Teaching Strategies and Activities
The teaching strategies and activities below are general because they are used throughout the entire year for all images and texts we use in the classroom. The activities become routine for students and they feel comfortable knowing they are familiar with exactly what assignments to expect for each image and text we read. My classes have a high population of special education students. My special education students thrive in knowing we have routines and they know what to expect.
There are a wide range of abilities in my classes. I use my English elective to strengthen student skills through a variety of thought-provoking texts and materials. Through trial and error, I have adapted the strategies that work best for my teaching style, my students, and my school. The Illinois State Board of Education legally allows students of all levels to be included in elective classes of any subject. Therefore, I teach students who are in instructional (self-contain) classes, at-level students, IB students, and AP students. I make modifications and accommodations for all students regardless of their having an Individualized Education Plan.
The most important teaching strategy I use is building relationships and SEL (social-emotional learning). I like to cover some heavy topics and a strong classroom relationship allows me to teach my content and have powerful conversations. I also make sure to use the same strategies for analyzing texts and images so that it becomes routine for students. Routines help me maintain good classroom management, reduce stress and anxiety, and help diverse learners feel comfortable when they know exactly what to expect. Routines and consistency also allow behavior incidents to be reduced and, in some classes, to be non-existent.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Building Community
I think it’s important to build community in the classroom through SEL work because it helps keep negative behaviors at bay and allows teachers the opportunity to teach their content without having to spend a lot of time managing behavior.45 SEL didn’t come easy to me, however, after years of training and practice, these are the strategies I’ve modified for my use. Teachers should always use the strategies they feel comfortable facilitating so that they come off authentic to the students.
One of the first things I do at the beginning of the school year is to create our classroom norms together and make sure to be consistent and uphold them. I always tell the students that we are all responsible for maintaining the norms. I remind them to respectively call me out if they think I have gone against one of the classroom norms. I tell them that I lead by example and I try my best to keep it that way all year. I acknowledge when I am wrong and apologize when necessary.
We also start the year by doing our first Human Library story. The students write a short narrative about themselves, about 2 paragraphs to start. I randomly pair them up and they read each other their stories. The Human Library project is a program many libraries have where people tell stories about themselves as if they were a human book.46 We will do about 1-2 Human Library stories per month until the end of the school year. At the end of the year, we’ll combine them all into a book with a self-portrait to go on the cover. This helps keep the community strong for the entire year. I also share stories about my life with the students to model and allow them to get to know me as well. Each time they share a Human Library story, they must tell it to someone they haven’t shared with in the class. This helps them meet new people, make new friendships, be more understanding, and keep the sense of community strong for the whole school year.
Another strategy I use is an SEL bell ringer to start the day. As the students enter the class, they know that as part of our routine, they have a bell ringer question47 to answer while we wait for the bells to finish ringing. The questions I ask always pertain to emotions, student interests, or questions where I ask for their feedback and suggestions. I try to do these types of questions at least 3 times a week. We always share with a partner and then share with the whole class.
Other SEL and community-building strategies I like to do are one-on-one check-ins, a lot of partner work and I make time for fun games like Kahoots or circle games like Zip, Zap, Zoom.[48] I always use fruity-smelling gel pens, vinyl stickers, or small treats as prizes and incentives.49 When students are working independently I come around on my rolling chair and sit with each of them to make sure they understand their assignments, check to see if they have any questions, or check in with their emotional state if needed. I allow students to work with partners to lessen the workload and stress level,
An additional critical thing I do at the beginning of the school year is give students an interest survey on Google Forms. I ask students their preferred names, their pronouns, if it’s safe to address them by their preferred name and pronouns with their guardians, who is a best guardian to call, what they’re allergic to, their favorite music, favorite movies, TV shows, hobbies, sports, and ask them to share anything else I should know about them. I create a spreadsheet and make sure to incorporate all their interests as best I can in the class. I create a class playlist from their musical tastes and try to create engaging lessons around their interests. I also try to make it to their sporting or club events to show support. These connections help me build my relationships and create a respectful and caring community.
All of these strategies help me build communities in my classroom that allow me to teach my content and respectfully cover heavy, controversial topics. I would not be able to teach my content successfully without this initial work.
Historical background
Before each of the texts, students will read historical background for each text. For “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” students will read about Frederick Douglass’s life and how he went from an enslaved person to a free one. They will also read about the slave trade and how enslaved people were treated.
For the text, “Strange Fruit,” students will read about segregation, Jim Crow laws, racial injustice, sundown towns, and lynchings. This will allow them to see the progression from enslavement to segregation.
For the text, “This is America,” students will read about present day racial injustice, the Black Lives Matter movement, redlining, mass shootings, incarcerations, and segregation in Chicago (relevant to students I teach since Chicago is a racially segregated city).
Observe, Reflect, Question
To analyze the images, we will do the Observe, Reflect, and Question strategy.50 We will begin by projecting an image on the whiteboard. I will begin by modeling an observation of the image. I will write the observation with a dry erase marker or a Post-it note. I will then open the observations to the whole class and ask them, Describe what you see? What do you notice first? What is the physical setting? What other details can you see? Students will either use dry erase markers or Post-it notes to put their observations on the board. I will remind the class that we’re annotating the image. We will then look at all our observations, discuss them as a whole class and reflect.
For the reflection part of the analysis, students will work in small groups or partners. I have students answer the questions: Why do you think this image was made? When do you think it was made? Who do you think was the audience for this image? What’s missing from this image? If someone made this today, what would be different? What is the message of this image?
For the last section of the analysis portion, I have students come up with at least 2 questions about the image. To help the process I ask them, “What do you wonder about in this image?”51 We answer these questions aloud as a whole class and the students do further work and analysis in small groups. If needed, I begin by modeling some of the things I observed and questioned in the image.
Students are provided with digital copies in Google Class that allow them to zoom in on the images to see the fine details. All of our assignments are done digitally on Google class and texts are always available online and on paper.
Close Reading
I have a set routine when it comes to close reading texts. The first step in the process is to provide the difficult vocabulary for the students to define to enhance their comprehension as they read. They will close read all three texts using this strategy “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” “Strange Fruit,” and “This is America.”
The 2nd step is a timed, silent reading. During the silent reading, students are looking to identify a “golden line”52 (something that stood out to them), or to develop a question. After the 1st reading, they do a talk and turn and share their golden line or question with the partner next to them.
The next step in this process is to read the text a 2nd time and to do annotations. Students are given both paper and digital texts and they may annotate on paper or digitally. As they annotate, they also look for any patterns or discrepancies they notice in the text as they read and annotate. We have an anchor chart on the wall and posted in Google Class for them to remember what kinds of annotations they should be making; connections to the text or connections to other texts, asking questions, identifying golden lines, looking for patterns, imagery, and looking for deeper meaning clues in the text.
After annotating the text and looking for patterns,53 the students do what we call the “Pattern, Question, Interpretation of the patterns they identified. They begin by listing the pattern they found, followed by asking a question such as, “Why did the author use the pattern of ___?”54 They then answer their question for the interpretation. The answer to their question must be a deeper meaning (inference) to the text that is not obvious and must include a piece of textual evidence to support their answer. It may look like this, “The author used the pattern of ___ in the text because, ___. I know this because in the text it states…” “This textual evidence demonstrates how the author’s use of the pattern ___ further develops the idea…”
The last step in the close reading process is to answer text-dependent questions. For every text a student reads they always have to answer the question, What is the central idea of this story? and use at least 2 pieces of textual evidence to support their answer. Students have to use CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) to answer this question. This question becomes routine as it is asked after every reading. It’s how we practice SAT strategies. It is always followed by 1-2 more open-ended questions that also require textual evidence to answer.
The close reading method is supposed to help students comprehend and understand deeper ideas and meanings the author is trying to convey as well as practice SAT strategies; a requirement in Chicago Public Schools.
Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER)
Another major strategy I use in my class is CER or claim, evidence, reasoning. In action, it looks more like claim, evidence, reasoning, evidence, reasoning, conclusion.55 This is the basic formula for which students need to answer their text-dependent questions. It is also the method we use to write short answer responses and essays. Students must always prove their answers or arguments with evidence as it is an SAT strategy. This is a routine strategy that students come to expect every time they do a reading of a text. Students always have access to this formula by referencing the anchor chart on the wall or looking at their “class materials” section in Google Class.
For all three texts, students will answer the question, “What is the central idea of the text?” Students will answer the question using 2 pieces of evidence from the text to support their answer. They will also answer 1-2 more specific open-ended questions about each text that require textual evidence to answer. They will use CER to answer these questions.
Chunking Activities
To help all students, especially diverse learners, not feel overwhelmed, I “chunk” sections of work to make it less stressful and reduce anxiety.56 I chunk all the learning activities into different sections to help students feel accomplished after they finish each section. It has proven to be less overwhelming for students when I chunk their activities regardless of their cognitive ability level. I chunk their activities in the following way:
Observe, Reflect, Question analysis of images
Vocabulary of new text
Reading silently for the “golden line” or question
Talk and turn with a partner to share golden like or question
Read text a 2nd time, annotate, and look for patterns
Pattern Question Interpretation of patterns
Central idea and text-dependent questions
Because I ask students to do a lot of work for each text and related images, I chunk the activities for them to feel less stressed and overwhelmed about the process. The feedback I receive from students is always positive and this method allows me to be able to give students one-on-one attention as necessary. I try to do my assignments in this order every time we start new texts for students to get accustomed to the routine of our class.
One-on-one check-ins
Another important teaching strategy I use in the classroom is one-on-one check-ins.57 This helps me build community, rapport, and maintain good classroom management; it’s also a part of the social-emotional environment. Because my activities become routine for students, it allows me to spend less time explaining what to do and more time sitting with each group or individual students to check in on them. Many students, especially diverse learners, have a fear of asking questions in front of their peers. Doing the one-on-one check-ins allows students to ask clarifying questions and advocate for themselves when they don’t understand something in the reading. Doing these check-ins also allows me to follow up with students about their interests, sports, hobbies, events, favorite TV shows, and movies.
Summative Assessment
The summative assessment for this unit will be a 5-paragraph argumentative essay where students will answer the question, “What connects the U.S.’s past to the Black Lives Matter movement?” They will use textual evidence using the CER method from all the texts and historical background they learned throughout the unit to write this essay. It can be modified to fewer paragraphs for diverse learners.
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