7 Steps to a Language-Rich Interactive Classroom Researched-Based Strategies JohnSeidlitz & Bill Perryman
The 7 Steps... Teach students what to say when they don t know what to say Have students speak in complete sentences Randomize & Rotate when calling on students Use total response signals Use visuals and vocabulary strategies that support your objectives Have students participate in structured conversations Have students participate in structured reading/ writing activities
1. Teach Students What to Say What to Say Instead of I Don t Know May I please have some more information? May I please have some time to think? Would you please repeat the question? Where could I find more information about that? May I ask a friend for help?
Will this strategy become a crutch for students who overuse it? It could, if we do not remain focused on accountability and independent learning as the goal. Gradually withdrawing the support we provide when students use the strategy is key. We want to be careful, however, about being too quick to judge students motives because they may need more assistance than we think they do.
What do you do with the student who absolutely refuses to respond? The easiest way to get our noncompliant students to use alternatives to saying, I Don t Know is to act as if they plan to participate. Smile politely and ask them, Please use one of these strategies. Then wait. If they flatly refuse, model the strategy and then ask again, letting tone and body language communicate the expectation that they will participate.
2. Have Students Speak in Complete Sentences Students write the same way that they speak. If we expect them to write in complete sentences, we should also expect them to speak in complete sentences. Question Why does inertia have a particularly large effect in this situation? What is your opinion? How would you justify your answer? Stem Inertia has a large effect in this situation because... My opinion is... I would justify my answer by...
Do students with disabilities and English Language Learners have to express themselves using complete sentences too? Yes! Unless a student has a disability with an IEP that indicates otherwise, expect all students to participate.
Example from reading that I thought was powerful... Applicant A Employer Applicant Employer Applicant Employer Applicant So, tell me about our work experience. Burger King What did you do at Burger King? The register, the grill, and the drivethrough Did you enjoy working there? Yeah Employer Applicant Employer Applicant Employer Applicant B So, tell me about your work experience. My work experience includes working at Burger King. What did you do at Burger King? While I was at Burger King I worked at the register; I cooked on the grill; and I also was able to work the drive-through. Did you enjoy working there? Applicant Yes, I enjoyed it very much.
3. Randomize and Rotate Our goal is to have everyone involved in discussions so that we can assess all students understanding of concepts, not just those students who enjoy participating. Avoid using phrases like: Who can tell me...? Let s see who knows...? Does anyone know...? Can someone tell the class...?
The phrases on the previous slide encourage the participatory students who continue to shout out and dominate the discussion. Randomizing is one effective way to overcome this problem. Randomizing requires very little planning! Create a simple system using index cards or popsicle sticks. When randomizing, the questioning technique then looks like this: 1. Ask the question 2. Pause 3. Select a student to respond using a random selection system
Solution 2: Rotating Rotating is an easy way to get everyone involved and avoid the problems of calling on the same students again and again. Here are the steps. 1. Divid students into groups of four. 2. Ask students to count off within the group so that each person has a number 3. Ask a question. 4. Give groups a chance to talk to each other about the answer. 5.Ask one number to stand up in each group. For example, All Ones, please stand.
Rotating Steps Continued 6. Have the number One person report for the group. 7. Instruct the students to respond with this sentence stem if they have the same response as another group: We agree that because...
4. Use Total Response Signals can use to indicate they are ready to respond to a question or ready to move on to new material all students to prepare for written or oral participation in a non-threatening way effective tool for gauging student understanding in real time
Total Total response signals include every student in the classroom: at risk pupils, ELL s, students with special needs, gifted students, oppositionally defiant students, and students with interrupted formal education. Total means everyone.
Response Every student will make a choice. After questions are posed, students are given an opportunity to make a decision.students think through what they know to make choices.
Signal Once students have responded or made decisions, they will give a response with a visual signal. The signal must be clear enough so that we can immediately survey how many students can respond to the question or decision.
Written Response Hold up paper White Boards Personal Chalk Boards Answer on Cards
Ready Response Hands up when ready Hands down when ready Thinker s Chin (hand off chin when ready) Stand when you are ready Sit when you are ready Put your pen on your paper when ready Heads down
Making Choices Open Hand/Closed Hand Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Pens up/pens Down Green Card/Red Card Move to the Corner/Spot You Agree/Disagree Card Choices on a Metal Ring
Ranking Rank with your fingers Rank with your arm (the higher, the better) Line up According to Response
5. Use Visuals and Vocab Strategies A picture is worth 1000 words Graphic Organizers - allow students to organize ideas, facts and concepts Story maps, Venn Diagrams, Spider Maps, T- Charts and KWL Charts
Vocabulary Strategies Introduce and display at least two new words per lesson Scanning - Students survey a text from back to front looking for unfamiliar words. Teacher generates a list of 3-10 words based on students survey. Students practice saying new words. Students read passage. Students use words in speaking and writing (discuss text with partner or do written summary)
6. Structured Conversations Q - Question S - Signal S - Stem S - Share A - Assess In this strategy, the teacher asks a question and the students give a response signal when they are ready to answer. Using a sentence stem, students are asked to share their responses with one or more peers. Lastly, the teacher assesses the quality of the discussion by selecting a few students to share their answers with the whole class. Students could also share by writing and then by reading their responses.
Examples... Question Signal Stem Share Assess Math What are some important things to remember when factoring equations? Raise your hand when you can complete this sentence. The most important thing to remember when factoring equations is... because... Share in groups of three. Randomly call on students. LA Is Stanley a hero? Stand up when you can complete this sentence. Evidence that shows Stanley is/ is not a hero includes... Share answers with several partners. Have students write their perspectives in journals.
What is the difference between structured conversations and simply calling on students randomly? Structured conversations are much more engaging because the process includes 100% student participation.in single-student questioning, we select one student at a time to respond to a teacher s question while everyone else in the classroom remains passive.the process provides enough structure to get all students involved both physically and mentally. It maximizes engagement time in the classroom and minimizes single-student responses.
7. Structured Reading & Writing Somebody-Wanted-But-So Used during or after reading to help students understand literary elements such as conflicts and resolutions. It is also a great summarization technique for Social Studies! Somebody Wanted But So The Big Bad Wolf Pigs for dinner They hid in the brick house He went hungry Anne Frank To hide from the Nazis Someone turned her in She died in a concentration camp
Other Examples Reading Activity SQP2RS ( Squeepers ) Cornell Notes Idea Bookmarks Insert Method Description Survey, Question, Predict, Read, Respond, and Summarize Method of note taking in which paper is divided into two columns. One column is for notes and other is for vocab and questions Students take reflective notes on bookmark-sized pieces of paper - can include quotes, observations, ect. while reading Students read text with a partner and mark the texts with following coding system - See Poster
Writing Activities Writing Activity Dialogue Journal Letters/Editorials Read, Write, Pair, Share Draw and Write Description Journal that is exchanged between teacher and student or pairs of students. Language used in journal should be content-focused and academic. Students write letters from different points-of-view (sun, atom, frog, etc.) Students read, write using a sentence stem, pair with another student, share their writing. Students express knowledge of academic content by drawing and writing (science notebooks, journals, etc.)