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Using SIRS to support Argumentative Writing

Teachers have expressed a desire to help our students with PBPA and FSA skills.  Here is an idea formulated by Mr. Winer and myself using SIRS Knowledge Source, the most convenient source we have to find lexiled news articles.

Using SIRS Articles to support argumentative writing

Step 1: Click on SIRS tile located in the reference desk page of your portal (or simply click the link in this blog)

Step 2: Find a topic of interest (must be a Pro/Con issue)

Step 3: Choose either a “pro” or “con” article.

Step 4: You may email the article to yourself or save it as a PDF file for future use.

Step 5: Read Article

Step 6: Using RACE, answer the following questions:

1)      What is the claim (the main idea the author is trying to argue)?

2)      Is there a counterclaim (the opposing viewpoint) in the article?  If so, what is it? 

3)      How does the author strengthen their claim and weaken the counterclaim?

BEST LITERACY PRACTICES

Best Literacy Practices

By Matt Benoliel

50/50 Principle

Practice makes perfect.  Students need to spend more time reading and writing on their own.  If the teacher is doing all of the reading, the teacher is the only one whose reading aptitude is improving.  Give students more opportunities to read silently, and to read aloud to each other in small groups or in pairs.  On any given day, in any given class, the ratio of reading/writing to all other activities should be as close to 50/50 as possible.

What to Read

Texts must be engaging and appropriate to the student’s reading level.  Most of the independent or paired reading should be done on or slightly above the student’s lexile level.  Additionally, the teacher should model reading strategies for higher level texts and academic texts.

Tasks/Assignments

Should focus on student engagement. Allow for student choice, remembering that increased reading and writing time is the goal.  Teacher should be aware of the student’s interests and provide texts that will increase engagement whenever possible.

                                      

Instruction

Instruction in a Language Arts or Intensive Reading Class should include as much teacher modeling as possible.  Reading strategies, test-taking strategies, writing strategies can all be modeled using read aloud/think aloud strategies or, in the case of modeling writing, a smart board or document camera.  The primary goal is for the teacher to demonstrate the thought process that goes on during reading and writing activities. 

The students will benefit from hearing your thoughts as you read.  When you model writing by writing in front of the students, the students will see competent writing as an achievable goal. 

Tests/ Feedback

Feedback is more important than tests. Feedback is more important than tests. Feedback is more important than tests.

Appropriate feedback will include the learning goal, and what the student still needs to achieve the learning goal.  Make sure that each student has received appropriate feedback on work before the big test.

Teacher Success Story #1: Ms. Ingram

Teacher Success Story #1

By M. Benoliel

It seemed like a typical morning at Okeeheelee Middle School.  Students were eagerly awaiting the first bell to ring so they can enter their beloved school and meet with their first hour teachers.  Or second hour, or whatever was first that day.  I was hanging around the hallway in front of my room as I usually do, speaking to Ms. Rivera and estimating how many dress code violations would come our way.  Suddenly Ms. Ingram appeared near the door of her classroom, across the hall from my own.  I don’t know if she was in her classroom the whole time, or if she walked right passed me in the hallway.  She just seemed to materialize out of nowhere.  She wore a huge smile on her face and her aura was beaming in a supernatural way.

     “You’re going to be so proud of me!”

     I couldn’t imagine what she meant by that.  “Did you bring breakfast?”  Because what could impress me more than that?

     “I did a writing assignment with my class and they did great!”

     “No way!”  I said.

     To make a long story short, and to hide the fact that I just don’t possess the skill to convey Ms. Ingram’s enthusiasm in mere prose, I will highlight the takeaways from our ensuing conversation:

1)       Ms. Ingram never considered herself a writing teacher.

2)      Ms. Ingram took herself out of her comfort zone.

3)       Ms. Ingram’s students learned more subject matter with greater enthusiasm than they normally would have.

4)      Ms. Ingram will definitely use more creative writing assignments in the future.

5)      Ms. Ingram had more energy on the days working on this project because the students were motivated and directing their own learning.

The assignment asked the students to trace the “life cycle” of a grain of sand as if they were a grain of sand, combining elements of fiction and non-fiction writing.  The students had to demonstrate knowledge of the rock cycle and related scientific concepts. 

   Summary:  Had fun. Learned more.  More teacher energy.  Good mood.  Proud of herself.

 

I can’t think of any more to say except that it gives me great satisfaction to have been part of this experience.  Thanks Ms. Ingram!

Why Don't Students Plan, and What Can We Do About It?

Many of us have noticed that when given a choice, most of our students do not plan before they write an essay.  This is an extremely poor judgement call on behalf of the students.  Most, if not all of our students would produce better, more organized, writing if they took the time to plan.  

In class, students are more likely to complete the planning piece if they know it will be graded.  Sometimes, teachers can assign a "planning only" assignment in which students read a text along with a writing prompt, then only complete a graphic organizer or outline for a grade.  Then, instead of writing the entire essay, you may choose to have a classroom discussion or have students share the ideas that they wrote down in small groups or with partners.

I believe your best way to get buy in from the students is to model the planning process for the students.  I usually use the document camera for this.  I would draw a simple graphic organizer, such as the one below:

Then, I would fill out each box according to the text, and explain that each box would represent a separate paragraph in the essay.   

It may also be helpful to brainstorm topics with your students using "Word Webs" to show them how you think.  I have seen many teachers use Word Webs and Venn Diagrams as well to brainstorm a new topic, provide background knowledge, etc.  Here is a simple word web that you can model on your whiteboard or document camera (remember to allow the students to contribute some of the words, after you start them off with the topic) :

Note: the word web can easily be made into an outline 

After this brainstorming, I would explain that the "hardest" part of the essay is completed.  Now, students will have an outline of all the ideas they need to include in their paragraphs.  

Finally, check out the graphic organizers AT THIS WEBSITE.  Some of them may seem elementary, but your students may find them fun.  Adding fun helps.

Planning For Argumentative Writing

Argumentative Writing presents some new challenges for our students.  Most significantly, they will need to know how to make a claim and to address counterclaims.  This graphic organizer may be useful for helping your students organize the information found in the articles before they begin to write.  

Also, see my last post for ideas for High Interest Writing Prompts!  

To download, CLICK HERE

200 Writing Prompts

Teachers-The new FSA Writing Assessment is just around the corner.  If you would like to give some students extra practice in writing, please consider one of the 200 writing prompts featured in this document:

CLICK HERE

Also, if you have questions about the new FSA Writing exam, please visit this page for more information:

FSA Information

Both the educators link and the students and parents link are browse-worthy.  

Counterclaim example from HRW Text

Including counterclaims in argumentative writing may be new to some students.  Luckily, our very own Mrs. Artero pointed out this example in the essay, "Scary Tales" by Jakie Torrence, featured in the 8th Grade ELA textbook.  In "claim" in the essay is that "scary stories are good for children," and the author presents a pretty good argument that scary stories teach children to be cautious.  

The paragraph beginning on line 44 of this essay presents a counterclaim, most likely stemming from something that the author has probably experienced in her life.  

Notice that there are no transitional words or phrases such as "some people may say that...." or "others may argue that...."  Instead, the author just states the counterclaim and then goes right into her rebuttal, again, without traditional transitional words.

Here is the excerpt:

RACE Strategy and Florida Standards

Our very own construction guru Mr. Nathan Wellman recently inquired as to the connection between RACE and the Florida Standards.

Mr. Wellman and others,  all of your questions are answered here:

http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewIdea/Preview/1729#/#accesspoints-toggle

Here you will find 8th grade Language Arts Writing Standards that relate to RACE.

Or, here is a screenshot.  All of these, except the first one, apply to RACE:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Letters from Readers: What is the correct way to cite evidence?

A faithful reader of The Writing Korner recently sent in this email:

When the kids are quoting something in their writing, are they supposed to do it MLA style?  If they take a quote from one of the articles on the PBPA, how should they cite this?

Thanks, writing guru!

Dear Faithful Reader,

Consider the following example for using Direct and Indirect quotes:

     Researchers also believe that we are born with a knack for mathematics.  In the article, "Gut Math," Dr. Knowitall states, "even lowly invertebrates such as the common sea cucumber can estimate the number of polyps in a community and will consistently choose the largest nutritional source."  Dr. Knowitall also explains how fish will seek out larger schools to swim with, and how primates can estimate the number of bananas in a bunch from some pretty far distances.  Dr. Knowitall then compares her findings in the animal kingdom to similar research done on human beings, including small children and Alzheimer's patients.  With respect to small children, the research proves that infants can estimate the amount of milk in a bottle and will always choose the greater quantity.   All of this research can only lead to the conclusion that all humans are born with a knack for mathematics.

The above example shows that the writer has an understanding of the article and is able to relate that understanding back to the topic of the essay, which was basically, "we are all born with a knack for mathematics."  Notice how the writer gives credit to the article and the researcher in the sentence, and does not have use parenthesis or MLA style.  

I do encourage my students to put quotation marks around the titles of the articles as well. I guess this can be considered MLA style.  I tell them to underline book titles in their classroom writing as well.  I believe this simple convention will satisfy  even the strictest of graders on the FSA Writing Test.

Thank you for your letter.

Sincerely,

The Writing Guru (whoever that is)

Writers Have an Advantage Over Non-Writers?

This is a cool article that shows some benefits of writing that are usually disregarded in public education.

The gist is: write more in class, have healthier, happier students.  This reminds me of Freedom Writers when all the students were able to see improvements in their attitudes towards life when they began their journal writing in class.

http://mic.com/articles/98348/science-shows-writers-have-a-serious-advantage-over-the-rest-of-us

Teaching Tips from Stephen King

Thanks Mr. Kodish for forwarding this link!

The interview with Stephen King is interesting-he talks about the importance of teaching writing as well as the challenges.  He offers his own advice from his experience as a high school teacher.  I enjoyed his mention of sentence diagramming, the Oxford comma, and how to engage students. 

Click here for the interview.

Want to see how Palm Beach County Measures Up in Writing?

Data is from www.fldoe.org for FY13.  Palm Beach is #1!

Learn About Tableau

Writing Strategies for Science Teachers

Need ideas to incorporate writing and learning strategies in your science class?  Feel free to download this booklet that connects various strategies to the Grade 6-8 Big Ideas.   

Click Here.

Civics and Argumentative Writing Lesson

Here's another contribution from Mr. Gonella.  The eighth grade Language Art teachers will be using this soon!

U.S. Immigration with Mixed Citizenship Families

In this lesson provided by the PBS documentary series, POV (Point of View), students will explore how United States immigration policy affects families with mixed citizenship status. They will first discuss the challenges faced by a mixed-status family when U.S. immigration authorities schedule undocumented parents to be deported. Students will also explain how the circumstances of such families could impact the United States politically, socially and economically. Finally, they will analyze public policies that address the needs of mixed-status families.

This lesson features a clip from the film Sin País (Without Country), a documentary that tells the emotional story of a family with members of mixed citizenship status who separate when the undocumented parents are deported from the United States and their teenage children stay behind to continue their education.

Link to Resource: http://www.cpalms.org/public/PreviewResource/Preview/59515?NotificationUserId=867ec092-c24a-4c10-9841-9993722054bd

Related Benchmarks:: 
SS.7.C.2.1: Define the term "citizen," and identify legal means of becoming a United States citizen. 
SS.7.C.2.13: Examine multiple perspectives on public and current issues.
LACC.68.RH.1.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
LACC.68.RH.2.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.
LACC.68.RH.3.7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
LACC.68.RH.3.8: Distinguish among fact, opinion, and reasoned judgment in a text.
LACC.68.WHST.3.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
LACC.68.WHST.3.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

Grammar Expectations and Providing Feedback by Ms. Cohen

Ms. Rachel Cohen was kind enough to submit this entry to The Writing Korner.  Thanks Ms. Cohen!  

Students’ lack of awareness of basic grammar rules can seem like bad weather – everybody complains but nobody ever does anything about it.  If you don’t expect correctness in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, you send the message that those elements don’t matter (or only matter in Language Arts classes).   It is important that you make clear to your students that these elements are also important in your field – and that they will be a part of the grade on any written assignment.

            As teachers, we have a lot on our To Do list, and not enough time in the day.  Adding grammar correction to your list may seem overwhelming.  There are ways to correct grammar that will not take you hours.  Here are some ideas on how to address the issue, without taking up too much time:

·       Focus your comments on only one or two types of grammatical problems on each written assignment.  Obviously, you will want to choose areas of concern for most of the students in the class.  If you concentrate on one or two concepts a month, you might even have time to present quick in-class lessons.

·       Set reasonable grammar goals for each student.  Address your comments on how well that student meets his or her goals.

·       Mark all of the grammatical errors in only one paragraph of any paper.  Write a comment indicating that the errors in this section are typical of those in the entire paper.

·       Circle errors you see and list at the end of the paper the most typical types of grammatical errors you found.  It is the student’s responsibility to identify and fix errors.

Writing is a topic that is taught in Language Arts, but practiced in every subject.  If we want our students to become better writers, it is incredibly important that every teacher addresses grammar.  There is a tremendous amount of value in students seeing their mistakes, and correcting them.  If we all work together on this, we will surely see improvement in our students’ writing scores.

RACE Posters and Handouts

Click on these links to access some cool RACE Posters and handouts.  Thanks Mr. Gonella!


https://drive.google.com/a/palmbeachschools.org/file/d/0B-S1q8SLOmFuQW92Tl9LTDFkc1k/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/a/palmbeachschools.org/file/d/0B-S1q8SLOmFuWTYzOTBrSzFxNjg/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/a/palmbeachschools.org/file/d/0B-S1q8SLOmFub094RHB2bEJGdHM/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/a/palmbeachschools.org/file/d/0B-S1q8SLOmFucWNvbElRWHNFTFU/edit?usp=sharing

Some Lessons From CPALMS

Mark Gonella was kind enough to share these lessons.  Both are from the CPALMS site and align with our new standards.  Check them out!

Exploring "Ironic" by Alanis Morisette: Teaching Situational Irony 
This lesson will introduce students to the concept of irony by examining the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morisette. Verbal, situational, and dramatic irony will be explored, but the focus of the lesson will be situational irony. This lesson can be used prior to teaching longer, more complex short stories that contain situational irony.

Link to Resource: http://www.cpalms.org/public/PreviewResource/Preview/26147?NotificationUserId=867ec092-c24a-4c10-9841-9993722054bd

Using Story Pyramids to Comprehend, Compare, and Contrast
Through the creation of Story Pyramids, students demonstrate their comprehension of two literary texts by using evidence from the text to construct their pyramids. Students are challenged even further by using their Story Pyramid to generate a written piece comparing and contrasting the two literary works. A rubric and student samples are provided.

Link to Resource: http://www.cpalms.org/public/PreviewResource/Preview/32127?NotificationUserId=867ec092-c24a-4c10-9841-9993722054bd

Today's RACE activity

Today my third period class began to read The Giver.  To build interest, I showed the movie trailer first.  There are two good quotes in the trailer that I thought could be used to practice RACE.  

The first is, "the way things look and the way things are, are very different." 

"If people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong," is the second.  

I wrote the second quote on the board and asked the class how many agreed with the statement.  Many students raised their hands.  More than I expected.  

I asked, "have you all really made bad choices today?"  

Students-"Yes."

Me-"OK" (who am I to disagree?)

I then told them to RACE the answer out and to give a specific example of a bad choice or decision that they made at one point in their lives.

Some students responded:

"I disagree with the statement 'if people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong.'  For example, One time my dad told me not to bring my iPad into the bathroom but I did anyway.  It fell in the toilet and took two weeks to get repaired.  I should have just listened to my dad."   

This is a complete RACE response but he wrote 'disagree' instead of 'agree.'

"I agree with the statement because a lot of people make the wrong choices and mess up their lives.  Some people don't think before they act." 

 This is not a complete RACE response, so I asked the student to correctly restate the quote and give a specific example to back up his viewpoint.

The entire activity took about twenty minutes.  I made sure to circulate and read every student response.  Many student responses looked like the second example at first, but corrections were made and they all got credit for the assignment.  

Spelling was not perfect.  A lot of "their/they're" mistakes and "your/you're."  I corrected a few capitalization and punctuation mistakes as well in that time.  

RACE Writing Strategy

The RACE writing strategy uses evidence-based writing which is a crucial strategy for our students.   It is simple to use.  It is very important that writing is being practiced in all content areas.  

RACE stands for:

R=Restate the Question

A=Answer the Question

C=Cite evidence (using transitions such as "for example," "in the article,.." "the author suggests that...")

E=Explain how your evidence supports your answer

Here is an example:

Please support evidenced based writing by incorporating RACE into your lessons.