No Prob-Llama

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Writing Lllama Style - Setting up Expectations

Fast Llamas!

I've been thinking alot about students writing in class. Especially what we call "critical writing" and which is best, a singular sentence or at least three sentences (an intro, the body and the closing). I do think both are good for students, but, when starting out and insisting on good writing, we have to train kids and set expectations. It can be frustrating for us, when we want the students to write and we get back really incoherent writing and phrasing, when this happens, we have to go back and train them. Students do incredible writing in ELAR class, when we ask them to write in other subjects, it can be a struggle to transfer over. Last week I talked about training kids with our expectations for Turn and Talks so students know how it should look, sound and feel like. I believe we cannot assume students already know our expectations for when we want them to write as well.

To begin:
1. Use sentence starters, students often struggle with how they can start. here's a link to Lead4wards list... Thinking Stems
2. Start with one really good sentence. Show students examples of poorly written sentences and exemplars of what you are looking for. They may not know what you want from them, so show them.
3. Use visuals as stimulators to help kids explain their thinking.

Here's an idea to try from 38 Great academic language builders: activities for math, science, social studies, language arts... and just about everything. (see citation below for more info)

a. Organize students into groups - Give each student a folder containing one of a variety

of  images and a small index card.
   b. ask students to keep images a secret from others
   c. have students record their responses on the index card
         - list everything in the image
         - use adjectives to describe objects in the image
        - use verbs to describe action in the image
        - imagine yourself in the image - what can you see, smell, or hear?
    d. Give students another card with a sentence stem, choose to have students write

one really good complete sentence or a three sentence paragraph.

e. Have group share their sentences and then show the group their pictures. They

could even try to guess what was in their picture. That would be fun.
4. Front the writing - have the critical writing happen early in the lesson, this will help with answering questions and discussion later on, since students have had time to frame their thoughts.
5. Have students write before each turn and talk
6. Teach students that a simple three sentence paragraph they use for critical writing is like an oreo. The top cookie; the first crunch, is the intro, the creamy filling is their explanations, description, conclusions to the problem question and the bottom cookie; the last crunch, is the closing. Tell them an oreo is better when it is all three, just like their critical write would be missing something without all three parts.
7. Ask students for permission to read aloud their writing. Make it sound like the best sentence you have ever read.
8. Remember, writing supports thinking... make sure students get chances to write other then answering questions every day.
Here are some examples to view:

References:
Lemov, D. (2011). Teach like a champion: the complete handbook to master the art of teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Seidlitz, J., & Kenfield, K. (2011). 38 Great academic language builders: activities for math, science, social studies, language arts... and just about everything. San Clemente, CA.: Seidlitz Education.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Student Discourse

Fast talking Llamas of Labay!

Today we are going to talk about increasing the ratio of student discourse and discussion in your classroom. This is an important topic. We want students participating in discussions and we want 100% of the students participating. There are several strategies to help make this happen. Doug Lemov uses a great saying in Chapter 9 of Teach Like a Champion, 2.0. he says that the "mental workout belongs to the students". Today we will peruse increasing this workout using the strategies "Turn and Talk" and sentence starters (or sentence stems), then, we will talk about strategies to make this run smoother in your classroom.

Here are some things to think about.
1. Have a vision about what Turn and Talk will look like in your classroom. What are the fundamentals? How will students be grouped or paired? How will they sound, what is the acceptable volume? What is the expectation for how students look at each other?
2. Train the students and practice. The first Turn and Talks might be messy, share your expectations and share with students what you expect it to look like and sound like.
3. Timed or untimed? Decide the timing. You have choices to tell students that you are giving them 2 minutes to talk, or you can listen for when the crest of students voices occurs and call them back to your attention.
4. If I haven't already shared this, tell your students exactly how Turn and Talk will look and sound like. Will just one kid talk and the other listen? Will both kids get a chance to talk?
Example:
1. give each kid a letter, like A or B... A talks to be B, and B only listens, then switch next time.
2. give each kid a letter, like A or B, A talks to B and then B talks to A
3. be creative with kids, use different monikers
It's important to set students up for success and let them know your expectations, otherwise, they will just make up their own.
5. Have a cue, the word "go" is very powerful to let students know when it is time to start. It is quite simply saying, "When I say go, A's turn and talk to B's about the formation of igneous rocks for 27 seconds... Go!"
6. How many of you have had to think about something complicated and it helped your thinking by writing it down? You can level up the depth of the conversations, by having students down their thinking and then share what they wrote with one another in the Turn and Talk.
7. Sentence stems and sentence starters. If you choose to have students write first, consider using sentence stems. Here is an example from 8th grade science:

I like it because is used visuals and tells students how to get started using the correct vocabulary. This could be a turn and talk, or a write, then turn and talk.
8. Have the students communicate with Complete Sentences. This strategy comes from the book, 38 Great Academic Language Builders. This allows students to practice using rigorous academic vocabulary. The more they speak in complete sentences, the easier it becomes to write with complete sentences. I love this thought, that students can write and then speak or speak and then write and it all helps students build their capacity in your subject area. LOVE IT.
Examples students can use to write and turn and talk.
The question... What are two characteristics of primary consumers?
The answer... Two characteristics of primary consumers are....
9.Cue for bringing the class back to whole group... How will you get the class back fast?
10. What will you do with the information that was written and shared with partners? You can use sentence starters here too. When you get students to share their discussions, stretch the whole group discussion by getting students to say, "I agree because or I disagree because, or I would like to add"

I think the biggest fear about allowing students to talk with one another is the fear that they students won't really talk about what they are supposed to talk about. Heck, I have been in training when adults don't talk about what they are supposed to talk about. So, frame your expectations, walk around and listen, be visible, frame the time students have, share examples of what you heard, celebrate when students do what is expected and finally have body language that shows you are rooting for students to have great shares (burning shares).
Clientmoji

Here are some video examples to watch...

Using a Sentence Starter:

Turn and Talk Techniques:

Lemov, D. (2011). Teach like a champion: the complete handbook to master the art of teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Seidlitz, J., & Kenfield, K. (2011). 38 Great academic language builders: activities for math, science, social studies, language arts... and just about everything. San Clemente, CA.: Seidlitz Education.

Lemov, D. (2011). Teach like a champion: the complete handbook to master the art of teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.