week+of+nov+3+and+5+(for+lit+class)

As we continue to think about the ways we might engage readers who will be in our secondary English / Language Arts classrooms, this week focuses on how we might make our own reading processes more visible for our students. Today, for instance, focuses on one such activity, the DRTA (directed reading and thinking activity). Explained in greater detail in today's reading, Chapter 3 of //Strategic Reading//, I will lead us through the "Old Horse" reading from the chapter, and then we will begin to consider how we might create our own DRTA activity with other readings.
 * November 3**

1. Logistics -
 * I need to collect slips from each of you regarding Nov 17 and our trip to see our writing partners at Fairmont.
 * Thursday, we'll preview the poetry collection Something Permanent and talking about the teaching of poetry (articles for Thursday, Morrell adn Duncan-Andrade's, as well as Sutton's will be sent via email)

2. DRTA of "Old Horse" Goals: to help students personally connect to the text; to use character clues to understand their contribution to story meaning
 * 1) Frontloading (activating background; building personal connections)
 * 2) Quick write and pair/share: What are or were some of your nicknames or what are some of your friends' nicknames? What do nicknames indicate about people? How can nicknames be both positive or negative?
 * 3) How does someone act who is "patient," "brazen," "sarcastic?" Which adjective best describes the person you would want as a mentor?
 * 4) Previewing and purpose setting (helping readers achieve story entry, appropriate stance, and begin meaning construction)
 * 5) Predict: Why do you think the students call their Algebra teacher Old Horse?
 * 6) Reading the first two paragraphs of Old Horse. What is your initial impression of Old Horse? Would you want him for a teacher? Why or why not?
 * 7) What do the names Jenkins and Rabbit suggest about the two boys in the story? How do you think these two will get along with Old Horse?

[Rules of Notice (what authors depend on you to notice): Names, first impressions, ... ] [Rules of Rupture (when something changes you have to explain the change): time, setting, character change, emotional change, ...]

Guided Reading
 * 1) Protocol:
 * 2) As you read, write down in the margins the things you are thinking, feeling, seeing, doing, connecting to
 * 3) Respond to the underlined phrases. how do these phrases help us to understand the characters and illuminate story meaning?
 * 4) As you read, try to build meaning about the following:
 * 5) How is this story about relationships and how relationships change?
 * 6) What is effective and ineffective about Old Horse's "teaching?"
 * 7) Why do you think Old Horse changed his treatment of Rabbit? How does this demonstrate new information about Old Horse?
 * 8) What points are being made about the theme of relationships and the ways we relate to one another changes with new details or over time?
 * 9) How do the characters and their relationships help to make these points?
 * 10) Discussion and Re-reading
 * 11) List margin comments and search for themes
 * 12) Revisit guided reading questions

Taking a look at Designing our own DRTA protocol (p. 82-83 of //SR//). Using example from //Nightjohn// or //The Outsiders// in small groups. The goal here is to become familiar with the protocol and to consider what we notice as we read with a theme in mind.

November 5

Small groups to design our own protocol for a DRTA from Nightjohn or The Outsiders excerpts. [note: We only got this far on November 5. Great discussion around each of these texts and the DRTA process.]

Small groups to examine Morrell's chapter and the Sutton chapter.
 * Structure of this kind of article/chapter (common ground, problem, response, background/history, keeping the promise section, to be sure section, new significance, call for next steps
 * Key terms: how are they defining and using the term "literacy" and/or "literacy event" and "poetry" / "spoken performance"
 * Identifying their pedagogy ...
 * What do they want students to know (about poetry, about poets)?
 * Key concepts they want students to know about poetry?
 * How do they want students to view poets?
 * What do they want students to be able to do (as readers, as participants in a literate community)?
 * What reading strategies do they make visible to students?
 * What do they say are the features of an "analysis?"
 * How do their students learn these things? (What do students do?)
 * How do they know if their students have learned? (What are their assessments? When do they assess?)

For next time ... respond to at least two other blog posts. Read and be ready to discuss Something Permanent. How might you use this collection of poems in your unit? What might you want your students to learn about poetry, about the role of the poet/of poems, and about the real life concepts addressed in the poetry?