The Course Organizer Routine

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The Course Organizer Routine

• The Content Enhancement Series

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How are we doing?

• Place dots to indicate how often you have used
  the FRAME, LINCs, Unit Organizer and Course
  Organizer this year.

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Startling Facts

• On-track Indicator
• Students who stay on-track during their
  freshman year (earn 5 credits and no more than 1
  F) are 3.5 times as likely to graduate.
• One semester F decreases the likelihood of
  graduating from 83 to 60.
• 2 Fs decreases the likelihood to 44.
• 3 Fs decreases the likelihood to 31.

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Lakotas CLC Past and Future

• 2009-2010 School Year
• FRAME
• LINCs
• SMARTER Planning
• Unit Organizer

• 2010-2011 School Year
• Course Organizer
• Concept Anchoring
• Question Exploration

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The Unit Organizer

• Is a visual device that
• Is designed to enhance students
• organization
• understanding
• remembering
• responses
• belief in the value of the content

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Content Enhancement

• The Benefit
• Group and individual needs are valued and met
• Maintained integrity of the content
• Critical content is selected and transformed in a
  manner that promotes student learning and
• Instruction is carried out in a partnership with
  students.

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The Value of Course Planning

• Creates a mindset for identifying and
  presenting outcomes and using new methods.
• Promotes the development of broad and inclusive
  teaching routines that respond to academic
  diversity.
• Communicates expectations about how content,
  learning, and social interactions will be
  organized during the first weeks of a course.
• Defines how the learning community will be
  created and maintained.

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The Challenge of Course Planning

• Students may have difficulty
• Seeing their own progress.
• Understanding why learning the information is
  important.
• Learning how the teacher approaches the course.
• Feeling comfortable with learning rituals.
• Learning how to participate in creating a good
  classroom learning climate.

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The Challenge of Course Planning

• Students may also have difficulty
• Learning the performance standards for course
  expectations.
• Understanding how course ideas are related to
  units and lessons.
• Creating new ways to organize and categorize
  information over time.
• Learning how to integrate and generalize what
  they have learned.

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Research on Course Planning

• When teachers use the Course Organizer Routine
• Teachers spend more time orienting students to a
  course.
• Teachers use more methods related to inclusive
  teaching.
• Students considered at-risk for school failure
  answered more course content questions correctly.
• All students either improved or maintained steady
  progress.
• Teachers reported that it provided focus for unit
  and lesson planning.

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Components of Course Planning

• Questions that capture critical content.
• A map that shows the sequence of course units.
• The underlying concepts that will serve as the
  basis for the course questions and units.
• The course rituals (comprising of teaching
  routines learning strategies).

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Components of Course Planning

• The principles used to create a learning
  community.
• The standards used to evaluate student progress.
• The system used to promote communication and
  progress toward expectations.
• A concrete device for communicating planning
  decisions.
• A routine for launching and maintaining course
  goals and progress.

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The Cue-Do-Review Sequence

• Cue
• A visual device called the Course Organizer is
  presented and explained at the beginning of the
  course.
• Throughout the course the teacher cues students
  to use the Course Organizer to evaluate progress
  and integrate learning.

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The Cue-Do-Review Sequence

• Do
• During the initial presentation, the teacher
  follows a set of procedures called the Linking
  Steps that help the teacher explain how the
  Course Organizer will enhance learning.
• Cue Course Questions
• Outline Critical Concepts and Units
• Uncover Community Principles
• Reveal Learning Rituals
• Share Performance Options
• Explain Course Standards

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The Cue-Do-Review Sequence

• Review
• The teacher uses the Course Organizer throughout
  the year and at the end of the year to help
  students review what and how learning has
  occurred.

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This Course The name of the course and a summary
or paraphrase of what the course is about
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Course Questions The critical questions that
every student in the class will be able to answer
by the end of the course
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Critical Concepts The critical concepts that
will be emphasized throughout the course, that
relate to course questions, and that cut across
more that one unit.
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Course Map A graphic depiction showing how the
course information has been organized for learning
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Community Principles The principles on which
the classroom learning community will be built.
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Learning Rituals The teaching routines, learning
strategies, and communication systems related
to learning. Are used throughout the course to
enhance learning.
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Performance Options The modifications that will
be built into the course to accommodate the needs
of diverse learners.
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Launching The Course

• Develop a draft of the Course Organizer.
• Distribute blank Course Organizer to students.
• Describe the parts of the Course Organizer, its
  purpose in the course, and how it will be used.
• Follow the Linking Steps to help students
  complete a draft of the Course Organizer.

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Launching the Course

• Cue Course Questions
• Outline Critical Concepts and Units
• Uncover Community Principles
• Reveal Learning Rituals
• Share Performance Options
• Explain Course Standards

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Maintaining the Course

• As each unit is launched, review course
  questions. Discuss which ones have been answered
  and which ones still need to be answered.
• Review the course map. Discuss where previous,
  current, and future units fit within the course.
• Chart and discuss performance in the previous
  unit for the group. Give students their scores
  and help plot their progress.
• Discuss the climate of the learning community and
  how well students are using classroom rituals.

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Closing the Course

• Present a synthesis experience or assignment.
• Review course performance using Unit Organizers
  ad the Course Organizer.
• Discuss the value of the course questions and
  related work.
• Discuss the relationships of this course to other
  courses.
• Discuss the quality of the learning community and
  how it could be improved for future courses.
• Discuss ideas and options for What in next?

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A Brighter Future for Lakota Kids

• We shape the future of our students everyday.
• We provide a constant in their lives
• Someone that helps and guides
• Teachers are a big deal and a big part of the big
  picture.
• You make the difference!!