Here are a few Power Point Presentations I use to review content with students. While I’m the first to advocate for pulling away from the high-stakes testing universe, as long as we have to do it we might as well use well-designed tools. 

Use this presentation to review basic subjects, predicates, fragments and run-ons. Reviewing Complete Sentences

Use this presentation to review the four types of sentences. Reviewing Types of Sentences

This may sound simple, but we’re talking about some hard words here.  ”Analyze the characterization,” and “Compare the two passages in terms of effectiveness.” Stuff like that. And to complicate things, these are often used in directions, making it even more likely the student will become confused. I can remember being in college and still not really getting what some of them mean. So one of our 8th grade teachers, Ms. Knibb, and I created a very successful lesson that increased students understanding of these words (these actions, essentially) by applying them to everyday resources from our library collection. 

Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding onf 4 academic vocabulary words by applying the action indicated to a common library resource. 

Content Standard Addressed: Reading 1.0 (Systematic Vocabulary Development).

Time: one class period (appx. 50 minutes)

We began the lesson by organizing students into tables of 4 or 5. We took brief notes that included the objective and purpose for completing the lesson. 

Each table was assigned one word to work with. We chose four common words: Analyze, Describe, Compare, and Explain (we had 7-8 tables, so we used words more than once.)  We would be rotating tables to the extant time allowed.

 On each table was a set of information cards, including the word, a simple definition, and the directions for that table. Ms. G selected resources to accompany each word.Here are the general activities:

Students would look at picture books and Analyze the elements of the story. 

Students would Compare the cost and benefits of two pets using two different books. 

Students would read a recipe of their choice for a cookbook and Explain how to make it. 

Student would read about a natural disaster and Describe what can happen. 

The information cards had very specific directions about how long to read, what to write down, and what information to focus on in order to appropriately address the task. 

Students were then directed to write a paragraph that synthesised the activity into one brief answer. Ms. Knibb and I circulated and looked over thee responses, checking fo runderstanding and answering questions. After about 10 minutes, we all rotated tables, and repeated the activity with the new word. 

We were able to get through about 3 tables, but this was a challenging class. We collected all the notes. As their “ticket out the door,” one students form each table had to tell in their own words what their word means. 

Complete Information cards can be downloaded here:

Information Card: Compare
Information Card: Analyze
Information Card: Describe
Information Card: Explain

 Image from Wikipedia

We just finished our annual history extravaganza! For the past three years now, one very awesome 7th and 8th grade History teacher, Mr. Algie, and I have spent a week attacking a huge problem: how to get 175 teen-agers to write a decent research paper. Here’s how we do it.

Objective: Students will compose a research paper on one notable person in history, consisting of an essay and a works cited page. They will demonstrate application of these three processes:

     -reading in the content area and taking notes

     -using summarizing and paraphrasing to retell the information int heir own words

     -composing an appropriate essay, incorporating paragraph structure, grammar conventions, etc. 

Sounds like a challenge, and, yes, it is. I think Mr. Algie has a solid approach when teaching this content.

Pre-Teaching:

First, he backs way up, starts at the beginning and goes over what kinds of information (main ides) a research paper has in it, and how to connect details the kids find to those main ideas. Each kid gets a huge packet that has several examples, worksheets, and outlines included. They work on this in class extensively. 

A few days before they are scheduled to come to the library, I visit them to talk about plagiarism nd citing their sources. We have a quick “you have to say where you got your info” talk and practice writing a bibliography. This year we practiced by writing the citation for their history book. 

Library Time!

Day 1 and 2: Once we are all in the Library, we’re primed to start the reading and note taking process. Again, Mr. Algie has given them guiding questions in their packet to assist with this. I have a cart full of books and we dive right in. We model what reading the whole section then paraphrasing is looks like, and we circulate to help individuals or groups of students with their search. I find myself having to model using the index and tle of contents  for kids again and again. This lasts at least the whole first day and most of the second. 

Day 3: Some students are ready to begin writing their essays. Others are still reading (if they’re still not done with note taking, Mr. Algie and I will pay extra close attention to these guys today to get them going). A few kids who have lesser known people are using Internet sources to fill out their details. Here I briefly demonstrate searching strategies that will be more effective than just typing “Sacagawea” into Google. It is also very important to guide their note taking when kids are using the Internet; the temptation is to great to copy and paste their way to “Ms. G, I’m done!”  Directing them as to what they’re supposed to do with this screen full of nformation is key if we expect students to master using electronic sources appropriately. 

Back to the writing. Now, any teacher who knows anything about anything will tell you that teaching writing is a big confusing, messy  job. This is no exception. These students need tons of modeling and guidance, even if it is only the teacher saying  ”now write that down exactly like you just told it to me” for each detail. This is where having the two teachers and lots of space really comes in handy. We can differentiate this process for kids depending on how they’re doing with it: some may need a table where they can just write undistracted, and some may need to read theirs out loud to a friend to hear how the sentences go (or shouldn’t go) together. Some may need one-on-one time to get things moving. With both Mr. Algie and I there, we can handle these needs much better. 

Day 4 and 5: Thee are the wrap-it-up days, and are meant to add flexibility. Students are in varying stages of finishing (and having a teacher show them again where to revise) their work. A few may have been absent and are catching up. Some have moved on to typing their papers, or some may have finished completely and are reading independently. The entire packet, showing their note taking, works cited, outline, and rough draft are all turned in, preventing  students from successfully printing out someone else’s paper and turning it in. I think this is an important element: most of the credit for this assignment comes from the process, not the end product. 

A Note About Time: Some libraries would see five days as a HUGE amount of time to give one teacher, especially when we could probably hurry through this in only three days. Sure we could push the kids through, but the extra time allows a wider range of flexibility, room for re-teaching, and lots of face-to-face time with the students. I would argue that this is valuable piece to the learning process. 

Were We Successful?

The reports I saw were ones I would be proud of if these were my students. No, they were not perfect; there were plenty of selling errors, awkward sentences, and missing punctuation, but when I read them, I heard my student’s voices telling me back about Thomas Jefferson and Alexander the Great. I could tell immediately they they had lots of  new information running around in their  brains, and they got it  from all the reading and writing we did. Mr. Algie agrees with me here: real learning was demonstrated. I’d say we were successful.

Objective: Students will use both print and electronic resources to research a mineral. They will demonstrate basic understanding of the mineral’s physical properties and significance by completing a 4-square project.

Standard: Addresses CA standard 6b and 6c (Material resources and their uses)

We began with a discussion on what makes a mineral special, going over the criteria for mineral classification. We used a Venn Diagram (Graphic Organizer Maker) to show differences and similar between common rocks and minerals.

Students were then assigned one of 15 minerals randomly. The minerals were pre-selected by the teacher to be interesting (gold, silver, gemstones), easy to research ( lots of information widely available), and having identifiable uses ( kids would get how we use them).

Minerals assignment: 
• Hematite
• Garnet
• Diamond
• Corundum (Rudies and Emeralds)
• Gold
• Silver
• Copper
• Tin
• Titanium
• Quartz
• Gypsum
• Talc
• Pyrite
• Mica

We started research online. I provided the students with a worksheet to help them collect information about their mineral.

We used these sites to begin:

http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/byname.htm (probably the most kid-friendly)
www.minerals.net
www.webmineral.com

Students spent one class period searching for information and recording it on their worksheet
At this point I had them stop so I could demonstrate how to complete this research effectively. Kids want to zero in on one detail (What is the color?) and search for just that one answer. Instead I showed them they should read the information on the web page, then find where that information goes on the worksheet. We practiced this with a few details to make sure we all understood how to do it.

On day two, the students met in the library. Print resources, including encyclopedias and books, were set out on all tables. Students used them to finish tier research, add extra details, or to find example pictures. 

Students were then to use the details they had collected to create a Science 4-square. This ideas is borrowed form Language Arts and serves as a simple way to check for comprehension. We folded a piece of paper into quarters, and added these four sections:

General Information

• Name, symbol, etc.

Physical Properties

• Describe in a paragraph how the mineral looks, its harness, shape, luster etc. I modeled for them how these sentences  could sound, and review what characteristics a paragraph should have. 

Significance

• Describe in a paragraph why it is important. Again, I modeled how this should sound.

Illustration

• Some sort of illustration goes here that was drawn by the students themselves. This can be a picture of how we use the mineral, or the mineral in its natural state. I didn’t allow printed pictures. They must also add a caption.