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I will provide you with opportunities to play with science language throughout the year! Rapping, slam poetry, videos, and art are a great way to showcase what you know and I want to provide you with the creative freedom to integrate science and art whenever we can.

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Here is the list of standards that you will be working to meet throughout the year. I will let you know what standard, or standards, we are working towards each day. If you click on the pink, it will take you to the link!

MS-ESS3-5 Earth and Human Activity

Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.

MS-ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.

S-ESS3-3 Earth and Human Activity

Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.*

MS-ESS3-2 Earth and Human Activity
Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.

MS-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity

Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how the uneven distributions of Earth's mineral, energy, and groundwater resources are the result of past and current geoscience processes.

MS-ESS2-6 Earth's Systems
Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.

MS-ESS2-5 Earth's Systems
Collect data to provide evidence for how the motions and complex interactions of air masses results in changes in weather conditions.

MS-ESS2-4 Earth's Systems
Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth's systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.

MS-ESS2-3 Earth's Systems
Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

MS-ESS2-2 Earth's Systems
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.

MS-ESS2-1 Earth's Systems
Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.

MS-ESS1-4 Earth's Place in the Universe
Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence from rock strata for how the geologic time scale is used to organize Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old history.

MS-ESS1-3 Earth's Place in the Universe
Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

MS-ESS1-2 Earth's Place in the Universe
Develop and use a model to describe the role of gravity in the motions within galaxies and the solar system.

MS-ESS1-1 Earth's Place in the Universe
Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons.

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In order for scientists to share what they have learned, they need to write about it by documenting their findings or ideas. Writing to share information is crucial for scientists. Science writing can be done in many forms. In science class, you are probably most familiar with associating a written lab report with scientific writing, and you are right! But, there are also many other ways that scientists engage in writing and many other ways that we as a class will engage in scientific writing.

Scientists write peer reviewed journal articles to present their research, literature reviews to analyze research that has already been done, and scientists also write grant proposals to attain funding for research. In addition, scientists write emails and keep personal journals of notes.

While I do not expect you to write for a peer reviewed journal, grant proposal, or literature review in this class, I do expect that we practice writing in a process similar to scientists.

When writing for science, it is particularly important that you pay attention to your wording, vocabulary, and  sentence structure. For example, you will have to construct your own arguments, make claims based on evidence, and challenge and respond to the thinking of others. To do this, you must cite your claims, use content specific vocabulary, and be comfortable analyzing what a question is actually asking you to write about.

In general, there are five genres for writing. Before we write anything, I will inform you of the genre and outline the expectations for the assignment.

1) Journal Writing
Informal writing activity designed to encourage reflection. If you are asked to create a journal entry, it will be for participation and is simply designed to get you thinking.

2) Summary/Discourse Synthesis
A summary synthesis tells the gist of a longer text. A discourse synthesis tells the gist of multiple texts. This is a more formal than journal writing and you will be required to do this when conducting research projects.

3) Argumentation
Also known as persuasive writing, or the discussion section of a lab report In this form of writing, you will be asked to present an opinion with supporting evidence. Argumentation genre is frequently used in science and will come up throughout the year when writing research papers and lab reports.

4) Science-Writing Heuristic
A formal writing process to support hands on inquiry, collaboration, and reflection. This form of writing is done with a group of peers. You will first explore a concept, then brainstorm or perform observations of a concept. Next you will participate in a lab activity and conduct reflections either with your group of individually. Finally you will write a research paper with your reflections and new insights.

5) Multimodal Representation
As I stated before, scientists do more than just write to share information. Scientists also need to be able to use tables, graphs, and equations. In this form of writing, you will be combining text with a visual representation. We will do this many times in Earth Science. You will need to draw representations on lab reports, research, and in projects. We will have lots of practice with multimodal representation throughout the year.

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D’Alessandro, J., Sorensen, T., Homoelle, B., & Hodun Tony. (2014). A reading comprehension strategy using the discourse of science. The Science Teacher, 81(4), 45–51.

Fang, Z. (2005). Scientific literacy: A systemic functional linguistics perspective. Science education, 89(2), 335-347.

Graham, S., MacArthur, C., & Fitzgerald, J. (2019). Best practices in writing instruction (Third edition.). New York: The Guilford Press

Hakuta, K., Santos, M., & Fang, Z. (2013). Challenges and Opportunities for Language Learning in the Context of the CCSS and the NGSS. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(6), 451–454. https://doi.org/10.1002/JAAL.164

Jung, K., & Brown, J. (2016). Examining the Effectiveness of an Academic Language Planning Organizer as a Tool for Planning Science Academic Language Instruction and Supports. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 27(8), 847–872. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972 016-9491-2

Kelly, L. (2016). Supporting Academic Language: Simple strategies can encourage the use  of scientific vocabulary, language, and discussion. Science and Children, 54(3), 52–57. https://doi.org/10.2505/4/sc16_054_03_52

Lent, R. C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: reading, writing, thinking, and doing…content area by content area. Thousand Oaks, California. Corwin Literacy Publishing Company

Mawyer, K., & Johnson, H. (2017). READ LIKE A SCIENTIST. The Science Teacher, 84(1), 43–48. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1855297063/

Next Generation Science Standards. (2020, April 03). Retrieved April 17, 2020, from https://www.nextgenscience.org/

Silva, C., Weinburgh, M., Smith, K., & Fink, L. (2013). Not Just Good Science Teaching: Supporting Academic Language Development. Voices From the Middle, 20(4), 34–42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1350295550/

Townsend, D. (2015). Who’s Using the Language? Supporting Middle School Students With Content Area Academic Language. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(5), 376–387. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.374

Webb, S. (2007). The Effects of Repetition on Vocabulary Knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 28(1), 46–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/aml048

Weinburgh, M., Silva, C., Smith, K., Groulx, J., & Nettles, J. (2014). The Intersection of Inquiry-Based Science and Language: Preparing Teachers for ELL Classrooms. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25(5), 519–541. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10972-014-9389-9

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Your learning is based off of standards. I want to make sure that you understand what these standards are asking so that we can work together as a team.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
The NGSS are used to by teachers to create your course curriculum. The standards are designed to promote a focus on 8 science and engineering practices. 4 of these practices are very language intensive and include:
1. Developing and using models
2. Constructing explanations (for science) and developing designs (for engineering)
3. Engaging in argument from evidence
4. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

You will be able to meet these practices by
- Being immersed in science content through observation, investigation, and discourse
- Using models and visual representations of information as a bridge to connect
-Calling attention to the language demands in science texts and discourses as a way of supporting science learning and language development

How will we work with them?
During class, we will deconstruct standards and pull out the core meaning
For example
MS-ESS2-3 Earth's Systems
Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

We will highlight what the standard is asking us to do. In this case, analyze and interpret data. And then with that data, we are being asked to provide evidence.

From this short deconstruction of a standard, we know that we have to put our scientific reading, writing, and inference hats on. We will need to read material in order to analyze and interpret data. We will need to find evidence in scientific reading and then show what evidence we were able to support either through the creation of a model, or through writing.

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Scientists read, A LOT, and you should too. Reading strengthens you brain, increases empathy, builds vocabulary, helps prevent cognitive decline, reduces stress, and may even help you live longer!

This year, we will explore how to read like a scientist using:
1. Popular texts
(newspapers, magazines, online sites, advertisements, documentaries)
2. Textbooks
3. Primary scientific literature
(journal articles)
4. Earth Science Reference Tables

Each of these forms of scientific literature contain features that can guide you through reading  with better ease. We will explore how to identify features such as headings, source, audience, findings, discussion, conclusions and so much more!

Just like our Earth Science Reference Tables, Science readings contain more than just words in a sentence... they display models, diagrams, timelines, and many visual components!

To read into text and visual components in science, we will learn how to apply different pre-reading strategies and during-reading strategies. You may already know what many of these strategies are from prior classes, but, in this class, we will be using these strategies through a scientific lens. I will model each and everyone of these strategies

Pre-reading strategies
- Quick talk
Turn-and-talk, you will discuss what you can infer about a text based on its title or headings before reading the text
-K-W-L chart
What you know about a topic, what you want to know about a topic, and what you learned
- Analyzing text features
You will survey a text and answer questions about the author, organization, timelines, content, and graphic aids
-Scavenger hunt
You will receive a list of key items to find and then you will locate those items and indicate where you found them.

During-reading strategies
-Concept map
Create a model to illustrate how terms, concepts, and ideas are connected
-SQ3R
Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review
-Scanning
Survey headings and turn them into questions Capture the captions and visuals
Attack bold words
Note and read chapter questions
-VCEE
Vocabulary - preview the vocab that you will need without looking it up
Concept - outline material for key concepts
Evidence and Examples - annotate examples and evidence that apply to the unit

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How will we understand and use discipline specific vocabulary?

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How will we understand and use discipline specific vocabulary?

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1. Learning Targets

2. Throwback Thursday

3. Monthly Marathon

Learning Targets

Every class, learning targets will include discipline specific vocabulary words.
For example:
"I can describe the process of erosion as it relates to the rock cycle"
I will highlight the discipline specific vocabulary word/ or words of the day and you will be required to complete a journal entry exit ticket response in your google docs academic language portfolio.

Throwback Thursday

Every Thursday we will look through our exit ticket journal entries and share our answers in partners, groups, or with the whole class. You will submit your weekly journal entries for participation credit. I will leave you with feedback.

Monthly Marathon
In the first week of every month we will spend a class reviewing the words from our journal entries. As a whole class, we will compile all of our academic language words and their associated definitions into a running document on our google classroom. By the end of the year, this document will contain all of the content specific vocabulary you need for studying for the Regents exam.

But, Miss Gier, WHY DO WE HAVE TO DO ALL OF THIS WORK?!
-This is a collaborative learning opportunity! Your work with definitions and meaning of content vocabulary will be shared on a word wall!
- The more you are exposed to new words frequently, the greater gain in vocabulary knowledge you will have

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This Padlet is for you, the students! It is designed to help you use and integrate Academic Language  into the classroom, and your life.
You will use this Padlet throughout the year to help you excel on the Regents Exam, Unit Tests, Projects, and Quizzes.

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In a quick definition...“Academic language is the specialized language used in school including the ways that students and teachers read, write and speak about content in their classrooms (Jung & Brown, 2016).
Academic language is important in all school subjects, but, in this class, we will be focusing on academic language as it relates to science.

What does Academic Language mean to us in science?
In our classroom, Academic Language refers to: (Lent, pg. 5)
- discipline specific vocabulary
- reading like a scientist
- writing like a scientist
- reasoning like a scientist
- speaking like a scientist
- learning like a scientist
- investigating like a scientist

What I mean by this:
Every word you use needs to be intentional and used appropriately as it relates to science. Many words in science overlap with common day to day words, yet in science, these words may have different meanings and definitions. For example, the word condense can be used in a variety of settings. In English the word condense may be used by the teacher to instruct their students to shorten a summary response and “condense” what they have written. Condense in science, however, specifically means the process by which water vapor in the air changes into liquid water. Words like condense must be specifically outlined as academic language relating to the context of science.