A Different kind of Review Game!

My students loved this review game!  It involves movement, a little silliness, and challenge.

HOW IT WORKS:

Students are broken into small teams - no more than six or seven students per team.  Each team is given a set of 3x5 cards with letters on them.  The number of letters are the same as the letters in a Scramble game set, so you will need more letters such as E or O, and less of letters such as X or Z.

Then I read definitions or key concepts to the class from the Unit we studied.  Then the students work in their teams to spell out the words using the cards.  But when they do this, students need to hold the cards up, not just spell them out on the table top.  This is where is get's silly....Because students have to scramble around to spell the words correctly.  Sometimes, I require each student in the team to hold at least one card.

My students loved playing this because it's a challenge to beat the other team AND it requires students to work together defining the words, then finding the letters for the words, and then spelling the words correctly.

Try it in your class.   My kids loved it!

A great alternative to old-school reading

For a few years I've used my Scramble activity as a fun and engaging way to cover text material very quickly.

HOW IT WORKS:
Instead of having students sit in their chairs and read text, and complete a reading guide, I have them walking (sometimes running) from station to station seeking information to complete reading guide.  Each station has different, short textual information.  No more than two paragraphs for each station.  But other stations might include the same information as others.  But because I use different fonts students do not know this until they begin reading the text.  Now students are engaged AND re-reading textual information!

To hold the students accountable they must complete a fill-in the blank or short answer worksheet as they move from station to station.

WORKING IN TEAMS:
An important element of this activity includes student teams.  I have students working in small teams - three or four.  Students are encouraged to spread out and gather information independently and sharing their answers.  However, students can not copy answers.  Instead they must verbalize.

WHAT IS VERBALIZING?
This is when students share their information in the form of speaking.  "The answer to number two is Hermitage." To which the other student might ask, "Heritage? How do you spell that?"  Then the other student spells out the answer.

We all know what happens when students share information like this - information retention increases because two students are actively engaged with the content. They might ask questions like how to spell the word, or if the answer is correct.  But no matter, there is engagement between the students and the information.  I explain to my students that I do not want to see them simply "copy" the information from each other since there is no engagements or learning when this happens.

WHAT'S NEXT?
In order to ensure all students have the correct information on the worksheet, as a class we review the information and correct any misunderstanding, or missing answers.

Then students need to evaluate what they thought were the three most pivotal events in Andrew Jackson's life - not including his birth or death.  The part is important!

The activity before gained student baseline historical information about Jackson.  Now students must evaluate and debate their choices.   Students write their three events on three different sticky notes.  Then students stuck their three events on large sheets of paper based upon their ranking.  As a class we reviewed their answers.  Then discussed any possible patterns or simulations in the ranking of events. Did a majority of the class have "Death of family at a young age for the number one event?"

CLOSING: I had students share their answers in their teams and come to a team consensus picking the number one pivotal event in Jackson's life.  Then each team shared their answers.

A different kind of think/pair/share

So here is my problem:  I have only two days to cover the important battles from the American Civil War in my eighth grade class AND keep my students engaged?

Solution-Day 1:
Students were broken up into six different groups, one group for each battle.  They were allowed to work in their teams or independently, the choice was theirs. Then students answered the following questions for each battle: When and where did it occur, three important details about the battle, and the outcome or historical significance of the event.  Once the questions were answered, students created a color drawing of the battle.  For most students, this required more research to help find an image to inspire their creative juices.

Day 2:
In different groups then yesterday, students shared their pictures, explaining what is happening and the meanings of the images.  Then, students shared their information about their battles with other students.  The entire class answered the same questions about all six battles.  The expert students shared their information with others.

Important management note:
I have very clear expectations for students sharing information.  They must verbalize their information.  This is when one student explains their answer and the other student writes the answer down.  There is not coping of answers, as one student is seeking information, and the other is verbally sharing.  During this time, students will ask follow up questions, such as "how do you spell that name?", or "Is that really true?", or "That answer doesn't answer the question" Yes, I did hear that during the activity.  Both students are either presenting and working - no walking away by one student while the other student is copying the work.  Engagement and seeking of answers between the students is the KEY!

The exchange of information take about about 25 - 30 minutes.

Once students have shared their information, then as an entire class, we share information. This is to ensure the information is correct.  Sometimes, bad information is shared and shared again while in the small groups. So, this is their opportunity to correct any false information, or allow them to add more detailed information.

Videos are key
After we have check our information, I show the class short videos (no more than 6 minutes) for each battle.  This is important as it helps those visual learners to understand the important concepts.

Outcome
Students were engaged. As I walked around the room, the discussions between the students were about the battles and students asked more details questions about the events they were reading or learning about.  For my struggling readings, we read the passages together and asked questions.  These students were also engaged.

Once I showed the video, students were asking still more follow up questions.

MIX IT UP WITH A SCRAMBLE!

Mix it up with a scavenger hunt on caffeine!  That's what a scramble is all about.

This reading strategy engages students by having them moving around from station.  Here is how it works.

My 8th-grade students were learning about slave life in the United States.  The reading content is heavy, along with high-level vocabulary words such as antebellum and manumission. So, it's going to be challenging for my kids, but I knew they can do it!

During this scramble, my students work in teams.  I encourage them to share information with each other.  However, my expectations are very clear about this; sharing means verbalizing the information by explaining their answers.  Not taking another worksheet and simply copying the information onto another worksheet.

To monitor progress, students gather information onto some kind of sheet to prove they have discovered the important information.  For the scramble, students are working to complete a worksheet with fill-in the blank statements and short answer questions about the short readings at each of the stations.

But in a scramble the content is mixed-up.  Because of this, students must read (and re-read) the information at each station to understand the information AND the context of the information. Then, they check their worksheet if the information is what they are seeking.  But there is more...

There is duplicate information in the scramble stations.  So as students move from station to station, they will discover the information is repeated.  To make it more interesting, I change the font on the information sheets so it looks different.  So students can't just glance at the station to see if it is the

same information; students must read it.

HELPFUL HINTS:

• When creating the information sheets for each station, it is important to make them short, no long than two paragraphs.  If a student  (especially struggling readers) approached a station with more than eight sentences, there is NO WAY he/she will read it.  Remember, this a kind of mad dash to find information, but students will be exposed to the information multiple times. 

• Always finish the worksheet with one or two open-ended questions - I call these my "Thinking
  
  Cap Questions"  These questions require students to synthesize information from the scramble.  So, for this scramble, my Thinking Cap Question was, "On a scale of one to ten how you rate the treatment of American slaves.  One is very bad and ten is super nice.  Please explain your answer".

• Make it into a game.  Sometimes I have teams compete with each other to be the first to correctly complete the worksheet.  For this scramble, I did not do this.

CONCLUSION - To ensure all the students have the correct information, as a class I review the information.  Also, I have students share their Thinking Cap Question answer with the class.  Sometimes these discussions really get deep into the content and it engages students. 

Herringbone Reading Strategy

Strategy #2 - The Herringbone Reading Strategy

WHAT IS IT?
The Herringbone is a graphic organizer that helps students contrast and compare important information from an article.  The strategy helps students to determine the supportive details and the main idea of an article by requiring them to determine the who, what, when, where, why and how of the article. Students answer each of these questions by filling out a diagram that resembles a herringbone pattern. 

WHAT THE STUDENTS READ? 
Students were learning about slave life in the United States before the Civil War.  The aspect students focused on five were different slave rebellions.

PROCEDURE
Students read five different information texts as it related to slave rebellions.  Instead of having all students read all five texts, students read in a think-pair-and-share format. Students were allowed completed the assignment in small groups, no more than two or three students or work independently. Then students completed the Herringbone diagram.  

As I introduced the Herringbone Reading Strategy, I explained to the students how important it is to read the entire article first, then answer the questions on the Herringbone worksheet.

Next, the Herringbone worksheet was completed, and students wrote a paragraph summary of the article.

Finally, with the Herringbone worksheet completed, students shared information about their rebellion with another student.  I ensured students shared their information with students how to read about a different slave rebellion.

As a closing, students shared with the entire class a short summary of the rebellion they read.

REFLECTION
In the beginning, some students struggled to find answers for parts of the Herringbone worksheet (answering who, what, when, where, why and how).  However, it helped students to understand the purpose of the Herringbone once they understood the layering of the questions.  First, they answer who the article is about.  Then what did the person (or people) do?  How did the person (or people) do their task?  When did the person (or people) do the action, and so on.

Also, it is imperative for students to know, like writing, close reading is a process too.  To read in-depth takes skill and time.  And I do not believe my students understand this.  So next time I will present this reading strategy as a process to achieve a deeper understanding of the text, rather than an encumbrance step.

MODIFICATION
In the morning classes, I gave the students the Herringbone Reading Strategy worksheet and their reading materials at the same time. But I discovered this was a mistake.  Even though I instructed students to read first, THEN complete the questions on the Herringbone worksheet many of the students did not do this.  Instead, students completed the Herringbone worksheet AS they read the first time.  Even though students completed the assignment sooner, they were skipping the process of re-reading for important information and details.  So, later I handed out the reading material first.  Once I saw the students complete annotation on their reading,  I gave them the Herringbone worksheet to complete.  This slowed down the reading process and allowed for deeper understanding of the material.

I was impressed with the students' ability to comprehend the main ideas of their articles since they were written for an older audience. The Herringbone allowed students to slow down and focus on the details, rather than rushing through the reading.

P.I.E and Reading? Why YES!

Strategy #1 - P.I.E.

WHAT IS IT?
P.I.E. is a pre-reading strategy that stands for Persuade, Inform or  Entertain.  This gives students a reason to read - as they read for content, they need to discover what is the purpose of the text.  Is it to persuade, inform, or entertain the reader? 

WHAT THE STUDENTS READ? 
Students read an entire informational page of text about Samuel Slater - the Father of the American Revolution.

PROCEDURE
Before reading, I introduced PIE to the students with an anticipatory question - "What do PIE and reading have in common?"  The students discussed in their small groups some possible connections and then they shared with the class some possible answers. 

I explained the PIE strategy and we began reading.  Also, I reminded students they need to decide if Slater was a traitor and an American hero.  So, they had another purpose for reading this assignment.

I read most of the text to the students as they silently read with me.  I checked for understanding every so often, stopping and asking questions.

After we completed the reading, students discussed in their small groups the purpose of the text, then students shared as a class possible answers.
Then, students completed a reading guide over the same text; answer fill-in the black and open-ended questions.

Finally, we checked for understanding and students shared their thoughts about Slater being a traitor or an American hero in small groups.

REFLECTION
The students correctly identified this text as being informational.  When asked to justify their answers, some students identified the vocabulary used (neutral) and/or how the author simply presented the information to the students.

As students were walking out of class, I overheard one student say to another that "Today's class was FUN!" To which I wonder, did this strategy really make that much of an impact?

Finally, upon reflection of the kind of text I use in my class (US History), I discovered I use mostly informational text.  So, what might happen if I used more persuading texts?  Or, better yet, more entertaining texts such as song lyrics, poems, or funny stories in my class?  Might this engage students more?

Why Create this page?

The Purpose of this site:

There are several reasons but here a couple:

1) Reading is a student's key to success.  Yes, this may be a simplistic statement since there are many, many influences that affect a student success in school.  But ultimately, the most important is their ability to successfully read.  Countless studies have made the connection between student's chances to graduate and continue their education and their ability to read.  Still, other studies go much further and make a connection between a students chances of going to jail and their ability read.

• Students not reading at their grade level by the end of the third grade are four-time less likely to graduate from high school on time.

• Also, these struggling students are SIX TIMES more likely to be from a low-income family.

• And high school dropouts are 63 times likely to be incarcerated than college graduates. (Longtime educator, Stan Lujan- testimony to the Alaska House Finance Committee, 2016) 

2   Develop the love of reading.  To develop a lifelong learner, we need to help develop young people who love reading.  Although reading is not as important today in learning thanks to the internet and website like Youtube, reading still plays an important role in learning.

3. Share in Caring:  I want to help other teachers improve their ability to help their students.   I know there are other teachers who are as passionate about getting kids to improve reading and to develop their love of reading and learning.  So, I want to share my journey, and you can become a part of it. 

* Why Literacy Matters:http://theliteracycenter.org/about/why-literacy-matters/.