English+-+Mtg.+Notes

September 15, 2009 toc =Attendees=
 * English 9 Collaboration Meeting**

Jamie Mahmoud, Amy Quattrone, Michelle Torrise, Kim Danielski, Brooke Ceh

=Freshman English Collaboration Agenda=

1. Review agenda topics – which do we discuss with Kim (as schedule allows) and Brooke (4th and 7th period)?

2. Addressing Pace, Depth, Rigor, and Movement in Curriculum and Classroom

3. Unit Timelines and Calendar of Year

4. Essential Questions - for all units

5. Skills/Strategies - for Elsewhere, Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet

6. Flexible grouping and Differentiation (Brooke)

7. Technology Integration - for all units

8. Writing integration - for all units

9. Literature Circles – When? How? Novels? Skills/Strategies?

10. Assessment Data – How do we use to drive our instruction? What pieces do we use?

11. Book Talks – Role Models

12. Interventions

13. Other

=English 9 Meeting Notes=

Rigor
Help student understand; think at a high level (analyze political cartoons, poetry). Give them things they can’t do, model explicitly, you grapple with it through a think aloud so they observe your thinking process, then have them do it in small chunks, tell them it is not going to be easy, but it is a way to expand your mind. Problem Based Learning is also a way to introduce rigor. Give students tool to think critically about reading (strategies QAR). Junior high school will start strategic reading (like guided reading).

Follow-up: Jamie would like to invite Amy to model some reading strategies. Amy suggested starting with a character map, then model for them how you find support (explicitly), e.g., go back and find the page and skim, think out loud. We need to teach them out to critically read/strategic reading. Review Blooms’ Taxonomy.

Research: Support fact that our grades will go down when we introduce rigor and technology; Jamie to get data on students who will struggle, and I’ll research some research. Katherine Kuda. Novel Differentiation. NANCY

Technology: Writing could be online, in forums, encouraging students to make arguments and comment on other students work supported by research.

Differentiation: Reach to high achievers; start book club blog as alternative assignments. I would be the point person, group leader; develop assessment; report to Jamie. Start a model program. Is it okay to pull them out of class? Jamie would give me her lesson plans and I would implement them using technology. How do you communicate to students that they are in the computer lab because they have demonstrated they have the skills to work independently?

Thought: “Thought is how we learn” We need to teach students how we learn, model how we learn. Encouraging thoughtfulness in their writing, in reflection of who they, in relating to reading and how it pertains to their own lives. Get them to produce meaningful thoughts on paper and verbally.

Strategies: Think alouds by teachers and students; problem based learning. Communication: retellings, think, pair, and share. Getting them to make connections and talk about their connections. Don’t force connections – teach them how to do it – thought through research (mini research things). Teach note taking, show them the process of thoughtful note taking. Thoughtfulness classroom/talk comes from small group pairings.

Thought
"How we learn" Thoughtfulness can be reflected on paper or verbally through think alouds, reflections, re-telling, Think/Pair/Share, partner reading, and making connections.

Diversity
This is really differentiation – Content, Process and Product. Don’t have to do all three all the time. Easiest way to differentiate is through the product.

Strategy, tic-tac-toe (or think-tac-toe) of different products that students must produce. Students get to pick their choices, but teacher joins the board so that students pick an easy activities, medium, hard. Can do for online journals. Reader’s response: summary (one color), reflection (in another color)—so they can see the difference visually. Give them examples. Reflection needs to be detailed enough so that you know they read it.

How are going to differentiate Process: flexible groupings (a child can change out of a group they are in at any time), mix up the groups on ability and reading levels; do a lot of grouping; bellringers are often an assessment of the day before, establish a routine for starting class; use whiparound technique where all students answer quickly. Product: strategies like tic-tac-toe, technology Content: through leveled tests Cater to multiple intelligences

Note: Ask if we can assess 9th grade on reading outside of school.

Literature Circles Amy, can you send me a list of novels for Lit Circles? Pick a few roles (5); look online at teachertube.com; books are leveled for reading level. Questions: Could we ask one of the groups to read a cell novel.

Interventions: Multisyllabic Word Reading Strategies, “Rewards”

TimeLine
First Semester Wave wrap-up (Oct 2) Short Stories/writing/debate (Oct 5) Elsewhere (Oct 13) Lit Circles (3 weeks), Independent w/ facilitators. They will get a list of novels from which they can pick.

__Dates to consider__
October 6-Content Meeting 8:30-11:30 am October 8-MAP October 9-Institute Oct. 12-no school

Second Semester

Classes Resume (Jan 4) Jan.4-12: Review and writing Jan. 13,14,15-Final Exams Jan. 19th Problem-based learning (1wk)-Jan. 22/25th-presentations __Of Mice and Men__ (6 wk) Spring Break (March 29) __Of Mice and Men__ Wrap Up/Final Test (Apr 5-9) Shakespeare (April 12- May 9) Shakespeare Party-April 23 Start working on Poetry Slam-May 10 Poetry Slam (have community members, book talk authors judge) – May 21st Review (5/24)/Finals (25th)

__Essential Questions__
Why is goal setting important? How do Literary Terms support the author's purpose? NEED TO DEVELOP THE LIST OF ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

Writing/Assessment
Persuasive-__The Wave__ Narrative-__Elsewhere__ Comparison & Contrast-__Romeo and Juliet__ (visual literacy) Expository/Research-__Of Mice and Men__

Strategies & Activities
__Tic-Tac-Toe__-appeals to differentiation and the multiple intelligences __Reader Response Journals__-for Independent Reading __Othe__r-QAR, QTA, Reason Behind/Rationale, Small Group Pairings, Thoughtful Note-Taking Technology: Storytelling Project

Adjusting, grief, death, family, careers, goal planning (bucket list), symbolism, imagery, culture characterization, friendship, love, allusions, growing up, foreshadowing.

Prior knowledge activity of famous people mentioned in the novel Elsewhere book trailer You Tube Book report Symbolism Movies: Sixth Sense, It’s a Wonderful Life, Ghost, Always, and stand by me. Writing Narratives, memoir, RAFT.

=Technology Integration=

21st century technology integration is ubiquitous, student-led, inquiry-based, collaborative, connected directly to content area standards, used as a tool for planning, instruction, and/or assessment.

Prepared by: Michelle Torrise September 14, 2009

21st Century Literacies
"21st Century Literacies refer to the skills needed to flourish in today's society and in the future. Today discrete disciplines have emerged around information, media, multicultural, and visual literacies. It is the combination of literacies that can better help K-12 students and adult learners address and solve the issues that confront them."

Source: Knowledge Network Explorer []

==

**21st Century Technology Skills**
21st Century Skills--collaboration, knowledge creation, global learning, subject integration, designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, programming, filming, animating, blogging, moshing, videocasting, podcasting. The most important of all being collaboration.

Collaboration skills include: moderating, negotiating debating, commenting, skyping, reviewing, posting, networking, contributing, chatting emailing twittering, texting.

Source: Churches, A. Blooms Digital Taxonomy. Tech & Learning, 2008. Retrieved from [|http://tinyurl.com/9xf7gp]

Media []

**Web 2.0**
**Web 2.0 is a platform for 21st Century Learning** “Web 2.0 represents an important shift in the way digital information is created, shared, stored, distributed, and manipulated that is highly social, encouraging users to manipulate and interact with content in new ways. In the years ahead it will have significant impact on the way business use information” (BNET).

Source: Wolcott, M. What is Web 2.0. BNET Briefing, Retrieved from [|http://tinyurl.com/l4s6d5]

**Digital Citizenship**
**Digital citizenship defines individual responsibilities and code of ethics for collaborative online interaction that include:** Source: Illinois General Assembly. Internet Safety Education Curriculum, Sec. 27-13.3. P.A. 95-509, eff. 8-28-07. Retrieved from []
 * Safe and responsible use of social networking websites, chat rooms, electronic mail, bulletin boards, instant messaging, or other means of communication on the Internet.
 * Recognizing, avoiding, and reporting online solicitations of students their classmates, and their friends by sexual predators.
 * Understanding risks of transmitting personal information on the Internet.
 * Recognizing and avoiding unsolicited or deceptive communication received online.
 * Reporting illegal activities and communications on the Internet.
 * Copyright laws on written materials, photographs, music, and video.

Collaborative Projects
[|Connect!] http://calgaryscienceschool.blogspot.com/

The Digital Generation Project [] []

[|Flat Classroom Projects] http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/

[|PSAs] http://www.istevision.org/watch.php?vid=bb5ee929131f32573f7d71d3a39097911bac5029 [|TakingITGlobal] http://www.tigweb.org/

[|Thinking in Mind] http://thinkinginmind.blogspot.com/

[|Youth Voices] http://youthvoices.net/home [|Providing Rich Feedback to Learners] http://www.nmc.org/adobemondays/2009/september

**Digital Stories**
[| A short description of digital storytelling.] http://homepage.mac.com/eportfolios/iMovieTheater24.html

Digital Storytelling Resources & Electronic Portfolios [] []

**Digital Citizenship**
The [|Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication] (I.R.O.C.2) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to proactively communicating a vital and uniform message to all members of the global digital community on the importance of digital responsibility, safety, and awareness ("Responsibility 2.1C™"). []

Information Literacy

 * Suggested Topics for Information Literacy**

The following units are opportunities for collaboration & co-teaching. Each unit is designed as a stand-alone unit that can be taught alone or as part into specific projects.

Online Databases Internet Resources Searching Google Evaluating Websites Email Etiquette Document Management Google Docs Web 2.0 – Collaboration Podcasting Fan Fiction Intellectual Freedom & Readers Rights Plagiarism Copyright: Understanding Fair Use and Creative Commons The Big6™ Skills • Task Definition • Information Seeking Strategies • Location and Access • Use of Information • Synthesis • Evaluation

Other
Grammar Annotation