To every complex question there is a simple answer and it is wrong…
~ H.L. Mencken
My personal philosophy about literacy
Education is about learning. Learning happens within a student, it is not something we do to them. Learning is a process of making meaning that happens one student at a time. (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006)
Literacy/ comprehension strategies are methods students use to help them through the learning process. Literacy is not just about reading.
Literacy is the ability to construct knowledge from lessons and material presented in the classroom. It includes the ability of students to communicate new knowledge effectively. Being able to read and write well are strong components of literacy.
Literacy strategies are tools to help students construct new knowledge. They help students to make sense of the endless stream of information that comes to them in their daily lives. These strategies are not just to help one make sense of written material; they apply to education and learning in general.
Literacy/ comprehension strategies are methods students use to help them through the learning process. Literacy is not just about reading.
Literacy is the ability to construct knowledge from lessons and material presented in the classroom. It includes the ability of students to communicate new knowledge effectively. Being able to read and write well are strong components of literacy.
Literacy strategies are tools to help students construct new knowledge. They help students to make sense of the endless stream of information that comes to them in their daily lives. These strategies are not just to help one make sense of written material; they apply to education and learning in general.
Building a Community of Learners
Providing a quality education today is fundamentally different than it was a few decades ago. The reason is fairly simple - our world has changed. In order to prepare students for the world they live in today, we have to do things differently. (Read my blog entry "Disruptive Technologies, Ivory Towers, and Literacy in Education", Jan. 2012). I believe we must build a community of learners that coordinates the efforts of the classroom teacher, the parents, and the students. The outline that follows provides some resources that may provide valuable assistance.
I. Teachers
A. Instructional Strategies
1. Differentiated Instruction
a. Toolbox
2. Literacy Strategies
a. Toolbox
3. Instructional Technology
a. Toolbox
b. Lesson building resources
(1) Read Write Think
4. Critical Thinking
a. Toolbox
B. CSCOPE Curriculum
State Standards & CSCOPE
TEA has provided student expectations at each grade level that fall under the following categories:
- Readiness Standards: Those that allow the students to address essential questions.
- Supporting Standards: Knowledge that is a prerequisite to understanding the readiness standard. (You must know your ABC's before you can spell)
- Process Standards: skills that are prerequisite to studying readiness standards. (One must be able to use a triple-beam balance, overflow bucket, and a graduated cylinder before they can calculate the density of a mineral in the lab.
If one follows tha CSCOPE curriculum, then all of the TEKS for a particular subject are addressed before the standardized tests. CSCOPE provides the following resources:
1. YAG
2. IFD
3. Exemplar lessons - 5E Model
a. Essential Questions: Essential questions provide a reason for the lesson.
Essential questions have the following qualities:
- They are the very top of Bloom's taxonomy
- Essential questions spark our curiosity and sense of wonder
- Answers to essential questions cannot be found; they must be invented.
- Answering such questions may take a lifetime
- Essential questions engage students in real-life problem solving.
- Essential questions lend themselves well to multidisciplinary investigations.
Research papers naturally allow students an opportunity to address essential questions.
Research papers would be authentic and not topical.
4. Assessments
II. Parents
A. Parents don't have to be teachers
1. Toolkit
a. Elements of thought
b. Keys to comprehension
B. Parents should be encouraging
III. Students
A. Literacy Skills
Literacy strategies are tools and techniques used to help construct meaning from written or other material.
1. Identify Confusion
2. Habits of good learners
Good readers and writers (learners) monitor their understanding as they learn. They recognize when a lesson is making sense and when it isn't.
a. Activate background knowledge
b. Question the text
c. Draw inferences
d. Determine Importance
e. Use sensory images
f. Synthesize and extend thinking
3. Toolbox
a. An outline for your composition book
b. A visual template
B. Critical Thinking Skills
Thinking is not driven by answers, but by questions. Answers often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue.
Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.
In every field of knowledge, every answer generates more questions, so that the more we know the more we recognize we don't know. It is only people who have little knowledge who take their knowledge to be complete and entire.
A. Instructional Strategies
1. Differentiated Instruction
a. Toolbox
2. Literacy Strategies
a. Toolbox
3. Instructional Technology
a. Toolbox
b. Lesson building resources
(1) Read Write Think
4. Critical Thinking
a. Toolbox
B. CSCOPE Curriculum
State Standards & CSCOPE
TEA has provided student expectations at each grade level that fall under the following categories:
- Readiness Standards: Those that allow the students to address essential questions.
- Supporting Standards: Knowledge that is a prerequisite to understanding the readiness standard. (You must know your ABC's before you can spell)
- Process Standards: skills that are prerequisite to studying readiness standards. (One must be able to use a triple-beam balance, overflow bucket, and a graduated cylinder before they can calculate the density of a mineral in the lab.
If one follows tha CSCOPE curriculum, then all of the TEKS for a particular subject are addressed before the standardized tests. CSCOPE provides the following resources:
1. YAG
2. IFD
3. Exemplar lessons - 5E Model
a. Essential Questions: Essential questions provide a reason for the lesson.
Essential questions have the following qualities:
- They are the very top of Bloom's taxonomy
- Essential questions spark our curiosity and sense of wonder
- Answers to essential questions cannot be found; they must be invented.
- Answering such questions may take a lifetime
- Essential questions engage students in real-life problem solving.
- Essential questions lend themselves well to multidisciplinary investigations.
Research papers naturally allow students an opportunity to address essential questions.
Research papers would be authentic and not topical.
4. Assessments
II. Parents
A. Parents don't have to be teachers
1. Toolkit
a. Elements of thought
b. Keys to comprehension
B. Parents should be encouraging
III. Students
A. Literacy Skills
Literacy strategies are tools and techniques used to help construct meaning from written or other material.
1. Identify Confusion
2. Habits of good learners
Good readers and writers (learners) monitor their understanding as they learn. They recognize when a lesson is making sense and when it isn't.
a. Activate background knowledge
b. Question the text
c. Draw inferences
d. Determine Importance
e. Use sensory images
f. Synthesize and extend thinking
3. Toolbox
a. An outline for your composition book
b. A visual template
B. Critical Thinking Skills
Thinking is not driven by answers, but by questions. Answers often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates a further question does thought continue.
Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.
In every field of knowledge, every answer generates more questions, so that the more we know the more we recognize we don't know. It is only people who have little knowledge who take their knowledge to be complete and entire.