Strategies
Close Reading
The Common Core Standards ask students to close read texts. This includes having students read and re-read texts for deeper meaning. Number the paragraphs so that it easy to acknowledge which paragraph is being referred to when citing evidence, chunk the text so that it does appear to be too overwhelming. Have students draw lines at various points – e.g. paragraphs 1-4; 5-8; 9-12. This should happen at areas that have a natural division. The author states that this responsibility can be relinquished to students throughout the course of a school year. Underline and circle with a purpose. One might be quick to remember when he began to highlight texts and the overuse that occurred. Directing students to what is important is vital in their success of understanding the text. Students will circle symptoms of the diseases in the text while underlining examples. Use the left margin to summarize the chunks of text and the right margin to ask questions.57
Discussion
Another technological feature used in this unit is the blog known as a Discussion on Edline (the on-line system that our district chooses to use). A blog is an interactive site in which posts occur usually on a daily basis. Using a question or statement, I can preview what will be discussed and/or looked at that day or review or clarify something from the previous day’s lesson. For an instructor and the students, this is an invaluable tool. For the instructor, it enables you to see what students understand and may have misconceived in addition to what they think. I like to have them write about the why of what they think, helping me to better understand their viewpoints. This also enables them to think before they speak as we use their blog posts as a means of conversation as well. For students, they are able to see their written conversations and leave multiple comments as well as questions for each other. This is a great pre- and post- activity for the day’s lesson in which the same question or statement is added to at the end of the day’s lesson helping all parties to see individual and group progress in regard to comprehending a point or concept.
This year I am taking it further. Many college courses are now using this feature. Students post on-line outside of class and are scored/graded on the quality of their posts. I am working with the students to establish a rubric that will be used for them to be graded for their posts. With them, I have noticed that they need to cite the evidence within their work as compared to the rubric. They need to identify this evidence so that they can truly “see” it to understand why or why not they receive credit. As much as possible, I want to emulate what they will experience next or the following year at college.
Socratic Seminar
I have noticed that my students tend to talk before thinking and are more interested in hearing themselves than their fellow classmates. Being able to think critically about a text before discussing it and then listening to others are important skills necessary for academic success and life-long ability to understand better another person’s viewpoint. The weight of the conversation is left to the participants – in this case the students. They must critically look at and read the texts before coming to class and be prepared with questions and comments they would like to focus on. This is vital to the conversation’s success. I want them to experience what it is to be in college in a small seminar-type atmosphere. Additionally, I believe if they are made responsible for this it will help them to better comprehend the content of the text that they are expected to master.
Google Docs
Technology is an essential part of classrooms today, especially at the university level. I see part of my role, obviously in this Distance Learning Laboratory with thousands of dollars of technological equipment, to use it with the students so that they become proficient in this new language of technology. Google Docs is one of the ways we have to provide students with a collaborative opportunity to participate in a joint writing process. Students will work with their peers to complete a piece of writing in response to a film, summarizing the key points to a lecture or reading, amongst others. I tell students that this skill they are perfecting in the classroom today will be beneficial to them at the university level in which they can work with their classmates across campus in completing group assignments without even meeting once! As an instructor, you can create and assign a Google Doc to group members. Also, feedback can be easily given even while a student (or students) is working on an assignment. Additionally, it is easily monitored through the Revision History, so that an instructor can keep track of who has completed what. Furthermore, for my teaching situation it helps to build partnerships between the students in three different schools. Students will be grouped together – individuals from all three schools – to collaborate on understanding, summarizing, and synthesizing multiple sources. Educators can consider their purpose and place as to which documents may best suit their students’ needs.
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