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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.
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National LEARNING-FOCUSED Conference
February 2-4, 2009
Cobb Galleria Centre
Atlanta, GA
Registration Fee: $125.00 per person/day
Includes all conference materials (notebooks, flip charts, handouts)
Registrations after November 1, 2008: $150.00 per person/day
Sessions and registration now available at www.LearningFocused.com.
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Extending Thinking, Graphic Organizers, and Writing
by Brenda Hill
 Graphic organizers are used in all content areas for many purposes. Organizers are often used for structured note-taking, to guide reading, to guide writing, as a study and summarizing tool, or as a visual model of a skill or a performance. As we think about extending thinking for our students, graphic organizers are of utmost importance. Teachers may use graphic organizers from an acquisition lesson to extend thinking for students, or they may specifically select an organizer that supports an extending thinking skill to use in an extending thinking lesson or activity. In an acquisition lesson the choice of organizer is guided by this question: "How do I want my students to think about the content?" In an extending thinking lesson or activity we ask, "How do I want my students to use the organizer from an acquisition lesson to extend thinking?", "Which extending thinking skill is my focus for this lesson or activity?", and "Does the graphic organizer support the extending thinking skill chosen for this lesson?" Extending thinking skills include: compare/contrast, classifying/categorizing, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, error analysis, analyzing perspectives, constructing support, abstracting. Identifying the extending thinking skill for the lesson/activity determines "which" organizer will be used. As we plan our extending thinking lesson writing also becomes a key focus. Research shows that "writing to inform" increases student achievement across all content areas.
How will I have students write to extend thinking of acquisition learning? One way is to make a writing assignment from the acquisition lesson graphic organizer. For example, if the students in science class have completed a compare/contrast organizer on the differences between moths and butterflies in science class, then students will write a compare/contrast essay from the acquisition lesson organizer. Students may also write from a completed organizer used in an extending thinking lesson. For example, if students are "constructing support" for the reasons Congress should support the Lewis and Clark expedition, then they would use the information from the completed constructing support organizer to write a letter to Congress.
There are many ways graphic organizers can be used to extend thinking through writing. The important thing is to decide what assignments can be made from the organizer so that students are writing to extend thinking about the new learning. Student performance and achievement will be greatly improved when students use acquisition learning to extend thinking through writing.
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The Learning-Focused Strategies Notebook is now three different notebooks!
 In order to provide you with additional examples and strategies the Learning-Focused Connecting Strategies and Planning Learning Units notebook (item 536) has been discontinued and is now three different notebooks. Effective immediately, the previous single notebook (item 536) is no longer available for purchase. It is now three different books with the addition of over 200 pages of new content. Together, all three notebooks are The LEARNING-FOCUSED Instructional Strategies Model Set. This set of notebooks provides the resources and instruction for implementing the #1 framework for thinking about, planning, and delivering instruction using exemplary practices that focus on learning consistently and pervasively. The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies model is a framework for connecting all the components that define quality standards-driven instruction. It is the most comprehensive model available for connecting curriculum, instruction, and assessment in a logical, manageable planning framework.
The Set (Item #800): $90.00
YOU SAVE $10 BY PURCHASING THE COMPLETE SET!
The descriptions of each book of The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model:
The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model
Connecting Strategies Notebook:
This notebook is part 1 of 3 for The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model. This notebook provides instruction and resources on the Model Overview, Activating Strategies, Graphic Organizers, Acquisition Lesson Framework, Acceleration, Summarizing, and Model Implementation.
Notebook Item #801: $40.00
The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model
Connecting Extending Thinking Notebook:
This notebook is part 2 of 3 for The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model. This notebook provides instruction and resources on the Model Overview, Extending Thinking Activities and Lessons, and Model Implementation. Extending Thinking is the #1 strategy for increasing achievement. Implementing The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model ensures that all teachers include extending thinking lessons and activities consistently and pervasively in their instruction.
Notebook Item #802: $40.00
The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model
Planning Units for Learning Notebook:
This notebook is part 3 of 3 for The Learning-Focused Instructional Strategies Model. This notebook provides instruction and resources on the Model Overview, Learning Units, Rubric Assessment, and Model Implementation. This is the notebook for "putting it all together"!
Notebook Item #803: $20.00
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Curriculum Mapping by Bill Blynt
 Improving the alignment of classroom instruction to district and state standards can have a tremendous impact on student achievement. Research shows student achievement increases in schools where teachers have clarity not only on what to teach, but also on how much classroom time should be allocated to each topic student achievement increases. Many districts have embarked on some type of curriculum mapping process in an attempt to keep instruction focused on instructional priorities. Mapping traditionally involves groups of teachers and curriculum personnel gathering to discuss and evaluate state standards, code these standards and develop visual maps for use by teachers. It is during the mapping process that teachers gain a deeper understanding of what instructional content or specific skill is important for all their students to learn. Conversations that take place among teachers during the mapping process are rich in vigor and passion. Teachers begin to analyze instruction, state standards and assessments, and student needs. The challenges presented to teachers during a mapping project provide them a forum to change what they are doing to better meet the needs of their students and raise state assessment scores. Mapping done in a collaborative environment can be the impetus to creating a school climate that seeks to continuously align the written and taught curriculum for the purpose of raising student achievement.
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Formative Assessment
by Jennifer Partrick
Formative assessments can play a vital role in classrooms to improve teaching and learning, if their purpose is clearly understood. Popham (2008) states, "Formative assessment is a planned process involving a number of different activities" (p. 6). If teachers use formative assessments to drive instruction, there need to be identified stopping points within the lesson to determine to what degree information taught has been learned and what to do if the students did not understand what was taught. At these points teachers use different strategies to determine how well students have learned the information taught thus far. Information gleaned at this time is used by teachers and students to decide what to do next. Time for teacher and student reflection is important in this process.
When teachers use formative assessments to enhance instruction, they use the data to decide how and when to adjust their teaching so that learning and understanding are the outcomes for their students. Formative assessment helps students make adjustments to their learning so they are better able to understand the body of information being taught. In order for teachers and students to make better use of formative assessments, there needs to be a shift in classroom culture. Rather than rely on assessments simply to determine grades and to compare students to each other, data from formative assessments are used to generate evidence to make decisions on what to do next in regards to teaching and learning. Lastly, schools should consider using formative assessments to support teaching and learning. Professional development and learning communities are two ways to support formative assessments within schools.
Formative assessments need not be only pencil and paper tests. There are many simple strategies that teachers can use to gain information about how well their students are learning.
White boards: Teachers ask students to respond to questions by writing the answer on the boards. In addition, teachers could pose a multiple choice question and students write their choice on the board.
Letter-cards: Each student is given a set of cards ranging from A-D, T, and F. The teacher poses a question, and students choose their answer and show the appropriate card. True/False questions are also posed.
Talk-Time: The teacher poses a question and students answer it in pairs. The teacher walks around the class as students are talking and gleans information this way.
Summarizing strategies: There many summarizing strategies that teachers can use to assess student understanding within a lesson.
Formative assessments supply the evidence teachers need in order to adjust instructional practices so that student learning is always the outcome.
Reference:
Popham, W. J. (2008). Transformative assessments. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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Past Connections Articles
Past Connections articles are available through the archive tool of this newsletter. Please click here to view the resources.
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Have an Idea for a Connections Article?
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