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PL session around acquiring language through action using a technique called ‘Total Physical Response’. Please share any successes or setbacks with this strategy. Here is a little more background information about psychologist James Asher’s strategy:
https://youtu.be/9omNHxf2pKA

Vocabulary Myths

In learning another language, vocabulary is not as important as grammar or other areas.

Using word lists to learn L2 vocabulary is unproductive.

Presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets facilitates learning.

The use of translations to learn new vocabulary should be discouraged.

Guessing words from context is an excellent strategy for learning L2 vocabulary.

The best vocabulary learners make use of one or two really specific vocabulary learning strategies.

The best dictionary for L2 learners is a monolingual dictionary.

Teachers, textbooks, and curricula cover L2 vocabulary adequately.

Myth Busters

For   language teachers the main insights from the research that Folse analyses are:

Vocabulary is crucial to both communication and comprehension;

Vocabulary needs to be explicitly taught and learned; it will not develop quickly enough through simple exposure to written or spoken language.

For   non-language teachers the main insights are:

It is important to be aware of the English words and phrases that are likely to cause the most difficulty for ESL students. [More]

Learning a subject entails, to a large degree, learning the vocabulary of that subject.

Much of the vocabulary that ESL students need to succeed in a subject is not specific to that subject. [More]

ESL students should be encouraged to have a bilingual dictionary with them every lesson - and make appropriate use of it.

If you missed this presentation, here is the link to the slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KoA1iyBBBQo5VFBE3Mg0H4X_NjU3_0OmNviGVosQiCc/copy

As promised below we have included links to references and tools mentioned in the presentation.

In the presentation, we mentioned author and educator Penny Ur. Based on her work, here are some additional tips for explicitly teaching vocabulary.

-Spend class time explicitly teaching vocabulary because they don’t just “pick it up.”

-Don’t usually ask students to guess words from context. (frustration, failure, no learning, time-wasting)

-Review again and again…recycle often

-Teach multi word items - lexical chunks, phrases, expressions

-Use online profilers like this one:

https://textinspector.com/workflow

-Use gamification

-Yes/No pages (pre learning/ post learning concept checks)

-Personalize examples

make it interesting with open ended responses

-Avoid lexical sets at first

-Teach a word and what goes with it - collocations

Collocations quiz http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/choose/colloc1.htm

Collocation Dictionary

https://m.freecollocation.com

Be sure to watch Penny Ur’s “20 Teaching Tips on Vocabulary” for more ideas for explicit vocabulary instruction: https://youtu.be/6FQZrtikKqE

What are the components of 'knowing a word'?
knowledge of the word's polysemy (multiple meanings), connotation, spelling/pronunciation, part of speech, frequency, usage/register, and collocation.

Reference Links
TPR Math Lesson: Slope https://youtu.be/N8Gobp_eP3E
TPR Studies
https://www.tpr-world.com/tpr-articles.html
Brain Research https://www.tpr-world.com/mm5/graphics/TPRarticles/TPR-BreakthroughinBrainResearch.pdf
Further Reading
Asher, James J. (2003). Learning Another Language through Actions (6th edition). Los Gatos, CA: Sky Oaks Productions, Inc.

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https://padlet.com/allyson_deldebbio/HMH_RI

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Amanda TV, Sarah C, Jasmine T, Jenny Z

To do list
Preplanning - Google Form, incorporate universal language tool into, gather materials in the hub
Aug PD - Cornell Notes, Sketchnotes, bookmarks, balanced literacy integration
Sept PL
Literacy Framework

Damian-Amazon Gift List to Christy Pierce
First Book and Scholastic Quote Sheets
Sarah-RED Poster, Word Wall Anchor Chart, Handout Template,

Whole language
Dialogic learning
Reading Writing and Thinking

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Magazine List, Classroom subscription order date July 1
TKES Goal: Literacy Strategy Reflections
Literacy Team Lead with Enthusiasm
Foundation of Common Language
Meeting Notes & Drive Folder
• RED Time Literacy Initiative

• Universal Language Word Map

• Summer PL work time

• Our PL Plan for next year

-for this first year, our priorities will be the following two initiatives:

1.) RED Time across the school.

a. Access to books (will share feedback on classroom library initiative)

b. every day for 10 minutes?

2.) Literacy PL(universal language word wall/interactive media is incorporated here):

a. meet with Department heads or content team leads and coach them through our Four Pillars of Literacy using the framework discussed in the previous email,

b. give one strategy and one product per pillar (to start!) for those leaders to disseminate to their teams and,

c. request a follow up reflection piece via google forms two weeks later.

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Phase 1 Preplanning Rollout
Summer work dates:
June 14-18
July 26-July 30

All comb through strategies tab to co-sign on content specific resources
Bookmark size annotation guide
Amanda will share Drive folder
Compile needs list from audit or previous surveys
Add ELL to forefront of conversation
Ask in content meetings for additional needs

Next meeting:
Share strategies and work on phase one outline

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Literacy/Numeracy in Math

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3/22
-looked over words for word walk and settled in definitions for words

3/8
-Paige Galt will talk to E.Nemic about getting teachers access to all  students
-Literacy Needs assessment pushed out to departments (Google Form)

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2/25 Meeting meeting notes from collaborative meeting with the PL Team:

-Both teams agree that PL should be focused on literacy and that falls under the Lit Team's purview

-The PL Team has crafted a PL Framework and Nick shared that document

-The Lit Team agreed with all of the recommendations and stipulations set forth by the PL Team (differentiated PL, etc.)

-Lit Team clarified that growing literacy at GHS will involve a cultural and mindset shift; online platforms and quick-fix applications are not sustainable

-We clarified that pre and post-assessments for this initiative will not yield immediate quantifiable results, that we must be patient and trust the process

-What we can do is build in reflection pieces during pre-planning, mid-year, and in post-planning as pulse checks to gauge teacher and student engagement with the initiative

-We need to push for RI access ASAP if data collection will be an administrative requirement but keep in mind that studies show that growing lexiles at the secondary level is difficult (we cannot have unrealistic expectations for immediate gains)

-Summer workdays are a MUST to build this PL curriculum

Action and Discussion Items for the next Lit Team meeting MONDAY MARCH 8th:

- We are moving the meeting days to Mondays @4 due to unavoidable conflicts in scheduling

-Look over the framework and begin drafting our PL Courses

-Decide on a reasonable timeline for delivery, reflection, implementation, and accountability

-We need to discuss the order in which we deliver the pillars of literacy through PL

-Determine interest for summer workdays

-Check-in with previous action items

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Learning Framework Example

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2/11
- meet every other week
-focus on three items: create logistical plan for annotation guide roll out; design and decide on words for word wall display; curate content specific independent reading lists

-get paid PD approved to work on literacy PD for the fall

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District Annotation Guide Guide

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https://sites.google.com/view/amdm-ghs/tests-and-rubrics-with-samples?authuser=0

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AMDM 20~21 - Unit 1-Number and Operations

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Contents 1. Ratios and Rates 2. Percent and percentage error 3. Indices and scientific notation 4. Fermi Problems 5. Averages and Weighted Averages 6. Check Digits to Validate Identification Numbers Vocabulary Terms: Ratio, Percentage error, Estimating, Scientific Notation, Fermi Estimate, Averages, Weighted Averages, Indices, Check Digits

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Recap
Here are a few objectives:

Confirm slide theme: In an effort to stick to branding, should we use school colors??

Introduce literacy team for full transparency

Define literacy

Ask for voluntary participation in DEAR (RED) time

Preview and reintroduce district annotation guide (distribute digital copy??)

Design department slides

Design staff interest survey

Next steps:

Decide to deliver presentation to faculty as a whole or to individual departments. It seems we are leaning to department deliveries

Incentives for teachers to participate

Should we package in a short video as well?

Meeting Discussion Items
DEAR time added into the schedule

Funds for a book for each child

Funds for printing annotation guide for every teacher

Time in faculty meeting to introduce DEAR testimonials, FAQs and a quiz for Literacy PD

Other ideas worth mentioning:

Initiative to get students signed up for library cards through the Pines system

Bookshelves through construction class?

Reading Inventory Book Recommendations

Longterm work

Literacy Framework

Common Language/ Common Formatives (Corporate branding)

Accountability (Checklist for admin)

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Your ESL class should always have a daily routine to follow to allow some structure. We all need routines throughout our days. They keep us focused, keep us productive, and help us know what to expect.

Your ESL class is no different - when your students feel confident that they know what to do and what comes next, you will find that class runs smoother, discipline is much easier, and the general chaos that can accompany teaching young learners fades away.

After a while, you'll often find students getting the right books out for the next lesson before you've even told them to! Here are the essential routines that every ESL classroom should have.

As soon as your students step into your classroom, they should know exactly what to do.

Since students will probably be arriving at slightly different times, they need a few things they can do self-sufficiently while they wait for the stragglers to arrive and for lessons to begin.

In general, plan on about the first 5-10 minutes of class being just for these routines and for students to settle in. Try to give every student, even the ones who arrive a few minutes late, the chance to get through all of your beginning of class routines.

Turn in homework

have a designated pile for homework assignments to be placed in as soon as the students arrive.

Planner/assignment books

Most of the time, students will be given some sort of lesson planner by the school. You can start the day with some simple things on the board for them to copy into their planner: the date, their homework assignments for that class, a few spelling words or grammar patterns, an interesting fact, etc.

Journal prompt

Some students will get to class very early and quickly finish getting their assignment book set up.

Having a daily journal prompt on the board is a great way to engage them while giving yourself the leeway to wait for late students to get settled in.

Sentences/vocabulary words to copy

If your students are not quite at a level where they can handle five minutes of free writing, you can instead give them a list of that day's vocabulary words or a simple grammar pattern to copy into their journal and practice.

Discussion question

If your students are more advanced, or if they tend to get bored with journal prompts quickly, write a simple but interesting question that you will discuss later as a class, and have them prepare their thoughts and opinions about the question.

Once class starts, having routines will make your transitions between lessons flow like clockwork, and will keep your students focused on their work instead of wondering what is coming next.

Instead of jumping right into a lesson, start out with a quick warm up. Even if it is only a couple of minutes, this is the perfect time to get your students warmed up to speaking English, and review any vocabulary or grammar from the last lesson.

Ask them questions that they answer together as a class or individually, have them turn to the person next to them and ask a few questions, or do a few quick repetition activities.

This could also be the responses to the discussion questions, if you are using that at the beginning of class.

Each day (or week), introduce a new word or phrase by writing it on the board, giving them a simple definition, and giving them a few minutes to use it in a sentence.

The idea is that it's not something they need to memorize, write down, or ever be tested on, just something fun or interesting to introduce them to, that you will encourage them to use throughout class.

It's a fun little routine that helps expand their English beyond what is in their workbooks and that can serve as a little mini-break between larger lessons, or a good transition back to class after a short break.

Transitions

Transitions between activities and subjects, or to and from break times, can be some of the most challenging times for a teacher.

Following a predictable structure in every class is a huge part of having smooth transitions. Having a set routine for transitions is crucial, as well.

For example, determine exactly what you will say to them to let them know it's time for their weekly spelling quiz, and train them to know that that means they need to clear their desks and get out a blank piece of paper.

Your dismissal routine is just as important as the beginning routine. Especially if they are going right home after ESL class, students can get pretty excited and dismissal can turn into complete chaos if you don't have clear routines set up.

Students need to have a sense of class finishing up. They also need to have time to wrap up any work or final thoughts they have, clarify any homework that they need to do, and have an organized way to be dismissed.

Here are a few suggestions for keeping the end of your class from becoming chaos:

End your lessons at least 5 minutes before dismissal

You know that once the bell rings, or once the minute hand shifts within a few ticks of dismissal time, there is nothing that even the best teacher in the world can do to keep students focused on a lesson.

Make it easy on yourself and be sure to give yourself at least a five minute cushion for dismissal routines.

You can always use a little 1-2 minute filler activity if the bell hasn't quite rung yet, but if you are still trying to get students to copy something into their assignment books at 1 minute past, it's going to be chaos.

Go over planners

If you had your students write in their planners at the beginning of class, get them out again to go over any changes to the homework assignment, double check their understanding of what they have to do, or copy down a new vocab word or phrase they learned.

Cool down routine

Just like you had a warm up at the beginning of class, it's a good idea to have a brief cool down at the end.

This can be as simple as having them repeat a few sentences, asking them questions about the lesson, or having them turn to the person next to them and have a quick 1 or 2 sentence conversation.

All that really matters is that you stay consistent with it.

Establish how they will be dismissed

Will you dismiss them one at a time to line up at the door and wait for the bell? Will you stay in your seats until dismissal time and let them gather their things and leave one row at a time?

If it's a smaller class, will you let them all simply get up, gather their things, and go on their own as soon as they hear the bell? If there is no bell, what will you say to let them know class is officially over?

The exact routine that you use will depend on your school, your class, the time of day, and what works best for your students, but what matters is that you have a clear routine for how they will be dismissed.

Every ESL class's routines are going to be slightly different, and you will find that they subtly evolve over time as well.

But creating good, solid, efficient routines in your ESL class allows you to make the best use of your time, and set up your class to run smoothly so that you can focus the majority of your energy on what really matters: teaching.

Please share!

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ESL Class: Daily Routines - Reach to Teach Recruiting

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Your ESL class should always have a daily routine to follow to allow some structure. We all need routines throughout our days. They keep us focused, keep us productive, and help us know what to expect.

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Classroom libraries for math and science teachers:

Ms. Wooten will provide magazines and books to these classrooms.

QR Codes for teachers with Libby app and media center catalogue link (Jenny)

During the virtual period, we will encourage teachers to encourage students to select independent reading material for a potential school wide independent reading time during the second period of the day (hoping the admin team will agree to tack on an extra ten or twenty minutes to this aim).

Print and Release Digital and Poster-size Word Wall and District Annotation Guide (Wooten)

Ask for transparency to determine the budgeting process for realistic planning (Powell)

Ask construction instructor for help constructing bookshelves for classroom libraries (Rowland)

Retrieve RI book recommendation list

Faculty Meeting Debut -
Distribute FAQ Sheet (Castleberry)
Cosmo Quiz (Toney)
Get support from admin regarding DEAR time. Use ten minutes at the end of second period to support independent reading... consider using homeroom schedule?  (Rowland to ask for Faculty meeting time 10-15 minutes)

Video for rollout (highlighting program goals, resources, contact person)

Get PL support from Nick (Taiwo)

Cosmo Quiz data dig and differentiated PL prep

Repurpose Reader’s Den

First Book Gift Cards to Teachers?

Literacy Night? Virtual?

Distribute one book to each student? How? Funding?

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Leaders: Taiwo and ATV
Administrators: Rowland and Sandy
Hospitality: J. Castleberry
Custodial Manager: Wooten
Content Liaisons: Leach, Bowers, Claussen

Group Leader: prepares a meeting agenda, verbally reports critical decisions, keeps the group on track, makes sure every group member has the opportunity to participate fully, does not do everything by themselves |
Administrator: keeps records, communicates virtually with school admin, and considers venue and content |
Hospitality Chair: keeps track of timing, monitors the emotional the climate, and helps keep the group motivated |
Content Managers (content teachers): outlines content, refers often to the  mission statement and goals throughout the task, and checks over assignments before submission. |
Custodial Manager: Manages meeting venue set up

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Reading Identities

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Independent Reading Media Center Options

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Independent Reading Media Center Options

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What We Offer - New Visions Curricula Curriculum

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New Visions for Public Schools has created an extensive Open Educational Resource (OER) collection of full scope and sequence curriculum materials.

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Packaging PD for buy in (Cosmo quiz)
Follow up to self-assessment, work sample exemplars for next audit
Skill inventory for staff/department liaison (ex. Natalie Immings past curriculum coordinator)
Method of cross-curricular communication, Reshares
Environment (putting visuals in classroom hallways)
DEAR time
Classroom libraries

Defining literacy (using same terminology)
Self assessment (workshop/gamification-style PD)
Whole-school direct instruction on literacy strategies
school-wide literacy anchor charts
Fund classroom libraries
Cornell Note-Taking Templates
List of recommendations to admin team
Posters to be placed in all classrooms with cross curricular  sentence frames

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Schedule - Planning - Important - Not Urgent

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Schedule - Planning - Important - Not Urgent

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Classroom Libraries
Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
Learning Intention Lesson Integration
Project Management
Plan for constructive use of data
nonfiction writing assessments in every subject
define and quantify frequent common assessments
immediate and decisive intervention

Push out materials (i.e. common language handout or common formative templates for note-taking) encouraging the use of common language and common formatives across contents for consistent, corporate branding and messaging.

actively working to desegregate our classes

Develop a communication channel for admin and paraprofessionals to use common language in interactions with colleagues and students.

Create a viable curriculum with corporate messaging like the one here: https://curriculum.newvisions.org

Align with MTSS

Create or recommend content for differentiated PD

Observation culture?? Find out who are the literacy rockstars and spotlight their work. Encourage observations.

Inventory and catalogue book rooms in each department for whole faculty transparency

textbook audit - to teach text features and ways to use reference materials.p

Check s and balances system to monitor and tweak over time.

System for using hallway space and curating classroom libraries

Campaign for corporate buy in from admin, faculty, and support staff

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GA Gainesville Literacy Lens Report FINAL

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Delegate - Interruptions - Unimportant - Urgent

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Delegate - Interruptions - Unimportant - Urgent

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Eliminate - Time wasters - Unimportant - Not Urgent

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Eliminate - Time wasters - Unimportant - Not Urgent

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Venting sessions
Rehashing and focusing too much on problems

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Penny Ur - 20 Teaching tips on vocabulary | #CambridgeDay2020

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Agenda items for next meeting
Group Norms
Skills Audit
Debrief literacy audit recommendations
Familiarize and select aspects of district plan for alignment
Familiarize with MTSS
Right now strategies
Brainstorm innovated push out methods

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English to Speakers of Other Languages - Georgia's ESOL Language Program

Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA), public schools and State educational agencies (SEAs) have a legal obligation to remove barriers and ensure that students who are not fully proficient in English can meaningfully participate in their educational programs and services. (See OCR Dear Colleague Letter of January 7, 2015). These federal expectations require schools to develop and implement an evidence-based language instruction educational program (LIEP) that has a reasonable chance of success and which allows English Learners (ELs) to access grade-level core curriculum to succeed in the general education classroom.

Therefore, the core ESOL language program is a civil right offered by all schools in Georgia to K-12 students with a home language other than English who qualify based on a state-approved language screener. (See Georgia School Law Code 1981, §20-2-156, enacted In 1985) Various researched-based program models are used across the state to provide scheduled English Language Development (ELD) courses, collaborative in-class ELD services with language-differentiated supports, instructional software programs, sheltered content courses, and dual language instruction to the 100,000+ EL students in Georgia. The goal of the ESOL language program for ELs is to increase both English language proficiency (ELP) and academic language proficiency in content-area classrooms. Successful ESOL programs should focus on collaboration and shared accountability for the success of all EL students.

ESOL language programs are an integral part of the Coherent Instruction system within Georgia's System of Continuous Improvement. The process of continuous improvement includes identifying the needs of EL students, selecting appropriate language-focused interventions, planning to implement and then implementing such interventions, either within the core classroom instruction or as a supplemental language program; and, finally, examining EL students' progress on a continuous basis. In participating Districts, Georgia's Title III, Part A language programs provide supplemental language instruction to select EL students who need additional language instruction and support beyond ESOL.

English Language Development Standards (ELDs)

Since 2006, the core ESOL language program in Georgia is based on the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) ELD Standards. In 2012, WIDA released the Amplification of the WIDA ELD Standards to support college and career-ready state content-area standards. The WIDA ELD Standards serve as a resource to support ESOL and regular education teachers in:

* Understanding the linguistic needs and abilities of ELs;
* Creating successful language learning experiences for ELs; and
* Monitoring the ELP and academic success of ELs as they progress through levels of language development.

The Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE), integrated with the WIDA ELD standards, should guide teachers' instructional practices and strategies with EL students. A successful ESOL language program will ensure that all administrators, general education teachers, and other educators of ELs understand the WIDA ELD standards and how they may be integrated with existing instructional frameworks. Sharing effective evidence-based practices across classrooms and schools and establishing methods to evaluate EL students' progress to proficiency are other elements in the ESOL language program.

* More Information on the WIDA ELDs

ESOL Program Resources

* Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) ESOL website
* EL Accountability in GA's ESSA state plan
* USDE English Learner Toolkit
* WIDA's ELP Assessment - ACCESS for ELLs® 2.0

ESOL Instructional Resources

* WIDA ELD Standards in Action (videos)
* Center for Applied Linguistics & Project EXCELL: Go-To-Strategies
* TESOL's 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners
* Colorín Colorado's Strategies for ELs
* Stanford University's Understanding Language resources
* University of Georgia's Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education Instructional Conversations resources

Evidence-based Resources

* IES-WWC Practice Guide Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School, April 2014
* CEEDAR Center, Innovation Configuration, Nov. 2016
* The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine, Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures, Feb. 2017

For more information, visit the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) ESOL website

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English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

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Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA), public schools and State educational agencies (SEAs) have a legal obligation to remove barriers and ensure that students who are not fully proficient in English can meaningfully participate in their educational programs and services.

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Leadership Support - "The Dilemma of Grading"

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Leadership Support - "The Dilemma of Grading"

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Persuasion Across Time and Space

This unit shows instructional approaches that are likely to help ELLs meet new standards in English Language Arts. The lessons address potent literacy goals and build on students' background knowledge and linguistic resources. Built around a set of famous persuasive speeches, the unit supports students in reading a range of complex texts. It invites them to write and speak in a variety of ways and for different audiences and purposes. To learn more, see the lessons below and read our Guidelines for ELA Instructional Materials Development and Frequently Asked Questions.

Download Supplementary Files

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Understanding Language is devoted to improving education for English Language Learners in light of the new Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Based on the latest research, we provide resources to help teachers, administrators, and policy makers recognize the language demands in mathematics, science, and English language arts.

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Cosmo Quiz
Timely Feedback (Workshop Model)
Conferencing

Cross Curricular Literacy Cheat Sheet or Resource Menu

-More reading articles

- Reading comprehension, main idea, supporting details
-letter writing

-Write about their answers

- Not a grammar focus; NoRedInk isn’t the answer

Need Access to SAM platform for Reading Inventory to sort by classes

Potential Messaging (from Immings)
literacy team?

We are entering a year of recalibration.  We need to return to core academic values that impact our school culture and practices, reminding ourselves of best practices, learning updated strategies based on newer research, and assessing whether we as a whole school and we as individual teachers are aligned with what we know to be our academic values.  As we learn together through Professional Learning there may be strategies that are not "brand new" to some of us, but we need to take these opportunities to reflect on our own practice and re-align ourselves.  Our hope is that there are teachers who have remained calibrated and can share their professional practices, helping others of us refine what we do to continue to advanced Gainesville High School.

Per Ms. Hill
I would like to see the Literacy Goal used as a way to pull the school together. Schools can become naturally fragmented by subject.  However, GHS faces staff overturn, building (logistical) issues, tremendous growth and changing demographics concurrently.

Drop Everything and Read could easily be used as a way to pull the school together.  For 15 minutes a day, we would all have ONE common goal.  Imagine 2400 people sharing an experience.

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Please add comments, questions, concerns, and suggestions. This is the super rough draft and we if are debuting this filly next week, she needs some primping.

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DEAR FAQs

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Strategic scheduling for ELLs and cotaught to include language support with ELA and and Social Studies for reinforcement

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What is a Lexile measure?

The Lexile® Framework for Reading measures reading ability and text complexity on the same scale.

There are two Lexile measures: the Lexile reader measure and the Lexile text measure. A Lexile reader measure represents a student's reading ability on the Lexile scale. A Lexile text measure represents a text's difficulty level on the Lexile scale. Lexile measures are expressed as numeric measures followed by an "L" (for example, 850L), and represent a position on the Lexile scale. When used together, Lexile measures help a student choose a book or other reading material that is at an ideal difficulty to spur reading growth.

Today, Lexile measures are recognized as one of the most widely used reading metrics. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right level of challenge and monitor progress toward state and national learning standards. Lexile measures range from below 200L for beginning readers and text to above 1600L for advanced readers and text.

An important factor for readiness is students' ability to read and understand texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. The Lexile Framework provides valuable insights into student readiness by measuring both the complexity of college and career texts and a student's ability to comprehend these texts.

Lexile Tools and Resources

More information about the Lexile Framework can be found at Lexile.com.

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The Lexile® Framework for Reading measures reading ability and text complexity on the same scale. There are two Lexile measures: the Lexile reader measure and the Lexile text measure. A Lexile reader measure represents a student's reading ability on the Lexile scale. A Lexile text measure represents a text's difficulty level on the Lexile scale.

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​What is the LexileÒ Framework?

Lexile measures are a resource for parents and educators that focus on improving reading skills and increasing adolescent literacy. These Lexile measures can be used to match readers with texts targeting the student's reading ability. Such targeting of reading material optimizes growth in reading ability and helps to monitor student progress towards specific learning goals.

The Lexile ® Framework for Reading is an educational tool that links text complexity and readers' ability on a common metric known as the Lexile scale. A student receives a Lexile reader measure calculated from a reading test linked to the Lexile Framework; the Lexile measure describes the student's reading ability. Books and other texts also have a Lexile measure associated with them, and this Lexile text measure describes the book's reading demand or difficulty. When used together, these measures can help match a reader with reading material that is at an appropriate level of difficulty and suggest how well the reader will comprehend a text.

The Georgia Department of Education has worked with MetaMetrics®, the developers of The Lexile® Framework for Reading, to establish the link between the Georgia Milestones English Language Arts (ELA) assessments and the Lexile scale. In Georgia, students will receive a Lexile measure when they receive a scale score on a Georgia Milestones End of Grade or End of Course ELA assessment. This Lexile measure is based on the reading portion of the ELA test.

To see a visual representation of the Lexil​e scale, explore the Lexile Map, which provides examples of popular books and sample text at various points on the Lexile scale. Once you know a student's Lexile measure, you can use the Lexile map to get a sense of his or her reading level in terms of books that are familiar to many people.

Lexiles Measures & State Content Standards

Georgia's rigorous content standards promote that students should be ready for college or career upon exiting high school. To reach these high school graduation goals, it is important for a student to read and understand texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. The Lexile® Framework provides valuable insights into student readiness by measuring both the complexity of college and career texts and a student's ability to comprehend these texts.​

The Lexile® Framework helps to describe the text complexity necessary for students to meet the demands of colleges and careers at each grade level. Georgia's content standards focus both on the text complexity of what students read and how well students read and comprehend. The Lexile ranges in the table below help teachers and parents determine what text is appropriate for each grade level. These ranges suggest what text will help students gain in literacy skills toward these goals for college and career readiness.

These grade and Lexile bands are the basis for determining at what text complexity level students should be reading-and at which grades-to make sure they are ultimately prepared for the reading demands of college and careers.

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Lexile measures are a resource for parents and educators that focus on improving reading skills and increasing adolescent literacy. These Lexile measures can be used to match readers with texts targeting the student's reading ability. Such targeting of reading material optimizes growth in reading ability and helps to monitor student progress towards specific learning goals.

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Pines Library Number Online Application

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Many libraries have temporarily modified their service hours and offerings. Please check with your local library for details.

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Khan Academy | Práctica, lecciones y cursos en línea gratuitos

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Aprende gratuitamente sobre matemáticas, arte, programación, economía, física, química, biología, medicina, finanzas, historia y más. Khan Academy es una organización sin fines de lucro, con la misión de proveer una educación gratuita de clase mundial, para cualquier persona en cualquier lugar.

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Culturally Responsive Literacy Framework Lesson Plan Template

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Meet Google Drive - One place for all your files

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Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up and easy to reach from any phone, tablet, or computer. Start with 15GB of Google storage - free.

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John Hattie developed a way of synthesizing various influences in different meta-analyses according to their effect size (Cohen's d). In his ground-breaking study "Visible Learning" he ranked 138 influences that are related to learning outcomes from very positive effects to very negative effects. Hattie found that the average effect size of all the interventions he studied was 0.40. Therefore he decided to judge the success of influences relative to this 'hinge point', in order to find an answer to the question "What works best in education?"
Originally, Hattie studied six areas that contribute to learning: the student, the home, the school, the curricula, the teacher, and teaching and learning approaches. (The updated list also includes the classroom.) But Hattie did not only provide a list of the relative effects of different influences on student achievement. He also tells the story underlying the data. He found that the key to making a difference was making teaching and learning visible. He further explained this story in his book " Visible learning for teachers ".

John Hattie updated his list of 138 effects to 150 effects in Visible Learning for Teachers (2011), and more recently to a list of 195 effects in The Applicability of Visible Learning to Higher Education (2015). His research is now based on nearly 1200 meta-analyses - up from the 800 when Visible Learning came out in 2009. According to Hattie the story underlying the data has hardly changed over time even though some effect sizes were updated and we have some new entries at the top, at the middle, and at the end of the list.

Below you can find an updated version of our first, second and third visualization of effect sizes related to student achievement.
Order VL for Teachers!

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Hattie effect size list - 256 Influences Related To Achievement

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Hattie's updated effect size list of 256 influences across all areas related to student achievement.

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Hangman with this month's vocabulary practice. This is a game, but playing it in pairs adds more game elements. Countdown; behavioral momentum; community collaborationFinding information in a reading to use in solving a puzzle. The puzzle makes this more of a game.

Discovery; challenge; achievement (if the puzzle is solved)

A writing contest where the winning team's entry is published. Publication is key to making this more meaningful and more of a Quest than an assignment.
Achievement; epic meaning; ownership; quest

A spelling bee where participants work in teams. Teamwork is an interesting game element to add.
Achievement; community collaboration; points

Decoding aparagraphwheretherearenospacesbetweenthewords
Challenge; achievement; could be community collaboration if learners work together

Gamified activities

An online crossword puzzle about clothing Responding to questions about a 10-minute video clipcommunity collaboration ), student-generated questions ( ownership ) achievement ) points with flashcards; record progress (progression) achievement (if all correct)achievement (if all correct)points with a rubric; possibly a team effort rogression if learners see that their presentations are getting longer over time or the task is broken into steps
Add game elements - countdown (time limit), community collaboration (work in pairs), points, achievement
Add

Student-created video (
points , teamwork ( epic meaning , ownership, challenge ,

Memorizing vocabulary for a weekly quiz
Turn it into a game - teamwork ( community collaboration ), challenge,

Highlighting the transition words in a reading
Turn it into a game - teamwork ( community collaboration ), challenge , points ,

Doing a workbook exercise about the past tense
Turn it into a game - teamwork ( community collaboration ), challenge , points , ownership ), epic meaning if shared publicly;
Ownership if they make their own exercise questions to ask each other

Doing a presentation about a favorite vacation
Using their own pictures (
P

Writing a compare/contrast paragraph
Ownership; epic meaning if shared; achievement if the best paragraphs are posted on the wall; points with a rubric;
Progression if learners see that their writing is getting longer over time or the task is broken into steps

Created by D. Healey; last updated 24 March 2019

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Games and gamified activities - Gamification for EL Teachers

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Hangman with this month's vocabulary practice. This is a game, but playing it in pairs adds more game elements. Countdown; behavioral momentum; community collaborationFinding information in a reading to use in solving a puzzle. The puzzle makes this more of a game.

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Copy of "I Never Really Knew the History behind African American Language" - Critical Language Pedagogy in an Advanced Placement English Language Arts Class.pdf

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Writing Across the Curriculum Model

The Collins Writing Program is a proven, unified, research-based writing program designed to be used in all classrooms, all subject areas, and all grade levels. It offers all teachers writing strategies designed to help students understand and recall content.

The program is organized around Five Types of Writing. These focused assignments develop students' essential writing and thinking skills in the context of everyday classroom learning. The Collins framework is used strategically to meet the needs of each content area whether the assignment is:

informal and routine

more formal and structured

short or long

research-based or experienced-based

critical or creative

informative, argumentative, or narrative

The program is truly designed for real teachers working under real conditions. It is not designed to turn all teachers into English teachers. Teachers in K-12 in all subject areas have more than enough content to teach. Our program is designed with the understanding that requiring students to regularly think on paper promotes learning.

Teachers adopting the Five Types of Writing framework use frequent, often short, writing assignments to increase student involvement in lessons, check for understanding of concepts, and promote deeper thinking about content. Here are some samples of writing assignments that promote active cognitive engagement in the content of the lesson.

Identify relevant information they know or think they know about a new concept or topic just before it is presented to them

Take a concept from a text or other source and put it into their own words i.e., paraphrase it or summarize it

Make a connection between a concept from class and something else they know about or have experienced in their own lives

Explain how ideas are similar (despite their differences) or different (despite their similarities)

Critique an answer or procedure to identify weaknesses or missteps

Develop a position and use relevant and logical evidence to support it

For a detailed program overview read Chapter 1 of our foundation book, The Collins Writing Program: Improving Student Performance Through Writing and Thinking Across the Curriculum.

RELATED QUICK LINKS

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Writing Across the Curriculum ~ Collins Education Associates

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Writing Across the Curriculum Model The Collins Writing Program is a proven, unified, research-based writing program designed to be used in all classrooms, all subject areas, and all grade levels. It offers all teachers writing strategies designed to help students understand and recall content. The program is organized around Five Types of Writing.

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History Lessons | Stanford History Education Group

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This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues and learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence.

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These curricular resources are designed to be customizable and fit into any classroom structre -- whether remote or in-class.

Lesson Sequence

Step 1: Have students read the Student Prompt and Project Guidelines and have parents/guardians sign the Materials Release Permission form (students must get parent signature to share work). Students can also follow this self-paced sequence self-paced sequence

Step 2: Have students view the Election 2020 showcase and complete the Analyze a Commentary worksheet

Step 3: Students pick an issue they care about. Students can use these resources if they are unsure what to write about.

Current Events and Debatable Resources Library (PBS Learning Media)
Top 5 Election 2020 Issues Teens Want to Talk About (According to Teens)
Issue Analysis Link Collection

Step 4: Writing -- Students can view this Example Script and use this Commentary Graphic Organizer to structure their writing (this is just a suggestion). Hand out this Journalistic Evidence Explainer to help students cite evidence like a journalist. Here is another graphic resource to help students understand the components of a commentary Commentary How To

Step 5: Feedback and Revision Peer-to-Peer Feedback Worksheet

Step 6: Get ready to record. Hand out these explainer worksheets to help students sound like a pro Mark Your Script for Narration, 6 Elements of Voicing a Script

Step 7: Recording -- Use these resources to help your students get their highest-level recordings Audio and Video Conventions, Video Styles With Myles
Audio Styles With Myles

Step 8: Have students submit a YouTube, Soundcloud, Vimeo or other streaming link into the submission portal on their dashboard. Make sure they add a unique title. Once they submit, you must approve the submission in your teacher dashboard under the Manage Submissions link. Only teacher-approved submissions can be published.

Other resources.

Teacher-Created Sample Materials
Sample Student Assignment Sequence (Samantha McMillan)
Sample Student One-Sheeter (Mia Gittlen)

Exemplars
Letters to the Next President Showcase (2016)
Selected Letters to the Next President (PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs)
More Resources
Program Information
Professional Development & Support
Sample Student Journey

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These curricular resources are designed to be customizable and fit into any classroom structre -- whether remote or in-class. Step 1: Have students read the Student Prompt and Project Guidelines and have parents/guardians sign the Materials Release Permission form (students must get parent signature to share work).

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Penny Kittle Independent Reading Guidance

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Have you ever tried asking some Fermi questions?

One questioning strategy worth trying in class is 'Fermi questions'.

Fermi questions are named after the physicist and Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi.

He challenged his students to use estimation, common sense and numerical reasoning to work out quantities that were difficult or impossible to measure. He deliberately posed questions with limited information so that students had to ask more questions. His questions emphasise the process rather than the answer.

Examples of Fermi questions

* How many times could you say the alphabet in 24 hours?

* How many metres of spaghetti would be needed if all of the children in a school had spaghetti bolognese for lunch?

* How many ping pongs balls would it take to fill the classroom?

* How many balloons would it take to fill the school hall?

* How many people would fit shoulder to shoulder in the corridor outside our class?

* If all the people in the world moved to Wales, how crowded would it be?

* How many litres of water does the school use each week?

* How many sweets in a 2 litre jar?

* How many hairs on your head?

* How long would it take to count to one million?

* How many blades of grass are there on a football pitch?

* How many Mars bars would it take, lined up end to end, to reach from London to Birmingham?

* How many grains of rice in a 25kg bag?

* What distance will a ball point pen write?

Fermi showed that by making sensible assumptions, reasonable estimates and using simple calculations, remarkably accurate answers can be reached.

Why use them?

Fermi questions encourage creative thinking involving different solution strategies so they promote a range of problem-solving skills requiring students to be logical and inventive. Students like Fermi questions because they are:

Open-ended problems

Have no exact answer, no definite solution

Interesting and motivating questions

Challenging and rewarding

Create a culture of questioning and curiosity

Fermi questions help develop much-need estimation skills and support the 'feel' of whether an answer is reasonable or not. Scientists, economists and engineers regularly use Fermi questions in their work as a way of getting a ballpark idea of the viability of their plans and projects.

More examples

* How many Rubik's cubes could you fit inside a double-decker bus?

* How many people would it take to surround our school if they held hands?

* How many 10 year olds are there in the UK?

* How many peas would you need to fill a bath?

* How many pieces of popcorn does is take to fill a cinema?

* How much dental floss does a prisoner need to escape over a wall?

* How many hours will you sleep in a lifetime?

* How many marshmallows would it take to cover the classroom floor?

* How many multi-link cubes would you need to fill a fridge?

* How far does a bee fly each day?

* How many people are airborne over Europe at any one moment?

* How many £1 coins could you fit inside a suitcase?

* How many times does a typical teenager say "basically" in one day?

* If all of the books in a school were stacked on top of each other in one pile, how tall would the pile be?

* How many years would it take if it were possible to walk to the moon?

It is great fun to observe students try solving 'back of the envelope' Fermi questions because they quickly become engrossed in contemplating the various issues, guesstimating, brainstorming ideas, discussing different approaches, assessing each other's thinking and reflecting on and refining assumptions. Students can develop logic and math skills without the fear of being 'wrong'.

Have students come up with their own Fermi big picture questions and solve them together. They can be related to any aspect of life and even thinking of the question itself is a worthwhile challenge. Why not set a Fermi question of the week and see where it takes you!

Fermi questions are just one of the many questioning ideas that I have found useful from Questioning Technique Pocketbook by Gorden Pope.

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Have you ever tried asking some Fermi questions? One questioning strategy worth trying in class is 'Fermi questions'. Fermi questions are named after the physicist and Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi. He challenged his students to use estimation, common sense and numerical reasoning to work out quantities that were difficult or impossible to measure.

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Quick reference chart for converting leveling systems such as Lexile and Flesch-Kincaid into CCR grade bands.

Step-by-step guide to accessing free, online tools that help identify the appropriate grade band for a text.

SCASS Rubric for Informational Text SCASS Rubric for Literature
Qualitative Dimensions of Text Complexity Chart: Scales for evaluating the qualitative features of text complexity: text structure, language clarity and conventions, knowledge demands, and levels of meaning/purpose

Grade 11-CCR Sample Qualitative Scale
Example of completed qualitative scale for the 9-10 band.
Companion to Qualitative Scales
Detailed explanation of qualitative features; to be consulted in filling out the qualitative scale.

Grade 11-CCR Sample Qualitative Scale
Example of completed qualitative scale for the 9-10 band.
Companion to Qualitative Scales
Detailed explanation of qualitative features; to be consulted in filling out the qualitative scale.

Use this guide to support the analysis of a text for complexity.
Read Aloud for Grades K-2

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Quick reference chart for converting leveling systems such as Lexile and Flesch-Kincaid into CCR grade bands. Step-by-step guide to accessing free, online tools that help identify the appropriate grade band for a text.

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Text Complexity Rubric

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Academic Language and English language learners

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Author Nic Stone Advances Discussion About Culturally Relevant Curriculum with ‘Dear Martin’

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ELA in Math

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Rigor

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Question Formulation Technique

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The Question Formulation Technique in a High School Science Class

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The Question Formulation Technique in 90 Seconds.

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Graphic Organizers and Close Reading Strategies

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Graphic Organizers and Close Reading Strategies

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Background

SQ3R is a comprehension strategy that helps students think about the text they are reading while they're reading. Often categorized as a study strategy, SQ3R helps students "get it" the first time they read a text by teaching students how to read and think like an effective reader.

This strategy includes the following five steps:

Survey: Students review the text to gain initial meaning from the headings, bolded text, and charts.

Question: Students begin to generate questions about their reading from previewing it.

Read: As students read, they need to look for answers to the questions they formulated during their preview of the text. These questions, based on the structure of the text, help focus students' reading.

Recite: As students move through the text they should recite or rehearse the answers to their questions and make notes about their answer for later studying.

Review: After reading, students should review the text to answer lingering questions and recite the questions they previously answered.

Benefits

Do you have students who get to the end of reading their textbook selection and have no idea what they've read? These students can benefit from using the SQ3R because it requires them to activate their thinking and review their understanding throughout their reading.

It also dissuades students from waiting and then cramming for tests since the five steps requires them to review information and create notes during their initial reading. Their notes from the initial reading become their study guides.

Create and use the strategy

As with its sister strategy Question-Answer Relationship (QAR), SQ3R requires the teacher to model.

1. Explain to students that effective readers do many things while reading, including surveying, questioning, reading, reciting and reviewing.

2. Choose a content area passage to read and model the five SQ3R steps.

3. During each step, make sure to explain what you're doing and why you're doing it.

4. After your modeling session, invite students to independently read a selection and practice applying the SQ3R steps. This could be completed as an in-class or take-home assignment.

5. Afterwards ask students to review their notes and reflect on the process. Were they surprised by how much they remember by using the SQ3R method?

6. Students may not be "sold" on this strategy the first time they try it. Not all readings will be worth the time it takes to complete the SQ3R steps, so help students to understand not just how to apply it, but when to apply it.

Related Resources

References

Fisher, D., and Frey, N, (2004). Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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SQ3R is a comprehension strategy that helps students think about the text they are reading while they're reading. Often categorized as a study strategy, SQ3R helps students "get it" the first time they read a text by teaching students how to read and think like an effective reader.

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“one of the most significant factors that impacts student achievement is that teachers commit to implementing a guaranteed and viable curriculum to ensure no matter who teaches a given class, the curriculum will address certain essential content” (Marzano, 2003).

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Thinking Maps are organizational tools that provide our students with a common language for thinking. They are tools that help our Ossining students organize their thinking visually and comprehend new information. There are eight thinking maps each representing the eight thinking processes of all learners. They are used to help children think and reconstruct new thinking by sharing their thinking with others. Children learn to define and brainstorm, classify and sort, describe, sequence and order, analyze whole objects and parts, see analogies, compare and contrast, and determine the cause and effect of events. Our entire district has been trained in Thinking Maps, pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.

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Thinking Maps - Curriculum & Instruction

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Thinking Maps are organizational tools that provide our students with a common language for thinking. They are tools that help our Ossining students organize their thinking visually and comprehend new information. There are eight thinking maps each representing the eight thinking processes of all learners.

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GaDOE Instructional Framework

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Balanced Literacy https://www.nhsd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=1464&dataid=1227&FileName=balanced%20literacy%20model.pdf

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Listenwise | Listening Comprehension Matters

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Listening comprehension matters | Listenwise

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Explore the best podcast lessons for grade-level rigor. Curriculum aligned lessons with literacy & language supports, great for English Learners. Free sign up!

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
When I worked with student teachers on developing effective lesson plans, one thing I always asked them to revise was the phrase "We will discuss."
We will discuss the video. We will discuss the story. We will discuss our results.
Every time I saw it in a lesson plan, I would add a note: "What format will you use? What questions will you ask? How will you ensure that all students participate?" I was pretty sure that We will discuss actually meant the teacher would do most of the talking; He would throw out a couple of questions like "So what did you think about the video?" or "What was the theme of the story?" and a few students would respond, resulting in something that looked like a discussion, but was ultimately just a conversation between the teacher and a handful of extroverted students; a classic case of Fisheye Teaching.

The problem wasn't them; in most of the classrooms where they'd sat as students, that's exactly what a class discussion looked like. They didn't know any other "formats." I have only ever been familiar with a few myself. But when teachers began contacting me recently asking for a more comprehensive list, I knew it was time to do some serious research.

So here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you've struggled to find effective ways to develop students' speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.

I've separated the strategies into three groups. The first batch contains the higher-prep strategies, formats that require teachers to do some planning or gathering of materials ahead of time. Next come the low-prep strategies, which can be used on the fly when you have a few extra minutes or just want your students to get more active. Note that these are not strict categories; it's certainly possible to simplify or add more meat to any of these structures and still make them work. The last group is the ongoing strategies. These are smaller techniques that can be integrated with other instructional strategies and don't really stand alone. For each strategy, you'll find a list of other names it sometimes goes by, a description of its basic structure, and an explanation of variations that exist, if any. To watch each strategy in action, click on its name and a new window will open with a video that demonstrates it.

Enjoy!
a.k.a. Chat Stations
Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Small groups of students travel from station to station together, performing some kind of task or responding to a prompt, either of which will result in a conversation.

Variations: Some Gallery Walks stay true to the term gallery, where groups of students create informative posters, then act as tour guides or docents, giving other students a short presentation about their poster and conducting a Q&A about it. In Starr Sackstein's high school classroom, her stations consisted of video tutorials created by the students themselves. Before I knew the term Gallery Walk, I shared a strategy similar to it called Chat Stations, where the teacher prepares discussion prompts or content-related tasks and sets them up around the room for students to visit in small groups.
a.k.a. Values Continuum, Forced Debate, Physical Barometer, This or That
Basic Structure: A statement that has two possible responses-agree or disagree-is read out loud. Depending on whether they agree or disagree with this statement, students move to one side of the room or the other. From that spot, students take turns defending their positions.

Variations: Often a Philosophical Chairs debate will be based around a text or group of texts students have read ahead of time; students are required to cite textual evidence to support their claims and usually hold the texts in their hands during the discussion. Some teachers set up one hot seat to represent each side, and students must take turns in the seat. In less formal variations (which require less prep), a teacher may simply read provocative statements students are likely to disagree on, and a debate can occur spontaneously without a text to refer to (I call this variation This or That in my classroom icebreakers post). Teachers may also opt to offer a continuum of choices, ranging from "Strongly Agree" on one side of the room, all the way to "Strongly Disagree" on the other, and have students place themselves along that continuum based on the strength of their convictions.

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as "provocateurs," tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the "speaker") sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Variations: When high school English teacher Sarah Brown Wessling introduced this strategy in the featured video (click Pinwheel Discussion above), she used it as a device for talking about literature, where each group represented a different author, plus one provocateur group. But in the comments that follow the video, Wessling adds that she also uses the strategy with non-fiction, where students represent authors of different non-fiction texts or are assigned to take on different perspectives about an issue.
a.k.a. Socratic Circles
Basic Structure: Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence. There is no particular order to how students speak, but they are encouraged to respectfully share the floor with others. Discussion is meant to happen naturally and students do not need to raise their hands to speak. This overview of Socratic Seminar from the website Facing History and Ourselves provides a list of appropriate questions, plus more information about how to prepare for a seminar.

Variations: If students are beginners, the teacher may write the discussion questions, or the question creation can be a joint effort. For larger classes, teachers may need to set up seminars in more of a fishbowl-like arrangement, dividing students into one inner circle that will participate in the discussion, and one outer circle that silently observes, takes notes, and may eventually trade places with those in the inner circle, sometimes all at once, and sometimes by "tapping in" as the urge strikes them.
a.k.a. Affinity Diagramming
Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as "What were the impacts of the Great Depression?" or "What literary works should every person read?" Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Variations: Some teachers have students do much of this exercise-recording their ideas and arranging them into categories- without talking at first. In other variations, participants are asked to re-combine the ideas into new, different categories after the first round of organization occurs. Often, this activity serves as a good pre-writing exercise, after which students will write some kind of analysis or position paper.
a.k.a. Speed Dating
Basic Structure: Students form two circles, one inside circle and one outside circle. Each student on the inside is paired with a student on the outside; they face each other. The teacher poses a question to the whole group and pairs discuss their responses with each other. Then the teacher signals students to rotate: Students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of a new person (or sitting, as they are in the video). Now the teacher poses a new question, and the process is repeated.

Variations: Instead of two circles, students could also form two straight lines facing one another. Instead of "rotating" to switch partners, one line just slides over one spot, and the leftover person on the end comes around to the beginning of the line. Some teachers use this strategy to have students teach one piece of content to their fellow students, making it less of a discussion strategy and more of a peer teaching format. In fact, many of these protocols could be used for peer teaching as well.

Basic Structure: Another great idea from Sarah Brown Wessling, this is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers' ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn't happen to have the right chemistry. Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group's conversation. For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

Basic Structure: Two students sit facing each other in the center of the room; the remaining students sit in a circle around them. The two central students have a conversation based on a pre-determined topic and often using specific skills the class is practicing (such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, or elaborating on another person's point). Students on the outside observe, take notes, or perform some other discussion-related task assigned by the teacher.

Variations: One variation of this strategy allows students in the outer circle to trade places with those in the fishbowl, doing kind of a relay-style discussion, or they may periodically "coach" the fishbowl talkers from the sidelines. Teachers may also opt to have students in the outside circle grade the participants' conversation with a rubric, then give feedback on what they saw in a debriefing afterward, as mentioned in the featured video.

Basic Structure: One student assumes the role of a book character, significant figure in history, or concept (such as a tornado, an animal, or the Titanic). Sitting in front of the rest of the class, the student responds to classmates' questions while staying in character in that role.

Variations: Give more students the opportunity to be in the hot seat while increasing everyone's participation by having students do hot seat discussions in small groups, where one person per group acts as the "character" and three or four others ask them questions. In another variation, several students could form a panel of different characters, taking questions from the class all together and interacting with one another like guests on a TV talk show.
a.k.a. Pyramid Discussion
Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined. Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

Variations: This structure could simply be used to share ideas on a topic, or students could be required to reach consensus every time they join up with a new group.

Whereas the other formats in this list have a distinct shape-specific activities you do with students-the strategies in this section are more like plug-ins, working discussion into other instructional activities and improving the quality and reach of existing conversations.

One of the limitations of discussion is that rich, face-to-face conversations can only happen when all parties are available, so we're limited to the time we have in class. With a tool like Voxer, those limitations disappear. Like a private voice mailbox that you set up with just one person or a group (but SOOOO much easier), Voxer allows users to have conversations at whatever time is most convenient for each participant. So a group of four students can "discuss" a topic from 3pm until bedtime-asynchronously-each member contributing whenever they have a moment, and if the teacher makes herself part of the group, she can listen in, offer feedback, or contribute her own discussion points. Voxer is also invaluable for collaborating on projects and for having one-on-one discussions with students, parents, and your own colleagues. Like many other educators, Peter DeWitt took a while to really understand the potential of Voxer, but in this EdWeek piece, he explains what turned him around.

A backchannel is a conversation that happens right alongside another activity. The first time I saw a backchannel in action was at my first unconference: While those of us in the audience listened to presenters and watched a few short video clips, a separate screen was up beside the main screen, projecting something called TodaysMeet (update: TodaysMeet has shut down. Use YoTeach! instead.) It looked a lot like those chat rooms from back in the day, basically a blank screen where people would contribute a few lines of text, the lines stacking up one after the other, no other bells or whistles. Anyone in the room could participate in this conversation on their phone, laptop, or tablet, asking questions, offering commentary, and sharing links to related resources without ever interrupting the flow of the presentations. This kind of tool allows for a completely silent discussion, one that doesn't have to move at a super-fast pace, and it gives students who may be reluctant to speak up or who process their thoughts more slowly a chance to fully contribute. For a deeper discussion of how this kind of tool can be used, read this thoughtful overview of using backchannel discussions in the classroom by Edutopia's Beth Holland.
a.k.a. Accountable Talk
Talk moves are sentence frames we supply to our students that help them express ideas and interact with one another in respectful, academically appropriate ways. From kindergarten all the way through college, students can benefit from explicit instruction in the skills of summarizing another person's argument before presenting an alternate view, asking clarifying questions, and expressing agreement or partial agreement with the stance of another participant. Talk moves can be incorporated into any of the other discussion formats listed here.

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of teaching and classroom management methods that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. One of WBT's foundational techniques is Teach-OK, a peer teaching strategy that begins with the teacher spending a few minutes introducing a concept to the class. Next, the teacher says Teach!, the class responds with Okay!, and pairs of students take turns re-teaching the concept to each other. It's a bit like think-pair-share, but it's faster-paced, it focuses more on re-teaching than general sharing, and students are encouraged to use gestures to animate their discussion. Although WBT is most popular in elementary schools, this featured video shows the creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, using it quite successfully with college students. I have also used Teach-OK with college students, and most of my students said they were happy for a change from the sit-and-listen they were used to in college classrooms.

An oldie but a goodie, think-pair-share can be used any time you want to plug interactivity into a lesson: Simply have students think about their response to a question, form a pair with another person, discuss their response, then share it with the larger group. Because I feel this strategy has so many uses and can be way more powerful than we give it credit for, I devoted a whole post to think-pair-share; everything you need to know about it is right there.

TWO MORE YOU'LL LOVE

Since writing this post, I have learned about two more discussion strategies that teachers are finding to be incredibly effective and powerful for getting students to talk, especially about books and other texts:

This protocol has students come up with their own Thoughts, lingering Questions, and Epiphanies from an assigned reading. Teachers who have used this method say it has generated some of the richest conversations they have ever heard from students!

This strategy places students into one-on-one conversations, getting them to learn each others' names better and create a track record of what they talked about. Excellent for classes where you want to assess for discussion and help students get more comfortable with each other.

So what else do you have? I would like to think this is a pretty complete list, but I'm sure more strategies are out there. If you use a discussion strategy that's not mentioned here, please share it below.

Come back for more.
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The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

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Here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging.

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Hyper rubric Handling the Ideas of Others | Self-Assessment Rubric

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The first ideas we present are simply to make people think about numbers, and in particular to encourage the use of the history archive to find birth dates and death dates before making calculations. Remember to count leap years.

How many days did Gauss live?

How many days did Euler live?

Each year in the Chinese calendar is named after one of 12 animals. The year 1985 was the Year of the Ox. How many in the 20 th century were "Years of the Ox"?

There are so many things that we accept without thought. However things usually are the way they are for a reason.

Why do we have 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour etc.

Why are they called seconds?

In one sense the answer might be that we still use the system set up by the Babylonians and their number system had a base of 60. But this is only a partial answer. Why did the Babylonians have 60 as a base? Nobody knows the answer to this question but it is easy to express and opinion. Perhaps it was chosen because it had lots of factors. But surely ancient civilisations do not choose the base of their number system. Base 10 must result from counting on 10 fingers. The Babylonians did not have 60 fingers! So why 60?

The word "seconds" come from the second sexagesimal place in the base 60 expansion.

We could debate the nature of number.

What is a number?

Well it is not too hard to see what 2, 3, 4, 5, ... are. What about negative numbers.

Is -2 a number?

Suppose child A has 3 apples and child B takes 5 apples away from child A. Then child A has -2 left. Isn't this nonsense! If child A has 3 apples then B can't take 5 apples away. So is -2 a number?

Is 1 a number?

This looks more obvious. One is tempted to say "Of course it is." But the ancient Greeks did not consider 1 to be a number. Why not? Investigate.

Is the square root of 2 a number?

What is wrong with having the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle, whose shorter sides are each of one unit, not corresponding to a number? Why should there be a number corresponding to the length of every line we draw?

Consider the number π.

Why do we use the symbol π?

Why is π such an interesting number?

If π is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, then why is its area π times the radius squared.

Are there still things we do not know about π? In fact there are lots. Investigate.

Building all numbers from the symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 is very clever indeed. Think about it - it really is fantastically clever!

Who invented the nine symbols that we use as numerals?

Is it a better number system than the Greek or Roman number system? Why?

Did other civilisations develop the same type of number system?

If the place value number system was a better system than that of the Romans then why was there so much resistance to using it?

Is the 0 in 2304 the same as the number 0?

We have looked at how numbers are built from the symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Is 0 a number?

Does 0 obey the same rules as other numbers?

Is there a case for considering 1/0 to be a number?

What is an equation?

What is in ? Is it a number?

What about in ? Is this an equation?

Can we solve equations without having "unknowns"?

How did the Chinese represent equations?

Does the equation always have a solution? Do quadratic, cubic and quartic equations always have solutions?

What does it mean to say that equations of degree 5 cannot be solved?

Why did the ancient Chinese not worry about solving cubic, quartic, quintic equations?

Here are questions about a more advanced topic, namely complex numbers.

The equation has no real number solution. Let be a symbol representing its solution. Is this a logical way to think?

What about ?

Do we need to introduce negative numbers to get solutions of such equations?

Why then did people introduce negative numbers? Why did people introduce ?

Was it a good idea?

Fifty years ago hard mathematical calculations were done using logarithms. Today logarithms are not used for calculating. Why?

Fifty years ago children were taught to use a slide rule. Today they are not. Why?

What will replace the pocket calculator?

Written by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
Last Update December 2003

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The first ideas we present are simply to make people think about numbers, and in particular to encourage the use of the history archive to find birth dates and death dates before making calculations. Remember to count leap years. How many days did Gauss live? How many days did Euler live?

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In this video from Making the Case, teacher Chris Luzniak uses debate structures in his 12th grade pre-calculus class to engage students in argumentation and critique.