1. The mission of the Parkway School District is to ensure all students are capable, curious and confident learners who understand and respond to the challenges of an ever-changing world.

2. EQ: How does our curriculum empower students to read critically and connect their reading to their lives?  Who Am I as a Reader?  Independent Reading (Fiction)  Independent Reading (Non-fiction)  Six Traits of an Effective Reader

3.  Pre-assessment common assessment  Student Survey  Examine data  Set trimester goals  Self-reflect during unit  End of Unit  Common Assessment  Performance Assessment – Students reflect on their learning from the unit.  “I CAN” Evidence Portfolios

4. Percentage Rank on Standardized Tests Minutes of Per DayEstimated Number of Words Read per Year 9890.74,733,000 9040.42,357,000 7021.71,168,000 5012.9601,000 203.1134,000 101.651,000

5. Independent Reading (fiction) It is a valuable investment to provide students with choice reading and a regularly scheduled time during the block.  Improves achievement scores  Builds background knowledge  Builds vocabulary  Develops recreational reading habit  Reinforces lesson skills of the unit

6. Focus on: Realizing Context Response 1 Range of Pages Read: __________________ Directions: Be sure to use examples and details from the text to support your response. You must include page numbers/quotes to receive full credit. You may write your answers below, or type out your answers and attach them to this page. Please write in paragraph form. 1. Write a five sentence summary of this section. (R1Hi) 2. Focus on….Context Describe the setting (when/where the story takes place). Then, explain what affect the setting has on the story thus far. Choose two of the following to answer in paragraph form: Does the setting encourage a certain mood? Is the setting essential for the plot? Is the setting easy to relate to? How does the time period of the novel affect the characters’ attitudes, thoughts, and actions? (R2Ca, R2Cb, R2Ch) REMEMBER to include specific examples from the text. Include page numbers, please.

7. Directions: Be sure to use examples and details from the text to support your response. You must include page numbers/quotes to receive full credit. You may write your answers below, or type out your answers and attach them to this page. Please write in paragraph form. 1. Write a five sentence summary of this section. (R1Hi) 2. Focus on…Interpretation Fill out the chart below based on the problems and conflicts you notice in your Independent Reading Book. Remember to include page numbers for support! (R1Gb, R1Gc) What questions did you have while reading this text? What information was missing that you felt you needed? (R1Gc, R1Gb) What are the clues or evidence you have located that address your questions and help you fill in the missing information? Be sure to include text evidence. (R1Hf) Using your own background knowledge, along with the clues that you found in the story, what predications can you make? (R1Hc, R1Hf) How does this information change your predictions for the story? (R1He)

8. Independent Expository Reading (Article of the Week)  Kelly Gallagher states, “Reading numerous real-world articles builds our students’ knowledge capital so that when they graduate they will have a better chance of comprehending our world.”  Requires scaffolding before students become more independent. This section consists of article, word study, text analysis, and quiz.  Builds students’ understanding of the world around them, their vocabulary, their ability to read and mark text and use appropriate graphic organizers, as well as building their capacity in answering constructed response questions.

9. Girl, 12, slugged back at Phillies slugger Analysis Name ________________________________________________________ Directions: Show evidence of a close reading. (You must have notes in the margin that show your thinking). Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of loose leaf paper. Your answers should be approximately one-two pages long: Summarize the article in a one paragraph summary. Use some of the vocabulary words in your summary. Create a graphic organizer to compare and contrast Ryan Howard and Jennifer Valdivia. Be sure to label your graphic organizer. How might this article be different if it were written from Ryan Howard’s point of view? Use details and examples from the text to support your answer. Evaluate the problem solving process that Jennifer and her family used to get the ball back. Describe the steps she took, and discuss if you agree or if you think she should have solved the problem in a different way.

10.  Learning Targets for Unit 1  Grade 6: Establishing Comprehension  Grade 7: Developing Interpretation  Grade 8: Integrating for Synthesis  Six Traits of an Effective Reader  Framework for teaching and assessing critical thinking skills of reading that build upon one another.  Traits are hierarchical, or increase in difficulty.  Traits are cumulative, or each level builds on and subsumes the ones below.

11. Rigor: Rigor is the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging. Rigor is a curriculum goal. By making it a goal, we are asserting that the ability to manage difficult content is a fundamental skill all students need, in school and out. (Teaching What Matters Most by Strong, Silver, and Perini, 2001)  Complex  Reading critically requires a student to interact with overlapping ideas.  Provocative  When students read they are conceptually challenged; they deal with dilemmas and are engaged to indentify problems; they conduct inquiry, and take a position  Ambiguous  Students’ reading often compels them to deal with information that is packed with multiple meanings that must be examined and sorted into patterns of significance.  Personally or emotionally challenging  Students can be personally challenged by examining their sense of how the world works each time they are asked to read.

12.  Examine Six Traits of an Effective Reader in relation to cognitive and affective domains.  What do you notice?  Do you see the rigor build?  Examine “The American Slurp” lesson plan and Interactive Reading Response

13.  Grade 6 – Establishing Comprehension  Text – “The American Slurp”  Story deals with culture shock as a Chinese teenage girl deals with the differences between her culture and the American culture that is new to her.  Purpose of text choice: 6 th graders can relate as they are experiencing the culture shock of middle school.

14.  Learning Target GLEs:  R2Gb: I can aid my comprehension by marking text.  R2Hh: I can paraphrase  As part of the reading process, teacher build critical thinking as students think more deeply about the story.  R1Gd: I can infer.  R2He: I can respond personally explaining the relevance the text plays in understanding myself  R2Cd:I can identify cause and effect.  R2Cf: I can identify point of view

15.  What do you notice about the integration of cognitive and affective domain through the Six Traits of an Effective Reader?  How do the Enduring Understanding and Essential Question tie to the cognitive and affective domain?  EU: The way I choose to think about the inevitable ups and downs in life affect the way I respond to new experiences.  EQ: How is being a member of the learning community an important part of my growth, both as a reader and as a person?

16.  The goal of teaching should be to provide students the ability to use the stuff of the subject, not just learning the stuff.  The targeted learning of the lesson is marking text and paraphrasing.  Using higher level critical thinking skills along with awareness and growth in attitudes, emotion, and feeling help students better define their values and beliefs.  That is using the stuff of the subject not just learning the stuff. This ties back to the EU and EQ.

17.  Interactive Reading Response is intended to guide learning through the traits. It is NOT a packet for students to complete at the end of a story. As noted in lessons, student interaction and class discussion are critical to student understanding. Student ‘s reflect on the day’s learning through a few questions and teacher use of this formative feedback will guide next steps based on students’ levels of understanding.  By integrating assessment with instruction teachers are provided with a continual diagnosis of student strengths and challenge areas. Students are challenged to become active participants and examine their own belief systems and values through the learning.

18.  Overview of Traits – Designed to give teachers a “Six Traits in a Nutshell” understanding.  Reading the Lines  Decoding Conventions  Establishing Comprehension  Reading Between the Lines  Realizing Context  Developing Interpretation  Reading Beyond the Lines  Critiquing for Evaluation  Integrating for Synthesis

19.  What did you learn?  What questions do you still have?  How do the Six Traits connect to the essential question:  How does our curriculum empower students to read critically and connect their reading to their lives?

20.  The work continues...  Can the Six Traits Posters for teachers be turned into Posters for student use?  Please share with me any ideas you develop.  Share ideas on the forum in Moodle.  As these are developed, they will be posted on the OCG  Reflect: Should the posters be the same for 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th or different?

21.  Unit 1: Introduction and exploration – more teacher directed  Unit 3: Developing critical thinking skills through Shared Inquiry  Unit 4: Developing critical thinking skills through non-fiction reading  Unit 7: Critical Literacy: Focusing on Reading Beyond the Lines – Evaluation and Synthesis and writing a critical response to literature  This unit is currently being written. Look for it late this summer.

22.  The mission of the Parkway School District is to ensure all students are capable, curious and confident learners who understand and respond to the challenges of an ever-changing world.  How does our curriculum empower students to read critically and connect reading to their lives?

23.  Which of these do we develop through this first unit?  able to transfer their prior learning to new demands, in and out of school fully prepared for their next educational challenges creative, thoughtful and effective problem solvers increasingly self-directed, skilled and persistent as learners literate and critical consumers of information and ideas articulate speakers and effective listeners acting out of a strong sense of personal, social and civic responsibility always seeking to understand the views, values and cultures of others working skillfully with others to achieve common goals pursuing a personal direction based on an understanding of their talents and interests