Effective Teaching Strategies

1. Effective Teaching Strategies Presented by the Center for Performance Assessment www.MakingStandardsWork.com 1-800-THINK-99

2. Optimal Learning Environment • Respect for your prior experience and respect for others in the room • Cell phones in “manner mode” • Complete engagement • Full participation in all activities and complete attendance for duration of seminar • Active listening so you are able to respond when called upon • No side conversations, activities, or work

3. Objectives • UNDERSTAND the connection between essential and thorough lesson planning, effective instruction, and optimal learning • KNOW the research on focused effective teaching strategies • APPLY strategies in context • DEMONSTRATE readiness for implementation of best practices

4. Seminar Structure Part I • Lesson Planning – learn highly effective practices, approaches, formats and realize that lesson planning is a natural extension of the data team process Part II • Effective Strategies – examination of research, contextual considerations, modeling specific strategies, application and extensions of instruction, learning and assessing tools

5. Generate Hypotheses about Teacher A and Teacher B: • Same class makeup: a mix of diverse backgrounds and learning needs (ESL, poverty, inclusion, etc.) • Same class size • Same schedule, materials, curriculum • Teacher A: 18% of students proficient • Teacher B: 82 % of students proficient ACTIVITY: Develop hypotheses about the causes of the difference

6. If you think that teachers and leaders influence student achievement, you are right! Student Causes Teacher Causes Source: Center for Performance Assessment, Leadership for Learning (2005); www.MakingStandardsWork.com.

7. Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together: What Every Learning Team Must Know and Do Monitor learning, Providefeedback - Common Formative Assessments What must be learned – Power Standards Meet individual student needs – Differentiated Instruction How to teach – Effective Teaching Strategies

8. Point to Ponder . . . Optimal learning is a direct result of effective instruction which is a direct result of essential and thorough lesson planning.

9. Recommendations for Successful Lesson Planning

10. Part I – Lesson Planning Lesson Planning • Teaching/Learning/Assessing Cycle • Tools: Formats/Templates • Elements/Considerations • Collaborative planning • Stages and progression of learning • Collaborative planning

11. Student Learning Cycle: Teaching, Assessing, Reflecting

12. Point to Ponder • If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail…

13. Tools Templates/Formats • Allows organized approach to process • Generates ideas • Provides focus • Decreases stress • Saves time • Facilitates collaboration ACTIVITY: Examine lesson planning tools

14. Elements of Lesson Plans Effective lesson plans: • Offer ‘prompts’ or cues for focused thinking • Allow linear or non-linear, flexible options • Feel like a ‘flight plan’ • Consider each aspect of the learning cycle ACTIVITY: Generate a list of must-haves for your lesson plan

15. Stages of Learning – Timing is Critical Select strategies based on the specific stage and purpose of learning: • Early – building background, scaffolding, first exposure, connecting • Middle – connecting, reading, writing, thinking, analyzing, comparing, practice, building on previous learning • Closure – application, problem solving, investigation, assignment of independent practice, doing something with the information

16. Collaborative Lesson Planning Data Teams/Learning Teams – • Generate Data • Analyze, Identify Obstacles, Prioritize • Set Goal(s) • Determine Instructional Strategies • Identify Results Indicators **Next, natural extension: Collaborative Lesson Planning ACTIVITY: Discuss your data teaming processes and determine to what extent your team is ready for collaborative lesson planning

17. Checking for Understanding • Why is it important to consider the act of lesson planning? • Summarize important elements of successful lesson planning.

18. Part II: The Strategies “But knowledge – like research-based teaching strategies – is only as good as its intelligent application.” Mike Schmoker, Results Now, ASCD p 117

19. Allen Mendler Douglas Reeves Katy Haycock Robert Marzano Rick Stiggins Carol Ann Tomlinson Stephanie Harvey Jay McTighe Roland Barth The “jury standard” Grant Wiggins Mike Schmoker Rick DuFour Michael Fullan Stephen White Larry Lezotte Harry Wong Linda Darling Hammond James Stronge Contributions from Experts

20. What Does Effective Mean? “The reflective process is at the very heart of accountability. It is through reflection that we distinguish between the popularity of teaching techniques and their effectiveness. The question is not ‘Did I like it?’ but rather, ‘Was it effective?’” Source: Douglas B. Reeves, Accountability for Learning (2004), p. 52.

21. Effective Teaching Strategies: The HOW in Context Strategies should be selected on the basis of ‘best fit’ related to: • Expectations of learning: WHAT • The learners: WHO • Relevance: WHY/CONNECTIONS • Stages of learning: WHEN/TIMING

22. Expected Learning: The WHAT Starting Point: Expected learning outcomes • State Standards • District Power Standards/Objectives • Unwrapped Standards: Content • Concepts – Informational/Declarative Knowledge • Skills – Procedural/Application Knowledge

23. Consider the Learners: The WHO • Interests • Strengths • Processes • Products or Evidence of Learning • Choices/Options • Differentiated Instruction

24. Relevance: The WHY • Authentic learning opportunities • Applications in context of relevant topics, tools, examples • Emphasis on connections

25. Learning Process: The WHEN • Does this lesson focus on accessing prior knowledge, building background? • Is this lesson an opportunity for scaffolded, guided application? • Is this lesson moving toward independent application where students are asked to demonstrate mastery through independent application?

26. Effective Teaching Strategies – Seminar Process • Presentation of strategies will be by association to a particular stage of the learning process recognizing that: • Strategies are successfully applied during various stages of the learning process • Strategies are tools for teachers as they present information, facilitate and assess learning • Strategies are tools for learners to enhance and demonstrate thinking

27. Effective Teaching Strategies This seminar follows the following process and presents strategies that fit into the three stages of the learning process: • Beginning stage of instruction • Middle stage of learning • Closure of learning time

28. Applications of Strategies: Tools Tools for Instructing – “props” • Enhance communication of information • Examples: • Advance Organizers • Metaphor • Cues • Enthusiasm

29. Applications of Strategies: Tools Tools for Learning • Thinking, reflecting, processing in order to understand • Examples: • Note taking • Summarizing • Non-fiction writing • Cause/Effect graphic

30. Applications of Strategies: Tools Tools for Assessing • Assist learners to clearly process and show what they know • Examples: • Comparison Matrix • Analogies • Classification Chart

31. A. Beginning of Learning • Setting up for success: • Establish objective* • Access prior knowledge – Cues* • Build background • Create positive learning environment* • Non-fiction writing* • Generate hypotheses

32. Strategy: Establish Objectives Clear learning objective was established in only 4% of classrooms Source: Learning 24/7 Classroom Observation Project (2004) (direct observation of 1,500 K-12 classrooms)

33. Strategy: Establish Objectives • State goals in clear language – 4 key elements/parts • Capture the big picture; provide focus • Students could personalize the teacher’s goals to establish ownership • Communicates high expectations

34. Strategy: Access Prior Knowledge What do your students already know?

35. Strategy: Cues • Should focus on what is important rather than on what is unusual • Use explicit cues—direct approach • KNU (enhanced KWL) • Already know • Need to learn (based on standards) • Understand • BKWLQ • Background, know, want to know, learned, questions

36. Strategy: Advance Organizers • Introductory materials • Promote scaffolding with visual structures for information • Bridge the gap between what the learner already knows and what the learner still needs to learn • Are most useful with information that is not already well organized

37. Strategy: Effort/Motivation • Research/Foundation • Effort may be taught • Effort can be learned • Increased effort = greater success • Without hope, don’t expect effort • Many techniques to improve motivation

38. Strategy: Effort • Emphasizing effort • Creating hope • Respecting power • Building relationships • Expressing enthusiasm

39. Strategy: Nonfiction Writing “Generous amounts of close, purposeful reading, rereading, writing, and talking are the essence of authentic literacy. These simple activities are the foundation for a trained, powerful mind—and a promising future.” Source: Mike Schmoker, Results Now (2006), p. 53

40. Benefits of Nonfiction Writing • Writing is thinking while connecting the dots • Writing is reflection • Writing and revision result in complex thinking, the making of connections, the interpretation of patterns, the production of thought • Meier: “Children are driven into dumbness by our failure to challenge their curiosity.”

41. Nonfiction Writing • But I don’t have time for more writing in my classroom • It takes too much time to grade • It takes too much time to give feedback • If I spend time on writing, I won’t be able to cover my subject, so my students’ scores in my content area will decline Here is the reality. . .

42. Reality: “I don’t have the time” is untrue! Math, Science, Social Studies, M.C. Tests “When we spend more time on nonfiction writing with collaborative scoring, our test scores improve . r = .7 to .9” Time Devoted to Writing Source: Douglas B. Reeves, NASSP Bulletin (December 2000).

43. The Cumulative Weight of Writing Evidence • Relationships hold across grades, states, and curriculum areas • Relationships may not prove that more writing of performance assessments “causes” improvements in achievement, BUT . . .

44. The Evidence Is Clear • The assertion that “spending time on writing hurts multiple-choice test scores” is WRONG • Short-cycle and other assessments that include writing enhance student achievement in other subjects • Performance on multiple-choice tests improves

45. Strategy: Non-fiction Writing • Writing to assess prior knowledge • Writing to connect new learning to current knowledge – relevance • Writing to learn – clarify thoughts • Writing to expand, enhance • Writing to demonstrate, show thinking

46. B. Middle Stage of Learning • Explicit modeling • Direct instruction • Cooperative learning • Comparing* • Classifying* • Feedback • Note taking* • Questioning* • Nonlinguistic representations* • Practice – guided and independent* • Flexible grouping* • Generating and Testing Hypotheses

47. Strategies: Comparing, Classifying • Research/Foundation • Basic to human thought • Core of all learning and thinking • Enhances students’ understanding and ability to retain and use knowledge • Demonstration of process • Structures for ‘storing/retaining’ information • Process for finding similarities and differences

48. Strategy: Compare • Examine information for similarities and differences • Focus on important details and characteristics of information • Develop process thinking skills • Apply tools/formats

49. Strategy: Classify • Organize information into groups based on categories (e.g., similar qualities, traits) • Synonyms: sort, organize, group, categorize • Apply tools/formats • Develop thinking processes

50. Strategy: Note Taking • Notes must be considered a work in progress • Notes should be used as study guides • Enhance notes through discussion, use • Many approaches to taking notes • Two-column, Cornell, mixed, outline