A pivotal point in a reader’s journey is when she realizes, either intuitively or explicitly, that the goal of reading is to obtain meaning. If we’re not gaining meaning in a novel or a textbook or an article, then we’re not really reading. You’ve not read something until you’ve understood it. When our students reach […]
Two Ways to Improve Listening (and One Way Not To)
SLANT: Sit up, Lean forward, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, and Track the speaker. I used to have a SLANT poster hanging up in my classroom, right next to the one for PVLEGS. I had learned of SLANT from Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion; PVLEGS came from Erik Palmer’s Well Spoken. They seemed to make […]
Quantity, then Quality
For four out of six elements of the “Non-Freaked Out” Foundations Framework, the gist of our strategy is “quantity, then quality.” Those four elements are outlined in red below: If we want students to improve as arguers, then first we’ve got to increase the amount of arguing they do — shockingly, I recommend pop-up debates. Only then do we […]
Common Student Hang-ups: Quote Bombing
When a student is writing an argument and then suddenly drops a quote into the paper with no blending or explanation, that’s a quote bomb. I made the word up myself, just like plenty of others have (here’s an example from Mercer Island Schools, and here’s one from some folks at UNC — the fact […]
Common Student Hang-ups: Silo Speeches
One surefire way to make pop-up debates and discussions boring is to allow what I call “silo speeches.” Early on in the year, when we’re having our first pop-up debates designed to establish universal participation and public speaking comfort, silo speaking is inevitable. A silo speech happens when a student pops up, says what they want to […]