Teaching Restoratively...
Propels Literacy; Without sacrificing instructional time
Teaching in "Instructional Circles"
Helping students write a summary, for instance, should, like any learning, begin with developing connection, be linked to the students' interests and lives, and be socially supportive.
"Students who struggle with literacy need excellent teaching and strong positive relationships with teachers" (p. 16)
These teachers know their students, are alert to the literacy demands of the curriculum, and have a repertoire of flexible practices.
They:
• recognize and value the needs, interests, and capacities of their students
• are attentive to the social and emotional needs of students
• demonstrate consistent effort to keep students motivated and engaged
• provide creative and relevant instruction that students comprehend
• monitor student progress on an ongoing basis, and ensure that students monitor their own progress
• provide opportunities for daily reading. Research indicates that ...
• Good teaching, with a major emphasis on literacy achievement and related verbal reasoning and written communication skills, is by far the most important factor in influencing student learning, attitudes, and behaviour. (Rowe and Rowe, 2002)
• Teachers help their students to develop a sense of competence and self-worth when they are able to convince their students that they care about them as individuals and want them to learn. (Dillon, 1989)
Think Literacy, The Report of the Expert Panel on Students at Risk in Ontario, 2003, p. 16
Thus, begin circle/class getting to know students. Develop a list of questions that invite opportunity for the class community to share their interests, feelings, insights, connections and strategies.
“Successful instruction for adolescents is intellectually demanding, connected to the students' lives and the world, and is socially supportive. It encourages risk-taking and celebrates and encourages difference.” Think Literacy Success, 2003
The key to the entire “edugains” guide is “keeping the student at the centre” (5).
It looks at the adolescents’:
❖cognitive development: importance of co-creating, use of inquiry based processes, opportunity to apply to real world problems, etc.
❖emotional development: model and teach positive communication strategies, conflict resolution, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership
❖social development: opportunity to interact with each other, coach students in taking responsibility and guide their self-regulation and self-management
Beginning and ending circles invites opportunity to address social-emotional development, self-regulation, and self-management.
Writing Prompts and Circle Ideas
Examples
Learning Logs:
Students use a spiral notebook, three-ring notebook or other convenient booklet that is specified for impromptu writing assignments to assist students in their learning of content information. Students write whenever the teacher thinks that writing will be beneficial. Students might write at the beginning of class to access their prior knowledge about the topic to be studied or to generate ideas related to the objectives of the lesson. They write during the lesson to reinforce ideas or organize their thinking. End of class writing often helps students consolidate their thoughts, (express concerns, or raise issues and problems that need to be clarified or explored further). Once they have completed their learning log, they can share these ideas in circle in order generate samples for others and as assessment as learning.
List-Group-Label
Using their texts or a selected reading, students list words important to a topic, then students group and label words. This assists students with moving from specifics to concepts or big ideas by looking for similarities in words on the word list and deciding where to place words. Students use their textbooks or vocabulary encountered from a learning experience (viewing a DVD, reading or viewing a primary source document, completing online research, etc.) to generate a list of words important to the topic. This should be done as a class in circle. Then, using their lists, students in a non-sequential circle, group words together that have similar characteristics (e.g., revolutionary leaders).
Microthemes-Summary
Microthemes are short writings on 5”x8” note cards or a piece of paper that size. The student responds to a teacher-assigned topic. Microtheme writing requires students to plan their writing carefully because their space is limited. An alternative point of view must be objectively explained in microtheme writing. Typically microtheme writing is described as “a little bit of writing preceded by a great
deal of thinking.” Students are challenged to summarize a topic, argument, or theme, and objectively state an alternative point of view. Students may not change the amount of space - 5”x8” on which they have to write. Here is an example of a topic assignment and answer - What is meant by the concept of a (free) market system? What would opponents to this economic system say is wrong with a country using the market system? Teachers can begin with a circle question in order to brainstorm some ideas before the writing task and/or they can conclude with circle that shares each student’s response as an assessment as learning and as samples of work.