Overview
In this lesson, students use a Discussion Web to engage in meaningful discussions. Students work in groups to answer the question, "Are people equal?," analyzing all sides of the response, forming a consensus, and presenting it to the class. Students then read "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and use supporting details to complete another Discussion Web that looks at whether people are equal in the story. Groups form a consensus, present their position to the class, and engage in class discussion. Free-writes, a persuasive essay, computer activities, and an informal class debate help students extend and apply knowledge.
From Theory to Practice
Alvermann, D.E. (1991). The Discussion Web: A graphic aid for learning across the curriculum. The Reading Teacher, 45, 92–99.
Buehl, D. (2001). Discussion Web. In Classroom strategies for interactive learning, 2nd Ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
The Discussion Web:
Is a strategy designed to encourage all students to participate actively in class discussions and to think critically.
Gives students a framework for evaluating both sides of an issue or question. Students are encouraged to process opposing evidence and information before asserting viewpoints, giving them an opportunity to refine their thinking.
Requires students to work in groups and helps to develop cooperative learning skills.
Incorporates all four of the language arts (reading, writing, speaking, and listening).
Functions as a prereading, postreading, or prewriting strategy.
Helps instill in students the desire to read complex material by providing them with a framework to analyze difficult texts.
Develops students who are active, purposeful, and independent learners.
Student Objectives
Students will
Develop critical thinking skills by analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing various sides of an issue to form a conclusion
Practice working cooperatively in groups
Apply specific comprehension strategies, such as activating prior knowledge, making predictions, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, and examining different viewpoints
Practice supporting conclusions by writing a well-organized paragraph
Instructional Plan
Preparation
1. Decide which students will work together in groups of four. Students will remain in the same groups for the entire lesson.
2. Make copies for each student of "Harrison" Bergeron", the Discussion Web (these should be two-sided with the web printed on both sides of the page), the Concept of Definition Map, and each of the materials listed under "Checklist and rubrics" in the Resources section.
3. Create transparencies of the Discussion Web and Concept of Definition Map.
4. To learn more about discussion webs and concept of definition webs, visit the websites listed in the Teacher resources section.
The final, and possibility most challenging, component of the UDL is engagement. The chapter discusses leveled reading applications, such as Classical Comics and Start-to-Finish, encouraging readers of all levels to be active in the reading process. Interactive whiteboards are discussed as well as they can present information that can be interacted with, saved for further reference, printed for students in need and is user friendly. The chapter ends promoting the UDL principles and the technology that can help a teacher foster this environment into his or her own classroom and teaching profile.
Critical thinking provides an opportunity to explore the positive and negative sides of an argument for and against an idea, theory or notion. Reasoning and perception is attuned to personal impression and provides outcome to belief and opinion.
To develop a variety of close reading activities that can be used in kindergarten and first grade classes
The two lesson plans evaluated for this assignment are SIOP Lesson Plan Kindergarten by Theresa Nichols Hoffman-Boston Elementary School, Arlington, VA with topic: Basic needs of living things Length of Lesson: Two 40-minute class periods and SIOP Lesson Plan Grades 9 – 12 – ESL/ELA by Marybelle Marrero-Colón Professional Development Specialist, Center for Applied Linguistics with topic: Introduction to Critical Lens Essay Length of Lesson: Two 45-minute class periods.
8) Model rubric introduced on interwrite board so students will know not only where we are headed but ...
General education should not only include courses that are logical for economic cultivation such as mathematics and science, but also courses on logic, global relations, and art mediums which will produce citizens that will be able to act with the knowledge and ability to behave with Socratic ideals that essential to a healthy democracy. In Not For Profit, Nussbaum claims the simulation of students “to think and argue for themselves is valuable for democracy” (48). Nussbaum provides discussion course examples from liberal arts universities and wishes to instill these critical thinking habits into other education systems around the United States. Discussion based critical thinking provides students with the ability to argue their point of view and explore the strengths and weaknesses not only of their own arguments but of their peers who may have expertise in another discipline.
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies that work: teaching comprehension for understanding and engagement (2nd Ed.). Portalnd, MA: Stenhouse Publishers.
These ideas are easily relevant to the online setting. Teachers must refocus their thinking away from individual mastery of the resources. The focus should be instead on teaching the process of information unearthing within the learner's own related meaning.
Comprehension is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience, information in the text, and the stance the reader takes in relationship to the text (Pardo, 2004). As educators, we should use strategies that will build student comprehension. These strategies are called before, during, and after reading strategies. Before strategies activate the students’ prior knowledge and set a purpose for reading. During strategies help the students make connections, monitor their understanding, generate questions, and stay focused. After strategies provide students the opportunity to summarize, question, reflect, discuss, and respond to text (“Classroom Strategies,”
... for teachers to choose materials that will hook students and motivate them to engage in their own learning. Teachers should provide multiple learning opportunities in which stu¬dents can experience success and can begin to build confidence in their ability to read, write, and think at higher level. By connecting strategies for learning, such as searching, compre¬hending, interpreting, composing, and teaching content knowledge, students are given the opportunity to succeed in their education. These elements include: fundamental skills such as phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and other word analysis skills that support word reading accuracy; text reading fluency; strategies for building vocabulary; strategies for understanding and using the specific textual features that distinguish different genres; and self-regulated use of reading comprehension strategies.
This strategy involves the reader in thinking about their own thinking and emphasises the reader’s responsibility to determine if the text makes sense and to take steps to clarify when comprehension fails (Scanlon et al., 2010). For example, teacher will monitor learners’ comprehensive when reading by asking them to interpret or summarize information presented to them in the text. Teachers need to think about the questions that learners are asking and noting which parts of the text do not seem to be
There are many different methods of teaching students to understand the meaning of a text and what the students read. Close reading is a common method teacher’s use when teaching the text’s meaning. A close read is when the student is required to develop a deep understanding of an informational or literacy text by discovering the hidden clues within a text about the author’s purpose and characters. After the student has gone through the close read method, it is expected students figure out how to gain a deeper understanding and what is confusing about the text. When choosing a text for the students to read the reading level is a factor, the passage must be slightly above grade level. After the first reading, the students look at the vocabulary
Recognizing the functions of the Knowledge Forum software, and before the class, I 've read two papers writing by Marlene Scardamalia about this wonderful tool and it was also about the Computer-supported Intentional Learning Environments project (CSILE).
It is important that when selecting complex text educators look for specific factors that would meet each reader’s needs. These factors include language proficiency, background knowledge and experiences, and level of motivation. Depending on the factors mentioned, the educators can differentiate the instruction to meet the needs of the students where they could read a text and apply strategies learned. It is important to understand the text complexity because we do want readers to read text which are not challenging enough or that are extremely challenge that would make their self-efficacy low. Therefore, when Fisher & Frey (2012) stated the factors to take into consideration when selecting a text are established, readers would interact with the text. Moreover, the use of comprehension strategies like question and answer relationships (Reutzel & Cooter, 2016) would help the readers comprehend the text as they read
Reading comprehension refers to the ability to decipher the meaning of written text. There are three required elements needed for adequate understand of written material: a knowledge of word...