RAN (Reading and Analysing Non-Fiction)

Recently, two of my colleagues (Michael Ball and Gina Micomonaco) reminded me about The RAN Chart--Reading and Analyzing Non-fiction.  Based on the work by Tony Stead, a RAN chart is a great starting point for an inquiry classroom!

The categories are:

Prior Knowledge (What I think I know)
Confirmed (I was right about this)
Misconceptions (What I couldn't prove)
Wonderings (Questions I still have)
New Learning (What I did not know)

Here is one they created for a Junior class:

What I love about the RAN strategy is that it encourages kids to delve further into a text and test out their theories.  It also encourages "wondering."

"Wisdom begins in wondering." --Socrates

I do like the idea of using post-it notes as students can move them flexibly from one column to the next, but you could easily create a Google Slide (one for each category) which students could use with the same flexibility.  I would show older kids how to use "revision history" in Google Slides to track their progress.

The real power of this strategy, to me, comes at the end of the process, where students track what they have learned about the topic.  The RAN chart and post-it notes become key artifacts of their learning.  Students could take pictures of the post-it-notes that they had created, and combine then images or key quotations from the text.  Students speak to what they were thinking at the beginning, how that thinking changed, and what they learned about the topic.

Students can use tools like Explain Everything, iMovie, Keynote/Google Slides/Powerpoint, Prezi, or Adobe Voice to present findings.

Like any graphic organizer, it is important to model first, then have students try it in partners, before moving to independence.

The RAN strategy, a very useful graphic organizer, has seemed to fall by the wayside in high school classes.  This year when I work with high school teachers and their students, I plan to use it!

Have you tried RAN in a high school classroom?  I'd love to hear about it!

Here are two excellent resources which provide further support and ideas:

 Adventures in Literacy post by Colleen and Stacy.  Their blog is chalk-full of helpful tips for reading based on Core Standards.

Making Shift Happen post by  Lorraine Boulos on using the RAN strategy for Inquiry based learning using the Wendats as a sample (Ontario Curriculum).

Setting kids up for success

Many of us are two weeks into a new school year and with that comes the opportunity to think reflectively about what has worked and what hasn't.  Here are a couple of ideas that may help to create a positive learning environment and set the tone for the rest of the school year.

Have EVERY student create an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)

Image:  http://blog.enablemart.com/letsblogability/2010/06/what-is-an-iep-learning-about-ieps-individualized-education-programs.html

We understand that students who are accessing student services are legally entitled to an IEP, but wouldn't it be useful if all students communicated their strengths and needs to their teachers?  Not only might this be a great opportunity for teachers to get to know their students, but it would also eliminate the stigma of an IEP.  Heck, I wish I could give some conference presenters my own IEP!

How about creating IEPs on a Google Doc or Google Form so that it can be shared with teachers the following semester or year?

Sample IEP on Google Forms

Foster a Growth Mindset

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning." Benjamin Franklin

I just returned from a two-day SIM session which used the Growth Mindset Theory as the underpinning of how we can achieve greater student success in Math in Ontario.  The theory has been around for a while, but it's worth mentioning because research supports that fostering a growth mindset works.

Some students (many of whom have been told they are failures in school since Kindergarten) don't believe that they can learn, that trying is futile. Undoing these beliefs takes persistence and a caring adult who genuinely believes every student in front of them can learn and who provides opportunities for growth and reflection.

So Teacher mindsets make a huge difference!  Do we already pre-determine our students' ability based on social, cultural, or genetic factors? Do we think we know in September which students will work at Level 4?  Do we refer to a group of students as "My Level 2's,  Level 4's?"  If the research shows that Growth Mindsets contribute to student success, then our language and actions as teachers has to reinforce the belief that the students before us can and will learn as a result of our teaching.

And it works!! We told a group of grade 9 Applied students that they would be better readers at the end of the semester, worked hard to give them strategies, asked them to reflect on which strategies helped them to be better readers, and guess what? At the end of the semester, they not only thought it to be true, but they performed better on the post-diagnostic.

Check out this video:

This simple anchor chart shared on Twitter by @Principal_EL reminded me about how important it is to ensure that students really believe that they can become better readers, writers, creators, etc...

I would actually have students sort a few sentences that reflect one Mindset or another and then create their own anchor chart.  

More information on Growth Mindsets:

Carol Dweck's article on Mindsets and Equitable Education
Jo Baler's work on Mindsets in Math
Brain Pickings Blog on Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets
You can even become a Mindset School.

ASK your students for Input and then LISTEN to what they say

Why not show kids the Curriculum expectations and get their ideas?  If we relinquish our "control" of what kids are learning, we may just be surprised at the results.  Perhaps not for the entire course (just yet), but how about for one "unit" or for 10% of the time?

I love Shelly Wright's three guiding questions:

What are we going to learn?

How are we going to learn it?

How will we share the learning?   

Her blog is a great starting point for any teacher looking to move to an Inquiry-based classroom.

In my experience, students who were able to choose their own reading, tended to be more engaged in the activities.  So obvious but so often we dictate what kids read, when they read it, and what questions are important about the reading!

Focus on Self-Assessment and Goal Setting

In their book, "Knowing What Counts, Self-Assessment and Goal Setting," authors Gregory, Cameron, and Davies provide practical ideas and templates for practising self-assessment so as to improve self-directed learning in students.

I especially love the simplicity of some of the strategies and the reproducible templates, particularly the idea of "proof cards": Teachers give students cards that have a word or phrase printed on it such as "favourite," "potential," "perseverance", or "improvement".  Students select ONE proof card, a word, and an example from their own work that provides evidence or proof of that word or phrase, as well as reasons to support their selection.  It's a great way for students to recognize their growth.

Regularly asking students what strategies work and don't work best for them, also helps them to realize that they can actually control how they learn best.  Tech tools such as Google Forms, Padlet, Socrative are quick ways a teacher can gather and share regular input from kids about what they know.

Here are a couple of examples of student self-assessment forms I've used in English Class:

Exit Card
Final Metacognitive Reflection

There's something about ISTE

I am constantly in a line (for food, for a session, for the bathroom), and the Wifi is quite frankly worse than it is at home, and yet the experience of ISTE is one that is incomparable to any other.

Where else, would you be in contact with about 15,000 other like-minded educators who know that teaching can look differently?  That student-centered learning yields remarkable results, and that technology can help students to create and share in ways we could have never imagined?

Kevin Carroll (in his keynote address today) said that the moment he committed himself to the path he had chosen, providence set in; everything he needed to be successful just fell into place.

And so it is with ISTE, I think.  Once you commit yourself to being a part of this amazing energy, that is bigger than anything you've experienced before,  you can't help but go back to your classroom and commit to transformation.

Even though I know it will take weeks to digest all of the information that has come my way, I think there is no better PD in the world and no better opportunity to connect.  Because even though we have Twitter and Google Plus and other collaborative virtual tools, we thrive on the  face-to-face connections that validate us as a part of something bigger,  and that dispel the belief that we're just outliers in our lives back home.

Cheers to all you amazing educators in ATL! Looking forward to Philadelphia in 2015!