Our Experience with LDC

Our Experience with LDC

Ebenezer Middle SchoolScience, Social Studies,

Language Arts

How has LDC been helpful in my classroom?

• I was able to customize content to add relevance into students’ lives.

• Requires students to reflect further into learning.

• Provides opportunities for higher level thinking…cause and effects.

• Incorporate cross curriculum learning.

• Provides evidence for students to see the importance in daily reading and writing skills.

• Students can demonstrate a deeper understanding than selective response.

Mark Weese 7th Grade Life Science

Informative Task:What effect do algal blooms have on marine environments off the coast of the United States? After reading scientific texts on algal blooms, write a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency that defines algal blooms and explains the impact of algal bloom in the Gulf of Mexico. Support your discussion with evidence from your research. L2 What are the implications of your findings?

Baiting the Hook!

• Introducing the task is a huge factor in promoting engagement

SETTING THEM UP FOR SUCCESS

How to make LDC work for you

• Write for a purpose Using your hook, show them that the topic is relevant to their lives.

This develops student ownership of the topic; they are stakeholders


• Write for a purpose• Provide copies of

articles if you can:1. Ensures that the articles are relevant and appropriate.2. Allows them to access to their own copies which will be important in the

writing process.3. Provides a model of an appropriate scholarly article.


• Write for a purpose

• Provide copies of articles if you can

• Encourage students to highlight and make notes on the articles.





• Emphasize main concepts with guided reading techniques.

It’s ok to provide guidance throughout the reading to emphasize the important concepts, and it’s a

great opportunity for differentiation.






• Incorporate inquiry-based learning along with the new literacy standards.

Keep the hands on engagement!

How to make LDC work for you• Write for a purpose




• Incorporate inquiry-based learning along with the new literacy standards.

• Let them run with their ideas to make it more meaningful for them.

Give them the idea that this is their project that is run by their ideas.

Mark Weese 7th Grade Life Science

Argumentative Task: [Should scientists utilize bio-control methods

to regulate predator prey populations?] After reading selected text, write an argumentative essay that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the text(s). L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position.

What has the literacy design collaborative done for me, a social studies and language arts teacher?• Given me convenient templates to create lessons in which students write across the curriculum. (In Social Studies we are writing letters to the Veteran’s Affairs arguing for reconstructive surgery for wounded soldiers).•Helped as I create writing prompts for the different genres of writing.•Made it easy to locate relevant, up-to-date resources.• Provided rubrics that help to ensure quality outcomes.•Made it easy for me and other teachers to share work.

Literacy Design CollaborativeDr. Deb Winans

•Ebenezer Middle School had a great Veteran’s Day program.•Soldier’s story.•Relevant to current content in social studies class as well as in world events.

The Hook

What has the literacy design collaborative done for my

students?• Real-life, authentic reasons to write in

all subject areas.• Well-thought out prompts instead of

vague, unclear ideas of what is expected from them.

• Walked through the writing process step-by-step

• Learn to use resources to locate data, form opinions, and create arguments

Argumentative Task - 6th grade SS

–Is life in modern America (1970 – present) simpler or more complicated than life on frontier America (1850-1900)? After reading excerpts from biographies, diaries, and viewing websites related to frontier days, write an essay that addresses the question and support your position with evidence from the texts.

Sample of Student Introduction

Can you imagine a world where your only way to get food is to go hunting, where clothes were hand-sewn, and where you risked your life just to get from one place to another? American pioneers on the frontier lived this way. We modern folks don’t realize how easy we have it until we look back to see how American pioneers lived their everyday lives.

Sample evidence/reasoningSample evidence/reasoning Also, modern ways of transportation have changed dramatically! To travel, we use cars, buses, planes, trains, and boats. However, it hasn’t always been simple like this. When early American migrated out West, the only forms of transportation they had were horse and wagons, steamboats, and trains. Horse and wagons could pull a heavy load, but they moved slowly. Also, many children would get trampled by these carriages (Frontier Women: Hardship and Triumph, 2011). Traveling by trains wasexpensive, and railroads weren’t available in many places during the pioneer days. Steamboats usually only sailed three months out the year and would frequently explode (Czajka, 2011).

Sample ConclusionSample ConclusionAs anyone can clearly see, life on the American

frontier was much more complicated than life today. Routine daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning, traveling, and communicating took more time, was more difficult, and was sometimes dangerous! There is no doubt that our lives today are so much simpler than the lives of the men and women on the frontier.

.

Hints from experience• Make sure the students understand the prompt……break it down

• Teach students about how and where to locate appropriate resources.

• As needed provide students with resources they will need such as hand-outs, articles, books so they can refer to these as they write (Differentiation).

• Set up checkpoints along the way: Incremental feedback

• Plan time to briefly conference with each student (5 MINUTES)

• Teach students how to give constructive feedback to peers.

• Teach an appropriate method to take notes or record information– For argumentative task, we colored-coded our notes for pro and con. – For informative task, we used two-column notes.– All notes contain the bibliographic info

Documents

Our Experience with LDC