Not that this has not been the standard throughout this academic school year, but immediately after students test in FCAT 2.0 and take the ACT in the Spring, many students begin asking "What do we do now?" and either "tune out" or "skip" remedial reading because as far as they are concerned, the main objective in this course is to pass the FCAT 2.0 or an ACT or SAT to qualify for graduation.
Therefore, as we ease into this "new" (unfamiliar) literacy skill, students continue to use text from Ten Steps to Improving College Reading Skills, Part II (We read "Compliance Techniques..." this week.) while learning a "new" way of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what writers do as a whole group.
Next week, we will begin to move from whole group and back into independent and small groups.
Students also learned how to utilize Socratic sentence frames to
- share a claim and anticipate /refute potential counterclaims
- build on the claims of others
- respectfully disagree with the claims of others
during text talk time.
My favorite part of the week was that students began to "be the teacher" (teach others) how to deeply comprehend text by using the "I think this means" (Think aloud) strategy.
Students sat in the teacher's seat, at the Elmo with the text and modeled how to read a paragraph inferentially. Then, I gradually introduced the new Socratic sentence starters to engage others to share, build, or respectfully disagree with the teacher's claims.
All students that participated earned up to 100 points this week and took home their first, of what I hope to be many, pre-reading assignments to begin to re-engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with little or no guidance individually or in pairs/ small groups.
FLIPPED Reading Activity
Our first Pre- reading assignment is Jackie Robinson bio. True Story. (Also available in the FLIPP Shelf)
Students are expected to read a short bio, define or explain the following terms
Students are expected to read a short bio, define or explain the following terms
- explosive
- humiliation
- pastime
- prejudice
- oppression
- segregated
view a short video (1:12) about Jackie Robinson and the many barriers he faced as Major League Baseball's first African American player.
Expectations
Students are to come to school on Monday, prepared to answer the following questions from their discussion guide...
Students are to come to school on Monday, prepared to answer the following questions from their discussion guide...
1. Why did Jackie Robinson’s family move from the cotton plantation in Cairo, Georgia, where he was born? What was life like in his new home in Pasadena, California?
2. How do you think Robinson’s older brother Mack influenced Jackie’s decision to focus on athletics?
3. Why did Robinson choose to play baseball when he returned from the war? How did he get his start? How did Tom Dewey and Branch Rickey help Jackie achieve his goal of playing in the Major Leagues?
4. Why did Branch Rickey choose Robinson to be the first black Major Leaguer? Do you think that Robinson was a good choice? What was part of the agreement between Rickey and Robinson when Robinson went to the Major Leagues?
5. What struggles did Robinson endure during his time in Major League Baseball?
6. How did Jackie Robinson use his fame to fight for equality?
Click here to see all Jackie Robinson Videos
