CSLP Demonstration Reflection

While I was afraid at first of how to incorporate a reading into my class that would both help students strengthen their reading comprehension skills and learn new material, my fears were assuaged when I stumbled upon the excerpt online. Although it was at a high reading level (Flesch-Kincaid level 12.6), the short length and bulleted lists meant this reading lent itself to a graphic organizer that would help students with both comprehension and reading strategies and provide a final project that they could look to for a summary of ecosystem services.

With the ten minute time limit, there was not much time for scaffolding, but graphic organizers like the one I used will have a prominent place in my classroom because they help visual learners compress complex topics to one page. Since students have, ostensibly, been exposed to similar organizers all year, they were given a fairly open template so they could use the space that would make the most sense for how they organize ideas. When modelling, I waited until the students were at least familiar with the topic so they could see what I pulled out to include in my organizer. I like this technique because it helps them realize what is important in the reading and worth writing down and what is not important for our purposes.

All in all, I think my CSLP demonstration went quite well. It was nice to have the opportunity to do a trial run  with students who know have little or no background knowledge about ecosystem services (Jerry excluded) and see how they react to a dense reading and graphic comprehension strategy. I think they were all receptive to the topic and the graphic organizer gave them something concrete to grasp while discussing a rather abstract idea.

New Literacies in the Science Classroom

Literacy used to apply to "normal" reading and writing -- texts, articles, books. As the internet permeates every aspect of our lives, becoming technologically literate is just as important as being able to read a book or a newspaper article. For many young people, the internet is their "extended mind" -- they are so adept at navigating the internet that the information on the web is almost an extension of their knowledge. The internet is both a powerful tool for research and an abundance of misinformation. Students need to discern between reputable sources and useless junk if their extended mind is to be of any use.

Vacca, Vacca and Mraz (2011) present a four step procedure for using online resources. The first step is to look for bias on the site. This can be as obvious as being stated the site's title (e.g. the website of a political party) or so subtle that a reader has to assess the interests of the organization that runs the site. Next, the reliability of the site should be assessed. Gathering information about the organization that runs the site and the author of the specific page are good places to start. Even if the site and author check out, the information may not be accurate, so verifying the information with another reputable source is important. Finally, the students should synthesize the information so it is meaningful for the assignment.

As the spread of many viral videos and images illustrate, many adults are not adept at evaluating online sources. Expecting students to do this on their own is expecting too much. Evaluating sources is a skill that needs to be practiced often; modelling it for the class is especially important in order to show students what they should be looking for when evaluating resources.

The internet is an incredible resource for students, but they need to be taught how to use it properly. Sorting through the junk to find reliable information can be difficult. By modelling good techniques for evaluating online resources, teachers can help their students learn good research techniques for class and a valuable life skill as the internet becomes evermore ubiquitous.

Writing for an Audience in Science

The term "audience" in the title of this post is appropriately vague because this reflection is about two chapters in Daniels, Zemelman & Steineke (2007), "Public Writing" and "Writing for Tests and Assessments." In contrast to write to learn activities, these chapters address writing for an audience that includes, but is not limited to, the teacher and the product is a representation of what the student has learned.

Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke define public writing as substantial, planned, authoritative, formal, edited, graded and composed for an audience -- essentially, essays and papers. Papers are an important part of English classes, but where do papers have a place in the science curriculum among the labs, activities, discussion and tests? The short answer is yes, if done properly. The most important part of assigning papers is choice. If a biology teacher is looking to get students to remember the inner workings of a cell, she can assign a paper to be written about the cell. While this ensures students will write about the correct topic, she can have them compare the operations of the cell to something of their choice (e.g. a factory, a city, an ant hill). This element of choice allows students to write about something relevant that interests them, raising the writing quality because they are engaged.

Writing is an invaluable tool to gauge students' comprehension of the content. In an ideal world, multiple-choice and fill in the blank questions assess students' memorization; sometimes recognition or test-taking strategies are enough to get by. Questions that elicit a written response, like short answer or essay questions, are more likely to authentically assess student learning while allowing for higher level thinking skills. Asking students to compare and contrast the water cycle to the rock cycle, for instance, assesses their knowledge of the two cycles (not their recognition of the definition or test taking skills), their critical thinking and their writing skills.

Writing for an audience in science can help a student reinforce their understanding of a topic, as in writing a paper. This is a great way to promote literacy and learning in one assignment. Asking students to write on a test helps create a more authentic assessment that requires use of higher level thinking and a greater understanding of the material.

Teaching Science Vocabulary

To many students, science is the memorization of vocabulary. Of course, science is much more than the regurgitation of definitions, but there is no denying that vocabulary plays a very important role in the science classroom. Not only is there a lot of vocabulary, the vast majority of it is content specific -- photosynthesis, ionic bond, sedimentary rock, and quasar are terms not usually used in English or history classrooms. Because of this specificity and the one subject per year approach, students are essentially learning a new language every year that they take a science class. Effectively teaching vocabulary will help students comprehend the basics and move farther up Bloom's Taxonomy, applying higher-level thinking skills to the content.

One way to teach a large number of vocabulary words is a graphic organizer. A graphic organizer is a visual representation of a group of concepts that shows the relationships between them. Starting with a broad topic, such as living things, the topic can be broken down into subheadings, such as the Domains Eukaryota, Archaea and Prokaryota. Each subsequent term can be further separated into its parts. This hierarchical relationship, a confusing concept to grasp, can be represented on a single sheet of paper thanks to a graphic organizer.

Another way to minimize the rote memorization of definitions are concept of definition word maps. These word maps write the concept being defined in the center and connect descriptive words to the main concept. These words fit under the categories of properties (i.e. what is it like?), illustrations (i.e. what are some examples?) and category (i.e. what is it?). Concept of definition word maps are useful when students have relevant prior knowledge.

There are many ways to teach vocabulary beyond rote memorization. What is so useful about graphic organizers, concept of definition word maps, and many other techniques is that they provide the student with a deeper level of understanding. Instead of regurgitating a book definition without meaning, they are able to define the term based on their experience, creations and associations.

Culturally Responsive Teaching -- Drawing on Experience to Teach Vocabulary

I spent my Field Experience II at HOPE Academy in St. Paul, where almost 90% of the student population is Hmong and over 60% are ESL or ELL students. Of the middle school students I worked with, over half read at or below a third grade level. Teaching at grade level is out of the question because over half of the students will be lost. In a situation like this, it is important to simplify and streamline the vocabulary the students are expected to learn, especially in vocabulary-rich science classes. While the terms themselves may be difficult enough for the student, this difficulty is compounded when students do not know the words used to define the terms. My mentor teacher met frequently with the ELL teacher to rewrite definitions and discuss assignments and assessments.

In addition to written definitions, there are other ways to teach vocabulary. While an ELL student reading at a second grade level might not grasp the concept of rotation as it applies to a tornado, projecting an image of a tornado or showing a video clip might be enough for them to understand what a tornado is. Another way to make associations for students is to draw on their past experiences. High school science teacher Tim Fitzpatrick explains that biology is a great subject to teach in a culturally diverse classroom because it draws "upon [his] students' cultures because of genetics, and the study of plant and animal life in their countries of origin." A diverse group of students with diverse experiences and backgrounds provides a teacher with a wealth of experiences to call upon. Instead of trying to explain a tidal wave or typhoon, invite the student displaced by the disaster to talk about his or her experiences with the class. The personal  association and first-hand account will make for a better learning experience than a PowerPoint slide with a picture.

It should go without saying that teaching in a culturally diverse classroom should include cultural sensitivity. Each student brings valuable, sometimes very unique, experiences and knowledge to the classroom, so every student should be treated as a valued member of the class. Do not be afraid to draw on their applicable experiences when teaching because doing so can provide teaching opportunities and community-building opportunities that would not be available in a "typical" classroom setting.

Writing to Learn: Using KWL in the Science Classroom

As a rule of thumb, people remember 10% of what they read or hear but 70% of what they write. Because of this, writing can be a powerful tool for learning new information -- this is called Writing to Learn (WTL). WTL simultaneously promotes literacy and helps students comprehend new material.

One especially effective WTL activity for the science classroom is KWL, which stands for what the student knows, what the student wants to know, and what the student learned in the lesson. A piece of paper is divided into three sections, one for each part of KWL. This works well in a science classroom because what students write in the K section informs the teacher about any background knowledge and misconceptions the students bring with them into the classroom that can alter how the content is taught. The W section sparks the curiosity of the students; this inquiry-related aspect of the activity assures that the teacher can address any questions that the students are curious about in order to keep them engaged. The L section summarizes what has been learned after the lesson. By keeping these three sections together, the content can be aligned with the K and W sections to make students aware of how their misconceptions and questions were addressed.

I taught my mini KWL lesson in five minutes about genes. I was rushed, but I was able to get through each section of the WTL activity. I elected to have the students work in groups on each section of the KWL activity because I knew that background knowledge was limited. One of my "students," Jerry, had much more background knowledge than the rest of the class because of his educational background. When he shared his K and W sections with the large group, he was given the opportunity to share his expertise with the class. This may happen in a class where a student knows the material before it has been taught; by gauging what each student knows, the prior knowledge of a student like Jerry can be utilized in instruction.

I was able to address a couple misconceptions I ran into in the K section and answer some questions people were curious about that I would not have addressed had we not gone over the W section in class. The L section is useful for the students as a note sheet had this been an actual class. Although I ran into the time limit, I believe the lesson went well. Even within the five minutes allotted, the strength of each aspect of the KWL was exhibited.

Effectively Studying Text

I remember in high school and college I would have a quiz or a test coming up based on a reading in my textbook. It seems straightforward enough -- study these pages and succeed on the assessment. My problem, and I know I was not alone, was not knowing how to study the text. Sometimes I would just read the passages, hoping to passively absorb all the information I would need to know; other times I would take copious notes, miss the forest for the trees, and still not get enough out of the text. Texts can be powerful tools when used effectively, but students need to know how to study a text in order to get anything out of their reading.

For science, a good strategy to help students study text is GRASP, which stands for guided reading and summarizing procedure. After the students read a text, whether in class or at home, students share with the class what they remember; this is recorded by the teacher so everyone can see. Next, each student recollection is addressed with additions or corrections. For example, if a student remembered from an article on the planets that there are nine in our solar system, a correction would be that Pluto has been demoted to a dwarf planet, so there are now eight planets.

Once students have this written down, the teacher models how to categorize the facts. A reading about planets might be organized into planetary movement, the planets themselves, and how beliefs about the planets have changed over the years. From here, the teacher guides the students through the writing of a summary. After modelling GRASP, students should gradually be given more autonomy over the process.

GRASP is an example of an after-reading activity. Since the students read the text silently and the reading was discussed, the teacher has done the bare minimum of reading instruction (Frager & Frye, 2010). A better approach would include a before-reading activity, providing purpose for reading and preparing students for participation in the GRASP activity -- Frager and Frye would give this a B. This should be the minimum a teacher does so students are not left in the dark like I was. An A, according to Frager and Frye, is given when a teacher directs students toward understanding their personal interpretations of the text. This practice has limited application in the sciences. Science textbooks, at least at the 5-12 level, are compilations of accepted facts. Readings about cutting edge research and science-related policy, however, are definitely open to interpretation. Incorporating texts related to research and policy will help students develop their critical thinking and analytic reading skill sets.