Close Reading Updated Procedure for Including Cognates

 

Updated Procedure for Including Cognates in Close Reading

Courtesy of Stoneybrook University

Introduction: Introduce title and author (if available) of passage. Discuss what you know about the topic, including identifying it as narration, description, argument, poetry, play, subject area and so on. Relate topic to prior reading and set purpose for reading new selection. For free reading selection sources see Close Reading Lesson Plan Template.

1. Teacher reads selection aloud while students follow along (engagement). A list of websites with reading selections is included at the end of this lesson plan.

2. Teacher elicits from students what they think is the first characteristic (length, difficulty, tone, genre, purpose) they note about the passage. Write the words on the white board or note pad under document camera. (I do; we do; you do method)

3. Have students indicate the words they aren't familiar with (circle, highlight, etc...) Look up word in online or table dictionary and discuss with students, associating it with a concept of the unknown word. (I do; we do; you do method)

If selection is from textbook, go over visuals, headings subheadings, words in bold print/italics and so on). Let students know that this is called the selective attention learning strategy. 

For ELLs, type names of each word into Google Images, showing students the best representation of the word. 

Additionally, have ELs read through the selection to find Spanish/English cognates in order for them to become aware of the similarities of their own language and English and to recognize that word meanings are similar in English to those in their own language (Spanish).

4. Share out (Think/pair share) vocabulary words/explain in own words. Discuss punctuation/capitalization in passage. (I do; we do; you do method). For more prereading activities see http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_lit.html

5.Students read selection again silently.

6. Ask critical thinking questions from Bloom's taxonomy at http://www.meade.k12.sd.us/PASS/Pass%20Adobe%20Files/March%202007/BloomsTaxonomyQuestionStems.pdf  Refer back to text when appropriate.

What can you do with a masters in education?

As a masters in education (creative arts education) at SFSU (San Francisco State University),  I've been able to create this online education blog for graduate students majoring in a wide variety of online education disciplines from multicultural education to English Language Learning. 

Please feel free to add your ideas to assist online education students. Links are especially needed for resources in critical thinking and English language learners. 

With my masters in education, I've been able to be a professor at UAGC, National University and the University of Phoenix, as well as having 12 how-to photography books published including the book, "Digital Art Photography for Dummies."

Critical Thinking and Social Justice Issues--Please Respond

Educators and trainers can follow steps to deepen critical thinking throughout lessons using Bloom's Taxonomy. Critical thinking and social justice go hand-in-hand in education. Here's a simple way to create a social justice critical thinking lesson based upon an event in history and relating it to a topic today. 

 

Critical Thinking Steps based upon Bloom's Taxonomy:

• Remember
• Interpret and Summarize
• Analysis
• Apply Knowledge
• Evaluation

Consider a topic to which you can apply the above deepening critical thinking process. 

For example:

1. Remember: Recall everything you know about social justice and women's rights.
2. Read/Summarize: Read and summarize an article/book about social justice in order to define one appropriate issue connected to a history curriculum and to students' prior knowledge, For example: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote.
3. Apply Knowledge: Students will select an issue about social justice/women's rights. 
4. Analysis: Arrange students in groups to analyze how Staton helped to solve the women's rights voting issue from the book above.
5. Application: In the groups, apply similar methods to solve current issue by creating a list.
6. Evaluation: Collect lists and redistribute to each group (each group get's their peer groups' list) to evaluate problem solving methods. Each group adds ideas to list. 
7. Repeat process by passing group list to a new group for them to add to the idea list.

Create Master List of all issues to class to discuss vote on the best ideas for each issue. Graph data.
Before doing this week's assignment, think about changing the reading in the example above to another social justice issue connected to history and change website for information about related issues today for students selection in order to create ideas for solving the challenge. 

Template:

1. Remember: Recall everything you know about social justice and women's rights.
2. Read/Summarize: Read and summarize an article/book about social justice in order to define one appropriate issue connected to a history curriculum and to students' prior knowledge, For example: ___________________ (title related to a social justice issue of the past).
3. Apply Knowledge: Students will select an article/teacher-made document   list about the specific social justice issue described in the reading above that is current today. For example, ______________________________.
4. Analysis: Arrange students in groups to analyze how issue can be solved. 
5. Application: In the groups, apply similar methods to solve current issue by creating a list.
6. Evaluation: Collect lists and redistribute to each group (each group get's their peer groups' list) to evaluate problem solving methods. Each group adds ideas to list. 
7. Repeat process by passing group list to a new group for them to add to the idea list.
Create Master List of all issues to class to discuss vote on the best ideas for each issue. Graph data.
Please Add Ideas in Comments: What specific justice issue in history would you select articles for the above lesson template? 

Climate Change Neglect in Education

Much of the curriculum in schools is silent on climate change, as the New York Times reports. The article about addressing the issue in education, especially middle school,  states that there are more articles online that misinform about the topic than cover it accurately. 

Teaching students to search for reliable information on the topic should look for search terms in Google that will lead them to accurate scientific information. While the article states the importance of teaching this topic to the next generation, it sidesteps how teachers can find accurate information about climate change.

Students, parents and teachers can investigate the reputable information about the topic with one simple set of search parameters on Google. The keywords are as follows:

NOAA climate change site:.gov

It's a travesty that The Times' goals don't include informing people about NOAA, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration in its article about climate change. The article mentions the dire need for middle schoolers' education include more curriculum on climate change and that the NGSS, which is true, as the parties interested in this topic will find few resources connecting climate change to the NGSS standards. The climate change units that educators can find is useful, but doesn't cover the issue in depth.

It's true that the science standards do not cover the topic directly and The Times is not the first publication to note that. The facts about the lack of sources for climate change are described in detail in the Brock Education Journal article titled The Implementation of NGSS standards and the Tumultuous Fight to Implement Climate Change Awareness in Science Curricula. Even this academic article does not address how students and teachers fan find reputable sources on climate change.

I plea with the mainstream media that if they are going to write about the issue of education and climate change that they include how to access reputable resources where educators and students can find accurate information.