The post Developing Disciplinary Literacy Across Core Subjects appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>If we want students to learn biology, why not teach them to think, read and write like biologists? If we want them to learn history, shouldn’t they learn to think, read and write like historians?
Approaching core subjects from this perspective is at the heart of disciplinary literacy. Now more than ever, it’s become vital that educators instill literacy skills grounded in real careers, creating students with an expert’s eye for real-world materials, regardless of the medium.
Content-area reading uses generic reading strategies, regardless of the text that’s being read. But disciplinary literacy is a way of approaching text with the reading strategies employed by experts in a given field— experts have specialized ways of thinking, talking, and writing.
Introducing Multiple Perspectives is Key
Historians require the lens of multiple perspectives, reading between the lines of several writers to arrive at their conclusions. Mathematicians seek absolute answers, first and foremost, using abstract reasoning and pattern recognition to make their findings. Scientists employ analytical skills to parse the validity of data in research reports, finding logical links between various findings before formulating their hypotheses.
These experts don’t just rely on one resource. Their expertise is contingent on their own observations, along with the perspectives of others, expressed across several media types. Likewise, the days of using a single textbook as a teaching resource are over. Educators must begin using new types of resources in the classroom, including digital content and media to immerse students in real-world reading, writing and thinking.
The disciplinary literacy approach to reading reinforces the new era of teaching, which welcomes multiple resources and multiple media types, to help students form a grounded understanding of a subject that even experts would respect. Just recently, a superintendent said, “the combination of media integrated into the informational text makes students want to read.”
The hallmark of any focus on literacy — disciplinary or otherwise — is instilling the need and the desire to want to read.
“Each discipline has unique ways of asking questions and solving problems. Similarly, each discipline has unique expectations for the types of claims that are made and the way those claims are supported. These differences play out in the ways that texts are written and in the demands those texts place on the readers. For these reasons, we can say that each discipline has its own discourse community, a shared way of using language and constructing knowledge.” [1]
Disciplinary Literacy and State Standards
Although there is much debate about the purpose or primary job of schools, most who work in education would agree that an important purpose of a school is to develop literate individuals. The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts[1] identify the capacities of a literate individual as follows:
- They demonstrate independence.
- They build strong content knowledge.
- They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
- They comprehend as well as critique.
- They value evidence.
- They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
- They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
These broad statements about what it means to be literate led the standards’ authors to decide that developing literacy in students is a joint responsibility that English Language Arts (ELA) teachers share with content area teachers. And while the foundational skills associated with literacy are infused in the K-5 ELA standards, the more specialized disciplinary literacy skills are listed in the Grades 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects[2]. The standards that ELA teachers are responsible for teaching are listed under the following headings:
-
Reading: Literature
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Reading: Informational Text
-
Writing
-
Speaking and Listening
-
Language
Content area teachers are also expected to teach standards related to reading informational text and standards related to writing. Because research has shown that experts in a field have specialized ways of thinking, talking, and writing about information that separate insiders within the field from the general public, the authors of the standards want content area teachers to teach students the specialized knowledge and skills that readers and writers use within the content area or discipline. In an article in the Harvard Educational Review[1], Cynthia and Timothy Shanahan present a model of literacy development that includes three stages.
They argue that until recently, secondary (grades 6-12) educators have not focused enough attention on helping students master the discipline-specific ways of reading and writing that are characteristic of the content area that the teacher is teaching. Instead, the literacy focus in secondary classrooms remained on the intermediate literacy skills that are common to many disciplines, such as previewing the text, activating prior knowledge, using graphic organizers, and summarizing the text. While these skills are necessary and have a definite place in the secondary classroom, literacy instruction that fully prepares students for college, careers, and adult life also includes a focus on the more specialized literacy skills of each discipline. When students are asked to think, read, write, speak, and listen like an expert in the field, they develop the insider knowledge needed to succeed with intellectually challenging tasks.
Applying Real-World Behaviors to Bridge Literacy Across Subject Areas
By studying professionals working within a discipline, researchers recognized that the way historians read, write, and think is different from the way scientists or mathematicians use literacy skills within their work. A broad body of research on adolescent literacy development[2] suggests that while the literacy demands of school and the workplace have increased over time, the way we approach teaching literacy skills has not changed enough. The thinking and reasoning skills that individuals need to thrive in 21st century daily life and professional careers are developed as content area teachers focus on teaching both the content of the field of study and the specialized literacy skills associated with the discipline.
The standards for Grades 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects do not replace subject area standards, but instead complement them. These standards require teachers to use their content area expertise to help students master the challenges of thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and listening in the various subject areas.
Disciplinary Reading and Writing Skills
Disciplinary Reading Skills
- Key Ideas and Details
- Citing Evidence from Text
- Central Ideas, Details, and Summary
- Craft and Structure
- Vocabulary
- Text Structure
- Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- Text Features
- Author’s Point of View, Fact or Opinion
- Comparison
- Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
Disciplinary Writing Skills
- Text Types and Purposes
- Argument Writing
- Informational/Explanatory Writing
- Production and Distribution of Writing
- Clarity and Coherence
- Attention to Task, Purpose, and Audience
- Writing Process and Revision
- Use of Technology
- Research to Build and Present Knowledge
- Generating Questions and Conducting Research
- Gathering Relevant Information
- Drawing Evidence
- Range of Writing
Let’s take a brief look at the literacy demands of selected subject areas outside of ELA and think about how teachers develop students’ thinking, reasoning, and communication skills by emphasizing the specialized way that experts in that subject area approach some of the focus areas listed above.
Thinking, Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening in Social Studies
Extensive work has been done on elucidating the skills historians and other social scientists use to do their work. Broadly speaking, historians study documents and other artifacts from the past to develop and communicate an understanding of what was occurring at a particular time in history. They are keenly aware that documents:
- Present an incomplete picture of an actual event.
- Represent a particular point of view.
- Reflect the thinking and perspective of the author.
Historians want to know more than what happened in the past. They also want to understand why certain events happened. Why did people do what they did? How does what happened in the past connect to and inform the present? What does the past tell us about what might happen in the future?
Key ideas in the Grades 6-12 Literacy in History/Social Studies standards for reading include:
- Analysis and Summary of Primary and Secondary Sources
- Meaning of History/Social Studies Words and Phrases
- Description and Analysis of Text Structure
- Identification, Comparison, and Evaluation of Aspects of Text that Reveal Author’s Point of View
- Integration of Visual Information, Quantitative and Qualitative Information, and Multiple Sources
- Analysis of Author’s Claims
- Comparison of Treatment of Topic in Primary and Secondary Sources
The writing standards do not differ by content area, but assume that the writing will be specific to the content of the discipline. The following is a sample of expectations from the writing standards. These examples are for students in grades 6 to 8.
- Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
- Develop a topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
- Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) drawing on several sources and generating related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
Many social studies teachers address the literacy standards as they teach social studies content by structuring their classes with a focus on social science inquiry and asking questions. They present students with primary source materials and guide students to ask important questions related to the documents they are reading. The Stanford History Education Group has developed a free online curriculum entitled, “Reading Like a Historian.”[3] Each lesson in the curriculum is focused on a central question and includes a set of primary source documents. Students are expected to investigate the set of documents using historical thinking skills like sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroboration.
Students using the Stanford materials improved their reading comprehension, historical reasoning skills, and factual recall.[4] A major strength of the Stanford materials is that they provide a model that school districts and individual teachers are using to develop additional instructional materials. The historical thinking skills listed above certainly help students who wish to become historians, but they also provide students with reasoning skills that serve them well in a wide range of situations.
Thinking, Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening in Science
The traditional science class has included a number of assignments that appear on the surface to replicate the kinds of reading and writing that scientists do. Students read laboratory investigations to prepare for labs. They develop lab reports to tell about experiments they conducted in class. However, many science educators have worked to eliminate the need for students to struggle with the literacy demands of science laboratory work because they wanted to focus on laboratory skills and the science content.
Well-taught science classes have always emphasized collecting and analyzing data. Students have been taught that scientists respect data; they spend time developing powerful representations of data such as graphs and charts; and they value being able to replicate an experiment and get data that is similar to the data collected by other scientists who did the same experiment. But science classrooms have not always emphasized the literacy skills that are an integral part of the work of scientists.
In their professional work, scientists…
- Read research reports that include abstracts, section headings, figures, tables, diagrams, drawings, photographs, reference lists, and endnotes. Often scientists do not read the entire document, but only the parts of the report that are of special interest.
- Use technical vocabulary which often contain Latin or Greek roots. The vocabulary terms sometimes have one meaning in everyday discourse and a different and highly specialized meaning in science.
- Use categories and taxonomies that represent abstract ways of thinking that are not typically captured in everyday thinking.
- Analyze research reports of scientific findings through the lens of scientific reasoning. Key questions they consider include the following:
- What are the functions of the investigation—to explore, check previous results, test the explanatory power of a theory? The functions of the investigation will influence how the reader evaluates the evidence presented.
- What data has been collected and how has it been analyzed? Is the data appropriate to the questions and conclusions reached?
- What are the trade-offs of the research design, weighing what we can learn from experiments with controlled conditions versus what we can learn from naturalistic or direct observations?
- What are the logical links between data, findings, previously related research and widely accepted theory?
- What are potential sources of bias that may influence the findings and recommendations?[5]
Key ideas in the Grades 6-12 Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects standards for reading include the following:
- Analysis and Summary of Science and Technical Texts
- Following a Multistep Procedure
- Understanding Symbols and Key Terms
- Analysis of Text Structure
- Purpose of Explanations and Procedures
- Integration of Information Presented in Diverse Formats
- Analysis and Evaluation of Reasoning and Evidence Presented in Text
- Comparison of Findings from Varied Sources
Although the writing standards are the same as for history/social studies, they assume that the writing will be specific to science and technical content. The following is a sample of expectations from the writing standards. These examples are for students in grades 9 to 10.
- Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns.
- Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
- Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic and convey a style appropriate to the discipline and context.
- Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources, using advanced searches effectively and integrating information into the text selectively to maintain the flow of ideas, avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
Engaging students in well-designed scientific inquiry in the classroom allows them to develop the skills and thought processes of scientists. Helping students identify areas of interest within science and then working with them to conduct in-depth research over time lets them gain detailed insight into how knowledge develops. Teaching students how to question evidence and the logic of others helps them develop a set of skills that serve them well beyond the science classroom. For example, these same reasoning skills can be used in making personal health decisions, in making financial decisions, as well as in making decisions related to civic and political issues.
Thinking, Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening in Math
During the first year of their Carnegie-sponsored research on disciplinary literacy, the Shanahans (see footnote on page 1) worked with experts in history, mathematics, and chemistry to understand more about the specialized literacy skills of each discipline. The mathematicians in the study emphasized the importance of reading and re-reading text. They spoke to the importance of specialized vocabulary and understanding that the meaning of symbols may change depending on the context. Mathematicians also spend much of their professional time reading and interpreting graphs, charts, and tables.
A major goal of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics is to ensure that students spend time thinking about and solving worthwhile mathematics problems. The goal is to have students develop the habits of mind of the mathematician. The Standards for Mathematical Practice[6] identify eight skills that teachers at all levels should seek to develop in students. The standards state that mathematically proficient students:
- Make sense of problems.
- Persevere in solving problems.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments.
- Critique the reasoning of others.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
In the mathematics classroom, students should have opportunities to address the standards for Grades 6-12 Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects, but the emphasis should be on the mathematics practices. Mathematics educators see practices 1 and 6 as reflecting overarching habits of mind of the mathematician. Many see practices 2 and 3 as practices that all contributing members of the mathematics community use on a regular basis as they communicate with others. They see practices 4 and 5 as being particularly relevant to how people use mathematics in many work settings, while practices 7 and 8 relate more closely to the work of theoretical mathematicians.
When students work with rich, real-world problems, they have the opportunity to use and develop many of the mathematics practices. The modern mathematics class requires students to collaborate and work with others to solve problems. Teachers give students opportunities to discuss different approaches to the same problem and ask them to think and talk about whether the answer makes sense in a real-world setting. Students also discuss whether or not their approach yielded a correct answer. Was the approach efficient? Can it be generalized, and will it work for all numbers? Why or why not? Through rich discussion, students develop mathematical thinking and reasoning skills as well as the ability to critique their own reasoning and the reasoning of others. Again, the reasoning and thinking skills serve students well in a wide range of settings and situations.
Karen Beerer
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]]>The post Connecting Students with Native Stories appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Lesson planning involves many steps—reviewing and matching standards to content, selecting strategies, writing activities—but a very important step is reflecting on the perspectives that are presented and whether they are relatable and authentic. For one Arizona teacher, Jillian Hernandez, the opportunity to help the Discovery Education team curate a channel highlighting Native Arizona stories and voices was a meaningful experience that she knew would resonate with her students. Read on to learn more about Jillian’s work with the DE team and about how the Native Stories of the Southwest Channel is highlighting authentic perspectives that allow students to see themselves in the stories.
Meet Jillian Hernandez, IB Coordinator
Jillian is about to start her 18th year in public education. She currently works at Puente de Hózhó Elementary School, which is a dual-language immersion school and an International Baccalaureate school. Jillian taught fifth grade for five years at Puente de Hózhó Elementary before stepping into the role of IB coordinator and new teacher mentor. She is very passionate about creating a welcoming, safe learning environment where students learn about and through cultures and languages!
Jillian's Inspiration
I was very young when I started teaching, and I came into it thinking, “I’m going to save the world!” As I’ve continued my teaching journey, I’ve realized that is not the right mindset. While I had the right intentions, I had a lack of tools to really engage students appropriately, honor their identities, and celebrate who they are and what they bring into the classroom. I have learned and un-learned a lot over the last 18 years!
I no longer focus on how I can make the world better, but instead focus on creating a space for my students to learn what they can do to change the world. I stayed in education because it’s never the same—every year is different and offers the opportunity to learn and grow! My students have taught me far more than I have taught them, so that reciprocal learning that happens is what keeps me in!
Representation in Curriculum
When I worked with Discovery Education to help create the Native Stories of the Southwest Channel, I collaborated with two well-respected Indigenous educators. These Native educators analyzed if different content pieces represented Indigeneity respectfully and accurately. I represented a non-Native voice and reflected on how these resources would be used by non-Native teachers to reach non-Native students. We worked in tandem along with the Discovery Education team to determine if content was appropriate, if it was the best content out there, and how it could facilitate meaningful, safe, and real conversations around the topics presented.
Indigenous students need to see accurate portrayals of their history that balance and honor the tragedy of past and present harm inflicted upon these communities—like the loss of language, identity, and forced removal from their land—with the joy, innovation, and intelligence that comes from Indigenous communities. It’s also vital for non-Native students to reflect on Indigenous peoples’ contributions and perspectives, the damage caused by colonialism, and how to move forward together.
To collect the content for the Native Stories of the Southwest Channel, we searched carefully for resources, reviewed them, and determined the best grade level for them. We had deep conversations about what type of content could be open to all students and what was developmentally appropriate for different age groups. DE has done a great job at curating content that doesn’t shy away from the tough realities, but also confirms they will be shared in a developmentally appropriate way for all students to engage with it.
It was important to us that all teachers and all students could learn, engage, and find meaning in this powerful learning experience, and I believe the Channel has accomplished this! We reviewed it multiple times before we called it “finished” to ensure we collected high-caliber content. We accomplished something big, but there is still more work to be done! This kind of work extends beyond Native people of the Southwest. It extends to all Native populations, all representations, and that’s the hard work we do as conscientious educators building content.
Discovery Education's Impact
The Native Stories of the Southwest Channel amplifies stories and offers the chance to connect with others’ stories. Academically we have a structured way of telling narratives, so this channel helps show the contrast between stories that are told in different ways. Some of these stories begin with the end or have a deep teaching purpose, which can help make multiple connections to reading and writing standards while sharing social studies content.
One of our main goals for the Native Stories of the Southwest Channel was to create engaging learning experiences through videos, text, interviews, maps, and interactive graphic organizers. We specifically wanted to include a variety of maps to show students how to critically think about the social, political, and economic interactions of peoples.The DE team took our input and built the channel around it, which led to thoughtfully curated interactive timelines and graphic organizers for student use.
DE has really helped us to create a community where students can ask what they’re curious about and discuss and debate freely!This type of community is powerful, lends itself toward identifying when harm has been caused, and can repair harm in ways that don’t perpetuate it. Students feel heard, and at the same time learn from each other about perspectives they may never have considered before.
The Teacher Experience
My collaboration with Discovery Education was very refreshing because it’s great to work with a community that’s dedicated to critical thinking. The experience truly made me feel that I could find Discovery Education content on any topic and know it was thoughtfully vetted. As an educator, I can stand behind DE because I know they’re putting in the hard work!
Since we are an IB school, we build our own curriculum around conceptual-based themes. With Discovery Education, building and reviewing curriculum has become so much easier because we have a trusted source for content and accessible resources. Knowing that we have this reliable source saves us so much time!
Discovery Education also helped us work creatively when building units. With DE, we aren’t limited to one textbook or one source, which is very helpful since one of our standards requires students to review multiple sources of information. DE provides a way to see multiple viewpoints and the freedom to create lessons around the content my students need or that I’m looking for!
Lightbulb Moments
When I taught 5th grade, we embedded literature text, nonfiction text, and videos into a unit on multiple perspectives to help students analyze how people see things differently. There is a beautiful video on Zuni mapmaking included in the Native Stories of the SouthwestChannel, where an elder in the Zuni community describes how maps are created within this community. He shares about how his family was not comfortable with bird’s eye view maps because it’s only the Creator’s job to see from that space.
We included this video in a station activity where the students could choose which activities to complete. As we kept track of which activity stations students chose, we noticed that 90% of the students attended the Zuni mapmaking station. I didn’t show anything to preface the stations, instead I just sent them on their own exploration. What caused the interest in the video? Students talked about it! As students engaged in the station’s activities, they talked about it with other students, which led to those students choosing to participate in that station!
The video at that station led to a creative response where students designed maps of their communities that they felt would honor their story. We had conversations about where to place the center of their maps, what their map might look like, why they made the design choices they did, and how others’ maps might differ. This activity eventually led to a Socratic Seminar about their perspectives, how maps can be limiting, how maps can tell a story, how people represent maps, and how dominant culture can overtake the types of stories maps can tell. This activity took the unit in a different direction than we expected, and we went with it!
Our Indigenous students felt this video really resonated with them and portrayed how they give directions on the reservation, which is very different from how we may give directions in Flagstaff. It was a powerful moment as a teacher to step back and watch the students gather this knowledge, synthesize it, and apply it to the way they see the world. Ultimately as a teacher, that’s what we want! For students to hear something, take it in, reflect on it, agree or disagree with it, and back it up with information!
Through this activity, students were sharing their claims and ideas, then offering evidence to support them. One of our 5th grade standards asks students to understand the author’s purpose and cite evidence the author uses to prove their point, and that skill has been evident in almost every single piece of content from DE! Many of the DE resources clearly state the purpose, then offer reasons the author would create this content. These resources help our 10- and 11-year-old students have analytical conversations, and I’ve seen students quickly make the connection between the author’s purpose and their evidence with the help of DE resources!
Advice to Other Educators
Teachers should celebrate and elevate honest stories of history, current events, and the future! I hope more teachers can use DE resources in their classrooms knowing they can open respectful dialogue among students. I know I can count on DE content to be high-quality.
Helping students strengthen their academic skills is a major part of any teacher’s purpose but helping them grow as people is just as important. Providing students with the chance to explore other cultures can help open their eyes to experiences that are different from their own. Discovery Education is here to support teachers tackling this exciting classroom challenge, with resources, tips, and content highlighting many perspectives.
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]]>The post Accessing New Content Through Active Learning appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Imagine you’re putting together a puzzle. Where do you start? With the corners and edges to create a frame? Maybe by looking at the picture on the box? Now, imagine you’re putting together a puzzle without all of the pieces. Impossible! Helping students actively participate in learning and building background knowledge around new topics can help them put together the “puzzle” of new knowledge.
Here to share his ideas about helping students put together the knowledge “puzzle” is Aaron Grossman, 5th grade teacher from Washoe County School District in Nevada. Aaron will cover using Discovery Education Experience to craft active learning experiences, tips for helping students build background knowledge, and advice for expecting the unexpected in the classroom.
Meet Aaron Grossman
Aaron Grossman is a 5th grade teacher in Reno, Nevada. Aaron was his district’s 2017 Teacher of the Year and a Nevada 2018 Teacher of the Year Finalist. Aaron was also a 2014 EdWeek Leader to Learn From. Aaron is a DEN STAR, and he co-created the Just Two Teachers website where he posts free instructional resources for novice and seasoned educators, all evidence and research based. You can also learn more about Aaron and what his students are up at his classroom website!
Creating Active Learning Experiences
I always want my students to be held accountable for their learning and ensure they aren’t just clicking through content. Outside of school hours, there’s no shortage of passive experiences for our kids, so when they enter the classroom, I want to ensure they are actively learning. Discovery Education resources do a great job of making learning interesting and requiring active participation throughout the entire lesson.
In Discovery Education Experience, there are great videos, but the best part is that there are also questions, graphic organizers, or activities embedded into the videos that will hold students accountable for the learning. These strategies and activities are what take the content to the next level for my students—they help students gather new information from something as short as a 2-minute video or go back and review a video if they miss something. Just as much as we want students to cite evidence from a text, they also need to be able to cite evidence from other media – video is just a different text! I could go find a video on YouTube to share with my students to help them learn about the phases of weather, but the support from Discovery Education is what helps me know that my students are engaged in the learning and aren’t just passive participants.
Part planning for critical thinking in the classroom is analyzing the rigor of the activity students are completing alongside a piece of content. DE helps create experiences that ask students to move past recalling knowledge and toward thinking of the implications of a concept, idea, or piece of information.
One activity that created an engaging, challenging learning experience for my students is the EA Sports Virtual Field Trip, which had students create a triangular paper “football” to practice launching the football and determine if an acute, right, or obtuse angle is best for launching the football. Aside from learning about careers through the great video content, students also get a memorable experience around a learning outcome that will eventually be evaluated through a state assessment. Not only do students get an exciting way to learn new content, but they’re also held accountable throughout the learning process with questions and activities along the way!
Building Background Knowledge
I feel very strongly that if we’re going to make successful readers, we have to teach reading through social studies, science, and the arts. That’s part of the reason I love using Discovery Education Experience—it helps me ensure that I’m helping my students build background knowledge to be successful when they’re reading.
Applying the concept “the rich always get richer,” shows us that students who have some background knowledge are going to learn more than kids with no background knowledge. In our district, we have an adopted reading curriculum with a clear calendar of what topics to cover. I often use Discovery Education to find resources that will help build background knowledge for upcoming reading topics through social studies or science lessons. For instance, if we’re going to read a non-fiction article about ecosystems, I can use DE videos or interactives to build background knowledge during a science lesson, without slowing down the actual reading lesson.
In education, we think of background knowledge as part of a student’s “schema,” which is the way each student organizes previous knowledge and finds ways to connect new knowledge. Discovery Education Experience has resources on such a wide variety of topics it’s easy to find content that will help my students preview information and complex vocabulary before a reading lesson starts.
The Virtual Field Trips are also helpful for building background knowledge because they bring new experiences to my classroom, allow students to interact with information they may not always see in their normal lives, and enhance social studies and science topics. For example, while some of my students may get the experience of traveling to Washington D.C., many of them will not. The City of U.S. Virtual Field Trip helps turn an abstract idea into reality because it offers more than just images; Jill Biden takes the students on a tour of the White House!We want to ensure that students get equal access to information, and these experiences really help us do that!
As a generalist, like many elementary teachers are, it’s hard to be an expert in all fields. There’s no shame in leaning on a curated, quality resource like Discovery Education to help you plan across subject areas and build background knowledge for your students! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by what’s available for such a wide array of topics. Whether it’s a video with paired questions, a virtual interactive activity, a Virtual Field Trip, or a Studio slideshow, you’ll find a wealth of resources matched to the complexity of your grade’s standards and that provide your students with additional context!
Advice to Other Educators
Discovery Education helps me plan for the little timely moments that I want to create in my classroom. We’re coming up on Veterans Day, and I know that Discovery Education is going to have something helpful for me to infuse 5-10 minutes of high-quality content to let my students know why we pause and reflect on this special day. I know the timely moments I want to share with my students, but I don’t have endless amounts of planning or instructional time to devote to crafting the perfect lesson. Luckily, Discovery Education is there for me during those times!
Additionally, there are unexpected moments in teaching. Maybe music class gets cancelled, and you have an extra 30 minutes to cover—it is very likely that you’ll find something in DE that connects with your students and meets your standards that you can plug right in during those unplanned moments.
Helping students blossom as scientists, readers, and historians doesn’t have to be viewed as separate processes. Learning is messy and lesson planning can be, too! Consider how you can build background knowledge to prepare for upcoming lessons through active learning experiences in other content areas.
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]]>The post #CelebrateWithDE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with unique and engaging student activities and learning resources about Dr. King, the civil rights movement, and the impact of service to others. By exploring the following content channels, you’ll be able to find new ways of celebrating this annual holiday and promoting meaningful discussions in class.
Each of these channels feature a dynamic collection of vetted instructional materials curated by DE curriculum experts and differentiated by grade level. Choose from a wide variety of content types, including videos, Virtual Field Trips, Studio Quizzes, audio, text, and more.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Channel
All Grade Levels
Find everything you need to teach students about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a pastor who led and inspired Black people to demand equal rights. Dr. King advocated for peaceful resistance to unfair laws, such as boycotting buses that forced Black Americans to ride separately and leading a march to Washington, D.C., to call for jobs and freedom for all. To this day, Dr. King inspires people around the world to work for freedom and equality.
Civil Rights Movement Channel
All Grade Levels
Meet the heroes of the civil rights movement! These Americans—from college students to religious leaders to politicians—faced danger and even death to achieve equal rights for African Americans. African American people faced discrimination in school, public transportation, stores and restaurants, and even the military. Show students how, in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans and movement allies came together to stand up for what was right and change US laws, regulations, and society forever.
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]]>The post Three Tips to Keep Students Learning Over the Holidays appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Emotions and energy over holidays and extended school breaks are guaranteed to go up and down, for both grown-ups and kids. Here are three tips to help your students stay on the learning track during the holidays:
1. Offer flexible, timely content
Embrace the flexibility that digital resources provide by sharing resources that students can access when they’re on-the-go visiting family or when they find downtime at home. While instructional calendars are often packed full of expectations, view breaks as an opportunity to build on learning that’s already been done, explore “fun” topics, or think creatively, not as a chance to build new skills. Consider sharing Interactives, reading and math reviews, or timely holiday content to allow students to explore content that practices academic skills but doesn’t add additional pressure during a time students should be recharging.
2. Communicate ideas with parents!
Share ideas with parents to help them make learning fun over the holidays. Parents may be searching for ways to keep students’ minds active, but do not know where to start. Teachers know that having resources for students to explore is only one part of learning, so consider sharing ways to help motivate students to spend time learning over the break! Here are some simple tips to share with parents:
- Consider having your child engage with learning resources during his or her most alert and responsive time of the day. Some students learn best in the morning, while others prefer afternoons or evenings.
- Allow learning to be casual during holiday breaks. A nice, comfy chair or spot on the couch might be just what your learner needs to boost engagement!
- Take interest in what your child is learning! Ask questions, let them explain the topics to you, and look at the resources they’re reviewing. Holiday breaks are the perfect opportunity for family time and learning doesn’t have to get in the way of that!
3. Celebrate that students attempted learning during the break.
When planning holiday learning content, adjust expectations by focusing on perseverance or lesson completion instead of time spent on lessons. Give students the freedom to enjoy the program without making it feel like a mandatory assignment. You’ll not only set students up for success but also create a positive experience in which they are more likely to engage in a deeper and organic manner!
While the holidays bring a time to recharge and spend time with family, offering flexible content is a great way to help students stay engaged in learning during their time away from the classroom!
The post Three Tips to Keep Students Learning Over the Holidays appeared first on Discovery Education.
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