Dear Educators,

November is our favorite month! We can use real-world events from the past and present to create authentic, rigorous, and fun learning opportunities that light children's passion for learning. In this issue, you will find teaching tips and ideas for guiding deeper thinking about texts, writing expository texts across the content areas, and web apps you can use to engage your learners. Also, check out our upcoming workshop offerings!

Happy Teaching,

-Kelly Harmon & Randi Anderson

COMPREHENSION! Yes, guided reading is all about practicing comprehension skills and strategies. In guided reading groups, teachers provide students with closely monitored practice as students begin to apply newly learned meta-cognitive strategies. Guided reading is often called "leveled reading" because students should be practicing using a text in which they know at least 90% or more of the words. Because we want to focus on applying critical comprehension skills before, during, and after reading, the text must be one that does not require a lot of attention to figuring out words.

Expository (aka explanatory) writing has taken on a new sense of urgency with most state curriculums calling for explicit teaching of strategies for processing and writing this text type. After all, the most real world type of writing is expository. Student writers need to understand that this type of writing explains or clarifies an idea about a topic. Developing the proficiency needed to write a variety of expository texts is a necessary part of becoming college and career ready. Emails, essays, and blog posts are all relevant and important types of writing that require proficient writing skills.

Here are three teaching tips for teaching expository writing.

1. The Expository Genre

Teach students the critical elements of the expository genre. Students need to know that expository texts come in many varieties. This genre is informational and explains or clarifies a topic or position. Give students the opportunity to explore and read many forms of expository texts such as newspaper and magazine articles, brochures, informational texts, or blog posts.

2. Central or Controlling Idea (aka Thesis)

The central or controlling idea is what gives the reader the overall purpose to the writing. This can be a difficult skill to teach because it requires writers to be very intentional and precise in crafting a focus sentence that is supported throughout the text. Allow time for students to peruse through expository texts to locate central or controlling ideas. Have students analyze central ideas to determine a definition and develop guiding criteria to use as they begin to produce expository texts. Keep asking students to explain the message they want to communicate to the audience. Help students see that developing a central idea is a critical part of prewriting. Writers who haven't thought about their main message will struggle to stay focused or engage the audience.

3. Supporting Your Central Idea

Central ideas must be supported. Support comes in the forms of facts, details, or explanations. Students need to examine lots of expository texts to see strategies for supporting their ideas. You will find mentor texts on www.tweentribune.com or www.newsela.com. Also consider showing a TED TALK and having students analyze the content. What is the speaker's purpose or message? How does the speaker support the message with facts, details, or explanations?

For an expository teaching packet with an anchor chart, prompts, and lesson ideas, click HERE!

In the last few months, I've been using two apps that I absolutely LOVE. Zaption is a web application that allows you to insert interactive elements into a YouTube video. Zaption provides a link to the video that is pushed out to students. As students watch and interact with the video, Zaption captures the analytics that allows the teacher to monitor progress. This is a great tool for setting up a video activity during center time or for homework practice. Here is a link to a video tour I created on Zaption. Click here to view.

SeeSaw is another web app I've come to love. This app is a free tool that is used to create a digital portfolio. Teachers create a free account and load student names. Students use a QR code or link to enter the class and add pictures, videos, drawings, writing to their folder. The final product can be downloaded and saved in the camera roll. Parents can be invited to view the portfolio. This app does so much and integrates easily with many other apps.

Click here to visit the SeeSaw app.