Author: Curtis Griffin

Heritage Intermediate School set to receive another year of support from Middle School Matters Institute

Curtis Griffin
Heritage Intermediate SchoolMiddle School Matters Institute
Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Middle School Matters Institute (MSMI), an Initiative of the George W. Bush Institute and the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, is collaborating with Heritage Intermediate School in Etiwanda School District (Fontana, California) to provide professional development to educators in two areas: 1) using early warning indicator data to keep students on the path to high school graduation, and 2) supporting reading comprehension across all content areas.

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Connecting Students’ Background Knowledge

Curtis Griffin

background knowledgeWhen reading, all readers build comprehension by tapping into their background knowledge on a given subject or make mental pictures. The diverse students we teach bring a variety of life and learning experiences to the classroom every day. In this resource, you will find suggestions for showing students how to tap into and build upon their background knowledge to build and deepen their reading comprehension.

Middle School Matters Field Guide Alignment
Reading and Reading Interventions
Reading Principle 3: Activate and build appropriate background knowledge for understanding text content.

More Tools for Connecting Background Knowledge

Lesson Plans: CREATE

These content area lesson plans were created by the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE Center). CREATE researchers developed curriculum to build the language and literacy skills of English learners in the middle grades while simultaneously instructing grade-level content concepts. Lesson plans and materials integrate instructional features of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP Model) including language objectives, explicit vocabulary instruction, student interaction, building background knowledge, and comprehensible input.

Anticipation-Reaction Reading Guide

This three-part anticipation-reaction reading guide video series is developed by the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies (TALA)/ Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts. Teachers can use this series of classroom modeling to implement the before, during, and after reading strategies. This will enhance students’ understanding of the text in any content area. Proven by research, Science, Social Studies, History, and English Language Arts classrooms will benefit from this technique.

Anticipation-Reaction Reading Guide

Curtis Griffin

Anticipation-Reaction reading guide TALAThis three-part anticipation-reaction reading guide video series is developed by the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies (TALA)/ Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts. Teachers can use this series of classroom modeling to implement the before, during, and after reading strategies. This will enhance students’ understanding of the text in any content area. Proven by research, Science, Social Studies, History, and English Language Arts classrooms will benefit from this technique.

Anticipation-Reaction Before Reading

This video demonstrates how a social studies teacher uses the anticipation-reaction guide to activate prior knowledge. Before reading, students listen to or read several statements about key concepts. They are often structured as a series of statements with which the students can choose to agree or disagree. This guide stimulates students’ interest in a topic and set a purpose for reading.

Anticipation-Reaction During Reading

This video begins after students agree or disagree with key concept statements completed in the before reading steps. Students read the text, then look for evidence to confirm or change their opinions on the statements. The teacher asks students to share their evidence and their reasoning.

Anticipation-Reaction After Reading

This video begins after students find and record evidence that supports or challenges the statements. Students review their findings, then have the opportunity to change their opinion on each of the statements. In summary, the Anticipation Guide requires students to draw final conclusions about the text. The guide also provides students a visual reference of what they have read and learned.

Lesson Plans: CREATE Project Lesson Materials

Curtis Griffin

Description

lesson plans CREATEThese content area lesson plans were created by the Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE Center). CREATE researchers developed curriculum to build the language and literacy skills of English learners in the middle grades while simultaneously instructing grade-level content concepts. Lesson plans and materials integrate instructional features of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP Model) including language objectives, explicit vocabulary instruction, student interaction, building background knowledge, and comprehensible input.

Science: Lesson Materials from SIOP Model on Middle School Science and Language Learning

Atoms and Bonding Unit

Science: Lesson Materials from Project QuEST – Quality English and Science Teaching

Overview of QuEST curricular materials
Ecology Lesson Set
Cycles Lesson Set
Genetics Lesson Set

Social Studies: Lesson Materials from Adaptations of Peer-Assisted Learning for English Language Learners—Application to Middle School Social Studies Classes

The Texas Revolution Lesson Materials
The Mexican War Lesson Materials

English Language Arts: Lesson Materials from Word Generation for English Language Learners

Word Generation materials are available from the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP)

Math: SIOP Lesson Materials

SIOP Math Tip: Send a Problem

For more information on the CREATE project, please visit:
Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (Meadows Center)
Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners

For more information on the SIOP model please visit:
Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol

Developed by:

Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners

Wright Middle School: Middle School Data Discussions: Five Stage Protocol

Curtis Griffin

Description
This video, developed by Learning Forward, follows Wright Middle School, of Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, as teachers demonstrate middle school data discussions to improve student writing outcomes. The team meets using a protocol they have developed to share and analyze data in order to reflect upon and improve instructional practices.

Stage 1: Facilitator : Introduction
Stage 2: Data Discussion
Stage 3: Instructional Strategies
Stage 4: Action Plan
Stage 5: Observer Comments

Resource:

Developed by:
Learning Forward