English teachers: I’ve seen a number of requests for stories that could be read & discussed within a *single* class period. So, let’s do a fast 🧵. I’ll share a linked story with a possible discussion Q, imagining the following thumbnail lesson plan for secondary English…
… 1) start w/an opening activity that asks s’s to retrieve relevant knowledge 2) s’s read/annotate, jot their own q’s & answer the discussion prompt 3) turn&talk in partners or sm groups, then class discourse 4) s’s “stamp” takeaways/connections to their lives & current study…
… 5) s’s revise/develop their initial response to close class. I’ll share a resource at the end of this thread, but for now, let’s go!..
…“The Flowers” - (Alice Walker) What do you make of that last line? How would the story be different w/o it? … d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/hand…
“The Story of an Hour” (Kate Chopin) - How does this text play with characters’ and readers’ expectations? Why? (Bonus: this link has some other short classics you might use) wlwv.k12.or.us/cms/lib8/OR010…
“The Egg” - (Andy Weir) Why might this story be in 2nd person? To whom is it speaking and about what? wjccschools.org/wp-content/upl…
… “Salvador Late or Early” - (Sandra Cisneros) Why might Cisneros have chosen the name Salvador — savior — for this character? Is it appropriate? Ironic? Something else?… fwisd.org/cms/lib011/TX0…
… “Good Form” (Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried) - Whats the difference between story-truth and happening-truth? Does the distinction matter? … lessonbank.kyae.ky.gov/wp-content/upl…
…OK, that’s a start. Now it’s your turn! Can you add to the list? Rules are: can be read in 1 period (1-3 pages) and invites conversation/analysis appropriate to secondary ELA (or if primary, just label as such.) Hope this is helpful!… #Engchat#teamenglish
PS If you’d like to see resources on supporting class discourse like I described above, here’s a link with videos/1-pagers. middleweb.com/46342/for-real…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Reading friends: an elementary school peer asked for some of my favorite articles around reading assessment, acceleration, and support. I'll share a few in this 🧵that were top of mind, but I'd love to hear your favorites, too!
I love No More Strategy of the Week from @KConradiSmith and peers. It's clear, persuasive, and lays out (what I think) is a pretty solid framework for reading support. ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/…
Then I thought of @CattsHugh's "How to Promote Reading Comprehension" which felt to me a seismic contribution to the conversation. I'm still shaken by those stats he cited about the reliability of reading assessments. aft.org/ae/winter2021-…
English teachers: How might we choose great poems for teaching? Here's a short🧵on that with some linked examples and free resource! If enough folx add to this list, I'll compile results like I did with short stories.
First, Stephen Minot points out that rather than try to decide if a poem is "good" or not, we should consider whether it is complex (example below). As teachers, then, part of choosing poems for class means deciding if they introduce complexities we'd like our students to study.
Students might miss these complexities on first glance. One way to encourage them is by reading in "rounds." Help them savor poems and then return to their language and structure across multiple reads. Here's a 1-pager to help you do that: stevechiger.com/wp-content/upl…
English teachers: In this🧵, I'll share some research & articles to convince you genre matters more than you think it does, regardless of grade span. AND if you read to the end, I'll share a free resource to help you take action! Take 5 mins & join me!... #literacy#teamenglish
...Let's wade in slowly — with some Renaissance Art! Check out this painting from Giuseppe Arcimboldo: an upside-down fruit bowl almost immediately looks like a face to us: something called "pareidolia." Our brains are trained to see it based on our experience. (cool, right?)…
…You've likely experienced this at school. Eye-tracking research suggests that experienced teachers notice different things than novice ones when they watch videos of instruction (e.g. spotting un-engaged students).… bit.ly/3XewGHC
Here are some other things I’d want a new-to-research teacher to check out. (I’ll keep this to short, free stuff that is super accessible, so no books.) I already shared 1, so we’ll start from there…🧵
…This classic article on study methods by Dunlosky. Recent meta-analyses have demonstrated similar findings. Here’s a gateway to thinking about spacing and retrieval. files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ102… …
… Something that gets too little traffic on here is Marilyn Jager Adams’s piece on text complexity. (I’m an ELA person, so I’m biased.) Esp. helpful for those in the US still reckoning with the changes CCSS brought. files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ909… …