Rituals and Routines
of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern
The Foundation of the
Curriculum
Danielle Harris
August 13, 2008
Strategies for Academic
Achievement
(PART 1)
1.
Evaluate all programs for effectiveness and replace where necessary
.2.
Provide a rigorous curriculum aligned to state standards, assessments,
and instruction
3.
Provide ongoing professional development for all teachers and staff
focused on academic objectives
4.
Create a “Pittsburgh Leadership Academy” to provide professional
development for principals and central staff
5.
Implement a district-wide coaching model
6.
Establish Accelerated Learning Academies
7.
Create individual school improvement plans with specific academic
achievement goals
8.
Adopt a writing program across the curricula
9.
Develop a high school reform model that includes:

Redesign Career & Technical programs

Expand and increase participation in Advanced Placement, International
Baccalaureate, Center for Advanced Studies, and dual enrollment courses

Continued partnership with universities
WELCOME
 Please write your name and your school on your
name tent
 Take a moment to introduce (or reintroduce)
yourselves to the rest of the members of your
table so that we can work as a community of
learners today.
Goals for this Session
 Review each section of the Disciplinary Literacy Pattern
 Engage in a series of lessons using the DL Pattern to identify:
o How each of the sections of the pattern provide varying levels of support
and build on each other
o The different learning goals addressed by each of the sections of the
pattern
o How scaffolded tasks “open up” the text and how use of a difficult text
can extend readers’ range and depth
o Reflect on instruction
o Discuss the roles of teachers and students within the pattern
o Share some experiences with the pattern
o Consider challenges and benefits
Instructional Design of DL Units
 Reading, writing, thinking, and talking are interrelated
processes
 Rereading and rewriting/revising are fundamental
 Language use and language choices, including
grammatical choices, need to be explicitly highlighted
and discussed
 Scaffolding and formative assessment are built into the
lessons to support all learners, including English
learners, and those acquiring academic literacy skills
 Questions are a central scaffold
 Discussion is an essential part of rigorous and relevant
intellectual work
 Learning as apprenticeship invites students to act and
be treated as members of a community of practice
 “Getting Smarter” is a social process, a byproduct of
shared experiences, discussion, and reflection
Core Principles of the DL Pattern
1. Students learn core concepts and habits of thinking within
each discipline as defined by standards.
2. Learning activities, curricula, tasks, text, and talk apprentice
students within the discipline.
3. Teachers apprentice students by giving them opportunities to
engage in rigorous disciplinary activity and providing
scaffolding through inquiry, direct instruction, models, and
coaching.
4. Intelligence is socialized through community, class learning
culture and instructional routines.
5. Instruction is assessment-driven.
The DL Pattern
 The ELA Core Curriculum Units across Grades 6-12
share a common, consistent, repeated pattern of
instruction.
 Frequently during this pattern a “Step Back” and/or
“Retrospective” occurs to encourage students to either
examine, metacognitively, the learning that has occurred,
or to tie it retrospectively to previous learning.
DL Patterned Way of
Reading, Writing, and Talking
Read to get the gist
Write to learn: know, express,
and track thinking
Reread to find significant
moments
Write to learn: select and
explain ideas; reflect on writing
and thinking
Read again to interpret
the ideas in the text
Write and talk to develop
interpretation of ideas
Read again differently to analyze
the author’s methods
WriteLike - Write like the text
and in imitation of an author’s
syntax and grammatical
structures
Write and Talk to demonstrate understanding of ideas and genre.
Read to Get the “Gist”
Comprehension level work
 Students read for comprehension or “gist”
 Students write in response to open-ended
comprehension questions first individually in their
Reader’s/Writer’s Notebooks
 Students pair/trio share their thinking
 Then there is a whole group discussion with the teacher
charting responses
 The chart becomes an artifact of the learning and a
scaffold for further work with the text.
Reread for Significance
Interpretive/Inferential Work
 Students reread/scan all or part of the text in order to pull lines that
are of particular significance.
 Significance is sometimes determined by the students by the impact
the text had on him/her, or by the teacher to focus on a particular
literary element or aspect of the author’s craft.
 Students write the line and an explanation of its significance on a Tchart in their R/W Notebooks.
 Students then share with a partner or small gorup before participating
in whole class discussion
 This work should also be charted and used later as an artifact
 This is interpretive/inferential work where connections are made
within and between texts as well as to prior knowledge.
Read Again to
Interpret Ideas in the Text
 Students here are given an open-ended writing prompt.
This is referred to as a “Write About.”
 At this point, “rereading” may simply be returning to the
text to find support for one’s claims.
 Students write to make and support claims for use in the
Inquiry-Based Discussion which follows.
 The progression here from individual and paired work
moves to a more defined discussion model within
protocols set by the class to assure accountability.
Read Again to Analyze the Author’s
Methods
 Students look at the text again for a new purpose. This time, they are
analyzing a particular aspect of the writer’s craft/technique.
 This may include stylistic, grammatical, or structural nuances.
 Students may be asked to pull lines that exemplify the writer’s use of
this technique and then critically evaluate the effect on the reader and
text.
 Students at this stage are often asked to use, or mimic the author’s
use of the technique in a writing exercise of their own referred to as a
“Write Like.”
Assessments
Formative Assessment (which informs our understanding of where students
are and what we need to do next with them, individually or in small/whole
group) occurs at all stages in the pattern.
 Over the shoulder observations of skills, deficits, interests, and
approaches/patterns as the teacher circulates through independent and pair
share activities
 Through careful listening of what students say during group discussions
 By reading their writing in the Reader/Writer Notebooks and more formal
writing pieces
 In addition, 4Sight and Core Curriculum Benchmarks also provide formative
assessment: 4Sight using the measure of end of the year competencies on
PSSA; Core Curriculum Benchmarks on the Eligible Content covered in a
given section of the Core Curriculum.
This information should be used to guide the teacher in her use/addition of
scaffolds, models, additional practice, additional teacher support, and
extended learning opportunities
Assessments
Summative Assessments, which measure
student gains at the end of a given arc of
instruction include:
 Culminating Projects that complete each unit
 Final drafts of writing assignments
 Selection assessments
Model Lesson Using the DL Pattern
The Narrative: Perspectives on
Relationships
Study an Excerpt from
Bone Black by Bell Hooks
Chart
Characteristics of a Narrative
What do you already know about
narrative?
Turn and Talk
Turn to a colleague and briefly discuss the
following:
• What makes a narrative interesting to readers?
Again, cite examples when possible. Take notes to
help you in the whole group discussion
Chart:
What Makes a Narrative Interesting to
Readers?
Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black
• As a girl growing up in a family that includes five sisters, I am
amazed that our experiences were often incredibly different
even though we were in the same household. Our memories
reflect those differences.
• Bone Black, Memories of Girlhood is my story. An
unconventional memoir, it draws together the experiences,
dreams, and fantasies that most preoccupied me as a girl. I
share my secret world--the various names I created, for
example (calling my grandmother Saru in my imagination
because it was better than her real name, Sarah.)
Bell Hooks’ Preface to Bone Black
 This is autobiography as truth and myth--as poetic witness.
That rebellious writer of the Beat generation Jack Kerouac
always declared “memories are inseparable from dreams.” In
Bone Black, I gather together the dreams, fantasies,
experiences that preoccupied me as a girl, that stay with me in
all my work. Without telling everything that happened, they
document all that remains most vivid.
hooks, b. (1996). Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood. Henry Holt and Co.: New York. xi-xv, foreword
Read to Get the Gist
Excerpt from Bone Black by Bell Hooks
Follow along as I read the excerpt from Bone
Black by Bell Hooks. I will stop at a few points in
the story and ask the following questions:
 What is happening here?
 Who are the characters?
 What do you know about them? How do you
know?
Second Reading:
 Reread for Significance
 Same excerpt of Bone Black by Bell Hooks
Reread for Significance
• Reread through the selection again to individually identify two
moments/sentences/phrases that strike you as most significant
to the text.
• Make a two-column note chart in your Reader's/Writer's
Notebook to record the moments/sentences/phrases you
selected. Write the significant moments in the left column of
your chart. Then, across from each, do a Quick Write to explain
the significance of each moment to Hooks’ narrative.
• When you are finished, share your significant moments with
another person by explaining why these are the most
significant. Be prepared to share your moments and
explanations with the whole group.
Model of the Significant Moment and
Explanation
Significant Moment
It is my turn to iron. I can
do nothing right.
Explanation
These two sentences,
positioned at the beginning of
paragraph three are the first time
that bell hooks uses “I” rather than
“we.” There is a noticeable shift in
the narrative from family actions and
emotions to how hooks feels as an
individual about herself……
StepBack
• How did identifying and explaining the significant
moments further your understanding of the
narrative?
• What did you learn from sharing and explaining
your significant moments with a colleague?
Third Reading:
 Reread Again, WriteAbout, and
Engage in an Inquiry-based
Discussion
 Develop Your Interpretation of the Narrative
Inquiry-based Discussion
In an inquiry-based discussion, readers discuss their responses
to an interpretive question about a text(s). An interpretive
question stems from a genuine inquiry about a text, is thought
provoking, and can sustain multiple and varied responses
supported by textual evidence.
The purposes of the discussion are to help readers to:
• “try out” their answers and explanations anchored with specific
moments from the text;
• accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text (not
about reaching consensus or proclaiming a winner);
• rethink what they think about the text; and
• understand that readers can have different valid interpretations of the same
text.
Start of Inquiry-based Discussion
• Reread/Review the chapter
• Then, in your Reader’s/Writer’s Notebook,
individually write a response to this question
(about 3 minutes)
– Why does Bell Hooks burn herself?
• Then, discuss your ideas with a partner.
• Be prepared to share your ideas with the whole
group.
Whole Group Inquiry-based
Discussion
Why does Bell Hooks burn herself?
• Cite your written response in our discussion.
• Listen for different interpretations of our question.
Wrap up Inquiry-based Discussion
 Take a minute to add any new information or
modifications to your response. Then, please
answer the following questions:
• As a result of our discussion, did your response
change? If so, how?
• What are your lingering questions about Bell
Hooks’ chapter and why are they unresolved?
StepBack: Reflect on Inquiry-based Discussion
1. What did you learn about the text’s meaning?
2. Task, Text, and Talk
– What do you see as the relationship among the
task (Quick Write on the guiding question); the
text (the chapter from Bone Black); and the talk
(the discussion you had with your colleagues
and with the whole group)?
– How did the text, task, and talk work together to
promote this level of discussion?
3. What did you learn about participating in an inquiry based
discussion?
Analyzing the Design of the Inquiry-based
Discussion
What did you notice?
What intended learning did each support?
• Selection of the text
• Choice and development of questions
• Role of the facilitator
• Routines: moving impetus for talk from teacher to
students (talk stems, wait time, physical space, etc.)
• Activities to support talk (writing before, partner work,
wait time, etc.)
Fourth Reading:
 Examining the Author’s Craft
 Deepen our understanding of what makes a
narrative interesting to readers
Adding to Chart:
 What Makes a Narrative Interesting to Readers?
 What did Bell Hooks do in this chapter that made
you want to keep reading?
 What do we add to our chart, “What makes a
narrative interesting to readers”?
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
Have a great year!
The Core Curriculum
Embedded Vocabulary Revisions
Janine Fiorina Cody
District In-Service
August 2008
Today’s Objectives
 Examine the rationale behind the new vocabulary
work in the revised units
 Practice instructional strategies for Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
 Reflect upon the implications for our practice in the
classroom in the upcoming school year
The Vocabulary
Reading Proficiency Connection
What we’ve been aware of for years
 First-grade children from higher-SES groups
knew about twice as many words as lower SES
children (Graves, Brunetti, & Slater, 1982;
Graves & Slater, 1987).
 High school seniors near the top of their class
knew about four times as many words as their
lower-performing classmates (Smith, 1941).
 High-knowledge third graders had vocabularies
about equal to lowest-performing 12th graders
(Smith 1941).
Walking in Their Shoes
 Most readers are able to tolerate a certain
number of unknown words and still make
meaning using context. For example:
 Alana and Toya arrived at the party at 7:00.
Alana talked to everyone and danced for
hours, but the evening dragged for Toya who
spent most of her time sitting alone. “I wish I
was as gregarious as Alana,” she thought.
Walking in Their Shoes
 But sometimes context is not enough.Consider
this example from Beck:
“Beth couldn’t decide
where to go for vacation,
but she knew that she
wanted to be free from
the brumal landscape.”
Test
1. Where might Beth choose to go for her
vacation?
A. Someplace warm
B. Somewhere cool
C. To the country
D. To the city
Test
2. As it is used in the passage, what would be a
synonym for brumal?
A. Rural
B. Tropical
C. Mountainous
D. Frozen
What Cognitive Science
has since revealed to help us design
vocabulary instruction
Your Working Memory can be used up in one of two ways
while reading:
Figuring out the meaning of the words
Comprehending the text
Strong readers have 10’s of thousands of words from prior
knowledge stored for immediate retrieval in Long Term
Memory. It happens in milliseconds, automatically.
Weak readers use working memory to figure out words, not
meaning.
What Do We Do With
This Knowledge?
Move them from processing
words to retrieving stored
words.
Build up their storehouse of
words and make retrieval
automatic.
Practice Makes
Permanent!
RICH VOCABULARY
INSTRUCTION
By rich vocabulary we mean instructional
techniques
“…designed to provide explicit
explanations of word meanings, multiple
exposures to word meanings and uses,
and opportunities for students to interact
with word meanings by discussing uses
for them, making decisions about whether
a word fits a context, and the like
(Beck, McKeown, Kucan, 2008).”
How large is this Task?
 Strong readers read approximately 1 million words of text per year
 These words were organized into 88,500 “families” or groups of
related words (Ex. introduce, introduction, reintroduce, and
introducing)
 Half of these are so rare that even avid readers might only encounter
them once in lifetime
 Based on this (an some other crazy math), they figured there are
15,000 word “families” that would be encountered more than once
every 10 years.
 The average 3rd grader knows about 8,000 leaving approximately
7,000 word “families” at the Tier Two level to be introduced between
3rd and 12th grade.
So I know what you are
thinking…
 That would mean I was suggesting that we teach
700 words a year
 Most research suggests 400 as an optimal
number.
 Still a bit high??
 Typical units of study
 Unusual units of study
 Not including new habits of speaking and
Accountable Talk that happen in your classrooms
Tier One Words
 are considered the basic of words--baby, clock,
happy, etc.
 are words that students are expected to or will
generally pick up in everyday language
acquisition and therefore are not expected to be
taught.
Tier Three Words
 are ones whose frequency of use is quite low and
are often limited to certain domains--what we
might call jargon--isotope, lathe, peninsula, etc.
 would not be “of high utility” for most students.
 are best learned when the need arises.
Tier Two Words
 are high frequency words which are found across
a variety of domains--coincidence, absurd,
industrious, fortunate, etc.
 have a high impact on verbal functioning.
 should get the most instructional time in order to
influence the students vocabulary that will most
likely be tested.
 are our primary focus today and for the district’s
new core curriculum.
2 Kinds of
Vocabulary Work
1. Understanding the Text (recognition)

Comprehension Work. Clarifying the meaning of words that will
get in the way of students’ understanding of the story. This work
should be very quick.

Minimum number of words for comprehension of story

Best if done at the point of occurrence while reading aloud or
briefly before reading independently
2. Developing Expressive Vocabulary (production)

Deeper Elaboration

Many encounters and contexts

Opportunities for students to use words and generate contexts

Variety of information about the word (which would interfere
with the first goal)
What to Expect in the Revisions
 Definition through prior knowledge in the introduction of every
word to create neural connections
 Synonyms and antonyms that are familiar will be used when
exploring the new word.
 Use of contexts that are both like the originating text and
expanded beyond that context will support transfer
 Multiple meaning work will support transfer and “ownership.”
 Word play with familiar words in the same word family will build a
familiarity with word part, roots, affixes, and parts of speech.
 Students will generate their own personal contexts for the words
and be supported in using them daily in the ALL speaking and
writing (productive vocabulary).
Tier-the-Words Activity

Read Aquatic Guests with a highlighter at the ready.

Highlight all of the words you imagine to be Tier Two words

Go back through the text, when you get to a word you have
underlined, write a COMMENT in the right margin about why you
would or would not consider teaching this word.


Is it essential for comprehension?

Is it a rich, high utility word?

Is it likely to be picked up in spoken language?
Go back through your words and their corresponding comment.
Now add the word DECISION under each comment and write a
description for how you believe the word should be handled within
the framework of instruction.

Should it be covered briefly before/during reading to support
comprehension?

Should it be covered in depth after reading to build vocabulary?
Go to your 6:00
meeting to share
and compare.
Just an Idea…
Candidate set
ominously*
grave*
tolerate
perpetual
maneuver
urgency
raucous**
sensitive
evacuated
destination
cavorted**
Final Set
ominously
tolerate
perpetual
maneuver
urgency
sensitive
cavorted
Menu of Vocabulary
Strategies
 Returning to the Story Context
 Examples / Nonexamples
 Word Association
 Generating Situations, Contexts and Examples
 Word Relationships
 Writing
 Puzzles, Drawing, and Dramatizing
Examples / Nonexamples

This is a simple and powerful early interactive activity. Ask
students to indicate if a given statement, description or comment
is an instance of a given word.

Students can be asked to generate their own examples and
nonexamples. This activity works for antonymic relationships as
well.
Examples:
1.
Which of the following sounds precarious?( make a list of…)

Standing on a tall ladder on one foot

Watching television with your friends

Setting a glass of soda on a wobbly table
2. Often parts of the state of California go without water for a long
time. Which new word goes with that sentence? (drought) Often
parts of the state of California suffer from a drought.
3. After my friend fell off of her bicycle and hit her head, she acted as
though she could not understand what I was saying. Which new
word goes with that sentence? (dazed) After my friend fell off of her
bicycle and hit her head, she was dazed.
Word Association
 Associating new words with familiar situation
helps students to build connections between the
new and the known.
 Example:
Which of these words goes with the situations
below? Tedious, Extravagant, Pretentious
 I spent all of the money that I’ve saved for 6 months on that MP3
player.
 I just can’t face another minute of this!
 You’re so lucky that I’m a part of your team.
Note: Unexpected association can supports learning and evidence
understanding also, such as associating tedious with the first example by
saying that it will be tedious and time consuming to have to save again for so
long.
Generating Situations, Contexts and
Examples
 Students are asked to generate appropriate contexts,
situations or statements for the words. Generation
provides a more rigorous usage than Word Association.
Context constant w/ varying word application:
What might prompt a teacher to say:
 What an industrious class you are.
 What a splendid class you are.
 What a versatile class you are.
Varying contexts
 What would a splendid day for football look like?
 What might an audience say about a splendid musician?
Word Relationships

Have students respond to how 2 or more words
might be related.3 variations follow.
Ask student to:
1. Describe how words might be connected or related:
conscientious/haphazard
2. Create a question using the words: What might a
meticulous person be vulnerable to?
3. Sort a list of vocabulary word by relationship:
Words that Describe People vs. Words that Describe places
Returning to the Story
 After a cycle of deeper instruction with the words
emulate and intimidate one would return to the
line where they first encountered the word build a
connection between vocabulary and
understanding story ideas: Example from The
Watsons Go to Birmingham p.27 :
Mr. Alums said to Byron: “If instead of trying
to intimidate your young brother, you would
emulate him and try to use that mind of yours,
perhaps you’d find things much easier” What
did he mean?
Writing
 Authentic, unsolicited, accurate use of new words
in speaking and writing is the most reliable
indicator that a student “owns” a new word.
 As with speaking, encourage students to use the
words (displayed on a visible Word Wall and
catalogues in their R/W Notebooks) at every
opportunity.
 If errors occur with word forms etc, praise the
approximation and attempt and correct
immediately.
 For final drafts, a requirement of vocabulary
inclusion may be appropriate for some students.
Puzzles, Drawing, and
Dramatizing
Word/context
Definition
Tumultuous – Some
of the most
tumultuous events,
however, have been
provoked by
serendipity…
Chaotic; marked by
upheaval
Synonym/antonym
Visualization
Turbulence/serenity
•Pantomime solemnly crossing your own heart. Ask students what other words or
ideas come to mind for solemn when they see it this way. Students may say things like
“It’s no joke” or “for real.” Accept these and other colloquial definitions if they are
accurate in order to build cognitive connections for the work solemn.
•Have students work in pairs or small group to create a a gesture to represent
each of the Target Words from Chapters 1 & 2: Sheer, Dense, Redeem,
Solemn, Betray, Exuberant, Haphazard
•Distribute magazines to small groups of students and have them identify pictures
that somehow represent each target work. It is centrally important that students
explain the connection of the picture to the word and use the word in their
explanation either verbally, in writing, or both.
Suggested Strategies for
Assessment
For Verbal Usage:
 For informal verbal usage during class, try using a simple marker tool like paperclips.
Keep a box handy and give one to students each time they use a Target or Word Wall
word appropriately. They can clip them onto their R/W Notebook for you to count up for
points later.
 A clip board with a roster or students’ can be used for tallying use during discussion.
This is less intrusive to the flow of discussion.
For Written Usage:
 Ask students to try to use the Target Words and Word Wall Cumulative Vocabulary in all
R/W Notebook entries. Tell them to circle the words that they use so that you can give
credit when assessing the notebooks.
 Require that students incorporate Target and Word Wall vocabulary in Culminating
Projects and Process Writing in order to score proficient or advanced in the Style Domain
of the rubric
Tests and Quizzes:
 Generate vocabulary quizzes or tests (for use at the end of the unit) that mirror the
classroom and homework. Use the activities from the electronic version of the unit as a
template.
 Be careful that students have enough time to practice and use the words authentically
before giving any summative assessment. Early testing can give false results regarding
whether or not the word was actually learned.
The Key Ingredient:
Engagement
 Only the teacher can provide this essential
aspect of instruction.
 Word Play is natural to children and adults.
Learning cannot happen with engagement.
 The use of the prior knowledge, culturally
relevant examples, synonyms and antonyms also
increases engagement
 Ask STUDENTS to provide local examples,
current colloquialisms as synonyms/antonyms,
popular culture connections.
Step Back: Reflect on Learning
 How do you see this work impacting students
in your buildings?
 How has our work today helped you to better
understand the Core Curriculum revisions?
The Instructional Handbook for
English 6-12
Scavenger Hunt Activity
1. Where can one find guidelines for facilitating an inquiry
discussion?
2. Name three resources that are available on the
Reading/Writing 6-12 website?
3. What percent of the students’ grades will come from
speaking and listening?
4. Now that there are grading guidelines for ELA 6-12,
where can I find instructions on how to set up my grade
book?
5. How does PA Standard 1.3.8.B differ from 1.3.11.B?
6. What is the purpose of the Teaching and Learning PD
Cycle?