LET'S MAKE STUFF!

  • Blog
  • About
  • Made Stuff
  • Philosophy
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • About
  • Made Stuff
  • Philosophy
  • Contact
"CREATIVITY IS A CRUSHING CHORE AND A GLORIOUS MYSTERY. THE WORK WANTS TO BE MADE AND IT WANTS TO BE MADE BY YOU."
Elizabeth Gilbert
Picture
Picture

HACK your Instruction!

11/13/2015

26 Comments

 
Picture
17 Insanely Clever Hacks for Teachers, by Teachers
Picture
In our "real" worlds, many of us are constantly working on "hacking" life - decluttering our basements, paring down the number of toys our children (or dogs) have, trying to replace our screen time with talk time with our loved ones, carving out the space and time to reflect on the the simplest (and most meaningful) moments of our lives.

However, in public education nowadays our moments and days are anything but simple. Spend five minutes googling or pinteresting "common core" to find a million ideas, projects, and activities that you feel guilty about not doing in turn for the mounting anxiety about doing more "kill and drill" work with our students who are struggling. Every time we turn around, there are "new", "revamped" ideas about how to address the demands. How can step away from the chaos for a moment and do what has been shown to work most consistently to improve student growth? How can we "hack" our instructional planning to make it more simple and better for students?

Mike Schmoker's book, Focus, gives us a simple, back-to-basics moment  to breathe. He provides a "plan" based on reading, writing, discussion and THINKING across the curriculum. In chapter 2, "WHAT We Teach, we read about how important it is to choose FOCUS standards - the standards that repeat, overlap, and are MOST ESSENTIAL for our students' futures as students and as PMOS's (productive members of society). As we have been deconstructing our standards to write scales, I believe we have really started to identify focus standards as well as the foundational learning targets (production behaviors) we want to see from our students.We're beginning to get an idea of what is most important for our students to know and be able to do. 

Chapter 3, "HOW We Teach" provides us with a template for the key, tried and true, instructional elements that have lasted the test of educational time and research. This is my favorite chapter because it is just so darn clear. I found myself reflecting wildly on the elements that I most often had in my lessons and the ones that I always forgot to include. So, here we go!

Template for ANY EFFECTIVE LESSON
  1. Clear learning objectives: topic, skill, concept selected from standards
  2. Teaching/MODELING/Demonstrating: showing students how to do or know something - teacher showing process of metacognition is important here!
  3. Guided Practice: students must have multiple opportunities at practicing what has been taught or modeled (think "reps" in sports practice or exercising - more reps = more muscle!)
  4. Checks for Understanding (AKA formative assessment): LOTS of times of observing, sampling student learning, students rating understanding, dry-erase boards, tech tools to gather student responses, Collins Type I & Type II writing, conferencing, reflective writing...the list goes on and on...you have tons of other great ideas for how to know what kids know. 

BOOM! That was simple, right?!

As a BONUS, Schmoker provides us with additions for an interactive "lecture-style" lesson (which sometimes we have to do) and a literacy lesson (which we do a lot!). Here we go!

Interactive Lecture Lesson (Direct Teaching)

  • HOOK! question or link to previous learning (anticipatory step)
  • The Five-Minute Limit: "if we want all kids to learn and enjoy the learning, we simply cannot lecture for long, uninterrupted periods of time." According to the research, teacher talk time ≤ 5 minutes before giving students a chance to process the information (write, talk, reflect). 
  • Small Steps & Guided Practice: A few activities delivered in small, ordered steps, between which students practice with new knowledge by talking, writing, or both. Periodic thinking reviews = give students chance to process learning by "drawing conclusions and making inferences!"
  • Formative Assessment: "students using formative assessment perform a full letter grade better than those in classes without it." Student growth = multiple reps with checks throughout.  Enough said.
Picture
Picture

Authentic Literacy

The BIG THREE
  1. ​Close Reading + Underlining/Annotating of text
  2. Discussion of the text
  3. Writing about the text (informed by close reading, annotation & discussion
​Other necessary pieces...
  • Vocabulary instruction: Tier 2 (Academic Vocabulary) + Tier 3 (Subject-Specific Vocabulary)
  • Establishing a PURPOSE for reading: Include intellectual skills (inferring, analyzing, synthesizing, problem solving)
  • Modeling of higher-order reading: YOU are the best reader of literature, science, math, social studies in the room...show them how it's done!
  • Guided Practice: doing what you showed them how to do while you monitor
  • Independent Practice: After students practice a lot...are they ready to do it on their own?
  • Whole-Class Discussion & Debate: ALL people enjoy sharing what they have learned from reading. 83 % of teachers indicated that "discussion and debate" is a method that appeals to students the most and is key in teaching students to persevere through a task. Bingo!
  • Writing w/ Reference to Text: Across the curriculum, day-to-day writing assignments should be simple (review, argue, draw conclusions, problem solve, synthesize, arrange, organize the data, list, outline...seeing some patterns with intellectual skills). FREQUENCY is paramount. Not all writing needs to be formally graded (just checked off for completion; Collins type 1 & 2) so it needs to be happening pretty constantly and consistently. 
Picture

So What?

As I reflect on these templates, I find myself making connections to work we are already doing and pieces I see in your classes all the time - LDC, Word Generation, MCD, Close Reading, Annotating, Collins, constant formative assessment and guided practices. BUT. Where are we at in the process of students becoming independent in their learning through these methods? Are we making our work more simple, or are we complicating it because of the pressures we feel from state testing, SLOs, O/S/E, data. data. data? 
Complete this survey as a way to reflect on your own practice (anonymous!)

Now What?

Growth only comes through incremental steps towards a goal and by practicing, failing, and persevering. What is one goal you can set in simplifying your practice and FOCUSING on most effective learning strategies for your students? Reply in the comments below. Thank you for all your hard work and effort to continue the growth! 
Picture
26 Comments
Deana Mahlandt
11/14/2015 09:07:49 pm

My goal is to limit my instruction time ("lecturing") to provide my students more time to THINK and REFLECT.

Reply
Peggy Smith
11/15/2015 09:45:31 am

After completing the survey, I realize that I need to limit my time instructing with more time for students to process what they have learned...more formative assessing/checking for understanding.

Reply
Natalie Martin
11/16/2015 08:52:13 pm

I keep coming back to Teacher's College when I see the information about limiting instructional time and provide time for the students to practice. I agree about more informative assessing. I still have to master the use of exit tickets.

cheryl biers
12/2/2015 07:49:56 am

I agree! I know I talk more than 5 minutes. Although

Jess
11/16/2015 09:01:36 am

What I liked about this chapter is it didn't tell us to NEVER lecture, but reminded us to stop throughout and get students more involved in the process - making it interactive. It made me think about some of the lectures I sat through in college - that stand and deliver format only works for a small # of learners!

Reply
Holly Miller
11/16/2015 06:51:02 am

I would really like to help my students develop "debate" skills seeing that 83% of teachers see that this appeals to kids. Students need these skills to thrive in high school, college and beyond. I plan to keep working on this in my teaching by helping students refine their thoughts and use evidence to support their claims!

Reply
Kyle Weaver
11/16/2015 09:50:38 am

My goal is to integrate the Science Fusion books better into my lessons. I need to use the book more to my advantage rather than just using it because I have to.

Reply
Jess
11/16/2015 10:37:22 am

Do you think your textbook creates opportunities for modeling, guided practice & formative assessments throughout? Some textbooks do a better job at this than others!

Reply
Holly Miller
12/1/2015 02:44:34 pm

I love this idea! Science Fiction is a great way to engage kids especially reluctant readers.

Reply
Stephanie Smith
11/16/2015 10:55:46 am

My goal is to provide opportunities to discuss and write in my math classroom. The structure of this is a little different than some of the things this chapter highlights but I have tried to make it work in my own "math" way. I have found it to be difficult to find information about writing in a math class. I have found a 4 step problem solving method with Big Ideas, I have had students work on open-ended assignments/discussions with schoology and lots of modeling. I am trying to include more vocabulary work in class as well.

Reply
Deana Mahlandt
11/16/2015 12:17:17 pm

I LOVE your goal! Finding ways to implement writing into a math lesson is always more challenging. Just having them write a reflection about their thinking/work is great! :) :) :)

Reply
Jess
11/16/2015 02:07:42 pm

Chapter 7 of this Focus book is called "Making Math Meaningful"! It has some great sentence starters for writing in math, especially how to structure argumentation of different ideas. I think you'll like it!

Reply
Stephanie Smith
11/16/2015 09:47:46 pm

Yea!!! Looking forward to reading it!

Natalie Martin
11/16/2015 08:55:31 pm

I need to focus on providing clearer goals for the students so my focus is going to continue working on rewriting my scales for the students to have daily goals that they can see lead up to the standard. I also want to try a little more read alouds. I used to do them more often, so I think as I break into fiction the second half of the year, I am going to include them.

Reply
Deana Mahlandt
11/17/2015 05:40:38 am

Read alouds are such a valuable tool that unfortunately have gotten "lost in the shuffle."

Reply
Peggy Smith
11/23/2015 07:01:22 am

I agree!! Read alouds are a great way to introduce a skill; the kids seem to love them as well.

Amy Bunting
11/17/2015 11:00:54 am

I need to integrate more TDA writing prompts into my classroom. It is a looooooong, extremely guided and time consuming task, however, my students need to practice writing and responding to TDA prompts. I struggle give up that many periods focusing on writing just one piece but it is very valuable and needs to be done!

Reply
Justine Webster
11/18/2015 09:25:42 am

I need to try to better use the Science Fusion book. So often, I think what we read gets "lost" and it is my job to help the students to better understand what they are reading. I need to shorten the time and use more assessment tools along the way.

Reply
Kevin Traylor
11/23/2015 06:02:00 pm

In my LSS classroom, I am constantly modeling and checking for understanding, but I think I need to work on implementing clearer goals for the whole class when I am doing whole class instruction, like when I am using News 2 U as content.

Reply
April Russell
11/25/2015 10:25:57 am

I need to set more time aside for the students to individually practice what we're covering. I realize that I am doing 60% instructing/modeling, 20% whole class discussion/debate, 10% individual modeling, 10% assessment. Less talking--more doing!

Reply
Kathleen Paul
12/1/2015 10:26:47 pm

I also feel that I need to give more responsibility over to the students. I find that I am answering questions for them rather than guiding them to find the answer. I want to create an environment where students are active participants in their learning.

Reply
Kristina Suter
12/1/2015 12:31:59 pm

I want to more frequently incorporate writing as a form of reflection and as a way to check for understanding in various content areas.

Reply
Marie Cowan
12/2/2015 07:42:50 am

I need to do more practice and more formative assessment and maybe even a little more lecturing each period. I tend to try to let the kids figure it out too much on their own and need to explain content a little more. I also need to stop and assess their understanding with TPT or something similar.

Reply
Bill Kurau
12/2/2015 08:44:06 am

I really need to work on doing formative assessments. I spend a lot of time delivering content, but not a lot of time checking to see if the content has been "learned." I do try to call on random students, but sometimes it is frustrating to do these random checks and get the "I don't know." Then I have to call on those students that are always paying attention. Sigh

Reply
Felisa Miller
12/2/2015 11:03:42 am

Writing!!! I started off the year with lots of Math writing, but now it's gone to the wayside with trying to get moving and cover more content.....

Reply
Rose Gentile
12/7/2015 08:19:03 am

My goal is to create independence in my students. I want them to own their own learning and teach one another the skills that I am providing. I need to work on releasing them and trusting that they will flourish.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2020
    July 2019
    February 2019
    October 2017
    April 2017
    August 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Change Theory
    Creativity
    Grandpa
    Innovation
    Professional Development
    Vision/mission
    #whyIteach

    RSS Feed

Jessica Garrigan
Coordinator of Instructional Technology
​​Lancaster, PA