Using Text Frames, Signal Words (mortar) and Graphic Organizers to Deepen Understanding EDC448

Objectives Identify strategies for working with ELLs (from the perspective of ELLs) Define and give examples of expository text structures, signal words, text frames, and graphic organizers Describe the ways that attending to these text features can be used to support deeper comprehension of content-area information. Consider how these ideas might apply to/enhance your lesson plan

Strategies for Building Skills in a Second Language Get involved and immerse yourself in activities that use fun and language (cooking, sports) Watch TV with closed captions Pair academic words in English with other languages Use/Teach Cognates and typical confusions when switching from L2 <> L1 Use other students as translators – both ways! Use Google translator and online dictionaries (clarify meaning, pronunciation; repeat; again, both ways!) Ask questions and ask how to say it better (again, both ways!) Connect with teachers who show compassion, respect, patience, have a sense of humor, and keep you engaged

Deepening Understanding with Text Frames, Signal Words, and Graphic Organizers We know setting a purpose and asking questions are useful ways to actively build meaning The questions we pose to ourselves can help set our “frame of mind” for reading particular texts (Buehl A, Ch. 3) This helps practice skills associated with: CCSS #1: Determine key ideas CCSS #6: Assess/analyze author’s point of view Good readers set an internal road map for reading and thinking about key ideas in a text – informed by their frame of mind about a text. We can use these frames of mind to help design higher level thinking questions about a text. We can also teach students to approach texts and develop their own questions using these frames of mind.

Determining How Text is Framed (Buehl A, Ch. 3) A Determining How Text is Framed (Buehl A, Ch. 3) A. Review to determine point of the material B. Leads to sample questions to ask that facilitate learning (for reading/study) That a problem needs solving (Problem/Solution) That certain things result from certain conditions (Cause/Effect or Time Order) That certain things are similar or different (Compare/Contrast) That someone is trying to do something for a specific reason (Goal/Action/Outcome) That a concept needs to be understood (Concept/Definition) That a viewpoint is being argued and supported (Proposition/Support Frame) Good readers set an internal road map for reading and thinking about key ideas in a text – informed by their frame of mind about a text. We can use these frames of mind to help design higher level thinking questions about a text. We can also teach students to approach texts and develop their own questions using these frames of mind.

So what’s the value of text frames? Reading with a purpose: Good readers set an internal road map for reading and thinking about key ideas in a text – informed by their (and the author’s) frame of mind about a text. Teachers can anticipate and use these frames of mind to help design higher level thinking questions about a text (or across texts). We can also teach students to approach texts and develop their own questions using these frames of mind or see relationships using signal words and graphic organizers. And…bonus…we can address CCSS!

Common Core Standards Grades 6-8: Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of ideas (plot or key topic) Grades 9-12: Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses, including whether or not the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging Grades 9-12: (History/SS) Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance explanation or analysis Grades 9-12: (Math/Science) Analyze the structure of the relationship among concepts in a text, including relationships of key terms

How can thinking about how the author structures a text build comprehension? Helps understand how the author makes connections (explicit or implicit) between key ideas using different expository text structures? (CCSS #5: Craft & Structure: Analyze text structure) Signal Words: The connecting words and transitional phrases authors often use to highlight an implied connection between key ideas Graphic Organizers: Visual representations of key ideas and connections/relationships between these ideas

Can You Identify (And Help Your Students Identify) Examples of Common Expository Text Structures? See your handout Enumeration Time Order Comparison-Contrast Cause-Effect Problem Solution First students match up text structure types with each passage – then go through slides, asking them to draw a picture of what the notetaker would look like; then ask them for the signal words that authors use to craft the structure;

JFK Time Order Signal words: Specific dates After It wasn’t until

Freedom of Religion Enumeration Signal words: several points one point finally Enumeration

Castles Compare & Contrast Signal words: for X, not Y in spite of except for Not only

Fire Cause-Effect Signal words: was started by left by before it was… as a result were all that remained

Price of Oil Problem-Solution Signal words: created a serious problem responded to.. by this resulted in they began… and discovered…

Signal Words (the mortar that links the bricks together)

What if there are several text structures in one passage/chapter? Try to determine the author’s main intention and use the author’s frame of mind to organize the key ideas OR Consider the ideas YOU want readers to glean from this text (or text collection) and set up a road map (graphic organizer) that supports thinking toward this goal.

1. Take notes from the chapter… Objective: After watching short video clips and reading Chapter 8, SWBAT identify and give examples of three ways that animals adapt to their environment 1. Take notes from the chapter…

2. Organize notes from the chapter…

3. Visually connect ideas…

Actively Organize/Sort Information to Help Draft Synthesis Objective: After watching short video clips and reading Chapter 8, SWBAT identify and give examples of three ways that animals adapt to their environment Actively Organize/Sort Information to Help Draft Synthesis

Benefits of Organizing Information Visually & Digitally 1. Different r___________ w/ minimal # of w______ 2. Shows r________________ between ideas 3. Think about r____________ between ideas 4. See how the p_______ fit into the w________ 5. Easily add c__________ and organize h______________ to foster v_________________ 6. After, ask students to s______________ the key ideas in own words, using organizer to scaffold. A different representation of ideas with minimal use of words 2. Shows relationship between the ideas 3. Think about the relationship between the ideas 4. See how all of the parts fit into a whole 5. Add color and organize hierarchically to foster visualization 6. Ask students to synthesize

Benefits of Organizing Information Visually & Digitally 1. Different ___________ w/ minimal # of ______ 2. Shows ________________ between ideas 3. Think about ____________ between ideas 4. See how the _______ fit into the ________ 5. Easily add __________ and organize ______________ to foster _________________ 6. After, ask students to ______________ the key ideas in own words, using organizer to scaffold. A different representation of ideas with minimal use of words 2. Shows relationship between the ideas 3. Think about the relationship between the ideas 4. See how all of the parts fit into a whole 5. Add color and organize hierarchically to foster visualization 6. Ask students to synthesize

Biggest Benefit – Connections improve recall and understanding 4 2 9 5 6 3 1 429 – 5631 +/- 7 You remember things better when they are connected and you understand how the parts are related to the whole and to each other!

So, what’s the take away? Teacher manual suggestions (and questions) often found in textbooks are not likely to promote the selection and organization of important text information that helps students see how key concepts are logically connected to form the “big picture” Even then, students need an opportunity to synthesize and integrate the visual representations into their own words And often, texts are not only one structure – they combine many text structures

What about asking students to CREATE their understanding of how ideas are connected?

Students CREATE their own understanding of how ideas are connected

Students CREATE their own understanding of how ideas are connected

But a MATH graphic organizer??

Completed Timeline Sample ?

Homework

Applying to Your Lesson Does your graphic organizer help students generate and recall important information? Does your graphic organizer teach/show HOW the key concepts are related (not just THAT they are related)? Does your lesson require students to summarize or apply the information in their own words AFTER they fill out the graphic organizer?

Quick Write Value Added? How might electronic graphic organizers foster your students’ ability to analyze how the author structures text and/or the relationships between key ideas? How do these practices deepen comprehension of your content?

Homework Part 1 of Theory Into Practice Conference Poster (see handout & wikispace) Read blog post about Teaching Adolescents How to Evaluate the Quality of Online Information (Coiro, 2014)

Wiki: Theory Into Practice Conference Abstract