PLCs in the Park (Book Club)

This week we met and discussed chapters one and two.  Here are a few notes I took:  Chapter 1

• important to develop relationships with the students and their families
• create culture in our classrooms that make it safe and cool to learn
• the schema needs to have a variety of experiences in the world and environment in order to learn a new concept/word
• form~store~reform~restore
• We can improve student learning with MOVEMENT ~ ART ~ MUSIC!!! YEA!
• Tier 1, 2, and 3 vocabulary words
• NEUROPLACITY of the brain allows us to LeArN!!! 
• Mind Growth is empowering!
• EVERYONE is responsible for teaching vocabulary

Chapter 2

• Gradual Release Response (GRR)
• I do.  We do it together. You do it together. We do it alone.
• 2 Kinds of memory
• Declarative or Eplicit My life experiences
• Declarative breaks down into two areas Episodic and Semantic
• Episodic = life experiences things we remember
• Semantic = things we learn from watching, listening, reading, looking
• Black Hills Mount Rushmore e.g.  Some of us have been there to experience it live in person. Others have only seen it on tv, books, pictures.
• NonDeclarative breaks down into two  categories procedural memory (motor based like riding a bike) and procedural memory that is NOT motor based e.g. decoding the paragraph we read that was full of typos and misspellings. 
• Automaticity = the ability to do something without having to think about it at a conscious level.
• Working memory works with stored long term memories when comprehension is happening
• KNOWING vocabulary with automaticity allows the learner to free up working memory
• To help a student trigger a memory (something they have learned) ask a question that will get them to look up. According to Ruby Payne, looking down means we are "accessing our feelings rather than our memories"
• Finally, as quoted by Eric Jens, "Don't teach it 'til they get it right---teach it until they can't get it wrong!" 

PLCs will meet at Julie's next Tuesday July 7th at 10:00. Read Chapter 3 pages 23-34.  Chose a word you would use in your classroom and plan a lesson on how you would teach it using one of the strategies from the book. Be prepared to share.