Secrets and Songs of Text

Secrets and Songs

I had the absolute pleasure of learning from Mary Ehrenworth at Teachers College Reading Institute. 


Her session was entitled:  Secrets and Songs:  Deepening What Children See in the Texts They Read

What are some ways to teach close reading so that kids will love reading?
Seeing more and being alert to the secrets and songs of text. 

Secrets and Songs of Close Reading

How can we teach students to see more in the texts they encounter?  You get out of reading what you bring into reading.  You need to know about the things the text is talking about (the nuances it’s referring to)
How can we innovate so that this teaching is engaging, intellectual and joyful?
What methods increase transference?  The highest level of instruction is sometimes your read aloud but there is low transference.
What kinds of texts might we incorporate?  If they do it then it will be rewarding... That’s increasing the likelihood of transference.

One example activity:
I immediately took note that Mary referred to this as visual text.  Read this visual text and see what story it tells. 


Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Mary Ehrenworth

While looking at this Picasso painting she spoke about why Picasso painted it ( “Guernica” was painted in response to a bombing in northern Spain by German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War.  It is a mural sized painting that represented the horrors of war.)  Teach kids to notice what there is to be noticed.  Turn to partner and speak about what you see.

The next thing would be using words to describe these things you see and back it up with evidence. Make sure to teach kids to be specific but kind of literary. (Lots of times kids skip the hard part of text- make sure they stop and look at every little thing)
Is the painting sad or what?  desperate? Not hurt, desolate?  What specific word would describe these characters or one of these characters rather than just any character in any book?  She asked us to try that with a partner by saying, “Your idea, then your evidence.” Either one character, all characters or compare/contrast characters.

After we spoke for a minute she interrupted us with a mid-teaching point. “Let me tell you what I notice with some nice reading work I see going on here: I heard readers saying the characters seem ____ because______.  There is no one right answer when texts are complex so it’s about seeing all the sides of something and telling why you see that or read that.  Then synthesize it to what is this starting to be about.  “What in the text makes you say that? ”Complex texts are about more than one thing and why do you see what you see?”  Teach kids not to say the characters ARE, say the characters SEEM....

So we talked about what is happening in this text, what is happening with the characters and then what is this text starting to be about...  message, underlying theme....chances are with complex text there are more than one.  So get in the habit of saying: possible idea, evidence and then your partners should be saying, “What makes you say that?”  Ask them to point to the part that demonstrates what you are saying.  So Close Reading is about wanting to see more in the text. 

As another example activity:  She then gave us the lyrics to the Mackelmore song: “Wings”  Equally complex but different kind of visual text.  She suggested we read it with our partner because one of the ways to increase your comprehension and help you see complexity in text is to compare your thinking with someone else. 
Read it and think about who is in this story and what does it seem to be about. 

"Wings"
(feat. Ryan Lewis)

I was seven years old, when I got my first pair
And I stepped outside
And I was like, momma, this air bubble right here, it's gonna make me fly
I hit that court, and when I jumped, I jumped, I swear I got so high
I touched the net, momma I touched the net, this is the best day of my life
Air Max's were next,
That air bubble, that mesh
The box, the smell, the stuffin', the tread, in school
I was so cool
I knew that I couldn't crease 'em
My friends couldn't afford 'em
Four stripes on their Adidas
On the court I wasn't the best, but my kicks were like the pros
Yo, I stick out my tongue so everyone could see that logo
Nike Air Flight, but bad was so dope
And then my friend Carlos' brother got murdered for his Fours*, whoa

See he just wanted a jump shot, but they wanted to start a cult though
Didn't wanna get caught, from Genesee Park to Othello
You could clown for those Pro Wings, with the Velcro
Those were not tight
I was trying to fly without leaving the ground,
Cause I wanted to be like Mike, right
Wanted to be him, I wanted to be that guy, I wanted to touch the rim
I wanted to be cool, and I wanted to fit in,
I wanted what he had, America, it begins

[Chorus:]
I want to fly
Can you take me far away
Give me a star to reach for
Tell me what it takes
And I'll go so high
I'll go so high
My feet won't touch the ground
Stitch my wings
And pull the strings
I bought these dreams
That all fall down

We want what we can't have, commodity makes us want it
So expensive, damn, I just got to flaunt it
Got to show 'em, so exclusive, this that new shit
A hundred dollars for a pair of shoes I would never hoop in
Look at me, look at me, I'm a cool kid
I'm an individual, yea, but I'm part of a movement
My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it
They told me to just do it, I listened to what that swoosh said
Look at what that swoosh did
See it consumed my thoughts
Are you stupid, don't crease 'em, just leave 'em in that box
Strangled by these laces, laces I can barely talk
That's my air bubble and I'm lost, if it pops
We are what we wear, we wear what we are
But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all
Will I stand for change, or stay in my box
These Nikes help me define me, but I'm trying to take mine, off

[Chorus:]
I want to fly
Can you take me far away
Give me a star to reach for
Tell me what it takes
And I'll go so high
I'll go so high
My feet won't touch the ground
Stitch my wings
And pull the strings
I bought these dreams
That all fall down

It started out, with what I wear to school
That first day, like these are what make you cool
And this pair, this would be my parachute
So much more than just a pair of shoes
Nah, this is what I am
What I wore, this is the source of my youth
This dream that they sold to you
For a hundred dollars and some change
Consumption is in the veins
And now I see it's just another pair of shoes


So what happens in this story? A boy who wants a pair of shoes, a specific kind?  And then? Dark moment, friend’s brother killed for shoes?  Why wear them?  And then?  Chorus is like inner thinking of fly, what do they mean?  Get away?  Then he gives like a mini lecture and a plea for change? 

What is really hard about this is this is what is expected of our kids on state tests. The tests are normed on a minute a page and a minute a question.  And the kids are really being asked to do close reading, which involves rereading.  They have to go back and ponder and linger and think.  So you have to give them opportunities in your class to know that the first thing you have to do is ask yourself do I even know what this is saying?  Often our kids basically comprehend but they have to be trained to say to themselves, “What am I really noticing?”  When you are doing this work what is helpful to kids is being introduced to technical vocabulary. 

Here are some words you might use in technical vocabulary of looking at music verses text from a book:

Watch the video:



What did you notice after the chorus in the imagery and tone?  Speak to the people for a minute in your group about the lens you were using.  You don't always have to explain it out.  What they saw, or heard, or thought is ok.  One of the things that kids struggle with in state tests is tone. In this video, the tone switches with male voice then kids voices.  Why do you think the performer did that?
 What was happening with his tone when he got angry?

Here are some insructional methods for this:

 Do you see yourself using visual text as a tool to teach text complexity in your clasroom?  This got my mind turning with ideas!  What do you see yourself doing?

Cross posted on ONCE UPON A TEACHER

Close Reading

So let's be honest here.  I do have a fundamental understanding of what close reading is but I have been avoiding speaking the words out loud in conversations for a reason.  I don't know if it's because I'm from the south, or because I got it confused with cloze reading in the beginning, but I didn't know if it was pronounced close (as in - close the door) or close (looking at something closely).  Well now I know for sure.  Look at that reading closely! 

Kelly Hohne

Kelly Hohne helped refine my thinking to seeing close reading as a way to see more in text than you did before to help you grow new thinking about it.  Use different lenses to do this.  Then they take these lenses to new texts.  It’s not about understanding the text only.  It's about learning to do something that you can do again on your own later.

When to do close reading?  You don’t want to do it all the time or you will never finish reading!  Do it purposefully.  Maybe look across the introduction of texts, or maybe kids in book clubs might make a decision to do a close reading of this part where they think it is really an important part.  Or maybe if there is a passage of text they think is not important, then why would the author choose to add it?

Think about why, what will kids get out of it, and how will this help my kids with other texts reading independently. 

Stop at the part you want to look at closely and talk about why that part is powerful. Point out which part they can look at to support their thinking about that part.  With informational text the author chooses illustrations, headings, subheadings and possibly even a word bank for a reason.  Does that support your thinking about this important part you are looking at closely? Is the word choice helping make this part important? 

Lenses to Use with Close Reading:
craft
relationships/interactions
point of view - What is the perspective of the author on this topic?  What perspectives are included in this text?  Missing?
language author used - How has the author used language?  (Non-fiction - How have experts quoted in article used word choice?)  What words stand out?  Why jight the author have chosen these words?  What do they show?  Are the words creating a positive or negative tone?
text structure - How has the author organized the text?  Why might he/she have made these choices?

Go close with very small portions of text

You could do close reading with an except from an article using the lens: what does the author want you to think, then show them an opposing article or text.

As a teacher read the passage as a reader.  Stop  and then reread it and think what part do you want them to look at closely.  What part do I want them to see more in....look at the standards and see what they need to work on.  That’s the part you base the lesson on. 

You may have the students take that portion of reading and write a response connecting their new thinking with evidence from the text. 

Close reading can be used in a mini lesson, while conferring with students, in the closing of a workshop and during book clubs.  When do you use close reading?

Cross posted on Once Upon a Teacher

Duval County Teacher Academy - Day 4

The Iowa, DAR, and TTS

The day started with a presentation on the Iowa which has been around since the 70's.  In fact, I think I gave it early in my career!  It all comes back around!  The Iowa, Form E is a whole group test, a screening.  It is still owned by the authors (Florence Roswell and Jeanne Chall) who consider it their life's work but is sold by the publisher. Its origin is in the Harvard Reading Lab.  Although the Iowa tests Reading, ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies, in Duval we will only be giving the Reading section.  Grades 1-5 will be taking it in the Fall and then K-5 in the Spring.  Kindergarten does not take it in the Fall because the authors do not believe that results are valid!  Now, I like that! Kindergartners, however, will need to know how to bubble a bubble sheet.  Now I don't like that!  Evidently there are some practice tests that the kinders can take to practice bubbling in.  The Iowa tests have to be sent off to be scored (Test Coordinators were warned to package them according to directions) which takes about 15 business days.  The catch is that no test is scored until every test in the County is sent in - now that could be a problem in our very large county!

 

Teachers will receive a detailed report through the Data Manager which is web-based.  Looks like lots of different reports can be generated including a test for the Parents.  ESE teachers and both homeroom teachers will have access to their students' data, as long as the test administrator puts all that information in correctly from the beginning.

 

The Iowa will identify students that need to take the DAR (Development Assessment of Reading) which is an individually administered diagnostic assessment (could take up to an hour to give).  Basically students under a certain percentage will be candidates for this extra one-on-one testing. This diagnostic is scored immediately in areas such as the following:  Print Awareness, Phonological Awareness, Letters and Sounds, Word Recognition (1st grade starts here), Word Analysis, Oral Reading, Silent Reading Comprehension, Word Meaning.  Although kinders do not take the Iowa in the Fall, strugglers can be given the DAR.

 

The TTS (Trial Teaching Strategies)  are a series of short lessons that link instruction to assessment.   They are the strategies and resources for teaching the identified strands of the DAR.  Lessons that have been included by the authors are those that provide the quickest results for success, backed up by research.

 

How does this effect us?

• This system of screening and then Diagnostic with researched lessons seems like a very comprehensive program.
• It is nice not to have our kinders take the Iowa in the Fall but it will still take preparation to get them ready for this 40 minutes test in the Spring. 
• If kinders take the Iowa in the Spring, we have nothing to compare it to (no Fall test) and the students will have to take the 1st grade Iowa in the Fall  as a pre-test so I am not sure what purpose there is in taking it in the Spring for kindergarten...
• Looking at the section of the DAR that are for kinders, I am reminded of the areas on the FAIR so it might be worth cross referencing these two tests since we are required to give every student the FAIR pre-test as part of the FLKRS.  For instance, both assessments seem to ask the students to name the letters of the alphabet and the sound that each letter makes.  Maybe it would be easier to give this paper and pencil and then transfer the results to each test...  That might need more investigation but anyway we can save time and be more efficient gives us back instructional time. 
• I am wondering if the DAR might be the test we give to identify our RtI students and then use the results for a Tier 2 intervention in a small group in the room.

 

I am also wondering if the TTS might be new ideas for our Skills Block.  Would be interesting to spend some time looking at these researched activities.

 

Since we don't give the Iowa in the fall, we still don't have a way to place students into text.  Historically many of our students come into kindergarten already reading, so we really can't wait until the spring, when we do give the Iowa, to get them into conventional text.  It looks like we will continue to introduce Star Books and to use the Sulzby levels to begin kindergarten and then to continue to use the Level 7 Sulzby to know that children are ready for a DRA (this work taken from Lucy Calkins).  Looks like we still need the DRA to move students appropriately through levels.

 

On a personal note, it is interesting to me that we are going back to a more diagnostic prescriptive approach which was so popular when I was in graduate school in the late 70's. As part of my graduate fellowship I taught an undergraduate course in Diagnostic Prescriptive teaching.  The principles are the same today...

 

 

The next presentation of the day was Success Maker, another oldie, but goodie Pearson product, with a 45 year history (anyone remember CCC, its predecessor).  Although this online program is available for both Math and Reading, only Reading was bought by Duval County.  

• can use over the summer
•  almost game-like (from the Atari era)
•  requires headphones and microphones to operate 
• includes an initial placement/ testing phase
• includes assessment in Concepts of Print, Phonological Awareness, Fluency, Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension, Spelling 2-5, and Grammar 2-5.
• has guided practice embedded
• passwords will be available when we get to school (haven't seen them yet!)
• meant to be used for 20 minutes by every student every day
• only 30 site licenses have been purchased for each school which means that only 30 students can be on the program at the same time
• How does this effect us? 
• First of all, it seems almost impossible to operate a rotation such as this in a school of 1250 students with only 30 students being able to be on the computer at a time.  I also doubt that we have the number of computers, headphones and mikes to pull this off.  We probably should invite  the Duval rep, Elain Zirakian (Elaine.Kirakian@pearson.com) to come visit and make suggestions for the best implementation.  Maybe she has worked with other schools with the same challenges.
• I am thinking that, at least for right now, this might be a Tier 2 reading intervention program in the classroom 3 times a week. I am wondering if we can use the DAR diagnostic to place students into these strands so students don't have to do another assessment - saving time for instruction.  If the Tier 2 is not successful, the program could be taken to 5 days a week in a pull-out Tier 3. 
• 
  Katie Moeller finished off the day with a reading of Piggie by Don and Audrey Wood.  While I have seen Lucy Calkins and others do close readings of text, they always tend to use 3rd grade or much higher level work in their demonstrations.  This is the first lesson I have seen at the Kindergarten level.  Dr. Moeller says she has demonstrated this lesson many times in kindergarten, first and second.  It might be well worth our time to invite her to come and demonstrate it for us with all kindergarten and first grade teachers watching for one of our first Common plannings. I know our teachers would love to see someone do a close reading with our youngest learners as much as I would.  She talks about the scaffolding and struggling and I think that is one of the things we need to see.  Her questions are tough and she talks about the students looking at her blankly but staying with the questions and how she has to scaffold them to dig out the answers.  I think that's the part we need to see.
• One other interesting note to those that might still be having difficulty seeing the Curriculum guides at https://eg.duvalschools.org, you must have Explorer 8 to run the guides.  It was pushed out through the system so you may have to go to school and plug your laptop into the network to get the fix.  She cautioned against printing the guides because you lose about 80% of the capabilities and because the guides will be updated without notice and so you may be teaching from outdated lessons.