informational text articles

End-of-Year Reflection: Top Five Classroom Success Stories of 2018

It seems to me that 2018 has been quite the long year… but then again it does feel like I was just rounding the corner of 2018 not too long ago, and here we are already at 2019. One of the most important things we can do as teachers is reflect, and so that’s why I love this annual blog post. It’s been my new year tradition for the past several years (2015, 2016, 2017), and choosing only five moments is always so hard, but here goes: My top five classroom success stories of 2018! This year in review…

1) Read-o-Lution: Reading is the hallmark – the cornerstone – of any English classroom, but let’s face it: In today’s time, even reading can sometimes take a backseat to everything else we cover. And with our teens walking around with tiny TVs in their hands at all times streaming the latest Netflix Original or watching the newest Youtube sensation, there isn’t much reading going on. I started the second semester (Jan 2018) with a focus on reading and having my juniors make a reading resolution or “read-o-lution” after studying an article about the importance of reading. If you are a Common Core state, you can use the reading passage from Appendix A to discuss the importance and value of reading. If not or if you just want something ready-to-go for the new year, I have this super simple informational hot topics lesson on how Reading Is Good For Your Brain. Throughout the year, I implemented my Article of the Week program, too (another blog post to come on that this year but you can get the materials for it here now). We also read more full-length short fiction texts in class, and my honors students read an out-of-class novel for book clubs. (See more about my book clubs here). I also set up a mini classroom library, and students checked out books all year long that way. I left their poster up the rest of the semester, and many students truly did make efforts to take reading more seriously and achieve their reading resolution.

2) Podcasts: I love introducing students to something new, and surprisingly Podcasts were actually kinda new to my students. They had, of course, heard of them, but they never really listened to them. Again… why would they when they could just watch something on the tube? I actually used Podcasts two ways this year. First, with my yearbook staff, we listened to a Podcast crime series when we finished our book. Up and Vanished (Season 1 carefully edited) was the perfect way to get my staff engaged. They completed a casebook to keep track of their listening and crime solving. That casebook is free in my TeachersPayTeachers store. Second, in my English class, we did some spooky Podcasts from Lore during Halloween, and students took notes on a podcast worksheet I created. (Get those here.) Then, they wrote their own spooky stories. My students wrote some really amazing stories: We had many laughs and many spooky cold chills, too! Readers of my email newsletter Teaching Tidbits with Julie Faulkner got that activity for free back in October. Be sure to sign up for that email at the bottom of the page, so you don’t miss anymore goodies. You can also see some of my Podcast suggestions via this link over to my Facebook page at Julie’s Classroom Stories.

3) Victorian Tea Party: Another focus I had this past year was on careers. Whether students were going straight to a career or college after senior year, I still wanted them to be focused on their futures in terms of where will they work when it’s all said and done. I’ve found that this year especially, my students are so uncertain about what they want to do, and they don’t even really have any idea what’s out there. I’m going to be adding a few more career-based lessons in the new year to possibly help students get a better idea of what their options are and what might be a good fit for them. But this project was an interesting way for students to really think about who they are as a person and what they’d like to become — just like our gal pal Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady. Hats are a huge symbol in this text, and I wanted students to not only understand and recognize that symbol and it’s role in the characterization, but I also wanted them to make text-to-self connections as well. I loved seeing how their hats turned out, and it was a fun way to make a class party text-based. See this activity and all the instructions here in my TpT store.

4) Sieve and the Sand Experiment: I’ve lost count how many times I’ve taught Fahrenheit 451 over the years, but this year I did something new that I’d never done before: a science experiment. No we didn’t burn anything… though it alarms me how many people want to burn books as part of teaching this unit. (Insert “I dunno” emoji here.) This was actually an experiment that brought the text to life and helped students get hands-on with Bradbury’s choices. I hid a few “surprises” in the sand for students to find, but ultimately, my goal of them being able to use the experiment as a jumping off point for discussion during book club meeting was super successful. I was really proud of how they went back to the text to see what Bradbury said and truly analyzed Montag’s memory. Get my 451 unit here.

5) Character Stockings: About once a year I can get it together to make a huge reading display outside my classroom door. I wish I could do it more often, but quality over quantity, right? This year, we were inspired by Fahrenheit 451 to design a hearth and decorate it for Christmas. I drew the outline for the hearth and printed up the stockings using clip art. Several of my students drew the fire and bricks and put on the finishing touches with paint. Each student then chose one character from the novel and designed a stocking for that character using text-based details. I LOVE the way it turned out!! I’m so proud of it, I’ll probably be “one of those people” who leave their Christmas decorations up year-round. LOL!

As you can probably see, this year was about all about a focus on reading — fiction and nonfiction. I wanted students to see the value in reading and truly immerse themselves in it. Making text-to-text connections, text-to-world connections, and text-to-self connections really taught students to dig in and read closely. I think the reading focus paid off: Just seeing students doing more guided reading in class and independent reading out was fulfillment enough, but we also saw major improvements in ACT reading scores with students making gains of 5-6 points on the reading section and some students scoring 30+. That sounds like a great year to me! Share your best moments of 2018 below, and here’s to having your own classroom success stories in 2019!

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Benefits of Using Task Cards at the Secondary Level

Using task cards at the secondary level can be hugely successful. Interestingly, I was using “task cards” in my class before I knew they were called that – and way before they looked so cute! If I needed to guide a particular group on a topic or break up the assignment, I would often just grab some colored index cards and a sharpie and beginning assigning the tasks, differentiating, or reviewing! Now with the wonderful world of technology 🙂 and access to tons of programs, task cards can come in any form or fashion. Here are 5 ways and reasons to use the task cards strategy at the middle and high school level.

#1) Differentiation and Scaffolding: Task cards offer teachers and students many benefits. Teachers need easy, but effective ways to meet the needs of all students who come to the table with all different ability levels. Task cards can easily be used to tailor instruction and reinforcement to those needs.

–You choose who gets which card, and that can be done without the students’ knowledge of that choice. All of my response to text task cards are written in two levels and are clearly labeled in the file. Pictured below are two examples from my poetry and speech task cards. If you head over to my TeachersPayTeachers store, you’ll be able to get a couple of these free in the preview file.

– One directive per card helps students focus.

–If students or groups of students are working through a set of cards, they set their own pacing. Here different groups of students are analyzing poetry, but one group only has one card, while the other group has two cards.

–Some cards can have suggested answers or clues, while others are more open-ended.

–Some students or groups can be assigned one or more depending on their needs.

– Task cards just by their nature provide individualized instruction and scaffolding because they allow for effective chunking of material. For example, when I teach writing, we use task cards to guide analysis of model papers during the pre-writing process and task cards to provide directives for revision and editing during the phases of the writing process.

#2) Discussion & Collaboration: Classroom discussion is very important for classroom culture but also for understanding. I believe students need to read about it, talk about it, and then write about it. Task cards provide a direct focus for talk topics where needed.

–Students can see cards first to prepare individually before small or whole group discussion.

–Guides whole group discussion. Take a look at these fun Emoji Accountable Talk Stem Puppets They offer a accountable talk stems for students to respond to or use during discussions.

– Can require students to produce a larger product together. For example, if you want students to write a paragraph, give each group a task to complete a certain section of the paragraph. When they put their work together, they have a complete product.

– Can even be used with large class sizes. See how I make it work:

#3) Games and Review

–Play traditional games (board games, card games, beach ball toss, etc.) with task cards for your subject. Below students are reviewing ELA vocabulary using vocabulary cards from my 100 words every high school English student should know pack in order to move their pieces around a game board I whipped up for fun. Give each group a set of task cards, and in order to take a turn, each student had to answer a question on one of the cards. The rest of the group had to agree with the answer before they could move on. Groups or students could also have a recording sheet that they turn in or use as a study guide.

#4) Gallery Walks, Scavenger Hunts, Quests. and Stations: Lessons that involve movement can sometimes be overwhelming to create and produce, but for Kinesthetic students especially, movement enhances learning. Pretty much any student, though, enjoys the opportunity to move around during class. Task cards make these types of activities much more attainable because they are easier to create and/or manage.

–Cards are posted around the room/hall for a gallery walk. Never tried a gallery walk? Want some fresh tips? Click over to take a look at this FREE video tutorial where I explain how to set up and manage gallery walks.

–Assign students certain numbers to complete or do them all.

–Set time limits.

–Students record answers on sheets.

– Use them in stations or centers. Here’s a quick video where I explain how I developed impromptu centers using my poetry task cards in station rotations. Get the FREE poetry recording sheet here.

– Add QR codes for a self-checking function or to add a quick video tutorial.

#5) Going green with task cards The trend is certainly moving toward more technology in the classroom that is student-centered. Task cards offer so many opportunities for teachers to convey both lesson content, practice, and assessment because they are so flexible.

•1:1 schools

•via Google Slides or Google Classroom in the lab, group device, or on their own devices. All of my response to text task cards are now available in Google Slides format. You can get them here.

•Nearpod student led or in homework mode.

•Classflow with student response systems or on their own devices

•Kahoot for whole class review and gaming. I love putting my Real-World Grammar Fails Task Cards in Kahoot to use at bell ringers or fun test-prep review! They come in large pdf and large jpeg mode for easy uploading in this format, so there’s no extra work for you. See more about my experience with Kahoot at this post!

•Single iPad used via Apple TV to share task card work. Below students were correcting sentences with some grammar task cards. In order to share with the class, I used the mirror feature on my iPad with my Apple TV, so the entire class could see the original sentence from the task card as each group explained the corrections that needed to be made.

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Updated Sep. 2018

How to Use Informational Text Articles in the Classroom (Besides Just Reading & Answering Questions)

With the push to Common Core and the need for students to be
more college and career ready, there has been a huge emphasis on a shift to
more nonfiction and informational texts in the curriculum. There
are so many excellent resources available for solid nonfiction and
informational texts out there, but what is a truly effective way to use them? Anytime
I put a text in front of my students, I want them to dissect it and digest it. Sometimes we do spend time answering questions
because I want them to practice citing textual evidence or I need them to have
a full comprehension of the content. Other times I am using nonfiction to teach
and practice some other specific skills instead of teaching the content of the
article. Here are five *fast* ways that
I have used nonfiction in my class beyond just reading and answering questions.

1) Vocabulary Word Acquisition: Recently my mom
was reading a book with my 7 year old niece, and my niece came across an
unfamiliar word. She stopped to ask my
mom what it meant. (I absolutely love
that she does that!) My mom turned to her phone to have her “Google” it, but the
phone’s battery was dead. Luckily, she
had a set of dictionaries. When she
showed them to my niece, my niece said, “What’s this?” My mom, a veteran high school English teacher
turned principal, was shocked. She
explained it was a dictionary, which is a book with all the words and their definitions
in it. They looked up the word, and my niece thought getting to do that was so “cool.” There are so many takeaways from this
story. First, if my niece hadn’t been
reading in the first place, she wouldn’t have encountered a new word. Secondly, she stopped to ask what it
meant. Students need to be aware of new
words, and they need to stop and look at new words and their meanings that pop
up inside of texts they read. Nonfiction
articles are excellent for this because they are short and often the words that
show up in these types of texts are words students might see again and
again. Lastly is the scary thought of
how dependent we are on technology. My
niece is 7, and she hadn’t seen or heard of a dictionary. That may be because she is too young, but could
it be because technology is slowly phasing it out? It’s not a bad thing to search the Internet for a word or concept; we want students to use their resources. But I keep thinking Fahrenheit 451 or The Giver. I suppose that is a topic for another
day. Either way, words live inside of
texts. Tons of research shows that when students acquire words authentically rather than from lists, there is more
likelihood of them being able to remember the word and use it later since they
saw it and learned it in context. One hands-on activity I do is a “Word Window”
foldable for recording words during reading.
Just take a sheet of notebook paper and fold it so there are 4 squares –
no cutting or pasting needed. The
students read the article and find four words they don’t know. I don’t give them the words. They write one
word in each square and then look up the definitions in the dictionary. I
encourage them to translate the definition into their own words and then go back
to the article to see if what they wrote makes sense. Now they have a clearer understanding of the word, as if they have looked through a window, symbolically speaking.

2) Asking Questions: The Common Core
asserts that students be able to make inferences including where the text leaves
matters uncertain. One of the most powerful ways to make inferences and think
critically is through asking questions. For this type of response to a text,
the students don’t answer a set of premade questions, but rather they explore
deeper layers by asking questions. These aren’t just any questions; they are
questions that go beyond the surface – beyond the black and white – questions that
raise more questions. A couple of
question stems to get students started might be:

Why did the author say…

I wonder how it might be different
if…

How is this idea different than…

How is this idea the same as…

What is the underlying issue of…

What could be another solution…

Could there be other causes or effects…

How did the author know…

It might
take several times modeling how to ask questions in a think aloud fashion during reading before students begin
to take off on their own. Have them read
and write two questions the first time and then share with a partner or the class.

3) Debate: If the article you are
reading brings up an issue or is a hot topic, host a debate. Allow students to pick a side or have them
draw out of a hat which side they will be on.
Then as students read, they will be using the text to prepare claims,
counterclaims, and rebuttals. Debating
is an excellent way to practice speaking, listening, and citing evidence.

4) Summarizing: Identifying the central idea and its development
throughout is a critical step of fully understanding a text. In fact, in our state, one of the writing
prompts students are required to do is write an analytic summary. I teach students to use the Somebody – Wanted
– But – So – Then method of summarizing.
Once students have this strategy down, they can begin to see how it
functions on a fundamental level to arriving at a central idea.

How to Write a Summary SWBST for Fiction, Informational &

5) Writing Prompts and Short Research
Tasks: Going along with the idea above, many nonfiction texts or informational text
articles you might find lend themselves really well for further investigation
or debate. Students could use the
article as a springboard for a research project and presentation or maybe as an
inspiration to write a narrative of a related personal experience. If it’s a hot topic, encourage students to
write about whether they agree or disagree.

Short nonfiction texts lessons are perfect when I have a
crazy day schedule or if I’m in between units.
If you don’t have time to read through stacks of articles or if you want
something classroom-tested, all of the Nonfiction Close Reading Hot Topics lessons
in my TpT store have a set of text-based questions, a prompt, and several suggestions
to extend the learning like some of the activities above. If you already have articles that you like to
use, these *fast five ideas* will certainly add some rigor, hands-on options, and critical thinking to your lesson. And, take a look at my print and go informational text analysis task cards. They are perfect for literacy centers, discussions, writing prompts, and more.