Total literacy tools

Having read Total Participation Techniques (TPT) by Persida and William Himmele, I was familiar with their focus on increasing student response rates within the classroom. This website has some great summaries of the techniques. I delayed  reading their new book, Total Literacy Techniques: Tools to Help Students Analyze Literature and Informational Texts, coauthored with Keeley Potter. Adapting the TPT to literacy activities did not seem that big a leap so as to need a new book. This book is not a recap of their old one.

One of the early concepts they discuss is the difference between academic vocabulary and academic language. On page 9 they quote a student, "Books carry truth, whether truth be light or dark; and by reading these books, we build our hearts out of words." This sentence contains only tier 1, common vocabulary. It is not a sentence whose language is tier 1. This sentence has a complex deep meaning that, if read quickly by an unsophisticated reader, loses its depth. It highlights an aspect of level of meaning that all our reading level measures miss. The language is put together in a way that is beautiful and complex. Lexiles would not recognize it as challenging as it is. When I look at leveled books I often think that the people who assessed the challenge level missed something. We cannot assume that students can read something because of its Lexile number. Part of literacy instruction is to examine the language and understand the author's meaning, not merely the literal meaning of the words. To be able to understand the multiple connotations and denotations of a word in its application.

Another of the big ideas of this text is that free choice reading is critical to literacy development. Our spoken language reveals a fragment of our vocabulary and verbal complexity. When we read we are exposed to new words, different sentence structures and purposes, and topics of interest. This winter a student looked at me and said, "I hate to read and so do all students." Yes, other students protested that reading was not the evil empire, but she was merely expressing a feeling shared by many of her classmates. Years ago I worked with a student on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He shared that he did not know why the author used the language he did because, "No one talks like that." Students need to be read interesting stories, poems and articles, not for analysis, but simply to be exposed to vocabulary and language outside of their norm- this is academic language and vocabulary. Don't get me wrong- I believe that students need to dig into literature they would not personally pick up and learn to analyze the human condition and universal truths, to understand rhetoric and how it impacts meaning, and to develop cultural norms, but they also need to read "easy" books that are at their level that interest them. Graphic novel, joke book, identification book, biography, fashion magazine, poetry anthology, novel, whatever- they all share the virtue of being reading. This is part of the balance of reading essential to student development.

One tool from their chapter that I like is collecting words bookmarks (p. 31). Students read and collect new words. Later look up their meaning and share them. This reminds me of a strategy- words in a jar- where students were asked to record interesting words and put them in a jar. Periodically they would be shared with the group. Whether it is the sound or meaning, it expands exposure to words that hold personal meaning to students.

Another great tool the authors shared were prompts for analyzing literature and informational texts. They suggest posting and/or sharing with students the list of general prompts so that during discussions or quick writes or reading responses students can learn to use the questions to guide deeper thinking. Questions like How does the author use metaphors to develop the story? or What specific words does the author use to make a case for, and against, certain characters? lead to deep thought (p. 48). They also introduced a relevance wheel. An example is below.

One thing that I was expecting was some discussion of total participation techniques. They discuss bounce cards which I have read about elsewhere. These are sentence starters that require students listen to what is said and then move the conversation forward. Some examples of bounce cards are here, here and here and a video math lesson using them is here. One TPT they suggest is that on a smooth top desk you can write with a dry erase marker. Students can use their desk rather than a  white board to write responses. One example of a type of response would be a fill in the blank idea such as complete the analogy:

• white is to black as (concept under discussion) is to ___________________.
• three is to four as (concept under discussion) is to ___________________.

These could become:

• white is to black as Eliza's external appearance at the beginning of Pygmalion  is to Eliza at the end of Pygmalion.
• white is to black as Northern pre-Civil War industry is to that of the South.
• three is to four as glacier is to sediment.
• three is to four as parenthesis is to multiplication. (Order of operations)

Students could quickly record their ideas and erase them.

The chapter on informational texts contains one of the best descriptors of concept mapping I have encountered. Concept mapping allows students to explore the connectedness of various concepts. Students could be given a set of cards, sticky notes, or a sheet with the cards ready to be cut out and be asked to arrange them by category and relationship. Once that was done they secure them to another sheet and write explanations of how they are connected or related. Portions that might be used are shown below:

                        w/ all parallel sides                                      w/ all equal sides                    
Quadrilateral---------------------------> parallelogram --------------------------------> square

                    is splitting                                  and can be a form of
Mitosis -------------------------------> cells -----------------------------------------> asexual reproduction

The words between the arrows would be the ones students were given to use and those above the arrows were added to show connections. Students might arrange them differently, but if their description of relationships is correct, then they should be accepted. Teachers can look for deeper connections with probing questions.

This book was an unexpected read with some great ideas. It provides some nice examples of their ideas and shows how literacy techniques can be used in classes other than ELA. Their focus on vocabulary is a boon to English language learners and students with disabilities alike.

Mentoring for the gifted

In K-12 education, we often think of mentoring as a tool for struggling learners and those living in poverty. In February's Teaching for High Potential, Hollis B. Bell's article, "Starting a High School Mentoring Program for the Gifted: Opportunities and Challenges," proposes that this strategy be used with gifted populations. In many ways it makes sense. We know that as many as 30% of our gifted students drop out of school and that many experience social struggles. Providing gifted students with mentors helps them with improving their self-concept and develop positive adult relationships (Little, Kearney & Britner, 2010), as well as developing their creativity (Sahin, 2014), leadership and achievement potential (Aorman, Rachmel, & Bashan, 2016). Clearly mentoring has a role with our brightest students.

Bell points out the challenge of gaining administrative support for mentoring programs focusing on the gifted. When many administrators fail to see the point in any programing for the gifted, this is an obstacle that is difficult to overcome. Showcasing the problems of gifted children in their ability to connect to with peers and develop positive relationships might help. Bringing in mentors who can identify the virtue of such programs and highlighting the research on positives might help as well.

Finding mentors is always a challenge. Parents, seniors and members of service organizations like Rotary and Kiwanis might all be sources for mentors. Outreach is essential in securing people committed to working with these children. They also need to be trained and made aware of their role, strategies for dealing with challenges and desired outcomes.

Coming up with ways to help our gifted children maximize their opportunities serves us as a community. We need to do what we can to help them develop into the best they can be.

A curious history of mathematics

Since the release of the Common Core State Standards, a move to find nonfiction materials to read across the subject areas began. Reading in math has always been a challenge. Math textbooks are remarkably challenging to read. Many students are turned off by the mere mention of math- mathphobia being the most common content area avoidance in schools. The reliance on symbology stymies some students. The requirement to learn from worked problems demands dramatic slowing of the reading process in a way many are uncomfortable. Vocabulary that is rarely used outside of math classes confounds many. Sidebars are common, but students often skip over these text features. Concept density is a huge upward battle. For more about reading math texts and their challenge see this passage from chapter 2 of  Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction by Joan M. Kenney, Euthecia Hancewicz, Loretta Heuer, Diana Metsisto and Cynthia L. Tuttle. Finding accessible and interesting math readings remains a challenge.

Joel Levy's book, A Curious History of Mathematics: Big Ideas from Primitive Numbers to Chaos Theory, is a readable tome about math. He has 2-4 page sections about key mathematician and concepts. It is written as a narrative as opposed to a expository text which makes it easier for students to digest. While it contains outlines of mathematical concepts, it focuses on the key players in math, an approach that may make it more interesting to students as well. This book could be used to introduce concepts. For example, in the section titled "The Life of Pi," estimates for pi from different cultures, notably Egyptian, Indian, Greece, China and Italy, highlights the contributions from around the world to math, something rarely seen in our Eurocentric math curriculum. It also presents challenges like how many decimal places do we need for pi? While generally not appropriate for the average student to read through cover-to-cover, the book is approachable by middle school students as excerpts related to content being studied. Mr. Levy takes a somewhat humorous view and presents many remarkable facts which had me talking with my family:

• Euler was the most prolific mathematics author of record. How many books did he publish? (If compiled, between his books and papers, his 856 pieces would fill between 60 and 80 volumes.)
• What US president devised a unique proof of the Pythagorean Theorem? (Garfield)
• Cicadas breed in prime-number intervals.

A fun book that recommend, even for the non-mathy folks out there.