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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
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Registrations after November 1, 2008: $150.00 per person/day
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An Interview with a Learning-Focused Teacher
by Laurian Phillips
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with teachers and really get their opinion on what they think about their teaching since participating in the Learning-Focused Instructional Model workshop. I am going to share with you the conversation I had with Amy Thomas of West Bainbridge Middle School in Decatur Co., GA. Her Principal is Stephen Dupree, the Assistant Superintendent of Decatur County is Dr. Suzi Bonifay and the Superintendent is Dr. Ralph Jones.
Phillips: The essential question for the Learning-Focused workshop is: "How do I think about, plan, and deliver instruction so that students learn it faster and retain it longer?"
So Mrs. Thomas, since you have implemented Learning-Focused Strategies in your classroom, do you think about instruction differently?
Thomas: Yes, I do. Before, I just looked at the lesson in the book and taught what was there. Now, I start with my standards. I think about what students should know, understand, and do at the end of the unit before I even begin planning instruction. This has become, for me, the most important part of planning the lessons and units. It has changed the whole focus of what I teach. I think about what prior knowledge students bring with them to the lesson and how to best draw upon that prior knowledge to make the link to the new knowledge. I also think about which graphic organizers fit the content and how to teach the structure of those organizers before students are asked to use them with new information. Sometimes I will brainstorm and make notes and just think about my units days before I even begin actually planning any lessons. It is amazing how much more in-depth my lessons become when I do this.
Phillips: When it comes to actually planning lessons and units, why do you believe that the Learning-Focused framework is helpful?
Thomas: Because the framework for the lessons and units is based on the research for exemplary strategies and practices, it ensures that I include these strategies in every lesson. During the launch, I preview the Student Learning Map and key vocabulary with students. I also preview any organizers that we will use in the unit. Use of advance organizers by students shows a 28 percentile gain. Previewing and Acceleration are an exemplary practices that all of the 90/90/90 schools used and they are built into the unit plan during the launch. Having the Essential Question gives a focus for the lesson, but more importantly, it serves as evidence of student learning during the summarizing portion of the lesson. This is the number two strategy for raising student achievement. I have students write during this portion of the lesson, so we are incorporating writing strategies in my math class. During the teaching part of the lesson, I am reminded that I need a graphic organizer and to distribute the summarizing and practice throughout the lesson, not just at the end. There is a place for me to write questions and prompts for pairs that is highly important. If I think about these questions ahead of time, and plan them and write them down, I find that I ask much better questions. During the activating part of the lesson, I link to prior knowledge and preview vocabulary that will be used in context in the lesson. Students must use this vocabulary to answer the Essential Question during the summarizer. Then, there are the Extending Thinking lessons that I use to consciously take students to a higher level of thinking. This raises achievement by a 45 percentile! Without the framework, it was just hit-or-miss to make sure I did these things. With the framework, I thoughtfully plan the lessons to include the research-based strategies. Also in planning the unit, I start with the culminating activity which means that I plan my assessment first instead of teaching and then testing what I taught. I start with the standards, plan assessments based on the standards, and then plan instruction to teach to those assessments.
Phillips: What about the delivery of instruction?
Thomas: Wow! Students are engaged! With the use of activators and collaborative pairs, students don't have time to be off task. Graphic organizers are absolutely necessary for students to "get it." I am amazed each time they take a test, and I see them recreating their graphic organizers on scratch paper to help them. This means it is working! With the summarizers, I know who gets it and who doesn't - before the test.
Phillips: Do you think your students learn it faster and retain it longer?
Thomas: I would say that instead of learning it faster, they are learning it deeper. I don't really save any time, but where I would have spent a week teaching nothing but skills, I now spend a day on skills and the rest of the week on concepts and higher-level thinking. When you take students to this level of thinking, they definitely retain it longer.
Phillips: Overall, are you pleased with Learning-Focused?
Thomas: I would never go back to teaching any other way. "This stuff works!"
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Previewing With A K.I.S.S. Approach
by Cindy Riedl
'Keep It Simple Sweetheart' should be every teacher's motto when planning previewing strategies that build background knowledge for their high-risk students before the lesson. Too often we shy away from using this incredibly powerful acceleration component simply because it may be regard it as complicated and time consuming or as pre-teaching.
The following suggestions and ideas will help you keep previewing simple; yet, at the same time, they will have enormous impact on student learning as they evolve into a consistent and pervasive practice. A pinch of creativity with a repertoire of strategies and formats to choose from will allow you to quickly prepare and implement previewing technique for individual students, small groups or the entire class depending upon the purpose of instruction and the needs of the students.
PREVIEWING VOCABULARY
4 Box Word Analysis:
Purpose:
Use the 4 Box Word Analysis format to preview multiple words; 4 to 6 words at a time at the elementary (3-5) levels and 6 to 8 at the intermediate levels (6-8) and 10 to 15 in high school courses.
Process:
1. Students fold notebook paper to create four columns. On chart paper or overhead, the teacher models the format and labels the columns: Word, Meaning, Example and Memory (How I Will Remember It). The word and its meaning are phrased by the teacher to avoid misunderstandings. For individual students or a small group of students, a copy of the words and their meanings can be created ahead to save time.
2. The teacher introduces each word and elaborates on its meaning, giving examples of how the word might be used in text, as well as in other situations and how she/he might remember this word by personalizing it or by creating a graphic representation (picture or symbol).
3. In pairs or individually, students create their own examples and representations for remembering the word and its meaning. The example is often written as a sentence.
Alert:
It will require a little time to introduce the model and to provide student feedback to assure accuracy, but once they understand the expectations, they will be able to use it automatically on a regular basis for words in any subject area.
Adaptation:
To kick this format up a notch for upper grades for a literature based course, denotation and connotation can replace the meaning and example - denotation providing the dictionary definition and connotation providing the feeling or emotion a word brings to the mind.
Formats:
Word Meaning Example Memory
Term Denotation Connotation Memory Device
4 Box Word Analysis Guided Practice:
Keep in mind that students require multiple practices with new words or terms. Again. it is the K.I.S.S. motto - keep it simple but also engaging.
1. Quick Talk: After introducing the words have students use their 4 Box Word Analysis charts to play Quick Talk with a partner. In pairs, students take turns selecting words from their charts and provide hints to their partner until he/she has identified the word. After awhile, you will be able to use Quick Talk as an activator for the whole class by providing lists of 6 to 10 words where partners take turns guessing the words from the clues they are given. This is fast and energizing review.
2. Word Search: Students use their 4 Box Word Analysis charts during reading and add more examples of how the word is used in the text. Another thing you could do is to give an article or paragraph in the text and give them a definition of the word or phrase that you want them to focus on, before they have a chance to read. (Choose the words or expressions ahead of time to ensure that the context is sufficient to determine meaning.) For example, you could say, "There is an expression in the first paragraph that means danger". (The elephants were in peril of being destroyed by the hunters.)
Picture Previews:
Purpose:
Do not overlook using pictures in a text book to preview key vocabulary, by eliciting words (and predicting the possible content) by referring to the picture(s).
Process:
1. On a creative note, bring in pictures from magazines that relate to your instructional topic. Tape the pictures to the board, post them in four corners, or give one to each small group. The whole idea is getting students talking about the pictures. Once they start talking, they generate vocabulary and have a real need for the vocabulary that is missing. This picture walk also builds background knowledge. Suppose the topic is about immigration. What types of words would evolve from picture books of Ellis Island? Also, as we introduce those 'missing words' that our students need to know, we are building strong visual connections for memory retention.
2. For more structure, write on a sheet of paper all the vocabulary words and some key words for vocabulary review. Partners must visit four corners, all of which are home to a separate picture, using all their words as they go. For example, they must take turns dictating/writing sentences which use the words to describe one of the pictures. These sentences can later be read to the whole class, with the rest of the class trying to guess the picture being described.
Alert: Any of the above could be used to activate a lesson, as well as preview key vocabulary saving and using time more efficiently.
PREVIEWING TEXTBOOKS: How To Become THIEVES:
Purpose:
THIEVES is an acronym that has survived the test of time and supported students in their pursuit of meaningful textbook reading, from upper elementary grades through college classrooms. To effectively and thoroughly preview texts, students are encouraged to become THIEVES, sneaking into chapters and stealing information ahead of time. THIEVES identifies the elements of the textbook chapter that should be thoroughly surveyed, perused and pondered in advance of actual reading. This enhances access of prior knowledge, expectation and purpose. Key vocabulary is also introduced as students survey the elements identified by THIEVES.
Process:
Below are the survey elements and suggested questions designed to stimulate metacognitive processing.
T = Title (Most often states the topic and establishes a context - may offer a location within a continuum or time line.) Questions:
· What do I know about the topic reflected by the title?
· What does it have to do with the preceding chapter?
· Does it express a point of view? If so, about what?
· What do I think we will be reading about?
H = Headings (By turning the headings into questions, students can establish a purpose for reading. Also, students can string headings together to generate a summary of a chapter before reading it.)
Questions:
· What information does this heading give me concerning what the passage is about?
· What is the topic of the paragraph beneath it?
· How can I turn this heading into a question that is likely to be answered in the actual content?
I = Introduction (Provides background and setting for the text. Chapter goals and objectives are often stated. Writing following the title but before the first heading is often the introduction.)
Questions:
· Is there an opening, perhaps italicized?
· Does the first paragraph introduce the subject?
· What does the introduction let me know about this chapter?
· Do I know anything about this already/
E = Every first sentence in a paragraph (For a very thorough preview, students are asked to read the first sentence of each paragraph. These are often topic sentences.)
Questions:
· How does reading the first sentence of each paragraph help me understand the text?
· How can I use this technique when time is short?
V = Visuals and Vocabulary (Perusing photographs, charts, graphs, maps and/or tables provides a link to the content being read. Translating the visual presentations into words enables students to begin learning about the topic before they have begun to read.)
Questions:
· What can I learn from photographs, drawings, maps, charts and graphs?
· How do captions help me better understand the meaning?
· Are there important words in boldface type? Do I know what they mean?
· Can I tell the meaning of the boldfaced words from the sentences in which they are used?
E = End-of-chapter questions (Using the end of chapter questions as a guide during reading can be useful, but it is recommended, if they are used in this fashion, students should know ahead of time that they are not expected to be answered. Otherwise, students will read only the content that will answer the questions, often missing other important information. Using a graphic organizer that focuses on text structure is more likely to allow students to delve beyond the surface of the content.)
Questions:
· What information do the questions consider important?
· How can I use these questions to organize my notes?
S = Summary (The summary at the end of the chapter can be used during previewing to help students understand and recall information about a subject or topic that is totally unfamiliar.)
Question:
· How does the summary help me better understand what I am about to read?
Hopefully the above ideas and examples will help teachers use their time more effectively previewing vocabulary and text. Time spent up front teaching students to employ different strategies for learning new words and content is well spent, because our goal is to shape our students into independent learners. For more specific ideas for previewing vocabulary, use Vocabulary Instruction as a tool for planning a variety of interactive approaches that teach vocabulary in all content areas. Vocabulary Development in Language Arts Grades 2-6 is another book that focuses on a variety of strategies that can be employed to expand the language experience of all students.
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What's the Signal?
by Carol Brewer
Using signal words is one of the most powerful strategies taught to students. These are words that make the connections to understanding. They can be found in the reading comprehension strategies and have a direct correlation to text structures. For example, if the student reads a passage that includes signal words such as alike and different, they should make the connection to a compare and contrast passage. Alike and different give students the "signal" of what the words on the page are doing.
Another way to use signal words is through the questioning techniques. If students have the question, "What is the text mostly about?", the students should make the connection from "mostly about" to main idea and therefore answer the question with their understanding of main idea or the big picture. Many teachers create charts with each of the reading comprehension strategies and the signal words that help students make the connection to learning.
To see example lessons with signal words, and gain more knowledge of signal words and other strategies to help your students become better readers attend a Learning-Focused Reading Comprehension for ELA Teachers workshop at the 2009 National Learning-Focused Conference or check out the Reading Comprehension 3-5 book, 6-8 book, and flipchart!
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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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