Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A Day of MRI (Missouri Reading Initiative)



What is MRI?
The foundation of the Missouri Reading Initiative is based on the principles of effective and research-based literacy strategies, including the most current findings by the National Reading Panel. The process and delivery of the Missouri Reading Initiative training is grounded in the National Staff Development Council's recommendations for professional development programs. The on-site, long-term, comprehensive program allows trainers to be invested as partners with individual school sites in promoting improved literacy achievement for each student.

Here's a day in the life of one of our meetings...

Opening: What Have you been reading?
More can be found in the book Text and Lessons for Teaching Literature

Megan: Farewell to Manzanar
Matt: I Read It But I Don't Get It, TKAM
Me: Just finished August: Osage County WOW, powerful stuff, love it!

T&T: Why is this important?
  • so our kids will talk
  • reading is a social activity
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
  • are not taught in isolation; put as many together as you can (example: #10 Text Complexity)
  • you have to do more than one with everything that you do while incorporating Speaking and Listening
MENTAL NOTE: Update my MRI binder of awesome!

Enhancing on-task conversations
  • interesting readings
  • explicit instructions
  • highly structured kid-kid meeting
  • begin with socially incremental design (pairs, small groups etc.); in pairs two people HAVE to work
  • start with the whole class (modeling, instruction, mini-lesson)
  • ALWAYS finish in a whole-class discussion, shared debrief time
Hold kids accountable for their performance within the group
Chapter 2/How to Use This Book

One-Minute Write
Listen to "The Limited", a short poem by Sherman Alexie. We will take a minute and jot down our responses and reactions to the poem.

Let's write. Wherever it takes you, whatever it makes you see or think or wonder, what it reminds you of, why you think Alexie wrote it. Keep writing for the entire time.

"The Life You Save May Be Your Own" Flannery O'Connor...not really thinking about the dog so much as I'm thinking about how it's true that you can only save your life and how tragic that fact is. We can only save our own lives. I mean just think about it. We have to know where we're going and how we are going to get there before we can talk to people about it and even then that 'hitchhiker' isn't going to appreciate it.

Listen again--Why did Alexie write this poem? Wha tis the theme or message? What word choices make this powerful? Structure?

Reason
Poets really can change the world.

Theme or message
You aren't truly apathetic if you share your experiences with others

Word Choices
"quick mutt"
"God, I thought..."
"He didn't care."
"Come on tough guy/What are you going to do?"
"Why do poets think/They can change the world?"

Structure
one piece of dialogue
8 short stanzas

One-minute write to focus on author's craft and purpose.

CCSS: R.2; R.5; SL.1; L.3; L.5

Tweet the Text: "The Sweet Perfume of Good-Bye" ME Kerr
T&T: What are some odors, good and bad, that you can almost automatically imagine smelling?

Every time you see a star you are going to stop and Tweet.

Farfire resembles Earth, but nothing has an odor on this planet except for death. People smell intoxicating just before they die. #Odd

Farfire not like Earth. We take advantage of our odors, all have meaning, all have purpose. How do they survive w/o scent? #questionoftheday

On Farfire death smells exquisite. There is something refreshing in being free to love to cherish "for as long as intended". #sweetsmell

Dr. Orr is dead, how do I get home? How can I live here without caring about smell, about home, about living and dying W/o- there is #nohope

Use Tweets to write summaries-brutally concise.

  • In future dystopia, chosen teens battle to death in a government reality show that distracts citizens from their suffering and exploitation.
  • Redneck boy and runaway slave float down the Mississippi, encountering humanity's follies on shore, and each others' souls of their raft.

Try it with a text you are reading or will read soon!

CCSS: R.2; R.5; SL.1; L.3; L.5

Rereading Prose
Read Like A Detective: "The Father" by Raymond Carver from Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?

  • Read like a detective-examine the crime scene.
  • Read "The Father" and take notes on setting clues.
  • Pair share--share out whole class
  • Reread text and take notes on Character Details
  • Reread text and take notes on Plot Events
  • What is the secret between the father and his mother that is so tension filled that it appears they won't speak of it? Do you think his wife knows? Why or why not?

Rereading Poetry
Read Like A Detective: "Ducks" by Michael Salinger
  • Form a group of 3
  • Using Poetry Discussion Notes; choose one or two to following (group negotiates responsibilities)
    • Discussion Questions
    • Important Lines (at least three per poem)
      • "It is the outliers that he eyes"
      • "Dreaming of pastures not within the constrictions/Of this day's curriculum"
      • "How can he help but admire/Those who push at the edges..."
    • Words (at least three per poem)
      • "sinewy hand"
      • "good tender of flock"
      • "make him work"
    • Circle them in the text
    • Poet's Craft
    • Connections (at least one or tow per poem)
    • Title
    • Drawing (at least one per poem)
  • Individuals prepare (see mine in italics)
  • Group discuss "Duck"
  • Share out
Find an Expert
  • Find a partner by waving your paper while you are standing on the 'dance floor'
  • Leave the 'dance floor' and interview your partner about the topic
  • Greet by name and see what we are experts on
  • Ask questions about the topic and jot down notes
  • Sign your partner's paper legibly and return to the 'dance floor'
CCSS: R.1; R.2; R.3; SL.1

Using a Text Set

DAY ONE:
  • Text on Text: Silent conversation about a poem ("Labels" Sara Holbrook)
  • Gallery Walk
  • Read aloud before each group starts responding
DAY TWO:
[Source]
  • Read "Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question". Mark lines you think make connections with the painting.
  • Discuss: What feelings or messages does the art work and the poem share. Jot notes in the middle of the Venn Diagram.
DAY THREE:
  • Read the speech of a student in fear of being deported. Speech at the US Capitol, Mandeep Chahal, 2011.
  • Read the speech a second time and underline the words and phrases you would emphasize if you were giving the speech as well as the places you would pause to give the audience time for the message to sink in.
  • Share your interpretation with a partner.
  • Listen to the speech delivered by Mandeep Chahal.
  • Compare your notes to Chahal's delivery.
DAY FOUR:
  • Read and annotate "On Making Him a Good Man by Calling Him a Good Man" David Eggers
  • Guiding question: Can we influence those around us by the way we label them?
  • Written conversation: Pulling from all these texts, do you think a community can help its members become better people by viewing each other and speaking about each other more positively?
CCSS: R.5; R.6; R.7; R.9; R.10; SL.1

Resources
  • Finding non-fiction, informational texts
  • Responding to literature handout
  • Class discussions/activities based on Reading
  • Argument Writing article from Six Trait Gurus
  • Teaching Channel video

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