Keys to success for Grades 6-8
Guiding students to the meaning .
**Fig 19 contains the “thinking” elements that drive all
other standards. It goes beyond identifying components,
and requires students to analyze and apply context , as
well as, drawing out complex ideas that are implied
within the text. Fig 19 must become our “key” to
unlocking the mystery of understanding.
**Fig 19 is the lens through which the following
readiness standards must be understood:
6th Grade
7th Grade
8th Grade
6.6
7.6
8.3
6.8
7.9
8.6
6.1
7.1
8.9
8.10
What do these Readiness
Standards have in common?
6.6; 7.6; 8.6: Structure and Elements of Fiction
plot, setting, conflict
6.8: Author’s use of sensory language
stylistic elements, figurative language
7.9; 8.9: Author’s purpose in cultural, historical, and
contemporary contexts
theme analysis and explanation
6.10; 7.10; 8.10: Informational/ Expository Texts
summarize main and supporting ideas
So……..
What does
Fig.19
really ask
from our
students?
How do we
prepare
them?
Fig.19 (A)(B)
• Establish Purpose
• Ask Questions
Fig.19(E)(F)
Fig. 19 (C)
• Summarize,
paraphrase
• Connections
across texts
• Reflect
• Summarize
• Connect
Fig. 19 (D)
• Make Inferences
• Make Complex
Inferences
F19 Trends by Student Groups
If they
were:
As students
have
progressed
through
STAAR,
data shows
a continued
struggle in
this area.
F19
2012 (B)
F19
(D)
F19
( E)
F19
(F)
F19
2013 (B)
F19
(D)
F19
( E)
F19
(F)
F19
2014 (B)
F19
(D)
F19
( E)
F19
(F)
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
EOC
Eng I
53.39
55.64
66.97
57.6
65.33
62.68
58.39
46.21
51.92 69.52
61.17
54.17
61.43
61.9
65.24
58.94
68.21
60.65
50.14
53.48
56.42
51.3
63.62
61.06
66.98
47.82
54.65 31.46
59.43
45.61
69.88
57.56 49.16
60.68
56.2
64.6
53.93
61.17
56.31 58.98
56.99
55.21
61.55
46.06
52.61 41.43
70.88
46.63
46.58
49.06
54.36
54.29
68.88
64.9
Threshold to Improvement
• Get our kids to
Critically
•Identify level of thinking task requires
• Provide opportunities for thinking at
levels that stretch them
•Explore large variety of texts
•Incorporate writing to solidify
understanding
• Let students CREATE!!!
Poetry is a Golden Key
1
2
3
4
Poetry offers compressed info for
students.
Think: Tweets compared to Volumes
Poetry often ties to real life and
emotion.
Think: Bridge to student writing
Poetry encourages word play.
Think: Vocabulary expansion
Poetry fosters thinking about understanding.
Think: Implied meaning; complex inferences
Read this poem
along with me. We took a walk the other day
Elements we
could teach:
Stanza
Rhyme
Scheme
Rhythm
Narrator
Pronoun “We”
Verbs
Just me and my friend Todd.
We walked by an old house
My, it was odd.
We saw a cat we frightened
We looked at the dead old
trees
We saw half of a broken
fence
We felt the bitter cool breeze.
?????????????????????????????????
Copyright @ 2014 by Kevin Prufer.
Used with permission of the author.
This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on May 5, 2014.
If we covered the aforementioned items, we would have taught
a GOOD lesson. Each item is important in understanding
mechanics or structure of poetry. Our students, however, would
be thinking at the “remembering” or “Identify” level of
Blooms Taxonomy.
Read the poem
again.
We took a walk the other day
Just me and my friend Todd.
We walked by an old house
My, it was odd.
Who is walking?
Where are they walking?
Why would the author use the
word “odd”?
We saw a cat we frightened
What can we infer from We
looked at the dead old trees? We looked at the dead old trees
What season of the year mightWe saw half of a broken fence
it be? What tells us that?
We felt the bitter cool breeze.
Write a third stanza that helps
complete the description of the
walk.
?????????????????????????????????
Work with a partner!
Copyright @ 2014 by Kevin Prufer.
Used with permission of the author.
This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on May 5, 2014.
If we taught the “good” lesson about this poem, then added the
guiding questions from above, we would now have presented a
“better” lesson. Our students would be thinking at the level of
“remembering” as well as “understanding”, “applying”, and
“analyzing” from Bloom’s Taxonomy!!
Think …. Alliteration, internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme,
figurative language, personification, metaphors, similes, hyperbole,
graphical elements….
Let’s look
at some
ways to
bring our
high need
Readiness
Standards
and Fig 19
together!
Then look at those items through the lens of
Fig19….Establish purpose, ask questions of text, reflect on
understanding, make inferences, summarize, paraphrase,
make connections. Always guide students to look beyond
the obvious, and to peer into the mind and reasoning of
the author!!
Read the poem
again.
 Use this poem as a
Mentor text.
 Write a story that
conveys the meaning
found within
the poem.
 Create an original
poem with
that contains inferences
about the location ,
characters, or narrator.
 Re-write this poem
in a different poetic
style.
We took a walk the other day
Just me and my friend Todd.
We walked by an old house
My, it was odd.
We saw a cat we frightened
We looked at the dead old trees
We saw half of a broken fence
We felt the bitter cool breeze.
?????????????????????????????????
Copyright @ 2014 by Kevin Prufer.
Used with permission of the author.
This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on May 5, 2014.
IF we taught the “Good”, “Better”, and added the components
from this slide, our students would be working at the “Evaluating”
and “Creating” level found on Bloom’s Taxonomy!!!!
Making this The “BEST” lesson!
http://youtu.be/0C1WGseHr5s
Guiding teachers to see possibility.
Looking down the road…….
Thinking….about Thinking…..about Thinking…..
Teachers:
To model thinking practice (Personal for the teacher)
a. To think critically
b. To trace connections
c. To track progress
Students:
To practice the thinking model (Personal for the student)
a. To learn metacognitive skills
b. To link understanding
c. To leave prepared for thinking
challenges
Keys to success for Grades 6-8
dwalker@esc18.net