m. mortimer ncmsa- engaging reluctant and struggling students in ms

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Questioning Exploring Writing in the Middle School

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Page 1: M. mortimer ncmsa- engaging reluctant and struggling students in ms

QuestioningExploring Writing

in the Middle School

Page 2: M. mortimer ncmsa- engaging reluctant and struggling students in ms

Introduction

‘Welcome!Middle school is when students become engaged readers or slip behind. Shared Inquiry empowers all students to become better readers and thinkers -- starting with their questions and ideas and using collaboration to build defendable interpretations of what they've read.

Participate in a Great Books Shared Inquiry discussion about “Wolf” and find out how.

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Program Overview

Great Books Roundtable preserves the features

that have made Great Books programs unique

and exciting for more than forty years—a focus

on the Shared Inquiry™ method of learning supported by high-quality literature.

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Sample Unit – “Wolf”

We are going to use “Wolf”, with the video that depicts a middle school classroom working on pre-discussion activities, discussing the selection, and completing post-discussion activities including writing.

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Engaging Reluctant and Struggling Readers in the Middle

Grades

PREREADING QUESTIONS

Please tell us who you are and what concerns do you have for struggling /reluctant readers?

• ______________________________• ______________________________• ______________________________• ______________________________

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Engaging Reluctant and Struggling Readers in the Middle

Grades

Students who struggle or get bored who:

Don’t understand the wordsDon’t want to speak up in classAre afraid they have the wrong answerAre embarrassed to read aloud__________________________________________________________________________________

(what other painful example can you give)

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Real Comments from Students

• Can we do this again tomorrow (a boy)

• Some times I don’t agree with the class, sometimes I don’t even agree with myself

• I didn’t like the story at first, but now I see it differently….more differently than everyone else

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Skills

Roundtable provides a superb framework for teaching the skills of

•Reading Comprehension•Critical Thinking•Speaking•Vocabulary•Writing

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The Teacher’s Role

• As a Shared Inquiry leader, you do not impart information or present your own opinions, but guide participants in reaching their own interpretations.

• You do this by asking thought-provoking questions and by being an active listener.

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Questioning

• TEACHERS -The key to a great discussion is learning how to ask questions.

• STUDENTS – It is more important to question answers than to answer questions.

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Why Interpretive Questions?

• Allows for different opinions to be accepted or rejected without judgments

• Builds critical thinking skills by leading students to:develop ideasoffer evidence from the text respond to the opinions of others

• Allows for a student centered discussion sharing ideas from quality literature addressing ideas and issues effecting middle schoolers

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Great Books Shared Inquiry

An active and collaborativesearch for answers

to questions of meaningpresented by a text

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Sequence of Questions

• OPENING QUESTIONOPENING QUESTION (1 question) • Introduces and explores ideas, topics, and themes

• FOCUS QUESTIONFOCUS QUESTION (1 question) • Examines a central point of the text•

• CLUSTER QUESTIONSCLUSTER QUESTIONS• Establishes relevance revolving around the focus question• Interprets a passage, explore a quotations, etc.

• FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS (asked of students to probe and clarify)• “Are you saying that...” • “Where in the text did you find support for that?” • “What do you mean by...” • “Tell us more about...”• “Do you agree with Sally when she says……”

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Materials

Roundtable leader Materials include:•Leader's Edition•Audio CDs•CD-ROM•Activity Instruction Cards•Roundtable Road Map•Posters and Bookmarks

(The materials also include a student anthology)

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Leader’s Steps in Preparing a Selection

1. Read twice and take notes2. Turn notes & reactions into questions3. Test for answers and evidence4. Revise your questions, if needed 5. Select questions for SI Discussion6. Plan ways to differentiate for your class7. Always use a seating chart

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Teacher’s Preparation

• STUDY THE STORY• FORMULATE QUESTONS• REVIEW RULES• USE A SEATING CHART

Focus Question: ______________________Answer: _____________________________

What do you mean by______?

Have you heard an idea you disagree with?

What do you think of ___’s_idea?

Where do you find that in the text?

AGREE

QUESTIONS

DISAGREE

NEW IDEAS

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Discussion of Wolf

• Discussion of “Wolf” with Teachers

• Discussion of “Wolf” from Students from Disk

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Writing• Writing is thinking on paper. Knowing what you

think and how to back it up is the first step – the next is the paperwork.

• SI Discussion prepares students to explore ideas and conclude an evidenced point of view

• Writing assignments can be differentiated or scored according to abilities (rubrics included on disk & TE)

• Roundtable included a full featured writing component on CD ROM with tools to differentiate and use across curriculums.

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Roundtable Features

• High-quality literature• In-depth reading, critical thinking, and writing

activities• Teaching and learning in stages• Differentiated instruction• Common Core and 21 Century Alignments• Assessment options• Standards-and research-based learning• Renowned professional development

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DIFFERENCIATION

• What do all students like to do?• TALK IN CLASS

• What keeps students from feeling uncomfortable?• No wrong answers in SI discussions • Students talk openly and teaches only ask questions• Rules that allow all to participate equally• Rules of civility that require acceptance of the

opinions of others with the right to respectfully disagree

• Pace that allows for thinking

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What About my Struggling Readers?

• Reading becomes less lonely and difficult, and more exciting, as they experience the joy of shared discovery.

• SI discussions work best with a mix class of abilities and opinions

• Quite (and second language students) become valued for their different and often thoughtful opinions

• Gifted students learn to see there can be more than their one right answer

• All students see that the teacher’s answer is not the question

• Gives struggling students tools and shows the importance of multiple readings, as well as reading aloud

• Students learn to collaborate to solve problems of meaning and develop their understanding of a text

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Shared Solutions

• What do you see as ideas to share with the group as they struggle with struggling students

• ________________________________________• ________________________________________• ________________________________________• ________________________________________• ________________________________________• Double circles, pairing students, ball

toss, vocab physical exercises, theater time, tokens to limit # of answers, saving seating charts, etc.

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Roundtable Benefits

For Teachers . . .• Paradigm shift in the way you teach

• Integration of 21st century skills into curriculum

• Integration of the reading and writing processes

• Meeting of New Core and other state standards

• Assessment of students in order to meet AYP

• Flexibility to differentiate

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Benefits

For Students . . .

• Improvement of reading comprehension, critical thinking, speaking and writing skills

• Growth as independent learners and thinkers

• Participation in a collaborative classroom

• Development of cognitive, emotional and social intelligences

• Opportunity to learn and practice 21st century skills

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For More Information

For more information contact

Marg Mortimer

[email protected]

800-222-5870 x7123 or visit our web site at

www.greatbooks.org/roundtable