I am hearing a lot of positive comments about our new resource. Comments like the following:
- “I didn’t think my students could do that activity, but they did and did it well.”
- “We have learned how to share the processing and workload across our grade level as we prepare for lessons.”
- “I love that consistency of comprehension instruction across the whole building.”
There are also challenges with learning how to use a new resource, but work through them together and make notes for recommendations for future use of Module 1.
A couple of questions continue to emerge from teachers:
1. Why don’t all the kids have a copy of the text?
These questions are best answered when thinking about teaching language comprehension and using complex texts. Wit & Wisdom creates the environment that provides students the opportunities to read complex text because they use authentic pieces of literature and informational books. Sometimes the text is complex and above grade level. When asking students to read complex text, it is beneficial to pair students up to share the burden of reading and understanding the text. When students only read the text by themselves, they don’t have that support. As a result, it isn’t necessary for ALL students to have copies of the texts.
2. Why do we keep reading the same text over and over again?
Repeated readings of complex text have a high effect size (0.75), which measures how meaningful a research finding is in the real world. This activity also provides opportunities for students to move to deeper understanding as you move through the content stages (i.e., Wonder, Organize, Reveal, Distill, Know). Each day you revisit a text, do you see the different content stages? Remember the activity we did at the August professional learning session; you were placed into groups and given one content stage task related to the painting of the lake, but you didn’t move through all of the content stages. The learning wasn’t as deep. Repeated readings allow for the opportunity to get better at actually reading the text, the words are more familiar, and the understanding deepens as students move through the content stages.
Parent-teacher Conferences
As conferences approach, many people have asked what assessments can be used from Wit & Wisdom to inform the progress reports. See the PDF attachment below for a table that shows the assessments that are available through Wit & Wisdom.
Did you know that there are resources in the Wit & Wisdom digital edition that are already prepared to help you communicate with your families? You can find them if you scroll to the bottom of the module teacher’s edition and locate “Instructional Resources.”
- Click on “Wit & Wisdom Resources”
- Click on “Wit & Wisdom Family Resources”
You will find “Welcome Letters” and “Tips for Families” already created and ready to print (they are available in many different languages.) This may help families understand what you are teaching in each module.
I have created a document for administrators, teachers, and families about some of the research and background of Wit & Wisdom. We have sent the document directly to principals and it is also available on the ELA Sharepoint in the Wit & Wisdom Folder – “Parents”. You might consider providing it to parents when they come for conferences in mid-October.
Materials Challenges
It has come to our attention that some 4th-grade classrooms are experiencing difficulties with pages falling out with the text titled, The Circulatory Story by Mary K. Corcoran. Thanks to all who alerted us to this issue. We will share this problem with the company and let you know when they provide a solution to us. If you find any issues of durability of core texts, please submit the information here.
Tips and Tricks
*PPT slides – Some teachers have reported that the notes on each of the lesson slides are very helpful to use to guide instruction through the lesson. How about moving the slides in the front to the end of the presentation and then save the PPT in the “Notes” format? (helpful information when planning before lessons) Use the PDF of the lesson “notes” on an iPad while teaching in the presentation mode on your computer. Teachers are so great at figuring out timesavers!
*Pagination
Are you having difficulty locating a page number on some of the picture books you are using for lessons? If so, there is a resource on the Elementary ELA Sharepoint with tips about the pagination of the texts. It can be found in Wit & Wisdom – “Core Texts” folder. You are welcome to write the numbers on the pages in the books.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for the use of Wit & Wisdom, submit them here. These questions will be answered and shared through each Elementary Essentials. Thank you to everyone who has submitted the questions that you have regarding the use of Wit & Wisdom. A new updated version of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) document about Wit & Wisdom can be found on the Elementary ELA Sharepoint.
