http://teacherparentresources.com Resources for Elementary School Teachers and Parents Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:18:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When your students are getting the hang of accountable talk (and using accountable talk prompts), you can introduce a tool to help monitor how it's going. Use a big piece of chart paper to draw a diagram: During a group discussion, draw a representation of the conversation. Connect-the-dots to show the pattern ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/03/27/accountable-talk-providing-feedback-on-group-discussions/ This is a simple template for progress monitoring. It's an excel file, so you can enter the specific categories according to grade and standard. I included a couple of examples. Download the Progress Report here. It looks like this: http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/03/17/progress-report-template/ Show, Don't Tell You probably won't get great results if you tell a group of kindergartners to go to their desks and write about a memory. Instead of telling them what to do, you'll have to show them each step.  Each time you teach them a technique or strategy, show them ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/03/12/writing-about-shared-experiences-modeling-the-writing-process/ The weekly magazine Science conducted a huge study to investigate the quality of the elementary school experience. The results were published in USA Today. Here is an excerpt: • Fifth-graders spent 91.2% of class time in their seats listening to a teacher or working alone, and only 7% working in small ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/03/07/study-examines-elementary-experience/ Create an Audience When students write in their journals, the writing is just for them (and you) to read. When it's time to select a piece to publish (revise, edit and create a finished product), construct an audience. Tell students when they begin working on their selections that there will be ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/29/writing-throw-a-publishing-party/ This post is about physical configurations that promote engaging, learning-based talk in your classroom. Also see posts about accountable talk prompts and questioning strategies.  Setting up Accountable Talk Kids are used to talking to a partner (think-pair-share), but you can also try some different grouping configurations.  Start by introducing the concept in a ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/28/accountable-talk-beyond-think-pair-share/ "Accountable talk" is student conversation centered on learning.  You can teach students to have conversations about text, to respond to each-other and to articulate their thinking. Make a chart with a menu of conversation prompts.  Make sure you model each one when you add it to the chart. When your chart is complete, ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/14/accountable-talk-prompts/ You can think of reading comprehension in two parts: decoding - recognizing/sounding out words and comprehension- understanding the meaning of the text.  One does not precede the other; kids can understand text even when they can't decode every word.  Conversely, even when they are able to read every word correctly, ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/08/reading-comprehension-strategies-beginning-readers/ Foster a Love of Reading Show your toddler that you read. Your toddler mimics everything you do and that includes reading. Give books as gifts. Reward good behavior with trips to the book store and the library. Talk about books. Point out favorite authors and series. Tell Stories We know that talking to children is one of ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/06/pre-reading-activities-laying-the-foundations-for-literacy-with-toddlers/ See a sample rubric for classroom management and another for readers workshop.  Why use Rubrics for Staff Development? Rubrics create transparency. When teachers and administrators work together to define specific performance indicators, there is no secret criteria on which teachers are evaluated. Everyone knows the behavior and evidence that will result in certain performance "scores".  As useful ... http://teacherparentresources.com/2008/02/05/promoting-teacher-collaboration-creating-rubrics-for-teacher-performance/