Principle 5: Effective Teachers Address Standards
CCSS show teachers what should be taught, now how to teach it. There are five strands, Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language, and Media & Technology.
Principle 6: Effective Teachers Scaffold Students’ Reading and Writing
Scaffolding is basically a 5 step reading and writing program where students learn to build off the last level they were on. They don’t start the next level until they have completed/mastered the previous. The five levels are- –
- Modeled: here there is the greatest support from teachers. they are demonstrating, explaining, teaching, and showing how to read and write.
- Shared: This level is when the teachers and students work together and “share” reading and writing tasks. Shared reading falls under this level, where big books are read and students can add in words or phrases they might know or predict. The Language Experience Approach is another part of this level; this happens when the teacher writes dictations from the students or writes out words on the whiteboard while brainstorming with students.
- Interactive: The students take on the role of reading and writing in this level and the teacher provides assistance when needed. In choral reading, students take turns reading lines of a poem or book. In readers theatre students assume the roles of characters and read the lines of the script aloud. Interactive writing consists of students working with the teacher to create text and write a message.
- Guided Reading and Writing: During this level the student takes on reading and writing themselves. Mini-lessons are a big part of this level in which the teacher will give a small lesson, then use activities and handouts to let the student apply what they just learned. During guided writing teachers supervise students as they complete writing activities.
- Independent Reading and Writing: This is the final level in the scaffold. Students are independents and perform reading and writing skills on their own. Here students choose their own books to read and choose their own topics to write about. They work at their own pace and teachers have a very small monitoring role.
Principle 7: Effective Teachers Organize for Instruction
Here teachers create their own program that fits their students’ needs and their school’s standards and curricular guidelines. There are five popular programs teachers use:
- Guided Reading -Here the teacher puts children into small groups and provides 20 minute lessons in word comprehension and word identification. They then let the children apply these skills as they read books at their own level. This is great for K-3rd grade.
- Basal Reading Programs – These are commercially produced reading programs that include workbooks, supplemental books, and extra materials for readers at each grade level.
- Literature Focus Units – All children in the class read/listen to the same book and then units are focused on responses to the book and included are reading and writing activities.
- Literature Circles – Teachers pick out 5 books at different reading levels appropriate for students. Groups of students work together reading and discussing about the book. Each group works independently and students develop the responsibility for completing assignments as a group.
- Reading and Writing Workshops – Students choose books to read independently then talk with the teacher about them. They also write on topics independently and talk to the teacher about their writing. This can be done in small groups, mini-lessons so that students develop responsibility.
Nurturing English learners: Give explicit instruction and use additional time working on unfamiliar vocabulary. Let students practice speaking English daily in small groups or with partners for comfort. Small group work is great for interaction. Reading aloud lets students hear words they might now know, and it helps with fluency. Reading books that are multi-cultural in nature also assist in comforting students that are EL’s. Build off background knowledge. Give students a chance daily to apply the skills they are learning through activities.
Principle 8: Effective Teachers Differentiate Instruction
Teachers vary their instruction to incorporate students different levels of development, academic achievement, and ability. Differentiation involves adjusting the content students learn, the process through which it is taught, and the how they show what they have learned, (the product).
Principle 9: Effective Teachers Link Instruction and Assessment
Assessment is ongoing and is beneficial to both the student and the teacher. Here the students get to show what they have learned, and here the teacher gets to see if the lesson has been learned the way it was intended. Assessments are used for these purposes: Determining Instructional Levels, Monitoring progress, Diagnosing strengths and weaknesses, and Documenting learning.
Ways to Differentiate Instruction – books, grouping patters, instruction itself, language modes, modalities (visual, tactile, auditory lessons), scaffolding, technology, thinking styles, tiered activities)
The Instruction-Assessment Cycle has four steps:
- Planning – plan appropriate instruction that is adequate for students levels
- Monitoring – check back to make sure they are understanding what you are teaching
- Evaluating – use rubrics and check for student successes, as well as teacher successes
- Reflecting – look through information to see if reading and writing is accurate with lesson planning and consider how/where to improve.
Assessment Tools
- Observation
- Running Records – oral records to see if students can analyze and solve reading problems
- Examinations
- Conferences
- Checklists
- Rubrics to compare students work to.
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