Developing Talkers is an evidence-based curriculum supplement that uses interactive read-alouds as the cornerstone for rich oral language instruction. Designed for use with students ages 3-6, the whole-group activities require 20 minutes per day and the small-group activities require 10 minutes per day. Activities align with Texas state standards and national standards. The major components include: • • • • • • • •
50% narrative and 50% informational text genres Children’s literature that integrates all domains of science content Explicit vocabulary and comprehension strategy instruction Routines to promote children’s self-regulation skills Differentiated instruction with a focus on students most at risk for later reading difficulties Supports for English learners, including cognate instruction Curriculum-based measures of learning to inform review lessons A playful approach to learning
Meet the DT Mascots! Scout the Squirrel is “nuts for words” and wants students to help him collect hundreds of new vocabulary words. Luz the Ladybug is a curious observer and wants students to help her build knowledge about the world around her.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 Components • Developing Talkers provides tools for truly differentiated instruction including components that align with Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) and Response to Intervention (RTI) frameworks. • Daily whole-group instruction at Tier 1 provides all students with evidence-based instructional practices centered around Tier 2 interactive read alouds that include: Explicit Small ◦◦ Answering open-ended questions to encourage higher-level Group Instruction reasoning Tier 1 ◦◦ Explicit instruction regarding the cognitive strategies and Interactive Read Alouds comprehension skills good readers use and Responses to Text ◦◦ Teaching academic vocabulary words ◦◦ Supporting children as they begin to retell texts in their own words ◦◦ Encouraging children to become authors and illustrators as they draw and write in response to texts • Daily small-group instruction at Tier 2 is provided to the five students with the most limited vocabulary skills, based on screening and progress monitoring assessments. Tier 2 activities include: ◦◦ Additional practice and review of the vocabulary words ◦◦ More explicit and targeted comprehension instruction to build understanding of text concepts ◦◦ More explicit vocabulary instruction to deepen children’s understanding of academic vocabulary ◦◦ Assessments to monitor Tier 2 student’s learning to plan review day lessons ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Sequence of Instruction & Weekly Instructional Cycle As a curriculum supplement, DT is designed to allow for a flexible sequence of instruction. After establishing foundational routines during the introductory units, teachers determine the order to use each unit with the goal of integrating DT unit topics within the larger core curriculum themes. Predictable, easy-to-implement routines help teachers layer this supplement into the core curriculum. More specifically, the weekly activities follow a 5-day, routine instructional cycle. Typically, this cycle is completed with a narrative text for the first 5 days (Days 1-5). Then, the cycle is repeated with an informational text the following week (Days 6-10). Together, the pair of narrative and informational text activities create a 2-week unit of study that can be used anytime during the school year. The routine instructional cycle includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 activities as summarized below. More detailed instructions are provided in the Week-At-A-Glance that summarizes the materials and step-by-step instructions for that week. Easy to follow talking points for each lesson are provided directly within instructional materials. This provides greater ease of use than a traditional teacher guide, allowing teachers to focus on facilitating rich, multiple-turn conversations with students.
Tier 2
10 minutes
Tier 1
20 minutes
Day 1/6
Day 2/7
Day 4/9
Day 3/8
Vocabulary Cards: Pre-teach and Review
Word Consciousness: Tracking words used
Interactive Read Aloud: Answer Guiding Questions to Practice Comprehension Skills
Text Retelling
Review Vocabulary Cards
Basic Concepts of Oral Language
Concept Sort
Explicit Vocabulary Activity
Day 5/10
Explicit Vocab. or Comprehension Activity
Explicit Vocabulary Practice
Explicit Vocabulary Activity
Explicit Vocabulary Activity
Online CurriculumBased Assessment
Draw & Write: Response to Text
Review Day for Concepts not Mastered
Using Your Developing Talkers Mini-Kit Note: This mini-kit is a preview of the Tier 1 instructional components and includes 4 texts focusing on informational genres. These were chosen because teachers report nonfiction resources are often an area of greater instructional need. The full Developing Talkers kit includes 12 units across 25 weeks of instruction.
©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Before, During, and After Reading: Talking Points Teacher-friendly talking points for Before, During and After reading are located directly within the text to simplify your planning and help you meet learning goals. They are intentionally sequenced to require deeper student thinking across repeated readings of the text during the whole-group, Tier 1 instruction.
Before reading
Step 1: Name the text and genre.
During reading
Mini-messages
Step 1: Read the page of text.
Step 2: Pre-teach today’s vocabulary words. Step 3: Mini-messages provide a short daily prompt for students. Step 4: Ask today’s Guiding Question.
Day 1 Set goals for word consciousness Day 2 Increase book and print knowledge Day 3 Remember the author’s message
Step 2: Use today’s talking points on in-text stickers. Step 3: Watch for student hand signals as they use comprehension skills.
In-text supports Literal and inferential questions Vocabulary definitions and elaborations
After reading
Opportunities to act out words or text events
Step 1: Answer the Guiding Question. Step 2: Describe the Comprehension Skill used. Step 3: Review today’s Vocabulary Cards.
©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Genres
Timing
Each Developing Talkers unit is two weeks long and includes a pair of texts that address one topic. One title always represents a narrative genre – a story or fictional account that comprises characters and a series of events. The other title always It takes a few represents an informational genre – seconds to name a non-fiction text that communicates the genre before accurate factual information. The selected reading. informational texts address science topics and include all major domains Retelling texts of of science: life sciences, earth and space sciences, physical sciences, and different genres physical health and human development. Before read alouds on the first, on the fourth day second, and third day of the week, teachers explicitly name the book genre requires about 10-12 minutes. and reference Scout and Luz’s genre poster.
Components
Student Learning Goals
Narrative texts – A genre or category of literature that includes stories, folktales, realistic fiction, adventures and other subgenres (such as poetry or nursery rhymes).
• Students understand that narrative books tell a story that may be realistic or fantasy. • Students can identify and begin to discuss narrative elements: Character, Setting, Problem, Solution.
Informational texts – A genre or category of literature that includes accurate information on topics such as science, social studies, biographies or other subgenres (directions, manuals)
• Students understand that informational books teach you facts that are (typically) accurate. • Students identify and begin to understand features of informational texts (e.g., Glossary, Diagrams).
Teacher Tips • Mascots make each genre fun: ◦◦ Scout is associated with narrative genres – he loves stories and learning new words for his own storytelling! ◦◦ Luz is associated with informational genres – she curious and loves to learn and build knowledge! • Students learn the elements of narratives as they practice discussing these components: ◦◦ Resolution ◦◦ Main Character ◦◦ Ending event(s) ◦◦ Setting ◦◦ Problems • Students learn about major informational text elements as they practice discussing: ◦◦ Main topic ◦◦ Key Details ◦◦ Author’s goal • Over time, talking points within texts teach these features of informational texts: ◦◦ Table of contents ◦◦ Figures/Diagrams ◦◦ Bold words ◦◦ Index ◦◦ Headings ◦◦ Glossary ◦◦ Teachers describe and explain genre features at the beginning of each week. By the fourth day of the week, students are asked to go deeper by retelling the text. Retellings activities focus on elements essential to the genre and emphasize students’ articulating text ideas in their own words. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Developing Talkers books include a unique Guiding Question (GQ) for each day of the whole-group read alouds. These higher-level questions are posed before reading to give students a purpose for listening. After reading, teachers use equity sticks to select two or three students to answer the GQ. To answer the guiding questions, students must use higher-order Comprehension Skills that are explicitly taught during the first weeks of this curriculum. These skills are reviewed after students answer the GQ.
Components
Timing
Guiding Questions Posing the Guiding Question before reading takes a few seconds. Answering the Guiding Question after reading requires 2-4 minutes.
Student Learning Goals
Guiding Questions (GQ) – Stimulate students’ Students listen to texts with a purpose that requires interest in a topic and set a higher-level purpose for deliberate examination and higher-level reasoning listening. Guiding questions always require inferencing and language. or reasoning about decontextualized topics. Comprehension Skills – After answering the GQ, Students identify specific skills and strategies used teacher name the skill or strategy used to answer by effective comprehenders and practice applying it and explain to students how good readers use them. these “tricks” to understand texts.
Teacher Tips • The Guiding Questions become increasingly more challenging each time the book is reread to promote deeper student understanding. • Possible answers to the Guiding Question are provided only as examples. There are many ways to answer these open-ended questions correctly. ◦◦ Optional: If time permits, teachers might ask students to answer the Guiding Question using the Turn & Talk Routine. This allows all children time to talk and use higher-level reasoning. After students answer the question with their partner, the teacher draws a few equity sticks to have students share out with the group. • Teachers must quickly decide if the student’s response was accurate, unclear, or incorrect. ◦◦ Accurate responses should be followed with positive feedback and, if time permits, an upward scaffold to push deeper thinking. ◦◦ Unclear and incorrect responses require support or downward scaffolding to make the question easier. ◦◦ Suggested downward scaffolds are provided in the back cover that range from minimal to moderate and intense. • After the Guiding Question, teachers explicitly name and quickly review the required Comprehension Skill using the hand signal and skill poster. ◦◦ These reminders and visual supports prepare children for later grades when they will be expected to use these skills with less teacher support. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Each Developing Talkers book comes with 9 - 12 vocabulary cards designed to build students’ knowledge of academic vocabulary found within the text or related to the text. Three or four unique Vocabulary Cards are used each day during Tier 1, whole-group instruction. On the front of the vocabulary cards a photograph illustrates the word’s meaning. On the back, there are talking points teachers use before and after reading. There are also talking points for reviewing vocabulary with the students receiving Tier 2 small-group instruction. The most important feature of vocabulary instruction is using Student-Friendly Definitions that define the words using simple terms.
Components
Timing
Vocabulary Cards Pre-teaching three or four vocabulary before reading takes 2-3 minutes. Reviewing vocabulary after reading takes 1-2 minutes. Reteaching vocabulary in Tier 2 small groups takes 1-2 minutes.
Student Learning Goals
Academic vocabulary – The vocabulary of mature language users that includes sophisticated or rich ways of communicating meaning.
Students will understand and use academic vocabulary of mature language users.
Student-friendly definitions – Student-friendly definitions explain unfamiliar word meanings in everyday language that is more understandable than what is usually used in dictionary definitions.
Students achieve deeper word knowledge when more simple terms are used to build sophisticated academic vocabulary.
Saying Words Aloud – Using vocabulary cards, Students establish a distinct phonological students repeat vocabulary words aloud after the representation of unfamiliar words by saying the word with teacher modeling. teacher models pronunciation. Acting Out Words – Using vocabulary cards and in-text stickers, students are asked to pretend they are using words in a teacherprovided context.
Students deepen their understanding of the word’s meaning and increases retention of word meaning.
Before the whole-group read-aloud, teachers use the vocabulary cards to build interest in important words. The cards include steps to preteach vocabulary and prompts for students to say the word or act out its meaning. After reading, teachers review that day’s same three or four vocabulary cards and remind students how the word was used in the book. Students in Tier 2 receive an additional exposure to vocabulary cards as they review the definition and answer a question designed to deepen knowledge of the word meaning. It is important to provide multiple exposures to novel vocabulary because students must be exposed to a word several times to internalize its meaning. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Vocabulary Selection Process Developing Talkers vocabulary words were selected using a systematic process that included: 1. Identifying all potentially unknown and/or important words in a text. 2. Characterizing the word class to ensure a balance of nouns, verbs, and modifiers. 3. Researching each word’s difficulty, using statistically-derived word lists, to select words that are sophisticated but not too difficult for young children. 4. Importing other sophisticated words that were important to the topic of the text. 5. Selecting between 9-12 words per text to teach during Tier 1 instruction. 6. Determining which selected words were the most important and warranted deeper explicit instruction in Tier 2.
Special Vocabulary Words All words selected for Developing Talkers instruction were deemed important and worthy of direct instruction for young students. Some words are highlighted as the “Word of the Week” because they are likely to be of high-utility for mature language users (Beck et al., 2008). Multiple Meaning words are also highlighted because there are two words that sound alike but have different meanings (homonyms and homophones). Finally, Spanish speakers may highlight Spanish Cognates - words in Spanish that are phonologically and semantically similar to the English word. Word of the Week (WOW) – An important word students will get a lot of “mileage” from knowing. The WOW is taught daily and students listen for it in everyday contexts.
Students will show interest and awareness of new or sophisticated words taught and other unfamiliar words.
Multiple Meaning Words – When a word can be used to mean different things, you think about which meaning fits best.
Students will understand that some words have more than one meaning and will infer which meaning is appropriate to the context.
Cognates – A word that sounds similar to and means the same thing as a word in another language. DT only notes phonologically similar cognates in English and Spanish.
All students begin to understand that some words have similarities across some languages. Spanish-speaking students understand English words more quickly or deeply if the cognate is identified.
Teacher Tips • Each week, one red vocabulary card is labeled the Word of the Week (WOW), which is taught daily; this is a word that students are likely to encounter often in literature, making it highly useful to emphasize. • Yellow/Green vocabulary cards explain Multiple Meaning Words to teach students that some words sound alike but have two different meanings. ◦◦ When encountering Multiple Meaning words, use the hand signal and link to the poster. • Some vocabulary cards are marked as Cognates. Spanish speakers can use the optional cognate script to link the English word to native Spanish speaker’s background knowledge when relevant. ◦◦ When encountering Cognates, use the hand signal and link to the poster. ◦◦ Note: The scripted cognate instruction is an optional component because it is designed only for Spanish speakers. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Explicitly teaching Comprehension Skills and strategies that good readers use can help all students - especially those with limited language skills - to become better at understanding texts (Shanahan, 2010). Research has identified various simple and complex strategies that good readers use. Seven helpful skills - and those most appropriate for young students - are taught during the introductory weeks of Developing Talkers. These skills are reviewed each time students answer a Guiding Question that requires that skill.
Comprehension Skills
Timing
Comprehension Skills A series of 15minute lessons in the introductory unit explicitly teach comprehension skills. Reviewing the Comprehension Skill used after reading takes 1 minute.
Student Learning Goals
@ Use Background Knowledge – When you use your background knowledge, you use what you already know to understand a book.
Students build on their prior knowledge to understand topics in a text.
@ Listen & Remember – When you listen and remember, you pay special attention to the important things the author says and try to remember them.
Students can directly recall information and facts explicitly stated by the author. Students answer questions about key details in a text.
@ Make a Connection – When something from Students connect personal experiences to an event in a book reminds you of your own life, you make a a story or information in a text. connection. @ Make an Inference – When you make an inference, you use clues in the book and your background knowledge to make a smart guess.
Students make inferences to draw conclusions about things not explicitly stated in a text.
@ Make a Smart Conclusion – When you put ideas from the book together to explain your thinking, you make a smart conclusion.
Students analyze or synthesize information.
Students begin to provide evidence to support inferences. Students begin to cite evidence/ideas from the text to support their thinking with adult support.
@ Make a Prediction – When you make a Students infer what might happen next if/when the prediction, you make a smart guess about what’s story continues (i.e., predictive inferences). going to happen later. @ Asking Questions – When you wonder about Students generate questions about text or illustrations. something in a book, you ask questions because Students will begin to monitor understanding by you want to know more. asking questions to clarify if they don’t understand.
Teacher Tips • An important feature of DT comprehension skill instruction is the use of a hand signal that connects cognitive skills to simple movements; this is designed to improve memory and allow students with limited language skills to show their use of complex thinking skills. • Pay attention to students’ spontaneous use of hand signals during interactive read alouds and take time to allow students to explain the skill they are using to understand the text. • Display the comprehension skill posters as a visual support, particularly the skill that will be used to answer each day’s Guiding Question. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Timing
Word Consciousness “Nuts for Words” Tracking Poster: It takes a few seconds each day to encourage students to track words they hear used. At the end of the week, spend 2-5 minutes discussing words students heard and progress toward the class goal.
Researchers estimate that, during the preschool and early elementary years, most children learn about 2.4 words per day, totaling 800-1000 words per year (Biemiller, 2006). Even with direct vocabulary instruction, teachers cannot possibly teach these hundreds of words children need to learn in a year. So teachers must give children tools to increase Word Consciousness, which is an interest in and motivation to learn words. This includes teaching students to listen for DT vocabulary words during other home and school activities. At the beginning of school, DT teachers set a class goal to learn hundreds of words during the school year. Students track progress toward this goal using Scout’s “Nuts for Words” Transitions: It takes tracking poster and they celebrate learning milestones zero instructional along the way. The Word of the Week (WOW) and time to weave playful vocabulary transition activities provide acting out words opportunities for teachers to build excitement around into a transition activity such as lining word learning. up or walking to recess.
Components
Student Learning Goals
Word Consciousness – When you want to learn new words to share your ideas, you listen for and try to use the special words we are learning. DT explains this as being “Nuts for Words.”
Students will show interest and awareness of new or sophisticated words taught and other unfamiliar words.
Vocabulary Transition Activities – Say and use Students will show interest in sophisticated words taught words as you transition between activities to taught during “down times” within the day that are reinforce their meaning and make efficient use of often missed opportunities for learning. transitions as a learning opportunity.
Teacher Tips • Remind students to listen for vocabulary words they hear every Monday. Talking point for this “Nuts for Words” tracking are scripted in the Day 1 mini-message. Procedures for the tracking poster include: ◦◦ 1 - Students track learning by coloring in one word nut for any vocabulary word they report hearing used or using. Establish clear expectations for when and how individual students will color in word nuts with minimal teacher supervision. ◦◦ 2- Note that students get to color in two nuts when they report hearing the WOW, multiple meaning words, or cognates because these are high-utility words or special types of words. ◦◦ 3 - During Thursday or Friday whole-group instruction, ask students to report words they heard or used that week. Color in nuts and discuss progress towards your class goals. ▪▪ Vocabulary Milestones celebrate a smaller goal of recording 20 words on the “Nuts for Words” chart. Sample milestone celebrations are extra recess or free choice time. ▪▪ Big Goals for the total number of words to be learned that year are established early in the school year. The DT curriculum teaches over 200 words, so aim at least that high. • Determine a visual method you will use to track progress towards this Big Goal. You might color in a bar graph each time 10 or 20 words are recorded on the Nuts for Words chart. Or you might collect 10-word acorns for Scout and hang them in a butcher paper tree made for Scout and Luz to live in. ©2015 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
