Literacy for Learning in the Disciplines

Dr. Susan V. Piazza

THE BIG PICTURE

January 17, 2014

HOW DO YOU DEFINE LITERACY?

Increasing Specialization of Literacy

Disciplinary Literacy

Intermediate Literacy

Basic Literacy

THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INITIATIVE

Beginning in the spring of 2009, Governors and state commissioners of education from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia committed to developing a common core of state K-12 English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics standards. The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) was a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). www.corestandards.org
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College Career

Writing Literate thinking Mathematical thinking Writing Literate thinking Mathematical thinking

Common Mistakes in Implementing CCSS

Overselling

the CCSS teacher skepticism

Underestimating Promoting Leaping

what is new vs. effective

forward to buy new programs

CCSS and Varying Opinions.

Two features make them attractive to many:
1) 2)

Their vision of what it means to be an accomplished reader, and Their outlook of how the Standards should (or should not) shape instruction at the school and classroom level.

Moral and Ethical Values about Teaching By emphasizing required achievements [CCSS] leave room for teachersto determine how those goals should be reached and what additional topics should be addressed (p. 4).

informational texts text complexity argument and informative/explanatory writing using evidence formal and informal talk - presentations and collaborations general academic and domain-specific vocabulary. Standards are cross disciplinary and complement, rather than replace, content standards in other subjects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKKkFrvndWQ

What part of the old literacy is worth preserving.AND how do we figure out how to preserve sustained, logical, carefully articulated arguments while engaging with the most exciting and promising new literacies?

Redefining Literacy AND New Literacies

The literacy skills needed to learn from, compose with, and communicate within digital sources and many forms of complex texts The ability to extract information from these multiple kinds of texts Include information literacy, 21st-century learning skills, multiliteracies

Moving From Tools to Purposes

Searching Storing Communicating

Sharing

Collaborating

Listening

Producing

Presenting

Networking

Moving From Tools to Purposes

Searching
Google Yahoo Bing

Storing
Cloud Flash drives DropBox

Communicating
Text messaging Twitter Skype

Sharing
YouTube Blogs Vlogs

Collaborating
Wikis VoiceThread Google Docs

Listening
Podcasts Streaming media RSS feeds

Producing
Garage Band iMovie MovieMaker

Presenting
PowerPoint Keynote Prezi

Networking
LinkedIN Facebook Ning

Table Tal
Many students consider themselves to be tech-savvy because they can operate tools. However, they often have difficulty with using them purposefully. What strengths and areas of need do you find your students possess?

 Print comprehension strategies do not automatically transfer to digital text (Leu, et al., 2005) Background knowledge is critical to new literacies Made worse by unequal access to experiences in the classroom and outside of it that build background knowledge

Reading Comprehension and New Literacies

Searching for Information

Leu (2008) calls locating information a circuitbreaker skill Inefficient search and analysis skills can interfere with a students ability to locate accurate information Makes students vulnerable

Examples of Faulty Search Techniques

Looking for information on endangered species Jay types endangeredspecies.com and got a plant nursery in California Mariah types endangeredanimals.com and gets a referral site with no information Andrew types turtle.net and gets a software company in London

Teach Students How to Search Effectively

Use quotation marks for phrase searches (Alaskan glaciers) Use negative terms to eliminate unwanted information (Police -music eliminates all references to the band) Limit by site operator (site:gov yields only results by government agencies) Model searches in front of your students!

Table Tal
How do you ensure that students know how to search for, evaluate, and determine the relevance of information on the Internet? In what ways are these the same as, and different from, print texts?

Evaluating Information: The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Evaluating Information
Save the Endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (a series of bogus websites) 47 of 53 seventh graders thought it was a real creature because of the website (Leu et al., 2007) Even when told it was a fake website, they clung to this belief Just because its on the Internet, doesnt mean its true!

Table Talk
How do you teach your students to search for information? What are their most common errors?

How are our students being assessed?

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U64Tc33cnw Grade Level Bands 9 10 and 11 and 12 Stimulus: the text, source (e.g., video clip), and/or graphic about which the item is written. The stimulus provides the context of the item/task to which the student must respond.

NAEP, 8th and 12th Grade Science

1. What two gases make up most of the Earths atmosphere? a) hydrogen and oxygen b) hydrogen and nitrogen c) oxygen and carbon dioxide d) oxygen and nitrogen 2. Is a hamburger an example of stored energy? Explain why or why not. ________________________________________ ________________________________________

Expectations for Learning are Changing

Ability to communicate Adaptability to change Ability to work in teams Preparedness to solve problems Ability to analyze and conceptualize Ability to reflect on and improve performance Ability to manage oneself Ability to create, innovate and criticize Ability to cross specialist borders

Performance Based Assessments

Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to real-world problems. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with selected- or constructed-response items. The performance tasks will be delivered by computer (but will not be computer adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete.

Assessing Your Practice

Use the rubric to determine your goals for building background knowledge in your classroom.
How do teachers foster background knowledge across the school day?
5 4 3 2 1

Using New Literacies to Build

Background Knowledge

Students search for, evaluate, and create information daily using relevant technological tools and literacy processes that are integrated into classroom learning.

Students search for, evaluate, and create information regularly and in the company of peers in and out of the classroom. Their own technology tools are off-limits.

Students regularly use technology to gather and evaluate information, but rarely to create new digital products.

Some technology is sanctioned for classroom learning, but only to gather information.

Technology is seen as a separate and limited function, with an emphasis on tools. Students must go to another area of the school to use these tools.

Readers Use Skills & Strategies

Locating Numbers Strategy

1. Touch each number 1 through 60. 2. Try again to see if you increase your speed. 3. Third time try using a strategy and see how your speed changes.

Exploring High Utility Disciplinary Strategies

Concept Definition Maps Question Answer Relationship Determining Importance & main ideas Evaluating Information Writing to learn Anticipation Guides Word Sorts Reciprocal Teaching

Share Your Strategy & Adaptations to Disciplines

How Why Levels and kinds of thinking Variations/adaptations Related strategies

QAR: Connecting Questions with Answers Question-Answer-Relationship (Raphael)

Students learn to identify four types of questions: 1. Right there: answers are clearly defined in the text 2. Think and search: students may read small sections of the text in order to derive the answer. 3. Author and you: requires students to interpret/infer from the content of the reading and draw from background knowledge to answer questions. 4. On your own: responses require the student to recall their own experiences and thought thereof to draw conclusions.
Question Answer Text Type of Question

What is Gravity What two factors affect the force of gravity between two objects?

Gravity is a force exerted Gravity is a force exerted by Right there by all objects. all objects. The two factors that affect There are two factors that Think and the force of gravity affect the pull of gravity. search between two objects are First if the mass(es) of one or the masses of the objects both objects increase(s), the and the distance between force of gravity will increase. them. Second, as distance between the objects increases, gravity decreases.

If the mass of one The gravitational pull will object is doubled and be six times greater. the mass of another is tripled and if the distance bewtween them remains the same, by how much will the gravitational pull between the objects increase? Given that Pluto has a smaller mass than Earth, what kind of game could you invent to play in the low gravitation environment of Puto?

The Universal Law of Author and Gravitation state the you following: Gravitational. Force = (G x 2 m1*m2) / (d ). This formula may be used to calculate how much pull two objects exert on each other.

Answers will vary. A No part of the text explicitly On your possible response might talks about a game on Pluto. own be as follows: I would The respondent must invent a game in which compose the answer on his players, propelled by jet- or her own. fueled packs, carry a ball across the rocky landscape of Pluto. They have to have jet-packs to control their movement in the low gravity environment.

Determining Importance Exercise: The House The two boys ran until they came to the driveway. "See, I told you today was good for skipping school," said Mark. "Mom is never home on Thursday," he added. Tall hedges hid the house from the road so the pair strolled across the finely landscaped yard. "I never knew your place was so big," said Pete. "Yeah, but it's nicer now than it used to be since Dad had the new stone siding put on and added the fireplace." There were front and back doors and a side door, which led to a garage that was empty except for three 10 speed bikes. They went in the side door, Mark explaining that it was always open in case his younger sisters got home earlier than their mother did. Pete wanted to see the house so Mark started with the living room.

Determining Relevance of Information

Plan: Set a purpose and develop a mental plan. Predict: Predict where a reading choice may lead. Monitor: Monitor after making a choice. Evaluate: Evaluate the relevance of the choice (Coiro & Dobler, 2007).

EVALUATION INFORMATIONAL TEXT

Basic Principles of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

Integration of writing promotes participation and critical thinking. Effective writing instruction integrates disciplines. The opportunity to write in every class develops good writers. Using writing as part of instruction can be used in every classroom. Only by practicing will students begin to communicate effectively within that discipline.

Writing promotes learning.

ANTICIPATION GUIDES

VOCABULARY WORD SORTS

Reciprocal Teaching An instructional method that involves guided practice of four reading comprehension strategies: 1) Clarification 2) Questioning 3) Summary 4) Prediction Role of the Teacher: To provide modeling, scaffolding, feedback, and explanation for the students. Both the teacher and the students cooperate in making efforts of understanding the material that is being taught.