Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 3

This is part 2 of a series I am writing on how I modified my textbook based classroom.

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment. I also want to make clear that I only took two grades over this work, the written test on Thursday and the project on Friday. No other grades were given (or even necessary.)

Skill

Do pages 243, 246, and 247 in Reading Practice Book due Wednesday and do the following due Wednesday:

• Got to my blog post on the Ghost Towns of McDonald County. After reading the post, click on the map of McDonald County. Make a map of McDonald County and put on it the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Springs, and Erie.   Write why you think those towns are no longer here.

Typically the reading skills are taught and reviewed through the story read each week. The skill was practiced on worksheets in the workbook where there were usually two pages dealing with that week's skill and a page that was a review from a past skill. I tried very hard to incorporate the skill in an activity that was not just another worksheet.

This particular week's skill was Graphic Resources. I thought it would be a good idea for them to draw a map of  the county we live in and identify where some old ghost towns are/were located. I followed it with a critical thinking question that we discussed in class. We identified the main reason those towns were no longer around as they were not on a major highway.

Content Gathering
Read story on Monday and Tuesday and do following due Thursday:

• Look through the first five pages of ghost town pictures on Flickr 
• Other: See teacher for approval __________________

I had students look through pictures of ghost towns, since their project was to draw a representation of a ghost town.  I chose Flickr as a source because they were familiar with it, they had used the site to retrieve class pictures for other activities.

I also gave them a choice where they could do other types of research, they just had to get my approval. This allowed them to run with an idea they might have with some guidance from me. I don't remember any students asking to use another source, but I had several that did extra research along with the pictures they looked at on Flickr. I think it is very important that we give our students as much opportunity as possible to lead their own learning and I tried to give them the option to do so whenever it was feasible.

Note Taking
Choose one of the following to use to take notes:

• Visual representations (sketch a few pictures of ghost towns)
• Other: See teacher for approval ___________________________

Note taking was an essential skill in my classroom. Not only did I teach Reading, but I also had the three class rotation of science. I spent a lot of time teaching the students different note taking techniques such as webbing, Cornell, and traditional. Here I chose graphic representations since it made sense with the assignment they were doing. Typically they had a list of the different techniques they could choose from, or they could choose their own with approval.

Assessments
Comprehension test over the story will be Thursday and pick one of the following due Friday:

• Use Kerpoof to create a picture of a ghost town. You choose the medium, but remember this is due Friday. Upload picture to the Compendium.
• Other: See teacher for approval ________________________

The reading series assessment was a multiple choice format test. It tested the vocabulary words for the reading selection, the skills and a review skill, and a few other questions depending on the type of story. The project I gave was usually based upon the content of the story. Since this story was about ghost towns, they had to use an online program to create a ghost town. Another project they had to do that I remember well was when we read about the sinking of the Titanic. The students created a radio news broadcast describing the sinking. They then recorded the broadcast. (I place my microphone next to the aquarium for sound effects.)

As I noted in the last post, even though I in effect doubled the amount of work I expected from my students, they performed much better on the assessments. There was a palpable change in the attitude toward reading class where students looked forward to working on the projects, doing the vocabulary, and even listening/reading the stories.

Much of what I incorporated into these lessons were things that I had learned over just a few years, but I coupled that with my ten years of experience, ten years of being unsatisfied and unhappy. Don't be intimidated if you think this is overwhelming. Start with what you know and go from there. Incorporate new things when you and your students are ready. Before too long, you will be doing amazing things that make your textbook bearable!

Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 2

This is part 2 of a series I am writing on how I modified my textbook based classroom.

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment. I also want to make clear that I only took two grades over this work, the written test on Thursday and the project on Friday. No other grades were given (or even necessary.)

Ghost Towns Check List

Vocabulary
Do page 244 in Reading Practice Book due Tuesday and choose two of the following due Wednesday:

• Create graphic representations of each vocabulary word

• Write definitions of each vocabulary word

• Create a flash card with definitions for each vocabulary word

• Use in graphic organizer as outlined in Skills section

• Create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

• Create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

With this post I will deconstruct how and why we approached vocabulary this way. Below is the section on vocabulary the students saw. Each one of these choices had been modeled extensively in the classroom before I turned them loose with this assignment.

The vocabulary work in our practice book (workbook) was usually a matching assignment with the vocabulary words on the left and the definitions on the right. This required the students to look up the word (if they didn't know it) in the glossary and then make the correct match. I found (no surprise) that the students did not carry this information to the written test given on Thursday. After doing some question analysis I found that there was no actual transfer from this type of assignment to the test. This assignment was done to keep my districts requirement for "using the workbook".

 For the rest of the assignments I gave my students several choices. The first choice, creating a graphic representation of the word, came from Marzano's Classroom Instruction That Works where he explains that the use of visual representations of the words really help student recall them. The way I approached this in the classroom was to 1) write the word on the board 2) draw a picture of what the word reminds me of or means to me 3) explain why I drew that picture 4) have the students create their own pictures. They were required to draw a different picture than I drew. This worked very well for students that preferred visual learning/representations. 

Some students preferred just writing the definitions. While I can completely zone out while I copy out of a book, this does not mean that everyone has the same experience. One in four of my students chose this as one of their learning methods. Oddly, it was usually the students with the best grasp of vocabulary that used this method.

Creating a flash card not only allowed students to carry their learning with them, it also allowed them social interaction with a partner since I allowed them to practice that way. The students would create the cards and then pair off or even work in small groups. This is great for kids that prefer to learn socially.

Creating a graphic organizer using the workbook page. I never had a student do this, and honestly I don't even remember what they looked like. I guess they were not too useful.

Creating a synonym or antonym word web worked well for several students. They would look up the vocabulary word and find the synonyms and/or antonyms and then draw a web with the original word in the middle and the others branched off. Usually the students would choose Visuwords to find the synonyms and antonyms.Visuwords is an interactive, fun site that makes connections between words very visual. This was a popular activity by my students. 

The average written test score was in the mid sixties before we changed to these methods. After we changed the average moved to the high 80's. That includes the ELL student that was in my room that had a 2.3 reading level. (I also modified how she read the story by putting it on an ipod for her to listen to.)

Creating a Textbook Based Reading Class You Can Live With: Part 1

A couple years ago when I was teaching fifth grade I decided to experiment with my reading program. I was not happy with the reading series schedule and my students were even less impressed. I was required to use this series, and I was expected to use the workbooks that accompanied the textbook. I knew that something had to change and one weekend came up with a plan that worked very well for my situation. Perhaps you can modify it to use in your classroom as well.
 
First I would like to state that this is not to replace the act of reading in the classroom. My students had 45+ minutes daily to read independently library books. Our reading series had very few reading opportunities in a week (how can we call it reading class when it is mostly vocabulary and skills that is being taught?)

This is the text from the blog post my students read to introduce this particular weeks work:

Image by mlhradio

After last years great Ghost Town moments, see post 1 and post 2, we have a high standard to meet. Since the skill this week is graphic sources you will have the opportunity to create your own. You will also look at Flickr pictures of real ghost towns to get and idea what they really look like. Then you are going to use Kerpoof to create your very own ghost town.

Here is the link to the checklist for you to use.

 The reading series story was a non-fiction story about ghost towns in the west. Because ghost towns have such a visual appeal I decided that I would incorporate a visual component to the week's work. This is the checklist I created for my students to print out and use. It is linked on the post above. The students would print the list if they needed to and then precede to go through the work. I created due dates because I discovered that many students needed guidance for what to do first. This really helped my students that were not very organized and it modeled how to break down a large task, finishing all this work, into more workable steps.

Ghost Towns Check List

Vocabulary
Do page 244 in Reading Practice Book due Tuesday and choose two of the following due Wednesday:

• Create graphic representations of each vocabulary word
• Write definitions of each vocabulary word
• Create a flash card with definitions for each vocabulary word
• Use in graphic organizer as outlined in Skills section
• Create a word web with synonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)
• Create a word web with antonyms of the vocabulary words (Visuwords is an excellent source)

Skill

Do pages 243, 246, and 247 in Reading Practice Book due Wednesday and do the following due Wednesday:

• Got to my blog post on the Ghost Towns of McDonald County. After reading the post, click on the map of McDonald County. Make a map of McDonald County and put on it the ghost towns of Coy, Wylie, Saratoga Springs, and Erie.   Write why you think those towns are no longer here.

Content Gathering
Read story on Monday and Tuesday and do following due Thursday:

• Look through the first five pages of ghost town pictures on Flickr 
• Other: See teacher for approval __________________

Note Taking
Choose one of the following to use to take notes:

• Visual representations (sketch a few pictures of ghost towns)
• Other: See teacher for approval ___________________________

Assessments
Comprehension test over the story will be Thursday and pick one of the following due Friday:

• UseKerpoof to create a picture of a ghost town. You choose the medium, but remember this is due Friday. Upload picture to the Compendium.
• Other: See teacher for approval ________________________

On my next post I will explain how and why we approached our vocabulary work.

They Didn't Fail, They Just Haven't Succeeded Yet

I just had a knock down fight with my students. They failed an assignment miserably, only one of thirty students even came close to doing it right. Ordinarily I would shoulder some of the blame for their failure, but I refused to do it this time. I think I was wrong....

My students were expected to do some real thinking. I asked them to read about the Wisconsin union troubles and identify what was going on. They were supposed to write a paragraph explaining both sides of the issue and then identify if CNN or Fox News had written stories that the students felt were biased. Here is a link to the assignment.

Today we reviewed their work, and it was not what I asked for at all, not even close. Most of the students had read articles from Fox and CNN and summarized them. Many did not even complete the project at all. After we looked at their work, I sat with them and told them I would not accept responsibility for their failure on this assignment. I went out of my way to explain what I wanted 3 days in a row. As I roamed the room I told them they were not doing the assignment correctly and would have them read me what the assignment asked for. I even told them to look at the one post that was closest to being done correctly, but still they did it wrong.

I allowed the students to give me feedback over the assignment. I got two arguments, both of which I dismissed. The first was about grades. They thought that even though they failed to do what I asked they deserved some points for effort. The second was about not understanding the assignment. This one I jumped on with both feet. What part of write two paragraphs did they not understand? Where does it say in the instructions to summarize the four articles? On an one I went. I was not a happy camper.

Now that I have had time to think about it, I think that maybe they are right. They don't know how to gather in information and think about it critically. For almost nine years they have been given small pieces of information to read and very specifically guided questions to answer. They in effect have been following a formula that all textbook companies (and most teachers for that matter) have been using for years. They really didn't understand how to do the assignment!

When I break down my "simple" assignment I can see where the problems are:

• They have to find their own sources of the information instead of having it given to them.
• They have to analyze that information to determine both sides of the problem.
• They have to have to understand what bias means.
• They have to identify if a story is biased.
• They have to post their insights onto a blog.
• They have to hyperlink back to the stories they wrote.

I guarantee that a very, very large percentage of the adult population of the United States would fail this same assignment. 

I am resolved that this assignment will not remain a failure. We will be doing this same assignment with a different topic tomorrow. Maybe the dissonance my students are feeling over this assignment will gradually give way and we can actually start doing some critical thinking.