MELD Start Smart-‐Conversation Practices Day 1: CREATE

6th Grade

Dr. Jamila Gillenwaters, Standard English Learners Specialist—AEMP 1

MELD Start Smart-‐Conversation Practices

Day 1: CREATE California State Standards

SL 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L.6.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. L6. 3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. RI.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CLR / MELD Objectives

1) Students will be able to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics and texts to produce complex oral output using the conversational skill CREATE.

2) Students use conversation norms to build on others’ ideas, while expressing their own ideas clearly.

Depth of Knowledge Levels

DOK 1 – Brainstorm ideas, concepts, problems, or perspectives related to a topic or concept. DOK 2 – Give non-‐examples/examples DOK 3 – Cite evidence and develop a logical argument or conjectures.

Essential Question How has social media impacted the way we communicate with one another in the 21st century?

Access Strategies Instructional Conversations Advanced Graphic Organizer Making Cultural Connections Cooperative and Communal Learning Academic Language Development

Protocols (color coded in lesson plan)

Attention Signals: Call and Response Participation Protocols: Pick-‐a-‐Stick, Roll ‘Em, Shout Out, Moment of Silence Discussion Protocols: 4 Corners, Think-‐Pair-‐Share, Give-‐One Get-‐One Constructive Conversation Skills: Create Constructive Conversation Norms: 1-‐5

Materials Resource Pack pages 1-‐5 Key Vocabulary merriam-‐webster.com

1) social media (n.): forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)

2) caution (n.): care taken to avoid danger or risk

Opening

Say: This year, we are going to be using Constructive Conversation skills that will help us (1) more effectively communicate the ideas we create, and (2) build original ideas with one another. In the 21st Century, many people communicate with one another using social media. (Share the definition of social media.) We will meet in four corners of the classroom to share what we know about social media

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What do people share about their lives using social media?

with a conversation partner.

4 Corners – Place these 3 pictures on one sheet of chart paper to create a chart (Figure 1). Create 4 charts to place in four corners of the classroom. (Resources p. 1-‐2) Break students into 4 groups, and have each group stand in front of one of the posters. In their 4 larger groups (1 group in front of each chart), have students choose a conversation partner. Students will converse with the same partner about each picture on the chart. You may want to project the pictures and their questions in addition to having the charts posted. Think-‐Pair-‐Share to state their responses to questions posted on each picture. Give each person 30 seconds to share, time the students. (The activity will take 3 minutes). Bring Students back to their seats. Pick-‐a-‐Stick to share-‐out whole class some of the responses for each picture. You may want to chart students’ responses to the question posted under this picture. Day 3 will introduce students to blogging—a new way that people share aspects of their lives using social media. Say: During the next 5 days, we are going to explore our Essential Question: How has social media impacted the way we communicate with one another in the 21st century? Say: We will work together in a variety of collaborative groups, creating our ideas and/or opinions; sharing them while adapting our speech and using formal/standard English as appropriate for the situation (refer to 4 Corners activity). Say: As we explore the topic, we will analyze visual, digital, and written texts that will help us think about our essential question.

Figure 1 Create 4 of these charts.

Which social media platforms have you used?

What do these words mean when people use them to communicate

using social media?

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Model / Guide

This handout is available in the resources packet.

Engaging in Constructive Conversations Say: A Constructive Conversation is a back-‐and-‐forth talk that builds ideas and accomplishes a useful learning purpose. (Zweirs, pg.187) Say: Over the next 5 days, we are going to be introduced to constructive conversation skills that will help us communicate ideas. These constructive conversation skills are: Create, Clarify, Fortify, and Negotiate 1. Today we will focus on the Conversation Skill Create. When we CREATE, we say what we think or notice about something. We will also establish conversation norms to ensure good listening and speaking skills. Watch me as I model different norms.

I’m going to model using Conversation Norms and Conversation Skills using a visual text. You can create a classroom chart using this visual text, modeling this process for students. I’m going to say what you need to do. I will demonstrate the norm. Then you will debrief with your conversation partner by addressing the prompt: How did my partner and I demonstrate the conversation norms?

1. Use your think time (Conversation Norms) Say: First, we focus and read the entire text. For a visual text, this means that we look closely at all areas of the visual text. Then we take time to

think about what we have seen, thinking about how it makes sense to us. Say: In our minds, we decide on words that will communicate our ideas and we might

Conversation Norms 1. Use your think

time 2. Use the language of the skill 3. Use your conversation voice 4. Listen Respectfully 5. Take turns and build on each other’s

ideas

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ask ourselves questions. In our minds, we practice and say our ideas so that we are prepared to more clearly share our ideas with others.

Demonstration: Teacher will model looking at the visual text, examining it closely, nodding his/her head, and placing index finger on the temple of his/her head to demonstrate think time.

o Teacher might also model taking a few notes before Think-‐Time is up.

Debrief:

Teacher: Say: Converse with your partner. Answer the following prompt: How did I demonstrate think time? After 1 minute, bring the students back to share-‐out.

o Use Roll ‘Em to select one student to share with the whole group from multiple tables. For example, roll one number cube (die) and have the student sitting at chair #4 in each group/table stand and

be prepared to share. Targeted Response(s):

o I saw your eyes on the text; you put your finger on your temple to show you were thinking. OR

o I saw you take a few notes after taking time to examine the visual text or I saw you annotating the text as you read it.

2. Use the language of the skill (Conversation Norm) Say: To share our ideas, we will use the language of the skill CREATE. We will use phrases like: “One idea could be, My idea is, I think, etc.” Show the chart of the Prompt and Response Starters. Say: When we CREATE, we are sharing our ideas. (This is the phrase for create.)

o Teacher models the hand gesture and phrase for CREATE-‐ hands starting on each side of the head with fingers closed, make an exploding motion with hands and fingers, and finishing with them spread wide on each side in the air

o Have class practice the hand gesture and saying together a few times.

Say: We are going to share our ideas about what we notice and what we think with

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a partner. Demonstration: The teacher will select a student with whom to read the following script: (The Language of the Skill is highlighted in this exchange, but not on the student’s copies).

Student A (teacher): What do you notice about this picture/visual text? Student B: I notice a boy using a phone, and his head is covered with different kinds of social media app. I see pictures of the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter apps. What do you notice? Student A (teacher): I also notice the pictures of social media covering the boy’s head. I think these pictures represent what he’s doing on his phone. I check Instagram using my phone, but this boy has a lot of social media apps on his head. What is you idea about this? Student B: This boy does have a lot of social media apps on his head. For example, I see Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and SnapChat, too. I don’t have time to keep up with all of those on my phone. I think this picture may be trying to express an idea about young people and their social media use.

Debrief: Teacher: Converse with your partner. Answer the following prompt: How did I demonstrate Use of the language? After 1 minute, bring the students back to share-‐out.

Targeted Response: I heard the students sharing ideas and using the language of the skill to start statements and ask questions.

o Teacher can use Roll ‘ Em Particpation Protocol Again. 3. Use your conversation voice. (Conversation Norms) Say: When we engage in constructive conversations with one another, we should use our conversation voices. Say: When you use your conversation voice, you Project your voice and speak clearly. **Demonstration: There will be two demonstrations, a model and a non-‐model, using the script from above. First Class Demonstration (the Model):

The class acts as Student A, and the teacher acts as Student B. o The teacher and the class take turns chorally reading their roles. o When the teacher reads the role for Student B, he/she faces the class,

and uses a clear voice. Debrief: Teacher: Converse with your partner. Answer the following prompt: How did I model using a conversation voice and body language in this demonstration?

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o After 1 minute, bring the students back to share out. Targeted Response: You spoke clearly and you faced your partner-‐-‐the class.

o Teacher can use Roll ‘ Em Particpation Protocol Again. Second Class Demonstration (the Non-‐Model):

The class acts as Student A, and the teacher acts as Student B. o The teacher and the class take turns chorally reading their roles. o This time, the teacher, acting as Student B, speaks too loudly, too

quietly, mumbles, and doesn’t face the class when she talks. Debrief: Teacher: Converse with your partner. Answer the following prompt: I didn’t model using a conversation voice and body language in this demonstration. Say: When we don’t use our conversation voices, our ideas are clearly understood. I didn’t use a conversation voice. What could I have done differently?

o After 1 minute, bring the students back to share out.

Targeted Response: You could have spoke using a quieter voice, spoke up instead of mumbling at times, and faced your partner—the class.

o Teacher can use Roll ‘ Em Particpation Protocol Again. 4. Listen respectfully (Conversation Norms) Say: One way to let your partner know you are listening is to focus on your partner. Another way to let your partner know that you understood them is to restate what your partner said. This shows respectful listening and helps you understand your partner. Demonstration: Close Reading of the Scripts:

o Using the script of the model conversation, students will take turns reading each sentence to one another. After reading each sentence, beginning with the first Student B sentence, students will Identify the pieces of the conversation that reflect respectful listening by underlining the pieces of the conversation that were restated with one line.

Student A: What do you notice about this picture/visual text? Student B: I notice a boy using a phone, and his head is covered with different kinds of social media. I see pictures of the Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter apps. What do you notice? Student A: I also notice the pictures of social media covering the boy’s head. I think these pictures represent what he’s doing on his phone. I check Instagram using my phone, but this boy has a lot of social media apps on his head. What is you idea about this? Student B: This boy does have a lot of social media apps on his head. For example, I see Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and SnapChat, too. I don’t have time to keep up with all of those on my phone. I think this picture may be trying to express an idea about young people and their social media use. Student A: I agree, I think this picture is trying to express an idea about young people and social media…….

Debrief : Use the Roll ‘Em Participation Protocol to have a few students share their responses, and providing evidence to support

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these claims. Target Response: In the first Student B response, we underlined, “I notice a boy using a phone” because this shows that Student B was focused on Student A’s question. Student B also restated part of Student A’s question when he/she used this phrase.

5.Take turns and build on each other’s ideas. (Conversation Norms)

Say: In order to learn from each other, we have to share our best thinking. We listen carefully so we can add to and/or clarify our partner’s ideas. Taking turns is everyone’s responsibility.

Remember, the goal of Constructive Conversations is to learn from each other. Demonstration: The teacher uses the Roll ‘Em Participation Protocol to select 2-‐3 students (from the entire class) to model this Conversation Norm in front of the class. The teacher will model building on each other’s ideas using this visual text. Question: What do you think this visual text is trying to express about the way social media has impacted the way we communicate with one another?

o The teacher will be Student A, and ask each Student B the question. o After listening to the answer, the teacher will build upon the idea with a 1-‐2

sentence response. The teacher’s responses to each student models the types of responses expected from each student as they converse with their partners.

Example: The teacher Rolls the dice, and the student sitting at Table 3, chair 4 stands to play the part of Student B.

Student A: (the teacher): What is your idea about the visual text? Student B :(the student might reply): I notice a bunch of fingers with faces drawn on them and thought bubbles attached to them. What are your ideas about the visual text? Student A (the Teacher responds while looking at charts posted to help with the language. The teacher’s response models building on an idea shared by his/her partner.): I did notice several different fingers with faces and thought bubbles. I think the different fingers represent several different people sharing their ideas about some thing that has been shared on a social media site. I noticed that different faces are having different reactions. What do you think about this idea? Student B: (the student might reply) I also noticed that different faces have different expressions. I think this might be related to the idea that we share our ideas through social media using our fingers to type words into our devices. The different reactions might be reflected in the types of posts being created.

Debrief : • Teacher: Converse with your partner. Answer the following

prompt: How did we demonstrate Taking turns and build on

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each other’s ideas? After 1 minute, bring the students back to share-‐out.

• Targeted Response: Each partner took a turn and added to the other partner’s idea

Practice Application: Engage in a Constructive Conversation using the Conversation Norms and the language of the skill Create. Say: We will practice engaging in a constructive conversation, using these conversation norms and the language of the conversation skill CREATE. Students use the “Give-‐One, Get-‐One,” protocol in order to converse with a partner while practicing the language of Constructive Conversation Skill: Create. Students will go back and forth with the same person for 5 minutes. As students take turns building upon one another’s ideas Say: You will use your “Use your think time,” while observing a “Moment of Silence,” as you think about the visual text on the board. (The teacher should print and post the visual text)

• The teacher will provide students with 5 minutes to quietly think about what the visual text is saying about social media.

• Students should be encouraged to take notes to prepare for their conversations.

Silent Appointment – Choose a partner from a different team. Make silent eye contact. Cross your arms over your chest when you’ve identified your partner. Move quietly to participate in a conversation using the “Give one, Get one.” Protocol. Allow students to engage in a 5 minute Constructive Conversation with their conversation partner. While students are talking, circulate throughout the room, pausing to highlight great conversations you hear.

Wrap –Up

Say: Today, we discussed using Constructive Conversation Skills to build ideas with one another. We learned how we might CREATE ideas using visual text to communicate what we think or noticed how people use social media to communicate with one another in the 21st Century. We also practiced using Conversation Norms to make our ideas clearer. Most importantly, we used Constructive Conversation Skills to engage in a range of collaborative discussions with different partners, building on others’ ideas and

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expressing ideas more clearly. Tomorrow, we will continue to learn Conversation Skills that will help us communicate effectively.

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MELD Start Smart-‐Conversation Practices Day 2: CLARIFY

California State Standards

SL 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L6. 3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

MELD Objectives 1) Students will be able to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics and texts to produce complex oral output using the conversational skill CLARIFY.



DOK 1 – Brainstorm ideas, concepts, problems, or perspectives related to a topic or concept. DOK 2 – Give non-‐examples/examples DOK 3 – Cite evidence and develop a logical argument or conjectures

Essential Question

How has social media impacted the way we communicate with one another in the 21st century?

Access Strategies Instructional Conversations Advanced Graphic Organizer Making Cultural Connections Cooperative and Communal Learning Academic Language Development

Protocols Attention Signals Participation Protocols: Pick-‐a-‐Stick, Raise a Righteous Hand Discussion Protocols: Put Your Two Cents In, Roll ‘Em Constructive Conversation Skills: Fortify Constructive Conversation Norms: 1-‐5

Materials Resource Packet Page 6 Key Vocabulary

Pros Cons

Opening

Yesterday we began our exploration of Constructive Conversations by talking about how social media is impacting the way people communicate their opinions and ideas with one another in the 21st Century. We used the Conversation Norms and the Language of the Conversation Skill Create to analyze visual text in print format. (Review the charts from yesterday) Let’s use those same skills to analyze digital text in video format. Today we will engage in Constructive Conversations to analyze and evaluate the positive and negative

impact of communicating via social media.

http://bit.ly/1MQhvtm What are the positive and negative impacts (Pros and

Cons) of Communicating our opinions and ideas via social media?

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1st Viewing of the video, Social Media and Kids. After viewing the video, have students engage in Constructive Conversations using the Put Your 2 Cents In Discussion Protocol in teams of 2-‐4 to share their ideas about how the video answers the question. Debrief

o Teacher: Who would like to share some of the ideas generated during your conversations about the visual text?

o Use Raise a Righteous Hand, Roll ‘Em, or Pick-‐a-‐Stick Participation Protocol to select a few students to share out with the class.

o Targeted Response: My partner and I noticed that young people can share a lot of the fun parts of their lives with their friends using media. For example, the video shows kids sharing pictures. We also noticed that the video gave examples of the dangers that can come with exposing too much about our personal lives.

Model / Guide The conversation skill we will learn about today is CLARIFY.

When we CLARIFY, we make our ideas are clearer, so that our intended messages are understood. Say: Today we will use the conversation skill CLARIFY to clearly understand what our partners are saying. When we CLARIFY, we listen, paraphrase, and ask questions to make sure we fully understand what was said. The teacher introduces and models the hand gesture for CLARIFY. (The teacher places their hands over eyes and gestures as if focusing binoculars.) Say: To help us remember CLARIFY, we use the phrase-‐ Making our ideas clearer. The conversation skill CLARIFY allows us to create and honor our own ideas while engaging in a conversations.

Demonstration: What are the positive and negative impacts (Pros and Cons) of communicating our opinions and ideas using through social media? Making Judgments: Pros and Cons

o Distribute the advanced graphic organizer to students, and use one as a chart in the classroom.

Clarifying

Prompt Starters What does that mean? What do you mean by....? Say more about… Why... How…What…When… Can you be more specific? Does that make sense? Do you know what I mean? What do you think?

Response Starters I think it means… In other words, Let me see if I heard you right… In other words, you are saying that… What I understood was… It sounds like you think that… A different way to say it...

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o You may also project the graphic organizer and fill it in electronically for your demonstration.

Say: We will watch the video, Social Media and Kids again. The video actually provides evidence that both supports (Pros) and Opposes (Cons) the use of social media as a communication tool for young people. We will be watching the video to gather evidence we can use to help inform our decisions about the topic. Use this graphic organizer to help you make a decision about people using social media to express their opinions and ideas in the 21st Century. Say: This is an example of the evidence I started to collect for both the Pro and the Con sides of the argument. As we conduct a 2nd viewing of the video, try to collect at least 2 ideas for both sides of the argument.

Sample of evidence collected from the visual text.

Evidence that Supports Evidence that Opposes • Social media is a fun way for kids to

interact with their friends. • Provocative pictures and/or pictures

including alcohol last a very long time. This can be damaging .

Play Video using the bit.ly

http://bit.ly/1MQhvtm Provide students with 5 minutes to add their thoughts to their graphic organizers. 2. Use the language of the skill CLARIFY (Conversation Norm) Demonstration Say: We are going to engage in constructive conversations sharing the ideas we placed in our graphic organizers. Say: We are going to continue to practice following our conversation norms while working to CLARIFY

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ideas we CREATE. I am going to have another volunteer role-‐play as we converse, using the language of the conversation skill CLARIFY. Select a student volunteer for the demonstration of the MODEL Conversation. MODEL Prompt: What evidence did the video, Social Media and Kids, provide in support of the use of social media for young people?

Teacher(reading a response from the teacher’s graphic organizer) Social media is a fun way for kids to interact with their friends. Do you know what I mean? Student: It sounds like you think that kids can have fun interacting with their friends on social media, but can you please be more specific? Teacher: Oh yes. The visual text showed kids sharing pictures, videos, and messages with one another. They were laughing and smiling in a good way as they shared their ideas and their experiences with one another. They were having fun interacting with their friends, and I think that piece of evidence from the visual text is important because it supports the use of social media for young people. Student: Okay, now I have understand what you are saying.

NON-‐MODEL (Select 2 students to act-‐out this script.

Teacher reads the Prompt: What evidence did the video Social Media and Kids provide that opposes the using social media to communicate your opinions and ideas? Student A: Provocative pictures and/or pictures including alcohol last a very long time. This can be damaging. Student B: Why is that important? I never use social media to look at stuff like! Why would you even include that kind of comment? Student A: You don’t think it’s funny when kids try to be all cool by posting pictures or videos of themselves doing things they shouldn’t do? Student: Well sometimes, and I do hear people laughing and joking about stuff like that.

Debrief: Teacher: What makes this a Non-‐Model of a constructive conversation using the language of the skill CLARIFY?

o Use Raise a Righteous Hand, Roll ‘Em, or Pick-‐a-‐Stick Participation Protocol to select a few students to share out with the class.

o Targeted Response: The students didn’t use the constructive conversation to build a clearer idea about the prompt.

Say: We are going to have 10 minutes to share the ideas we added to our graphic organizers using the Put Your 2 Cents in Discussion Protocol.

o You can create new groups of 2-‐4 students if you’d like. o Students should take turns by sharing one idea (Pro or Con) at a time. o The first cent or talking chip is used to share an idea. The second one is used to make a

comment or ask a Clarifying question about an idea someone else in the partnership or group shared.

Practice Application: Students use the “Put Your 2 Cents In,” protocol in order to converse with a partner while practicing the language of Constructive Conversation Skill: Clarify Conversation Prompt: What are the positive and negative impacts (Pros and Cons) of communicating their opinions and ideas via social media? Allow students 10 minutes to share. They can be encouraged to add ideas they hear from others as

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well. The graphic organizers to make a decision after sharing Pros and Cons with one another. While students are talking, circulate throughout the room, pausing to highlight great conversations you hear. Debrief: Share out by using Roll ‘Em to select one person from each Table / Group to share the decisions they arrived at as a result of their conversations.

Wrap –Up/ Assessment/ Differentiation

Assessment: Allow students to engage in a conversation practicing using the 5 Conversation Norms and language of the Conversation Skill Clarify as work in partnerships or teams to complete this task. II. Students model proficient use of the five Conversation Norms.

1. Use your think time 2. Use the language of the skill 3. Use your conversation voice 4. Listen Respectfully 5. Take turns and build on each other’s ideas

Say: Today, we practiced using the Constructive Conversation skill Clarify. We engaged in Constructive Conversations to help one another understand our ideas and opinions about the positive and negative implications of communicating our thoughts and ideas using social media. We also practiced using Conversation Norms to make our ideas clearer. Most importantly, we used Constructive Conversation Skills to engage in a range of collaborative discussions with different partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing ideas more clearly. Tomorrow, we will continue to learn Conversation Skills that will help us communicate effectively.

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MELD Start-‐Smart Conversation Practices DAY 3: FORTIFY


SL 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L6. 3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.\ W.6.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. ISTE for Students Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

MELD Objectives

1) Students will be able to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics and texts to produce complex oral output using the conversational skill FORTIFY.


3) Students begin to write a multi-‐paragraph blog entry that states their claim about how they show self –expression.


DOK 1 – Brainstorm ideas, concepts, problems, or perspectives related to a topic or concept. DOK 2 – Give non-‐examples/examples DOK 3 – Cite evidence and develop a logical argument or conjectures

Essential Questions

How has social media impacted the way we communicate with one another in the 21st century? What kinds of things should we consider when using social media to express ourselves?

Access Strategies

Instructional Conversations Advanced Graphic Organizer Making Cultural Connections Cooperative and Communal Learning Academic Language Development

Protocols Attention Signals Participation Protocols: Pick-‐a-‐Stick, Raise a Righteous Hand, Give-‐One, Get-‐One Discussion Protocols: Put Your Two Cents In, Roll ‘Em Constructive Conversation Skills: Clarify Constructive Conversation Norms: 1-‐5

Key Vocabulary social media : arguments claims reasons evidence

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blogs / bloggers / blogging

Materials Resource Packet pages 10-‐13

Resources CAT – Conversation Analysis Tool – Jeff Zwiers

Opening

PRO-‐CON Improv

An activity to practice connective words and different perspectives

4 Corners – PRO – Con Improvs with partners in 4 corners of classroom.

Fishbowl Protocol: Select a student to model the activity using the transition words and sentence starters with rain as the topic. See the directions for this activity in the resources

packet.

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Model/Guide

Say: Yesterday we practiced some of the Conversation Norms and Skills. Today, you will explain your understandings using targeted transition words or phrases and evidence from the text. This is called FORTIFYING. Hand gesture and phrase for the skill of Fortifying – “Making our ideas stronger” Introduce hand gesture for FORTIFY (teacher places his/her hands by her head as if showing off muscles). To help us remember the skill we are practicing, we are going to be using a corresponding phrase “make our ideas stronger”. Teacher will explain to students that we use this gesture to show when we have new supporting ideas. Introduce the charts for transition starters and fortifying sentence starters. Reflect back to today’s opening activity. Make the point that the Pro-‐Con activity used topics familiar to the students. When students had to supply reasons in support of (Pro) or in opposition to (Con) the topic, they were fortifying claims.

Transition Starters to Fortify One reason… Another reason… For example … An example from the text is …

Fortifying Sentence Starters

Prompt Starters

Can you give an example from the text? What are examples from other texts? What is a real world example? Are there any cases of that in real life? Can you give an example from your life?

Response Starters For example, In the text it said that… Remember in the other story we read that… An example from my life is One case that illustrates this is… Strong supporting evidence is

Say: When we fortify our ideas, we provide evidence from any visual or written text, real life examples, or personal experiences, to support our statements. Say: We have been using our words (producing complex oral output) as we have been

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engaging in constructive conversations to communicate our ideas and opinions with our classroom community. In the 21st Century, some people write blogs to communicate their ideas and opinions. Blogs become social media tools when people publish their writing and invite others to comment on the ideas posted in their blogs. Conduct an interactive read-‐aloud of a piece of text, a blog, I Love My Hair. Guiding Questions during the Interactive Read Aloud: How does this writer let the reader know that her hair is important to her? What claims does this author make about the topic of her blog? What details does the reader to support her claims? What are the Pros? What are the Cons? Demonstration Fishbowl Protocol: The Students should use Transition Starters to Fortify and Fortifying Starters in their conversations.

Say: Now we will practice using transition words and phrases to share evidence from the text and the real world that support our ideas about the text. The teacher selects two students to model fortifying ideas by using transitional phrases and evidence as they read a script. (A copy of the following script is located in the resource packet.) Student A: What claim is being made in the text (the blog)? Student B: People use their hairstyles as a form of self-‐expression. (CREATE) Student A: Can you give an example from the text? (FORTIFYING PROMPT) Student B: For example, in her blog, the author states that the colors she uses in her hairstyle expresses her creativity. (Fortify) Student A: Did she give a real-‐life example to support her claim in her blog? (FORTIFYING PROMPT) Student B: Yes she did. In her blog, the author provides the example of Albert Einstein being judged for his hairstyle. (FORTIFY) Debrief:

o Teacher: Converse with your partner. Answer the following prompt: How did I demonstrate fortifying my idea? After 1 minute, bring the students back to

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share-‐out. o Targeted Response: We heard you share your ideas about the text, and then

give an example from the text to support your ideas. You used the response starter “For example…”

Practice

Students will write a multi-‐paragraph blog entry answering the question: How do I express myself? Topics could include gaming, sports, arts, dance, music, writing, fashion, nails, and hair. Review Definition of blog (dictionary.com) noun 1 .a website containing a writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites. 2. a single entry or post on such a website: The students will begin to create a Blog entry that argues how they show self -‐ expression. Students will use connecting transition words, and sentence starters to write a multi-‐paragraph blog entry that states their claim about how they show self – expression. Students can use this advanced graphic organizer and the Fortifying Transitions poster to plan what they will write about. Students will write a paragraph that states their claim, provides evidence from their lives, and uses transitions to express the PROs for their blog entries. Students should complete the Pros paragraph(s) of their blog entries. After completing their first paragraph(s), students will practice orally supporting their ideas. Place students into topic-‐alike groups to engage in Constructive Conversations to

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practice orally supporting their claims about their ideas. Say: Today you will practice constructive conversations by Fortifying your ideas. You and your peers will participate in an activity called, “Stronger and Clearer.” The purpose of this activity is to help you and others to strengthen and clarify academic ideas. Each time you talk to a partner, you build from and borrow the ideas and language of previous partners. Try to make your answer stronger each time with better and better evidence, examples and explanations. Try to make your idea clearer each time by using a topic sentence, logical ways to organize and link sentences and precise words. You can also ask each partner to elaborate, clarify, explain, and/or provide more evidence. *(Note for the teacher-‐ if notes or visuals are used, their use is intentionally and/or slowly reduced from the first exchange(s) to the last one.

Students will complete this activity to provide further reasons to support the “Pros” for their individual claim that support how students express themselves. Tomorrow students will participate in the same activity to gain evidence to support the “Cons.” Give-‐One, Get-‐One Using the Musical Shares protocol, students will circulate/dance around to the music until it stops. Once it stops, they will partner up with the person closest to them and respond to the claims presented by each student (What is your opinion about …) Repeat the musical shares rotation 3 times-‐ each time instructing the students to use their notes less and less. By the last share, students should NOT use their notes. The teacher should walk around scripting interchanges in order to give specific feedback on students’ ability to use evidence from their lives, fortify, and

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transition words as they speak. After students have collected stronger and clearer reasons from their peers, they will use the collected information to revise their paragraphs—making them stronger and clearer if they need to.

Wrap -‐Up Say: Today, we accomplished many goals. (Teacher inserts specific student responses) We gained academic vocabulary using transition starters to fortify and fortifying sentence starters. Then, we read a text that allowed us to Fortify our ideas and gain further evidence to support them. Finally, we practiced speaking while using Fortifying and Sentence Starters. Tomorrow we will continue practicing Constructive Conversations to build up our evidence to support or ideas about blogging being a social media tool used to communicate our ideas in the 21st century.

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MELD Start Smart Conversation Practices DAY 4: NEGOTIATE


SL 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L.6.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. L6. 3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. ISTE for Students Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

MELD Objectives

1) Students will be able to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics and texts to produce complex oral output using the conversational skill NEGOTIATE.


3) Students will continue to write their offline blog entries that state their claims about how they show self – expression.


DOK 3 – Revise final draft for meaning or progression of ideas DOK 3 – Apply word choice, point of view, style to impact readers’ / viewers’ interpretation of a text DOK 4 – Analyze discourse styles

Essential Questions

How has social media impacted the way we communicate with one another in the 21st century? How are students using blogs to express themselves?

Access Strategies

Instructional Conversations Advanced Graphic Organizer Making Cultural Connections Cooperative and Communal Learning Academic Language Development

Protocols Attention Signals Participation Protocols: Pick-‐a-‐Stick, Raise a Righteous Hand Discussion Protocols: Put Your Two Cents In, Roll ‘Em Constructive Conversation Skills: Negotiate Constructive Conversation Norms: 1-‐5

Key Vocabulary social media blog blogging blogger discourse style situational appropriateness

Materials Resources Packet Pages 14-‐24 Digital Text: Two Videos Chart of Conversation Norms and Skills Post-‐its Chart of Conversation Norms and Skills Advanced Graphic Organizer chart and student copies

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Resources CAT – Conversation Analysis Tool – Jeff Zwiers

Opening Raise A Righteous Hand: What do we know about blogging? Say: We’ve been exploring the ways people use using social media to communicate in the 21st Century. Yesterday, we analyzed, and began creating, a blog to engage readers in a dialogue about self-‐expression. Today we will continue to learn about how people use blogs to express themselves. Let’s start with the question: Why Blog? View video: Why Let Our Students Blog? Watch video two times. First viewing, students can chorally read words as they appear. The video consists of pictures accompany words. http://bit.ly/1IqhaxZ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whm3pxqkvB8&feature=youtu.be Vocabulary Words and Phrases Taken from Text: For: communication, literacy, sharing, ownership, collaboration, discussion, integration, motivation, participation, engagement, excitement, conversation, creativity, critical thinking, expression, reflection. To extend the walls of the classroom, To give students a voice, To give students a learning environment. Open 24/7 To give them skills useful for their digital futures. 2nd Viewing: Students watch the video and identify reasons provided to support student blogging. A woman in New Zealand posted this video in 2008, so blogging isn’t a new idea. Students might find this interesting. Musical Shares: Give-‐One, Get-‐One, sharing ideas generated about the digital text with one another.

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Pick-‐A-‐ Stick or Roll ‘Em to share ideas from each group.

Model/Guide

Personal Thesaurus Personal Dictionary Tier-‐2 vocabulary Development Tier 3 Vocabulary Development Say: The video that introduced contained a lot of interesting vocabulary words. Did you notice that? So, we are going to use our personal thesaurus and personal dictionaries so that we can expand our academic vocabulary and use new words, synonyms, when we speak in our constructive conversations, and when we write our own blogs.

• Identify the words or phrases you’d like to focus on. Select the words or phrases that you’d like students to own as they write their blogs, and engage in constructive conversations. Identify synonyms for some of the words from the visual text. Students add and use their new vocabulary in constructive conversations and writing.

• Teacher models the use of the Personal Thesaurus or Personal Dictionary. Students identify other synonyms and antonyms for the vocabulary words. Students write multiple meanings in their Personal Thesaurus. The teacher might choose to build Academic Vocabulary using the Personal Thesaurus or Personal Dictionary with one new word each day.

Practice

Say: Today we will gather evidence from reading a text. We will use the evidence to negotiate or support opposing opinions. –NOTE**In order to negotiate complex text, students identify and evaluate multiple examples of evidence. We will practice Negotiating ideas, which include challenging an idea by presenting counterexamples or other ideas that oppose or compete with it.

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Hand gesture and phrase for the skill of Negotiating – “Evaluating and Comparing Ideas” Introduce hand gesture for NEGOTIATE. Say: To help us remember we are going to be using a synonymous phrase and gesture. (Teacher extends arms with palms upturned and moves arms in balancing motion.) We use this gesture to show when we negotiate our ideas. When we negotiate ideas, we challenge someone’s idea by presenting counterexamples or other ideas that oppose or are the opposite of it. Teacher reviews the Negotiating Sentence Starters chart pointing out the phrase that shows opposition (A point of disagreement that I have is.)

Negotiating Sentence Starters Prompt Starters Response Starters What is your opinion? In my opinion…. Where do you disagree? A point of disagreement that I have is… How does your evidence compare with mine? I think the positives of …. outweigh the negatives…

http://bit.ly/1DL7HMj PROMPT: What evidence from the video, texts and real life experiences, helps support your ideas about how you express yourself when creating a Blog? The students will complete their Blog entries that argue how they show self -‐ expression. Students will use connecting transition words, and sentence starters to write a multi-‐paragraph blog entry that states their claim about how they show self – expression. Students can use this advanced graphic organizer and the Fortifying Transitions poster to plan what they will write about. Students will complete their blogs by writing a paragraph that states their claim, provides evidence from their lives, and uses transitions to express the Opposing Viewpoints (CONs) for their blog entries. After completing their final paragraph(s), students will practice orally supporting their ideas.

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Place students into topic-‐alike groups to engage in Constructive Conversations to practice orally supporting their claims about their ideas. The students will continue to create a Blog that argues how they show self -‐ expression. Students will use evidence from their lives, transition words, and sentence starters to write a paragraph that states their counterclaim about how they show self -‐ expression (CON). Say: Today you will practice constructive conversations by Negotiating your ideas. You and your peers will participate in an activity called, “Stronger and Clearer.” The purpose of this activity is to help you and others strengthen and clarify academic ideas. Each time you talk to a partner, you build from and borrow the ideas and language of previous partners. Try to make your answer stronger each time with better and better evidence, examples and explanations. Try to make your idea clearer each time by using a topic sentence, logical ways to organize and link sentences and precise words. You can also ask each partner to elaborate, clarify, explain, and/or provide more evidence. *(Note for the teacher-‐ if notes or visuals are used, their use is intentionally and/or slowly reduced from the first exchange(s) to the last one. Students participate in “Stronger & Clearer.” Using the Musical Shares protocol, students will circulate/dance around to the music until it stops. Once it stops, they will partner up with the person closest to them and respond to the counterclaims presented by each student (What is your opinion about …) Repeat the musical shares rotation 3 times-‐ each time instructing the students to use their notes less and less. By the last share, students should NOT use their notes. The teacher should walk around scripting interchanges in order to give specific feedback on students’ ability to use evidence from the texts, fortify, negotiate and add transition words as the speak. After students have collected stronger and clearer reasons from their peers, they will use the collected information to revise their counterclaim paragraphs—making them

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stronger and clearer if they need to.

Wrap -‐Up Say: Today your conversations were outstanding. The videos we observed allowed us to Fortify and Negotiate ideas, in order to gain stronger and clearer evidence to support your individual counterclaim. In addition, your continued writing your counterclaims with evidence gained from the Stronger and Clearer activity. Tomorrow, your peers will have the opportunity to comment on your Blogs. Remember to bring in pictures from online images, magazines and newspaper clippings to creatively publish your Blog.

6th Grade


MELD Start Smart-‐ Conversation Skills DAY 5-‐ Creating a Blog


SL 6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. L6. 3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. W.6.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. ISTE for Students Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

MELD Objectives

Students will be able to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts to produce complex oral output using all four conversational skills: CREATE, CLARIFY, FORTIFY, and NEGOTIATE as well as build on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.


DOK 1 – Select appropriate words when interpreted meaning/definition is clearly evident DOK 2 – Use context to identify the meaning of word phrases DOK 3 – Analyze interrelationships among concepts, issues, and/or problems DOK 4 -‐ Synthesize information across multiple sources or texts

Essential Question

How are students using blogs to express themselves?

Access Strategies

Instructional Conversations, Advanced Graphic Organizer, Making Cultural Connections, Cooperative and Communal Learning, Academic Language Development

Protocols Silent Appointment, Thin-‐Pair-‐Share, Think-‐Ink-‐Share, Stop and Jot, Pick-‐a-‐Stick, Raise a Righteous Hand

Key Vocabulary digital citizen comments

Materials Resources Packet Pages 18-‐24

Resources CAT / Conversation Analysis Tool

Opening Let’s Look at a completed Classroom Blog Say: Today, we are going to add pictures and comments to our blogs. Think-‐Pair-‐Share: How do the visual aides, pictures, support the claims being presented in the blog? Pick-‐A-‐Stick to select a few students to share out whole group.

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Model/Guide

Use the commenting guidelines to model adding comments to the “I Love My Hair”

blog.

Practice

Say: Today you will publish your Blog to show how you have practiced the skills: Fortify and Negotiate. You should have written two paragraphs that establish a claim and counterclaim that provide evidence that supports your opinion about how you show self-‐expression. After you have written your paragraphs, you should add illustrations and pictures to

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creatively present your work. Students will participate in a Gallery Walk in order to add comments to at least 4 students’ Blogs. Suggested comments will incorporate one of the 4 Conversation Skills sentence starters. Say: The comments the students gave to their classmates’ Blogs were exceptional! Now, students will have Constructive Conversations to discuss the comments with their classmates. This will be practiced as a small group. The Blogger and commenters will build up and on each other’s responses during a small group discussion.

Teacher will assess students’ ability to engage in Constructive Conversations using the CAT as students discuss the comments about their blogs with their classmates.

Wrap -‐Up Say: Today, we accomplished many goals. (Teacher inserts specific student responses) We gained an understanding of Blogging. We participated in Constructive Conversations Then, provided comments to support our ideas and gain further evidence to support them. Finally, we practiced speaking while using Sentence Starters from all four Conversation Skills: Create, Clarify, Fortify and Negotiate. Over the next two days, we will continue practicing Constructive Conversations to discuss the Blogs and comments of all students.

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Documents

MELD Start Smart-‐Conversation Practices Day 1: CREATE