Focusing on the End Goal: Ensuring All Students

Are College and Career Ready

Academic Language Frames for
Quality Discussions

Connie Harmon
Director of Implementation
charmon@scholastic.com


National Summer Institute | J une 22 - 25, 2014
Participant Guide 6
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READ 180 NEXT GENERATION
Preparing for College and Career
To prepare for college and career, students must acquire and use accurately both
academic and domain-specific vocabulary in their reading, writing, and speaking.
Vocabulary for College and Career
To be ready for college and career, students must:
Accurately use a range of general academic and domain-specific vocabulary
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and
collaborations with diverse partners, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively
Integrate and evaluate visual information in diverse media and formats
Five Pillars of Instruction
Scholastic has identified five pillars that represent key areas of focus to prepare
students for the demands of college, career, and citizenship:
1 Text Complexity
2 Text-Dependent Questions
3 Range & Quality of Texts
4 Vocabulary
5 Writing & Research
READ 180 builds on these pillars to help teachers and school leaders support student
learning and college and career readiness. This seminar will focus on Vocabulary.
Reflection
Where do you encounter academic vocabulary and academic discussions in your
professional life?
Participant Guide 10
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READ 180 NEXT GENERATION
Using Academic Language Frames
Academic language frames in READ 180 support student engagement in structured,
content-driven discussion by building confidence and holding all students
accountable.
Key Characteristics
Academic language frames:
Establish a specific type of response, such as a present-tense verb
Include target vocabulary, syntax, or grammar
Address a specific, relevant topic
Allow for several possible answers
Comparing Language Frames and Sentence Starters
Record notes in the Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between
academic language frames and sentence starters.
Academic Language Frames Sentence Starters

Put a star next to the academic language frames.
1. I know the authors purpose
of writing this passage is
because .
5. I could tell the character felt
during the tornado because the text
says .
2. is my least favorite character
because .
6. The setting of the story is .
3. I like to read . 7. A story is scary to me when it .
4. Yesterday we learned . 8. Taking a difficult test can fill you
with .
11 Guiding Academic Discussions
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READ 180 NEXT GENERATION
Discussing Anchor Videos
Anchor Videos use multimedia to provide students background knowledge for
accessing and discussing complex text.
Teaching With Anchor Videos
Guide students to engage in academic discussion with these steps.
Whole Group
1. View
Give students a viewing task.
Play the entire Anchor Video for the Workshop.
Use frames in your rBook Teachers Edition to structure responses.
Play the video again if time permits.
2. Reinforce Background and Language
Use an Instructional Routine to have students share relevant ideas or
examples (e.g., Idea Wave, Numbered Heads).
Record responses on a web.
Small Group
1. Review Key Ideas
Ask questions and use frames to review key ideas and important details
from the Workshop Video Story.
2. Connect & Respond
Ask questions and use frames to have student pairs personally reflect on
the video content.
3. Connect Video to Text
Preview the Workshop readings and pictures.
Reflection
One way Anchor Video discussions will engage my students is . . .


Participant Guide 12
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READ 180 NEXT GENERATION
Watching an Anchor Video
Review the student objectives below before watching the Anchor Video. Take notes,
and check off each objective when you complete it.
Objective Notes
Completed
Content
Goals
Preview texts to activate
prior knowledge about
natural disasters.
View anchor video to
activate and extend prior
knowledge about natural
disasters
Language
Goals
Use active viewing and
listening strategies
to answer questions
about a video and build
knowledge about natural
disasters.
Collaborate to respond
to questions using
simple and compound
sentences.
Reflection
One way academic discussion deepens students knowledge of a content-area
topic is . . .





Language for Academic Discussions
1. Stating Perspectives
I (firmly, strongly) believe that __.
In my opinion, __.
From my perspective, __.
From my point of view, __.
My opinion on this issue is __.
2. Drawing Conclusions
Based on experience, it seems that __.
The data suggests that __.
Based on __, I assume that __.
After reading __, I conclude that __.
After hearing __, I am convinced that __.
3. Elaborating on Ideas
For example, __.
For instance, __.
I have observed that __.
One reason is that __.
I experienced this when __.
4. Comparing Ideas
My idea is similar to (Names).
My response is similar to (Names).
I have a similar perspective.
My idea is different from (Names).
I see this quite differently.
5. Agreeing
I agree with (Name) that __.
I completely agree with (Name).
I share your perspective.
I can see your point of view.
My idea builds upon (Names).
6. Disagreeing
I dont quite agree.
I disagree completely.
I have a different perspective.
I dont share your point of view.
I disagree somewhat.

Kate Kinsella, Ed.D 2013. All Rights Reserved.







Language for Collaboration
1. Requesting Ideas
What should we write?
What do you think makes sense?
What are your thoughts?
Whats your idea/opinion?
Do you have a suggestion?
Do you have anything to add?

2. Contributing Ideas
We could write __.
What if we put __.
I think __ would work well.
We could consider writing __.
Another way to say this is __.
I think we should add __.
3. Confirming Ideas
That would work.
That makes sense.
I share your point of view.
Yes, thats correct.
I see what you mean.
Not exactly. What I meant was __.
4. Clarifying Ideas
I dont quite understand your idea.
I have a question about __.
What do you mean by __?
So, you think we should __?

5. Rephrasing Ideas
So, what you are saying is that __.
In other words, you think that __.
So, your opinion is that __.
So, you are suggesting that __.

6. Reporting Ideas
We came up with __.
We decided/determined that __.
We concluded that __.
Our response is __.

Kate Kinsella, Ed.D 2013. All Rights Reserved.