|
Featured Product
|
 |
Extending Thinking Flipchart
Ensure
that your instruction is focused on the 8 tested thinking and
writing strategies. Includes lesson structure, examples, questions, and
more.
SKU: 373
Categories: Instruction Collection
Flipchart: $15.00
|
|
The Learning-Focused Connections Newsletter is a weekly link to exemplary practice and ideas that will help you as an educator to increase achievement in your classroom and school. Some weeks there will be a mix of articles in the mailer; other weeks we will follow a theme. We are all working with the same goal in mind, continuous improvement in student achievement.
|
|
National LEARNING-FOCUSED Conference
February 2-4, 2009
Cobb Galleria Center
Atlanta, GA
Registration Fee: $125.00 per person/day
Includes all conference materials (notebooks, flipcharts, handouts)
Registrations after November 1, 2008: $150.00 per person/day
Sessions and registration available August 1, 2008 at www.LearningFocused.com.
|
|
The Power of Curriculum
by Jim Riedl
Why is there such a demand for new curriculum development? After all we have been creating and revising curriculum for decades in schools. It is not the development that is critical but what is developed and how it is used after it is completed.
One of the biggest problems is the fact that we take far too long to get the job done. Teachers are asked to create a diary of everything they teach for a year before they start to think about what they should be teaching to make sure all students are receiving the content that will have the greatest impact on learning and achievement. This is a waste of time if we are really interested in changing the results we are getting in schools. The other problem with this approach is the fact that once all this time and energy have been expended most teachers are unwilling to make significant changes. They have invested too much into the work and believe they are doing what is needed.
Another problem with many curriculum development projects is their lack of a direct connection to both state standards and to the content being tested on state tests. Such projects are often dictated by textbooks or purchased programs that do not align tightly enough to standards and test to assure the right priorities are addressed. The only way to make sure this happens is to start with the state standards and the objectives being tested on the state tests to determine the priorities that must be considered in classroom instruction. While it is true that state standards contain far too much content to be taught there must be a formal process for selecting the content that receives the majority of the instructional time.
It is not impossible to overcome these problems if we are willing to take a very different approach to standards based curriculum development. This approach begins with a thorough examination of the most critical objectives contained in the standards and the frequency of their being tested on the high stakes tests used in all states. We cannot ignore the tests if we want to give all students the opportunity to be successful. There is no room for the protests of "We shouldn't teach to the tests." If we do not consider the tests, to what should we teach? For too long teachers have made decisions about what they test based on personal likes and dislikes or outdated beliefs of what was important when they attended school.
The next important step in this approach involves having each grade level discuss their priorities with the grade level above and below their own. This allows for the discovery of gaps and redundancies that can be resolved early in the process. This step also allows teachers to have the valuable time, often denied, to converse about student learning rather than being caught up in the day to day focus on activities.
Once the priorities have been established the teachers need to cluster the objectives into manageable chunks of student learning. This can be done by establishing topics that contain objectives that are taught and learned within the same block of time. This time block is generally 2 to 3 weeks in length but is not limited to that amount of time. At the same time teachers are asked to identify key concepts within each of the topics in order to focus the instruction and activities within each. These concepts are found within the objectives and the knowledge, skills and understandings that represent exactly what students need to be successful in their learning . The development of lesson essential questions and the addition of key vocabulary within each concept further focus the student learning.
Next teachers will add instructional tools that might help someone else to deliver the content represented by the topics . These tools are no more than a suggestion to other teachers if they choose to use them, not something they must use.
All these steps represent the content we expect students to learn as a part of a prioritized and mapped curriculum. In order to make sure the sequence makes sense there is a tool for mapping the order of the topics and assigning a length of time for each topic. Some refer to this map as a pacing chart.
Remember curriculum represents what we want students to learn not how it should be taught. Once the curriculum is established the resources are then selected to support what should be learned. This allows textbooks, programs, simulations, etc. to be used in the best ways possible to strengthen student learning.
The Learning-Focused Toolbox provides an on-line tool to develop a Power Curriculum based on the process detailed above. Such a curriculum can be developed in two - three days. For more information contact www.LearningFocused.com.
|
Why Use Collaborative Pairs?
by Laurian Phillips
Setting up collaborative pairs in a school system creates an environment that more closely resembles the real world. This increases the effectiveness of the system since it is based in a real world context. Anytime the learning environment can be made more authentic, the student becomes more interested and the learning becomes more natural. Piaget believed that collaboration between peers was equally shared. This was not the case in pairings between adults and children or teachers and students. In those cases, the adult or teacher is usually in control and the child or student simply follows what the adult says. This may lead to correct answers but does not follow natural learning or construction of one's own understanding. According to Miyake, 1986, constructive criticisms occur while students learn in collaboration. His experiment showed that about 80% of self-critiquing (reflection) took place during collaborative learning compared to 20% which took place when students were learning alone. Self-critiquing is a major contributor to the success of collaborative learning. Miyake's experiment showed that the students might have missed the opportunity for understanding if they had not collaborated with their peers.
Miyake, N. 1986. Constructive Interaction and the Iterative Process of Understanding. Cognitive Science 10:151--177.
|
|
"Save Room" for Test Taking Strategies
by Carol Brewer
When planning for next year's schedule, do not forget to save room for test taking strategies! The pacing of this implementation will show great gains for your students. This means that every now and then teachers schedule a day or two to prepare students for multiple choice and short response assessments. This does not mean just give a test for a grade, this means to use this assessment for instruction. The assessment should also make the connections to what is being taught. For example, if you are teaching compare and contrast, the assessment should focus on compare and contrast questions for multiple choice, as well as constructed response questions. This assessment can be teacher made or commercial.
Most commercial "practice tests" are generic to the States' End of Grade Test, instead of what is actually being taught for the period of time or the learning unit. This gives teachers an overall glimpse of the intended outcome, but does not specifically give the results of what is being taught. This approach is fine if the teacher's focus is aligned to what is being assessed at the end of the year instead of during the unit of study.
One suggestion that meets the needs of both instruction and assessment is to use the commercial practice tests once a month at the beginning of the year, then more frequently as the year progresses. Most teachers use this resource just before their State Test instead of throughout the year. When reviewing the test, teachers should look for proficiency for what is being taught as well as what is assessed at the end of the year. When reviewing the test with the students, it is suggested to focus just on the compare and contrast questions, because that is what is being taught at that time. The other questions may be used as a preview for upcoming units or as a focus for the high achievers that had correct responses. Remember, not all questions need to be reviewed, just the questions that the teachers need to use as their focus. Refer to the Reading Strategies for Assessment book for suggestions on reviewing the assessments.
|
The Automatic Vocabulary Lesson Plan
by Debbie Willingham, Ed.D
Do you ever
need an assignment to serve as a worthwhile "filler" when students are
with you longer than usual on those out-of-the-ordinary days? Do you ever wish
you could leave a substitute plan that would really help your students
continue to learn when you are absent? If you have an ongoing word wall
or vocabulary chart related to the unit under study, or if you include
important vocabulary on your student learning map, you have the basis
for a strong extending thinking activity for your students to complete
whether you are with them or not! By following the "Automatic
Vocabulary Lesson Plan" explained below, you can leave a substitute
with easy-to-use instructions for an organized period, or you can use
it yourself as a review and to check for continued student
understanding of vocabulary in context. Set up as any good extending
thinking lesson plan, here is how it works:
Lesson Essential Question: How can I increase my understanding of the important vocabulary terms in the unit we are studying now?
Activating Strategy/Mini Lesson:
Put the word IMPORTANT on the board, overhead, or chart paper. Ask
students to individually take just two minutes and silently come up
with as many other words as they can that mean the same or close to the
same thing as the word "important." At the end of the two minutes, have
them count their words and see who has the most. Ask two students to
come to the board, and have other students take turns calling out words
they thought of as the two students at the front take turns writing
them down around each term on the board. Then have the two students be
seated and tell the class that the reason they focus on certain words
in each unit is because they are important to the unit being studied. Today's assignment is going to help them better understand and
be able to show their understanding of the words in this unit. It will be a great way for them to see if they know and understand them,
so they will not have to study them as much before the next test.
Task:
Have students choose any five (or more) words from the Vocabulary Wall
or their vocabulary chart that they think are among the most
important. On their own paper (or on 4 x 6 index cards), have them
complete the following for each word:
The word:
Page number:
Book sentence:
What it is in my own words:
Why I included it as an important word (constructing support):
Then
have students create a paragraph that includes each of their words and
shows their understanding of the words in the context of their use in
this unit (at the bottom half of their sheet of paper or on the back of
the index card).
Summarizing Strategy/Sharing:
If time allows, have students swap papers and read each others'
paragraphs; then let students volunteer to read each others' paragraphs
aloud. If time is running out, call on students who have finished, and ask them to take turns reading their paragraphs aloud. If none have finished, take a few of the words and have different
students share what they put for page numbers, sentences, what it means
in their own words, and why it is important. Take up the papers from students as they leave class as their "ticket out the door."
Extending thinking activities, such as this one can also be expanded to have
students use the vocabulary words to write their own historical
narrative or historical fiction; or they can be adapted in terms of the
number of words used. We, as teachers, are always so rushed to move
forward with our curriculum that we must take the time to continually
assess whether students are really understanding what they are learning
in the context we intend it. This is one easy way to do it.
|
|
Past Connections Articles
Past Connections articles are available through the archive tool of this newsletter. Please click here to view the resources.
|
|
Have an Idea for a Connections Article?
If
there are questions you want answered or strategies you want to know
more about please let us know by emailing info@learningfocused.com.
Insert "newsletter article request" in the subject line.
|
|
|
|
|
