Audience:

Same-grade level content area teachers who share the responsibility of literacy development. (Multiple grade level teams can be served in the same workshop.)

 

​

 

​

 

Rationale:

TSI 2.0 (like SAT and ACT) assess literacy which is developed in every classroom.  With the majority of the readings being informational text and of those, most topics falling in the humanities and sciences, everyone must expose the students to the rigor and expectations of college readiness in their high school classes.

 

​

​

Aligned with the philosophy that,  “literacy is not achieved in boot camp,” Tracey has created an attractive alternative.  The Un-Boot Camp allows you to select a 4-week block where students will prepare for the TSI 2.0 English in three or more different classes over the two day A/B block.  

With the pre-made workbooks designed for English, Social Studies, and Science, and specifically for the first 10-15 minutes of class, the activities develop the very literacy skills that are most missed on the college readiness tests in the respective content areas. 

 

For example, students will tackle main idea, inference, author’s craft, and paired passages all while covering TEKS from the respective course.  The 9th grade biology student will have a paired passage on taxonomy covering Biology TEKS 8B. Questions asked will be both free response and multiple choice, with the latter mirroring the style on the test.  The biology teacher learns enough about the structure of the TSI English test during the workshop to support it without being responsible for teaching reading comprehension and the conventions of English. 

 

In the 9th grade Geography class, students will engage in Collaborative Group Work-3. Each group consists of three students, with each student assigned to read a different one-page text on Centrifugal Forces. Together, they will collaborate to answer free-response questions based on their readings and aligned to the  TSI 2.0 English An optional writing assignment is included for homework and grading in English class, is aligned to the demands of the WritePlacer essay. <insert picture from media>  The workshop helps the teachers coordinate the 4-week calendar to best serve students.

​

The Un-Boot Camp is masterfully crafted with lessons for biology, geography, algebra and English 1; physics, US History, more algebra, and English 3. Current development includes a 10th grade workbook with chemistry, world history, geometry and algebra readings, as well as English 2.  The physical workbook travels with the student from class to class.  

​