Learning-Focused Connections
Issue 48:  Week of  May 18, 2009
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.
In This Issue
Setting Goals with Feedback
Writing to Learn and Assessment Prompts: What's the Connection?
Reading Comprehension Strategies Scheduled Reviews
Past Connections Articles
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LEARNING-FOCUSED Summer Institute on
Sustaining Exemplary Practices 

July 13-17, 2009
Greensboro, NC

Sessions include:  Training of Trainers and regular workshops at the Institute:

  • LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies version 7 (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Reading Comprehension Strategies and Assignments (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • LEARNING-FOCUSED Math (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Differentiated Assignments (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Vocabulary Instruction (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Catching Kids Up with Acceleration (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Scaffolding Grade Level Learning (regular sessions and Training of Trainer sessions)
  • Leadership, Balanced Achievement, and Accountability with Max Thompson
  • Starting and Sustaining Exemplary Practices with Max Thompson
  • Toolbox Training
  • Toolbox Administrator Training
  • Actualizing your Power Curriculum
  • Unlocking the Secrets of LEARNING-FOCUSED version 7 - a new book and 1-day workshop to provide for those trained in version 5 or 6 the latest information and exemplary practices in version 7!

Registration Fee:  $160.00 per person/day - includes all session materials except Training of Trainers Redelivery Kits and Support which are purchased separately.

Session and registration information now available at www.LEARNINGFOCUSED.com

Summer Institute Opportunities to attend for Free!

We now offer all participants an opportunity to attend two days of the LEARNING-FOCUSED Summer Institute for free!

All you have to do to attend two days of the Summer Institute for free is to submit a 3+ minute video describing why your school/district chose LEARNING-FOCUSED, the impact of LEARNING-FOCUSED in your school/district, success stories, highlights of implementing LEARNING-FOCUSED, and what it is like to work with LEARNING-FOCUSED. Videos can be submitted on VHS tape, Mini-DV tape, CD, or DVD. To qualify for free registration, videos must be received by June 1st.

Ship video to:
LEARNING-FOCUSED
Attn: Video for Summer Institute Registration
132 Laurel Chase Drive
Blowing Rock, NC 28605

Offer does not include Training of Trainers Kits and Trainer Support - Registration fee only is free.
 
School and District Leaders: We have a second opportunity for you to attend two days for free!  Bring a leader, as your guest, from a school or district that has not implemented LEARNING-FOCUSED to the Leadership, Balanced Achievement and Accountability session and/or the Starting and Sustaining Exemplary Practices Session and you both attend at no charge. The leader must be a Superintendent, Assistant or Associate Superintendent, Director of Title 1, Director of Curriculum and/or Instruction, Director Professional Development, or Principal.

Session and registration information now available at www.LEARNINGFOCUSED.com
Setting Goals with Feedback
by Barbara McSwain

As the end of the school year approaches, a question a district/school or classroom may want to ask is, "What are our goals for next year?"

Mike Schmoker (1999) notes, "Goals themselves lead not only to success, but also to the effectiveness and cohesion of a team" (p.24).

It is imperative that 2-3 goals be set yearly. Having high expectations for all students, regardless of their backgrounds, is paramount in the school effectiveness research. The literature has consistently stated that students rise to the occasion when we set the bar high. High expectations with clear goals should be communicated to the students at the very beginning of the school year and repeated throughout the year. It is important for students to be a part of this process. Students need to set learning goals. They need to be accountable for their part in the learning process.

One of my favorite memories of last school year was a walkthrough visit at Dixieland Elementary in Polk County, FL. The principal, Debbie Henderson, is an outstanding leader. Dixieland was recognized in the Spring of 2008 as a LEARNING-FOCUSED Preferred School for Leadership, with an emphasis on support, monitoring, planning and classroom application.

I was joined on the walkthrough by district personnel, academic coaches, the principal and the assistant principal. As we stepped out of one classroom, a student stopped the assistant principal, Mary Dwight, and whispered a question. Dwight smiled and whispered an answer, and the student responded with a nod.  Immediately, outside the classroom, Henderson asked what the child needed. Dwight responded, "She wanted to know if you were still going to meet with her regarding her goals today. She is worried that you will not have time because we have visitors in our school."

I was not surprised when Henderson said to Dwight, "Please continue with our classroom visits. I will catch up in a minute. I need to reassure her that I will meet with her today!" This is the type of leadership and focus that is needed for goal setting. Everyone is involved in the process, including students. Researched-based instruction, with goals and feedback, serves as the primary focus every day! 

Students must receive feedback throughout the learning process. Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, Kulik, and Morgan's research has referred to this as formative assessment as opposed to summative assessment that occurs at the end of a learning period. In the United States, summative assessments are conducted once or twice yearly. Often, results are not received until much later and teachers no longer have the same students. Very little is done with these summative results to change instruction. Many researchers feel that the appropriate and systematic use of formative assessment holds the key to greatly improving student achievement.
 
LEARNING-FOCUSED assessment prompts distributed throughout the unit/lesson design serve as formative assessment(s) that allow for immediate feedback to the students. In 1999 Schmoker referred to "rapid results" as critical to providing a foundation of success on which to build within the first year. Schmoker recognized that school improvement takes time. However, he also realized that students, teachers and administrators who are accustomed to failure need to know what success "looks" and "feels like." Goal setting with feedback is essential to that process!
 
What are the goals for your school/district for 2009-2010? What are the students' goals?  When will you talk about goal setting? When will you schedule time for reflection meetings with feedback?

See the Project Implementation section of the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model Notebooks (Parts 1 - 4) for more information. 

Transforming Standards into Learning
                    
           LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model - Part 1:  Transforming Standards into Learning       

  • Learn how standards drive instruction
  • Utilize the Know-Understand-Do Organizer to translate standards
  • Develop Student Learning Maps that transform standards into learning
  • Learn the art of asking the right essential questions
  • Develop Lesson Essential Questions from your standards
  • Develop standards driven common and formative assessments
  • Understand how to adapt developed Student Learning Maps for your students
  • Learn how to use Student Learning Maps to increase and accelerate achievement

Learning-Focused Strategies Model - Part 1: Transforming Standards into Learning
SKU: 811
Categories: Instruction Collection
Notebook: $25.00

Writing to Learn and Assessment Prompts:  What's the Connection?
by Cindy Riedl

"Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they know. It is a way to help them understand what they know. At its best, writing is learning." (National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges 2003)

Consider the implications of this quote. If students are to truly learn, they must write in all content areas. But when? With the inclusion of Assessment Prompts in LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies v.7, they cause us to consider and plan ways to assess learning as we teach chunks of content. Short writes, such as using writing to learn strategies for distributed summarizing during the lesson and clarifying key learning at the end of the lesson, address the need to periodically assess learning for intervention and immediate feedback. This informs us about when to adjust instruction during the lesson and assures that students are internalizing the content as it was intended throughout the lesson.

Now consider how students learn according to the Learning Pyramid, in terms of active involvement - 90% of what they say and do. Writing is doing 'the real thing'. It directly addresses three of the five most important instructional strategies:  Extending Thinking Strategies, Summarizing and Advance Organizers. Schools that have the greatest gains in student performance and achievement have evidence that writing is present in every subject, not just in English classes. Assessment Prompts distributed throughout the lesson that require written responses hit multiple learning targets. So why are we not doing it? It takes too much time to stop and write? Think about this - if taking the time means an increase in student learning, does it not make sense to bite the bullet and take the time?

Responses to Assessment Prompts should be short, informal writing during the learning process. The purpose is for students to think about their learning by summarizing, clarifying, explaining, posing questions, building connections, revealing confusion, shaping meaning and reaching understanding. Identifying the Assessment Prompts when planning lessons (what students need to know and/or do to be able to answer the essential question) allows teachers to chunk the content of the lesson. After each chunk of instruction, students could do a Think-Pair-Share (Numbered Heads) to demonstrate what they learned, but Think-Ink-Pair-Share assures greater retention and depth of what they are learning. At least one Assessment Prompt should be addressed using a written response in a lesson - more is better. Learn about Assessment Prompts in the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies: Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquisition Lessons book or in the new book: Unlocking the Secrets of the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model v.7.

Examples of 'Writing to Learn' and 'Summary Point Writing'

Anticipatory Guide Reflection:  Students revisit their responses from the activating strategy and use new knowledge to write their conclusions and explain why.

Summary Point Writing:  Pause after a chunk of content and ask students to write about the most important information they learned, i.e. summarizing information up to this point.

Q & A:  Ask a question and have students write a sentence that answers the question using information just learned.

Structured Note-taking:  Provide a structure, such as two-column notes. After a chunk of content, have students write a summary, paraphrase or create a question for another student to answer about the content.

Key Word Acrostic:  Write the concept taught in the chunk of content. Student construct sentences that reflect key points taught for every letter of the word.

The Absent Student:  Students explain in a letter to the absent student the key learning they missed or how to follow steps in a process.

R.A.F.T:  Role:  Rain Drop - Audience:  Other Rain Drops - Format:  A travel itinerary - Topic:  Water Cycle

Build A Meaningful Sentence:  Students are given key vocabulary or a concept from the lesson and are asked to "build" a sentence that uses the words and summarizes the learning.

Remember:  Keep it simple and engaging! For more ideas, examine the LEARNING-FOCUSED Writing Assignments books for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 in the Literacy Collection.
Reading Comprehension Strategies Scheduled Reviews
by Carol Brewer
Many schools have found great success by teaching their students the Reading Comprehension Strategies. One way they have done that is by implementing a "Strategy of the Month". A suggested resource for this instruction is the Reading Assignments Flipchart. This flipchart consists of the "Tested 7" comprehension strategies that are arranged in order according to a "natural" transition from one strategy to the next. For example, Main Idea and Detail should be modeled and taught first to give the students the strategy of finding key points or details of what is read, heard, and viewed. Text Elements follows and if the students are proficient with finding the Details, they can apply this strategy to locate the Text Elements (Literary Elements and Text Features). The following is the suggested order of instruction:
 
  • Main Idea and Detail
  • Text Elements
  • Sequencing
  • Cause and Effect
  • Inference
  • Compare and Contrast
  • Fact and Opinion
 
A suggested Scheduled Review for these strategies is to combine them to strengthen the understanding. For example, after teaching sequencing and cause and effect, students are given the event of a story on an index card. Together, with their group, they identify the cause and effect of the event. The reporter of the group stands up and shares the event for the class to sequence. The group arranges themselves according to the sequence and shares the cause and effect of the event. 
 
Teachers can use this idea during grade level meetings to start a brainstorming session for Scheduled Review. Think of the strategies that have been taught and how to combine them to strengthen the understanding.

See the Reading Assignments K-5 flipchart and the Reading Assignments 6-12 flipchart.
Also see Reading Comprehension for Language Arts Teachers 2-5 and 6-12 in the Literacy Collection.

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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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