Reading strategies taken from Judy Moreillon and Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary School Libraries and lesson plans from instructional collaboration between Emma Braaten, Kerri Brown Parker, and science teachers at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, NC.
Reading Strategy - Building Background Knowledge
Why?
In order for students to...
Animoto - www.animoto.com/pro/education Create stunning slideshows using photographs and short video clips. Add music and short text boxes, and then simply finalize the video. Within a few minutes, a video is available for review/edit or to share! EDUCATOR accounts in Animoto are free for teachers (and for students)! Sign up for an educator account using your school e-mail and receive a "promo code" to share with up to 50 students in order to create full-length videos for free. Click here for directions to set up and use Animoto. Mobile Device Extension: Get the Animoto app on any iOS or Android device for easy upload from the camera roll. Use the Splice app to create a slideshow with pictures, short videos, and student narration. |
Sample Lesson - EARTH SCIENCE:
To integrate literacy strategies into the unit on Oceans, Earth Science teachers require students complete several close reading of various sources of information. Based on reading and evaluation of the sources of information, students develop thorough and reliable definitions for important vocabulary words needed in the unit of study. Click here for a more detailed lesson plan. Click here for the handout used by students to collect information from the various sources of information available. For one vocabulary word, students create a review video focusing on terminology and imagery using Animoto to help peers understand the vocabulary term. Students were shown an example video to establish expectations: |
Reading Strategy - Using Sensory Images
Why?
In order for students to...
QR Codes - http://qrcode.kaywa.com OR http://goo.gl Create free QR codes for anything that has a web address--websites, videos, pictures, documents, etc. Register for an account to save and re-use the QR code. Click here for instructions on creating QR Codes. Mobile Device Extension: Get a SCAN app on any iOS or Android device to scan barcodes. ******************************************** PowerPoint An "old" technology can be used in new ways, especially since most students are very familiar with designing PowerPoints. Instead of a traditional animation, utilize the Motion Path animation to move material around slides. |
Sample Lesson - ANATOMY:
To increase responsibility for their own learning, students developed the material for the Bone and Joint Lab in their Anatomy class. Each small group of students was assigned a topic and were responsible for finding high-quality sources of information to share with other students during the lab. For each web source, the groups created a QR code. Students were responsible for setting up the lab, and then each student used an iPod to scan the barcode in order to complete each lab activity.
Click here for the assignment instructions and for the lab questions each student completed. Click here for the lab rubric used by the teacher. ******************************************** Sample Lesson - PHYSICAL SCIENCE: Instead of having students simply memorize the definitions in physical science, students to develop real world examples. Use "motion paths" in PowerPoint to animate the examples and prove they could apply the definition. Click here to see the sample shared with students. Click here to see a student's example. |
Reading Strategy - Making Predictions + Inferences
Why?
In order for students to...
Poll Everywhere - www.polleverywhere.com Create free polls with or without signing up for the service. Once the poll is created, project the poll or embed them in your PowerPoint presentation. Students can respond by using their cell phones (most popular option) or through other options. Mobile Device Extension: Get the Socrative Teacher app on any iOS or Android device to create polls. The Socrative Student app allows users to respond. |
Sample Lesson - ALL CLASSES:
Making predictions and inferences is common to all science classes. Help students apply that same practice to their reading comprehension by using some of the following prompts and questions during reading:
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Reading Strategy - Notetaking, Summarizing
+ Determining Main Ideas
Why?In order for students to...
Wikis - www.wikispaces.com OR www.pbworks.com A website to collaboratively organize and display information, a wiki allows users to embed links, images, video and interactive games to make the wiki more advanced and informative. Student roles while creating the wiki can help prevent the copy/paste problem and provide more opportunity for collaboration. Share the wiki with other classes/audiences for further collaboration. Mobile Device Extension: Wikispaces is fairly "mobile friendly;" at this time, PBWorks is not "mobile friendly." |
Sample Lesson - BIOLOGY:
Students work in groups of three - one student as a "Wiki Creator" (only student allowed to edit the wiki), one student a "Researcher" (student used eBooks and communicated learnings and citation to the creator), and one student a "Video/Game Creator" (responsible for creating a review activity/game and embedding it in the wiki). Each student group is assigned a genetic disorder to collect and communicate the required information. Students practice a deleting and substituting technique when taking notes, summarizing, and determining the main ideas to build the wiki. Click Click here to see a class wiki sample (the "front page" contains the wiki requirements for each wiki page). (To further reinforce reading comprehension strategies, students may collaborate to hyperlink vocabulary words appearing in each wiki page to reinforce the skill of stopping to define important or unfamiliar words encountered during reading.) |
Reading Strategy - Questioning + Research
Why?
In order for students to...
Go! Animate - www.goanimate.com
Create animated videos using a Quick Video template (limited options) or a Full Video from scratch (full options). For help getting started, complete the tutorial after creating an account, or view the following videos: Quick Video Help or Full Video Help |
Sample Lesson - Chemistry:Students in Chemistry complete an in-depth research paper and presentation. To address concerns about students' proper use of citations, plagiarism, quality of sources and ability to take notes, students complete "Research Introduction Stations" to introduce the assignment. Moving through 4 stations each with a different research theme, students develop their questioning and research skills, including questioning.
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