Ass & Eval keynote
Literacy in History – keynote
More Quick Literacy Strategies are found here.
For use with Observations and Inferences
A vocabulary sort provides students with a variety of terms and concepts related to a unit or for a course. You can use them at the beginning of a unit or at the end of a unit. Sometimes I do both as a way to show students what information they’ve learned.
Gr 12s doing a sort. One is even doing additional research!
Here are some strategies.
Ask Students (usually in small groups) to
While students work, emphasize there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. Their properly reasoned verbal justification can make any word fit any
I have also made the terms on large sheets of paper. The students then sort the giant words on the floor in a larger group. I then post the words in their selected categories on the wall for a Word Wall.
Here is my Vocabulary sort for The Great War.
Here’s a PDF: CausesofWW1wordsort
Transmediation is the process by which information is gained in one form and changed to another. I love the following activity. Students get the opportunity to work as a group (and they get loud!), work with their strengths (readers, illustrators, humour, oral presenters, colour-ers!) and discuss the value of information they have received.
Generally, I’ll give the students 45 minutes to do the reading, discussion, planning and illustrations. Then, each group presents their work to the rest of the class. The final products are then hung in the classroom for the duration of the unit. These provide a valuable visual reminder to the students about what they covered in previous lessons.
This is the most ideal lesson for a Friday afternoon!
Here is the assignment as I would give to my students.
Below is a student example about 16th Century Italy. It makes reference to the “New Pope;” the vibrant art scene; Italy’s production of wine, textiles and (military) arms; the absence of the plague; the exhaustion of natural resources; and of course, France’s ‘sacking’ of Rome. Effective and humourous!
(reposted from Sept 2012, 2013)
Twitter is a great tool for finding new and interesting resources, a cool way to debate within your classroom and to tell people mundane details about your life.
I’ve managed to find of variety of educators and technology specialists who tweet resources and ideas on a constant basis. I occasionally go on twitter and see what has been shared. Then, I can assess my need for the site or skip it.
You can start with ‘@appledaughters’ iLearn list.
Become a follower to see the variety of specialist I follow. Then, check out what individuals tweet. You may like some more than others. Twitter also offers a ‘Who to Follow’ option once you have a few people you follow. This will give you another variety of people to choose from.
here’s a great “GLOG” about Twitter for Teachers.
hashtag: example: #educhat All tweets relating to the topic or ‘hashtag’ are available on a separate list when you click the hashtag link.
following/followers: the people who’s tweets show up on your home screen and your ‘followers’ see yours.
The Ministry of Education has created a variety of lessons and ideas relating to literacy. The whole series is available online. Their approach looks at reading, writing and oral strategies for developing skills in understanding all types of text.
Handout: Cross Curricular Literacy Strategies
Oct 9 Keynote Presentation Literacy and Differentiation Oct 9 Lesson
I can’t say enough about the beauty of the Alphabet Graphic Organizer. I always keep a spare pile in my room as a back up for any lesson. Here are just a few ways you can use this template.
Here’s a neat online version of the organizer which could be used with a Smartboard or in a 1:1 computer environment.
1) Preview or Review
– have students list words from each letter of words they *think* relate to a topic
– use each letter to review key terms or associated ideas in a unit
2) Summary or Narrative
– each letter, in the correct order, starts the next word or next sentence. Here’s an example I wrote using the story of the 3 Little Pigs.
3) Poem
– use the organizer as a template for an alphabet poem
Writing a summary, story, review, answer, definition etc in EXACTLY 55 words is a literary and literacy-related challenge. Students have to select the best words as well as eliminate extraneous words or ideas from their work. This type of activity forces students to organize their ideas before writing.
Stronger students will rise to the challenge and weaker writers will be relived they only need to come up with 55 words. Sentence structure still matters, and students must recognize what constitutes a word and what is a character (.;!,? etc).
Some Examples:
“How many times do I have to tell you not to leave your backpack in the front hallway!” Wendy bellowed from the kitchen table. “Honestly,” she said. “Do they expect me to pick up after them all day?” She sighed and took a sip from her mug. “So where was I?”
All she could hear was the sharp inhale and exhale of her breath and the rhythmic slap of her running shoes against the damp, dark pavement. The sun burst through a pack of clouds, illuminating the rusts, golds, and reds of the leaves and their muddy trunks. A curve in the road. Blue sky ahead.
She sipped her wine. “My professor proposes,” she said, “that we’ve evolved to find beautiful those things that resemble resources essential to survival.”
“Preposterous,” he said, and ran a hand through hair as golden as a field of wheat ready for harvest. She shrugged, and met his eyes, two blue pools of fresh clean water.
This is a great activity I learned from the brilliant Anne Gripton. I’ll be honest, students hate the idea of this activity. However, once they start working, they are invigorated by the challenge.
1) Ask students to summarize or review an event in history or a chapter in a story.
2) In writing about this summary, they may only use 6 sentences of ‘reasonable length.’
3) They may not repeat a single word – not ‘a, they, the, him, her, in, of’ or anything.
4) Write a draft and review.
5) Finish!
An example:
Sometimes students struggle with writing.
They want to do well but are afraid of an empty page.
Give them a graphic organizer.
This can help provide structure for thinking and organizing.
Once assisted, many create beautiful works.
Challenges result in major successes.
Resource: Examining Bias in the media (Sir Sam Hughes’s Dismissal)
1. Think Literacy (Ontario Ministry of Education)
– features ready to use lessons for every area of the curriculum
– outlines general reading, writing and thinking literacy strategies which can be applied across the curriculum
2. Pre, During and Post Reading Strategies
3. Facing History and Ourselves: Teaching Strategies for Critical Thinking and Literacy
Activity: Students make Observations about what happens in the short film. Then they make inferences about what is being suggested by the things they observed. Encourage creative and thoughtful ideas. They aren’t ‘right’ answers, just ‘better’ answers.
Steph Pearson 