Instructional Practices of the
Literacy Block
Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School
Monday June 28th 2010
Presenter: Mr. Chris Lowrey AUSSIE Literacy Consultant
chris.lowrey@aussiepd.editure.com
Icebreaker –
Can you identify what these people do?
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Oscar Arias Sanchez
Alex Rodriguez
Steve Jenkins
Cate Blanchette
Margaret ‘Molly’ Tobin
Brown
Jet Li
Slash
Susan B Anthony
Budd Abbott
Brian Cambourne
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Costa Rican President
Yankees Slugger
American Children's author
Australian Actor
Titanic survivor and woman who was
determined to break the rules of "high
society”
Chinese Actor/Martial Arts expert
Guns N Roses/Rock Band Guitarist
Women's Rights Activist
Comedian from New Jersey
Educator famous for ‘Conditions of
Learning’
The Reading Workshop – Balanced Literacy
Instructional Practices
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Shared Reading
Read Aloud
Guided Reading
Partner Reading
Reciprocal Teaching
Book Clubs / Literature Circles
Independent Reading
Conferring
Share Out
The Writing Workshop – Balanced Literacy
Instructional Practices
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Modeled Writing
Shared Writing
Interactive Writing
Guided Writing
Independent Writing
Conferring
Share Out
Conditions for Learning
provide explicit
demonstrations of
the strategies
proficient readers use
give responsive
feedback as you
guide students’
attempts
believe all students
can learn and have
uniformly high
expectations for them
as learners
provide a safe
learning environment
that encourages
students to take risks
successful
learning
occurs when
provide a print rich,
you:
stimulating
environment and a
program that
students will want to
engage in
provide opportunities
for students to
practice in authentic
situations
BALANCED LITERACY
Gradual Release of
Responsibility Continuum
Teacher
provides
maximum
support
Read
Aloud
Shared
Reading
Guided
Reading
Independent
Reading
Modeled
Writing
Shared
Writing
Guided
Writing
Independent
Writing
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WITH
BY
Student takes
major
responsibility
Immersion &
Demonstration
Demonstration
Expectation
Responsibility
Use/Practice
Approximation,
Response & Feedback
Engagement
Modified for presentation by Deanna M. Albert, Ph.D.
Participate and
respond
Attempt with
support
Practice and
problem solve
Teacher support
Observe, listen
and respond
Student Independence
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Introduce and
model of the
comprehension
strategy (Read
aloud)
Demonstrate how
the strategy works
in a shared setting
ie mini-lessons
Support students as
they practice the
strategies in small
group settings
Small group
guided reading
Observe, students
as they practice
independently
Adapted from AUSSIE Interactive 2005
Jigsaw activity
Read the following articles from your packets in
groups…
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An overview of balanced literacy
Values of the balanced literacy block components
Settign up your classroom
Learning areas
Balacned literacy Classroom checklist
Highlight a maximum of 10 key words/phrases
And report back to the group
A Balanced Literacy Block
Modeled Reading and Writing
Demonstrated for children
Shared Reading and Writing
Demonstrated for and done WITH and
BY children
Guided Reading and Writing
Done BY children WITH teacher support
Independent Reading and Writing
Done By children
Collaborative Reading and Writing
Done BY children With peers
Experience with
literacy and literature
Explicit Instruction
Time to connect
and reflect
Knowledge and
understandings of
literacy
Strategies and
Skills
Confidence and
Independence
The Writing Workshop
Time
Allowed
Instructional Practices
Explicit Instruction
Independent Practice
including
Guided and Collaborative
Practice
Reflection
The Reading Workshop
Time
Allowed
Instructional Practices
Explicit Instruction
Independent Practice
including
Guided and Collaborative
Practice
Reflection
Mini Lessons
• What is a mini lesson?
• The mini-lesson is part of a balanced
Literacy Workshop and provides a
short (5- to 15- minute), structured
lesson on a topic related to language
arts.
• Topics are selected by the teacher and
based on student need or curricular
areas. ...
Mini Lessons - Activity
• Design a lesson to deal with the issue of your
students working terribly in groups!
• You are frustrated as most of your students tend to
retell rather than summarize, design a mini lesson to
counter this.
• Design a revision mini lesson designed to bring out
the students voice in their writing?
• Your students are spelling the most basic words
incorrectly – design a lesson to combat this.
(Look at handout for 300 common words)
Shared Reading
What is Shared Reading?
Shared Reading is exactly what it sounds like - It is a time for sharing a story
and reading together! Shared reading in our kindergarten classroom may
include echo reading (students echoing the words after the teacher), choral reading
(students reading at the same time as the teacher), or fill in the gap reading (teacher
reading the majority of the text and then pausing for students to fill in and say rhyming words
or other predictable words in the story). All of these ways of reading are ways to
encourage early reading enjoyment and success with a high level of teacher
support.
During shared reading, students focus on both the pictures and the text to
make predictions and to generate meaning. Most shared readings begin with a
'picture walk' in which the teacher guides students through a preview of the
story, asking questions to elicit words and phrases that are used in the text. The
book is then read to students and predictions are checked against the text of
the story. The book is revisited among several days. Further comprehension of
the story takes place through questioning and discussion of each story (the
author's choice of words and the illustrator's pictures), through acting out the story,
making puppets and retelling boards, reviewing elements of the story (setting,
characters, problem, solution), and putting pictures of events of the story in order.
Once students are familiar with the story, we also look more closely at the
text. We mask certain letters and go on word hunts for small high frequency
words such as I, the, to, etc. We also play with the sound of the text. Students
might be asked to listen carefully to the story and be asked to round up all the
rhyming words they hear or words that begin with a certain sound. We also
frequently brainstorm other words that rhyme or begin with the same sound.
They may be asked to determine the number of claps (syllables) in a word or the
number of parts (sounds) in a word. Sometimes, students will need to listen
carefully to a word that is stretched out and put it together to figure out the
word from the story.
There are many learning opportunities during shared reading!
During Shared Reading students are learning to....
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track print from left to right and word by word
predict and infer
enjoy and participate in reading with a high level of support
build a sense of story
expand their vocabulary
find letters and sounds in context
attend to concepts of print (spacing, capitalization, punctuation)
sequence the events of a story
focus on story elements (characters, setting, beginning, middle, end).
What kinds of small group
instruction do we use in our
classrooms?
Think - Pair - Share
Report out and chart
View Animal School video
What came to mind about
differentiation of instruction as you
viewed the slideshow?
How does small group instruction enable
you to support differentiation?
Write two reasons independently, then turn to
a partner and share them.
Make a group of four, share your reasons and
chart.
What are the most important reasons?
Circle them on your chart.
Guided Reading
One Form of Small Group Instruction
What is Guided Reading?
Write your responses in groups of four (4).
Use the activity sheet provided to respond.
For example
Guided Reading is:
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Activity – Guided and Shared Reading in action.
Watch a series of short videos with a focus on :
• What is the teacher doing?
• What are the stduents doing?
• What is the mini lesson and/or stratgey being
attempted?
A Classroom Management Plan
Group One
Group Two
Group
Three
Group Four
Ac tivity
Guided
Re ading
Literature
Circles
Writing
from I.D.R
Content
Ar ea
Re search
Ac tivity
Writing
follow up
from Guided
Re ading
Writing –
Re ading
Re sponse
Wo rd S tudy
Guided
Re ading
Management of Groups
Must include:
• Learning centers
• Task management board
• Independent reading for an extended
period of time.
How to Select, Introduce and Use
Leveled Text
Examine a suitable text!
Use the “SEEDFOLKS” text and identify the
challenges in:
• Concepts, ideas and information
• Text structures and vocabulary
• New or tricky words
“SEEDFOLKS”
• Watch the Guided Reading lesson where the
“SEEDFOLKS” text is used.
• Using the lesson planner, “back plan” onto
the planner, adding to or amending what you
have already noted
• Share your plan with another person
Reciprocal Teaching and Book Clubs
Two additional forms of small group
instruction
Begin by reviewing and confirming understandings about
Guided Reading
Reciprocal Teaching
Using Reciprocal Teaching in Shared
Reading
One way of introducing Reciprocal Teaching
strategies is through modeling with whole
class shared reading
Teachers can use:
• The Orbit chart or overhead
• National Geographic overhead
Reciprocal Teaching
View Pat Carney, Grade 4 teacher using reciprocal
teaching strategies
• What are the roles in Reciprocal Teaching?
Students?
Teacher?
Text choice?
• Chart to compare with those in Guided
Reading
The Language of Response
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I agree because…
I disagree because...
I also noticed...
I’d like to add that...
I didn’t understand...
Say more about what you mean.
I don’t understand what you mean.
Can you show where that is in the text/illustration?
What is your evidence?
Why do you think that?
I think the author meant...
How do you know that?
We’re getting far away from the text.
What does the author say that makes you think that?
A Third Form of Small Group
Instruction
Literature Circles
Or Book Clubs
Literature Circles in Action
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2.
Form groups ( 4-5 people )
Discuss how strategies might be used when
reading “The Giver”.
Try and use each of the 4 (predict, clarify, question,
summarize) strategies from
Reciprocal Teaching and add:
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making connections
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visualizing and inferring
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using narrative text structure
Modeling a Book
Introduction
"Jonas," she said, speaking not to him alone but to the entire
community of which he was a part, "you will be trained to be our next
Receiver of Memory. We thank you for your childhood."
Then she turned and left the stage, left him there alone, standing and
facing the crowd, which began spontaneously the collective murmur
of his name.
"Jonas." It was a whisper at first: hushed, barely audible. "Jonas.
Jonas."
Then louder, faster. "JONAS. JONAS. JONAS."
With the chant, Jonas knew, the community was accepting him and his
new role, giving him life, the way they had given it to the newchild
Caleb. His heart swelled with gratitude and pride.
But at the same time he was filled with fear. He did not know what his
selection meant. He did not know what he was to become.
Or what would become of him.
Lois Lowry is an award-winning author who has written many
popular books. She lives in Cam-bridge, Massachusetts.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Instructional Practices
Teacher
provides
maximum
support
Read
Aloud
Shared
Reading
Guided
Reading
Reciprocal
Teaching
Literature
Circles
Independent
Reading
TO
WITH
BY
Student takes
major
responsibility
Immersion &
Demonstration
Demonstration
Expectation
Responsibility
Use/Practice
Approximation,
Response & Feedback
Engagement
Modified for presentation by Deanna M. Albert, Ph.D.
How can you best manage time
and resources to enable
– Guided Reading
– Reciprocal Teaching
and
– Literature Circles
to become part of the
instructional routine of your
classroom?
Read Aloud and/or Shared Reading
Independent Reading
Guided
Reading
Lit.
Circle
Writing
related to
small group
reading
Independent
reading
Writing
Response to
Independent
Reading
Response
to
Read Aloud
Social Studies
Science
Writing
related to
writer’s
workshop
And finally,
• Questions
• Evaluations
• Professional Development Certificates
• Attendance / Sign in sheets
Thank you for participating in today’s workshop