Literacy Slam! Strategies to Help Students Find their Way in Reading & Writing
FCPS Middle School Social Studies In-service | Holmes Middle School, Alexandria, VA | August 31, 2016
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Emoji Reading
Using an emoji key, students note important ideas and take-aways on sticky notes from a reading, video, podcast or really any "text." Sketchnotes A form of visual notetaking, or "purposeful doodles," students synthesize learning using text, images, shapes, colors, and connectors.
Thesis Statement Graphic Organizer A simple organizer used to help students write strong, clearly-written thesis statements, getting them prepared to tackle Document Based Question essays.
Fairy Tale Grab Bags Using bags of materials related to familiar stories, students write evidence-based thesis statements based on the contents. See Think Wonder A tool for looking at images or objects, this strategy (developed by Harvard GSE Project Zero) helps students develop their own ideas and thinking through mindful observation.
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Reading an Artifact
A series of questions designed to get students to really see and observe objects and artifacts.
What's the Scoop? A strategy for making the OPVL method of document analysis more approachable for our middle school students in order to set the stage for their success in high school. Outline Generator Using an Excel-based outline generator tool, students complete a graphic organizer which then puts their thesis statement into an essay format, offering guided comments to take students through their writing. The generator also includes an editing checklist for students. Book Spine Poetry Challenged to collect a selection of books with titles that reflect a unit of study, students then must stack the books into a readable poem on that unit. Think, Build, Tweet Students work in groups to imagine a topic or concept relevant to a particular unit of study and then represent their idea in LEGOs. Upon completion, they write a tweet as a caption for their sculpture. |