Levels of Questions Reading Strategy (FREE)

Levels of Questions (Open via TPT)

***This works with any text. It’s a strategy I learned while in PD at Empire High School. I’ve been using it for years, and it engages students while keeping them accountable during the reading of a text. I’ve used this strategy when teaching 9th, 10th, and 12th grade.

 

****Levels of Questions (LOQs) is a reading and critical thinking strategy to drive discussions with student-based personal question/answer. The strategy Levels of Questions is structured around Questions for Critical Thinking via Bloom’s Taxonomy.

FREE Teaching Resources

After about three years, I’ve decided to reactivate the blog. The blog will be used for several of the following purposes: offering educational resources, posting about miscellaneous educational topics, and I’m not quite sure what else. I figured I would start off by sharing a few free resources. Who doesn’t like free? 

There are 9 free teaching resources, below, that I’d like to share with others. The only request that I will make is that if you find them useful, share them with others. You’re able to directly go to each individual resource, below, by clicking on the title, or you may view all of them on my TPT Store. I also have over 30 resources for sale… Enjoy!

The Reversal via iTunes + Amazon

The Reversal via iTunes

The Reversal via Amazon – paperback + digital

This is a story about a country boy from rural South Jersey who fought hard to overcome poverty and low academic standing by reversing his life’s circumstances. After earning his college degree, he became a social studies teacher, head wrestling coach, and school administrator. He spent over three decades reversing lives of many other young men throughout the country. With a few good people in your life, it’s amazing what a student can accomplish many times over against all odds.

The book will be available for digital download on iTunes via iBooks. This book is also available for download & paperback order via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

Senior Memoir Project

 

Purchase via TPT Store

Task Summary: This is the last quarter of senior year in high school, and it’s time to reflect upon all the memories as students transition into the next phase of life… Students will be writing a book called a Senior Memoir. It will consist of student’s memories and thoughts from their entire life.

– It’s highly recommended that students read This I Believe Essays in conjunction with this assignment. There are selected essays that are included in this project zip file.

– A grading rubric is included.

– A memoir chapter example is included.

Elements of Hip Hop Unit (Literature+)

• For Sale via TPT

Unit Description: This unit will introduce students to various elements of Hip-Hop culture that include but is not limited to the following: art, fashion, emceeing, music appreciation, and politics. Enrichment will take place through various forms of discussion that will be facilitated via informational text, literature, poetry, music videos, video documentaries, etc.

Students will infuse social elements of Hip Hop that will give them a chance to work on mastery level academic skills that include but are not limited to listening + speaking, critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing. I think it’d be an interesting concept to infuse Hip Hop music in with the following critical thinking activities:  Socratic Seminars, Levels of Questions, OPTIC Strategy, ECQs based on musical themes, and 5, 4, 3, 2 + 1 Discussion. 

Letter Writing Activity #Dreams

set goal, make plan, work, and stick to it…

I decided to do an impromptu writing activity in Language Arts/Writing today. The students will participate in a letter writing activity about their future aspirations. Students will begin class with a bell work question, “Describe 3 realistic life goals that you want to reach by the age of 18.” Once they have completed that, they will be given the following instructions:

 

1) You will be writing a letter about your future dreams and aspirations.

2) Address the letter to yourself (future you)

3) List specific goals that you hope to attain by the age of 18 and beyond.

4) For every goal, give yourself advice on how to reach that goal.

5) Open the letter upon high school graduation or when you feel yourself getting off track later in life.

Are You Smarter Than an NFL Football Player? (#WonderlicTest Part II)

Take Sample Test [here]

This will be the second year that I’ve decided to have a little fun with my Language Arts/Writing classes. I know you’re thinking, how does taking a test equal fun? Last year, I was reading an article, How Smart Are you? Take the Wonderlic Test and Find Out on the Bleacher Report, and I thought I’d take it. I wanted to say I aced the 15 sample questions, but I didn’t. I received an embarrassing score of 8 out of 15 last year – this year I scored a 10 out of 15 😉 I know what you’re thinking, you only improved 2pts and knew the questions! I’ve never been a good test taker. Give me a written exam, and I will make magic happen;] I digress, for those that are scratching their heads wondering what exactly a Wonderlic Test is, it’s basically a cognitive test that NFL football players are given to gauge their intelligence. In more specific terms, “Players are presented 50 questions to be completed in 12 minutes. The questions are designed to test a person’s capacity to learn and ability to problem-solve, although the correlation between a high Wonderlic score and NFL success is debatable.” If you would like to take the sample test and see how you measure up, go [here].

Caring – Character Counts

Class Caring Display

Today the class (Language Arts/Writing periods 1 & 4) participated in a lesson based on the character of Caring. The lesson will start with an introduction as to what Caring exactly is. I will share information from a document I obtained from the Character Counts website [here] with the students – only using the 1st page of the document. We will then watch a montage of commercials via values.com I will then open it up for a brief discussion on what the students feel Caring is to them and how it applies to their daily routine. We will continue the lesson on Caring with an arts and crafts activity in which the students will design 8 by 11 inch posters about what Caring means to them in collaborative groups. We will then conclude the lesson by having each group select a speaker to present the groups poster to the rest of the class. The posters will be displayed in the classroom as well as near the library. If time permits, I would like to do a quick view & respond to Michael Jackson’s – Man in the Mirror. I would like to provide a visual to reinforce that Caring as well as change comes from within. I think this video will be a good discussion starter. That being said, I’m not sure if they are old enough to connect with some of the images used in video…