Hatley 1

Information from Ch. 7 (McKenna)

Words are symbols from concepts (pg.
145).

Myths: They account for knowing so

many words by having met each word in
their vocabulary countless times in a
variety of contexts. They believe that,
over a long period, these repeated
exposures allow an individual to
internalize word meanings (pg. 146).

Formal definitions: Knowing the nature

of formal, or classical, definitions can
assist teachers in a number of ways.
First, the class and distinguishing
features can be identified for the
students as the definition to acquaint
students with the two elements of
classical definitions once they know the
two required components. They begin
by selecting the category to which a
concept belongs and then proceed to
add features that would allow it to be
distinguished from other category
members. They can then compare their
definitions with those of a dictionary or
glossary. Finally, knowledge of the
classical components of a definition
makes possible a number of recent
techniques that have proved to be
highly effective in the introduction and
reinforcement of vocabulary (pg. 147).
Feature analysis: This technique makes
use of a simple chartIn the upper lefthand corner of the chart, the name of
the category is written. The category
members are written in the first column.
Across the top of the chart, the column

How I can use it in my content area

(English/Language Arts)
Teaching students that readers bring
meaning to wordsit is not the words
itself that has meaningcan help them
to be more active readers and more
aware of their own reading processes. If
I can get them to be aware of the
meaning they bring to the works they
are reading in my class, they will begin
to read more critically.
We do need to teach the important
vocabulary terms in our content areas
(in English this might be things like plot,
theme, stanza, etc.), but we need to do
so in a way that helps students actually
learn and internalize the words better.
We cannot rely on context alone to teach
these words, but we cannot just present
them in lists with their definitions and
expect students to memorize them and
(hopefully) remember them when they
do encounter them in context.
I can have my students try to build
definitions for key terms and concepts in
my class before showing them the
dictionary definition. Pushing them to
try and build a definition ensures that
they will better remember it because
they have made it personal to them. For
example, I can do this for new (to them),
more complex terms in units like poetry
because students will have some
background knowledge of poetry terms
and they can use that to help them
classify and define the new terms.

An example: I can use this technique

when discussing the features of
different era of British Literature
(modern, Victorian, romantic, etc.). By
having students discover the features of
each era, they will know better what to

Hatley 2
headings identify various features that
each concept might or might not
possess. The chart is completed by
placing a plus sign (+) in a particular
position if the concept in that row has
the feature for that column. If not, a
zero (0) is indicated. Some teachers find
the letter s helpful if the concept
sometimes has that feature (pg. 147).
Tree Diagrams: When some of the
concepts to be taught represent
subdivisions of other, broader concepts,
the relationship can be depicted by
means of a branching arrangement
known as a tree diagram. The branching
usually runs downward so that one
encounters smaller and smaller
subdivisions as one moves down the
page (pg. 150).

focus on in their reading of different

works of those eras.

Venn Diagrams: When concepts cannot

be broken down cleanly into narrower
conceptsthat is, when overlapping is
possiblea Venn diagram may be
helpful in depicting relationships (pg.
150).

I could use this graphic organizer to

discuss the similarities and differences
between books or works that I have had
my students read. We could use this as a
way of examining major themes often
written about in different eras and
examine how different authors
approached those themes. I could also
have my students do a Venn diagram of
two characters to explore the
similarities and differences to
investigate the possible roles for each
character type in the work. I can also
use this to break down the different
types of writing my students might do
(argument vs. narrative, etc.).
I can use this in my classroom, as the
example says, to help students chart out
the events in novel. A plot diagram is a

Timelines and other continua: When

concepts are related along some linear
dimension, they can be effectively

I use this type of graphic organizer to

examine and teach argument writing. I
currently use it when I teach argument
to my CO150 students and actually call
it a T.R.E. model (sometimes I expand it
to a T.R.E.X. model). This can be used as
a prewriting activity for my students.
The top of the tree would be Thesis,
then from there it would branch into
Reasons (typically there are three of
them), and then each reason branches
into Evidence. The X in the T.R.E.X. is
a the Development for Audienceor the
eXplanation for the connection between
the evidence, reasons, and thesis
statement. Heres what it looks like
visually:

Hatley 3
presented by means of a very simple
organizer. Timelinesare appropriate
whenever the terms are related by
chronology. When specific dates are
known, the timeline can be marked off
accordingly. When they are not known,
as in a novel, a timeline can still be used
to sequence the key events (pg. 152).

Sociograms: When the terms to be

introduced represent people or groups
of people linked by social relationships,
a sociogram can be used to depict these
relationships diagrammatically (pg.
156).

Hybrid Types: Some graphic

organizers combine the characteristics
of more than one basic type. The family
treefor example is an effective
combination of basic types of
organizers (pg. 156).
Semantic Maps: A more open-ended
approach to graphic organizers is the
semantic mapOpen-endedness means
that students contribute to the map as it
is being constructed by the teacher on a
chalkboard, overhead, or wall chart
(pg. 156).

Constructing graphic organizers: 1.

Make a list of key terms, 2. Identify
clusters of highly related terms, and 3.
Choose a diagram type that reflects how
the clustered terms are related (pgs.
158-159).
Word parts: When a teacher takes a
few seconds to discuss a words
structure, the connection between the
word and its meaning is strengthened.

good example of thisit helps students

to chart out (in a linear way) the
progression in a novel from background,
to rising action, to conflict, to climax, to
falling action, to resolution. This helps
students to not only understand the
typical parts of a story, but to better
understand a specific story that they are
reading. It can also help them to better
plan their own stories that they might
write.
I can use sociograms to show the
relationships between characters and
systems of power in a novel/work that
my students read. In order to better
figure out and analyze the relationships
in complicated plot lines or nonfiction
works and figure out how those
relationships affect the text (especially
when characters have differing levels of
power), sociograms can be useful in
helping my students represent that
visually.
I can definitely use family trees to help
my students chart out families and
relationships to other characters in
complicated works (like Shakespeare,
for example).
I can use this type of organizer to help
my students with vocabulary words
specifically types of word clusters so
that they can see the relationships
between the concepts and include
examples of eachor other concepts
like mapping types of literature or
writing (eras, fiction, nonfiction, poetry,
etc.). This will help them to see how
they are related, but also how they are
different or build off of one another.
I can use this to help me figure out how
to most effectively use graphic
organizers in my classes. And with the
information above, I will be able to
make a better decision about which type
with be the best to use.
I of course like the example that the text
gave, but I also like talking about
revision with my current students in
CO150 and think that would be good to

Hatley 4
The language arts teacher who writes
the word autobiography in its parts on
the chalkboard, and then discusses its
meaning in terms of these parts, has
given students an added tool for
remembering and understanding (pg.
160).

Word origins: Most words have

historical sources in languages no
longer spoken. Tracing their origins
through linguistic antiquity has little to
recommend it as a means of sparking
the interest of students, but some words
are different. These words have
engrossing, sometimes fascinating,
stories that can assist students in
learning their meanings (pg. 160).
False Definitions: Common words are
occasionally redefined by skillful
writers in ways that are thoughtprovoking and often humorous (pg.
161).

Information from Ch. 8 (McLaughlin)

we will need to include lesson goals
and related state standards in our plans.
Before reading, we will engage
students thinking by motivating our
students, introducing the text, and
encouraging students to activate their
background knowledge, make
connections, and set purposes for
reading (pg. 166).
To develop environments that promote
differentiated instruction, Gibson and
Hasbrouck (2008) suggest that we do

talk about with younger students too.

Having students think about revision as
not editing (focusing on grammar and
sentence-level issues), but as a way of
re-seeing (seeing their writing in a
new way and focusing on global level
issues) is helpful to their writing and to
the writing process. It also strengthens
their writing by having them focus on
things like purpose and audience before
worrying about grammar and
mechanics.
There are all kinds of key vocabulary
words that this could be useful for. I
imagine that teaching things like this in
a unit on Shakespeare (considering the
amount of unfamiliar words in those
works AND the amount of words he
made up) would be especially
interesting and useful in helping
students better comprehend the difficult
texts.
I liked the example they gave for
literature (news that stays news Ezra
Pound pg. 161), but I imagine that
there are a lot of other fun ones out
there. Plus, having a definition with a
play on words is not only memorable
because its funny, but also having those
types of plays on words and puns in the
language arts classroom is the best
place to have them!
How I can use it in my content area
(English/Language Arts)
This is important because it helps me to
remember that I need to scaffold my
students reading for my class,
especially with difficult and/or
unfamiliar texts. Profcieint readers often
do things like making connections,
activating and using their background
knowledge, and set purposes for
reading, so helping my students to do
thatand building it into the lesson plan
will help them to become better readers.
In my classes that I teach nowand in
the classes I want to teach in the future
I never focus on one instructional

Hatley 5
the following: Embrace collaborative
teaching and learning; Use whole-class
and small-group explicit strategy
instruction; Establish consistent
routines and procedures; Scaffold
student learning; Increase student
engagement; Teach students how to
learn as well as what to learn; and
Change the way teaching occurs (pg.
167).
Differentiating Content (pg. 167)We
can differentiate content by providing
information about a topic or a group of
related topics using a variety of
sources.

Differentiating Process (pg. 167)We

can differentiate process by adapting
our teaching methods.

Differentiating Products (pg. 167)To

differentiate products, we can provide a
variety of ways for students to
demonstrate what they have learned.
Whole Group (pg. 168)All students
are involved in this grouping option,
which is used when we are teaching
new information or any ideas that the
whole class needs to learn.
Small Groups (pg. 168)the primary
purposes of this grouping pattern are to
preteach content, reteach the material,
or reinforce learning. The focus of this
kind of group will be students who did
not have prior knowledge of the topic,
did not demonstrate understanding
after initial teaching, or seemed not to
fully grasp the topic after it had been
taught.
Pairs or Partners (pg. 169)Purposes:

format too long. I usually like to have a

mini lecture (10-15 mins), individual
work (usually a writing assignment),
and small group work to practice and
apply what they learned. I think this is
effective in all classrooms, but works
well in an English/L.A. classroom
because you teach the class something
(either about writing or reading), they
can practice it in their groups, and then
they can go on to do it on their own.
I would give advanced students more
difficult texts to read, and give students
who are not as strong of readers articles
or other types of texts. I can also give all
of my students a variety of texts so that
some of my readers are stretching their
abilities and learning how to deal with
more difficult texts.
I would probably do this during group
work (when they are discussing a text). I
could work with a group that might be
having difficulty with the content and
help them by pre-teaching the material
so that I could scaffold their leaning
more.
When asking them to produce in class
writing assignments, I could require
different levels of product: full essay, full
paragraphs, bullet points, or verbal
answers to prompts, or give students
the prompt ahead of time, etc.
I might use this technique when
teaching background information or
activating students Prior Knowledge
before they read a text. I would also use
this format to do read-alouds to teach
students the strategies that good
readers use when approaching a text.
I use this type of structure a lot. I will
use it after whole goup instruction so
that students can practice and apply
what they learned in groups before they
have to do it on their own. I will also
probably use this when creating
literature circles (grouping students
who want to read the same book in a
unit).
I like the think-pair-share strategy. It

Hatley 6
to work in a guided context; to work
independently with peers. When used:
During direct (explicit) instruction;
When the teacher is working with other
students or the entire class is working
in pairs.
Individuals (pg. 169)Purpose: to work
independently individually. When used:
when applying what has been learned or
when reading silently.

As content area teachers, we need to

do all we can to ensure that our
students learn from multiple types and
levels of text. This means that if we use
a textbook, we should supplement it
with a variety of resources (pg. 171).

When teaching students about

questioning, we explain what questions
are, discuss their purposes, and
delineate their multiple levels. For
example, we explain that they are many
reasons for generating questions,
including information seeking
connected understanding
psychological and moral
reconstructionhistorical speculation
and imagination and research. We also
immerse students in topics from
multiple perspectives by reading,
writing, speaking, listening, and viewing
to foster their questioning abilities (pg.
172).
Ciardiello (1998) suggests that
students generate questions at four
levels: memory, convergent, divergent,

gives shy students a moment to think to

themselves and then they can share
their ideas with a partner before sharing
with the whole class. It makes it a more
low-stakes environment.
I will definitely have students work
individually in my class. I want to have
students read silentlyby themselves
and reading a book of their own
choosingfor the first part of my class
(10-20 minutes or so). I will also have
students produce writing assignments
and practices on their own from time to
time in my class. I really want my
students to be doing some kind of
writing every day in my class because
part of learning to write is actually
writing.
I dont really love the idea f using a
textbook in my class in the first place,
but either way I would bring in a variety
of texts: novels, poems, articles,
multimodal texts, videos, films, songs,
radio clips, photos, art, etc. I think this
enhances student understanding and I
want to teach them that texts are
more than just words on a pagemore
than just alphabetic text because I
believe that is an important part of
teaching them critical thinking skills.
Because I want to teach them critical
thinking skills, I would model these
different kinds of questionsespecially
using a sample textand then have
students work to apply what they
learned to other texts. I want students
to be questioning what they read all the
time, rather than just be passive readers
and accept whatever they are reading as
true. I think teaching them how to ask
questions would be an important part of
that.

I would teach students about these

levels, model each of them, and then ask
students to practice them in groups

Hatley 7
and evaluative (pg. 173).
When engaging in ReQuest (Manzo,
1969), students actively participate in
the discussion of the text. After
observing teacher modeling, students
practice generating questions at
multiple levels. Teachers and students
also answer questions (pg. 174)
Thick and Thin Questions (Lewin,
1998) encourages students to create
questions pertaining to a text and helps
students discern the depth of the
questions they ask, Teachers often use
sticky notes when teaching this
technique. Smaller sticky notes are used
to write thing questions (memory level)
and noticeably larger notes are used to
writ thick questions (convergent,
divergent, evaluative questions) (Pg.
176).
Research reports that if students know
the text patters and understand how to
generate questions, they will improve
their comprehension of text. Five text
patterns: Descriptive, sequence,
comparison and contrast, cause and
effect, problem and solution (pgs. 177178).

Consequently, round-robin reading is

not a meaningful process. Better, more
meaningful ways to enable students to
understand text include the following:
Students reading aloud when they
engage in Patterned Partner Reading;
Students reading silently using the
Bookmark Technique, INSERT or KWLS;
Students listening to books on tapes;
Students interacting with peers in
Discussion Circles; Teachers engaging
in read-alouds of selected texts (pg.
179).
SQ4R (Robinson, 1946) is a textbook
reading study strategy that incorporates
several of the strategies introduced in
Chapter 4. It also accommodates
learning styles by integrating multiple
modes of learning. When using this

using a mentor text.

I would use this as a way to do what I
outlined above.

This might be a strategy I use to help

my students become more active
readers. I already want them to
annotate their texts and do close
readings, and I think adding the sticky
note aspect with the different types of
questions is a good (and natural)
extension of that activity.

I would use mentor texts for each of the

patterns and would teach about genre
and genre conventions (which is what I
do now when I teach CO150). I would
then use mentor texts and ask students
to discuss the differences and
similarities of the types of texts. I would
also have them focus on why the
differences are important and what the
genre (text patterns) adds to the
meaning of the text.
I think all of these will be useful
strategies in my classroom since we will
be reading something every day. I will
probably use all of these in different
combinations each class. These re useful
techniques to make sure that my
students are being active readers and
that they are setting purposes for
reading. This will help them to become
stronger readers.

This is again, another good technique to

make students more active readers and
to have them set a purpose for reading.

Hatley 8
study technique, students survey,
question, read, record, recite, and
reflect about a text (187).