DISCIPLINARY LITERACY FOR DEEPER LEARNING MOOC COURSE 2016

Mooc-ed  Course   by  Friday  Institute 
Disciplinary  Literacy for  Deeper Learning
Session  Spring  2016  
More information about the courses sun by Friday Institue Mooc-ed can be found online:

https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/project/massive-open-online-courses-for-educators-mooc-ed/

I had enrolled last year- in  2015 but  I was not able to finish the course. I thought that the  issue presented could be interesting for me too but the course was  run for American teachers. I did enrol to check and see how it would work.I enrolled in January and  did the  6 week course from February to March. I could follow all the sessions and I must confess that I loved the ideas of learning about  a topic which is really important for educators and students. Here in Europe we still need to struggle as reading and writing skills need improvement . This is true in a digitalized society and for learners who are  living in the XXI century. Our students need to be able to read, understand and ask themselves questions about what they are learning.
The video with the presentation online was catching and  made me decide to enroll a second time.

COURSE OUTLINE

Unit 1: What is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Is Important?
Defining disciplinary literacy in the context of 4th - 12th grades with the purpose of preparing students for success in college, careers and civic life in the global digital age. 

DISCUSSING ABOUT  DL

                                                              Struggling  Readers

Unit 2: Relating Inquiry to Disciplinary Literacy
How inquiry relates to disciplinary literacy by understanding the Model for Inquiry-Based Disciplinary Literacy (IDL). Experts conceptualize disciplinary literacy and inquiry for the classroom and student learning.

INQUIRY TO DISCIPLINARY  LITERACY : A PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

https://s3.amazonaws.com/fi-courses/dldl/unit_2/Relating%20Inquiry.pdf

Unit 3: Getting Close to Close Reading
 IDL project: a text selection for a close reading.a short, worthy passage that  students can “chew slowly and digest completely.”

Resources 
-   http://dpi.wi.gov/standards?old=standards.dpi.wi.gov/stn_dl-suitcase  (Close reading the suitcase)
TEXT COMPLEXITY

Unit 4: Going Digital with Disciplinary Literacy

How digital technologies can support inquiry. Given the number of technology tools available for teachers, it is important to be thoughtful when making decisions about what to use. The TPACK framework can support teachers to make productive decisions when planning to use technology.

                                    

Image source : http://tpack.org

Credits : “Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org”

The TPACK explained 

http://www.matt-koehler.com/tpack/tpack-explained/

A  VIDEO EXPLANATION ABOUT  TPACK

Other resources
http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/developing-21st-century-teaching/index.html

Unit 5: Assessing Disciplinary Literacy

Assessing disciplinary literacy. Assessment is a critical aspect of student learning. Having formative assessments in place as an integral part of the inquiry-based disciplinary literacy (IDL) process is essential for a high quality student product.

Resources
 http://www.digitales.us/evaluating-projects/   ( evaluating  projects)   
 https://ldc.org/node/11 ( LDC)

Unit 6: Take Action! Be a Teacher Leader With Disciplinary Literacy
Being a teacher leader with disciplinary literacy. Teacher leadership continues to be a critical aspect of education. Teacher leaders may assume a variety of roles, all contributing to a dynamic learning culture.

                                                   

Resources

http://readingapprenticeship.org/ ( professional development in inquiry-based practices)

WHY I  REALLY LIKED THIS  COURSE

What I really appreciated were the videos and the resources with lots of links to websites and materials online for going deeper into  DISCIPLINARY LITERACY. I chose  English and subjects related to it. It was the discovery of interesting paths into reading, learning and using web tools. These are some importantant document that were presented and which helped me understand the importance of  DISCIPLINARY  LITERACY.

We also had to plan an activity which I am sharing here and which is my inquiry-based project.
                                                           TIPS FOR  TEACHERS

DISCIPLINARY LITERACY AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE  LEARNERS

                                                             UNIT 1

UNIT  2

Key Ideas about   Project Based Learning  ( PBL)

UNIT 4- PROJECT BASED LEARNING - TECHNOLOGY

UNIT  3

CLOSE  READING

                                               CLOSE  READING   FROST

                                               CLOSE  READING  NON-FICTION

                                                              THINKING NOTES




                                       UNIT 4 ON LINE RESEARCH COMPREHENSION 

                                      UNIT  4   21st CENTURY  LEARNERS

                                         UNIT 6     RESOURCES   " THE POWER OF LEADERSHIP"    






MY INQUIRY-BASED PROJECT
I teach English and German and I like teaching languages while I am also teaching about issues and topics for  discussion. I usually present  topics like WW1 and WW2 and the Holocaust  to my students in the last year of secondary school.
I chose  the topic " War and Peace and education" as this is a theme that usually meets the students' attention. Last year marked an important anniversary about WW1 and I decided to choose " sentences" about war, videos about WW1 and  the theme of today's wars.  I choose Sarajevo in the 1990s and a song  which is related to the sad years in Sarajevo.
The slide is a summary of the documents that I would use in class and out of class to brainstom the topic.







In week 3 we had to plan activities for close reading and chose to present two poems about WW1 :  I chose a reading with some  videos and  two poems  by important poets - OWEN  and   BROOKE.

The idea was to engage the students into a deeper meaning and two  different  attitudes towards war.


The next step would be to get into the 1990s  and  read about the experience of war by a teenager- ZLATA- who lived in Sarajevo . Her diary became an important document about the war in Bosnia and the link to today's reality was by reading documents about the sufferings of children in Siria ( document online  by SAVE THE CHILDREN).





EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT

Before submitting the project we were asked to work on the issue of evaluation and we were suggested some tools for evaluating projects .
This is the link to the tool online which  I used  :  http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

But we were also suggested this  tool :
http://bie.org/object/document/project_design_rubric

I created two rubrics : one for checking the students' understanding  as regards the two poems about  WW1, while the second rubric is for  the students' group presentation after they had carried out their own research.  The skills involved were  reading, learning by sharing materials, collaborating and making presentations.  The final product would be an online presentation with the students describing what they had learnt.

This is the link to my two rubrics

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4-wae5HCstxY3dtOVRIT2RnNkE/view?usp=sharing




FINAL  THOUGHTS

Here is the link to the pdf of what I had to upload to submit  at the end of the MOOC.  The quality is not good as we had problems in writing in the document provided by  tutors in the MOOC.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4-wae5HCstxQXR5VjZfcTRTZTQ/view?usp=sharing


I am working in Italy and we work in a different school system from the  USA but  the issue of  disciplinary literacy is important for us too.
I have learnt how to work in a different  way and  I am going to share it also because I would like to work on  PBL activities with my students. I like the idea of getting the students involved and in choosing to work on a project and making their own presentations.
 New tools are really important and we should all work in class and at home with these tools which  can enhance the students' learning and understand.

A document which is worth sharing ( web 2.0 tools):



Thanks to the tutors and to the other  teachers who shared their work online!

And here is my  certificate which showcases my  engagement and what I did online: