Best STAAR Resources...For Now

What STAAR resources should I buy? What online program is the best? What books should I read? Where are the best resources for Author's Purpose and Craft? For ECR and SCR? 

All. The. Time people are asking. 

Right now? The best resources you have are on the STAAR redesign website from TEA. Look at ALL the scoring guides, even if you teach a grade not listed on that material. Look at all the released new item assessments, even for the grades you don't teach. The guides, collectively, give you the best information about how TEA is designing items for all grades and all items. 

Look carefully at how the passages and questions intersect. For example, when students are asked to combine sentences, look at the passage to see WHY they need to be combined. It's usually vague references with pronouns, repetition, or the connection between clauses with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. 

Look at how the passages are set up with the introductory or footnote material, especially for excerpts. Look at how the multipart items are connected. Consider the deep thematic links between excerpts and sections. 

This may sound tacky, but publishers have not had adequate time or materials to prepare materials that fully match what was released. The last updates were in October of 2022. And we still haven't seen the TEKSGuide for High School. If you see stuff printed before that, you run the risk of the publisher's interpretation instead of TEA's. 

Yes, students need online practice opportunities. TEA provides practice on the Cambium site, with TFAR, and Interim assessments. Let's start there. 

Unpopular Opinion: The time to buy materials from publishers that matches content, rigor, and question types is not now. Perhaps next year. 

Note: I have worked with content and item reviews for Sirius Education Solutions. I believe they have done a wonderful job with examining the standards, what is out there from TEA, and ways to give feedback to students in their online platform. From what I have examined in other platforms, this provides the most curated experience for students needing practice with online formats and item types. As new information is presented, the content, item types, and passages are updated and refined. 

Graphic Organizers Aha!

 I'm teaching a class on writing. One of the assignments is to help a writer. Here's a portion of the sample and its source: 

It's obvious that the writer needs paragraphs. But what feedback would help the writer most. They are past the prewriting and composing phase, so suggesting a graphic organizer at this point would be frustrating because the writer would feel like they have to start over. No, we need something that helps at the editing/revising phase. 

I examined the lesson a bit further to find that the teacher was using Empowering Writer's graphic organizer called the Opinion Pillar. (See figure 2. ) While I think that there are better organizational structures than the flawed five paragraph essay formula, there's something I never noticed about graphic organizers. John used this formula. He should have had paragraphs. Why didn't he? 

Because the paragraphs are implied on the graphic organizer. 

Figure 2.

AHA! John didn't realize that the structure of the graphic organizer told him where his paragraphs needed to be. 

What if we did these things after composing the paper?

John, I want you to return to the graphic organizer that we used to plan this essay. There's something hiding. (Previously, I had taken lemon juice to write some notes on the paper. I placeD the paper over a light bulb to let the heat turn the lemon juice brown.) 

Next to Main Reason #1 appears: the pilcrow editing symbol. Keyboard strokes of enter and tab appear. New line and finger space appear for handwriting. 

John, see what happens when you put the main reason 2 and 3 over the lightbulb. Isn't that cool. Now let's go back to your writing. Take a highlighter. Where did you write your main reasons? Now that you have identified them, you can make the paragraphs visible for your reader! 

Transitions and Reading Comprehension

 Transitions are tools to connect ideas. I worry that the focus sometimes is on using them for templates or graphic organizers for writing instead of thinking about how they help the reader follow the writer's path. That means that our instruction has to help students consume texts by noticing how writers connect the ideas in paragraphs. Then we have to help students revisit their writing to see what transitional pavers they need to lay down for their readers. 

Let's take a walk through how that might look. This is the passage students read for the stand alone writing field test in 5th grade. 

First, I process the title. The topic is going to be Steam and Sail. I mark that with a small t. I predict that the article will be comparing those topics. I mark that with a little light bulb. 

Now my purpose for reading changes. I find where the introduction begins and ends. I know that it begins and ends with the first paragraph because the first heading begins after that. Now my purpose shifts to find how the writer is hooking me and what the thesis is. I'm also reading to see if this article will be comparing steam and sail. I can see that they start talking about railroads and then use a transition word - but. This signals me to know that the writer is shifting to a new topic that contrasts with this one. Then I read that steamboats and sailboats cause changes! Now I know that we aren't really comparing steam and sail. I'm reading to know how they caused change. 

Now I preview the headings: Full Steam Ahead, Tea Races and Gold Rushes, and The Next Big Things. I have an idea now about the topics for each section. 

At this point, I'm ready to read until the text starts talking about something else. The transitional phrase, "After Fulton's success" tells me that the writer is moving on to a new topic - what happened after Fulton invented the steamship. I stop to think about what this paragraph told me. Basically, it was about how fast the steamship was as an improvement to previous ways to travel. 

I use the same process to understand the next paragraph. But something interesting happens here between paragraph 3 and four. 

Before, we had a transitional word, "but," that transitioned between sentences and ideas. Then we had a transitional phrase, "After Fulton's success," that moved us to sequence and another topic between paragraphs. Now we have the word "rivers" at the end of paragraph 3 and the connection to specific rivers in paragraph four. This is a topical transition between paragraphs that moves the reader from general (rivers) to the specific (the Mississippi and Ohio.) As I stop to think about what this paragraph is doing, I realize that the writer is explaining the impact, or effect of the steamship. When I connect that to the thesis of change, I realize the change is about where people traveled and moved. 

When I process the ideas in the next section, I realize that paragraphs 5 and 6 are offering another contrast as a whole section because of the transition word, "But." I also see a new type of transition: "Across the ocean in Great Britain." This is a conceptual transition that helps the reader know the setting has changed. 

I learn about clipper ships and the changes they brought in paragraph 5. When I see paragraphs 6 and 7, I see that they are both talking about why people were still using clipper ships even though steamships had been invented. First, second, and third are not transition words here. They are words that help the reader keep track of the number of reasons the clippers were preferred. 

When moving to paragraph 8, we see another topical transition. Notice how paragraph 7 ends with "tea races" and getting there "first"? Paragraph 9 uses the words also and speed to introduce another topic. We've moved from tea races to the Gold Rush. 

The next heading provides the conclusion with a transitional phrase that indicates sequence and the passing of time, "A time went on." The thesis is revisited in the last sentence. 

Are we teaching these types of transitions? Or are we just teaching transitions as a list of words?

• Single words and how they function within sentences as well as paragraphs
• Paragraph blocs and how they are structured (compare contrast)
• Transitional phrases and how they function 
• Topical transition concepts from the end of one paragraph to another
• Conceptual transitions and how they function
• Transitions and how they help us follow the writer's meaning and organizational structure

Y'all. I just think this is so important. We need to look at how real writers move between ideas in sentences, paragraphs, in paragraph blocs, in headings before we start offering graphic organizers that don't really match what writers need to say. You don't know what transitions you are going to need until you decide how your ideas are related. And to make those decisions as a writer, the best models we have are out there as published work - what real writers are doing - rather than offering things people don't actually do like first, next, then, finally. Meaning dictates form (Vygotsky).

 

The Argumentative Continuum

The Argumentative Continuum

By Dean Jester and Shona Rose

“Everything's an argument,” (Lunsford, Rusziewics, and Waters, 2018). My friend Cheryl says that

even poetry is an argument. What’s important here is that folks understand the continuum of argument.

Each mode uses different structures, embodies different characteristics, and is motivated by some very

different reasons. 

The continuum goes like this: informational, argument, persuasion, and propaganda. Opinion is an outlier.

I don’t know where to put it. 

Opinion: 

Opinion writing where an opinion is established and the pros and cons are explored in contrast or in a

neutral treatment to provide information about each side. In some ways, opinion writing does not haveto have any kind of factual evidence or research. It’s just what someone thinks and why. I’m thinking of

editorials. People are just reacting to things and explaining why and how. Sometimes, opinion writing couldmeet the criteria for argument. For Texas, we need to be writing evidence based claims based on sources. Opinion just seems too…un-nuanced. Yeah, that’s not a word.

Informational:

I’ll assign a persona to this mode: a Nerd. This kid is a dinosaur nerd. He knows all kinds of things about

them - what they ate, where they lived, what they look like, how to say their Latin names, the period they

lived in, the places on earth where they were found. All kinds of knowledge. All told with wonder, power,

and beauty. And it’s enlightening to learn from the wealth of information and categories from this dude.

Especially when he’s 6. The point is that he loves dinosaurs and wants to tell you all about them. 

Argumentative: 

Let’s consider argumentative writing. This mode of writing is represented by the teacher.

They have the same body of knowledge as the nerds. (Some of us are nerds.) But they are motivated by

sharing truth. They organize the knowledge into sequences that help the audience see a line of thinking.

They support the ideas with all kinds of evidence, reasoning, rhetoric, and literary devices. They try to help

the audience think through all sides of an issue. The teacher “argues” in a way that helps the audience

make decisions for themselves about truth. 

Argumentative writers seek to defend a claim with credible evidence and reasoning. Writers of argument

are careful to explore and present facts as opposed to offering opinions...as this often leads to logical

fallacies. The TEKS Guide states that an argumentative text is “a text written to demonstrate to an

audience that a certain position or idea is valid and others are not. The writer appeals to reason, develops,

defends, or debates the topic, connecting a series of statements in an orderly way so they lead to a logical

conclusion.

Persuasive: 

Persuasive and Argumentative texts are NOT the same thing. Persuasive texts seek to convince a reader

to think, believe, or do something, often ending in a call to action. (Consider FDR’s D’Day Speech where

he asked congress to declare war.) Think car salesmen and politicians. Think of commercials. They aren’t

going to tell you the dark underbelly of the product’s qualities. Only the good stuff, Maynard.

What they tell you is specifically chosen or omitted depending on what they want or need you to do. 

They want the sale. They want the vote. 

Propaganda: 

Think dictators. Think 1984. They twist, omit, change, and flat out lie. And they do it to gain power and control. The techniques and structures of propaganda are divisive, evil, and very different from those used in any other mode. 

So What are We Supposed to Teach? 

Where do we find it?

Consider the characteristics and structures of argumentative text as posed by the TEKS. You aren’t going

to find what you need in one strand.

In K-2, learners recognize characteristics of persuasive texts. No guidance is in the standards to explain what

those characteristics are other than “2.9(i.) stating what the author is trying to persuade the reader to think

or do, and ii distinguishing fact from opinion.” Notice that we do NOT find the characteristics and structures

in the COMPOSITION strand. We learn about the characteristics and structures in the MULTIPLE GENRES

and the AUTHOR’S PURPOSE AND CRAFT strands. 

This is because the COMPOSITION strand states that beginning in grades 3-5, students will “compose

argumentative texts including opinion essays, using genre characteristics and craft."The terms genre characteristic and craft signal educators to look in Multiple Genres strands to find the

genre characteristics for argument and in the Author’s Purpose and Craft strand to find argumentative craft. 

In grades 6-12, students are to “(C) compose multi-paragraph argumentative tests using genre characteristics and craft.” Again, we have to look in the Multiple Genres and Author’s Purpose and Craft strands to know what those

are.  

Notice also the connection to opinion in grades 6-8 when students “(D) compose correspondence that reflects an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information in a business or friendly structure.”

But What about Persuasive? 

So what are the characteristics, structures, and craft for opinion writing and argument? Notice that the

standards do not ask students to compose persuasive texts…ever. The testing blueprints don’t either.

K-3: Students learn that persuasive texts are to be read in order to find out what the author wants them to think, believe, or do. Because this can be dangerous or misleading, we teach kids to read against the text, noting when statements are factual and when they are just what other people think about something: opinions. Now, of course, you can explain why and how you have opinions that can go in a graphic organizer. But the reader must always be aware that opinions are beliefs that can be used to manipulate your thinking, choices, and actions. The teaching point isn’t about the definitions and identification of facts and opinions. The teaching point is how to be aware of the IMPACT and USE of facts versus opinions. 

What Do We Teach about Argument in Each Grade? 

3rd Grade: Students begin to learn about argumentative texts. Specifically, they learn how to identify the author’s claim about a topic. What does the author believe about the topic? Students continue to practice discernment between opinions offered by the writer as opposed to relevant and valid facts. Going deeper, they begin to learn that the way the writer uses facts depends on who the audience is and how the facts are connected to the claim in a way the reader can follow. 

4th Grade: At this grade, students continue with their work in identifying the author’s claim about a topic. They continue to analyze facts, how they connect to the claim, and how they provide evidence and reasoning the audience can track. In addition, students begin to look at facts - evidence gleaned from texts - that support the claim. Students cull facts that are FOR the claim. 

5th Grade: By this grade, students have had multiple experiences in examining how evidence from texts support a claim. Now they are ready for something more nuanced. They are ready to select textual evidence that could be used AGAINST a claim in an argument. Students cull facts from a text that prove a claim to be incorrect.

6th Grade: In previous grades, students have been reading texts to select factual evidence to support or

use against a claim. There are more kinds of evidence than facts. The TEKS now say “various types of

evidence to support the argument.” The TEKS do not delineate types of evidence, but here’s a few off the

top of my mind: text structures (like compare/contrast), expert testimony, personal anecdotes, analogies,

figurative language, hypothetical scenarios, interviews, research, reports from site visits, surveys, graphic

elements…The best technique would be to gather some argumentative texts and see how writers pose

various types of evidence. 

The TEKS guide helps as well with this language: “Depending on the topic and audience, authors select

evidence, or specific and compelling facts and details to prove the validity of their arguments. Because

argumentative writing seeks to prove that the author’s positions are reasonable and sound, writers consider

what facts and approaches will make the best impression on the reader as they plan their pieces. Students

should be able to make connections between the points bedding made and the information presented to

support their validity. Students should have enough awareness of various kinds of support such as historical

precedent, anecdotal evidence, scientific studies, and other approaches, to know which are being used in

an argument and how they serve to clarify or strengthen the ideas. 

In 6th grade, students move from identification of argument to analysis of the characteristics and structures.

This means that when students are consuming argumentative texts, they are analyzing why the techniques and structures are used in texts they read and in texts they write. The TEKS guide

illuminatesanother element of importance when students are composing their arguments: “Students should also

understand that argumentative texts tend to be structured (organized) based on the structure of the claim.

For instance, if the claim is that one course of action might be better than another, an

advantage/disadvantage structure would likely be used.” In other words, students learn to pick the best

organizational structure for the specific claim they want to make. (This is also why RACE may not be

sufficient for all claims or prompts. But I’ve moaned and complained about that before.) 

It’s also important to look at the Author’s Purpose and Craft strand. While all of the standards apply to

argumentative writing, the author’s use of language and devices in 6.9G are critical. Students are to

explain

the differences between rhetorical devices and logical fallacies. Rhetoric and logic are critical to

comprehending argumentative writing and to compose argument well. 

7th Grade: All the previous grade level skills apply and add “consideration of alternatives to support the argument.”

This confused me a bit because of “alternatives” juxtaposed with “support.” They seem opposite to me.

Again, TEKS Guide helped: “consideration of alternatives to support the argument: Students should be

aware of how authors can strengthen their own arguments by recognizing and addressing counterpoints

in order to demonstrate why those points are not as valid or convincing as the one the author is trying to

make. When the author can demonstrate a logical deconstruction of the opposing views, the reader has an

easier time trusting that the stance of the author is valid.” A stance is the perspective the author uses to

state the claim, their position. This is the perfect chance to examine other perspectives on the claim and

explain why they are not effective. Sometimes, people will use a technique called straw man. They set up a

weak opposing argument, explain its flaws, and then share their claim and support. Concession is another

type. Writers agree that the other side has a good point that they will agree with. Then the writer explains

why their argument (claim and support) is still a better alternative. 

As in grade 6, 7.9 (G)- students, as readers and as writers, must understand and use “purpose of rhetorical

devices such as direct address and rhetorical questions and logical fallacies such as loaded language and

sweeping generalizations.” Note that we would want students to use rhetorical devices and we would not

want students to use logical fallacies. And what 7th grader do you know that doesn’t use loaded language and

sweeping generalizations to get their way. Definitely needs to be taught. 

8th Grade: The TEKS now explicitly use the term counter argument. Sentence stems like, “While some would say that

x, y is a better solution.” or “While it is true that a, b is more compelling.” 

As 8th graders, they also learn how to analyze the argument itself - how the claim, structures, audience,

and support are carefully crafted or designed. 

In grade 8, the focus on Author’s Purpose and Craft in 8.9 (G) introduces logic and rhetoric associated with argument: “explain the purpose of rhetorical devices such as analogy and juxtaposition and of logical fallacies such as bandwagon appeals and circular reasoning.” 

Again, we’d want to see analogy and juxtaposition. We’d NOT want to see bandwagon or circular reasoning

in argumentative writing.

English I-IV: At these grades, readers examine the previous skills but now add a nuanced understanding

to their claims: the claim must be both clear and arguable. That’s definitely a movement away from opinion.

English I and II students learn to make appeals. The TEKS guide has information about appeals, but alas,

it has yet to be released. Google will have to suffice. Be careful though, some appeals can be used as

manipulation more akin to propaganda or persuasion.

Greater focus is also placed on a “convincing conclusion” as well. By consuming a lot of argumentative texts

, students and teachers can begin a collection of convincing and satisfying conclusions. 

In addition, students learn to make concessions (hinted at in previous grades, but now overtly named.) They also learn structures for making a rebuttal. Common ways to organize a rebuttal are pointing out the ways the counterargument is wrong or flawed or agreeing with the counterargument and then adding a new point, condition, or issue that would make their argument unreliable. Some people will use the same support as the counterargument and then twist the facts to support their argument. Not recommended.  English III and IV students also emphasize analysis of the structure of the argument. The TEKS here also reference a more persuasive mode for closing the argument, returning to call to action. Not all arguments have a call to action, so that baffles me. 

In terms of Author’s Purpose and Craft, English I, 9 (G) explores further use of language: “explain the purpose of rhetorical devices such as understatement and overstatement and the effect of logical fallacies such as straw man and red herring arguments.” Note: Some straw man arguments are pretty mild, but are used in argumentative writing structures. Straw man is a fallacy - and to be avoided -  when the opposing position is distorted beyond what it really is and then arguing as if that exaggerated version was the truth. Notice that the analysis of rhetoric and logic has changed - students are now to explain the effect of fallacies on the reader and their acceptance of the claim. 

In English II, we move from explanations of rhetoric and logic to analysis: “analyze the purpose of rhetorical devices such as appeals, antithesis, parallelism, and shits and the effects of logical fallacies. In English III and IV, students analyze how all of that impacts how the text is read and understood. 

A Closing Argument

Based on what I have written here, I hope that several points are clear.

We learn about the differences between fact and opinion so we can make good decisions about what

people say and write. 

The TEKS are inter-related. Each strand informs the other. If you want to know about what you need to

teach about argument, you have to look at multiple strands and multiple standards. 

Opinion isn’t always argumentative in mode. Persuasion is not argument. Each mode uses different

structures for very different purposes. 

Writers pick the organizational structure that fits what they need to say. Writers are going to need more

than one structure. 

It is critical for decision making in comprehension and composing that we understand when we are

being manipulated or are communicating in a way that causes people to misunderstand or mistrust us. 

We teach claim, argument, evidence, logical reasoning, logical fallacies, rhetorical tools, text structures,

counterargument, concession, rebuttal, writing for an audience, writing from sources, and analyzing how

all of it communicates meaning…ALL the argumentative everything. 

The Source of Answers (On STAAR and Everywhere Else)

What if THINKING and REASONING were the SOURCE of answers rather than an acronym or a graphic organizer? (Thank you Jenny Martin.) 

Wait...they are: TRUTH and DISCERNMENT live in the seat of cognition. 

Why does this matter? 

Because teachers and literacy leaders are searching for new acronyms and new graphic organizers as if tricks are the savior for responding to assessment redesign. What a fruitless endeavor! There will never be a way to bypass thinking and reasoning because you bypass the person's path to truth. People find truth by thinking and reasoning. And each person's path is uniquely their own. 

Why does that matter? 

Because meaning dictates form. When we predetermine someone's form (RACE) for them, their meaning suffers. They can't follow their own path of reasoning to find their own truth. Our form prevents their discernment. 

Even worse, by inhibiting the path, some people (students) feel dumb because they can't see what they thought  --or thought we wanted them to say -- with our form. 

Even worse, we miss out on fresh insight and clarity when someone sees something in a way we did not. 

I can't wait to show you the solutions we are presenting at Teach Rhymes with Beach. 

We think you already know what to do if you listen to your teacher heart: We are teaching how to find truth through discernment, not teaching how to answer a question that achieves a particular score.

Shona and Gretchen

Grammar Retreat Outcome 1: Grammar Waterfall TEKS Chart

 Hi All, 

The Grammar Grannies are working outside of Austin on a porch of a tiny house the faces green pastures and these things called trees. The Guinea alert  when we laugh. The roosters punctuate sentences for us. The deer, lama, and squirrels have already visited. The crows raucously interrupt our conversations and keystrokes. We expect the cows after lunch. 

We were working on a grammar curriculum for 9-12 and are about to start the 6-8. We needed a chart to define what happens in each cluster of grades. We thought you might need something like this too. 

So, here is is: Grammar Waterfall TEKS Chart.

Also, we are great fans of the editing checklists that LEAD4ward has published for each grade level. 

The western sun has reached the porch. Time to go inside for lunch and the AC. 

Sincerely, 

The Grammar Grannies

An Educational Layette for Young Mothers and Fathers

JJ was born while I attended Amarillo College to study vocal performance. My professors agreed to let me bring him to class, rehearsal, and to voice lessons. The week after he was born, I packed up the blue diaper bag: full of the bottles, diapers, clothes, and supplies for the day. I packed a sandwich and Koolaide for my lunch and shoved it where I hoped it wouldn't crush. My backpack, filled with music theory texts, notebooks, piano anthologies, and texts for voice lessons filled a second bag. I think I carried the pink cassette tape recorder of my repertoire as well. The carrier could strap into the yellow Volkswagen Rabbit standard shift car that would putt erratically down Washington Street to the student parking lot outside the AC Arts Complex. 

Parking was not often available in front of the building, so I parked in the distant lot in the residential area. We didn't have a stroller that would hold the carrier or the bags, so I slung the backpack on my back, the diaper bag on one shoulder, and the carrier in the crook of the elbow of the other arm to balance the load. Once we crossed both lots, I  reached the stairs to the Fine Arts Building. I couldn't even see the doors to the entrance. I ducked my head to to heave us up the stairs to the entrance, then to navigate opening the door in the West Texas wind. Up and down the elevator to choir, class, juries, and lessons. 

In music, the classes are all day. You really don't have time to go home. It's one thing after another - even without a newborn. Before lessons with Mila Gibson, I fed JJ his bottle. While burping him over my lap, he projectile vomited sour soy milk all over my jean skirt. Erma Hunt helped me clean the mess off of the black leather settee in the hallway...and from my clothes, shoes, and floor. I think Dr. Roller and the secretary helped too. It was a big mess. Then, I gathered the bags, the carrier, and my wet, sour self down the hall to Mila's office. 

JJ sat in his carrier on the black baby grand. Lydia Gray began the chords for vocalices, vibrating the carrier. JJ's eyes opened wide in surprise, looking my way, as I began soft descending oooo's, "So, fa, mi, re, do." After the first three chord changes, JJ's tiny lips imitated mine, and he began to coo with Lydia's striking notes and my warming soprano voice. Mila's characteristic laughter joined our happy chorus. 

Down the elevator and on to Music Theory with Beverly de la Bretonne. She greeted me at the door, meeting JJ for the first time, and introducing him to the rest of the class. I sat near the door, ready to exit, should he wake from his nap and disturb our study of chord progressions and tonal systems of jazz. At  the time, his muted newborn noises were cacophonous interruptions. I so wanted to continue class, but knew I would not interfere with my classmates learning or my professors' ability to teach. I think I stood outside the door for most of the class, trying to soothe JJ and keeping another ear on the lesson, hands full, and unable to take notes or follow along in the text. Honestly, I think I was more distracted than anyone else. 

JJ and I went to choir with Dr. Nance. Afterward, we sat outside and ate our lunch. Or we hid in the practice rooms for a quick nap. Then we went to juries. We listened to my peers and gave feedback. We sang. Then we climbed the stairs of the choir room to the hallway, the elevator, back across the brick stairs down to the parking lots, loaded the car, made the same way back down Washington, through the chain link fence next to the driveway, up the stoop, and into the living room. Time to study. Time to practice. Time to make dinner. Do laundry. Clean up. Be a submissive wife. Wash the sandwich baggies to reuse. Pack food for husband, me, and JJ for tomorrow. Prepare for night feedings and an early morning. 

After a a time - can't remember how long - the morning feeding came, and I couldn't get out of the bed. The pain was worse than childbirth had been. Weeping to reach my son, I knew something terrible was wrong. I had torn a groin muscle, weakened from childbirth, the load I had been carrying afterward, and the walking and climbing around campus. I could not continue. 

I dropped out. 

The next semester, I returned. Stronger, supported, and with childcare. Our story could have been so different. Thank you Mila, Lydia, Beverly, and Nance. Thank you Mom and Dad. 

How can we support those seeking to improve themselves while living hard lives and navigating difficult choices? Is there an educational layette for young mothers in school? 

Glenda Moore knew when she visited Ukraine that she needed to help. She asked, "What can I do?"  and knew she could bake cakes.  I'm asking, "What can I do?" and challenge others to ask the same. I have a dollar or two. I bet others do too. Dennis Serine and Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart - how do we start a foundation to help young mothers and fathers at AC? 

Schematic, Grounded, and Probable Inference: Which one wins the STAAR chicken dinner?

 

Schematic Inference: When students make schematic inferences to answer questions on standardized assessments, it is problematic. 

Evidence: You see your friend with a broken arm. (concrete evidence) You know your friend plays football. (your personal schema). 

You infer that your friend broke their arm playing football (Schematic, predictive inference.) While it is probable that your friend broke their arm playing football, there is no concrete, text evidence to state that is how he broke his arm. This kind of thinking is not suitable for assessment situations. 

Grounded Inference: When students ground their inferences by interpreting text evidence, they are using a viable strategy for assessment success. 

Evidence: Sammy limped into the sidelines, cradling his crooked wrist against his muddy football jersey.

You infer that Sammy hurt his arm by noticing that he appears to be injured - he limps (interpretation) He also cradles, or protects (interpretation), his wrist. The wrist is crooked. Wrists are not supposed to be crooked (interpretation). 

Probable Inference: Sometimes, students go too far with the inferences. I see this habit with a lot of my gifted students. While the answer may be true, assessments to not favor this kind of thinking because it cannot be justified with the evidence on the page that all readers have access to. 

Evidence: Sammy limped into the sidelines, cradling his crooked wrist against his muddy football jersey. 

You infer that Sammy broke his arm because he slipped in the mud while playing football. 

While it is probable that Sammy slipped on the field, there is no evidence that is what caused the injury.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner? Grounded Inference based on interpreting evidence. 

Memory and Comprehension: Implications for Instruction and Assessment

Scenario: 

A student reads a passage and answers a series of comprehension questions. 

Question: 

What is the intersection of short term memory, working memory, and long term memory? 

Definitions:

Short Term Memory - stuff you think about for a short period of time and then get rid of. 

Working Memory - space in your mind that you use to manipulate, use, or make decisions about information or skills. 

Long Term Memory - stuff you know or remember automatically 

A belief:

Struggling readers often have trouble keeping ideas in their working memory long enough to answer questions, especially complex ones like inference, analysis, or synthesis. 

A Hypothesis: 

Memory types collaborate to support comprehension during reading and decision making after reading to answer questions. Could categorizing comprehension processes by memory type illuminate comprehension instruction and refine strategies students use? 

Think with me: 

What type of memory is used for these comprehension tasks? Sort the ideas using these categories: Short Term, Working, Long Term, Both

paragraph/page numbers/text location

decoding unknown words

decoding known words

determining author's purpose, message, and theme

answer choice a,b,c,d

titles and subheadings

using context to determine meaning of unfamiliar words

using dictionary to determine meaning of unfamiliar words

reading and connecting question elements/parts

reading to develop schema about an unfamiliar topic

connecting background knowledge about a familiar topic

keeping track of characters/details

connecting question elements to text elements

managing text features and characteristics

fluency and prosody

genre awareness

What should we add? 

Initial Thoughts: 

Here's how I began: 

working memory: decoding unknown words; using context to determine meaning of unfamiliar words; using a dictionary to determine meaning of known words; reading to develop schema about an unfamiliar topic; keeping track of characters/details; managing the text features and characteristics; titles and subheadings

both; determining the author's purpose, message, or theme; making inferences; using text evidence; reading and connecting question elements; connecting question elements to text elements; fluency and prosody

long term: decoding known words; meaning of known words; using a dictionary; background knowledge related to topic; genre awareness;

short term: paragraph numbers/question numbers/page numbers/text location; answer choice a,b,c,d;

What corrections should I make? 

Implications: 

More like questions, really. 

How do we help students move fluidly in and out of strategies that match how those memories are used when comprehending? 

What strategies are more adept for each type of comprehension skill or task? 

Would students feel less frustrated if they could pinpoint why they couldn't remember something or find an answer? 

Something like, "Wow. I'm getting lost in all these details. That means my working memory is getting full. I need to think of what might help. I can slow down and reread. I can build knowledge about words and concepts that I am unfamiliar with. I can make annotations or record notes using a graphic organizer. I can sketchnote..." 

Something like, "Dad gummit. I know that I've read about this in Science, but where was that in the passage? That means that I have some background knowledge and need to cross check that information with what is in the text. What do I know about reading informational texts that could help me here? Ah, the headings. That would be a start. What heading might that answer be in?"

Something like, "Hmmm. The author is getting at something important here, but I'm missing it. I understand the topic and the words, but there's more to it than that. That means my knowledge is working and that I comprehend. Now I need to apply understanding to make a decision. When I'm looking for what an author thinks is important, I can't hear their words. So I change my phrasing to emphasize words that I think adds meaning to the sentences. This helps me "hear" the author in my working memory. I visualize what these words portray, a movie in my mind. The emphasis and visualization help me connect the words to the author's meaning more effectively to make a decision about theme and message. I use both my working memory (sense) and meaning making to apply understanding about what this author explains about life.