Effective Teaching Strategies

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Effective Teaching Strategies

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

• Optimal learning is a direct result
• of effective instruction which is a
• direct result of essential
• and thorough lesson planning.

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Recommendations for Successful Lesson Planning
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Part I Lesson Planning

• Lesson Planning
• Teaching/Learning/Assessing Cycle
• Tools Formats/Templates
• Elements/Considerations
• Collaborative planning
• Stages and progression of learning
• Collaborative planning

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Student Learning Cycle Teaching, Assessing,
Reflecting
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Point to Ponder

• If all you have is a hammer everything looks like
  a nail

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Tools

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

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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

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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

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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

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Checking for Understanding

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

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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

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Contributions from Experts

• 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

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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.

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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

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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

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Consider the Learners The WHO

• Interests
• Strengths
• Processes
• Products or Evidence of Learning
• Choices/Options
• Differentiated Instruction

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Relevance The WHY

• Authentic learning opportunities
• Applications in context of relevant topics,
  tools, examples
• Emphasis on connections

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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?

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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

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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

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Applications of Strategies Tools

• Tools for Instructing props
• Enhance communication of information
• Examples
• Advance Organizers
• Metaphor
• Cues
• Enthusiasm

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Applications of Strategies Tools

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

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Applications of Strategies Tools

• Tools for Assessing
• Assist learners to clearly process and show what
  they know
• Examples
• Comparison Matrix
• Analogies
• Classification Chart

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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

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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)

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Strategy Establish Objectives

• State goals in clear language 4 key
  elements/parts
• Capture the big picture provide focus
• Students could personalize the teachers goals to
  establish ownership
• Communicates high expectations

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Strategy Access Prior Knowledge

• What do your students already know?

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Strategy Cues

• Should focus on what is important rather than on
  what is unusual
• Use explicit cuesdirect approach
• KNU (enhanced KWL)
• Already know
• Need to learn (based on standards)
• Understand
• BKWLQ
• Background, know, want to know, learned, questions

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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

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Strategy Effort/Motivation

• Research/Foundation
• Effort may be taught
• Effort can be learned
• Increased effort greater success
• Without hope, dont expect effort
• Many techniques to improve motivation

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Strategy Effort

• Emphasizing effort
• Creating hope
• Respecting power
• Building relationships
• Expressing enthusiasm

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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
  mindand a promising future.
• Source Mike Schmoker, Results Now (2006), p. 53

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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.

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Nonfiction Writing

• But I dont 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 wont be able to
  cover my subject, so my students scores in my
  content area will decline
• Here is the reality. . .

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Reality I dont 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).
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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 . . .

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Strategy Compare

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

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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

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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

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Strategy Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers

• Research/Foundation
• These strategies help students to access what
  they already know about a topic
• Activation of prior knowledge is critical to
  learning of all types
• Background knowledge influences what we perceive
  and learn
• Cueing and questioning

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Strategy Questions

• Questions are effective learning tools even when
  asked before a learning experience
• Think What, How, Why each causes a certain
  mental processing thus different responses

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Strategy Nonlinguistic Representations

• Research/Foundation
• Many names visual tools, graphic organizers,
  thinking maps
• Dual-coding (linguistic, pictorial, kinesthetic)
• Tools for teachers when presenting information,
  assessing understanding
• Tools for students when processing, applying
  information and for demonstrating knowledge

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Strategy Nonlinguistic Representations

• Examples of tools, graphic organizers
• Brainstorming webs mind mapping, webbing,
  clustering for personal knowledge
• Task-specific organizers life cycles, text
  structures, decision trees for isolated content
  tasks
• Thinking-process frames concept mapping,
  metacognition, systems thinking for transfer
  across disciplines

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Strategy Cooperative Learning

• Types of groups
• Informalcreated on spur of moment may last a
  few minutes, class period, a few days
• Formal/Flexiblecreated to ensure that students
  are able to accomplish a task or assignment last
  several days to weeks usually created based on
  pre-assessment data/results
• Basecreated to provide students with support
  throughout the semester or year

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Strategy Cooperative Learning

• Research/Foundation
• Student-to-student enhanced learning leads to
  optimal participation and retention
• Often misused and misunderstood
• Requires effective classroom management to work
  well
• Differentiated Instruction - a link to
  cooperative learning

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Strategy Cooperative Learning

• Low-ability students perform worse when placed in
  homogenous groups with other students of low
  ability
• Medium-ability students benefit most from
  homogenous grouping
• Cooperative groups should be small in size 3- to
  4-member teams are more beneficial than larger
  groups

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Strategy Practice

• Massed practice - skill, process frequent
  repetitions
• Distributive practice - concepts develop
  understanding over time
• Mastering a skill requires appropriate focused
  practice
• 24 repetitions 80 competency

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Strategy Hypotheses Generating and Testing

• Research/Foundation
• Powerful cognitive operations
• Involve the application of knowledge
• Deductive and inductive approaches

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Strategy Hypotheses Generating

• Teachers should ask students to clearly explain
  and defend their hypotheses.
• Ask What principles are you working from?
  Inquire why students hypotheses make sense.
• This process deepens understanding about
  information and concepts students are studying.

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Strategy Hypotheses Testing

• Students do this much of time When I do this,
  then this will happen
• Many approaches
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Historical investigation
• Systems analysis

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C. Closure of Learning Time

• Questions
• Homework
• Feedback
• Summarizing
• Non-fiction writing

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Strategy Homework and Practice

• Research/Foundation
• Homework and practice provide students with
  focused and purposeful opportunities to expand
  knowledge and deepen understanding about concepts
  and skills

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Strategy Homework

• Vary amount of homework by grade level general
  guideline of 10 minutes per grade level
• Minimize parental involvement
• Identify purpose of homework
• Create time for homework to be completed DURING
  SCHOOL
• Provide feedback on assignments

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Strategy Homework

• Positive Effects
• Immediate achievement and learning
• Long-term academic benefits
• Nonacademic benefits
• Allows practice, preparation, extension, and
  integration with/links to other content areas

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Strategy Homework Options

• What motivates students?
• Choice
• Empowerment
• Competence
• How can we transform homework from drudgery into
  engagement?
• Let students CHOOSE
• Design interesting, motivating, engaging
  assignments

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Strategy Provide Feedback

• Must be accurate we have a moral obligation to
  tell the truth
• Should be timely, corrective
• Should be specific to a criterion
• Students should engage in self-reflection/feedback
  
• Students should provide anonymous reflection and
  feedback for other students work

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Strategy Summarize

• Keep, delete, substitute
• Structure of information linked to structure of
  notes
• Summarizing requires ability to analyze
  information
• Questions in advance of reading or processing
  information provide a frame for summary

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Evaluation and Feedback

• Your ideas and reflections are important to us.
  Please take time to complete and turn in the
  short evaluation form provided for you.
• Center for Performance Assessment
• 1-800-844-6599 www.MakingStandardsWork.com

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• Center for Performance Assessment
• 1-800-844-6599
• www.MakingStandardsWork.com