GT English Department Literacy Presentation

School-wide Goal:To Improve Reading and Writing in Content Areas and on Standardized Assessments

Let us be your literacy coaches!

Entrance Slip (Bellringer)

Diagnostic pre-test

Please sit in your departments. Make sure you received a popsicle stick, scantron, pencil and

pre-test before you sit!

Hook: Hook: ScattergoriesScattergories

1. Pass out the category cards.2. Choose a letter for Game 1.3. Start a timer for 3 minutes.4. Encourage double and triple words

(strawberry shortcake, sally sells seashells)

5. Have teams share answers; if multiple teams have the same answer, no points are scored.

6. The team with the most points wins.

Rules

ExampleExample

Scattergories Letter S1.A fruit or vegetable squash2.A famous person Sammy Sosa (2 pts)3.A place you can go to summer school (2 pts)4.A smell sour milk5.A bug spider

Let’s Play!Let’s Play!

Round 1

List 11. A Boy’s Name2. U.S. Cities3. Things That Are Cold4. Olympic Events5. Pro Sports Teams6. Things insects do

 7. Things you do at a Restaurant8. Furniture9. TV Shows10. 5-Letter Word11. Words with double letters12. Product Names

Now, let’s play the classroom Now, let’s play the classroom version!version!

Round 2List 21. Concrete Noun2. Famous piece of artwork3. Collective Noun4. People or places involved in WWII5. Math Terms6. Words used when solving proofs (geometry)

 7. Term from Biology 8. Name an element9. Part of a computer10. Historical Event11. PE Term12. Famous artist 

Now, as a department, create Now, as a department, create one that you could use for a one that you could use for a specific unit or topic.specific unit or topic.Round 3

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.  

Freshman Diagnostic Test Results:The following chart shows the number of incorrect answers in each of 8 categories as well as an overall class average for each of the freshman courses. The percentages at the bottom of each column reflect the average percentage of incorrect answers for that category.

Class

# tested

Usage

Literary/Poetic Terms

Noun Identification

Adjective Ident.

Pronoun Iden.

Verb Ident

Simple/Complex Sentences

Frag/Run

Class Avg.

Fr. Support 12 9 8 7 5 9 8 8 6 18%Fr. Reg 25 17 15 7 9 13 9 11 3 26.70%Fr. Reg 17 11 11 5 4 8 4 7 3 27%Fr. Support 21 13 12 8 7 8 9 14 5 25.10%Fr. Honors 19 10 8 5 4 6 4 8 2 31.30%Totals 94 60 54 32 29 44 34 48 19

Percentages 63% 57% 34% 31% 47% 36% 51% 20% 25.50%

Diagnostic Data Goals for Freshman:Freshman Support- 50th percentile and aboveFreshman Regular- 75th percentile and aboveFreshman Honors- 90th percentile and above

Freshman Interventions:Instructional-20 minute grammar mini lessons every class period focusing on one of the tested skills at a time.-authentic grammar practice in the form of writing assignments-practical applications of grammar such as resume writing, letters to the editor, blogging, report writing, etc.-Competitive grammar games to encourage engagement-Webquests to include technology and encourage student-directed learning-2 hour literacy across the curriculum seminar for faculty presented by the English Department to encourage all teachers to engage with the literacy problem among our students.

Organizational:-Require all English students to have a 2 in. 3-ring binder with organizational tabs. This will be checked and graded periodically. Teachers will take some instructional time occasionally to help students get organized, hopefully encouraging a higher homework turn-in rate and more effective practice.

Upper Class Data

Applying the SOAPSTone Strategy for

Reading and Writing to All Disciplines

WHAT is SOAPSToneWHAT is SOAPSTone??

SOAPSTone is a reading and writing strategy that helps students recognize the structure of a text and aides student writing from planning through to revision.

This technique identifies essential components of classroom-based compositions and passages found on various standardized and Advanced Placement tests.

WHY SOAPSTone WHY SOAPSTone worksworks

SOAPSTone serves as a framework within which students can write analytically, persuasively, creatively and personally.

SOAPSTone provides teachers with analytical strategies for responding to common problems in student reading and writing comprehension.

HOW SOAPSTone HOW SOAPSTone worksworks

SOAPSTone works in the same way a rubric works; students plug information into the separate categories and work from those results.

SOAPSTone SOAPSTone BreakdownBreakdown

S – Who is the Speaker? (The voice that tells the story)

O – What is the Occasion? (The time and place of the piece or the context that prompted the writing to occur.)

SOAPSTone SOAPSTone BreakdownBreakdown

A – Who is the Audience? (The group of readers to whom this piece is directed.)

P – What is the Purpose? (The reason behind the text.)

SOAPSTone BreakdownSOAPSTone Breakdown

S – What is the Subject? (The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text.)

T – What is the Tone? (The attitude of the author.)

YOUR TURN…YOUR TURN…

Fill out the activity sheet on your table with your groups using the SOAPStone strategies for The Gettysburg Address.“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

StationsStations

Please find the faculty members with matching popsicle stick colors to yours and sit together.

Please wait for instructionsComplete the three stations (20 min.

each)We will debrief as a group

Important TakeawaysImportant Takeaways

Resources

Homework

Exit Slip

Thanks for your Thanks for your time!time!

If you have any questions about applying SOAPSTone to your classes, please consult your nearest English Department member!