Thread by @MrsHackett305

Some reflections on my first month teaching destreamed #ENG1D1 @GLRobertsCVI. After some intro activities, we’ve been doing work with information text structures in and will be doing some how-to writing. Here’s our sequence of learning so far. 1/

We started with some collaborative work sorting some sentences/short paragraphs by structure. You can find the resource we used (for free) at the bottom of this site here: teachingwithamountainview.com/informational-… 2/

After, students watched this video and filled in this graphic organizer to consolidate the learning they had done in their small groups. I got this template from the amazing @mslongpre!

docs.google.com/document/d/11e… 3/

We did some contextual vocab and syllabication work with the word “appropriation,” and then started to think about how to notice these structures in our reading using this article. 4/
docs.google.com/document/d/1Nn…

*I forgot to add that we did a day of web site analysis in connection with appropriation. This was a day of great discussion where I recorded observations of using oral communication to make sense of texts. docs.google.com/presentation/d…

I also started to build in and model using annotation for personal reactions, connections and questions as we read. 5/

Students were given time to complete the stop points for the text features and apply the annotation strategy. When finished, they could choose to try another sort activity if they still weren’t confident with text structures, or move on to an independent article (3 choices). 6/

Students made it to different points in this process and I have enough assessment information for every student for our first criteria (not entered yet). We’ve touched on several skills, but this is what I’m evaluating in this unit (we’re only starting info reading skills) 7/

This assessment chart is new for me. I’ve used the #ThinkingClassroom approach that focusses on the complexity of the context the student is applying the skill within rather than a subjective judgement of how moderately or considerably or thoroughly they are doing it. /8

The other skills/tasks will be entered in their Record of Learning as evidence of the variety in their reading and skill application across contexts, but will not be assessed on the skill chart. Everyone learned something. No one was without something to do. 9/

Eventually, grades will be comprised of their unit marks based on the skills being evaluated, as well as the extent to which they have been learning across texts, writing purposes and variety in oral communication (overall expectations do emphasize “variety,” not mastery). 10/

We will move on to start to talk about writing and no one should feel “behind” because they didn’t get through every reading task. They used their time (well, mostly) and everyone finished / learned something. Later on when we spiral back, they can continue that learning. /11

My goal for these first few weeks in destreamed Grade 9 was to build routines and lay foundations. It has also been to ensure that tasks do not box students into “low” and “high” labels. Assessment should not be an event or a finite judgement. /12

If some students are consistently - day in, day out, struggling while others are excelling, it may be time to reflect on who our tasks are designed for. Productive struggle and excellence are both important - and all students should be flowing in and out of experiencing both. /13