Teaching and Learning in Diverse Elementary Classrooms

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Teaching and Learning in Diverse Elementary
Classrooms

• Rural Schools Renewal Conference 2007
• Oct. 10-12
• Faye Brownlie

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• Diversity

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Key elements of learning

• Engagement
• Connection
• Questioning
• Talk
• Working alone and together
• Descriptive feedback

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• Cognitive Confidence
• Allows students to
• comprehend texts
• monitor their understanding
• determine meaning of words
• read with fluency
• the skills and strategies of reading

Social and Emotional Confidence Allows students
to be willing and active participants in a
community of readers read for enjoyment and
information have a positive attitude toward
reading and other readers readers who read
Text Confidence Allows students to develop the
stamina to continue reading difficult texts
find authors and genre that interest them
stick-with-it-ness
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Teaching Content to All
Open-ended teaching
adapted
modified
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Schema for Instructional Support

• Connecting (pre)
• Processing (during)
• Transforming and personalizing (post)
• Brownlie, Close, Wingren (1988)

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The Gradual Release Model

• Model
• Guided practice
• Independent practice
• Independent application
• Pearson (1992)

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Primary

• Language of inclusion
• Language of belonging - helping all have happy
  hearts

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Sequence

• Connecting grab bag
• Processing predicting from pictures
• Transforming/personalizing feelings and the
  letters
• -happy and heavy-heart words
• -happy heart web - where all belong

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• How is Lilly feeling when she writes this letter?
• How is Mr. Slinger feeling when he receives this
  letter?

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Assessment FOR Learning

• Purpose
• Guide Instruction

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Descriptive assessment

• Whole class
• Day by day

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Elementary

• Reading and Responding
• QCA
• Whole school coding
• What do we notice, what are we going to do?
• An of question is it making a difference?
  Fewer MM or NYM?

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Assessment FOR Learning

• Descriptive scoring
• Coding in teams
• Class/grade profile of strengths and areas of
  need
• Action plans developed - whats next?
• Individual students identified for further
  assessment

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Standard Reading Assessment

• Choose a common piece of text.
• Build background for the reading.
• Have students respond to common prompts.
• Have students read a short section aloud and
  answer several interview questions.
• Code using the Reading Performance Standards

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• Connections How does what you read connect with
  what you already knew?
• Summarizing Choose a way to show the main ideas
  and details in what you read.
• Inferencing Read between the lines to find
  something that you believe to be true, but that
  isnt actually said. Explain your reasoning.
• Vocabulary Here are 3 challenging words from
  the text. Explain what you think they mean.
• Reflecting Was this easy or hard to understand?
  How did you help your self understand? (SD,
  p.23)

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Bills Year at a Glance-Sept.

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Bills Year at a Glance-Oct.

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Descriptive Feedback

• Whats working?
• Whats not?
• Whats next?

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Descriptive Feedback

• Without descriptive feedback, you are getting
  on a golf course, but nobody has put up the flag.
• Grant Wiggins

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Assessment AS Learning

• Purpose students taking responsibility for
  their own learning
• Setting goals
• Monitoring their progress toward their goals

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Middle School En/SS Project

• Mon. - Model assignment with
• picture book. Build criteria.
• Tues. - Read independently, begin assignment.
• Wed. - Hand in assignment.
• Thurs. - Return assignments with feedback. Teach
  mini- lesson.
• Fri. - Hand in assignment for evaluation.

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Rural Schools Online SeriesInteractions
Strategies for Learning and Thinking

• October 22 English Language Arts
• November 26 Science
• January 14 Math
• February 11 English Language Arts
• March 10 Science
• April 21 Math

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• Lori Driussi - English/Language Arts
• Janice Novakowski - Science
• Carole Saundry - Mathematics

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English Language Arts

• Kids like to talk! We will share ideas for
  focusing student conversation so all students can
  deepen their content understanding while
  building a supportive learning community.

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Visual Sort and Predict

• Present a series of pictures from the story
• Ask students to arrange the pictures in a
  sequence
• Students tell their stories
• Read the text

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What is inquiry-based teaching in science?

• Focus on the students questions
• Science studies begin with inquiry questions that
  are then investigated by the students
• Students are actively engaged in thinking and
  acting like scientists

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How does a ladybug hold on to a branch?

• Kindergarten students observe insect behaviour
• The teacher asks, What are you wondering about?

Science IRP/Kindergarten/Life Science/Characterist
ics of Living Things
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What happens to the car if the ramp is higher?

• Grade 1 students exploring force and motion
• Students designed their own investigation based
  on an inquiry question

Science IRP/Grade 1/Physical Science/Force and
Motion
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How do spiders eat?

• Grades 2 and 3
• The teacher began the study by asking What
  questions do you have about spiders?
• Students chose one question a week to investigate
  by observing spiders and using informational texts

Science IRP/Grade 2/Life Science/Animal Growth
and Change
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If I add more weight, will it fall faster?

• Grade 5 students investigating the principles of
  flight
• Students begin with a flying object (ie. a paper
  airplane) and make modifications based on their
  inquiry questions
• Content knowledge is generated from the students
  discoveries

Science IRP/Grade5/Physical Science/Forces and
Simple Machines
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Does the cricket like a moist or dry habitat?

• Kindergarten and grade 4 buddies create animal
  habitats
• Inquiry questions are explored during ongoing
  observations

Science IRP/Grade 4/Life Science/Habitats and
Communities Science IRP/Kindergarten/Life
Science/Characteristics of Living Things
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How could we decrease the torque?

• Grade 5 and 6 students working with Lego
  Mindstorms
• Students are engaged in design investigations
  resulting from problems or questions they have
  about their robots

Science IRP/Grade5/Physical Science/Forces and
Simple Machines
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A GOOD QUESTION

• Sessions will look at frames and models for good
  questionsto promote mathematical thinking and to
  expose what students know and can do
  mathematically.

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A good question

How can you show your number for our number
book?
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Key elements of learning

• Engagement
• Connection
• Questioning
• Talk
• Working alone and together
• Descriptive feedback

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Resources

• Brownlie, Feniak, Schnellert - Student Diversity,
  2nd ed., Pembroke Pub., 2006
• Brownlie, Jeroski - Reading and Responding,
• gr. 4,5,6, 2nd ed., Thomson Nelson, 2006
• Brownlie - Grand Conversations, Portage and Main
  Press, 2005
• Brownlie - Literacy in the Middle Years, Webcast,
  2004 http//insinc.com/ministryofeducation/2004100
  7/index.html and http//insinc.com/ministryofeduca
  tion/20041118/indix.html
• Brownlie, Feniak, McCarthy - Assessment and
  Instruction of ESL Learners, Portage and Main
  Press, 2004
• Brownlie, King - Learning in Safe Schools,
  Pembroke Pub., 2000