11/22/19 Audrey Fisch and Susan Chenelle Who we are Audrey A. - PDF document

11/22/19 Audrey Fisch and Susan Chenelle Who we are — Audrey A. Fisch is Professor of English and former Coordinator of Secondary English Education at New Jersey City University. Audrey currently serves as Using Informational Text to Spark Inspired President of the New Jersey Council of Teachers of Inquiry in Students and Teachers English (the New Jersey affiliate of NCTE). NCTE 2019 November 22, 2019 — Susan Chenelle is Supervisor of Curriculum and #NCTE19 Instruction at University Academy Charter High @UsingInfoText School in Jersey City, New Jersey, and a doctoral candidate at Montclair State University. Susan also serves on the board of NJCTE. Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 How we started: A response to the Common What we’ve done Core and the focus on informational text We are the authors of the Using Informational Text to Teach Literature series from Rowman & Littlefield. Using Informational Text to Teach To Kill a Mockingbird (2014), Using Informational Text to Teach A Raisin in the Sun (2016), and Using Informational Text to Teach The Great Gatsby (2018) Connecting Across Disciplines: Collaborating with Informational Text (2016) uses an article about aggression in fruit flies in connection with Lord of the Flies to explore how teachers across the disciplines can collaborate. Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 1

11/22/19 Flipping our use of literary texts Sparking inquiry Instead of starting with the texts, start with essential questions and highlight authentic inquiry : When you begin planning a — Do we all agree about the meaning of consent? unit, where do you start, how à Speak do you begin, what do you consider? — Why should we care about economic inequality? à The Great Gatsby — Do people have the right to live where they want? à A Raisin in the Sun Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Today: An example that doesn’t connect Step 1: What’s going on around our school? with a literary text We are going to share with you the steps in a years-long inquiry project that evolved at UACHS: — Step 1: Identify a critical question facing students and/or the community — Step 2: Find some texts to ground the conversation (short or long, literary or not) — Step 3: Use visuals/multimedia texts to engage students at the introductory stage — Step 4: Think outside the box of your classroom (collaborate!) — Step 5: Let the students take the lead — Step 6: Move from questions to themes and action plans — Step 7: Authentic audiences — Step 8: Reflection Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 2

11/22/19 Step 2: Find some texts What’s going on around your schools? — ”Health Effects of Chromium" Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry — NPR’s There Goes the Neighborhood series — Ms. Marvel Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Some tools for finding informational texts Step 3: Use visuals/multimedia Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 3

11/22/19 Step 4: Think outside the box of your classroom How this co-taught lesson played out Co-teaching and co-planning – an interdisciplinary exercise — Susan, Audrey, and the science teacher collaborated on the scaffolding reading prompts for the science text — Audrey and Susan collaborated on the scaffolding reading prompts for the news text and on the writing prompts — Audrey co-taught the science text with the science teacher; multiple language arts teachers taught the news article We wrote about this experience for New Jersey English Journal ( https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/nj-english-journal/vol6/iss1/40/) Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Step 5: Let the students take the lead Student feedback and engagement — 74% indicated that the readings and discussion about chromium and the NJCU development of the contaminated site helped them connect the content from their science class to the real world. — One student observed that he/she had previously “ learned about elements but never seen [them] in a real-world setting. ” — Another said, “ the lesson was interesting ” and wanted “ to know more about what is happening in my community. ” Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 4

11/22/19 Step 6: Move from questions to themes Student-crafted questions and action plans — Changing culture of the neighborhoods — Why are rents increasing? — Is it moral for a landlord to raise rents when people — Exposure to toxic chemicals that may harm can’t afford it? people’s health — Will they make sure evicted people have another place to go? — People having to move because they can’t afford — Who is buying out the existing property owners? higher rents — How will chromium affect people’s health? — Is there a way to renovate without removing or — Things in the neighborhood becoming more affecting existing communities? expensive Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Raising awareness New Kidz on the Block The title might be confusing because it's not kids trying to move on the block, it's the higher status adults trying to push — Presentations to parents the lower class out of their houses. This process is called gentrification. — Interviews with community leaders — Presentations in the school — Informational website and flyers Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 5

11/22/19 Critical research: Analyzing sources Where it all starts Collected class research in a GoogleSheet: As Gentrification goes on, the population of Black and Spanish people has gone down. Since 2000 in — Article title Downtown Jersey City, the percentage of Black — URL residents here has dropped from 46 percent to 41 percent, while the percentage of whites has gone from — Date of publication 21 percent to 26 percent, and Puerto Ricans, from 17 — Source/publication percent to 8 percent. — People or groups mentioned in the article — Key quote or info from people or groups Gentrification has been the reason why the population — Viewpoint and concerns of Black people and Puerto Ricans has gone down, and — Questions after reading the article the population of white population has gone up. Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 3 years later ... Step 7: Presenting to authentic audiences — More development and gentrification — Presenting research on chromium to chemistry classes of upperclassmen — Former freshmen returned to the topic as seniors for their capstone service learning project — Sharing informational materials (i.e., website, flyers, posters, slideshows) with parents at report card night — Distributing flyers in areas being developed Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 6

11/22/19 Where does gentrification occur ? BEFORE Gentrification happens all over the world, but mainly gentrification is taking place in Downtown Jersey City. Why is this a problem? AFTER ● They are only raising the property values up enough to push us out. ● The new buildings being built downtown by the waterfront are not for us. ● They are pushing us out of our own communities. 7

11/22/19 What's the problem? What is the plan? Jersey City residents are basically getting ● This is too big of a problem for one person kicked out of their own home by their landlord ● We need to work together as a community for a greater profit. ● Start with the youth Excludes the Jersey City natives What is the plan? Step 8: Reflection and meta-cognition ● Pass out fliers to inform youth about our presentation “I learned a lot about the community and how much people can affect the way the city changes, for the better or good. We spent about half the school year ● Inform people earlier learning about gentrification and how to change the process.” ● Get them the knowledge they need to profit off the housing market “Most importantly we learned about gentrification. We learned how people are getting kicked out of their homes. The project taught us the reality of everything and about stuff that's really happening in our neighborhood. If we didn’t have this project, I wouldn’t know the stuff I know now about gentrification. I probably wouldn’t even know what was happening in my own neighborhood.” “I have done so much work on presentations in one year, and this has allowed me to get used to speaking to others and groups. We learned a lot of valuable skills. The first one was time management. It was valued because most people procrastinate and I learned how not to continuing doing that.” Tweet us @UsingInfoText #NCTE19 8