Brandi J. Clark

 

Welcome back

If you need to catch up here are the links to the other lessons 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and 8.

At this point we have covered design of the program of studies.

6 Language Arts and 5 General Outcomes and many specific outcomes.

The program of studies (in all subject areas) should be front and center as you plan your school year. In all subject areas look at the other grade levels and not just your own.

It is important to see what students have learned and where they are going.

When I started my teaching career, all teachers were given a hard copy of ALL the Programs of Study.  Curriculum changes were inserted into the binder and old ones were removed.

The binder was HUGE, OBVIOUS…it screamed…LOOK AT ME!

I think we lost this important physical presence when the Program of Studies binder ceased to be handed out and the online documents were made available.

Because if you don’t know to look online…YOU DON’T LOOK ONLINE!

At this point, you have been polite.

I know you are thinking….

Coach Brandi…you know how all the subject areas have units?

We like this because it helps to structure our year.

We like this because we can check things off as DONE.

We like this cause we can choose reporting outcomes.

But Coach Brandi…ELA …what is THAT thing?

There are five general outcomes…Can you just teach one general outcome over two months?

No!

Then what can you do?

Such great questions!

The best answer I can give is group the outcomes. In order to group the outcomes, you need to figure out what can bind them together?

Today’s Lesson: Know how to group your specific outcomes.

Grouping means, to find something to glue/bind/connect to the outcomes.

Here are some examples.

Is it a writing form? (Description)

Is it a writing product? (Poetry)

Is it a theme? (Identity)

Is it a reading strategy? (Making Connections)

Is it content area project? (Small Crawling and Flying Animals Zine)

Is it a maker project? (Create a life cycle and attach Maki Maki)

Is it a web 2.0 tool? (Blogging)

Is it an author study? (David Shannon)

Is it historical fiction? (Alberta – grade 4)

Is it memoir?  (When I Was Five)

Is it a biography? (Terry Fox)

Is it a “How to…”? (How to make a circuit  – grade 5)

EXAMPLE –

I will give you an example. Back in 2009 I was blessed with the task of creating a planning binder in all the subject areas.

It was a committee and so I took the English Language Arts  lead.

First I choose a reading strategy, a writing trait and product that could be connected.

It makes sense to start September with making connections as the reading strategy.

September is the month that you are getting to know students and the students are getting to know you.

Most of the reading strategy resources are organized with a  breakdown of reading strategies by units/chapters or months.

For example, check out the following resources.

Reading Power and Nonfiction Reading Power

Strategies that Work

Reading with Meaning

This resources and many others can provide the actual lessons and books to use.

Next attach the outcomes.

Grade 1 – September-Making Connections

• Ÿshare personal experiences that are clearly related to oral, print and other media texts (1.1)
• Ÿuse previous experience and knowledge of oral language to make connections to the meaning of oral, print and other media texts (2.1)
• Ÿshare personal experiences and family traditions related to oral, print and other media texts (5.1)

Grade 2 -September -Making Connections

• connect own ideas and experiences with those shared by others (1.2)
• Ÿuse knowledge of how oral and written language is used in a variety of contexts to construct and confirm meaning (2.1)
• Ÿconnect personal experiences and knowledge of words, sentences and story patterns from previous reading experiences to construct and confirm meaning (2.1)
• Ÿuse knowledge of the organizational structures of print and stories, such as book covers, titles, pictures and typical beginnings, to construct and confirm meaning (2.1)
• Ÿconnect situations portrayed in oral, print and other media texts to personal and classroom experiences (2.2)

Grade 3 – September – Making Connections

• Ÿconnect prior knowledge and personal experiences with new ideas and information in oral, print and other media texts (1.1)
• Ÿconnect own experiences with the experiences of individuals portrayed in oral, print and other media texts, using textual references (2.2)
• Ÿconnect portrayals of characters or situations in oral, print and other media texts to personal and classroom experiences (2.2)
• Ÿdiscuss, represent or write about ideas in oral, print and other media texts, and relate them to own ideas and experiences and to other texts (2.2)*
• Ÿdescribe similarities between experiences and traditions encountered in daily life and those portrayed in oral, print and other media texts (5.1)

Next match a writing trait

Most schools are familiar with the 6 plus 1 writing traits. Ruth Culham would be the guru in his area.

Check out the resources here.

What matches well with making connections?

Ideas

Next I went and gathered up outcomes that matched ideas.

But I didn’t just want an idea focus so also attached a writing product/form – the Writer’s Notebook.

A writer’s notebook can be used all year long.

Here is a video on setting up a notebook.

Ralph Fletcher is a notebook guru. Here are his resource links.

Aimee Buckner is also a notebook guru. Here are her resource links.

Here is Aimee’s video – Why…notebooks?

This video shows the variety of notebook entries.

This is an excellent video for junior high. You can modify it for younger grades.

Penny Kittle is a guru for grades 6-12.  Here is the link to her book. She provides handouts for teachers.

Here are the outcomes I attached to writing.

Grade 1 – Writer’s Notebook

• add details such as labels, captions and pictures to oral, print and other media texts (4.3)
• generate and contribute ideas for individual or group oral, print and other media texts (2.4)
• Ÿtake turns sharing ideas and information (5.2)
• Ÿillustrate and enact stories, rhymes and songs (2.2)

Conventions/Mechanics Focus 

• use a displayed alphabet as an aid when writing (2.1)
• capitalize the first letter of names and the pronoun “I” in own writing (4.2)

Grade 2-Writer’s Notebook

• Ÿtalk about how new ideas and information have changed previous understanding (1.1)
• Ÿexpress or represent ideas and feelings resulting from activities or experiences with oral, print and other media texts (1.1)
• Ÿexpress thoughts or feelings related to the events and characters in oral, print and other media texts (2.2)

Conventions/Mechanics Focus:

• Ÿprint legibly and efficiently, forming letters of consistent size and shape, and spacing words appropriately (4.1)

Grade 3 – Writer’s Notebook

• Ÿexperiment with ways of generating and organizing ideas prior to creating oral, print and other media texts (2.4)
• Ÿcontribute ideas and information on topics to develop a common knowledge base in the group (5.2)
• Ÿtell or write about favourite parts of oral, print and other media texts (2.2)

Conventions/Mechanics Focus:

• Ÿspace words and sentences consistently on a line and page (4.1)
• Ÿuse capital letters appropriately in titles of books and stories (4.2)

Coach Brandi…do you have grades 4 -6?

Yes! Please contact me for those!

This marks the end of today’s lesson.

I know.

You want me to keep going.

But I want you to digest today’s learning.

Know how to group the specific outcomes

How do you plan to group your outcomes?

Can you think of ways to match up a reading strategy with a writing form? Another subject area?

Please contact me if you are struggling with this.

I don’t mind…seriously!

Trust me…everything else makes sense if you know how to group the specific outcomes.

Until Next Time,

Coach Brandi!

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Welcome Back

If you need to catch up here are the links to the other lessons 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 , 6 and 7.

Today’s Lesson: Know your Illustrative Examples

The specific outcomes can be easy to understand…like this…

recite the letters of the alphabet in order (Kindergarten 2.1)

or

challenging like this…

integrate own perspectives and interpretations with new understandings developed through discussing and through experiencing a variety of oral, print and other media texts (Grade 9 – 1.2)

You may be thinking, I understand the wording in the last example but what would that look like in a classroom?

Well…I have exciting news!

There is an amazing set of documents (K- 9) put out by the Alberta Government that are called the ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. (I have provided links to them at the end of the post.)

You might be thinking…illustrative…does it have pictures?

No, it does not have pictures.

So what does illustrative mean?

Illustrative means… to illustrate…”serving as an example or explanation.”

The illustrative examples explain the specific learning outcomes at each grade level.

They provide snapshots or classroom vignettes of how that outcome might come to life in a classroom.

Here are two examples from grade 4

Consider others’ ideas (2.1)	Illustrative Example
• identify other perspectives by exploring a variety of ideas, opinions, responses and oral, print and other media texts	Students talk about different experiences of living in western Canada as portrayed in the stories One Prairie Morning and Signs of Spring, the poems When I First Came to This Land and If You’re Not from the Prairie…, and accompanying illustrations. After reading How Smudge Came, students talk about why Cindy wanted to keep the puppy and why the adults would not let her at first
Understand techniques and elements (2.3)	Illustrative Example
identify how specific techniques are used to affect viewers’ perceptions in media texts	Students collect magazine pictures of food, and describe what makes the food look good; e.g., colour, arrangement, setting. Students view book and magazine covers.  They then make a book cover for a favourite book that creates interest and provides information about the content of the book.  Students view a familiar videocassette story and identify such specific features as long shot for the setting, close-up for dialogue, cut/fade for change of setting and voice-over for narration.

 

Even if you understand your specific outcomes, as said previously, the illustrative outcomes do provide ideas for how to unpack the outcomes with students.

In this specific outcome, examples are provided for student goal setting and self reflection in grade 2.

For example:

Set goals (1.1)

Illustrative Outcome

recognize and talk about developing abilities as readers, writers and illustrators

A student discusses personal reading goals with the teacher and says, “This week I think I can read a different book every day.  At the end of the week …” Students make comments to complete the sentence stems. – I know I’m a good writer when … − my story is easy to read. − I use periods, commas and capital letters to give clues in my story. − I use interesting shapes for my letters in scary stories, like when I wrote “Boo” big and shaky. − I use comparisons in my writing, like when I wrote, “the giant was as big as a whale.” • A group of students who have made a community map explain how the map helps in showing how to get from the school to the skating rink.

This last example should get you thinking more about goal setting and student reflection.  How can you use this specific outcome all year?

It’s worthwhile to revisit the illustrative examples, even if you have taught the grade level many times before.

I find the illustrative examples remind me of resources I have or things I used to do and should bring back to my classroom. Often there are examples that connect to the other curriculum areas, such as math, health, social studies and science.

Trust me, check them out!

Links to the Illustrative Outcomes

Here are the links to the illustrative outcomes. (Note: Though there is warning, the links are safe. Save the document in order to copy/paste, otherwise the copy function is disabled)

Kindergarten

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160428/ela-illustrative-examples-kindergarten.pdf

Grade One

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160422/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-1.pdf

Grade Two

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160424/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-2.pdf

Grade Three

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160423/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-3.pdf

Grade Four

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160426/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-4.pdf

Grade Five

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160421/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-5.pdf

Grade Six

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160425/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-6.pdf

Grade Seven

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160438/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-7.pdf

Grade Eight

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160440/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-8.pdf

Grade Nine

https://education.alberta.ca/media/160439/ela-illustrative-examples-grade-9.pdf

K-9

https://archive.org/details/ieelanguageartskto900albe

This marks the end of today’s lesson.

I know.

You want me to keep going.

But I want you to digest today’s learning.

Know the Illustrative Examples

Look at your grade level’s illustrative examples: What activities, skills, process or book titles can you add to your grade level toolbx?

Trust me…everything else makes sense if you know the Illustrative Examples.

Until Next Time,

Coach Brandi!