#2ndaryELA Archive
#2ndaryELA is a group of middle and high school English Language Arts teachers looking to share ideas and best practices. We chat every Tuesday night at 8 pm EST using #2ndaryELA. We'd love for you to join us!
Tuesday September 27, 2016
Welcome everyone! Excited to be with you tonight! I teach 8th grade LA and am the middle school literacy coach in Rice Lake, WI.
Welcome to tonight’s chat! Please introduce yourself. Tell what & where you teach. Share your blog link if you have one.
What and where do you teach? Include a link to your blog if you have one.
Don't forget: use on responses & replies 2 others, label yr responses w/A1, A2, & follow anyone chatting w/us 2night
Hi all! I teach 8th ELA in Tulsa, OK & am dept head to a team of 12 ELA teachers
Amanda from NJ. I teach 9th and 11th LA
Hi I'm Leslie I teach 11th grade in California
Julie in KS, I teach 9th grade ELA and a class for struggling readers, writers, etc. attempting to implement workshop w/them
Tonight’s chat will be hosted by Kasey Kiehl so look for questions coming from her.
Welcome! Excited to learn from Kasey K tonight. Kristy, co-host, middle school teacher in Canada. Blog https://t.co/4oVU89UpbB
Hello! Senior MS/HS English education major at University of Northern Iowa, will student teach next fall https://t.co/3DYHCwpQPZ
I am a preschool-turned-high school special Ed teacher in Indianapolis. I teach all subjects but mostly ELA
our Facebook group is 1800+ members strong. Join us to continue the conversation all week long. https://t.co/5Vm1hu3Eqs
Hi, Julie from NY. 10th and 12th grade English.
RW: Teaching reading through IRA, whole class minilessons, small group guided reading, and one-one-one conferences.
Q1: Have you used guided reading before at the secondary level? Describe your experiences.
I have used guided reading before but I would like to learn more. Lots of small group instruction in my classroom.
Q1: I switch between a round of lit. circles and a round of GR. Each student reads about 5 books with me in sm. groups each year.
A1: Yes - the + is helping Ss get at the heart, but the - is the time
A1: Use guided reading frequently (at least every other class). Keep it short with poems/short stories.
what do you do with each reading?
I use guided reading in all of my classes, but I would love to learn how other Ts use it.
Q1: Does anybody's school have the LLI Teal System. Awesome short F and NF text appropriate for MS and HS students.
for guided reading I use short pieces, mostly NF articles some fiction. I need to learn how to use novels
Q2: What are your favorite books to read aloud to students?
A1: Not me - I haven't heard of that before.... we use SpringBoard and have something called ZINC
A2: I love to read The Giver, Fish in a Tree, and Bronx Masquerade. I also love the audio book for Curious Incident.
A1: Yes! We are in yr 3 of implementing workshop & guided rdg. I love it. I use lots of ideas in my routines
Q2: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was always a hit with Ss. Slightly absurd, plenty creative.
A2: Fave read alouds The Giver, Fish in a Tree, The Outsiders, picture books depending on the unit
Q2: A Long Walk to Water, The Tiger Rising, and Out of My Mind are my all-time IRA favorites.
Q2: Pink & Say and Crow Call are two of the picture books that I always go back to for middle school students.
A2: I love to read aloud things like Harrison Burgeron, The tell-Tale Heart, various picture books...
A2) Reading aloud Pax right now and they love it!
I use reading strategies (1-2 per text). One on one practice w/ reading conferences (10-15 min. per class)
We just adopted SpringBoard and are required to go page by page...it's been a difficult year so far
Hi all, I'm in year 20 and am teaching all Eng 11.
Tosh McGaughy, digital learning specialist, Abydos Writing trainer, former ELA teacher
A2: Sections of To Kill a Mockingbird, Speak and The Road.
A2:Love reading aloud 1st chapter of books to get students hooked. Especially The Catcher in the Rye :) Happy banned books week!
I love using chapters from high-interest books as my read alouds. Anything by Sonnenblick, Jacqueline Woodson, WD Myers
Q2: I love to tie my read aloud into word study, RW, and WW. It always works better when I connect the pieces.
Hey guys! I'm in my 10th year of teaching. I teach Eng 9 and 10
A1: My teachers use GR in small groups within a blended station rotation model. Great discussions and modeling.
Love the idea of 1 chapter to get them hooked! https://t.co/KoSY9L5v4d
A2:Love reading aloud 1st chapter of books to get students hooked. Especially The Catcher in the Rye :) Happy banned books week!
Great minds think alike! https://t.co/UC63x98tN3
A2:Love reading aloud 1st chapter of books to get students hooked. Especially The Catcher in the Rye :) Happy banned books week!
A2: My Ss love Bradbury's texts: A Sound of Thunder, The Pedestrian, The Veldt
Intro cont. I don't have a blog but would love followers at Ss' Twitter. We'd love to follow other Eng classes too!
Q3: How often do your students get time to read independently in your classroom?
A2: The Giver and The Book Thiefhow do you not lose your voice when doing read alouds in different periods throughout the day lol
A3: Students get an SSR day once a week, the second half of a double lesson. They can sit anywhere, which they love.
A3: We only have 45 minute periods so maybe 5 minutes a day if all else is done...
A3: SSR every day 10-15 mins. This is when I get my reading conferences in!
Q3: Students apply the day's minilesson to their independent reading as they read. They get 30 minutes a day usually.
A3: Students read at least 15 minutes a day in English, and sometimes in other classes. I make reading a priority.
Q3: My minilessons always involve gradual release (modeling, have-a-go, application). Students get 30 minutes of application.
A3: Everyday! We read as a bell ringer on teaching days and as one of our choices on working days.
A3: Since we MUST use SpringBoard, there's really not room for anything else.
Moving towards Penny Kittle Book Love approach. Reading is also priority in my classes
A3) Daily! I guarantee at least 15min. Typically a part of reading workshop for independent practice.
A3: My 9th grade teachers do 40 minutes every Friday. Independent reading. My middle schools do about 20 minutes on Fri, too.
Hey , on Oct 6 we're presenting a free webinar for teachers about using hip hop in your Eng class! More: https://t.co/SAzy6BfUKu
A3: My goal is for students to have time to read *their choice* of reading material at the start or end of every class period
Yes!!!! I was always hoarse on days that I read aloud. Had to do voices. https://t.co/1qrF2cBeIa
A2: The Giver and The Book Thiefhow do you not lose your voice when doing read alouds in different periods throughout the day lol
A3: 2 days a week the entire school has ind. reading for 30 min., In my classroom. the first read of short texts is usually indep
Dang! https://t.co/ZZuEzxZkWc
A2 So, are we on read aloud question? I don't often read aloud whole text to class but did last yr w/ Intervention. We loved Out of My Mind!
A3: Independent reading time should connect to how we're asking students to think as readers to build a community of readers.
This is awesome! I've heard of schools doing "drop everything and read."
A3: we get about 30 minutes 2x a week
A2: I love reading The Lottery aloud! & excerpts for book talks like Eleanor & Park, Looking for Alaska, All American Boys, etc.
Q4: What types of writing about reading do you ask students to do?
A2: I do book talks and then gradually release them to the Ss. One requirement is to read a passage aloud to gain interest.
I carry a novel in my tech bag, so I can pull up a chair and read a chapter next to a kid when I'm on different campuses. Model!
Q4: I love to teach my students multiple genres to respond to reading in and have them choose which genre best fits their book.
A4: Reading journals once a week, Article of the Week response 1 a week. More writing about reading if we are doing a novel study
SS usually look for style when reading. They use professional writing as a guide to writing.
A3 I give my Ss about 20 min a day- we're a HS on 4x4 schedule (90 min block every day until Jan)
A4: we do a lot of comprehension and connecting the book and our lives.
want to do more of this. Interested in how all moving pieces fit together.
A4: we have journal prompts every week, and we also have a W unit on formal lit analysis.
You can try opinion writing, narrative writing, argumentative writing, group writing... lots of options!
A4: Writing in the style of the author, text dependent Qs, hexagonal writing, blog responses...
A4: Free-write about themes connected to their book.
A4: dialectical journals where they connect quotes to self/text/world love reading about their ideas
A3: I give Ss about 15 min a day - works great for my 9th graders! On a 4x4
A4: argumentative writing for "The Lady or the Tiger?", analysis w/short fiction, song lyric connections for acts of R&J
What is hexagonal writing?
A4: It's interesting for students to write their own essential question and answer it. Less guidelines, more original work
A2: the three Questions by Muth.
A2 We also read aloud All American Boys, Boy. 21, & Cass McMride
A4: have also used notice and note signposts for fiction as guides for reading responses-fun to compare whole class
A2 Last year did a read aloud with Boy 21 - Ss LOVED that
trying this with Ss. Do you recommend a certain procedure for teaching how to ask questions?
It's a concrete way to get kids to enter complex texts in 6 areas and then choose strongest to write abo… https://t.co/L1PSP50ULy
What is hexagonal writing?
A4: my HS T would give us a thesis and we wrote the rest of the essay after we read/discussed the book. Plus project on theme
Q5: When and how do students interact with each other during reading in your classroom?
A5: THIS is what I need more of -
A5: IRA discussions, minilessons, GR and literature circles are all times students are talking with each other about books.
Q5: Students interact during book clubs, but I am looking for more ideas.
interested in knowing more about hexagonal writing too.
A5: My 9th grade teachers build partner and small group discussions into lit circles and other reading analysis work.
A5: 1 min book chats with partners then rotate; small groups answer generic Qs in group and hear about other stories
A5: I've used Padlet and Today's Meet for students to post questions (confusions and curiosities) as they read.
Q5: Letting Ss create big projects around a book always got them reading it AGAIN during their group planning & creating
A5: IRA discussions, turn & talk book chats, mini lesson discussions, book talks, GR & lit circles
A4: my Ss do a lot with making connections in IR books & curriculum works. Normally quick writes that are more personal
depends on grade level... Explain that essential questions require more than a simple answer and connect to real world
A5: Mixing up how we ask and answer questions with kids is huge. Is it always whole class? Switch to turn and talks sometimes.
A5: create a Q then pass to another group to discuss and log, keep rotating throughout period
A5: we have used padlet and Google classroom to discuss
A4 I'd like to do more interactive things with their IR books but I spend a lot of time getting them interested in reading again
A5: Social media gives even the quietest students a voice. Fun to have TweetChat going while teaching Shakespeare!
I can't keep up; my IPad is acting so weird! 😩
Thanks for chatting with us tonight. Next week's chat: Nonfiction and Real World Connections on Oct 4 at 8pm EST
A5: for tech classrooms asking a Q then using a backchannel like for silent discussions online can also post on board
reading conf. based on strategies. Ss prove understanding of 1-2 per conf. Meet about 1x per 2 weeks at SSR. 2-3 per day
Really good observation & interesting idea w Shakespeare! https://t.co/WaJn0pu0ZQ
A5: Social media gives even the quietest students a voice. Fun to have TweetChat going while teaching Shakespeare!
A5: I am thinking of a way for students to "read dating" to share their book picks with their peers in 1 -2 minute time slots
A5 We don't formally interact daily but lots of S to S recommendations, claps when S finishes bk, walk & book talk w/ 2 Ss, etc.
our Facebook group is 1800+ members strong. Join us to continue the conversation all week long. https://t.co/5Vm1hu3Eqs
A5 I do couple Reading Minutes a week 1sr qtr; Ss take over 2nd qtr.
Can you explain this strategy more? Is it about the same text or different?
Just 30 min until ! Join us!
Agreed! Keeps us from reading the same essay 25 times as well
Yes, yes it does! Plus, I think their essays are better b/c of it.
