Lyndsey Gantt's Blog Post

Classroom Spotlight: Integration of Reading and Writing in the Content Areas through Project Based Learning

Integration of Reading and Writing in the Content Areas through Project Based Learning

It has been very beneficial to take the class, Reading and Writing in the Content Areas while implementing Project Based Learning in my classroom. We have learned some of the pedagogy needed for a successful Project Based Learning experience. The first step for trying out Project Based Learning was deciding on a standards based topic that would spark student interest. I chose animals and their habitats because second graders love learning about animals. The next thing I did was create a text set. There are so many resources on creating text sets. I used examples from www.readwritething.org, Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels Comprehension and Collaboration (2009), and the CCSS Guide to Creating Text Sets. The hardest part of creating the text set was deciding on an anchor text. I chose, At This Very Moment by Jim Arnosky. I chose this book because it invites young readers to imagine what wondrous things animals are doing across the globe.

I am still not sure that this text was the best choice for my anchor text that I will be revisiting throughout the learning experience. Also included in the text set are supporting text, websites, articles, virtual field trips, and magazines. So far creating the text set has been very beneficial for PBL.

I have tried the Mini Inquiry strategy from, Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels Comprehension and Collaboration (2009) twice so far since starting my PBL. The first mini inquiry that I tried was using an article from the Change for Animals website. I chose this website in hopes that it would make students empathetic towards animals in captivity. I do believe it helped my students engage in enquiry but it did not lead them in the direction to seek more information about the problems with animals in captivity. The second mini inquiry that I tried was watching the Disney movie, Earth. This movie definitely helped students understand and want to know more about animals.

We are only two weeks into our journey of PBL. I would like to mention a reading and writing strategy that I have used that I think would benefit other teachers implementing PBL in their classrooms. The reading strategy that I have used is so basic, but very powerful. Reading Aloud: A Bridge to Complex Text, which is from ReLeah Lent’s book, This is disciplinary literacy: Reading, writing, thinking, and doing…content area by content area (2016). Reading aloud my anchor text was very powerful for students. It was something that most of my students could not read independently. It gave me the opportunity to provide my students with some inquiry as well as expose them to content. The writing strategy that we are trying out is one of Jennifer Altieri’s strategies from Content Counts! The strategy is Student-Created Informational Books. Students are researching during our PBL time to find information about the animal they chose. Their goal is to create a shoebox habitat for their animal, as well as create an informational book about their animal. These two artifacts will be used as our PBL assessments. The Student-Created Informational Books are authentic and meaningful to students. They allow students to create books that are relevant to content and will be used to help inform their classmates about the animals they have chosen. Students are engaged in authentic reading and writing activities during PBL.

Last week students chose their animal and we did a brainstorming activity to determine what we need to know about our animals to create a habitat for them. 

This week I gave students this graphic organizer based on the questions we came up with in class. I believe the graphic organizer will help students keep the information they are researching organized.

I also decided this week to create a Symbaloo to incorporate digital literacy into our PBL experience. I chose to use Symbaloo because students need a variety of digital resources to use while researching. It can be difficult for student to type in web addresses so with Symbaloo all of the digital resources students’ can use are in one spot. Here is the Symbaloo I created for second grade animal research, https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/mrselliott. Some of the links included on the Symbaloo are BrainPopjr, San Diego Zoo, Big Universe, Epic, and Kiddle.

 I cannot wait to see my student’s artifacts at the end of our PBL experience. So far my first attempt at PBL has been successful with the support from the course Reading and Writing in the Content Areas.

Resources

Altieri, J. (2011). Content counts!: Developing disciplinary literacy skills, K-6. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Daniels, H., & Harvey, S. (2015). Comprehension and collaboration: Inquiry circles for curiosity, engagement, and understanding. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann

Lent, R. C. (2016). This is disciplinary literacy: Reading, writing, thinking, and doing…content area by content area. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Text Set: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson305/creating.pdf

http://www.changeforanimals.org/wildlife-in-captivity?gclid=CjwKCAiA5OrTBRBlEiwAXXhT6Ix5fF2ZmFii5PRtCudboLG8oBqIPP68Z8Y-wdHJbR3wuIHgktH5ehoC5CoQAvD_BwE