Extending Probable Passage to Multiple Genres

Probable Passage is a POWERFUL before reading strategy developed by Kylene Beers. You can read more about it on pages 87-94 in When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do.

In a recent session for Struggling Readers, I shared the lesson with teachers, adding some elements to support struggling readers with decoding and extended the activity to address multiple genres.

I had the teachers fold the paper into thirds to create the organizer. (I could have printed the blackline master, but who has time to go to the copy machine? I'd rather have the kids make it and save that time at the copy machine to go to the bathroom. LOL!)

We began with a splash sheet for the vocabulary. This is what it looked like at the end.

• As I wrote each word, I had the participants say the sounds as I wrote them. 
• Notice for /plover/ that I practiced showing them how to break words into syllables by writing them vertically to decode them. 
• For the word bird, I drew the shape first and had them predict what word might be there. Then I filed in the b and d. Then the r. 
• For jagged ivory bones, I first wrote them down separately. Kids placed them on their mats separately. At the end, I drew the box around them and said, "You might need to cross those out on your mat to revise your thinking. These words appear in the text together and will need to go in the same box." 

Next, I let the participants use those words to write the gist statement. When they didn't know what the words were, I let them look them up or view google images. 

Then, I said, "What if I told you that this text is not a narrative? What would you have written for the gist statement if this was an encyclopedic or informational text?" I had the participants turn over their papers and revise their thinking to restructure the text into a nonfiction format." Wow. Blew their minds. I realized that kids would need more support for understanding the genre characteristics. Lead4ward's genre characteristics cards are excellent resources. 

Here are some examples of student work. 

Finally, when I showed them that the source text was a poem? They freaked out and started talking about poetry characteristics, craft, and digging into the poem to see how it matched their predictions. When the teachers took this back to class, the kids asked if they could have more time to write about their stories and articles. I don't know about you, but I'd love to hear more about the character named Jagged! 

Dear New Teacher: Everybody Uses TPT

Dear New Teacher:

Everybody uses TPT eventually. There's some good stuff out there, and we know you are tired. It's ok. Everybody uses TPT, but the good teachers don't use the lessons as they are. You have to refine them a bit for your standards and your students.

1. Read your standards. Just because the lesson addresses your standard with a little number or a word match, you are NOT in the clear for relevance or rigor. You might need to add or tweak a few things to make it work. Or, the lesson might just flat out be rotten and need to be thrown out.

2. Consider  the rigor of texts. I know we aren't supposed to talk about Common Core here in Texas, but Appendix B has a book list that can give you a pretty good idea of what grade level material looks like.

3. Think about the questions you can ask and how you can model the skills and strategies for students. Look at how your state assessment phrases the stems and answer choices and all the various ways the questions are asked. The lead4ward IQ is a powerful tool. 

4. Think about what your students need and are interested in. But you already know that. :)

Love,
Shona

NEW ELAR TEKS: Literary Analysis for the Littles

Hickory, Dickory, Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory, Dickory, Dock

 (It actually has more verses that have been added after the traditional Mother Goose. It's a counting song. Here's another version with music. )

What is the purpose of the rhythm, repetition, and rhyme in this poem?

Most of the time, when I ask adults this question, they look at me with blank stares for a bit.

But seriously. This is important. Sing it aloud to yourself and tap your feet. What happens to you?

It sounds like a clock. The writer did that on purpose, y'all. Sometimes writers use their syllables, their repetition, and their rhymes to help the reader hear something that's connected to the meaning of the poem. Understanding this helps us comprehend what the writer is saying. It helps us participate in the poem to see and hear what the writer describes.

We can look at the rhyme scheme to help us understand and visualize the poem as well. Dock and clock rhyme. Together, they help us hear the ticking and see the pendulum of an old grandfather clock swinging in time. We call that onomatopoeia. One and down don't rhyme. They show a contrast that help us visualize the conflict or cause and effect. That teeny little mouse runs up the clock for some reason. And then that big hand on the clock moves to one o'clock and a great big noise scares that little mouse so bad that he runs back down and scrambles back to a safe hidey-hole.

Noticing these things can also help us know how we can perform this poem in a way that is interesting and engaging to the listener. It helps us know what to emphasize with our prosody.

But why would the writer do that? We can comprehend the poet better when we think about the purpose and audience. Who are nursery rhymes usually written for? And when are they usually used? Nursery rhymes are used for little ones at bed time. Probably rocking in the chair with momma. So what happens when rhythm and rhyme are used at bedtime? It's soothing and comforting. Especially when combined with a tune.

But why is this worth noticing? Because when we understand how writers use the tools of rhyme, and rhythm, and repetition, we can ask ourselves important questions that help us comprehend. But they can also give us tools that we can use as writers as well. Is there a place in your writing where you want the reader to hear or see something? Can you imitate the sound with your language? We call that diction in high school. You can use your syllables and the order of your words to make them sound like what you want the reader to hear.

Our new standards for ELAR require this kind of teaching. Look at the knowledge and skills statements for the Author's Purpose and Craft Strand. We are to examine Author's Purpose in Craft in a way that informs how we listen, speak, read, write, and think. In addition, this kind of teaching requires a critical inquiry lens. We are not just telling kids how to help them read and think through a poem - we help them discover how to do this. And our work is not just about identifying author's craft, but "analyze the author's choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts." Furthermore, the student "analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances."

When we are looking at our standards, it's important that we look at the Knowledge and Skills statement, but also the trajectory of the student expectation row. If you only look at your grade level, you are missing the purpose of the row.

• 2nd grade 10F:  identify and explain the use of repetition
• 3rd grade 10G:  identify and explain the use of hyperbole
• 4th grade 10G:  identify and explain the use of anecdote
• 5th grade 10G:  explain the purpose of hyperbole, stereotyping, and anecdote
• 6th grade 9G:    explain the differences between rhetorical devices and logical fallacies
• 7th grade 9G:    explain the purpose of rhetorical devices such as direct address and rhetorical questions and logical fallacies such as loaded language and sweeping generalizations
• 8th grade 9G:    explain the purpose of rhetorical devices such as analogy and juxtaposition and and of logical fallacies such as bandwagon appeals and circular reasoning
• English I 8G:     analyze the purpose of rhetorical devices such as appeals, antithesis, parallelism, and shifts and the effects of logical fallacies
• English II 8G:   analyze the effects of rhetorical devices and logical fallacies on the way the text is read and understood 
• English III 8G:  analyze the effects of rhetorical devices and logical fallacies on the way the text is read and understood
• English IV 8G:  analyze the effects of rhetorical devices and logical fallacies on the way the text is read and understood

The purpose of this row is not to identify and explain the use of repetition. The purpose of this row is to gradually support students toward the capacity to analyze texts rhetorically. If you don't start aiming for that with the littles, the bigs will never hit that target. 

The implications here should CHANGE how we teach. We must address our skills rhetorically and in concert with multiple texts and genres and in multiple applications for comprehension and composition. 

In second grade it might look like this: 

Let's read and enjoy: Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, and Kitty Caught a Caterpillar. What did you notice that all of these writers are doing? When writers repeat words, phrases, or ideas, that's called repetition. But writers all use repetition differently. Let's look more closely at Goodnight Moon. How does Margaret Wide Brown use repetition? What effect does it have on you as a reader? Who is she writing for? When (purpose) might someone read this text? How can we listen for repetition when we experience texts? How can that help us comprehend or visualize? How might the repetition influence the way we perform this text? How does the repetition help the author communicate her message? What would the text be like without the repetition? How can you write with repetition like Margaret Wise Brown? Where is a place in your draft where you would like to do something similar for your reader or message? 

In third grade, we might look at Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Piggie Pie, and the poem Appetite. But we won't simply stop by asking questions like this:

Because if an English teacher has asked it, the answer is already out there. We have to go five-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea deeper with our analysis and USE of hyperbole and that's no exaggeration for truth, emphasis, or humorous effect. Well, it kinda is. 

In fourth grade, we might look at After the Fall (Santat uses an anecdote as his lead! Cool!) and Firetalking. Which brings me to another point. Y'all. We have to start reading some books. We have to KNOW the literature that has this stuff in it. Or you need a good friend like Deborah Dickinson or Teri Lesesne that you can go ask. Thanks girls. 

In fifth grade, we might consider thematically linked texts like The Paper Bag Princess, Ruby's Wish, or Rosie Revere, Engineer that combat stereotypes. 

Literary Analysis for the Littles. Yes. Sign me up for that. 

New ELAR Standards: What should our lessons look like?

I started thinking these thoughts when I was asked to help administrators understand what they are looking for in lessons that help the gaps we are seeing in performance for ELL and SPED students. I observed a lesson where the teacher was using a text that had figurative language and realized that there are many more steps to the process that we are addressing in our instruction. Here's my first draft of thoughts. 

1. Figurative language has a purpose: Writers use figurative language to help readers see what they say, understand what they mean, and feel empathy for the characters or emotions about the topic. When the writer says the character was a fish out of water, the author wants you to understand the situation the character is in. The writer wants the reader to understand how that is changing the character (dynamic vs static character), is connected to the setting (how the setting influences plot), and how the dilemmas the character faces influence their next actions (plot, conflict, and rising action.)
2. Figurative language has a process: There are steps we go through to analyze figurative language. When the writer says that the character is a fish out of water, we are to first think literally about what that means. We are to visualize a fish out of water: see it flopping awkwardly in contrast to the graceful moves it can make in water, hear it gasping and slamming its scales against the ground, and imagine what actions need to take place to stop it’s pain. Second, we must think about what that means. That the fish is not thriving. That the fish will die. That something has to change. Third, we must think about how this image helps the author explain what the character is feeling and why. Melanie is a fish out of water because she doesn’t fit in with her peer group. We connect that with other text evidence that she has changed her appearance (hair and makeup) and that other girls are establishing rules that don’t make sense (specific colors of hairbows on each day, confrontations and rude remarks about how dumb she is, etc.).
3. Figurative language is a tool for comprehension and inference: Because we have a process for analyzing figurative language, we can now make some decisions about the text. Because the figurative language helps us make a movie in our minds, we have more cognitive space to understand more complex reading acts. We can infer that Melanie is not going to survive in this friend group. We understand that when her face is white as a ghost that the situation is literally affecting her breathing – just like a fish out of water. We realize that something must change to end her suffering. We can make predictions about what the character might do next.
4. Figurative language is a tool for composition: Analyzing figurative language without application stops too short. We must think about how we can write with figurative language as well. In what place in our text would we like our reader to visualize our character? How might an idiom like fish out of water help the reader understand very quickly what we are trying to show them about the character? How might a metaphor help the reader make inferences about the strength of that character’s emotion and experience?

Then, I realized that there's much more to say about this, particularly in light of our new ELAR standards. I've fleshed out the ideas in this ppt. Check out the notes section for explanation and commentary.

Don't be google. Be the north star.

The Lesson:

     I observed a lesson where the teacher was showing a video to activate background knowledge for a passage they were about to read about Frederick Douglass. She modeled how to collect information about the topic and to notice when the information differed from her knowledge. Throughout the lesson, she carefully addressed context, word origins, figurative language, inferences, historical references and timelines. Her questioning was classic sequence of chaining: breaking the tasks into small parts that the students could easily digest and gradually get each question correct each question logically leading the student to the final conclusion and interpretation. Masterfully done.

The Bouncer

     As we debriefed the lesson, she bemoaned how difficult it was for students to remember the lessons and engage in the critical thinking. We talked about the culprit – technology and instant gratification. While it is true that technology influences the problems we see in classrooms, that’s not what’s causing the problem.

     First of all, people these days have what’ I’d call an overdeveloped hippocampus. That’s the part of your brain that’s the bouncer at a popular club. The hippocampus decides what gets in and what stays out. If the information is novel, funny, interesting, emotionally charged, or obviously relevant and useful, it gets the hand-stamp and moves into short-term memory and has a chance at getting to the dance floor of long-term memory and use. 

     If it’s boring, something you can google, or not immediately useful and relevant, it goes home alone. No getting in line for short-term memory. No chance of putting it’s moves on display in the long-term memory dance floor. They might remember the time they were in line, but they don’t remember much else. People are storing these memories like bookmarks. They remember where they were and where they could go to find the information if they want to, but they don’t actually encode the data as memories.

     Y’all, that means the memory is not physically or chemically or electrically encoded in the brain. It’s. Not. There. Tell me that you don’t have kids that have NO recall or memories of something you have taught. Tell me that your kids are capitalizing i. Tell me that your kids go, “ooohhhh” when you remind them of an activity you did or a story plot and can remember what lesson they were supposed to learn from it. You can “cue” their internal bookmark, but they don’t actually remember the lesson. Their hippocampus is a very restrictive and strong bouncer.

     It’s not because the kids are lazy. It’s not because they don’t care. Well, they kinda don’t care. Why should they if they can find the answer with a cell phone or really have no reason to use the skill? Actually sounds pretty healthy to me.

The Real Problem

     The real problem is the way we teach. I’ve read that there was a shift in the brain after 9-11. With the unfiltered flood of information, kids had access to scenes and images that normally are mediated by adults. Sure, we’ve known that the information age changes who holds the information and that we can’t be the sage on the stage.

     Kids don’t need us to tell them facts or give them information about anything. They don’t need us to tell them if their answers are correct or not. You can google all that s***. Used to, kids would listen to us anyway, fill out our workshits. They’d sit nicely in class, wait for us to ask a question, wait for someone else to call out the answer one at a time (or call out with several others in an unruly group chorus), and then wait until we told them if that’s the answer we were looking for or not.

     I’m not sure what’s continued to happen since 9-11, but kids are no longer willing to put up with our instructional approach. They just don’t participate. Like, at all. And when we ask them to think critically, we get mad at them because they can’t. Lazy apathetic kids.

Explaining the solution: What I saw:

     In the lesson I observed, we were watching a Discovery video – well done and engaging– about Frederick Douglass. Periodically, the teacher would stop the video and ask questions. We’re supposed to do that right? Stop videos periodically to check for understanding and teach? Yes. This is the sequence that followed when the documentary displayed a copy of The Liberator, a popular newspaper that Frederick consulted regularly once he reached freedom in the north. 

Teacher: What word do you see in the Headline?

Three kids randomly: Liberate, Liberty, Liberty

Teacher: One at a time. Raise your hand. Marissa?

Marissa: Liberty

Teacher: Yes. Liberty. What does that mean.?

Almost the whole class: Freedom!

Teacher: What does that tell you that this paper will be about?

Kids:

Teacher: If Frederick Douglass is reading this prior to the civil war, what will the paper be writing about?

Long Pause.

Teacher: It starts with “sl…”

Kids: Slavery!

Teacher: Yes. (starts the video again)

Explaining the solution: What to do instead?

     The teacher was frustrated that she had to walk them through the same process the next time when the documentary showed another newspaper called The North Star.

  The kids didn’t know what topics would be in this newspaper either. Even though she’d already talked them through how to figure it out on the previous one. I’d never been successful in explaining what I meant before, but this is what I tried:

Chaining:

     Shona: So, what you are doing here is called chaining. You broke the task into small chunks that they could tackle one at a time. Each of your questions led to the next one. But when you asked, “What word do you see in the title?” the kids answered and were done with that question. They got it right. Moving on. They didn’t realize that you were leading them through a sequence of questions. When you asked the next question, “What does that mean?” they were answering a new question with a right answer that was unconnected to the first one. And they still didn’t know where you were headed with that question. Because that was only in your head, not theirs. It's like you give them one link of the chain at a time and they don't know where they are going or what they are building. 

     You know where you are going and what you want them to know, but they don’t. And that’s really what you are teaching: how to use word meaning to understand text evidence and author’s purpose. You are supposed to be teaching them how to think, but you are the only one doing the thinking. That comes from an old philosophy of behaviorism. That’s the way we were taught. That’s how we learned to teach. That’s what our previous evaluation systems were based on. You were considered successful if you could break things down into chunks that kids could manage one bit at a time. And you're the only one holding it together. 

     Teacher: So I’m not supposed to scaffold?

     Me. Interesting. Of course you are, but in a different way. You scaffold the thinking, not the answers.

     Teacher: I see it. But what should I do instead? Tell me.

            

           Scaffolding with a Thought Chart

     Me: I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I wonder if you thought about what a scaffold really is. It starts at the bottom and goes up. You don’t climb it from the bottom. What if your questions started at the bottom and went up? That comes from a philosophy called constructivism. You scaffold by teaching the kids about the thought moves and tools they use to climb up to the answer. They construct the questions.

     And in teaching this way, finding the answer isn’t the point of the lesson. A scaffold is built around a building or wall so you can work on the building or wall. Our work in teaching must help kids past answering inference questions or word knowledge questions. We must help them learn how to know that they need to ask a question, know what questions to ask, and how to find those answers so they can do thought work with the building – the text. What if we start out with questions like these?

•         How do we use word meaning as text evidence to understand the author’s purpose and message and organizational/rhetorical patterns? (What does the title of the newspaper tell you about its purpose and topics that will be inside? What is the author if this documentary attempting to convey with this graphic and point? Why would Frederick Douglass have been reading this paper at this point in his life?)
•          How do you know?
•      What tools and knowledge do you use to help you?
•      How do you know if you are right?

Then, as we work through the text, we create a thought chart, naming the things we can try. The teacher and I brainstormed these ideas:

•     Break down words into their roots and parts (What do these words parts mean that might help me understand?)
•      Consider the historical context and time period (How does the way this word is used fit in with what was going on at the time?)
•      Consider the people and places referenced in the text (we stayed away from saying Frederick Douglas’s name because we want the language to be generalizable and transferable to the next time we encounter this type of skill)
•      Consider our background knowledge and gaps (research or question: What does the author think I already knew? Where can I find the information that I don’t know about?)
•      Personal experiences or lack of experiences (What confirms or contradicts what I have already experienced?  Who can I discuss this with or interview to find out more?)
•      How does this evidence fit in with the rest of the text? Why did the author include this information in this way?

     (We added symbols after we realized that they didn’t have everything they need to examine the next title in the documentary, The North Star. But that’s the cool thing about thought charts – we can add to them as we have more thoughts.)

Who’s in Charge of the Thinking?

     If we help kids develop the thought charts to guide their thinking through the meaning of the title of the newspaper, The Liberator, then they can use the thought chart to help them when the next title, The North Star, comes up in the documentary. Then we aren’t the ones in charge of the questions. We aren’t the ones telling them when to stop. We aren’t the ones telling them the answer is right. We aren’t the ones getting mad because they can’t do something we already chained them through with the first title.

     We aren’t the ones telling that they are dumb because they didn’t know that the north star was used in concert with a sextant for navigation over sea. And that the north star is key for orienteering over land. And that the north star is how slaves followed the drinking gourd in the sky because the north star never changes position. And that after that, the north star became a symbol associated with the abolitionist movement. At some point, learning about the north star was your first time too. Nobody got mad at you because you weren’t born knowing about it. Nobody dismissed your intelligence and called you apathetic because you were today years old when you figured it out.

     Read Educated to learn more about people who don’t know stuff and are still really smart. And frankly, I’m tired of people telling me these kids don’t know anything and don’t have any experiences. So disrespectful. These kids don’t have YOUR experiences, but that doesn’t mean they are dumb. I was going to write this paragraph as a parenthetical, but I realized that this thought is KEY to the message I am trying to convey here. Kids aren’t dumb. But the way WE are teaching can be.

     When we chain…When we ask about what a word means and don’t connect it to why we would even want to know what that word means…When we are not transparent about what question we are really asking…When we make questions about finding a particular answer…we are google. Nobody needs another google. Teaching is no longer about answers and content and facts. Teaching is about thinking and reflection and skills and processes to deal with answers and content and facts. Stop chaining and start scaffolding. Don’t be google. Be the North Star. Be the teacher that shows them the way.  Help them find their OWN north star. 

Images from pixabay. 

They claim they can't write. WHY?

Teacher: I have students who claim they can’t write about anything! 

That’s usually pretty common. They don’t think they can write. The problem is that they have always been TOLD what to write and the focus has been on SCHOOL writing. To develop writers, we have to start with what they know – themselves. This is even more important with those egocentric adolescents that fill your classroom. When I went through writing training with Dr. Joyce Armstrong Carroll, she taught us that we must start with the reflexive act of writing (writing for self) before we can awaken the act of extensive writing (writing for others). And truly, this makes more and more sense to me over the years. Until kids can see the ideas in themselves and from themselves, we aren’t going to get anywhere in writing.

I’ve written more about it here. 

And there are lesson plans and resources here.

I’m going to show you how to do all of this when we come together. But you might dig into the resources and try out the blueprinting lesson with your kids if you’d like to get started.

Matthew showed me a poem that one of your kids wrote – it was amazing. You ARE doing good things with those kids. Teaching isn’t one of those things you ever master. It’s like they talk about in medicine or yoga – it’s a medical practice, a yoga practice…you never arrive. Don’t get frustrated by your teaching practice, give yourself grace.

Shona

Save the Last 5 Minutes

Dear New Teacher,

Save five minutes for closure. When you send the students off to work, ask them to keep the ideas below
in the back of their minds.

• Greatest Insight or Contribution: What was the most significant idea or aha? Who said something particularly interesting or phrased something beautifully or clearly? What did they say? Why is this important?  
• Important Point or Distinction: What did you notice that was critical to understanding? Is there something new worth pointing out?
• Struggle and Solution: Where have you struggled? What isn’t working? What seems to be working?
• Link to Reading, Writing, or Yesterday’s/Today’s/Tomorrow’s Lessons: How might this learning connect to other things you are reading and researching? How might we use these ideas or craft moves in our own writing? How does the work today connect to what we did yesterday, today, and what we might consider tomorrow?

As you circulate to monitor, refine, and extend student learning, jot down notes and names of group and
student contributions to celebrate. Be looking for key misconceptions (pseudo-concepts) that might need
reteaching.

In the last few moments of class, bring the class back together to reflect. Pose the four types of responses.
Give students some time to pause, think, and jot ideas. Ask students to pair or square to share ideas with
those near them. Then select two to three students to share the high points of their discussion. You’ll have
the perfect opportunity to refine, extend, or reteach key learning outcomes. You may even have noticed
something or someone special to bring forward to the group. (Be sure to solicit their approval before
asking them to share with the group. While they are working, say, "You really have something worthwhile
for the whole group. Would you mind sharing this idea when we all come back together at the end of
class?")

Saving five minutes to consolidate and celebrate learning will be well worth everyone’s time.

Sincerely,

Shona

Selecting Textbooks: The Textbook Isn't Jesus

Teacher: Oh. We don't need this training. All our curriculum and lessons are laid out for us in the new textbook. I'll send you the link that the textbook rep sent us. It's really wonderful.

Me (after picking myself off the floor from a dead faint): The textbook isn't Jesus. And you'd better meet Him.

1. The state requires that ONLY 50% of the TEKS are represented in the texts to be available for adoption. Click on the image to be taken to the source.

There is a report that will tell you what TEKS are not addressed: click here. TEA reports the required corrections: click here and here. The State Review Panel makes comments here.  Publishers can go back and make revisions and report the changes: click here and here.  And you can see samples here for 2019 ELAR in Texas.

2. Just because the textbook includes all of the TEKS in the lesson materials, does NOT necessarily mean it represents all of the recursive cycling and exposure students need to achieve mastery. Nor does their inclusion mean the lessons address the depth required by the standard or as interpreted by TEA on STAAR assessments.

3. The textbook is not a script that can bypass teacher expertise and decision making.

4. The sequence laid out in the books will not necessarily match the YAG (Year at a Glance) documents prepared by state or local entities. Teachers cannot start at the front of the book and work through it. Teachers cannot use units as they are presented in the materials without considering other elements required by their local curriculum and sequence. Teachers will still have to add lessons and resources to match those needs and requirements.

5. The sequence laid out in the books and units will not necessarily match the progressive march toward STAAR. Teachers and local curriculum must look at their local calendars and scope and sequence documents to make sure that the assessed curriculum is covered before STAAR testing dates.

6. The sequence laid out in the books and units will not necessarily match local data that reflects gaps, student strengths, student weaknesses, local benchmark timelines, remediation schedules, etc. Teachers must look at student performance and needs as they grow throughout the year to make instructional decisions. I'd caution that making the YAG the primary decision maker of when things are taught can be equally disrespectful and unresponsive to student realities. You can't put a timer or calendar on complex learning processes. You have to go with what's happening with the kid not the calendar - and sometimes you can't even go on with the lesson you've planned for that day.

7. NONE of the materials I have reviewed have adequately addressed the thinking charge in the knowledge and skills statement of each strand of our curriculum. Thinking pedagogy addresses several categories.
     A: Self-Assessment Capable Learners: How do kids monitor their learning and know what they know and don't know and what they can do about it? Example: If the teacher is stopping the kids to ask questions as texts are read aloud in class by the tape recorder, who is taking on the cognitive load of diffusing the text? Who is in charge of knowing when to stop? Who is in charge or formulating the question? Who is in charge of evaluating the answer? How does the kid know what to do when they are alone with the text?
     B: Metacognition, self-regulation, and executive behaviors: How do the materials show teachers effective pedagogy to develop these skills with and for kids?
     C: Growth Mindset and Engagement: How do we get kids to engage, participate, and persist in the learning progressions and targets?

8. When you are looking at textbooks, make sure that the work is NEW and written FOR the way Texas (and literacy experts and research) addresses literacy development and contributions.

9.  Finally, and most disconcerting of all: the quality and accuracy of how the standards are addressed in the textbook must be considered. In fact, it's such a concern that Commissioner Morath has mobilized a system to evaluate and report the quality of instructional materials. There are times that I have examined lessons and performance tasks by studying the standards they purport to address. I find egregious errors in content or pedagogy or that standards flat out aren't present in the activity. (It's kind of like believing everything you read on the internet. Just because there's a little standard number listed with the activity does NOT mean that it actually is.) And sometimes, the way the lesson or materials are designed do not match the way the skill is interpreted by TEA or applied on STAAR.

Bottom line: There is absolutely NO textbook that replaces a well informed and prepared teacher. It is critical to commit to a reasoned study of  Literacy and the best practices of our domain. We must study our standards and the domain of research from which they are derived. Ultimately, it it our job to ensure that we teach the standards - and STUDENTS - with fidelity, not blindly following a publisher, or an agency, or an assessment. The teacher in the classroom is the closest thing we are going to get to Jesus.