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Write to Learn: Creating a Districtwide Culture of Literacy

by Taylor Brock
written by Taylor Brock

In recent years, writing across content areas has become a highly discussed literacy problem of practice. As assessments across the country—including the redesigned STAAR exam—incorporate cross-curricular passages and varied writing tasks, many districts are asking, “How do we build a culture of literacy that spans content areas?”

While we can all agree that building student literacy is incredibly important, different educators are likely to come up with different definitions of what “literacy” means. For the sake of the discussion below, I want to offer a definition that many of our teams at NoRedInk utilize: Literacy is the ability to read, interpret, write, and discuss ideas across varied contents and contexts.

This expansive understanding of literacy makes space for literacy interventions not just in ELAR classes, but in all classes. By embracing this kind of “disciplinary literacy,” districts can equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in school, higher education, the military, and the workplace.

What Does Disciplinary Literacy Look Like?

Promoting disciplinary literacy involves helping students step into the shoes of experts in a given field, asking them to engage in social and cognitive practices consistent with those content experts. Doing so gives purpose to classroom reading and writing tasks, which in turn gives students greater access to texts and artifacts.

In practice, this might look like preparing students to read a cartoon like an historian, note features of a painting like an artist, read a graph like a scientist, write a song like a musician, or analyze a play like a football coach.

Naturally, non-ELAR teachers are uniquely equipped to help students develop these varied literacies. What they may be less equipped to do is teach spelling or conventions or proper essay structure—and that’s okay! Just because a district incorporates writing across its curriculum doesn’t mean that every teacher must moonlight as an ELAR teacher. Rather, an effective disciplinary literacy initiative draws on the strengths of each teacher to support the development of historically, artistically, scientifically, musically, and athletically literate students.

Building a Culture of Literacy

As the research of Paige Whitlock, EdD, illustrates, coming to a shared understanding of what disciplinary literacy does and doesn’t mean is just the first step in building a culture of disciplinary literacy in a district. Leaders must also invest in clear planning and communication to get teachers on board with their initiatives.

First, leaders should foreground the “why” behind the move toward writing across the curriculum (or whatever disciplinary literacy initiative they’re rolling out). Every district faces a unique set of circumstances, but as a leader, you should be sure to make it clear why it’s important to you, your district, and your community to increase literacy across content areas.

It’s equally important to draw clear connections between new disciplinary literacy initiatives and ongoing initiatives in various content areas. Literacy cannot seem like yet another thing competing for space on non-ELAR teachers’ plates. Better thinkers and better writers make better historians, artists, scientists, and so forth, which means disciplinary literacy is not “for someone else,” but a powerful tool for teachers in every subject. Get non-ELAR teachers involved in planning literacy initiatives so that these initiatives fold into what these teachers are already doing.

Finally, on a similar note, lean into distributed leadership. ELAR leaders may be in the best position to spearhead a literacy initiative, but they shouldn’t hesitate to leverage the expertise of central office specialists, school administrators, and, as mentioned above, strong teachers (both ELAR and non-ELAR). Create a literacy team dedicated to mapping out essential steps in your literacy initiatives and exploring opportunities for the district to embrace a more expansive definition of literacy.

A South Texas Success Story: Creating a Culture of Disciplinary Literacy

After adopting NoRedInk Premium across all their secondary schools in the ‘21–‘22 school year, Weslaco ISD, a suburban district in the Rio Grande Valley serving almost 20,000 students, noticed that writing was happening almost exclusively in ELAR classrooms. They decided to craft a plan for increasing writing across content areas starting in the spring of 2022.

Weslaco assembled an implementation team made up of both Social Studies and ELAR teachers that zeroed in on prioritizing non-fiction, analytical writing skills and providing feedback on students’ writing through their respective content area literacy lenses. The implementation team then introduced the Weslaco curriculum team to their new approach, and the latter worked to incorporate Social Studies-related prompts into their ELAR scope and sequence and align Social Studies writing tasks with the skills students were learning in their ELAR classes.

In the fall of 2022, Weslaco trained all Social Studies and ELAR teachers on the new approach and orchestrated norming conversations so teachers understood which content areas owned which components of writing. Before the start of the ‘23–‘24 school year, Weslaco repeated the same process with Science teachers across the district.

As a result of these efforts, the amount of writing students completed more than doubled from the ‘21–‘22 school year to the ‘22–‘23 school year. Critically, much of this growth was the result of a significant uptick in the amount of writing happening in non-ELAR classrooms.

Prior to ‘22–‘23, the overwhelming majority of writing in the district was occurring in ELAR classrooms. In ‘22–‘23, ~76% of student writing submissions came from ELAR classrooms, whereas ~20% came from Social Studies classrooms and ~4% came from Science classrooms. In the first half of ‘23–‘24, ~60% of student writing submissions came from ELAR classrooms, whereas ~16% came from Social Studies classrooms and ~24% came from Science classrooms.

How to Get Started

As the initiative in Weslaco ISD illustrates, building a strong districtwide culture of disciplinary literacy is a multistep process that can take time to execute effectively. That said, there’s nothing wrong with starting small.

To get the ball rolling, consider organizing a book study, incorporating more reading and writing tasks into PLCs, or putting together a cross-curricular team tasked with defining “literacy” within each discipline. Especially at the start, baby steps are much preferable to no steps at all, because ultimately, regardless of your district’s specific goals, developing student literacy across multiple content areas is a surefire way to set your students up for success.

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Hand clicking on box to drag-and-drop it in the activity.
English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ESL/ELLGood TeachingGoogle Tips and TricksHistoryMathScienceSocial StudiesWriting

Customizable Drag-and-Drop Google Slides Templates

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

In today’s digital age, integrating technology into the classroom is not just an option, but a necessity. One effective way to do this is through interactive activities that engage students and make learning fun. One such activity is the drag-and-drop exercise, which can be easily created using Google Slides.

Google Slides, a versatile and user-friendly tool, is typically thought of as just a presentation tool. Since it is so easy to use however, it allows educators to design a variety of interactive activities that cater to different learning styles and needs. These activities can range from matching vocabulary words to definitions, sequencing events, categorizing items, solving math problems, and labeling diagrams. The possibilities are endless!

Using drag-and-drop activities in your teaching arsenal offers several benefits. They are engaging and interactive, encouraging students to actively participate in the learning process. They also provide a unique way to assess student understanding, offering immediate feedback and opportunities for differentiated instruction.

Below we explore the value of using Google Slides for creating drag-and-drop activities, the importance of varying your assessment strategies, and share some customizable templates that you can use in your classroom. Whether you are a tech-savvy teacher or just getting started with digital tools, you’ll find that Google Slides is a powerful ally in creating a dynamic and inclusive learning environment.

Value of Using Google Slides

Google Slides is an intuitive and user-friendly tool that doesn’t require extensive technical skills. Both teachers and students can quickly learn to create and interact with drag-and-drop activities. The simple drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to move elements around, fostering a hands-on learning experience.

And because Google Slides is accessible from any device with an internet connection, including computers, tablets, and smartphones, students aren’t limited to just using a shared classroom laptop. This accessibility ensures that students can participate in activities whether they are in the classroom or learning remotely. Additionally, Google Slides offers various accessibility features, such as screen reader support and keyboard shortcuts, making it inclusive for all students.

Value of Drag-and-Drop Activities

Drag-and-drop activities are highly engaging and interactive, capturing students’ attention and encouraging active participation. They cater to kinesthetic learners by incorporating physical movement, which can enhance understanding and retention. These activities also offer flexibility for differentiation, allowing teachers to tailor tasks to varying levels of difficulty and meet diverse student needs. By providing immediate feedback, drag-and-drop exercises help students quickly identify and correct mistakes, reinforcing learning in real-time.

Consider scaffolding so that students observe completed diagrams/models before moving to drag-and-drop activities. Afterwards, you can have students draw and label the diagrams themselves without the needed supports provided in drag-and-drop activities. 

In addition to these benefits, drag-and-drop interactives foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills as students analyze information and make decisions to complete tasks. They promote collaboration when used in group settings, encouraging teamwork and peer learning. These activities also break up the monotony of traditional instruction, making learning more dynamic and enjoyable. By integrating these tasks, educators can create a more engaging and effective learning environment that supports skill development and enhances overall student achievement.

Varying assessment strategies in the classroom is essential to accommodate the diverse learning styles and abilities of students. Traditional tests and quizzes may not accurately reflect every student’s understanding or potential. By incorporating a range of assessment methods—such as formative assessments, project-based learning, interactive activities, and peer evaluations—teachers can gain a more comprehensive view of student progress. Diverse assessments also keep students engaged and motivated, as they provide multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge and skills. This approach fosters a more inclusive and equitable learning environment, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to succeed and that instruction can be tailored to address their unique needs.

Looking for Drag-and-Drop Inspiration

When creating drag-and-drop activities, teachers can draw inspiration from various sources like game boards and graphic organizers. Game boards, with their clear and structured layouts, can be easily adapted into engaging educational activities. Consider classic board games such as Scrabble or Memory Match, where students can drag letters to form words or match pairs to reinforce vocabulary. Similarly, graphic organizers like Venn diagrams, flowcharts, and T-charts are excellent for visually organizing content, helping students categorize and sequence information. For instance, you can design a Venn diagram activity where students drag items into the appropriate circles to compare and contrast concepts. By examining how these tools organize information, you can replicate similar structures in your drag-and-drop activities, making them visually appealing and effective for student understanding and retention. So, don’t hesitate to draw inspiration from these familiar formats to create dynamic and interactive learning experiences for your students. A few sites to consider exploring include The Teacher Toolkit, HMH Free Graphic Organizer Templates, Canva Graphic Organizer Templates, and just searching for graphic organizer images. 

If your slide is going to have a diagram, such as parts of an animal cell, life cycle of a butterfly, or other instance in which students will drag-and-drop words to designate part of an image, consider searching images for ideas. Begin by searching for your term (i.e.: parts of an animal cell). If you are using Chrome, click on Images and then the Tools button. Next click on Color and choose Black and White. Here you should find many ideas of how to organize your drag-and-drop slide to accommodate the learning activity. Here are sample search results for parts of an animal cell, life cycle of a butterfly, parts of a flower, regions of Texas, and the chemical structure for glucose..

Steps to Creating Drag-and-Drop Activities

Creating drag-and-drop activities in Google Slides is straightforward and can be a fun way to engage your students. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Step 1: Set Up Your Google Slide

Setting up your Google Slide is quick and easy. If you plan ahead, you can reuse the slide for many different drag-and-drop activities.

  1. Open Google Slides and start a new presentation. Or, just go to http://slides.new. 
  2. Choose a blank slide to have a clean canvas to work on.
  3. Title your slide to indicate the type of activity (e.g., “Vocabulary Matching Activity”).
  4. Consider adding related graphics and images to the title slide. Use sites such as Pixabay and Pexels if you need free images. Or, if you have a Canva for Education account, search for related images within their repository.

Step 2: Design Your Activity Background

Create a visually appealing and organized layout for your activity. You can use shapes, text boxes, and lines to guide where students will place the draggable items.

  1. Go to the “Background” option in the toolbar and select “Choose image” to add a background image if needed. This can be a grid, a diagram, or any relevant image.
  2. You can also use shapes, text boxes, and lines to design the background directly on the slide. For example, create boxes where students will drag and drop items.
  3. In step 5 below you’ll make it so these items are one static image and cannot be moved or rearranged. 

Step 3: Add the Drag-and-Drop Items

Incorporate the elements that students will interact with, such as text boxes or images. Make sure these items are clearly labeled and easy to move.

  1. Insert the objects that students will drag and drop. These can be text boxes, images, shapes, or a combination.
  2. To add text, click on the “Text box” tool, click on the slide where you want to add text, and type in your content.
  3. To add images or shapes, use the “Insert” menu and choose the appropriate option. Resize and position these items as needed.
  4. You may want to group each text box on a shape or set the background of each text box so it stands out.

Step 4: Make Objects Movable

Ensure the draggable objects are separate from the background so they can be easily manipulated. This setup allows for a smooth drag-and-drop experience.

  1. Select the objects you want to be draggable by clicking on them.
  2. Ensure these objects are not part of the background. They should be separate elements that can be moved around on the slide.
  3. If there is not enough space on the slide itself, consider moving draggable words/content off to the side of the slide. 

Step 5: Lock the Background Elements

To keep your background intact, convert it into a static image. This prevents students from accidentally moving parts of the layout.

  1. To prevent background elements from being moved accidentally, create the background layout in a separate slide.
  2. Download this slide as an image (File > Download > PNG or JPEG).
  3. Create a new blank slide and set the downloaded image as the background (Background > Choose image).
  4. Alternatively, you can create the background elements using the Theme Building (View → Theme Builder), This would still allow you to edit the slide at a later date. When students are viewing the slide, though, items would appear to be locked.

Step 6: Provide Instructions

Include clear and concise instructions to guide students through the activity. Good directions help students understand the task and reduce confusion.

  1. Add a text box at the top or side of the slide with clear instructions for the activity. For example, “Drag each word to its correct definition.”
  2. Use concise and straightforward language to ensure students understand the task.

Step 7: Share with Students

Distribute the Google Slides presentation to your students, making sure they have the appropriate permissions to interact with the activity. Using platforms like Google Classroom can streamline this process.

  1. Once your activity is ready, share the Google Slides presentation with your students.
  2. Make sure to change the sharing settings to “Anyone with the link can edit” if you want them to interact directly with the slide.
  3. Alternatively, you can assign the slide via Google Classroom or another learning management system.

Step 8: Practice and Adjust

Test the activity yourself to identify any issues and refine it based on your findings. Student feedback can also provide valuable insights for improvement.

  1. Before using the activity with your students, test it yourself to ensure everything works as expected.
  2. Be prepared to make adjustments based on your observations or student feedback to improve the activity.

Drag-and-Drop Activity Templates for You

To help you get started, we’ve created a collection of customizable drag-and-drop activity templates that you can easily adapt for your classroom. These templates include a variety of activities such as vocabulary matching, sequencing events, categorizing items, solving math problems, and labeling diagrams. Simply copy the template you need, tweak it to fit your specific lesson, and you’re ready to engage your students with interactive and meaningful learning experiences.You can access the editable Google Slides template here.

screenshot of slides in drag-and-drop templates slide deck

Here is a drag-and-drop activity that has been created for fifthth grade social studies. Additional slides in the Theme Builder have been deleted while others have been added that are relevant to this activity. In this activity, students are expected to become secret agents to correct a timeline that has been messed up by a historical villain. After researching to correct the mistake, they work to find out other important information to complete the slide deck. When done, they present their findings to their team to successfully correct the error in history. The main image (excluding the words) was created in Ideogram (log in in see the actual image and prompt).

Drag-and-drop activities can be used for most content areas and in many grade levels. How you tweak it for second graders will differ from using drag-and-drop with high school students. And, as you include it as part of an assignment (as opposed to the complete assignment), students will find it to be a helpful learning aid as they solidify their understanding of the content they are studying.

Do you already use drag-and-drop activities in your classroom? If so, please share with us and let others know how you set your activities up and what students like most about them!

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MicrosoftReadingScienceSocial StudiesSTEM/STEAMWriting

Story Bins: The Virtual Edition

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In the earlier blog entry, Seven Ready-to-Use Story Bin STEM Activities, you saw hands-on, makerspace-like activities to foster literacy. As important as hands-on, manipulative activities are, virtual story bins are something you can take advantage of. If you are familiar with Microsoft Minecraft or Minetest (free, open source version), then you can also adapt these Story Bin ideas for virtual construction. That’s right, instead of messing around with physical bins, you can do some of this in online virtual spaces!

Did You Know?

TCEA offers an online, self-paced course that shows you how to use a program for Windows, Mac, and GNU/Linux computers.:Virtual World Builder: Game-Based Learning, The program is free, no-cost, and is called Minetest.

Find out more about the TCEA course, Virtual World Builder now.

Engineering Design Process for Story Bins

Before exploring STEM challenges for story bins, let’s revisit the Engineering Design Process below:

Please find an adaptation of the Engineering Design Process. What if you ran one of the story bin challenges through this process?

Stages of the Engineering Design Process
Public View Link | Template Link

To use Minetest (or Minecraft), think of building something. Here are some AI-generated ideas to get you started:

ChallengeAskImaginePlanCreateShare
Build a castleHow do we build the best castle?Think of different castles.Draw our castle and list materials.Build our castle and fix any parts.Show our castle to others.
Make a farmHow can we make a farm with animals and crops?Dream up farms with animals and plants.Plan where everything goes on our farm.Create our farm and plant seeds.Share our farm and how we made it.
Create a rollercoasterWhat makes a super fun rollercoaster?Imagine rollercoasters with loops and drops.Draw the track and figure out where it goes.Build the rollercoaster and ride it.Show our rollercoaster to our friends.
Design a water parkHow can we make the coolest water park?Think of slides and pools.Plan out the water slides and where pools are.Build our water park and splash around.Invite others to see our water park.

Let’s explore what this might look like in the context of Minecraft (available via Microsoft Education subscription) or Minetest (free, no cost).

Minetest offers Castle mod, which can be quite helpful

Sample Instructions for the Build a Castle Challenge

In the first Story Bin challenge, you can see the question is, “How do we build the best castle?” Here is one set of instructions you can tailor for your own use:

  1. Choose Your Location: Find a suitable spot for your castle. Consider factors like terrain, space, and proximity to resources.
  2. Gather Materials: Collect blocks for your castle. Good options include stone, cobblestone, stone bricks, and wood. Don’t forget torches for lighting.
  3. Lay the Foundation: Decide on the size and shape of your castle, then create a flat foundation using cobblestone or stone blocks.
  4. Build the Walls: Erect the outer walls of your castle. Use stone or cobblestone for a sturdy look. Consider adding texture with different block types.
  5. Construct the Towers: Build towers at the corners and along the walls for defense and visual appeal. Make them taller than the walls.
  6. Add a Gate: Create a grand entrance using wooden doors, iron bars, or a portcullis made with fence posts and pistons.
  7. Create the Inner Courtyard: Inside the walls, build a courtyard with a well, garden, or training grounds.
  8. Design the Keep: Construct the central keep or great hall where the lord resides. Use impressive blocks like quartz or stone bricks.
  9. Add Details: Enhance your castle with details like banners, stained glass windows, arrow slits, and a moat.
  10. Light it Up: Place torches or lanterns to illuminate your castle at night and add ambiance.
  11. Furnish and Decorate: Add tables, chairs, beds, bookshelves, and other decorative items to make your castle feel lived-in.
  12. Finish the Roof: Top your towers and buildings with crenelated battlements or sloped roofs using stairs and slabs.
  13. Test and Refine: Step back and admire your work. Make adjustments as needed to improve the design.
  14. Share Your Creation: Give your friends a tour of your completed Minecraft castle!

What you may notice from these instructions is that all the materials for your challenge appear in Minecraft or Minetest.

Image Citation

Feature image. Castle featured from r/Minecraft. Available online 5/22/2024 at https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/kwgtzy/first_ever_attempt_at_building_a_minecraft_castle/

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Explore a program for reading comprehension that goes beyond multiple choice comprehension quizzes: Whooo's Reading!
English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)STAARTEKSWriting

Whooo’s Reading: Beyond Multiple Choice Comprehension Questions

by Shelli Harrel
written by Shelli Harrel

In an educational environment where students have been conditioned to expect multiple-choice assessments, educators are increasingly looking for new ways to gauge student learning. Are you looking for ways to help your students “think outside of the bubbles”? Whooo’s Reading is a program designed to help students improve both their reading comprehension and writing skills while creating a fun alternative to traditional assessments. With each successful completion of a task within the program, students earn coins that can be used to purchase items for their owl avatars. Hence the name, Whooo’s Reading!

Screenshot by the Author of Owl Customization with Coins

How Whooo’s Reading Benefits Students and Teachers

1. Whooo’s Reading Question Types

With the Whooo’s Reading program, students can read a book or text resource and take a quiz to determine their comprehension. Quiz questions are tailored to the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and are a mixture of short answer, fill-in-the-blank, and constructed response questions. 

2. Student Guidance for Constructed Responses

Screenshot by the Author of Constructed Response Guidance

Open-ended response questions allow students to more thoroughly express the details they remember from their reading experience. At the bottom of the screen, users can track their writing progress by watching as the line changes from red to yellow to green. By encouraging students to work toward the green, they gradually learn the importance of including enough information to adequately answer the question at hand. 

3. Immediate Feedback on Student Writing

The program gives feedback on typed responses that allows users the opportunity for self-correction as they work to complete the quizzes. In an effort to encourage students to correct potential mistakes in their writing, they are provided with feedback and the ability to earn additional coins if they make adjustments to their work before continuing with the quiz. At the end of each quiz, students are provided with feedback on the things that they did well and information on areas where they could improve. They are also given examples highlighted from their quiz responses. 

4. Use Any Text Resource 

Unlike similar reading programs, the Whooo’s Reading program can be used with virtually any text resource. By expanding the potential reading resources, students are not limited to specific titles or books. Teachers can also assign online reading resources for students, where they can access the online link and complete a quiz on the material. 

5. Track Student Progress and Vary Assessment Tasks

In addition, Whooo’s Reading offers educators the ability to assign various other assessment tasks to students such as writing essays or completing practice questions/exercises designed to help address specific skills. Both students and teachers also have the ability to construct their own practice questions related to titles that they have read. Educators also have the option of asking students to keep reading logs to gauge their reading progress and students can create book reviews that are visible to their classmates, providing additional encouragement to read new books. 

6. Adjust Reading and Grade Levels as Needed

One of the most beneficial parts of the Whooo’s Reading program is the ability to differentiate the experience for each student. Teachers have the ability to set the reading level and grade level for each individual. By making adjustments to each of these settings, the experience for each student can be more adequately tailored to their specific reading ability. Changing the levels for individuals means that the quiz questions for students will be more in line with their reading ability and thus provide them with an increased chance of successfully completing the quiz. 

7. Customize Assessments and Provide Sentence Stems

Screenshot by the Author of Customization Options

Teachers also have the option to choose the types and number of questions that appear in the reading quizzes, as well as provide students with sentence stems or sentence starters to assist them in successfully answering the constructed response questions. Quiz passing rates can be set by the teacher at a range from 2 to 4. This means that passing standards can be better adjusted based on student needs, with teachers also having the ability to provide student feedback on quiz responses and add credit points to quiz scores if needed. 

8. Accessibility Features 

Screenshot by the Author of Accessibility Features

In addition to these features, Whooo’s Reading also provides text-to-speech and speech-to-text capabilities. Within the program, settings can be adjusted so that students can click on the speaker icon to have information on the screen read to them. If they have access to a microphone, they can click on the microphone icon, speak their answers, and see their words transcribed on the screen. With these options to tailor the Whooo’s Reading experience for each user, students of all levels have an increased chance for success. 

9. Prep for the STAAR Test

Not only does Whooo’s Reading help students to practice expressing their thoughts by engaging them in more challenging questions than traditional multiple-choice assessments, but it can also help them enhance their writing skills as well. With recent changes to the STAAR (The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) tests, students are being tasked with answering more constructed response-type questions. This format within the Whooo’s Reading quizzes provides important practice that can help prepare students to have increased success on the state assessments. In addition, teachers have the ability to access and print out students’ quiz information that showcases each question and the student’s responses. This not only gives increased data on student progress but also provides educators with examples of students’ writing for targeted instruction.

Free Premium Features

For the 2023-2024 school year, Whooo’s Reading has offered interested teachers/schools the opportunity to try out all of the premium features of their program for free. I’ve been told by representatives that they will be doing the same for the 2024-2025 school year! During this time, Whooo’s Reading will be working to collect data and make important improvements to the program. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and discover the many ways that this program can benefit your learners!

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There are many ways to use story dice to promote creativity, writing skills, and more in the classroom.
English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Writing

Spark Creativity in the Classroom with Story Dice

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

As educators, we constantly strive to foster creativity and imagination in our students. But how do we inspire them to think outside the box and craft compelling stories? Enter story dice – a fun and effective tool for sparking creativity in the classroom.

About Story Dice

Davidbirss.com featured 5 dice or 9 dice options for story dice.
Screenshot by Emily Horn | Davebirss.com | Story Dice, 5 Dice Version

Dave Birss created a digital story dice generator. The dice feature different images, with over 50 options for each dice. You have the option of choosing five dice or nine dice. This is a handy tool if you are looking for inspiration to create fun story ideas. The more it is used, the better the storytelling will become.

How to Use Story Dice

Roll the dice, and random images will appear. Your job is quite simple: turn the images into a story! It is recommended that you work with the order they appear on the screen, but if you’re finding it tough, you can mix them up.

According to Birss, you also don’t need to take the image literally. You can use the dice metaphorically or as representations of other concepts. For example, a slice of pizza could represent food in general, cutting a slice out of something, Italy, gooiness, or a chef. The job of the dice is not necessarily to provide you with literal objects to work with but concepts to nudge your thinking in fresh directions.

When writing your story, you can work from beginning to end as you try to incorporate each image. Or you may want to be more strategic and work out the ending first. Try different strategies to see what works best for you!

Two Sample Stories Using Story Dice

Below are two sample stories inspired by story dice written by TCEA Directors of Professional Development, Peggy Reimers and Miguel Guhlin.

Story by Peggy Reimers, Director of Professional Development, TCEA:
Image generated by Peggy Reimers from the Story Dice website. The image contains a picture of reading glasses, a newspaper, a ladder, a cactus, and a vacuum cleaner.
Image generated by Peggy Reimers from the Story Dice website.

Startled from a nap by a BIG BANG, I reached for my glasses. Looking around, I noticed my dog Boo was trying to climb the ladder to get to those pesky squirrels. He must have misstepped because he was out cold on the ground. Good thing he didn’t fall into the Saguaro cactus I just planted. Boo is okay! He shook it off and now is wagging his tail. His tumble will not make the daily news. Well, I guess I better get to my chore of the day: vacuuming.

Story by Miguel Guhlin, Director of Professional Development, TCEA:
Image generated by Miguel Guhlin from the Story Dice website. The image contains a picture of a newspaper, a chair, a plate with a fork and knife, pliers, and a mouse trap.
Image generated by Miguel Guhlin from the Story Dice website.

It was a humid Saturday morning in the summer of 1978 in Los Rios, Canal Zone. Seven-year-old Juan raced barefoot through the dew-soaked grass, chasing his energetic beagle Adgu around the yard. The rising sun painted the sky in vibrant oranges and pinks as flocks of parakeets chattered noisily in the sprawling mango tree that dominated the landscape. Bright green iguanas darted to and from, startled by the boy and dog’s antics.

Juan’s father stepped out onto the porch, a steaming mug of coffee in one hand and the Daily News newspaper in the other. “Juan! Breakfast is ready!” he called out. The boy reluctantly abandoned his pursuit and bounded inside, Adgu yapping at his heels.

In the kitchen, Juan plopped down on the squeaky swivel office chair his dad had rescued from the Canal Zone administrative offices. His mom set down a plate heaped with pancakes, a knife and fork nestled invitingly on either side. “Hurry up and eat, mi hijo. We need to go into town for groceries,” she said, ruffling his sleep-tousled hair.

As Juan shoveled forkfuls of syrup-drenched pancake into his mouth, his eye was drawn to his father’s toolbox sitting on the counter. The shiny needle-nose pliers peeked out, and Juan remembered his plan to fix his broken toy car. “Papi, can I borrow your pliers after breakfast?”

His father nodded absentmindedly, engrossed in an article about the ongoing Panama Canal treaty negotiations between President Carter and General Torrijos.

Juan wolfed down the rest of his pancakes, eager to get to work. As he brought his empty plate to the sink, he spotted a mousetrap tucked behind the breadbox. The family had been battling a clan of clever mice that kept raiding their pantry. Juan shuddered, hoping he wouldn’t encounter any of the furry bandits while retrieving his toy car from under his bed.

Grabbing the pliers, Juan dashed off to begin his repair project, Adgu close behind. It was shaping up to be another ordinary, extraordinary day in the life of a young Zonian amidst the political upheaval and natural wonders of the Panama Canal Zone.

12 Ideas for Using Story Dice in the Classroom

Teachers can use story dice in various ways to promote creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills among students. Here are some ideas for incorporating story dice into classroom activities.

Storytelling Sessions

Roll the story dice and have students use the dice images to create a cohesive, verbal story. This activity promotes narrative development, imagination, and oral communication skills.

Writing Prompts

Roll the story dice to generate writing prompts for creative writing exercises. Students can use images as inspiration to write short stories, poems, or journal entries.

Character Development

Use the story dice to inspire character development activities. Roll the dice and ask students to determine traits, backgrounds, and motivations for characters in their stories or role-playing scenarios.

Plot Development

Guide students in using the story dice to develop plots for their narratives. They can roll the dice multiple times to determine key plot points, conflicts, and resolutions.

Genre Exploration

Roll the story dice and challenge students to create stories within specific genres, such as fantasy, mystery, science fiction, or historical fiction. This encourages students to explore different literary styles and conventions.

Group Collaborations

Divide students into small groups. Have them roll the dice collectively and collaborate on building a story together. They could even do a chain story, where a student writes the first sentence with the first dice, and then the second student has to add a sentence incorporating the second dice, and so forth. This fosters teamwork, negotiation skills, and creative problem-solving.

Critical Thinking Challenges

Use the story dice to pose critical thinking challenges. For example, roll the dice and then ask students to identify the main conflict, climax, and resolution in a story based on the images they land on.

Vocabulary Expansion

Use story dice with younger students to introduce new vocabulary words. Roll the dice and then incorporate the words they land on into sentences or short stories.

Story Sequencing

Roll the story dice and ask students to sequence the images or words in the order they were rolled. This activity helps students practice sequencing skills and logical thinking.

Assessment Tool

Story dice can be used as an informal assessment tool to gauge students’ understanding of literary elements such as setting, characters, plot, and theme. Roll the dice and explain how they would incorporate the elements into a story.

Cross-Curricular Connections

Integrate story dice into cross-curricular activities by combining storytelling with other subjects, such as science, social studies, or art. Students can create stories that incorporate concepts from multiple subjects.

Interactive Presentations

Incorporate story dice into interactive presentations or classroom discussions to engage students and facilitate participation. Roll the dice to introduce topics or spark conversations related to the lesson.

By incorporating story dice into your classroom activities, you can ignite your students’ imagination, foster creativity, and promote storytelling skills in a fun and engaging way. So roll the dice, let the story unfold, and watch as your students embark on unforgettable storytelling journeys.

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5 Citation Tools for Academic Success Header Image
Writing

Five Powerful Citation Tools to Unlock Academic Success

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Citing your work is an essential part of doing research. And, if you are like me, keeping track of where you are finding your information can feel chaotic and unorganized. Some folks learned to cite their work using index cards, while others use Post-it notes or Google Docs. Now, there are online tools specially designed to create, sort, and share citations in a variety of ways. Maybe you work with students and are looking for a good tool to share. Or you might be writing a grant proposal and need to track your research. Whatever your task, let’s take a look at some features common to citation tools to help evaluate and identify one that’s right for you.

Online Citation Tool Features

Citation Generation

Online citation tools can generate the citation for you based on your preferred style including APA, MLA, Chicago, and more. Share the URL of the resource and allow the tool to work its magic to gather the info you need. If your tool is free or not quite so robust, it may provide a form in which you enter the various pieces of information. Then, it puts them all together to create a citation according to your style guide.

Reference Management

Online tools typically provide some type of management to help you keep track of your citations. It could be limited to one list of citations that can be sorted and adjusted on the fly. If you’re lucky, the citation tool could allow you to create different lists of citations, so that they do not intermingle. This is great if you’re working on citing your work for different projects or research papers.

Collaboration Features

Some citation tools provide a collaboration feature. This will allow you (or your students) to work in groups but keep their citations in a single place. Everyone in the group can access, add to, and edit the citations as needed. This could be a great benefit, depending on the type of project you are working on.

Five Online Citation Tools

Zotero

Zotero is a free research assistant and citation tool.
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Zotero, Home Page

Zotero is a free and easy-to-use research and citation tool that helps you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. It can automatically detect research as you browse the web, and it supports a wide range of sources, including articles, books, preprints, news stories, and more. You can sort items into collections, tag them with keywords, and create saved searches that automatically update with relevant materials as you work. Additionally, you have the option to synchronize your data across devices, so you can always access your research from anywhere.

Zotero also makes it easy to collaborate with others. You can share a Zotero library with as many people as you like at no cost. This makes it easy to co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. Overall, Zotero is a powerful and versatile research and citation tool that can help you save time and stay organized. It is a great option for students, researchers, and anyone else who needs to manage a large collection of research sources.

RefSeek

Refseek is an online citation tool that focuses on academic sources.
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Refseek, Home Page

RefSeek is an academic search engine and citation tool that helps students and researchers find relevant and reliable information for their assignments. It indexes documents, including web pages, books, encyclopedias, journals, and newspapers. One of the things that sets RefSeek apart from other search engines is its focus on academic sources. When you search for a topic on RefSeek, you’re more likely to see results from scholarly websites, academic journals, and other reputable sources.

Another great thing about RefSeek is that it’s easy to use. The search bar is simple and straightforward, and the results pages are clearly organized. You can filter your results by source type, publication date, and other criteria. You can also create and save your own custom search folders. This can be helpful for managing your research. In addition to its search features, RefSeek also generates citations for your sources in a variety of different styles, including MLA, APA, and Chicago. You can also use RefSeek to create bibliographies and reference lists.

Citation Machine

Citation Machine is an online freemium tool that is good for beginners.
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Citation Machine, Home Page

Citation Machine is a freemium website that helps students create citations in a variety of formats. It’s easy to use and reliable, but the free version is cluttered with ads (which may not be appropriate for students) and can be slow to load. If you’re looking for a more powerful citation generator, you may want to consider a paid subscription to a service like EasyBib or Zotero. However, if you’re just starting out with research and citations, Citation Machine is a good option to try. When using Citation Machine, be as accurate as possible when entering the information about your source. The more information you provide, the better this citation tool will be able to generate a citation for you.

Mendeley

Mendeley is an online reference manager that's great for students.
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Mendeley, Home Page

Mendeley is a free and open-source reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, generate citations, and collaborate with others. Mendeley can help you save time on your research by automatically generating citations and bibliographies. It can also help you stay organized by providing a central place to store and manage all of your research sources. Additionally, Mendeley makes it easy to collaborate with other researchers by sharing your research folders and groups. Overall, Mendeley is a powerful and easy-to-use reference manager that can be a huge help for students. Though it does offer premium features, you will find the free version is more than adequate.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a free tool for research and citations.
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Google Scholar, Home Page

Google Scholar is a free, web-based search and citation tool that indexes scholarly literature from a variety of sources, including academic journals, books, conference proceedings, and theses. It is a popular tool for students, researchers, and academics to find and cite relevant sources for their work. Google Scholar provides comprehensive search results, an easy-to-use citation generator, and integrates with other Google tools. Though Scholar is an easy tool to use, its citation generator is not always accurate. Scholar can also be biased toward research that is published in English, so if you are looking for research in other languages, this may not be your go-to tool of choice. 

Bonus Tool

ResearchRabbit

Research Rabbit
Screenshot by Emily Horn: ResearchRabbit, Home Page

ResearchRabbit is not focused on being a citation generator or manager, though it does provide these features. It is a free and easy-to-use tool that can help you stay organized and up-to-date on the latest research. It also provides personalized recommendations for related research. You may find this tool better for adults and high school students. It can help you find relevant research by allowing you to search for articles by keyword, author, or journal. You can also create saved searches so that you can easily stay up-to-date on new research in your field.

ResearchRabbit can help you organize your research by allowing you to create and manage projects. Each project can contain a collection of articles, notes, and other resources. You can also create tags to help you categorize your research. Plus, it can help you stay up-to-date on the latest research by sending you email alerts when new articles are published in your field. You can also follow other users and see what they are reading.

So, which option will you be using yourself or with your students to help cite work accurately and easily? Do you have a citation tool you use other than one of the ones mentioned above? If so, feel free to share it in the comments below; share the name of the tool and what you love about it.

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Colorful sign up graphic from the NaNoWriMo YWP website saying "Your story matters. Write your novel now."
Content AreasWriting

NaNoWriMo’s Young Writer’s Program (YWP)

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

I have been tasked with checking out another great possibility for students: NaNoWriMo. That is quite the name! Is NaNoWriMo an abbreviation, acronym, or initialism? Check out the video if you want to know how to pronounce it. Let’s start at the beginning, learning about what NaNoWriMo is; and then, let’s explore the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program (YWP).

What is NaNoWriMo?

November is National Novel Writing Month (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth), which is abbreviated as NaNoWriMo. (I can see why!) The goal of this annual creative writing event is to encourage and challenge participants to write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. If you are doing the math, that is 1,667 words per day. This global event brings together writers of all levels and backgrounds to work on their writing projects.

But NaNoWriMo is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page. 

What is the NaNoWriMo Young Writer’s Program?

According to the website, “NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program (YWP) takes a joyful, focused approach to creative writing and makes it accessible to young writers, educators, and families.” It provides educators with standards-aligned resources and lessons for supporting writers who are under 18 in writing a novel during NaNoWriMo and in completing smaller writing projects all year long! Additionally, it offers tools to track progress, a writing space, workbooks, and motivational materials. Students can sign up on their own or as part of a class set up by their teacher.

To work on a novel, you can join an official event like NaNoWriMo in November, or Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, set a word-count goal, and try to reach it by the end of the month. 

What ages can participate in the YWP?

Participants 17 and under (18 is okay if still in high school) can sign up for individual accounts. If students are participating with a teacher or group leader, they can join the online classroom created by their teacher to stay connected.

Do students have to write 50,000 words?

No, the YWP allows participants to set individualized goals. 1,000 words? 10,000? 100,000??? It’s up to you! One can use the progress-tracking tools on the site to stay on track. If no official event is happening, students can create a personal challenge with their own deadline for a new or existing project.

Young writers can write directly in their YWP writing space or in a separate document, find inspiration in YWP’s noveling resources, and tap a worldwide community of fellow writers for support in YWP’s forums. But it’s not just about November. YWP supported educators and students in writing projects all year long through their resources!

How do teachers sign up for NaNoWriMo’s YWP?

  1. Sign up for NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program.
  2. Tell a little about yourself.
  3. Use the Educator Resources.
  4. Create your virtual classroom(s).
  5. Enroll students in your class with a unique classroom code.
  6. Help students create their novels.
  7. When the challenge begins, students start writing!
  8. Track student progress.
  9. Keep your students motivated.
  10. Students write until the very end of the challenge.

NaNoWriMo provides virtual classroom spaces on their site, as well as student workbooks, Common Core-aligned curricula, and free motivational materials.

Screenshot by Emily Horn: NaNoWriMo’s YWP, Educator Resources Page
Sign Up for YWP
Educator FAQs

Take advantage of this global movement! Inspire your students of all ages and backgrounds to take on the exhilarating challenge of writing a novel in just 30 days. The Young Writers Program (YWP) ensures that this creative journey is accessible, joyful, and educational for young writers. So, if you want to boost writing skills, work on a specific genre of writing, develop students’ research skills, and more, NaNoWriMo might just be the perfect adventure to embark upon. Get ready to let creativity run wild and bring ideas to life, one word at a time!

Follow NaNoWriMo:

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Featured Image: Screenshot by Emily Horn: NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program, Home Page

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Explaining the difference between "hypothesis" and "theory" - Created with Supermeme.ai
AI/VREnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)HistoryMathScienceSocial StudiesWriting

AI Meme Generators and Classroom Activities

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Did you know that students make sense of visuals faster than text? That is, when processing image and text data at the same time, visuals get processed sixty thousand times faster (source). Student-created digital media results in greater gains. That means that student-generated visuals can impact learning and achievement. You already know how powerful infographics and graphs are. Today, AI tools can create even more engaging images with text. One way to do that? Memes. Let’s take a closer look at meme creation tools and activities using memes in the classroom.

Memes for classroom activities

Memes generated by the author using Simplified.com.

What does the research say?

“Images evoke and enrich complex meanings. These meanings are otherwise linguistically inexpressible,” says the Visible Learning Meta X database. This is a rich database of effective instructional strategies based on the research of John Hattie. Visuals are rated as having an effect size of 0.55. If .40 is an average year’s growth, images have the potential to speed up learning.

What are memes?

Memes can represent ideas, values, or behaviors that are contagious. Pair quotes with pop culture images and you get a shareable meme. Meme quote generators help students engage in language play, deepen their experiences with interpretation, reasoning, and inferential thinking.

How to Create Memes

The old-fashioned way of creating memes includes using meme generator tools. These work great for students, allowing them to combine quotes with existing images. Some tools I’ve relied on to create memes include:

But, there are now new tools that make meme creation easier using AI. These meme-generation tools focus students on the text rather than the image. Let’s explore some AI meme generators.

AI Meme Generators

Some AI meme generators you can use for free include the following. But, some will require you to create an account using Google or an email address.

  1. Supermeme.ai
  2. Predis.ai
  3. AI Meme
  4. Simplified.com
  5. Appypie
  6. AI Memes Fun

Now that you have some AI meme generators, let’s jump to a few activities. I invite you to add your own ideas in the comments!

Classroom Activities with Memes

Activity #1: Classroom Debates

Meme illustrating how memes can be used for debate in class.

Debates about tough topics offer rich opportunities for developing student content knowledge, literacy, and civility. For example, “Should I risk my sanity by giving my 12-year-old a cell phone?” is current and relevant. What’s more, it allows students to apply critical thinking approaches when considering the merits of smartphones for minors. Students also get to explore legal issues, social media, and more. All are topics that can be tied into math, science, and social studies.

Debating is an often under-utilized approach in the classroom. At least, debating in a civil manner.

Classroom debates help students learn through friendly competition, examine controversial topics and “strengthen skills in the areas of leadership, interpersonal influence, teambuilding, group problem solving, and oral presentation” (Leuser, n.d., para. 1 as cited by source).

You could have students do any of the following:

  • Articulate the rules of debate
  • Organize their points as a series of memes representing their perspective
  • Create memes that are opposite to a competing perspective

Students could then organize debates as a series of images addressing key topics. The topics would have been identified prior to the debate. Students could also assess the efficacy of memes generated in convincing (or not) the audience.

Activity #2: Vocabulary Development

Clarifying terms and vocabulary in a new lesson can be difficult. That’s true no matter whether you are a language learner, math, or science student. How do you capture the essence of a vocabulary term in such a way as to make it easier to understand? One way is to create a meme that represents that word.

Meme with a bear illustrating a classroom activity on vocabulary

You can combine memes with Frayer Models, as well as concept sorts, to define and organize terms. In fact, in science, drawing a picture of what a word means could be the first step in better defining it.

Activity #3: Conveying a PBL Stakeholder Perspective

When starting a problem-based learning unit, one of the first steps involves identifying stakeholders. These are the perspectives that vie for attention and resources in a real-life problem. In a community where a landfill is being built, you could have a variety of stakeholders. Those could include:

  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • The Public
  • Community Residents and Businesses near the landfill
  • Landfill operator
  • Landowner
  • City
  • Media
  • Government Department

How would you represent the perspective of each in a single sentence or meme? How might students take recycling into account in the local community?

Meme will seagulls illustrating how memes can be used in science class to express difference views on recycling.

The Power of AI Meme Generators

Memes empower learners to create content that looks amazing with minimal, mechanical expenditure. That is, instead of spending time surfing the web trying to find images, AI meme generators make it easy to combine picture and student-generated text in memorable ways. Have other ideas for ways to use memes in the classroom? Please share them with us in the comments!

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Educational ResearchScienceWriting

CER Resources for the Science Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

What if, in six sentences, you could empower students to create amazing work? It’s a preoccupation many science teachers have. Let’s take a moment and spend some time on CER: claim, evidence, and reasoning. Think of CER as a tool for student empowerment. You’ll see some specific examples with the help of AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, and an AI Lesson Plan Generator.

Many science teachers use the Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER) approach as a cross curriculum approach. It helps help students organize their thoughts to create better scientific explanations. This aids in constructing arguments and communicating their conclusions. This can be an effective approach which your students can then take to the workplace. (Adapted from source)

Some teachers suggest that schools use CER across the middle school curriculum. In that way, CER is relied upon as a way to teach argumentation. “If you are making a weighted statement, you’ve got to be able to back it up,” says Rachel Jennings Langley. That makes sense, but what IS CER anyways?

Colorful bulletin board explaining how to think like a scientist using CER.
Image Source: Sara Fisher Christensen, Science Teacher

What Is CER?

In a popular science teacher Facebook group, a first-year science teacher asked, “What are CERs? What do you do with them?” She went on to ask, “Is this something I can incorporate with my curriculum for grades 6-7?” After reading the responses, I thought it might be a time-saver to organize them in this blog entry.

“Use the Scientific Method to do the lab. For the write-up, use CER. They compliment each other. CER is a great way to summarize the scientific method.”

Julia Calderon (edited for readability)
Image of the free Battlebots CER Activity.
Special thanks to Jamie Houston Gibbs for sharing this free resource.

Some describe CER as an inquiry-based approach. “[CER] challenges students to explain what they found after completing a lab or observing phenomena,” says Gabriel Higdon. People often equate CER with the Scientific Method, and it’s not, says Higdon. Teachers who have access to curricula like STEMscopes have CER built-in. Some suggest that the Scientific Method should be “ditched.”

A Shout Out

I hope you don’t mind doing a quick shout-out to a science guru, Lisa Soll, at the Education Service Center, Region 20 in San Antonio, Texas. I really appreciate her science efforts and encourage you to drop by and visit her to learn more about science in education.

-Miguel

Ditching the Scientific Method

Erin Sadler (Sadler Science) argues that the scientific method gives the impression that science is linear, leaving out modeling and argumentation. What’s more, students seldom get enough practice on individual components and fail to connect science and engineering (source). Erin Sadler makes some excellent points, culminating in her piece on How to Use the Science and Engineering Practices. For many educators, CER serves as a way to get students to write about certain aspects of the science work they are engaged in. It certainly seems that there are different tools to use in the classroom. In Texas classrooms, CER is quite important.

AI Insight

Did you know you could use the free AI Lesson Plan Generator to create a CER lesson plan? Use this AI tool to create a CER intro activity. View one example.

What Does AI Say About CER?

Now that we have access to content creation models like ChatGPT, what do they say CER is? That is, how have they amalgamated all the information out there to explain CER? Here’s what ChatGPT has to say:

CER stands for “Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning.” It is a framework commonly used in scientific writing and argumentation to structure and communicate ideas and findings.

– Claim: The claim is a statement or conclusion being made. It is the main point that is being argued or asserted.

– Evidence: The evidence is the information or data that supports the claim. It can come from experiments, research studies, observations, or personal experiences.

– Reasoning: The reasoning is the logical connection or explanation that links the evidence to the claim. It explains why the evidence is relevant and supports the claim.

CER is often used in scientific investigations and writing to structure explanations and arguments, helping to ensure that claims are supported by valid evidence and logical reasoning.

Screenshot of Claude AI-Generated Explanation of CER.
Screenshot by author of AI-generated content from Claude.ai chat

As wonderful an explanation as that is, I thought I’d take a page or two from Scott Phillips’ free ebook: Writing in Middle School Science: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning Papers That Work.

Image of a CER worksheet offered by Texas Gateway.
Screenshot by author from Texas Gateway

When to Use CER

Scott Phillips shares that he uses CERs in two ways:

  • Warm-ups at the beginning of class
  • Tests and quizzes

This isn’t the only way you can use CER. You may already be familiar with bell ringers and why they are effective. Hannah Bain suggests using CERs as bell ringers. See her example below:

8th grade bellringer activity for CER practice.
Source: Hannah Bain, Request Access to view: Canva | GoogleDoc

Getting Started with CERs

CERs appear in curricula like STEMscopes and in Texas Gateway. Of course, you can find it in many other places. These videos offer great places to start:

In his ebook, Scott Phillips shares this formula:

  • Sentence 1: Answer the question
  • Sentences 2,3,4: Convert data from number format into sentence format. Exclude unimportant data.
  • Sentence 5: Start with “In science, we know…” then state the scientific principle that supports your answer.
  • Sentence 6: Summarize data, then write “Therefore,” and summarize your answer.

“Avoid writing more than six sentences and do not use the word ‘because,'” says Scott Phillips in his book. Jennifer Weibert (see her slide deck in the “Additional Resources” section below) offers these steps:

  1. Re-state your claims.
  2. Provide some scientific principles/knowledge that you already have about a topic.
  3. Provide data from the activity (lab, gizmo, etc.) that connects to the scientific principles/knowledge mentioned in Step 2. Show that your data can be used to prove your claim.
  4. Wrap up your reasoning with a conclusion sentence that begins with a word such as “Therefore,” “Hence,” “Thus,” or “So,” and re-state the claim.

Another approach from Laurie ‘Cadwaller’ Johnson. Examples from Angela Kopp appear below each point:

  • C- Claim. No explanation.
    • The specimen under the microscope is living.
  • E- Evidence. The most boring sentence (or sentences) that put(s) the info from a data table or graph (quantitative is best; qualitative is ok) into an understandable phrase.
    • The specimen contains cells with a nucleus, cell membrane, and cell wall. When I looked at my cheek sample and onion sample, I saw cells with a nucleus, cell membrane, cell wall (onion). When looking at samples of salt and sand, no cells were present.
  • R- Reasoning. The phrase that ran through your head when you looked at the data and the claim came to mind.
    • All living things contain cells. Cells are the basic building block for all organisms.
  • J- Justification. What information from a society (like the scientific community/research group) or entity supports you as well? Is there a science concept that also supports you outside of the evidence of the investigation?
    • None provided.

Here’s another explanation you can view as a video (5 minutes and 21 seconds):

Another interesting way to think about scaffolding students’ thinking is to include questions. These questions assist student in developing a deeper focus for their question, any claims, and evidence.

Expanding Questions with the Science Writing Heuristic

Worthy of consideration is this heuristic. It includes some questions that spur thinking. You may have seen these questions below as part of the Science Writing Heuristic:

  • Beginning ideas – What are my questions?
  • Tests – What did I do?
  • Observations – What did I see?
  • Claims – What can I claim?
  • Evidence – How do I know? Why am I making these claims?
  • Reading – How do my ideas compare with other ideas?
  • Reflection – How have my ideas changed? (source)

The use of the Science Writing Heuristic can facilitate “students to generate meaning from data, make connections among procedures, data, evidence, and claims.” It can also assist them in engaging in metacognition (source). These can definitely complement the use of CER in the classroom.

Let’s take a look at some more examples of CERs.

CER Examples

In one of many examples in his book, Scott asks, “Will the ball sink in water?” He later states you can ask this question in this way:

Which of these objects will sink or float in the water?

The information provided includes the density of three items. These items include:

  • ball (1.5g/ml)
  • water (1.0 g/ml)
  • corn (0.25 g/ml)

Scott says the CER for these would be as follows:

  1. Yes, the ball will sink.
  2. The density of the ball is 1.5 g/ml
  3. The density of water is 1.0 g/ml
  4. In science, we know that a more dense object will sink in a less dense material.
  5. The ball is more dense than water, therefore it sinks. 

He suggests that you can write this CER in paragraph form:

Yes, some objects will sink and others will float. The density of the water is 1.0 g/ml, while the density of the ball is 1.5 g/ml and the corn’s 0.25 g/ml.

In science, we know that more dense objects (ball) sink while less dense objects (corn) float atop the less dense material (water). Given that the ball is more dense, and the corn is less dense than water therefore the ball will sink and the corn will float.

Wondering how to introduce CER with easier examples? Let’s take a look at some of the responses from the Facebook group.

Examples from the Facebook Group

You can find these and more in the Middle School Science Facebook group. Some are humor-inducing and sure to engage students. Others explain sad events (e.g. the corn starch fire at a Taiwan Water Park in 2015).

A few select examples appear below:

  • Use a murder mystery
  • Give them an Encyclopedia Brown story to solve. (The Case of the Missing Clues.) Then, look at a case from Sherlock Holmes. It’s clear from these how evidence and reasoning are not the same. It helps students, but the skills don’t transfer easily to their own lab write-ups. Hard skill! Explain that in their labs, the reasoning is the science facts/concepts/laws and vocabulary that explain why what they are seeing makes sense.”
  • Drops on a Penny. Count how many water droplets fit on a penny. Students take a guess how many will stay before it flows over.
  • Oreo Cookie Stuffing. Are double-stuffed Oreos really double the filling?”
  • Jelly Bean Nose Test. Does plugging your nose affect the flavor of a jelly bean?
  • Quicker Picker Up Experiment. “My intro to the scientific method and CER this year began with taking notes on what each part of the scientific method was and then watching a commercial about Bounty paper towels. Students tested to see if Bounty really was ‘the quicker picker upper’.”
  • Cold Water. Is the water cold? Students use a thermometer to measure the temperature to find it’s 10C. They make the claim that the water is cold. The evidence is that the water is 10C. The reasoning would be that temperatures lower than body temperature are cool or cold, and 10C is colder than body temperature. For each science investigation, there should be a problem in the form of a question or statement that students investigate. Students should be able to support their claim or hypothesis with the data they collect and explain why that data supports their claim
  • Cornstarch CER. Demonstrate how cornstarch is not flammable unless in dust form. Then, show a news clip of the tragedy that occurred in Taiwan at the water park in 2015. Do a see, think, wonder list with their shoulder partners. Next, at their tables, they discuss each item; the other pair chooses one point that the other group made that they thought was interesting. They then asked that pair why five times concerning that point. It made them give much more information. When done, show them a picture of a color run and ask what they think. In the next class, complete a CER about it.
  • My Dad’s a Space Alien. View this presentation and this video example.
  • Fact-Checking the Internet. Focus on fact-checking the Internet and walk through your CER process. Be sure to check the list included in the Science Lessons That Rock resources in the “Additional Resources” section.

Finally, check out this amazing Wakelet Collection from Collette Taylor-Chovan:

Screenshot of a Wakelet Collection
Screenshot by the author of Collette Taylor-Chovan’s Wakelet Collection

Sentence Starters

Many of the science teachers in the Facebook group reported that they relied on sentence starters for CER. Here are a few I found that may be useful.

View via Canva | View PDF

Additional Resources

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Google AI
AI/VRGoogle Tips and TricksWriting

Two Google AI Tools: Help Me Write and NotebookLM

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Wish you had access to Google AI tools to assist you in writing and finding content? Get a quick peek at two new AI tools that Google has made available for testing through Google Workspace Labs. The first, Help Me Write, offers students a way to banish their fear of the empty page. They can start with an outline of ideas, or even, fleshed-out paragraphs. Additionally, NotebookLM, an “AI-first notebook” helps you “gain insights faster” (source) using your own Google Docs for source material. Let’s take a deeper look!

What is Google Workspace Labs?

Google Workspace Labs is “an invite only program for users to try new AI features” that is currently only available in U.S. English, so you might not have access to it just yet. You’ll know if it’s available to you if you see the Help Me Write pencil icon on the left of your open Google Doc. Google Workspace Labs is a way for Google to get people to test out its products and give feedback. You might want to get a big-picture overview of Google Workspace, and “Duet AI” in particular. There are plans to embed Duet AI in Google Slides to generate images, as well as Google Sheets (see animated GIF below) to assist in organizing content.

This video provides a big-picture overview:

You can read more online at Google Workspace. Now, let’s take a look at a second AI tool from Google, NotebookLM.

AI Tool #1: Help Me Write

To invoke the power of AI, select the button that says, “Help me write.” How many times have we, as educators, heard this cry from our colleagues and students? Now, Google leverages AI to assist you when writing email. It offers an invite-only program for users to try out. It is only available to trusted testers in US English, and may not be available to you.

You can get an invitation to try this out for yourself when you sign up here. Once you’re in, getting started can be easy. Once accepted into the tester program, you can follow these instructions:

Write a new draft using a freeform prompt. For example, you can ask Gmail to write a birthday invitation. Or, write an introduction to a potential business contact. Refine a draft. For example, you can rephrase the draft, or make the draft more formal, more concise, or more detailed. (source)

In a few moments, you will see what it looks like in action. But here is a list of what Help Me Write can do:

  • Converting meeting notes into an email
  • Writing a job description in Docs
  • Draft, reply, summarize, and prioritize your Gmail
  • Brainstorm, proofread, write, and rewrite in Docs
  • Bring your creative vision to life with auto-generated images, audio, and video in Slides
  • Go from raw data to insights and analysis via auto-completion, formula generation, and contextual categorization in Sheets
  • Generate new backgrounds and capture notes in Meet
  • Enable workflows for getting things done in Chat (source)

Having AI baked into Google tools, especially Gmail, could be a lifesaver for those who find writing emails to be no fun.

Help Me Write Example #1: Asking for a Raise

For fun, I asked Google’s Help Me Write to assist me in asking for a raise. The response was underwhelming:

To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with the output. Compare it to ChatGPT’s response with the same prompt:

Subject: Request for Salary Adjustment

Dear [Boss’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to discuss the possibility of a salary adjustment, considering my contributions, growth, and the value I bring to the company.

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to work with such an exceptional team and for the job security and stability this position provides. Over the course of [duration of employment], I have consistently strived to exceed expectations and contribute to the success of our department….

ChatGPT goes on for a few more paragraphs. Brevity being the soul of wit, you will not get a raise with its first draft help, either. The first is too brief, the latter is too wordy and unspecific. Even Canva’s Magic Studio, the Magic Write option, does a better job, as you can see below:

Created by author using Canva’s Magic Studio, Magic Write rewrite option

Let’s try something else.

Example #2: Apologies

Wish you could ask for an apology for being tardy to work? Not so fast:

That aside, Google’s Help Me Write AI works fine if you get the right prompt:

The lesson? If you want an apology for your work tardiness, ChatGPT can help. If you want to apologize for delivering your child to school late, Google’s AI works fine.

Example #3: Revise an Email

In this example, I decided to revise an email applying for a job. ChatGPT generated this example after reviewing my resume. Let’s see how Google’s Help Me Write can shorten the copy.

Original:

Shortened by Google AI…short and to the point without the verbosity.

Not a bad revision to the original. Maybe, a workflow that starts drafting content in ChatGPT and then shortens it in Google’s Help Me Write AI-powered Gmail will work better.

Example #4: Summarize a Conversation Thread

After reading a few emails from TCEA member, “Nanci,” I asked Google’s Help Me Write tool to summarize the Gmail thread. We had been going back and forth about resources discussing the impact of AI and my search for a toy poodle. Google’s AI tool summarized the conversation thread, yielding this reply.

This summary is spot-on, and I can see real applications for schools to summarize conversation threads. I can definitely see how this summary covers what we have discussed and summarizes it.

I can’t wait to see what else is coming from Google. Before introducing AI tool #2, let’s take a peek at Google Workspace Labs.

AI Tool #2: NotebookLM

Introduced on July 12, 2023, NotebookLM is note-taking software. If you’ve used Microsoft OneNote, you may be wondering the same thing I am: Is NotebookLM some souped-up MS OneNote? In reality, NotebookLM may be nothing more than a digital assistant to help you find your Google Drive files. We all know that we need such a digital assistant. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I can find XYZ file in Google Drive.”

NotebookLM automatically generates a document guide to help you get a better understanding of the material…

Think of it as a virtual research assistant that can summarize facts, explain complex ideas, and brainstorm new connections — all based on the sources you select.

A key difference between NotebookLM and traditional AI chatbots is that NotebookLM lets you “ground” the language model in your notes and sources.

That’s pretty powerful.

An AI robot seeks input to learn

Unlike ChatGPT which seems to have devoured the Internet as “Input!,” to quote Johnny-5 in the cult classic movie, Short Circuit, Google’s NotebookLM uses your own files as “input.” Once you have chosen which input NotebookLM should use, it allows you to do three things:

  • Summarize content
  • Create a list of topics and questions about the material
  • Generate a list of vocabulary items
  • Develop new ideas given the source content

You can request to participate in NotebookLM test.

I hope you’ll explore these two new AI tools by Google! Once you do, let us know how they work for you. How do they compare to other tools you’ve used? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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