Balanced Literacy in the Elementary Classroom- Building from the Ground Up

Balanced Literacy in the Elementary Classroom-

Building from the Ground Up

Dallas ISD Language & Literacy Department

Core Content Training 3rd-5th Grade Teachers

NTA, August 2013

Goals for ParticipantsParticipants will understand the Dallas ISD Balanced Literacy Framework.

Participants will know how to locate Dallas ISD curriculum resources.

Participants will understand what a literacy block looks like in the third through fifth grade classroom.

Core Beliefs• Our main purpose is to improve student academic

achievement.

• Effective instruction makes the most difference in student academic performance.

• There is no excuse for poor quality instruction.

• With our help, at risk students will achieve at the same rate as non-at risk students.

• Staff members must have a commitment to children and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence

What is our Lesson Focus?

•Our Lesson Objective for the first portion of this training is: Participants will understand the components of the Dallas ISD Balanced Literacy Framework.

•Our Demonstration Of Learning for the first portion of this training is: Given the definitions of literacy components, participants will be able to correctly match at least 4 of the 6 components with its definition.

Keep your eyes out for MRS

•Response Card•Whip Around•Modified Whip Around•Think-Pair-Share•Table Talk•Quick Response•Oral/Choral Response•White Boards

Dallas ISD Reading & Writing Philosophy

Dallas ISD believes that a balanced approach to literacy development is essential to building the foundational blocks of knowledge for strategic reading, writing, and analytical thinking. We believe that purposeful integration of interactive and engaging reading and writing skills in all disciplines, and media literacy, provide opportunities for students to enjoy reading, explore new learning, deepen thinking, ask and answer questions, and more importantly, develop lifelong learning.

#1

#2 #3

Balanced Literacy Characteristics

•The balanced approach to instruction is based on a comprehensive view of literacy that combines explicit instruction, guided practice, collaborative learning, and independent reading and writing.

Characteristics of Balanced Literacy

Comprehensive Literacy Framework

comprehension

WRITINGREADINGW

ORD

STU

DY

Where would Bob be without his tools?

Read Aloud

• previewing• vocabulary development

• predicting• questioning• story analysis• feature analysis• responding

Teacher reads a selection aloud to students engaging in a series of activities, including:

Shared Reading

Teacher and students read text together promoting discussion, problem-solving and critical thinking. It is an interactive experience in which an enlarged text is used for all students to see.

Guided Reading

Teacher works with small groups of students who have similar reading needs. The teacher selects and introduces new books carefully chosen to match the instructional levels of students with increasingly challenging levels of difficulty. The goal is to increase comprehension and encourage independent reading.

Independent ReadingStudents self-select and independently read appropriate books based on their independent reading level and interest. During this time, students practice reading strategies that were explicitly taught during read aloud, shared reading and guided reading.

Reading Workshop•A framework of reading instruction that includes components that support comprehension and vocabulary development, differentiation of instruction and independence.

When the pieces fit together…

Writing Aloud/Modeled Writing

The teacher is routinely modeling the writing process in front of students by “thinking out loud” and supporting the writing process as a scribe.

Shared Writing

Teacher and students create the text together; then the teacher does the actual writing.

Interactive Writing

The teacher and class compose together to create a variety of written text using a “shared pen” technique. The group agrees on what to write through discussion and negotiation. Together the teacher and students navigate through the writing process.

Small Group Writing (Guided Writing)

Guided Writing lessons are temporary, small group lessons teaching those strategies that a group of students most need to practice with immediate guidance from teachers.

Independent WritingStudents write independently in a variety of genres.

Writing topics are either directed by the teacher or often self-selected. During this time, students practice writing

strategies and techniques that were explicitly taught during shared writing, interactive writing and guided

writing.

Writing Workshop

During Writing Workshop, children proceed through the writing process and use a variety of writing forms. The teacher guides the process and provides instruction through focus lessons and conferences.

When the pieces fit together…

Word Study- The Connection

Phonics & DecodingPhonics is the study and

use of sound/spelling correspondences to help students identify written

words. Phonics instruction

teaches students the relationship between

letters(graphemes) and speech

sounds(phonemes).

Fluency

Fluency refers to the ability of students to read and write quickly, effortlessly, and efficiently with good, meaningful expression…

“Fluent readers... are able to read words accurately and effortlessly. They recognize words and phrases instantly on sight. Very little cognitive energy is expended in decoding the words. This means, then, that the maximum amount of cognitive energy can be directed to the all-important task of making sense of the text.”

VocabularyWords that make up speech (oral) or text (reading and writing) and their meaningsDistinctions:• Receptive vocabulary: requires a reader

to associate a specific meaning with a given label

• Oral vocabulary• Reading vocabulary

• Expressive vocabulary: requires a speaker or writer to produce a specific label for a particular meaning

• Oral vocabulary• Writing vocabulary

Grammar/Language•Every word has a job•Punctuation helps with fluency and comprehension

•CUPSS•Academic Language

Demonstration of Learning•Given the definitions of literacy components, participants will be able to correctly match at least 4 of the 6 components with its definition.

Lesson Objective•Participants will know how to locate and utilize Dallas ISD curriculum resources.

Curriculum Tools for RLA•CPG (curriculum planning guide)•Semester curriculum maps•Six weeks curriculum maps•Calendar Maps (by six weeks- 5th grade only)

•Journeys/Senderos•The Write Source

CPG

Semester Curriculum Map

Semester Curriculum Map

Six Weeks Curriculum Maps

Six Weeks Curriculum Map

*Dallas Independent School District

RLA Standards for the First Six-Weeks Grading Period- Grade 5

5.2E Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to:(E) use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words. (RS)

•Students will demonstrate dictionary skills.• Determine correct meaning of a new

word • Demonstrate how to locate the

pronunciation, syllabication and part of speech of a new word.

•Students will demonstrate how to use a glossary.• Demonstrate how to locate the

pronunciation, syllabication and part of speech of a new word.

• Determine meaning of new word as used in the text.

•Students will demonstrate how to use a thesaurus.

• Select alternate word choices for a given word.

Calendar Maps (by 6 weeks) THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN 2013-2014 FOR 5TH GRADE

Demonstration of Learning•Given a list of 4 curriculum tools, participants will explain how each tool helps in planning a Balanced Literacy lesson with 95% accuracy.

CPGSix Weeks Curriculum

Map

Semester Curriculum

Map

Six Weeks Calendar Map

Daily Schedule

“Our goal was to write a book about teaching reading in upper elementary classrooms, but we quickly abandoned that idea. The interconnectedness of reading and writing is profound and inescapable. We couldn’t address reading without discussing writing as well, because literacy doesn’t unfold that way in the classroom – or shouldn’t. Fragmenting these complex literacy processes interferes with the greatest goal of literacy education – the construction of meaning from and through text. Using reading and writing together in harmonious concert enables learners to draw on these complementary processes at the same time they work to construct meaning.”

- Irene Fountas & Gay Su Pinnell, Guiding Readers and Writers, p. vi

• Michelle Brown, MLEP • [email protected]• 972.502.4195

• Michele Nichols, RLA • [email protected]• 972.925.6705