Issue 87: Apr 19, 2010 Connections Newsletter

Do I Really Need to do Extending Thinking Activities With My Students?

Carol Gardner
Apr 19, 2010

A great Extending Thinking strategy to use with students is called "The Top Ten List." It is sort of a spin off of the Top Ten idea used by late night comedians. Students list from 10 down to 1 the most important reasons to support a position ending with the #1 and most important reason. We will use that strategy here to answer the question, "Do I really need to do Extending Thinking activities with my students?"

The answer is absolutely and here's the Top Ten Reasons why!

10. Extending Thinking moves students beyond acquisition of knowledge and skills to authentic use.

9. Extending Thinking activities facilitate retention and transfer.

8. Extending Thinking is a logical progression in the gradual release of responsibility model requiring students to assume more responsibility while the teacher serves as a facilitator or coach.

7. Extending Thinking activities tend to be highly engaging for students.

6. 75% of state test items come from the Extending Thinking level.

5. The world we live in requires us to be able to think and solve problems in authentic contexts.

4. Extending Thinking deepens understanding of content.

3. Extending Thinking results in new insights about content.

2. State Standards require Extending Thinking.

1. Extending Thinking is the #1 strategy that impacts achievement!

So how might you use this easy strategy with your students? First, explicitly teach and model supporting a position with reasons and facts. Then, give students examples of some Top Ten List models. Finally, have students use the strategy to list the Top Reasons for something.

Extending Thinking activities do not have to be lengthy or as time-consuming as the previous example demonstrates. The goal is to have students use thinking strategies to process the content they are learning in new ways thus deepening understanding and solidifying learning.



GET ON THE BUS! Using Field Trips to Build Prior Knowledge

Toni Enloe
Apr 19, 2010

Field trips. Are they opportunities that enhance student understanding or disconnected experiences that waste valuable instructional time? You have probably experienced both. So how do you make sure that the field trip experience achieves the intended goal?

As students are constantly bombarded with new information, it becomes necessary for them to find ways to construct meaning and to assimilate the new information into their existing knowledge base. A lack of sufficient background knowledge can become a roadblock to their learning.

When do you usually take field trips? Many of us use them as culminating activities after a unit of instruction. Consider this. What would happen if your students had the field trip experience prior to the unit of instruction? Field trips as launch activities can be an ideal opportunity to preview new vocabulary, build prior knowledge on new topics and provide a real-life context for new learning. When thoughtfully planned and effectively executed, they can be both engaging and motivating for students.

Things to consider1. How will this experience help support the learning of new material?
2. How can I make this trip both engaging and educational for my students?
3. How will I ensure that all students will be able to participate in the field experience?
4. What preparation will I need to do with my students before we go?
5. What will I have my students do with the information?

Planning and executing a successful field trip

  • Be sure to visit the site ahead of time (preferably with a colleague), in order to plan activities for your students that will address your instructional goals. Take lots of notes. Many sites have preplanned activities for students and are willing to send you an overview of each of their programs. Examine the plans with a discriminating eye since many are generic and may not meet your needs. The more you know about a destination, the better equipped you will be to handle any unexpected challenges.
  • Ensure that the field trip will compliment the curriculum and meet your need to create background knowledge. When planning your field trip, consider locations that will help students make the strongest connections.
  • Make sure that students have the necessary preparation before the trip. Are there vocabulary words that need to be taught prior to their visit? Ex. aerodynamics (Kennedy Space Center), anti-Semitism, ghettos (Holocaust Museum) Teaching some of the vocabulary that they will hear helps students make sense of the new learning.
  • Plan in route activities that will motivate students, enhance their learning experiences and provide much needed breaks.
  • Make sure that all district field trip guidelines are followed with regard to board policies, student/chaperone ratios (10:1 for middle and high school is a good rule of thumb, smaller for elementary), transportation procedures and fund raising policies.
  • Meet with parents prior to the trip to communicate your goals and expectations for their children.
  • Meet with all chaperones to make sure they understand the goals and expectations and their roles and responsibilities.

Things students can do

  • Scavenger hunts for information at a location- Create a scavenger hunt that will help students locate some key facts about a location.
  • Map it out - Give students a map of the location. Have them trace the route and calculate the distance using the map scale.
  • Reflection journals - Have students reflect on the experiences of the day and then discuss those with the students during evening activities.
  • Hands on activities - These are great for science and social studies field trips. Students can calculate the carrying capacity of a stream.
  • Graphic organizers - Create and have students complete a graphic organizer to manage the new information. These can be used later as a reference.

Note to teachers: Take plenty of pictures. These can be used throughout the unit to help activate your lessons.

Where to go:

Local trips:

  • School yard
  • Museums
  • Aquariums
  • Historical sites
  • Old cemeteries
  • Natural landmarks
  • Local businesses
  • Farms
  • Zoos

Out of town trips (to name only a few):

  • Charleston,SC (Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Plantations, Downtown, Charles Town Landing)
  • Penn Center on St. Helena Island in SC
  • Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC
  • Baltimore Aquarium, MD
  • Fort McHenry, MD
  • Hermitage, TN
  • Holocaust Museums (Washington DC, Tampa, FL, Houston, TX)
  • St. Augustine, FL
  • Kennedy Space Center, FL
  • Gettysburg, PA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Mt. Vernon, VA
  • Atlanta, GA
  • Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA
  • Washington, DC sites (Smithsonian museums, Capitol, White House) NOTE: Make sure that you have information about the tour as many require tickets.

Are we missing some really good field trip locations? Write us and let us know and we will post the additional locations in an upcoming newsletter!

Can't afford to go anywhere?

Virtual field trips:

http://sitesalive.com/ (expeditions around the world)

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Each floor and exhibit is a virtual tour.

SEA WORLD - This site allows you to visit Seaworld photo's, videos, virtual tours of every species at Seaworld.

Monet - This guides you through a biography of his life.

Metropolitan Museum of Art - You can take a virtual tour of the museum, you choose what you what to view.

The White House - Take a tour of the White House. Art, Architecture, Furnishings, See rooms like the Oval Office.

Carnegie Hall - This is great for music class

The Civil War - A Virtual Field Trip for your Social Studies class

Countries of the World - A lesson for Social Studies.

Early American Colonies - A trip back to early America

The United States National Symbols - The pieces that make up America

Native American Dwellings - Information about the types of housing used in different regions and climates.

The Great Depression and WWII - A living history of our grandparents

Colonial Life - How did early Americans live?

While field trips require a lot of energy to plan and execute, the benefits for students can last a lifetime. Providing experiences that allow students to become actively engaged, make connections, and build background knowledge will contribute to the deeper learning of skills and concepts.



Why Do I Need to Include Writing in All Classrooms?

Laurian Phillips
Apr 19, 2010

Writing serves as a type of formative assessment. It gives you insight into how students are thinking about the information they have learned. You are able to see the connections students are making to other content and to real world contexts. Writing is a means to improve the thinking and reasoning ability of students in academic subjects. Writing activities increase the quality of learning by helping students clarify ideas and relationships between them.

I recently trained teachers at Garner Elementary School in Polk County, FL. The leadership team met after the training and decided that writing should be a component in every classroom every day. I could not believe my eyes when I returned one month later. The summary point writing that the students were doing in every grade level in every subject was astounding! Every classroom posted student work with writing guided by a graphic organizer. I watched as students summarized at the end of every class by writing two or three sentences. One of things that amazed me the most was that the students did this with very little prompting and took it seriously. They wrote their summaries in less than 4 minutes.

I asked the teachers how they got their students to do this, since I usually hear "My students can't write in that amount of time." Or "it would take too long to do that every day." Or "I wouldn't get quality work." The response was the same from room to room. "Our principal expected us to do this, told us he would be monitoring after about two weeks to see that it was happening in every classroom, and so we simply expect our students to do it."

They all agreed that using a graphic organizer to guide the writing was the key to making the process easier. "When I collect my students' summaries at the end of class, it is quick and easy to see who got it and who didn't," said one teacher. "Then I know if I can go on or if I need to re-teach the lesson to the whole class or work with a few students to clarify information."

Applebee, Langer, and Mullis (1987) concluded that writing serves as a tool for three thought processes basic to learning: (a) to draw on relevant knowledge and experience in preparation for new activities, (b) to consolidate and review new information and experiences, and (c) to reformulate and extend knowledge. Writing-to-learn activities cause students to think, not just record what the teacher has said or what they have read.

For more information on how to teach writing in the content areas, see the Writing Assignments notebooks in the Literacy Collection.

Source:

Applebee, A.N., Langer, J.A., & Mullis, I.V. (1987). Learning to be literate in America:
Reading. writing, and reason. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.