

strategic teaching middle and high school (1)

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