TRANSITIONS FROM THE BEGINNING

Developing Academic Readiness From the Start

Presenters:Sharon WallarSusy Oldham

Roll Call

Who do we have representing us?

TESOL Academy

What do you think Academic Readiness is?

What’s in a name? dictionary.com

Transitions: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another

From the Beginning: an act of entering upon an action or state

Developing: to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of

Academic Readiness: Preparing students to engage and succeed in interactive and experiential learning inside and outside the classroom. http://www.vpstudents.ubc.ca/strategic.cfm?go=goals,academic

Skills: the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc., to do something well

From the Start: to begin or set out, as on a journey or activity.

Strategies and Skills Students Need to be Successful

Strategies for Effective Reading and Listening

Tasks to Build Organizing and Note-taking Skills

Skills that Promote Critical Thinking

Making predictions Confirming predictions Listening/reading for

gist Listening/reading for

specific information Inferring intended

meaning and attitudes Recognizing when

comprehension is blocked and use “fixing strategies”

Use a variety of clues (linguistic, contextual, and background knowledge) to infer the meaning of unknown words

(Johnson and Parrish, 2010; Parrish and Johnson, 2010)

Sorting tasks Using graphic

organizers, such as Venn Diagrams or flow charts

Concept mapping and the use of matrices

Know-What-Learn (KWL) charts

Guided note-taking Cornell notes

Identifying assumptions Organizing Categorizing Interpreting Inquiring Analyzing and

evaluating Decision-making Problem-solving

The Yardman

The yardman comes every two weeks. The yardman’s name is Byron. He drives a gray pick-up truck. The truck is a Ford. It is about 15 years old, but it runs well. It doesn’t burn oil, and it gets decent gas mileage.

In the back of Byron’s truck are a leaf blower, a rake, a lawn mower, a hedge trimmer and a shovel. He uses the leaf blower to blow leaves and dirt from the back of the building out to the front of the building. Then he rakes up the leaves into a bag. He blows the dirt out into the street. He cuts the lawn with his lawn mower. He trims the hedge. He uses the leaf blower to blow the dirt off each Welcome mat that lies in front of each apartment door.

Then Byron puts the bag of leaves, the grass trimmings and the hedge clippings into a wheelbarrow. He pushes the wheelbarrow to the back of the building, where he uses his big shovel to empty the wheelbarrow contents into the big dumpster. It takes Byron about two hours to do this work.

When Byron is done, he goes half a block up the street to the house on the corner. There he does the same work again.

 The above passage is based on a passage from http://www.eslfast.com/

Strategies for Effective Reading and Listening

1. Making predictions and confirming predictions

SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

Survey: Skim passage for gist – main idea

Question: Person: 1st, 2nd,3rd

Setting: Time and place

Type of writing: Narrative, Expository, Descriptive, or Persuasive

Authors purpose: Informational, evoke emotion, persuade

Read to answer questions: Scan for specific answers to questions

What’s a yardman?

What does _____ mean?

Recite to remember: Answer questions aloud in own words

Review: By looking over notes and questioning self

PQRST: Preview, Question, Read, Self-recitation, Test

2. Intended meaning and attitudes

Infer- readerCultural differences (schema) may impede

understanding “Yardman”  Imply-authorAuthor’s implications may not be evident “He blows the dirt….” 

3. Use fixing strategies when comprehension is blocked; use a variety of clues (linguistic, contextual, background knowledge) to infer the meaning of unknown words and sentences

 Spelling conventions, Semantics, Syntax

 Example from passage: a rake (noun), he rakes (verb)

Tasks to Build Organizing and Note-Taking Skills

Sorting Tasks Using graphic organizer, such as Venn

Diagrams or flow charts Concept mapping and the use of matrices Know-What-Learn (KWL) charts Guided note-taking Cornell Notes

Cornell Notes

1. Record: During the lecture, use the note taking column to record the lecture using telegraphic sentences.

2. Questions: As soon after class as possible, formulate questions based on the notes in the right-hand

column. Writing questions helps to clarify meanings, reveal relationships, establish continuity, and strengthen memory. Also, the writing of questions sets up a perfect stage for exam-studying later.

3. Recite: Cover the notetaking column with a sheet of paper. Then, looking at the questions or cue-words in the question and cue column only, say aloud, in your own words, the answers to the questions, facts, or ideas indicated by the cue-words.

4. Reflect: Reflect on the material by asking yourself questions, for example: “What’s the significance of these facts? What principle are they based on? How can I apply them? How do they fit in with what I already know? What’s beyond them?

5. Review: Spend at least ten minutes every week reviewing all your previous notes. If you do, you’ll retain a great deal for current use, as well as, for the exam.

Summary

http://lsc.sas.cornell.edu/Sidebars/Study_Skills_Resources/cornellsystem.pdf

Topic Name: Teacher: Class: Date

Questions/Main Ideas: Notes Summary:

Venn Diagram

Skills that Promote Critical Thinking

www.cal.org/caelanetwork CAELA Network Brief - April 2010

Remember – Make it relate to the student.

Identifying Assumptions:

We use our own personal perspective in making assumptions. In the classroom we can broaden thinking by listening to the assumptions of others.

Who employs a yardman?

Who pays for the services?

Organizing – Methods to use:

Note-takingGraphic organizers

Categorizing – Break up ideas in the passage.Tools – power, manual, etc.

Interpreting – understanding the significance of data and to clarify its meaning

Inquiring – asking questions 

Analyzing - breaking information down and recombining it in different ways and evaluating – judging the worth, credibility or strength of accounts

Decision-making – does the information make sense?

Problem-solving - creating an argument through logical steps. What’s the problem in the story? Do we know the specifics?

Something Interesting Interesting website

http://www.thoughtfullearning.com/resources/what-are-learning-skills

Now You Try Choose a note-taking strategy to create

an activity for your students. Work in groups of 3 to 6. You need a host, a scribe, and a

presenter.

Report Out Let’s hear from your groups.

Questions How will you use what you’ve

learned today?

Do you have any questions?

Thank you!!