In This Issue:

1. Contemplative listening

2. High-quality discussion in history classes

3. Having students write before diving into all-class discussions

4. Teaching argumentation across the curriculum

5. Scaffolding reading by activating and filling in prior knowledge

6. Embracing assessment

7. Elementary fractions instruction that leads to success in algebra

8. Thirty-four picture books that support social-emotional learning

9. Short items: (a) Resources for Latin and Greek roots; (b) SAT prep website;

    (c) A free storytelling app; (d) World language websites

 

Quotes of the Week

“There has never been a more important time to teach young people to suspend judgment, weigh evidence, consider multiple perspectives, and speak up with wisdom and grace on behalf of themselves and others.”

Mary Ehrenworth (see item #4)

 

“To strengthen our students as readers, the place to start is with their writing.”

            Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Stephen Chiger (see item #3)

 

“If we could institute only one change to make students more college ready, it should be to increase the amount and the quality of writing students are expected to produce.”

            David Conley, 2007 (quoted in ibid.)

 

“Writing is not simply a vehicle that allows students to express what they know; writing is a tool that generates new thinking.”

Kelly Gallagher in “The Writing Journey” in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 24-29), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2k5tVs6; Gallagher can be reached at [email protected].

 

“Good discussions have little to do with magic and everything to do with careful planning and pedagogical savviness.”

            Abby Reisman (see item #2)

 

“Knowledge begets comprehension begets knowledge.”

            David Pearson (quoted in item #5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Contemplative Listening

            In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, John Cavanaugh (Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area) bemoans the fact that few adults are good listeners. He’s noticed that people pay attention to how the other person’s words affect them, “waiting for their turn to talk, and planning what they will say rather than actually paying attention to, that is, listening contemplatively to, the speaker.” Real listening, says Cavanaugh, “reflects openness to new ideas or points of view, based on what the other person is saying. Contemplative listening forces us to be present… [It involves] an ability to separate one’s personal needs and interests from those being expressed by the speaker, a mind open to new or different possibilities, an interpersonal trust… When done well, it may involve significant amounts of silence. All of this takes patience, practice, and courage. It is not the stuff of instant reaction on social media.”

At what age can a person do this kind of listening? Cavanaugh says neuroscience points to early adulthood, when emotion and logic begin to integrate and people are better able to reason and get outside themselves – or at least have that potential.

“The problem,” he continues, “is that we do not help people learn how to listen. It is a fundamental, perhaps fatal flaw in the learning outcomes that we have long argued underlie the educated person… That must end: The including of contemplative, or deep, listening as a core skill is indeed essential… To be considered as a great listener is one of the highest compliments a person can receive.”

 

“You Talkin’ to Me?” by John Cavanaugh in The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 27, 2017 (Vol. LXIII, #21, p. A48), no free e-link available

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2. High-Quality Discussions in History Classes

(Originally titled “How to Facilitate Discussions in History”)

            In this Educational Leadership article, Abby Reisman (University of Pennsylvania) says the best all-class history discussions get students wrestling with intriguing questions and reading historical texts carefully and thoughtfully. “Good discussions,” says Reisman, “have little to do with magic and everything to do with careful planning and pedagogical savviness. Yes, sometimes students in one class are chattier and more energetic than those in another, just as an otherwise-routine lesson sometime prompts a spontaneous, lively discussion. But more often than not, substantive discussions occur because teachers have a clear sense of how they want students to engage with the text, and with one another, and with the content.” Drawing on her work with the Reading Like a Historian curriculum developed at Stanford University, she has several suggestions for sparking such discussions:

            • Orient students to one another. “Students must not only respond to the teacher, but also acknowledge and build on one another’s ideas,” says Reisman. Teachers should use “uptake” moves, for example, asking for agreement or disagreement and inviting students to build on each other’s ideas. Some teachers post suggested sentence starters to structure responses, record students’ opinions on a T-chart, or have students write their opinions on sticky notes and post them on a continuum. “All these techniques,” says Reisman, “communicate to students that the work of understanding is collective and that their own understanding will be enriched by listening, challenging, and building on their classmates’ ideas.”

            • Orient students to the text. To make sure students understand the gist of a piece of historical writing, the teacher might ask, “What’s the main argument in this document?” or ask them to find evidence that backs up an opinion.

            • Design a compelling central historical question. Reisman has found that the liveliest and most rigorous discussions come when the teacher asks students to judge historical actors or events using evidence from a text. For example, a class was examining abolitionist John Brown’s 1859 raid on a federal arsenal through two documents: John Brown’s final speech before he was hanged and an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s autobiography recounting how he told Brown the raid was doomed to failure. The teacher considered several possible discussion-starters: Was John Brown a misguided fanatic? Was he a terrorist or a patriot? Was his raid justified? Is violence ever justified? But the teacher realized that while these questions were important and engaging, none made students examine the two historical documents. The teacher ended up asking, Was John Brown’s plan a terrible idea? Why?

            • Ensure accuracy. When students are getting off track or revealing a misconception or misinterpretation, the teacher needs to refocus them on the text and help them integrate their knowledge and opinions with historical facts.

 

“How to Facilitate Discussions in History” by Abby Reisman in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 30-34), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2kvWE7R; Reisman can be reached at [email protected].

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3. Having Students Write Before Diving Into All-Class Discussions

(Originally titled “Until I Write It Down”)

            In this Educational Leadership article, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Stephen Chiger (Uncommon Schools) describe the following classroom interaction: students read a highly engaging text (the lyrics of “Birmingham Sunday,” a Richard Fariña song about the 1963 church bombing), the teacher asks a well-framed question about the phrase “falcon of death,” and calls on three eager students who share good insights. Other students chime in, and the teacher has the class spend the remaining ten minutes of the class writing independently about the song’s use of figurative language.

“By its design,” say Bambrick-Santoyo and Chiger, “this lesson placed the greatest amount of cognitive work not on the students as a whole, but on two or three students who happen to be both excellent readers and bold speakers. The other students didn’t have to articulate their own interpretations of the text until they’d already heard someone else do so. In effect, the three students who dominated the conversation put the jigsaw puzzle together. The others got to admire the big picture once it was complete, but they didn’t actually place a single piece.”

The problem in this scenario is that because discussion preceded writing, most of the class was able to avoid doing the intellectual heavy lifting, and when students did write, most were recording others’ insights, not their own. In addition, the teacher’s feedback wouldn’t come until hours or days later. In scenarios like this, say Bambrick-Santoyo and Chiger, “Writing becomes a tool for evaluation, not instruction. The reality is that people’s understanding isn’t complete until they can piece their own thoughts together and write them down.”

A better approach, they say, is for the teacher to have students read the text, pose a good question, and then ask all students to respond in writing before an all-class discussion. “This changes the whole experience,” say the authors. “Now every student has a crack at the puzzle, even the ones who wouldn’t normally raise their hands.” And while students are writing, the teacher can:

-   Circulate strategically. It’s smart to start with students who get their thoughts on paper the most quickly, giving others time to get into the task.

-   Give immediate feedback. Zoom in on a particular facet of the assignment rather than trying to read through everything students are writing.

-   Plan feedback. Think in advance about the kinds of thinking students might use and how to respond.

-   Keep it short. Whispering a comment or jotting a note can take as little as 15 seconds, making it possible to see more students.

While circulating, the teacher can also gather insights on particularly good thinking and what’s causing confusion. During the all-class discussion that follows, the teacher can focus on those, perhaps having the class compare two students’ responses and debate which was strongest.

            Bambrick-Santoyo and Chiger note that many successful writers – Flannery O’Connor, E.M. Forster, Joan Didion, for example – discover what they know and feel as they write. “Our students are no different. Until we see what students can articulate in writing, we don’t know what they comprehend – and on some level, neither do they. To strengthen our students as readers, the place to start is with their writing… Give your students time to write during class, and give them feedback that responds to their craft and their comprehension. Great writing is a communication of great thinking, so strengthen reading and writing in tandem, not in isolation.”

 

“Until I Write It Down” by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Stephen Chiger in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 46-50), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2kgcsND; the authors can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].

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4. Teaching Argumentation Across the Curriculum

(Originally titled “Why Argue?”)

            “There has never been a more important time to teach young people to suspend judgment, weigh evidence, consider multiple perspectives, and speak up with wisdom and grace on behalf of themselves and others,” says Mary Ehrenworth (Columbia University) in this article in Educational Leadership. A key priority across subject areas, she believes, is teaching debating skills – giving students “structured opportunities to engage in deliberative exploration of ideas, evidence, and argument.” The key skills of thinking, arguing, and writing aren’t innate: students need to be explicitly taught to use logic and reasoning to:

-   State a specific claim;

-   Support it with evidence;

-   Correlate evidence to support different ideas;

-   Cite authoritative sources to bolster the argument;

-   Create questions to deepen their understanding and illuminate complexity;

-   Revise their ideas and evidence to make a logical and compelling sequence;

-   Lead their audience through their argument with a clear introduction and sophisticated transitional phrases;

-   Consider opponents’ strongest points so they can acknowledge or refute counterarguments;

-   Acknowledge nuance and conditionality.

Drawing on her work with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Ehrenworth shares some insights about developing students’ argumentation skills:

            • Start with talk. One of the best ways to develop students’ ability to argue in writing is to improve the level of spoken argument by having small groups of students engage in quick, one-on-one “flash debates” (see below for suggested topics). As students conduct these mini-arguments, the teacher circulates, commenting on effective and less-effective approaches.

            • Develop a strategic curriculum. Students need lots of practice to get better at arguing, so schools should make sure students have opportunities to hone their skills in English, social studies, science, math, and other subjects as they move through the grades. For example, a middle school could have students in ELA debate the pros and cons of interscholastic sports, in social studies whether the American Revolution radically changed conditions for many people, and in science which forms of renewable energy citizens should adopt.

            • Choose and prepare content. It’s important to get students debating meaty topics that are open to legitimate dispute – not, for example, whether the Holocaust happened. Here are some possibilities:

-   Is this story more about x or y?

-   Which character has the greatest impact on events?

-   Are zoos good or bad for endangered animals?

-   Are rats friend or foe to humans?

-   Overall, are cell phones in schools helpful or damaging?

-   Was westward expansion a force for good?

-   Athens or Sparta: which is a better model for today’s youth?

-   Was the U.S. Civil War won more through strategy, supplies, or ideas?

-   Which NASA proposal should be funded: space stations, asteroid mining, or terraforming?

-   Bottled water or tap water: which should the United Nations fund abroad?

-   What is the best way to limit climate change: control carbon emissions, limit greenhouse gasses, or …?

-   Should we protect wolves in national parks?

Then it’s important to seek out or develop sets of relevant texts. “You’ll save yourself frustration later if you make sure there are good texts for your students’ age and reading levels before you commit to a unit of study,” says Ehrenworth. “Gather texts that provide a variety of perspectives, levels of nuance, and degrees of objectivity or bias.” She and her colleagues have found that having students surf the Internet is not a good use of valuable classroom time. Better for students to be reading, critiquing, thinking, and writing with a well-chosen set of texts with which the teacher is familiar. With well-chosen material, even students in the primary grades can engage in making claims, making logical arguments, and citing sources.

            • Teach students how to apply their skills in new situations. This might involve charts with major reading and writing strategies in an argument unit, student-made props with effective strategies, teaching tools on specific small-group and conference skills, mentor texts incorporating strategies, exemplar arguments, and writing checklists. It’s also a good idea for teachers to share their tools to coordinate between grades and avoid duplication.

 

“Why Argue?” by Mary Ehrenworth in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 35-40), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2jQ7o3X; Ehrenworth can be reached at [email protected].  

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5. Scaffolding Reading by Activating and Filling in Prior Knowledge

(Originally titled “Text Prep”)

            In this article in Educational Leadership, Doug Buehl (Edgewood College) says that background knowledge is a make-or-break variable in students’ reading comprehension. He quotes literacy expert David Pearson: “Knowledge begets comprehension begets knowledge.” The problem is that in any given classroom, there’s wide variation in students’ prior knowledge. That’s why frontloading is an important teacher strategy with complex texts. “Frontloading provides much-needed scaffolding for students who come to our classrooms lacking access to academic knowledge in their out-of-school lives,” says Buehl. “Frontloading should not be a foretelling of what the text says before students read; that’s the reader’s job to figure out.” Instead, it builds a bridge between students’ existing knowledge and what’s required to make meaning of the text. Buehl suggests three approaches:

            • Author references – Nonfiction writers often include quick references connecting new material with prior knowledge, assuming the reader will understand them. When students don’t, it’s tempting for them to “glide over such references without thoughtful pauses to integrate the new with the known,” says Buehl. Teachers need to draw attention to these references, but if they do so in an all-class discussion in which only a few knowledgeable students participate, the majority of students won’t make the connections. Far better to get have students turn and talk with a classmate to discuss what they understand before diving into a difficult text. The teacher might have students do a quick-write (A science word I connect to volcanoes is ___ because ___, or A common mistake when balancing equations is ___, so it’s important to ___) and then discuss them with partners or post them on sticky notes. Or students might construct knowledge maps, generating terms associated with a central concept in the text – for example, in a unit on the French Revolution, the word aristocracy could be linked to elites, ancient Greeks, inherited wealth.

            • Pooling students’ knowledge – The teacher can get small groups of students sharing what they know by posing a thought-provoking statement or question – for example, in a culinary arts class, asking students to create a T-chart on whether organic foods are healthier than non-organic foods. A variation on that activity is presenting 4-6 arguable statements on the topic (for example, If you eat too much, your stomach could burst) and asking students to gather evidence pro and con and debating the merits.

            • Predicting through vocabulary knowledge – Before students read a text, the teacher presents several challenging words they’ll encounter and asks teams of students to examine and speculate about them. “Rather than merely telling students definitions of difficult vocabulary,” says Buehl, “this process engages students in exploring the possible relationships among the words, sharing current knowledge about known terms, and predicting possible meanings.” Students can also be asked to divide the words into new, domain-specific, and known words, or pair words that are closely associated with one another. The teacher might also give students a list of challenging words in the order in which they appear in the text and have students write a predictive paragraph using all the words in sequence.

 

“Text Prep” by Doug Buehl in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 60-66), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2lcxMRL; Buehl is at [email protected].

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6. Embracing Assessment

            In this article in AMLE Magazine, Dru Tomlin encourages middle-level teachers to use assessments more productively. The primary purpose of assessment, says Tomlin, “is not to measure; rather, assessment is meant to fuel learning forward for our young adolescents – to advance it, create change, inform innovation, and give direction.” Students and teachers who don’t see assessments this way “learn to fear what the data could communicate and how the results could be used against them.”

Here are Tomlin’s thoughts on the adult mindset needed to create and use assessments that advance teaching and learning:

-   Be curious about the world rather than judgmental, fearful, or deficit-oriented.

-   Go beyond standard checklists about teaching and learning.

-    “Treat yourself with kindness when you struggle, and surround yourself with people who also want to learn so you are not alone in the process.”

-   Embrace the fact that failing is part of learning.

-   Since no one is going to tell you when to start, start now.

 

“Assessments: A Key Ingredient in Our Practice” by Dru Tomlin in AMLE Magazine, February 2017 (Vol. 5, #1, p. 7), no e-link available

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7. Elementary Fractions Instruction That Leads to Success in Algebra   

            In this article in Teaching Exceptional Children, Jessica Rodrigues, Nancy Dyson, and Nancy Jordan (University of Delaware) and Nicole Hansen (Fairleigh Dickinson University) say that fraction knowledge is a stronger predictor of students’ eventual mastery of algebra than family income, family level of education, and overall IQ. “Thus,” they say, “bolstering students’ fraction understanding is a critical step in preparing students for algebraic thinking” – and this is especially true of students with special needs.

            Why the strong link between understanding fractions in the elementary grades and mastering algebra in middle or high school? “Beyond the frequent presence of fractions in algebraic equations (e.g., ½x = 24),” say the authors, “fraction knowledge and algebraic thinking share important conceptual underpinnings.” The Common Core standards (3OA.B.5) include understanding properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division, which is important to seeing 4/2 as four groups of ½, two sets of 2/2, or 4 ÷ 2. This kind of fraction knowledge enables students to solve more-advanced problems like 6 = 12y (thinking 12 times ? = 6 or 6/12 = y).

            Why do so many elementary students find fractions baffling and frustrating? Rodrigues, Dyson, Jordan, and Hansen say there are three related barriers:

-   Students focusing on the numerator as a counting number and ignoring the denominator;

-   Not grasping how the numerator and denominator work together to determine the magnitude of the fraction;

-   Not understand that fractions are magnitudes that can be represented on a number line.

Students with these misunderstandings, asked to shade in one third of a rectangle divided into six parts, will shade in only one segment. Similarly, if asked to place the fraction ½ on a number line from 0 to 2, they will put it halfway along the line.

            The key to overcoming these confusions is introducing number line activities that focus on the relationship of the numerator and denominator and how this relationship determines the magnitude of the fraction. This approach should start as early as third grade, say the authors. To make such activities vivid and understandable to elementary students, they suggest introducing real-world contexts – for example, imagining a race with water stations set up every quarter mile along the course. Thus the fractions would be 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 8/4, 9/4, and so on. Students learn how to mark whole and half miles, move to quarter miles, and then convert fractions larger than one to mixed numbers. (See the full article for visuals and more detail.)

The authors also suggest getting students chorally counting along a fractions number line; using the race course number line to add and subtract fractions by counting forward or backward; and using the number line to do quick mental math game activities such as finding which positions are greater than and less than a whole or than each other. Here are the authors’ suggestions on how a lesson might be divided up:

-   3 minutes of oral counting of fraction magnitudes;

-   20 minutes of number-line race course activities;

-   3 minutes of whole number multiplication fluency practice using flash cards;

-   10 minutes of independent practice;

-   5 minutes of fractions games using flash cards;

-   4 minutes of a quick formative assessment on the concepts taught so far.

 

“Preparing for Algebra by Building Fraction Sense” by Jessica Rodrigues, Nancy Dyson, Nicole Hansen, and Nancy Jordan in Teaching Exceptional Children, November/December 2016 (Vol. 49, #2, p. 134-141), http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0040059916674326;

Jordan can be reached at [email protected].

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8. Thirty-Four Picture Books That Support Social-Emotional Learning

            In this School Library Journal feature, the editors provide a “starter collection” of picture books that build the skills of identifying and processing emotions, being aware of oneself and others, controlling impulses, appreciating and embracing different perspectives, demonstrating empathy, building relationships, and making good decisions. Here’s the list:

-   Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony (Scholastic, 2014)

-   Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley (Roaring Book, 2015)

-   Sam’s Pet Temper by Sangeeta Bhadra (Kids That Can, 2014)

-   Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña (Putnam, 2015)

-   How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham (Candlewick, 2008)

-   Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2006)

-   Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2015)

-   Waiting by Kevin Henkes (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2015)

-   I Like Being Me: Poems About Kindness, Friendship, and Making Good Choices by Judy Lalli (Free Spirit, 2016)

-   The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig (Knopf, 2013)

-   The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia McKissack (Aladdin, 2003)

-   Move Your Mood by Brenda Miles and Colleen Patterson (Magination, 2016)

-   Wild Feelings by David Milgrim (Hold, 2015)

-   Enemy Pie by Derek Munson (Chronicle, 2000)

-   Zen Shorts by Jon Muth (Scholastic, 2005)

-   I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Charlesbridge, 2015)

-   Why Am I Here? by Constance Orbeck-Nilssen (Eerdmans, 2016)

-   One by Kathryn Otoshi (KO Kids, 2008)

-   The Feelings Book by Todd Parr (Little, Brown 2005)

-   The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown, 2009)

-   Ish by Peter Reynolds (Candlewick, 2004)

-   A World of Pausabilities: An Exercise in Mindfulness by Frank Sileo (Magination, 2017)

-   Anh’s Anger by Gail Silver (Plum Blossom, 2009)

-   The Dark by Lemony Snicket (Little, Brown, 2013)

-   The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires (Kids Can, 2014)

-   Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas (S. & S./Beach Lane, 2011)

-   The Forgiveness Garden by Lauren Thompson (Feiwel & Friends, 2012)

-   Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuth (Abrams, 2014)

-   Sometimes I’m Bombaloo by Rachel Vail (Scholastic, 2005)

-   And Two Boys Booed by Judith Viorst (Farrar, 2014)

-   A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2007)

-   Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012)

-   Hooray for Hat! By Brian Won (HMH, 2014)

-   Jack’s Worry by Sam Zuppardi (Candlewick, 2016)

 

“Hearts and Minds” by the editors in School Library Journal, February 2017 (Vol. 63, #2, p. 30-31), no free e-link available

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9. Short Items:

            a. Resources for Latin and Greek roots – In a sidebar in their Educational Leadership article, Timothy Rasinski, Nancy Padak, and Joanna Newton recommend these resources:

• An online dictionary of common word roots and English words derived from them:

www.learnthat.org/pages/view/roots.html

• The “Additional Resources” tab at the bottom of this webpage has a suggested list of word roots by grade level with a related video:

www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/administrators/series/buildingvocabulary-97

 

“The Roots of Comprehension” by Timothy Rasinski, Nancy Padak, and Joanna Newton in Educational Leadership, February 2017 (Vol. 74, #5, p. 41-45), available for purchase at http://bit.ly/2kMsu2v; the authors can be reached at [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

 

            b. SAT prep website – The College Board teamed up with Khan Academy to provide this free website to help students tune up for the new SAT. The site provides six practice tests that students can download and take and then get their scores using an iOS or Android app. Students can also set up a regimen of daily practice questions in the four tested subjects. The site also helps students register, understand the format of the test, and set up study groups. Here’s the link: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/khan-academy

 

“Free Tools for SAT/ACT Test Prep” by Phil Goerner in School Library Journal, February 2017 (Vol. 63, #2, p. 13), no free e-link available

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            c. A storytelling app – The Toontastic 3D app, available free for iOS and Android, lets students try their hand at creating their own animated movies, cartoons, music videos, or school reports: https://toontastic.withgoogle.com

 

“An App for Telling Stories in 3-D” by Marva Hinton in School Library Journal, February 2017 (Vol. 63, #2, p. 17)

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d. World language websites – The Language Educator recommends these sites:

• TuneIn Radio – Listening to radio stations around the world: www.tunein.com

• Wordless videos – Animated videos with no words can be used for practicing descriptions, building vocabulary, and sparking conversations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA60F7F6F4451876

 

“Websites to Watch” in The Language Educator, January/February 2017 (Vol. 12, #1, p. 31)

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