GRADE LEVEL MINUTES – Grade Seven

Oct. 10, 2002

Bellingham School District

 

OUTCOME:   

Teachers will have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with peers in order to incorporate the elements of the District Social Studies, Health, and Literacy Curriculum and strategies for good instruction into their lessons and units of study.

 

AGENDA TOPICS

 

I.                    Our Vision of Learning and Implications for Good Teaching

 

What is our theory of learning? 

v      Learners actively reflect and ask questions about their world

v      Learners construct conceptual frameworks by making connections, seeing relationships, considering other perspectives, and

v      Learners have preconceived ideas about their world and continually confirm and correct these ideas

 

           What are the implications for teaching?

v      Teachers need to provide demonstrations of active inquiry by asking questions that expert performers/learners ask about specific disciplines.  (What questions do mathematicians ask? What questions do readers ask?  What questions do writers ask?)

v      Teachers provide opportunities for students to learn about a subject or topic in depth.  Ample time is allowed for students to grasp the big ideas, to reflect, to investigate, to question, to see relationships, and to construct new meaning.

v      Teachers expect students to perform the new learning in authentic situations demonstrating the skills and knowledge as outlined in district and state standards.

 

II.                 Literacy, Learning, and Teaching

 

This theory of learning connects with the Conditions For Learning found in draft of the Middle School Common Practices and Core Understandings for Literacy.  Teachers looked at each of the six practices and listed current teaching strategies that make the practice come alive in the classroom.

 

Ideas and Materials suggested:

Socrates Café – Susan Chase – Foster and Joel Gillman

Classrooms that Work by Marzano

 

CONSISTENT GUIDELINES FOR LITERACY AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL

COMMON PRACTICES AND CORE UNDERSTANDINGS

 

I.                     Teachers will develop readers who read for enjoyment.

·         Give Students time to read books of their own choosing

·         Use Readers Theatre

·         Model enjoyment of reading: Read Alouds, Sharing, Read when students are reading independently

·         Provide a book rich environment and a classroom library

·         Help students find the right book for them both interest and level

·         Help student find out how to get books: book orders, library

·         Provide opportunities for students to share books: peer sharing, book lists, ads for books

 

II.                   Teachers will develop students who read a variety of text independently.

·         Require reading in different genres by using:

o        Reading Wheels

o        Readers’ Workshop

o        Book Talks

o        Literature Circles

o        Assigned Reading in Prentice Hall, Day Book, other Text

 

III.                 Teachers will develop students who select appropriate text independently to meet a purpose.

·         Develop a pre-research purpose sheet that contain general questions for all students

·         Survey students to establish current interests

·         Hold Book Chats

·         Teach library research skills

·         Teach students how to skim texts and to use text organization and features index, table of contents, blurbs) to select appropriate text

 

IV.                 Teachers will develop students who use reading strategies to construct meaning, support thinking and make connections between the text, self and the world.

·         Stress the importance of prior knowledge and how to confirm or reject based on reading

·         Use KWL to challenge incorrect prior knowledge

·         Emphasize comprehension strategies by modeling questions that cause predicting, confirming, correcting, anticipating. (The 5 Ws from Journalism)

·         Use a variety of reading strategies: Self Assessment and setting a purpose for reading in both informational and fictional text.

·         Help kids think about visualizing as they read by using the “mental movie” process

 

V.                   Teachers will develop students who extend responses beyond the text through sharing, analyzing, and synthesizing and applying understanding in a variety of media. 

·         Use the on line research projects and teach the research cycle

·         Provide graphic organizers to collect information and analyze an aspect of the text, and author’s craft

·         Focus on using the author’s words to support ideas and opinions

·         Use a variety of materials to provide choice for students

·         Scaffold reader response that go from the knowledge level to application to evaluation.

·         Vary response modes so that students have experiences with many ways to show what they understand (see Readers Handbook and Strategies that Work for examples)

·         Emphasize the difference in how answers are determined (literal - right in the text, interpretive - between the reader and the author, and evaluative - just the reader’s opinion)

 

VI.                 Teachers will develop students who take responsibility for their reading.

·         Show that reading is fun and worthwhile

·         Give students choice of what they want to read

·         Set the purpose for reading before any reading activity begins.  Ask the students to set the purpose: Individual goal setting for their own reading

·         Allow students to discuss their reading with the peers: Spontaneous Book Shares, letters to peers, evaluations of books, group sharing on themes

·         Keep Book Logs

·         Model questioning strategies to student and then expect and inspect student to question what they are reading

·         Provide class time for students to read in their own selections

·         Model metacognitive thinking for students an d then expect them to use these thinking skills

 

 

III.                Backwards Design – Starting with the big ideas to be learned and describing the

            Performance expected from the students.

               

Sample units for social studies were developed and shared by the participants.   These drafts will be sent to each teacher and may be further developed at future grade level meetings.   The template will be sent electronically to each grade level teacher.

 

Excellent Video: Islam: Empire of Faith

 

III.               Questions

 

Teachers posted questions throughout the day.  See attached for Q/A sheet.

 

1.        Can we get music tapes and videos of different cultures?

2.        What are strategies to teach thinking specific to Middle School?

3.        Can we make choices about all the activities in the Western Movement?

4.        Why was Islam selected for 7th grade?

5.        What is the budget for field trips for 7th grade and how do we access these funds?

6.        Are all 7th grades teaching skills such as compare and contract and poetry interpretation?

 

 

IV.              Next Steps

 

Teachers posted suggestions and topics for future grade level meetings.

Topics:

·         Time for idea sharing

·         Writing strategies

·         Brainstorm actual lesson ideas and potential resources

·         Share units we’ve used this year and fine tune social studies and language arts units at a later meeting

·         Literacy support ideas: analysis, interpretation, and synthesis

·         Q/A time

·         Share successful strategies for social studies

·         Developing units with others at my grade level

·         Preference of one more whole day vs. two half days

·          

Volunteer teachers will develop a plan for the next meeting in March.

·         Stephanie George

·         Eric Brown

·         Nadine Gfroerer

 

ATTENDEES 

Fairhaven: Stephanie George, Kim Wickers, Susan Foster, Joel Gillman Kulshan: Glenda Everett, Eric Brown, Hope Hendon, Alisa Sacks, Marion Hiller Shuksan: Ariel Everhart  Whatcom: Jennifer Fox, Mike Owens, Sara Strommer, Nadine Gefroerer, Jane Palmer Central Services: Edie Holcomb