Issue 80: Mar 01, 2010 Connections Newsletter
Madeline Hunter Had the Right Idea
Debbie Willingham
Mar 01, 2010
I was having a conversation with a group of teachers during a recent workshop on Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquisition Lessons when Madeline Hunter's name came up. Those of us who started teaching in the seventies immediately related to the speaker's comment about Hunter's Direct Instruction model. But then the complaints started. "Why are you going back to all that old stuff?" "Isn't LEARNING-FOCUSED just changing the names of what she did?" "I used to like her lesson plan; whatever happened to planning that way?" "If LEARNING-FOCUSED is similar, why not just do it the old way?"
For those who wonder how much it has evolved from Hunter's model, a comparison of Hunter and LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies follows:
Hunter's Objectives were defined as what the student should know, understand and do as a result of the teaching. They were based primarily on the text or on local decisions about curriculum. In LEARNING-FOCUSED language, Lesson Essential Questions are based on curriculum standards, clearly conveying to students what they should know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the lesson. Research now tells us that conveying the intent in the form of a question makes it more obvious to students that the expectation to answer it is their responsibility.
Madeline Hunter's Standards were the expectations that students would be held accountable for, in other words the standard to which they would be held (note: the term is not the same as our current use of standards i.e. state standards). Using Hunter's definition of standards, in LEARNING-FOCUSED lessons there is the expectation of a high and appropriate degree of rigor (there is a vertical progression of rigor on the given topic through the grades), and all students should be able to answer the lesson essential question.
The Anticipatory Set was Hunter's term for the "hook" to grab the students' attention and put students in a receptive frame of mind at the beginning of the lesson. In a LEARNING-FOCUSED Acquisition Lesson this is the Activating Strategy, the beginning activity to pull in students' prior knowledge, to introduce them to and get them interested in a new topic, and/or introduce key vocabulary to be used in the lesson.
Teaching for Madeline Hunter included three main components. Input included the teacher providing the information or content needed to the whole class. Checking for Understanding meant determining whether students had "gotten it" before proceeding and included the use of questioning strategies beyond mere recall (include higher levels of Bloom's). Modeling was the term used for what had just been taught to show students examples; students were taken to the application level to come up with their own answers and examples.
Teaching Strategies using the LEARNING-FOCUSED model include the use of whole group instruction with graphic organizers in which you provide and show students how to organize and understand the information/content. Collaborative pairs of students stop along the way during a lesson to answer questions and discuss their learning so far (distributed summarizing and practice). We now know from research that students need to talk about what they are learning rather than just hear. In addition, Assessment Prompts are those points during the lesson in which students will be held accountable for a portion of the lesson just taught by answering a question, explaining a process, etc. to ensure their understanding before proceeding. In some lessons, moving from the acquisition of new knowledge to its immediate application through an extending thinking activity or assignment is also appropriate; or in some cases extending thinking may comprise its own separate lesson.
Hunter's Guided Practice was the opportunity for each student to demonstrate understanding while under direct supervision. In a LEARNING-FOCUSED lesson, practice and assignments provide the opportunity for each student to practice a skill or process or to use content to demonstrate understanding while under direct supervision, or as homework only if and when students know how and what to do independently.
Hunter's lesson ended with Closure, the actions or statements designed to bring the lesson to an appropriate conclusion and to help students bring things together in their own minds. The LEARNING-FOCUSED Summarizing Strategy involves having the students summarize and pull together important facts through a short activity or strategy, written or oral, answering the essential question in some way. Research now tells us that the students themselves need to do the summarizing in order to better internalize new learning.
Finally, Hunter's Independent Practice was for reinforcement, in different contexts, on a repeating schedule through the course/year. This would correlate to LEARNING-FOCUSED Structured Monthly/Unit Review - going back to content taught earlier at the end of each month or unit to continually review, add to, and put together throughout the course/year. Unit Culminating Activities also provide students with independent practice.
In essence, the components of the LEARNING-FOCUSED lesson plan and Hunter's lesson plan are very similar. However, the research that has been done in the past thirty plus years has revised, finessed, improved, and elaborated on Hunter's direct instruction model. We now know definitively which strategies help students learn best. LEARNING-FOCUSED puts all of that together in a compilation of the best, research-based strategies that all teachers, in every subject and every grade, should be using.
Click here to view more information on the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model.
Providing Students Structure to Assist Summarizing
Bill Blynt
Mar 01, 2010
A great deal of research has been conducted on the impact that student summarization has on learning. The meta-analysis of this research conducted by Robert Marzano, Debra Pickering and Jane Pollock and released in the book Classroom Instruction that Works concludes that when students summarize their learning on a consistent basis, achievement levels improve substantially. Providing a structure for students to organize their thoughts prior to being asked to summarizing can increase the quality of the summary. Because most students are visual learners, the use of a visual tool (graphic organizer) can assist them as they organize information learned during a lesson to later be used in the summarizing process. It is the process of summarizing that increases understanding and retention of new material.
When using graphic organizers to assist students, select an organizer that matches the text structure of a reading assignment or the type of summary students will be asked to perform after participating in a learning activity. It is critical to purposely select an organizer aligned to the expected outcome. Model how to use the organizer before expecting students to use it own their own. Graphic organizers encourage students to manipulate the data provided in a reading selection, class notes or any type of learning activity. According to Dr. Kylene Beers, Professor of Reading at the University of Houston, "Graphic organizers are tools that help your brain think." As students complete the organizer they are able to manipulate information, refine their thinking and make connections. These connections form the basis of their summary.
Below are websites that are a rich source of graphic organizers:
http://toolbox.learningfocused.com/?action=example_gos (login to Toolbox, go to Tools, then select Graphic Organizer Templates)
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingp...ecificgos.html
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/SCORE/actbank/torganiz.htm
http://www.edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm (six free downloads)
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/gra...able/6293.html
http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/
http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/
http://www.thinkport.org/Technology/template.tp
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic73.htm
http://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm
http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_go.html
Walkthroughs versus Formal Evaluations
Learning-Focused
Mar 01, 2010
Many teachers (including veteran teachers) get nervous when an administrator or support specialist enters their classroom. This is a natural human reaction; we all want to be doing what is right and expected. There is, however, one way to help alleviate some of this stress. If we all understand the role of a walkthrough as opposed to a formal evaluation, the level of anxiety tends to drop.
Many administrators and support staff follow the walkthrough model we recommend at LEARNING-FOCUSED. Let us be clear from the start. When a walkthrough is taking place, the administrator is not looking for everything you have learned from the LEARNING-FOCUSED workshop(s) and/or other trainings in which you have participated. A walkthrough is a glimpse into what is happening in your classroom at a particular time. It is through these multiple different portraits of your work that observers can get a feel for what is going on in your class. Ideally, they will take place during different class periods or at various times in the same period to provide insight into what is happening at the beginning, middle and end of your teaching. Walkthroughs give administrators and others a chance to see you working, your students working, collaboratively and independently, and interactions between you and your students. They help the administration and support staff be more involved in the daily life of the school and be seen as a presence that belongs in the halls and classrooms, not just in an office. Walkthroughs also provide an opportunity for classroom teachers to receive non-evaluative feedback. Since they occur at different times of the day and/or in different class period they enable the administrator to see you are incorporating exemplary practices into your classroom activities.
Walkthroughs are not intended to be formally evaluative or adversarial events. The idea is to provide valuable information to both teachers and administrators on what is happening every day in the classroom. Walkthroughs help clear up misconceptions and handle misapprehensions about expectations and performance. They provide a conduit of communication between the teacher and administrator/support staffer allowing everyone to be more effective and successful in their job.
