Use Specific Strategies to Practice Good Literacy Habits With Children
I love this quote by Perry Marshall. To complete any task, we need to have the right tools. Teaching students to read and write at high levels of performance is no different. Teachers and parents must equip students with the right tools to do the job correctly, with attention to detail. In the past, I have written some introductory pieces about the common core curriculum and how important reading and writing is to the success of students. As a middle school principal, I am often asked by parents how they can help their children grow in the areas of reading and writing. In this issue of West Weekly, I would like to provide some information about best practice in reading and writing as well as some resources for parents to utilize to help children develop sound academic reading and writing habits.
The instructional practices of close reading and text-dependent writing are essential to helping students accomplish two things:
- Close reading helps students understand content at a very deep level, including the meaning of complex vocabulary, connecting essential content to our world, and understanding the author's purpose/bias/slant.
- The practice of text-dependent writing helps teachers focus students on critical components of a text and gives students a strategy for constructing a claim, assertion, or argument and supporting it with specific evidence from the text.
How Can Parents Help Students Read
for Detail?
•Talk
with teachers. Find out what content is
being covered in class and read texts with children at home.
•Ask
your child to summarize an important excerpt from the text for you.
•Read
with your child. As you do, pause to ask
open-ended questions about the vocabulary and meaning of the text.
•Ask
children to make a claim about the selection.
In other words, have them take a position about what they have
read. Once they do, challenge them to
support their position with specific evidence from the reading.
Visit the EdToolBox to learn more about close reading and see a video from nationally renowned expert, Dr. Douglas Fisher.
As you work with your child on writing assignments, understand that a student's ability to support his or her assertions and claims about the content of the reading is critical to success in school. Help your child understand that there is a difference between an opinion (often a focus in elementary school) and a claim. The difference is that a claim is accompanied with specific support from the text that backs up the writer's opinion. Learning the difference between an opinion and a claim is a new experience for most middle school students. Parents can help students at home by defining the difference between a claim and an opinion and insisting that students can support their claims. Building writing structures for students is one way to help them learn the process of answering a question in a very detailed way that includes support. One process you can encourage at home is R.A.C.E.
As you work with your child on writing assignments, understand that a student's ability to support his or her assertions and claims about the content of the reading is critical to success in school. Help your child understand that there is a difference between an opinion (often a focus in elementary school) and a claim. The difference is that a claim is accompanied with specific support from the text that backs up the writer's opinion. Learning the difference between an opinion and a claim is a new experience for most middle school students. Parents can help students at home by defining the difference between a claim and an opinion and insisting that students can support their claims. Building writing structures for students is one way to help them learn the process of answering a question in a very detailed way that includes support. One process you can encourage at home is R.A.C.E.
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| Teachers at MSW help students answer text-dependent questions by using the RACE approach to writing. |
RACE is an acronym that stands for:
Restate the question. Rewording the question as a part of the response helps the writer frame his/her answer and helps the reader put the answer in context.
Answer the question. This entails understanding the content one has read (why close reading is so important). Be sure to answer all parts of a question. Often, students only answer part of a question when the question is asking about multiple things.
Cite evidence. Here is where the support comes in. When citing evidence, students should use specific pieces from the reading.
Elaborate, or explain. In this final step, a student writer explains his/her own reasons (beyond the specific examples cited from the text) why he/she believes the answer is correct. These reasons can be connections the student makes to prior/existing knowledge and inferences made based on the reading.
As a principal, I love getting questions from parents about how they can help their children excel. It shows me how much our parents care. For that, I'm grateful! I hope these strategies help you work with your child at home and give you some important insight into how instruction is happening in the classrooms at Middle School West.
Restate the question. Rewording the question as a part of the response helps the writer frame his/her answer and helps the reader put the answer in context.
Answer the question. This entails understanding the content one has read (why close reading is so important). Be sure to answer all parts of a question. Often, students only answer part of a question when the question is asking about multiple things.
Cite evidence. Here is where the support comes in. When citing evidence, students should use specific pieces from the reading.
Elaborate, or explain. In this final step, a student writer explains his/her own reasons (beyond the specific examples cited from the text) why he/she believes the answer is correct. These reasons can be connections the student makes to prior/existing knowledge and inferences made based on the reading.
As a principal, I love getting questions from parents about how they can help their children excel. It shows me how much our parents care. For that, I'm grateful! I hope these strategies help you work with your child at home and give you some important insight into how instruction is happening in the classrooms at Middle School West.
