REDLAND MIDDLE
SCHOOL
2015-2016
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FOCI: 2015-2016
Our foci directly support our School Improvement Plan (SIP):
increased literacy through the use of
academic language in discourse leading
to improved writing
The “Writing Classroom”
Student Choice in LiteratureLiterature CirclesDiscourse Using Academic Language
Daily Language Objectives; Focus Groups; Professional Development
Also: Advanced English Courses; Changes to Assessments; English “Field Trips”
Writing for
Various
Purposes
In a writing classroom,
we see students . . .
taking risks to
develop ideas
and voice.
writing frequently to
explore thinking and
to build fluency and
stamina.
engaging in reflection
and using feedback to
develop and
strengthen writing.
composing narratives,
arguments, and
explanatory texts.
synthesizing
evidence
from multiple
sources in
support of
claims.
In a writing classroom,
we see students . . .
engaging in authentic,
meaningful writing
every day.
In creating a writing
classroom, we ask . . .
“What will my students learn
about writing today?”
“What will my students learn
by writing today?”
Department Meeting Trainings:
Launching Discussions from a
Writing Base
What are other ways we could
have students use writing to
explore their thinking?
What kinds of writing opportunities can we provide that
connect to a text, or that go beyond the text?
OTHER WAYS TO HAVE STUDENTS WRITE TO
EXPLORE THEIR THINKING
 Freewrite and partner response (written)
 Chromebooks/Shared documents visible
to entire class
 Tweeting exit card
 Gallery walks
 Post-its for a variety of uses
 Stop and jot –using post-its to track
thinking while reading
 Journaling
 Imitating style of an author
 Continuing paragraphs
 Response sleeves
 Request strategy (5 W questions)
 Four corners placemat
 Providing different questions to different
students about a text/topic
 Responding to images/visual literacy
 Poetic expressions about what they just
read
 Poetic expressions of the same ideas as
the author presented in prose
 Summarizing
 Expanding on a section of the text
 Changing the point of view
 Letter generator on Read-Write-Think
 Wordless picture book—students create
the story based on a series of pictures
Department Meeting Trainings:
Studying Student Writing
What does quality writing look
like?
What do we value, and how do we teach for
those values?
Example Department Exercise:
It’s a question of quality.
Student Sample A
• What makes this a successful piece of writing?
• What has this student learned about writing?
• What instructional moves would you make next?
In a writing classroom,
we see students . . .
engaging in authentic,
meaningful writing
every day…
…and we also hear them discussing meaningful writing every day!
KEEPING THE MOMENTUM
FOR STUDENT CHOICE AND TEXT DIVERSITY
Last Year’s Focus, Continued

More diverse texts in students’ hands

Choices of short passages or literature circle texts

Close reading of quality texts

Writing opportunities for personal responses to texts
What kinds of questions do we ask?

Reader response—How can we engage students in
making a personal connection to the text?

Literary analysis—How can we engage students in a
study of the writer’s craft?

Cultural response—How can we engage students in
exploring the way an author represents a culture?
• Get more quality, diverse texts in
students’ hands.
• Offer opportunities for students to
see their culture in the literature.
• Ask questions about race and culture
in literary texts as well as questions
about the author’s craft.
• Explore the human experience
through the lens of race and culture.
KEY MESSAGES
How do we create
culturally responsive
classrooms through
the study of texts?
Current and Continuing Steps:

Teachers continue to focus on offering students choices and
diverse texts.

Teachers chose at least one unit in which students have
diverse choice of primary texts which they will study in
literature circles (writing with academic language leading to
discourse, then back to writing, and more discourse…)

Teachers use texts to foster culturally responsive classrooms.

Teachers attend professional development workshops
throughout the year.
OTHER NOTES
Daily Language
Objectives (BuildingWide)
Example: Label each
part of your plot
diagram correctly:
exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action,
resolution/denouement.
Focus Groups:
Sentence-Level
Weekly Professional Learning:
Academic Language
and Student Discourse
PLACEMATS: STUDENT-TO-STUDENT DISCOURSE
Get into groups of four. Distribute placemats.
Review the question in the middle of the placemat. You will write your response in your section
of the placemat.
Participants, note that there is no talking during a placemat activity; this is silent “student-tostudent” discourse.
After everyone has answered the question in the middle, turn the placemat.
Respond to each segment’s ideas with either questions or comments.
Only after every participant in the room has written comments or questions in each of his/her
group’s segments may participants answer each other’s questions aloud. Wait until the teacher
directs the group to speak.
THE ANSWERS: MISS GECOMA CONSIDERS…
•MAP-R—strong proficiency
•Writing Portfolio—independence
•Quarter Grades in On-Level English
•County Assessment Scores (85% or higher)
•Teacher Recommendations
•Parent Support
•What is missing from this list?
CHANGES TO
ASSESSMENTS
CHANGES TO
ASSESSMENTS
MCPS EXAMS
Board of Education interests . . .
• Reduce number of assessments
• Cut June exams in PARCC and HSA
courses (high school affected)
• Recover lost instructional time
• Some new decisions came in July
CHANGES TO
ASSESSMENTS
MCPS EXAMS
• All English 6-8 “exams” (2-hour tests) have
been eliminated.
• Quarter assessments continue as they are at
the end of quarters 1-3; reduced weight.
• MCPS may possibly use a one class-period
writing assessment for the end of quarter 4.
ENGLISH “FIELD
TRIPS”
English 8:
Shakespeare Theater
Company
English 7:
Holocaust Survivors
(free program)
English 7:
Author Visit/
Writing Workshop
(expanded to cluster;
current MHS 9th grade)
English 6: ??