Content Area Read Aloud

[Notes from Day 3 Session with Kathleen Tolan]

Boxes and Bullets need to be more than only paragraphs.
-Have to be able to do parts to whole, as well as just parts.

We have to make sure we are providing time for students to interact with content. Covering content isn't super engaging.

Have an overview book, then go to little excerpts.
-Example: Colonial Life (read aloud)
                 Kids are reading individually: Blacksmiths, Woodworkers, etc.

Have students come to the read aloud (The overview book) with their books so they can add more content in as you read (They become an expert that can add to others' learning) VERY ENGAGING!
-Gives students a forum to put what they have learned into place. SYNTHESIS

Might want to have some artifacts that go along with the read aloud (ex: a map)
-They might have a PARTNER folder for read aloud (Inside: Word bank)

• Example: Word bank of words that are essential to a unit on Colonial Life
• apprentice
• loyalist
• tories
• congress
• representation
• taxation

Content Area Read Aloud: Gorillas

Artifacts in the Partner Folder:

• Map of Africa (Shows something that might be in text, but also things that an author might assume you already know)
• Word Bank (words from read aloud, but also words from larger unit)
• Might have kids work on sorting words
• Creating synonyms
• Sort by positive and negative words
• Resources (kids might read it themselves before the read aloud)

Bringing Close Reading and Accountable Talk into an Interactive Read Aloud of Gorillas (3-5) from TC Reading and Writing Project on Vimeo.

What higher level comprehension skills do you notice?
-Turn and compare (gorillas and humans)
-Evaluating (Why do you think Hollywood portrays gorillas in this way?)
-Close reading of a map
-Citing evidence
-Adding on to thinking/pushing to deeper thinking
-Thinking across texts

You don't always have to say, "Tell me what you think because I'm going to monitor you." Sometimes you can just look around the carpet and use visual cues to know if the students are getting it. Sometimes you just know.

We want to make sure that children draw on more than just their opinion. Hold kids accountable.

Content Area Centers

[I worked on photo analysis center]

Halfway through stopped us: Find the 10 differences

What strategies did we use?
-big pictures
-sections
-comparing/contrasting
-categories
-prior knowledge
-foreground/background
-larger/smaller details

Now use these strategies with the materials at your center.


*Always make sure student work is going from the smaller work of the center, but bring it back to the larger work of the social studies unit!