Diggin Deeper into RACES Writing

So you've got the "RACES routine" down, and your students can recite each letter in the acronym and its meaning by heart, yet the writing they're producing is still sub par.  What is the issue? Where is the disconnect? If the students know the process, why aren't they producing successful constructive responses? Well good news, I have answers for you! :-) 

(You can read my previous blog post on RACES for an introduction of the process and routine.  Click here: RACES writing overview)

"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" - Thomas Edison

 If you've been teaching your students how to write a constructed response paragraph using the RACES writing process, I'm sure you have noticed that the HARDEST parts for students to do successfully are the "C" (Cite the text), and "E" (Explain the text evidence) components. You might notice that they can cite the text but that it often has nothing to do with their "A" (Answer- main idea), and/or that when they "Explain" their text citation that they're not actually explaining anything at all and instead just repeating what they already stated in their "A."
I spend a good deal of time the first several months of the school year focusing on each individual component of RACES.  This is NECESSARY in order for them to eventually be successful on their own.  Once they have built a deep understanding of each individual component, their writing will start to improve and they will be successful in completing a constructed response paragraph.  It's one of those "go slow to go fast" things.  If you really break the process down and spend a lot of time doing so, you will be so thankful when you see your students start to excel!  

Thorough implementation of this RACES structure not only enhances the students' writing, but also GREATLY improves their reading comprehension skills as well.  The kids start to really make connections with the text and gain a deeper understanding of what they're reading.  I have noticed that my students have not only made leaps and bounds in their writing assessments, but also in their reading comprehension skills and assessments! Using the RACES structure is 2-for-1 win!😍


Here are the steps I take to help students master these components:

1) MODEL!: As with anything we teach, modeling this process over and over and over again is really key to helping the kiddos little "light bulbs" go off. The more they see you do it, while you're walking them through a think aloud, they will start to make the connections and actually understand the process rather than just going through the motions.

2)Take Notes: When reading the Anthology story in Wonders, I always structure the kid's notes around what the constructed response prompt will be.  This way, as we are reading the story, we are stopping to note text evidence.  When we then move into our writing the kids already have text evidence in their notes that they can refer to.  If we don't take notes on the story, then I have them work in pairs and use sticky notes to find/tab evidence in the story, once we have read/discussed the constructed response writing prompt.

3)Collaborative conversations: As I guide the students through each component of RACES, they collaboratively discuss what they have written or will write, and give each other feedback.  For instance, we will discuss the "R" and "A" and then students will write theirs.  They will then share in their table group using the Kagan Round Robin strategy and give each other feedback, help make corrections, changes, etc.  We go through this process through each component in the RACES structure.  Thus through the power of collaboration all students at all ability levels are able to feel successful in their writing.

When teaching the "E" (Explain) component of RACES, I teach my students to make a personal connection.  The kids struggle the most with this "Explain" piece.  They think they are explaining, but they're really not.  Most of the time they're just repeating what they have already stated.  I model a lot for them how to take the text evidence, and then describe what that evidence means to them and thus supports their main idea.  I tell them they should use personal pronouns like I, me, or my when explaining the evidence.  This is a good starting point to help them understand this piece of RACES.  Its the hardest and arguably most important part of a constructed response!

I really can't stress enough how import it is for the students to discuss their ideas collaboratively before putting things into writing.  Collaboration is such an important part of the students' growth  and learning.  You can check out my other blogs on how I develop and establish routines for meaningful collaboration and a classroom climate that supports students growth.

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

Socratic Seminar

Socratic Seminar!          

Involving your students in a Socratic Seminar is one of the best ways to encourage a higher level of thinking and a deeper understanding of important texts and topics. Socratic Seminars also teach kids to establish how to discuss and build ideas off of one another. "This type of student-led discussion (based on Socrates’ method of student inquiry rather than teacher lecture) elicits student ownership, deep thinking, critical questioning,academic vocabulary usage, and a rooted sense of community. Although the teacher is seemingly offstage, a meaningful and effective Socratic seminar only occurs through intentional planning." -Edutopia

Teaching your students to conduct a Socratic Seminar is one of the most powerful teaching tools you can implement as a teacher!

"Socratic Seminar focuses on deep discussion around a central text, so it is important that complex, rich texts are chosen that invite multiple interpretations and negotiation to arrive at meaning." -AVID

For this Socratic Seminar the students are focusing on “positive change” and “taking action.” This was based on the 5th grade ELA Wonders Curriculum Unit 4, Week, 3 Essential Question “What can people do to bring about a positive change?” This was a big topic and we spent several weeks even after this one reading articles in addition to the Wonders curriculum texts that connected to this theme/idea. Texts/topics we covered included: Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Abbigail Addams, as well as some current event articles such as the Athletes taking a kneel, a boy with cancer who started a foundation, a girl in Florida who created an invention to help those in need, etc. It’s extremely heart-melting to hear the passion in the kids’ voices as they share and develop their own opinions about the world. Throughout the length of this unit you could see their little light bulbs going off as they read stories about people in our history who have made positive changes by standing up for what’s right, and also about the power that even children can have in making a positive change, such as raising money, building awareness, and developing inventions to help those in need. It was a really powerful topic and one that was time well spent! We do A LOT of collaborative discussions in here, and we've done TONS of small circle Socratic Seminars so they have had practice with this type of discussion, but this was our first whole group Inside/Outside Circle Socratic Seminar this year and they did an AWESOME JOB!!

Effectively conducting a Socratic Seminar unit will enhance your students’ learning across all areas. It will strengthen their reading comprehension skills, writing skills, higher level thinking skills, and their ability to communicate and develop ideas with their peers.

Here’s how to get started!:

1) You first want to introduce the topic, or question that students will be focusing on (I often times use the weekly Essential Question in our ELA Wonders curriculum as our discussion point). 2) You want to make sure you provide students with a variety of complex texts and resources to thoroughly gather information on the topic. If using the weekly Essential Question in Wonders, you already have 3 different texts built in. I then often times further enhance their knowledge on the topic by finding a couple of current event news articles that align with the topic in their reading curriculum. I use the Newsela.com site (This site is AMAZING if you don’t know about it, go there IMMEDIATELY! You can create a teacher/class account for free). This site creates current news articles for children. You can choose them by grade level, content, topic, and also Lexile level. It’s a great resource! The students need to read closely and interact with each text/resource provided. I generally have the students annotate the texts as we read/discuss them. I walk them through note-taking (either 2 or 3 column notes) on each text as we read, annotate, and discuss. This process ensures they are reading, understanding the text, and have notes with important details laid out in an organized manner. 3) After all sources have been read and discussed, the students need to prepare for the discussion. To do this I have students write Costa's Leveled Questions (Level 1, 2, and 3) for one or two texts of their choosing (I did not have them write questions for ALL texts/sources we have read as we read about 7 sources for this particular unit). These questions are meant to guide their discussion and facilitate a deeper level of thinking. 4) Last, you decide which method(setup) of Socratic Seminar you would like you use: One Large Circle, Inside/Outside Circle (or Fishbowl), Simultaneous Seminars (multiple small circles), or Triad Circle (“pilots” and “co-pilots). For the lesson you see above in my video, I chose to do the Inside/Outside "Fishbowl" Circle. The inside circle are the speakers- these students will engage in the discussion for the first round. In the outer circle the students are observing, listening, and writing down notes. Once done, the outside circle students give their feedback to the inside circle student they were focusing on, and then they switch places- the inner circle becomes the outer circle and visa versa. In order for a Socratic Seminar to flow successfully, it's important to assign a student “facilitator” who can help guide the discussion/group if they get off track. You can see this in my video above where this student guides the group by posing a new question, and calling out students who may not be participating. 5)After the seminar is over, the students then complete a constructed response writing prompt (which is generally the initial question posed as we started the unit and the Socratic seminar). I always have the focus question/writing prompt posted on the board so they can see it throughout their discussion- helps keep them on track. In doing all this, by the time the Socratic Seminar is finished, they have not only their own ideas, but now new ideas generated from their peers through the power of discussion, in addition to their notes and text evidence. For the this lesson, the constructed response prompt was developed into the format of a 5 paragraph essay via Google Docs- following the RACES format/process (just in essay form rather than a single paragraph).

Collaboratively Learning,

Megan Brown
megan.brown@omsd.net