Embedded and Extended......
Happy Monday!!
On Ben's blog today, Michele said..." I suddenly realized that “embedded readings” are very similar to “extended readings” that we’ve always known about. "
Yes!!!!!!
That is exactly what an embedded reading is. It is a way to create an extended reading that builds on the students' ideas and strengths and circles the heck out of the focus structures.
The example that I posted on February 26th demonstrates one way to create an embedded reading by adding a new structure on to the story. We can also build embedded readings using all three structures at a time:
This works very well when the focus structures string together to create a sweet little beginning, middle and end story.....
wakes up early
she has things to do
wants to get to work on time
Skeleton story:
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wants to get to work on time. She has many things to do. She wants to get to work on time. She has to do one thing, then she has to do another thing, then she has to do another thing. She looks at the clock. Now it is late! She runs out the door because she wants to get to work on time.
Copy and paste.....and add details. I'll try to do that by repeating each phrase with additional information:
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wakes up earlier than her family. She wants to get to work on time. She wants to get to work on time because the boss gives doughnuts to everyone who gets to work on time. She has many things to do, but she wants to get to work on time and get a cinnamon doughnut. Right after she wakes up early, she has to do one very important thing. She has to feed her pet goat. Then she has to make a huge thermos of coffee. She has to make a huge thermos of coffee because she wakes up very early!! If she makes the coffee first, after she wakes up early, and doesn't feed her goat, then her goat eats her fuzzy slippers. So, Georgina wakes up early, has to feed the goat and THEN has to make a huge thermos of coffee. Georgina has to do one more thing in the morning. She has to read her horoscope. She looks at the clock. Now it is late! She runs out the door because she wants to get to work on time and get that cinnamon doughnut.
Copy and paste...and now I can add more details to the story. With a real story and real students I can weave in other structures, local information, details that reflect my students' lives and interests, etc.
I can give put the paragraph in a word document and post it on my web page or in a shared file. The students can go with me to the computer lab. They can each open up the document, add their own ideas and details and save it back to the shared file for me to read. Or...they can access it at home and email me their copy.
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wakes up before she hears her alarm clock. She wakes up earlier than her family. She wakes up earlier than everyone in town.
She wants to get to work on time. She wants to get to work on time because the boss gives doughnuts to everyone who gets to work on time. Everyone!! Wouldn't you want to get to work on time ? She has many things to do after she wakes up, but she wants to get to work on time. When she gets to work on time she likes to get a cinnamon doughnut. With lots of cinnamon and sugar!!!
Right after Georgina wakes up early, she has to do many things, but the first thing that she has to do is a very important thing. Yes, she really has to do one very important thing. She has to feed her pet goat. Before she can get to work early and get that cinnamon doughnut, she has to feed that goat.
Then she has to make a huge thermos of coffee. She prefers Folger's coffee with extra caffeine because she wakes up very early. She has to make a HUGE, ENORMOUS thermos of Folger's extra-caffeinated coffee because she wakes up very early!! Remember, she wakes up earlier than everyone in town!! But........If she makes the coffee first, after she wakes up early, and doesn't feed her goat first, then her goat eats her fuzzy slippers.
Georgina loves her fuzzy slippers. They are very warm fuzzy slippers. This is important because Georgina wakes up very early and it is very cold when she wakes up very early and her toes are very cold. So, Georgina wakes up early , puts on her warm fuzzy slippers, has to feed the goat and THEN has to make a huge thermos of Folgers super-caffeinated coffee.
Georgina has to do one more thing in the morning. She has to read her horoscope. She wants to know what type of day she is going to have. She won't leave for work unless she reads her horoscope. Now, Georgina is very superstitious. She reads her horoscope in the Middletown News, but it isn't always right. So...she also has to read her horoscope in the New York Times. Then, just to be sure, she reads her horoscope in the L.A. Times. If she is having a bad day (and if her goat eats her slippers) she also has to read her horoscope on the Internet.
This happens every day. After Georgina wakes up early every day, she has feed the goat, she has to make the coffee and she has to read her horoscope several times. Then, and only then, every day she looks at the clock in order to check the time because she wants to get to work early and get a cinnamon doughnut. And every day it is late! Every day she has to run out the door because she wants to get to work on time and get that cinnamon doughnut.
Every day, even though she gets up early, she is late to work.....and her boss eats the cinnamon doughnut. Poor Georgina!!
....................
If the three structures fit nicely, like these do, to make a short little story in just a few lines....building this way works well. Each story will work differently. I think what is important is to do what you can in the time that you have. These are not stories for publication. This are stories for acquisition. If there is comprehension, connection and repetition....whooo hooo!!!!!! Jackpot!!!
with love,
Laurie
On Ben's blog today, Michele said..." I suddenly realized that “embedded readings” are very similar to “extended readings” that we’ve always known about. "
Yes!!!!!!
That is exactly what an embedded reading is. It is a way to create an extended reading that builds on the students' ideas and strengths and circles the heck out of the focus structures.
The example that I posted on February 26th demonstrates one way to create an embedded reading by adding a new structure on to the story. We can also build embedded readings using all three structures at a time:
This works very well when the focus structures string together to create a sweet little beginning, middle and end story.....
wakes up early
she has things to do
wants to get to work on time
Skeleton story:
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wants to get to work on time. She has many things to do. She wants to get to work on time. She has to do one thing, then she has to do another thing, then she has to do another thing. She looks at the clock. Now it is late! She runs out the door because she wants to get to work on time.
Copy and paste.....and add details. I'll try to do that by repeating each phrase with additional information:
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wakes up earlier than her family. She wants to get to work on time. She wants to get to work on time because the boss gives doughnuts to everyone who gets to work on time. She has many things to do, but she wants to get to work on time and get a cinnamon doughnut. Right after she wakes up early, she has to do one very important thing. She has to feed her pet goat. Then she has to make a huge thermos of coffee. She has to make a huge thermos of coffee because she wakes up very early!! If she makes the coffee first, after she wakes up early, and doesn't feed her goat, then her goat eats her fuzzy slippers. So, Georgina wakes up early, has to feed the goat and THEN has to make a huge thermos of coffee. Georgina has to do one more thing in the morning. She has to read her horoscope. She looks at the clock. Now it is late! She runs out the door because she wants to get to work on time and get that cinnamon doughnut.
Copy and paste...and now I can add more details to the story. With a real story and real students I can weave in other structures, local information, details that reflect my students' lives and interests, etc.
I can give put the paragraph in a word document and post it on my web page or in a shared file. The students can go with me to the computer lab. They can each open up the document, add their own ideas and details and save it back to the shared file for me to read. Or...they can access it at home and email me their copy.
Georgina wakes up early every day. She wakes up before she hears her alarm clock. She wakes up earlier than her family. She wakes up earlier than everyone in town.
She wants to get to work on time. She wants to get to work on time because the boss gives doughnuts to everyone who gets to work on time. Everyone!! Wouldn't you want to get to work on time ? She has many things to do after she wakes up, but she wants to get to work on time. When she gets to work on time she likes to get a cinnamon doughnut. With lots of cinnamon and sugar!!!
Right after Georgina wakes up early, she has to do many things, but the first thing that she has to do is a very important thing. Yes, she really has to do one very important thing. She has to feed her pet goat. Before she can get to work early and get that cinnamon doughnut, she has to feed that goat.
Then she has to make a huge thermos of coffee. She prefers Folger's coffee with extra caffeine because she wakes up very early. She has to make a HUGE, ENORMOUS thermos of Folger's extra-caffeinated coffee because she wakes up very early!! Remember, she wakes up earlier than everyone in town!! But........If she makes the coffee first, after she wakes up early, and doesn't feed her goat first, then her goat eats her fuzzy slippers.
Georgina loves her fuzzy slippers. They are very warm fuzzy slippers. This is important because Georgina wakes up very early and it is very cold when she wakes up very early and her toes are very cold. So, Georgina wakes up early , puts on her warm fuzzy slippers, has to feed the goat and THEN has to make a huge thermos of Folgers super-caffeinated coffee.
Georgina has to do one more thing in the morning. She has to read her horoscope. She wants to know what type of day she is going to have. She won't leave for work unless she reads her horoscope. Now, Georgina is very superstitious. She reads her horoscope in the Middletown News, but it isn't always right. So...she also has to read her horoscope in the New York Times. Then, just to be sure, she reads her horoscope in the L.A. Times. If she is having a bad day (and if her goat eats her slippers) she also has to read her horoscope on the Internet.
This happens every day. After Georgina wakes up early every day, she has feed the goat, she has to make the coffee and she has to read her horoscope several times. Then, and only then, every day she looks at the clock in order to check the time because she wants to get to work early and get a cinnamon doughnut. And every day it is late! Every day she has to run out the door because she wants to get to work on time and get that cinnamon doughnut.
Every day, even though she gets up early, she is late to work.....and her boss eats the cinnamon doughnut. Poor Georgina!!
....................
If the three structures fit nicely, like these do, to make a short little story in just a few lines....building this way works well. Each story will work differently. I think what is important is to do what you can in the time that you have. These are not stories for publication. This are stories for acquisition. If there is comprehension, connection and repetition....whooo hooo!!!!!! Jackpot!!!
with love,
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
I tried doing extended stories early on, but never understood the point, because I was just copying what Katya and Blaine had done. When you explained your embedded stories, the idea resonated because, for one, I could see the repetition, and two, I could understand that the ideas could come from the students. With the original extended stories, the pieces were in place following the structures, and the creativity all had to come from me. Now I realize that the ideas can come from anywhere, and the point is that the structures get used over and over again (exactly what you said above). I don't know why it takes so long for the obvious to sink in--maybe because it was such a new thing for me and everything looked different and in need of creativity. Now I realize that the repetition, combined with the personalization, is what leads to comprehension. There are many, many ways to do all of this, but most of them are just tweaks on what we're already doing. If only we could all see the others teach (even though Ben doesn't believe we need to), we'd have enough ideas to last a century of teaching.
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Laurie - I like the idea of posting an embedded story and having them download it and then add to it. But would you have them, say, write out a translation of the existing story - which would serve the purpose of them having to read it/comprehend it. Sometimes in class I get bogged down & bored with the actual READING of the story with them. The creating is light and fun, the other seems heavy and energy-sucking....
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Hello Laurie,
I have been following the thread on this great idea of EBR you have shared with all. I am ready to start on this tomorrow. There is a practical aspect I don't quite get yet. Are you giving each student a hard copy of several pages per story? Or are you only giving them the paper copy of the final version and using the lcd for the initial readings?
It seems like a lot of paper to give each student a story composed of say 3-5 papers each.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Laura
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I personally do the readings on the LCD. It seems like a lot of paper to me, too, though if I were a student, I'd want the actual piece of paper. If I want them to add to the story in small groups, I print it out on half sheets, double-spaced.
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Hi Laura!
Thank you for being part of our discussion/exploration!! You can approach this any way you'd like. It is definitely "greener" to LCD/Smartboard any section of the story. I have also printed 1 "packet" for every student, or evert 2 students (say 15 for a class of 30) and then reused them for every single class. (I have 3-4 sections of level 1 each year)
I try to alternate...not all of my students do well reading off of a screen..especially those who need, or refuse to wear, glasses/contacts!!
with love,
Laurie
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The reading IS a problem. Now I can see that if I took ideas from all the classes, I could do an embedded reading for them all. Until now, every class has been different--I teach a level 1, a level 1-2, and two level 2-AP classes, but one of the very mixed classes is a much "lower" group than the other. But in that group last week, when I told them that the third reading was for only the AP kids in the room, all the formerly low level 3 were trying to out-translate the AP kids. It was really funny and gave me a new way to subtly challenge them.
So two weeks from now, when we're back from spring break and through the parent conference week, I will try out this new idea of combining three sets of stories. Maybe I'll have to send everything to you to combine.
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That would be fun for me. :o) Send it on!!!
with love,
Laurie
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BTW Laurie, I am going to steal parts of your story (you are a creative genius) for my parent class, because we did a whole thing on waking up early because we were starting to read chapter 2 in Poor Anna. I couldn't believe how quickly my adults got time and numbers, because of having to tell when they woke up. It was only their 5th Russian class.
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Michele..you are right...I have to get Skype! I would love to watch a class!
Maria...have you tried an embedded reading yet? with their ideas?
One of the things we are finding is that these readings are more interesting to kids, because they have contributed the outline and many of the details...and enjoy reading to find them. I'd be interested to know if it helps with your groups.
So many kids have negative feelings about reading in L1 that it carries over to our classes...and they are reluctant to give it a chance.
I'm also hoping that we can do more sharing about what does work well with the reading...we don't really have the background and training we need to do this.
Having kids do the reading (or translating of the reading) outside of class is a great way to maximize class time for aural CI. My personal feeling (and that is all it is for what it is worth!) is that the reading in class is a great jump off for discussion...PQA...more aural CI.
The best use of reading in class (again ...my own opinion) is to help students learn how to read in L2 independently....so that when are in a position to read outside of class that they have the confidence to do so. Now..having said that..if you have students who will not do the reading outside of class for any reason, then READ IN CLASS!! They will benefit from it!!
That doesn't really answer your question...but it does make me realize that we need to share our strengths when it comes to everything in the classroom. So...if your kids enjoy/do well with reading...share your successes with us!!
with love,
Laurie
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Hi Laurie - and the way you 'do the reading'? do you have people translate one line/paragraph at a time? and then you discuss?
I've been having us read chorally in French..and then translate chorally in English -to mix it up...then I'll pause and ask Qs in TL...
I guess it doesn't matter as long as they get CI and can add details.
Thanks for following up with me - I think my first embedded reading was too long and too many details. I just took their details and wrote a longish story . Then I felt bogged down...it was too long to get through AND ask Qs about.
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Hi Laurie,
I love reading what you are doing with these readings. You really are gifted. Thank you for sharing! If you do rewrite Michele's stories, I'd love to see them. Do you think you'd post them on your blog?
How do you pick your structures?
I am going to try option an 2 style story creation/embedded reading tomorrow. That post gave me so much confidence.
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You really are gifted! I appreciate all the stories you post, and the way you explain things. Thank you! If you do rework Michele's stories, do you think you would post them on your blog? It's so helpful, and entertaining!
Tomorrow, I'm going to try an option 2 style embedded reading. That post gave me so much confidence. I can't wait to see how it turns out
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Hello Carla!
I hope that the reading goes well for you! Let us know what worked and what didn't...we are all playing with embedded readings and your feedback will be so helpful.
I'd be happy to post stories. I just have to fight my teenaged sons for computer time.
with love,
Laurie
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Hello Laurie,
Last week I used Michele's idea of teaching to skeleton stories done in 3 minutes by groups of kids (thank you Michele) and then combined the stories into your EBR idea. I had the kids reading off from the lcd and then gave them all a final hard copy. They all liked this and found the repetition of the basic story VERY helpful. It showed on a the quick reading quiz where even the lowest kids did well. So far they like the "novelty" of reading from the lcd. I'll keep doing it like this until it's benefits wear off. I found though that it was very time consuming trying to include something from all the stories and keeping a somewhat coherent thread in the EBR. Do you have a special "technique" you keep in mind in order to make the writing easier for yourself? or does it just gets better with practice?
Another positive was doing the skeleton stories. Students were very into them, wanting their story to get told and it was a kind of relief for me not to have to worry so much about how many repetitions of one structure I could get, since I knew I had a few more stories in which they would keep hearing the same thing.
Thank you both for these great ideas to keep experimenting with.
Laura
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Dear Laura,
It does get easier! And we don't have to get every single idea in....even though it would be nice!! Kids usually understand. They know that we are trying to use their ideas as much as possible. I'm glad that the LCD board worked...and it is definitely easier on the copy machine !!! I too have enjoyed having several stories in my back pocket to use. Today when students were writing skeleton stories, a girl had an idea that she had been thinking about for a day or two using lines from a song we listened to earlier in the week. She wanted to know if she could write about that instead. :o)
with love,
Laurie
PS For Spanish teachers...at the end of Casi Se Muere Ana tells Pepe "No se cuando puedo volverte a ver" So we listened to Juanes' Volverte a Ver (there is a great youtube clip with Juanes and a 7year guitar prodigy,,,the official video is a little too "adult") and Alex Syntek's "Por Volverte a Ver" (which is a great official video!!)
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