Secondary Content Literacy Implementation District B January 2003

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Secondary Content Literacy ImplementationDistrict
B January 2003

• Boris Morew, Coordinator
• Secondary Literacy

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Definition of Content Literacy

• For students to become literate in a content area
  or discipline, they need to develop knowledge
  along two dimensions
• -Growth in knowledge of core concepts, big
  ideas, and driving ideas in order to develop
  enduring understanding
• -Growth in habits of mind in a content area by
  inquiring, investigating, problem-solving,
  reasoning, making connections, reading, and
  communicating

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For students to become literate in a content area
or discipline, they need to develop knowledge
along two dimensions
Students develop disciplinary literacy by
learning about the core ideas and concepts of a
discipline while learning to inquire,
investigate, solve problems, think, read, write,
talk and learn in that discipline
Growth in knowledge of core concepts, big ideas,
and driving questions in a discipline
Growth in habits of mind in a discipline Developme
nt of ways of inquiring, investigating, solving
problems, thinking, reading, writing, talking,
and learning in a discipline
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Content Literacy

• Students develop content literacy by learning
  about the core ideas and concepts of a discipline
  while learning to inquire, investigate, solve
  problems, think, read, write, talk, and learn in
  that discipline

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Reentering the Disciplinary Mindset

• 1. What discipline did you major in at
  university?
• 2. What are the big ideas and core concepts in
  your discipline?
• 3. What are the habits of mind in your
  discipline? i.e. how do you inquire,
  investigate, solve problems, read, think, and
  write?

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Habits of Mind

• Discipline specific behaviors and qualities that
  lend themselves to academic success
• They are characteristics of students who practice
  thoughtful behavior
• Abilities, skills, strategies, and patterns of
  thinking that grow students into collaborative
  workers, complex thinkers, effective
  communicators, and self-directed learners

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Content Knowledge / Habits of Mind

• Students must be presented with concepts,
  problems and questions that are not easily
  interpreted nor answered, so as to become
  cognizant of, draw forth, and practice the habits
  of mind in a given discipline.
• The content is not the finale it is the
  vehicle that activates and engages the mind.

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Habits of Mind - Science and Mathematics

• Problem Solving
• To find a way out of a difficulty
• To find a way around an obstacle
• To reach a desired end that is not immediately
  attainable
• A cognitive process by which the fabric of
  mathematics is constructed and reinforced

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Habits of Mind - Science and Mathematics

• Communicating
• Students need ample experience communicating
  mathematics by listening to, reading about,
  reflecting on, and demonstrating mathematical
  ideas
• Spend less time on the recall of terminology and
  manipulation of symbols/procedures, and place
  greater focus on deeper conceptual understanding
  of mathematics and its applications

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Habits of Mind - Science and Mathematics

• Reasoning
• Reasoning is the basis of all mathematical
  thought and operations
• Conjecturing and demonstrating logical validity
  of conjectures engages students in the creative
  act of performing mathematics

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Habits of Mind - Science and Mathematics

• Making Connections
• Students must learn to make connections between
  mathematics and other disciplines
• Find authentic, everyday life applications for
  mathematics in science, social sciences, language
  arts, physical education, wood shop, etc.
• Appy scientific and mathematical skills to
  real-world situations

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Habits of Mind - Social Science

• Understand the significance of the past to their
  own lives and society
• Distinguish between the important and the
  inconsequential
• Perceive past events and issues as they were
  experienced in historical context
• Comprehend the interplay of change and continuity
• Prepare to live with uncertainties, realizing
  that not all problems have solutions
• Understand the complexity of historical
  causation, respect particularity and avoid
  generalizations
• Understand the often tentative nature of
  interpretations about the past
• Appreciate the force of the irrational, and the
  accidental in human affairs
• Read widely and critically so as to recognize the
  difference between fact and conjecture, between
  evidence and assertion

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Building Secondary Content Literacy

• February
• Clarify the concept and practice of Content
  Literacy model in depth.
• March
• Focus on the core / big ideas content
  standards. Study the structure/organization of
  the standards within a specific discipline in
  order to identify the core concepts and enduring
  understandings to be taught.
• April
• Focus on the habits of mind - analysis skills
  for each discipline as identified in the Content
  Standards and the State Framework.
• Possibility of developing a pacing plan.

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• May
• Focus on assessments and a protocol for
  analyzing student work effective ways to assess
  student achievement in conceptual understanding
  and the application of habits of mind.
• -What do we assess? (concepts and habits of
  mind/thinking processes)
• -How do we assess it? (performance tasks)
• June
• Lesson Design / Research Lesson
• -Institute For Learning (IFL) lesson design
  principles
• -Wiggins model (Understanding by Design)

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LAUSD Secondary English Language Arts Advisory
Panel

• Established January 2003
• Purpose is to develop a standards-based ELA
  pacing plan
• Implement regularly scheduled, standards-based
  assessments, possibly to be introduced at the
  start of the 2003-2004 school year

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Developing Learning Habits for Life

• When we say someone is thoughtful, we mean
  someone who is not only logical, but who has the
  right habits of mind. They are heedful, not
  rash they look about, are circumspectthey do
  not take observations at face value, but probe
  them to see whether they are what they seem to
  be. -John Dewey