Let’s Not Leave Advanced and

Gifted Readers “Behind”



I just finished reading the above entitled article from Voices from the Middle, Volume 17, Number 4, May 2010.  I agree with the overall premise of the article.  The focus over the past several years has become our lower students and our "bubble kids."  Because of school grades, AYP, and now teacher salaries, the emphasis is on these students making progress, particularly our lowest 25 percent.  Many times I have observed the high students being overlooked when it comes to curriculum - but not always!  I have seen teachers use their higher students as peer tutors.  Children do tend to learn when tutored by peers.  While this is good to an extent, that should not be the high student's main role in his/her class. 

 

Many schools form heterogeneously grouped classes made up of higher level students.  When forming these groups, teachers need to be mindful of their role, which is to challenge and stimulate higher level learning among these children.  Special training may be necessary in order to achieve this objective.  Because these students learn differently and usually have a wide variety of experiences, it does take extra effort on the teacher's part to provide the instruction and guidance needed to further their learning. 

My youngest daughter was a very advanced reader, reading on a fifth grade level before she entered kindergarten.  She read everything she could get her hands on.  The biggest challenge was finding appropriate books for her.  Her favorite series in kindergarten was The Babysitters' Club.  She continued to read and excel throughout her elementary schooling.  However, when she reached middle school, she was no longer challenged.  She not only lost interest in reading, but avoided it whenever possible.  It seemed she grew tired of reading books chosen by teachers and then doing specifically prescribed reports on those books.  You can imagine my dismay as an avid reader myself.  I believe it was in her sophomore or junior year in high school when the Harry Potter books came out.  She picked up the first one and was hooked.  Once again, she found the joy in reading just for the pleasure of reading.  That's been 10 years and she is never without a book!

Offering a choice of reading material as well as eliminating the standard book report is what advanced readers need.  If they are free to choose their own books (with guidance for the younger children), they will choose books they are truly interested in and will find pleasure in their reading.  Allow them to be creative in reflecting on their reading.  There are so many ways to do that instead of a written "book report."  Let's reach out to these students and help them advance their reading skills even more!



I guess I'm just a sucker for happy endings.  Another novel that I enjoyed all the way to the end -- The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen.  Sixteen-year-old Jessica Carlisle lives to run.  At a high school track meet, she set a new record.  On the way home, their school bus was hit by another vehicle.  One girl was killed and Jessica's right leg was mangled.  The leg was amputated below the knee, effectively ending her running career.  Jessica experienced a great range of feelings and emotions, all the way from wishing she had died right after the accident, to seeing hope for a terrific future.

Along her journey of recovery, Jessica discovered so many things she had never taken the time to appreciate before.  She viewed herself in a different way, less whole and worthy, and assumed others did also.  During this time, Rosa entered Jessica's life. by   Rosa was in Jessica's math class, although Jessica had never really noticed her before.  Rosa was confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy.  She was very philosophical about Jessica's injury and about her love of running.  With Rosa's help and encouragement, and with much help from her track team, Jessica managed to rise above her disability and find that she could still do anything she was able to do with two good legs.  Jessica finds a way to help Rosa and, in doing so, helps herself more than she ever imagined.

My school has several life skills classes made up of children with varying disabilities, some of whom are able to attend class at least part of the day in a general education classroom.  I have noticed how students tend to either stare at them, or pretend not to notice them in the hallways.  Rosa described how much it upset her that people didn't "see" her, but only saw her disability.  This book would go a long way to assist students in learning about disabled students.  It would help them learn that they are still normal people who have the same feelings as they do.  I have read several books during this semester that deal with the same basic subject matter.  Other books are Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan, and Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine.  All have made a huge impact on me and solidified beliefs I already had.

These books, and many others, could be used to help students come to an understanding of people who happen to be disabled.  There are activities associated with each of the novels that can help students become more aware of what they can do to help.  Empathy can be hard to develop in young people, but teachers can go a long way to help do this.

 

 

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban is the story of an eleven-year-old girl who dreams of someday playing piano in Carnegie Hall.  Her well-meaning father presents her with an organ instead.  Even though Zoe is disappointed that it isn't a piano, she does her best to make the most of things.  Her path is very crooked, however.  Zoe's father is afraid to leave the house and seldom does so.  Her mother works all the time and is seldom home.  A strange boy from school begins following Zoe home every day and works in the kitchen with her father baking cookies and things together.

 

Zoe experiences the ups and downs that most children her age face.  While she does live with both parents, her home life isn't normal.  Her father delights in completing video courses at home because he seldom leaves the house.  Zoe's "best friend" abandoned her for another girl that lives in a better neighborhood.  They make fun of Zoe because of the clothes she wears and where she lives. 

 

The relationships predictably begin to intertwine.  When Zoe is entered in an organ contest, she receives support from all fronts.  Even Wheeler, the boy from school who befriended her father, encourages Zoe.  Basically, Zoe discovers that what she thought her perfect life should be is not the easy, straight path she envisioned.  She realizes that even though the path is crooked, it is at the same time perfect for her.

 

There are many good discussion questions that can be used with this story.  *Ask students what they imagine there life will be life.  What do they think they will be doing in 20 years?  Will they have a family?  What job will they do?  *Also, discuss practice.  Zoe had to practice playing her organ every single day, even when she didn't really feel like it.  Have you ever practiced to do something so you would improve?  Did you ever quit practicing for something?  What happened? 

*Have you ever been invited to a party,but when you got there things are not what you expected?  Were you in the situation Zoe was where you stood and waited for your parents to come get you?

*Do first impressions really matter? Do you think the more you get to know someone the more your thoughts on that person change?

*Wheeler found he was good at baking. Do you think he will be willing to tell everyone at school about it? Why or why not? Should it really matter what you are good at? Shouldn’t you be able to share your talents and take pride in the good you do? Why do you think that is important?

*Have you ever been in a competition or performance?  How did you feel?

 

There are many more questions that can be asked as this book is read.  Most can also be used as writing prompts.  The story is packed full of situations faced by our students.  It is good for them to see how even seemingly bad situations can turn out for the best.

 

 

Boy, is this a good book!  It does a wonderful job of explaining the process scientists go through to learn about the past in a way that children can understand.  The author is also not afraid to allow students to see that adults have made mistakes in their research throughout the years.  However, we learn from our mistakes and continue to study and improve our research findings.  I’m happy that Ms. Kudlinski explains fossils, patterns, bones, and layers of the earth.  There is even a fossil layer that looks like it could be from outer space!  She also emphasizes that some things we believe now are only our best guesses.  We still may be wrong and may never be sure about some facts from long ago.  Students are told by the author that they can someday be a scientist if they so wish and may help us to learn even more about dinosaurs.  In fact, one day just such a scientist may once again say, "Boy, were we wrong about dinosaurs."

 

I found a lesson idea that looks like a great kinesthetic exercise at the Chicago Children’s Museum web site: http://www.chicagochildrensmuseum.org/Dino_Activities.pdf.

Give students an assortment of pasta and allow them to construct a dinosaur skeleton.  They could then glue the pasta on a piece of construction paper and name and write about their dinosaur, describing its size, method of moving, type of food eaten, etc.

 

For a math extension, students could research the length of several types of dinosaurs.  Once average lengths are determined, take the students outside.  Use a rolling distance measure wheel or measure out string with yardsticks.  Have students pair up and measure out the length of the dinosaurs on a grass field.  This will give them a visual of how large these animals were.  Students can predict how many of them it would take lined up lying down to make one dinosaur.  Compare the lengths of the various dinosaurs.

 

This book would seem to work well holding students' interests.  So many children have a natural interest in these ancient creatures and are willing to work at learning activities to discover more about them.



Something that is often overlooked in classrooms after kindergarten and first grade is the read aloud.  I have found that the read aloud is an important, vital part of the day.  It serves so many purposes.  As I am reading aloud, I'm modeling how to read fluently with expression.  Modeling how I interact with the text help students learn how to do it themselves.  Since I'm the one reading, I can stop at any point and invite the children to interact with the text.  Sometimes I use picture books and sometimes we delve into a good chapter book.  When reading, pause and ask students to predict what they believe is going to happen.  Ask a lot of why questions.  You will find your students involved in some enlightening discussions.

Your choice of books depends on your students, your reading purpose, and you.  I would never read a book to my students that I don't like.  They will pick up on that.  Sometimes I read a book dealing with a subject we are studying.  Other times I read good old fun books.  A favorite every year with my third graders has been Sideways Stories from Wayside School.  It contains 30 short (4 or 5 pages) chapters and is an easy read.  The characters are funny and it gives me a chance to laugh with my students at some of the silly things that happen.

I also read Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner when we do an Iditarod unit.  My only problem with reading it is that I have a great deal of difficulty not crying at the end, no matter how many times I read it and how much I prepare for it.  Another teacher in my school used this book as a read aloud last month.  Because she can't finish the story tear-free either, she read the first nine chapters as a read aloud and asked her students to read the last chapter on their own.  One little girl came up and hugged us with tears streaming down her cheeks.  That's a definite clue that the students become involved with the story.

Try reading aloud to your class daily if you don't already do so.  With all the benefits, it's a great way to get the most "bang for your buck."

The True Meaning of Smekday is absolutely hilarious.  Much as I generally don't like any kind of science fiction, I never wanted this story to end.  I listened to the audio version so I apparently missed out on some great illustrations.  However, the audio version is so entertaining and won the 2011 Odyssey Award for Excellence.  The narrator did a terrific job with the voices of the many characters, including the aliens who definitely spoke in a different way.  It would be such a fun book to read with a class. 

 

The plot and character development are two areas I would have my students study.  There are some very definite divisions that would enable you to stop at natural places in the text to analyze how the plot is developing and how the characters' feelings are changing and adapting to circumstances.  There is the "background" plot in which Gratuity is writing for a school assignment.  This is referred to several times.  Then there is the overriding plot of the alien invasion and all the excitement that accompanies the invasion.

 



 

As the story begins, the aliens (the Boov) invade and take over Earth.  It is Christmas, which is renamed Smekday, after the Boov leader.  All Americans are told to go to Florida to live and the Boov will take the other 49 states.  Once the Boov discover Happy Mouse Land in Florida, they decide humans will live in Arizona instead.  The Boov have eight legs and no necks, as pictured above.  They eat all sorts of odd things - soap, dental floss, paper. 

 

Gratuity's mother is abducted on Christmas Eve.  Throughout most of the story, she is attempting to find her mother.  She is befriended by a Boov named J.Lo.  Together they go to Florida only to find out Gratuity's mother, along with all other humans, have been moved to Arizona.  But before they make it to Arizona, Earth is invaded by yet another alien force - the Gorg!  Once they reach Arizona, their task is to help rid Earth of the Gorg.

 

While guiding students through this story, I would also stop at key points and have a discussion or have students write about what they would do in specific situations.  For example,

• What would you do at the point Gratuity and J.Lo experience their first encounter?  Gratuity came up with a unique plan to deal with the alien. 
• What would you do when Gratuity and J.Lo find the group of boys hiding out beneath the haunted mansion in Happy Mouse Land? 
• What strategies can you devise to hide the fact that J.Lo is a Boov? 
• Would you be willing to climb into a teleporter in the hopes of being transported to another place?
• How do you feel about the ending of the book?  Would you have ended it in a different way?

 

There is a Smekday web site at smekday.com.  You can read an excerpt from the book on the site.  There is also a cute "Top 10" on it.  It contains the top ten reasons to read The True Meaning of Smekday.  It would be a good exercise for students to pair up and perform it as a skit, using the emotions and voices they believe the characters would have.  There are also some good ideas for a booktalk and discussion questions at http://www.multcolib.org/talk/guides-smekday.html.  

In 2014, the movie of The True Meaning of Smekday will come out.  I'm glad I read the book first because it is usually better than the movie.  However, I will probably be found in line for the movie with my grandchildren.  It just has to be entertaining!

Do you know any struggling readers?  I know I do, and I would be surprised if there are any teachers who couldn't name at least a few.  For years, I have watched for good strategies to help these readers and read everything I can to learn more about them.  As I was reading through some of my articles recently, I came across one that actually lists indicators by grade level of a reading deficiency risk.  While the list is not all-inclusive, it is a good general reference.  Each child is different and children's specific circumstances have to be considered before making any judgments.

With that in mind, here is the list from the article on a Reading Rockets web site that I printed for my own reference.

Preschool: 

• A history of significant language delay or disorder, even if the child currently appears to have age-appropriate language abilities
• Limited exposure to oral and written language before beginning school
• A native language other than English
• A disability that affects oral language acquisition, such as a hearing impairment
• A significant history of reading difficulties in close family members
• Oral language difficulties (poor vocabulary, listening comprehension, or grammatical abilities for the child's age)

Kindergarten and First Grade:

All of the above, plus the following:

• Poor phonological/phonemic awareness (inability to rhyme, identify initial and final sounds of spoken words, or to blend and segment one-syllable spoken words)
• Lack of familiarity with basic print concepts such as (1) print conveys meaning, (2) print is read left to right, and (3) words are separated by spaces
• Poor knowledge of common letter-sound relationships
• Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words at the middle or end of first grade, especially as measured by reading of nonsense words such as zat

Second and Third Grades:

All of the above, plus the following:

• Ongoing difficulties with decoding of unfamiliar words
• Slow, labored, dysfluent reading in grade-appropriate text
• Poor reading comprehension
• Poor spelling

Even though these characteristics are not set in stone and will not mean a child will fail at reading 100% of the time, they seem to be good guidelines to use to assist in determining if a student needs extra help.  Most of these risk factors probably seem to be common sense for anyone who has been teaching for a while, but it is always good to review.  It helps me think about students I work with and consider any new interventions I might employ to help their reading skills.

My focus for the balance of this week with my third grade intervention group of students is working with context clues.  Many of these students are not fluent readers.  When they come across unknown words, the strategy used most often is to simply skip over the word, losing the meaning of the text completely.  I have been looking at research and teaching ideas for context clues.

One web site I studied recently is at http://ela.rusdtech.net/Language%20Arts%20Guide/LA%20Guide-Context%20Clues.pdf.  This site discusses the importance of context clues to help struggling readers make meaning of text.  It elaborates on syntactic and semantic clues and how each can help a reader figure out a word and/or its meaning.  Context clues help readers come to a correct pronunciation of a word, determine a meaning for a word, and read more quickly with understanding.

The instructional implications, according to this article, include teachers modeling the use of context clues.  Teachers can use prompts such as "Does that sound right?" and "Does that make sense?" to encourage students to think about word meanings.  Also, teach students to use context clues along with phonics/decoding skills.

My favorite part of this article is the list of question stems to promote the use of context clues by students.

          "You said ____________.  Does that make sense?"

          "You said ____________.   Does that sound right?"

          "It could be ________________, but look at ________________."

          "Can the rest of the sentence help you?"

          "Try that again and think about what would make sense."

          "Try that again and think about what would sound right."

          "How did you know it was _______________?"

          "Try that agan."

It is nice to have some specific things to say to the students as they are attempting to think through and use context clues.  I am having students underline the surrounding words they used as clues to determine meaning of a specific word.  They enjoy being detectives and looking for clues.





I am currently listening to the audio version of The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.  Generally, I prefer reading the book rather than listening to it.  However, this novel won the 2011 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production, which, obviously, is awarded to audio versions of books.  Because this I felt it was only right to listen to the audio version, which is contained on a collection of nine CDs.  At first, I considered abandoning the CDs.  This story is so not what I normally read!  Space/fantasy is not an attractive genre for me.  But I stuck with it and found myself actually enjoying the listening experience.  Because it is on CDs, I listen to it on my way to and from school each day.  Several times now I've found myself laughing out loud all alone in the car.

The story line is so, so silly, but I've actually begun empathizing with the main character.  Her name is Gratuity, but her friends call her Tip.  Gratuity's "Boov" friend is a funny sidekick for her.  Everything about this story is completely outrageous, but I know children will love it.  In fact, according to the reviews I've read, children are fascinated with it.  There is even a movie version coming out in 2014.  I might even take my grandchildren to see it!

The Boov are the creatures from outer space who have taken over Earth.  They have eight legs and eat strange things, such as dental floss.  After kidnapping Earthlings to teach them how to speak and become familiar with other human habits, they came to Earth themselves.  They travel in things that look like spools of thread and cultivate antennae farms.  Because they were taking over the United States, they told the humans they would all have to move to Florida and live there together.  The only good thing about that is "Happy Mouse Land."  That's where Gratuity and J-Lo, her Boov friend, are now.  They just found out that the Boov decided they wanted Happy Mouse Land and transported all humans to Arizona instead.

I will update more on this novel when I'm done listening.  I'll have to start taking the long way to work so I can get done with it sooner!  In the meantime, I've begun reading Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani.  I'm only 30 pages into it so I don't have enough of an opinion yet to write about it - more at a later date.

 

 

In my quest for good teaching on text annotation, I found information on what I believe is a section of a teacher's blog on a web site belonging to Mid-Pacific Institute.   It begins by asking a survey question of parents:  Do you read with a pen/pencil in hand?  Yes or No  Parents were asked to respond by email so that the class could analyze the results.  I can't be sure by the section I was able to locate and read, but I think it is a second grade class.  The teacher tells the readers that her class is full of interactive readers.  She states, "The children are learning to leave tracks of their thinking on the pages as they read..."

 

This teacher went on the explain how her students go right past the yellow highlighters and reach for pencils when they read.  If they are reading textbooks or reference books or anything they are not permitted to write on, they grab their reading logs also.  They write down information, questions, and connections they have with the text.  She taught her class a specific set of marks to use in their annotations, as follows:

 

                               L = new learning
                                   Q = question
                                    * = important information
                                   R = Reminds me....(connection)

 

The children in this class collaborated as they read a book consisting of a paragraph and intricate illustrations on each page.  Together they talked as a group as they learned new things and made connections with the text and illustrations.  For each page, the students wrote down one thing they learned and one connection or question.

 

This teacher really has the right things going on in her class.  At least from what she stated in her blog, it sounds like a dream class.  She says that when she shows an educational video, her students automatically reach for their reading logs and pencils.  They frequently ask her to pause the video so they can write down important information in their logs.

 

My hope is to instill the love of learning in my students so that they willingly, and even anxiously (dare I hope?), record their thoughts as they read.  I have plenty of journals and sticky notes for those pages they aren't not allowed to mark on.  I would love nothing more than for them to be so excited about their reading and notetaking that I run out of sticky notes and get to buy some more! 

 

I love the quote from the first paragraph above: The children are learning to leave tracks of their thinking on the pages as they read.  That is such a neat way to think of annotating text.  I plan to use that analogy as I begin working with a new group of third graders this coming week.

I am preparing to begin working with a special group of third graders on reading skills and after reading several articles about text annotation, I have decided to work with them on this skill.  It will help me see where they are not only with reading skills, but with comprehension.  As I teach them to annotate, I will get a glimpse into their thinking and comprehension.

As I began searching for text and reading articles to prepare for this, I came across another great one.  The article is entitled Annotation as a Powerful Reading Tool.  The web address is comprehensiontoolkit.com.  It quotes a Harvard College document which is sent to their incoming freshmen in order to prepare them for college academics.  I will quote word for word what Harvard tells these incoming students (guides.hcl.harvard.edu/sixreadinghabits):

          Make all of your reading thinking intensive. . .

          Mark up the margins of your text with WORDS: ideas that occur to you, notes about things that
            seem important to you, reminders of how issues in a text may connect with class discussion or
            course themes. This kind of interaction keeps you conscious of the REASON you are reading and
            the PURPOSES your instructor has in mind.  Later in the term, when you are reviewing for a test
            or project, your maginalia will be useful memory riggers.

            Develop your own symbol system: asterisk a key idea, for example, or use an exclamation point
            for the surprising, absurd, bizarre. . . . .  Like your marginalia, your hieroglyphs can help you
            reconstruct the important observations that you made at an earlier time.  And they will be
            indispensable when you return to a text later in the term, in search of a passage or an idea for a
            topic, or while preparing for an exam or project.

            Get in the habit of hearing yourself ask questions -- "What does this mean?" "Why is he or she
            drawing that conclusion?"  "Why is the class reading this text?" etc.  Write the questions down
            (in your margins, at the beginning or end of the reading, in a notebook, or elsewhere).  They are
            reminders of the unfinished business you still have with a text: something to ask during class
            discussion, or to come to terms with on your own, once you've had a chance to digest the
            material further, or have done further reading.

There is really no reason to wait until students go to college to teach them to really think about their reading.  It should be second nature for them by then!  I have not taught the concept of the symbols, or hieroglyphs, before, but will ease my students into that also after they become comfortable with writing their thoughts in the margins.  As I read that, it made such good sense. 

Harvard includes five other reading habits along with text annotation if you care to check out their website.  They are previewing, summarizing and analyzing, looking for patterns, contextualizing, and comparing and contrasting.  They review all six of these habits in an effort to promote thoughtful reading and help new students become academically successful.  How much easier would it be for college students if they arrive with all of these skills well in place long before their college studies begin!  All teachers, elementary and secondary, can help see that this happens for them.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is a terrific book.  I enjoyed the interaction of the main character with her grandfather.  With six grandsons living in the same house, the grandfather discovers a kindred soul within his granddaughter.  I would use this book with middle school students.  Upper elementary students could read it and would enjoy the story.  However, it is a rather long book and I'm not sure they would get through it in a timely enough manner to really get the meat out of it.  There are many possibilities for discussion questions or writing prompts.  As the students are reading, I would ask them to keep a journal of their thoughts as they read, mainly because of the length of the book.  There is so much rich vocabulary, I would also ask them to keep lists of words in their journals that they may not have been familiar with prior to this reading.



Some questions I would pose include:

1. Calpurnia learns the origin of her name on page 27 when her grandfather enlightens her.  What is the origin of your name?  Were you named after someone in particular?  What does your name mean?

2.  This story is set in the year 1899.  The reader learns about Granddaddy through his war stories, but he never specifically mentions the war in which he fought.  Which war was it and why was it fought?   

3.  Out of seven children, Calpurnia is the only girl.  She is expected to learn how to cook, sew, knit, and run a household like other women of her time.  Do you think this is fair?  Why or why not?  What was significant about the Christmas gift her parents gave her?

4.  After trying his latest pecan alcohol experiment and declaring it unsuccessful, Granddaddy says, "The day the experiment succeeds is the day the experiment ends. And I inevitably find that the sadness of the ending outweights the celebration of success." (p. 324)  How does this comment relate to his reaction upon receiving the letter from the Smithsonian?  Does his reaction surprise you? Do you agree with his comment?

 

5.  At the end of the novel, as the year turns to 1900, Calpurnia experiences her first sighting of snow covering everything outside her house.  What does this symbolize for Calpurnia and her family?

 

6.  Do you think that Calpurnia will continue her observations in science or do you think she is going to become the woman her mother wants and expects her to become?  Why do you think that?

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a 2010 Newbery Honor book.  Somehow I had skipped right over it and never heard of it until recently.  I'm glad I picked up the book and read it.  It was well worth the time!

            

 

 

I just completed reading the article suggested by Dr. Slick entitled "Beyond the Yellow Highlighter: Teaching Annotation Skills to Improve Reading Comprehension."  I have seen some of those textbooks referred to in the first paragraph that have almost every word on the page highlighted.  When I've purchased used textbooks, I look through them to find one with no or at least very little highlighting.  I was taught to be very specific about what I highlighted or marked in the text.  The reasoning was that if I used the book to take a test, how would I find the important points if everything was highlighted?  I learned to actually annotate the text instead of just using a highlighter.  I am also a huge fan of sticky notes.  Some of my teaching books look like they have multi-colored whiskers!

 

Annotating text is an extremely important skill.  I began working in earnest on annotation with my third graders about three years ago.  It dawned on me that handing them a highlighter or asking them to underline important sentences really didn't help them.  I discovered I had to be very specific in teaching them reading strategies.  This article is very enlightening with some new ideas for me.

 

I never thought of using student responses to text to determine the way they think about the text.  I do have them do a quick-write after their first reading of the text, which would be perfect for seeing how they think about the text. 

 

National Geographic magazine has been a perfect avenue for me to teach my students annotation since they are consumable.  All of our third graders are doing it now.  We select a specific reading skill to focus on for each selection and base all of the activities around that skill.  One was main idea and supporting details.  As the students read, they underlined the main idea of each subtopic and marked it with an MI.  Supporting details were marked with SD.  New vocabulary was highlighted.  If it was content specific, they used one color highlighter.  General vocabulary was highlighted in another color of their choice.  After each paragraph or other break in the text, students wrote a few words to remind them of important points.  If they had questions, they wrote them on sticky notes.  These are used on their question generation page where they are asked to come up with questions they still have about the topic after reading.  I encourage them to do some research and find the answers to some of their questions.

 

We do annotation with other texts also.  Students need experience with both literary and informational text.  After modeling text annotation several times, even my third graders caught on and were able to do a remarkable job on their own.

 

The bookmark on the second page is a great idea.  I plan on making a version of it to use at my school.  Annotations are also useful when students come together to discuss a text.  They can easily recall important information and compare their thoughts with others'. 

 

While most of my third graders are not capable of the detailed thought processes demonstrated on the annotations in the articles, they are at least on their way.  As they become comfortable with their metacognition, they are able to share easily with classmates and are not afraid of differing opinions.  It is an excellent way to facilitate the sharing between and among students of their reading.  Through these discussions students learn to engage more deeply in the reading of the text.

 

After posting and then reading this post, I looked at the article I had printed out and realized that I had annotated the text!  I have things marked and comments written in the margins, along with new ideas.  It really does just come naturally after doing it for so long.  I even write notes in my cookbooks - how much we liked a recipe, if anyone didn't like it, good for company, quick or easy to make, etc.  My cookbooks are more useful to me when I look for a particular recipe in the future.





I wrote about Kadir Nelson's We Are the Ship in an earlier post, but have developed lesson ideas that have been used since then by a class of fifth graders at my school.  It seems to have worked pretty well, so I decided to share them in more detail.  We emphasized point of view because of Nelson's interesting choice of narrator. The book was nonfiction, but the narrator was actually a fictional character representing "everyman" in the league.  We spent some time on this since it is a unique viewpoint.



They engaged in some rich discussions about the Negro race and their fight for equality.  The majority of students at my school are African-American and are taught about their history each year so they are familiar with these issues.  However, presenting the history from the baseball league perspective put a little different spin on the subject for them.  I made a 9-square choice board and allowed students to choose activities to complete.  The choices reading across the top, then the middle, and the last rows are as follows:

1.  Make a “scorecard” showing the “white” and “black” rules of baseball during the era of the Negro League (2^nd inning).
2. Create baseball cards for at least three players from the Negro league (5^th inning).
3. Write three journal entries as a player from the Negro League (3^rd inning).
4. Write a news report about Rube Foster (1^st inning).
5. Write a speech from a manager trying to convince the other managers that it is a good idea to have Negro players on the major league teams.
6. Create a timeline for the Negro Baseball League from 1920 until 1948.
7. List notable team owners in the Negro League.  What was special about Gus Greenlee and Abe and Effa Manley?
8. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the Latin Leagues and the Negro league (6^th inning).
9. Create a poster encouraging people to come to a Brooklyn Dodgers game after Jackie Robinson joined the team.

I found this idea at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and adapted it for use at my school. 

Summary:  Kadir Nelson narrates this story through the use of a character who played in the Negro Baseball League.  He is not a real person, but represents all those who played.  The book tells a lot about the hardships faced by African American baseball players.  Nelson doesn’t sugarcoat the facts about how prejudicial and unfair life was for these baseball players.  However, many of these men were made stronger because of their difficult lives.  These were the men who were able to persevere and help change the American view of African Americans.  We Are the Ship is structured in a timeline sequence to tell the story of how the Negro Baseball League came into existence.  We learn how players are finally welcomed, although in a not-so-friendly way at first, into Major League Baseball, beginning with Jackie Robinson.  It ends with a recounting of African Americans playing in the majors today, including a list of all the Negro Baseball League Players who made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Additional Lesson Idea:  Read Teammates by Peter Golenbock.  Do a text comparison.  Both are about baseball, but students can compare the themes, characters, events, etc.

 

The fifth grade teacher who used this lesson with her students said they really seemed to enjoy reading We Are the Ship and thought the choice board worked well for them to dig a little deeper into the meaning of the text while having some choice of activities.