SKYLINE NEXT

Madelaine Love & Courtney Morgan

Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Literacy

Cross-curricular

• Education is moving away from “stove pipe” curricula

• Education is moving to integrating popular culture, multimedia, and new technology into curricula

• Education is moving to the blurring of boundaries among content areas

Educational Relevance

• Students see no connection among their varying classes.

• Students number one question “When will I ever use it again?”

• Students don’t see how knowledge interrelates & don’t apply what they know.

• Teachers don’t show the connections among content areas.

• Teachers may not know how to answer the question.

• Rarely do teachers “blur the boundaries between content areas.”

Cooperation

• Teachers must collaborate to help students see the “big picture.”

• Teachers must cooperate to show the importance of education to the students’ live now and in the future.

• Teachers must buy into the idea of collegiality to truly educate the modern student.

Collaboration

• Students’ time is used more efficiently if teachers sit down and make schedules for collaboration.

• Departments must list and share their course standards and identify overlapping objectives.

• Develop curriculum outlines.

“Building” Connections

• Breaking boundaries among content areas.

• Sharing lesson plans.

• Developing thematic units across the curriculum.

• Culturally neutral school (posters, language, literature, extra-curricular events, etc.)

“Building” Connections (cont.)

• Writing across the curricula using 6-traits or 6-traits plus 1(presentation)

• English teachers should not be responsible for teaching reading in science, math, chemistry, history, etc.

• English teachers should not be responsible for teaching writing in science, math, chemistry, history, etc.

“RECONCEPTUALIZE”

• All subject area teachers must be proficient in the language and use of 6-traits or 6 traits plus 1 writing across the curriculum assessment.

• All subject area teachers must use a common note taking format, e.g. two-column or Cornell.

• All subject area teachers must agree to follow the MLA style for all written assignments.

• All subject area teachers need to “coordinate their instruction to reinforce important strategies and concepts.”

Professional development

• Ongoing

• Long-term

• Systemic

Not just for classroom teachers, but for

1. administrators

2. librarians

3. resource room personnel

Academic + PTE

• Collaborate with the Professional/Technical teachers

• Use the state’s 6-cluster model

• More “real world” classrooms

• Community involvement

Extended Time for Literacy

• Two-four hours of literacy connected learning DAILY.

• Text-centered reading and effective writing practice.

• Not just language arts, but all other subjects as well.

• Consistency in literacy instruction

“TUNED IN”

• Not limited to language arts classrooms • Student choice

– Literary circles or book clubs (self-selected readings).– Research topics– Relevancy to the now– Increased interaction among students– Text-based collaborative learning– Topic diversity– High-interest and low-difficulty texts– Multiple ability levels– Technology component– Intensive writing

ALITERACY

• Students who can read but choose not to

• Now make up a growing number of population– First, skills become diminished– Second, the nation faces a division between

“the knowledgeable elite and the masses”

Types of Aliterates

• Dormant: Like to read but find no time to read

• Uncommitted: “A book-at-a-time” reader

• Unmotivated: Have a negative attitude because they don’t value reading or students who like to read

• Unskilled: Have a negative attitude because it is so difficult for them

“Writing to Learn”• Writing improves reading comprehension

• Writing improves vocabulary

• Writing improves grammar

• Writing improves spelling

• Writing improves modes of argumentation

• Writing must move out of the classroom into “real world” applications

Writing’s Roles

• First, writing develops organizational skills and uses the skills and processes of grammar, punctuation, word usage, etc.

• Second, writing is a means to deepen a student’s knowledge

• The goal should be:– To move students from retelling information to

transforming information

Our Writing Proposition

• Move from persuasive writing to expository

• Reinstate the DWA

• Add a writing component to all District ECAs

• Writing required in every subject area

Our Writing Proposition Cont.

• Not limited to language arts classrooms

• All subject areas should use same assessment rubrics

• Assessment rubrics should allow for self-evaluation and peer-editing

Ongoing Summative Assessment

• Students– Track students throughout the school year– Progress-monitoring systems– Assessments should go beyond state

assessments– Need to demonstrate progress specific to

school and program goals– Sharing of assessments in a timely fashion for

planning instruction

The NEXT Challenge

• Student literacy must be a shared vision—not just for the English teachers.

• Recognize the changing student population and adjust curricula for students’ success in the real world.

• Add the Gates Foundations 3Rs Solution– Rigor– Relevance– Relationships

Works Cited

Beers, Kylene. When Kids Can’t Read. Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH. 2003.

Biancarosa, G.,and C. E. Snow. Reading Next. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alliance for Excellent Education: Washington, D. C. 2007.

Graham, Steve, and Dolores Perin. Writing Next. A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Alliance for Excellent Education: Washington, D.C. 2007.

Spiraling into the Future