Summer Literacy Academy Day 2

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Day 2: Inspirational Electronic Tools to Build Reading Comprehension in the Content Areas

LEARNING GOALS

review strategies of proficient readers and make connections between research, instructional practice and assessment (CMT) for comprehension of expository text

develop shared meaning of expository text structures that can enhance student reading and writing development in the content areas

engage in hands-on small group exploration of templates designed to empower students to visualize, organize, summarize and think critically about information gleaned from non-fiction texts

dialogue and network with other educators while exploring customized versions of lesson templates created with Inspiration software to use with your students

use Inspiration to construct an electronic textbook template that will foster higher level comprehension of expository text

Sharing Ideas
Exploring Templates
Constructing Templates

Teachers Networking to Share Ideas

BIOMES
Grade Level: Primary
Ideas by:
Grace Conti, Wendy Schoffner, Tita Williams, Kathie Cietanno

Activity 1:
Summarizing and note taking
Use an Inspiration template to examine the characteristics of two biomes using Biomes from The Cyber Zoo
Purposes of Technology Use: Creating a web template for note taking.

Activity 2:
Identifying similarities and differences
Using animal lists, compare and contrast the animals living in two biomes using Biomes from The Cyber Zoo
Purposes of Technology Use: Use www for a plethora of readily available information.

CIVIL WAR STUDIES
Grade Level: Elem/Middle School
Ideas by:
Betty Greene, Barbara James and Andrea Sadler

Activity 1:
Identifying similarities and differences
Using the website Women in the Civil War, students will examine the role women played in the Civil Women and compare it to women in the military today.
Purposes of Technology Use: Access primary sources

Activity 2:
Nonlinguistic representation
Using photos from the website Women in the Civil War and current publications, the students will compare and contrast roles of women in battle.
Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and current information

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
Grade Level: Elem/Middle School
Ideas by:

Activity 1:
Identifying similarities and differences
Ancient Civilization City-State Virtual Trip (Compare 2 Ancient Civilizations/River Communities; Compare Ancient vs. Modern)
Purposes of Technology Use:

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
Grade Level: Elem/Middle School
Ideas by:
Ms. Boissevain, Mr. Boushee, Ms. Costello and Ms. Texidor

Activity 1:
Identifying similarities and differences
Examine photos and reports of the six cultures, Summarize the similarities and difference shown in the photographs and reports about the different cultures.
Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and reports from students’ research that from a variety of ancient American Cultures listed on the web

Activity 2:
Nonlinguistic representation
Students use information from the culture reports to create a diarama, drawing or poster depicting the similarities and differences of the cultures.
Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and current information

DATA & GRAPHS
Grade Level: 5/6
Ideas by:
Ron, Smidgie, Dianne and Karen

Activity 1:
Cooperative Learning
Students work in pairs to play the Tour de Math game.
Students will improve automaticity of math facts.
Purposes of Technology Use: Motivate students by using a game format with a learning goal to improve math facts.

Activity 2:
Nonlinguistic representation
Students will collect data on a topic. Students will create a bar graph to represent the data. Then students will summarize some of the similarities and differences between other student bar graphs.
Purposes of Technology Use: To use a graphic program to create a bar graph.

DATA & GRAPHS
Grade Level: 5/6
Ideas by:
Claire and Lucy

Activity 1:
Cooperative Learning
Survey the class for favorite color. Go to The Graphing Website and scroll to “Select Type of Graph.” Choose pie chart.
Enter the data and create chart.
Purposes of Technology Use: Ease and accuracy in creating pie graphs.

Readability Issues

What is the estimated reading level of the text? Cut and paste a portion of text into MS Word. Make sure readability statistics feature is turned on (Tools: Spelling & Grammar tab: check "Show readability statistics"). Then, highlight text you want to check in Word, choose Tools: Spelling and Grammar: OK...read the Readability estimated by Flesh Kincaid Grade Level.

Flesh Reading Ease Score: Rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70. Calculates a formula using avg. sentence length and avg. number of syllables per word.

TextAloud MP3 Software (free 30 day download; $24.95 to purchase)

CNN Newsstories are current news stories accompanied by a range of multimedia interactive activities (video clip, sound clips, read text online) to build reading comprehension skills for older students.

Locating Webquests

Bernie Dodge's Webquest Matrix

List of Webquests

SCORE Cyberguides

Use Google and use search term webquest + "your topic"

Interesting Sites We Found to Explore

Statestandards.com

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES

THINKING:
Linking strategies of good readers to research, theory & assessment

Keene & Zimmerman (1997)

Marzano, Pickering & Pollock (2001)

Text Frames (Buehl, 2001)

Judith Langer

Benjamin Bloom

CMT Comprehension Strands

INTERACTING:
Recognizing text structures

Comparison-contrast

Problem-solution

Cause-effect

Enumeration

Time Order

CONSTRUCTING:
Electronic textbook mapping

Vocabulary

Sorting Ideas

Linking to Writing

Main Ideas & Details

Thinking Critically

Examples of Templates Created in Inspiration to Build Content Area Comprehension Skills

Companion Activity to Farmers Organize Textbook Chapter:
A template to engage students in actively comprehending context and structure of expository text

Building Background Knowledge or Reviewing Concepts: A Lesson About Educating Girls

Mapping Textbook Structures and Bridging to Writing: Risks for Girls

Sorting main ideas and details: Native American Outline from Textbook

Activate background knowledge and visualize: King Tut Vocabulary

Connecting to Literature with Maniac Magee (by Jerry Spinelli)

CONSTRUCTING TEMPLATES

Afternoon Activity: Traveling Terrain: Comprehending NonFiction Text on the Internet

Compare the expository text features of printed textbooks with online websites. What are the similarities and differences?
See more from Reading on the Internet: Expanding our Understanding of Reading Comprehension to Encompass New Literacies (written by Julie Coiro)

Afternoon Activity: Construct a Template for a Lesson to Use with Students
Background Reading: SEDL Building Reading Proficiency at the Secondary Level

Continue to Day 3

Return to Homepage

BIOMES Grade Level: Primary	Ideas by: Grace Conti, Wendy Schoffner, Tita Williams, Kathie Cietanno
Activity 1: Summarizing and note taking	Use an Inspiration template to examine the characteristics of two biomes using Biomes from The Cyber Zoo Purposes of Technology Use: Creating a web template for note taking.
Activity 2: Identifying similarities and differences	Using animal lists, compare and contrast the animals living in two biomes using Biomes from The Cyber Zoo Purposes of Technology Use: Use www for a plethora of readily available information.

CIVIL WAR STUDIES Grade Level: Elem/Middle School	Ideas by: Betty Greene, Barbara James and Andrea Sadler
Activity 1: Identifying similarities and differences	Using the website Women in the Civil War, students will examine the role women played in the Civil Women and compare it to women in the military today. Purposes of Technology Use: Access primary sources
Activity 2: Nonlinguistic representation	Using photos from the website Women in the Civil War and current publications, the students will compare and contrast roles of women in battle. Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and current information

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS Grade Level: Elem/Middle School	Ideas by:
Activity 1: Identifying similarities and differences	Ancient Civilization City-State Virtual Trip (Compare 2 Ancient Civilizations/River Communities; Compare Ancient vs. Modern) Purposes of Technology Use:

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS Grade Level: Elem/Middle School	Ideas by: Ms. Boissevain, Mr. Boushee, Ms. Costello and Ms. Texidor
Activity 1: Identifying similarities and differences	Examine photos and reports of the six cultures, Summarize the similarities and difference shown in the photographs and reports about the different cultures. Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and reports from students’ research that from a variety of ancient American Cultures listed on the web
Activity 2: Nonlinguistic representation	Students use information from the culture reports to create a diarama, drawing or poster depicting the similarities and differences of the cultures. Purposes of Technology Use: Access images and current information

DATA & GRAPHS Grade Level: 5/6	Ideas by: Ron, Smidgie, Dianne and Karen
Activity 1: Cooperative Learning	Students work in pairs to play the Tour de Math game. Students will improve automaticity of math facts. Purposes of Technology Use: Motivate students by using a game format with a learning goal to improve math facts.
Activity 2: Nonlinguistic representation	Students will collect data on a topic. Students will create a bar graph to represent the data. Then students will summarize some of the similarities and differences between other student bar graphs. Purposes of Technology Use: To use a graphic program to create a bar graph.

DATA & GRAPHS Grade Level: 5/6	Ideas by: Claire and Lucy
Activity 1: Cooperative Learning	Survey the class for favorite color. Go to The Graphing Website and scroll to “Select Type of Graph.” Choose pie chart. Enter the data and create chart. Purposes of Technology Use: Ease and accuracy in creating pie graphs.