Issue 82: Mar 15, 2010 Connections Newsletter
Activating Strategies: Choosing the “Just Right” Focus
Carol Brewer
Mar 15, 2010
Activating Strategies are the "hook and link" for the Acquisition Lesson. They "hook" to motivate and "link" to prior knowledge. Many times Activating Strategies are focused on the story students are reading instead of the reading comprehension strategy they are being taught. For example, the story the students are reading is: "My Grandfather" and the reading comprehension strategy being taught is main idea and detail. Prior knowledge is often activated by asking questions such as, "Tell me about your grandfather," or, "Name some of your favorite things to do with your grandfather," instead of asking questions that focus on main idea and details, for example, "What is a detail?" or "What is a main idea?". How students answer these questions will determine the level at which the comprehension strategy should be taught.
Reading comprehension activities can make a great Activating Strategy. If students are active during the Activating Strategy, they seem to be more motivated to learn what is being taught. For example, when teaching main idea and details use, "The Main Idea and Detail Envelope Please." This game consists of several sets of 4 envelopes with a related topic, main idea and 2 details written on the outside of each of the envelopes. On the inside of the envelope is an index card with the correct word "topic," "main idea," or "detail."
For example:
Topic: Dolphins
Main Idea: Dolphins are interesting animals
Details: Dolphins are fun to watch on one envelope and Dolphins are fun to read about on another envelope.
Each student is given an envelope. Students group themselves according to the topic. Students talk about their envelope and predict if they have the topic, main idea or detail. When the teacher calls out, "And the Envelope Please," the students open their envelope to see if their prediction is correct. This game is easy to use and very motivating for the students. The most important thing is that it allows you to determine the level of student understanding. If students make correct predictions, then you can apply this understanding to the lesson. If students have problems with their predictions, then use more time to model the main idea and details.
Refer to the Reading Comprehension Strategies notebooks in the Literacy Collection for this activating strategy and many more!Activating Strategies are the "hook and link" for the Acquisition Lesson. They "hook" to motivate and "link" to prior knowledge. Many times Activating Strategies are focused on the story students are reading instead of the reading comprehension strategy they are being taught. For example, the story the students are reading is: "My Grandfather" and the reading comprehension strategy being taught is main idea and detail. Prior knowledge is often activated by asking questions such as, "Tell me about your grandfather," or, "Name some of your favorite things to do with your grandfather," instead of asking questions that focus on main idea and details, for example, "What is a detail?" or "What is a main idea?". How students answer these questions will determine the level at which the comprehension strategy should be taught.
Reading comprehension activities can make a great Activating Strategy. If students are active during the Activating Strategy, they seem to be more motivated to learn what is being taught. For example, when teaching main idea and details use, "The Main Idea and Detail Envelope Please." This game consists of several sets of 4 envelopes with a related topic, main idea and 2 details written on the outside of each of the envelopes. On the inside of the envelope is an index card with the correct word "topic," "main idea," or "detail."
For example:
Topic: Dolphins
Main Idea: Dolphins are interesting animals
Details: Dolphins are fun to watch on one envelope and Dolphins are fun to read about on another envelope.
Each student is given an envelope. Students group themselves according to the topic. Students talk about their envelope and predict if they have the topic, main idea or detail. When the teacher calls out, "And the Envelope Please," the students open their envelope to see if their prediction is correct. This game is easy to use and very motivating for the students. The most important thing is that it allows you to determine the level of student understanding. If students make correct predictions, then you can apply this understanding to the lesson. If students have problems with their predictions, then use more time to model the main idea and details.
Refer to the Reading Comprehension Strategies notebooks in the Literacy Strategies for this activating strategy and many more!
Stumbling Blocks to Success
Barbara McSwain
Mar 15, 2010
Years ago, I noticed a colleague that was always busy. This person reminded me of a gerbil on a wheel...always going around and around, but never arriving at a desired destination. At times it appeared as if a larger and more expensive wheel was purchased, but with the same results. As I observe schools and wonder on almost a daily basis if there is a real sense of urgency present, I think not. There are 3 Big Problems that are rarely addressed in education.
First, like my friend on the wheel, everyone is busy being busy! Busy work is: Grading, meeting without focus, too many faculty meetings, bus duty, obsessing and worrying, filling out forms, dealing with discipline, gossiping, straightening. In this type of environment rarely is learning occurring. Recently I heard a complaint that a teacher's planning time had been used for planning lessons of all things! Productive work is: Collaborative Planning, organizing for learning, standards driven curriculum, instructing for learning, assessing for learning, and making connections.
As educators we must realize that the difference between productive work and busy work is that productive work provides quality learning opportunities at all time. The busy work has to be taken care of but it cannot become the focus of the day.
The second biggest problem is somewhere along the way we lost common sense. We have all heard that "common sense is not so common anymore" but we have not addressed the issue. Why do we try something on an intermittent basis with no real commitment and then exclaim "this does not work at my school." We are unique, you know? Do they really make students and homes differently? Do we have teachers that only do what the text tells them and never check to see if they are aligned with state standards by actually comparing the online state standards with the texts? Or do we just take the publishers word that the texts are aligned. Is the text meeting the standard that by 2011 that the target is 75% higher level thinking on state and national tests? Are we failing to address the Extending Thinking issue? Are we still trying to teach students what to think and not how to think? Are we still allocating time for non-essentials? Every minute that I devote as a teacher to non-essentials is one minute lost to essential state standards content. What if my builder chose to include non-essentials that I had not included in my blue prints for a house? What is the difference? How many of us have been conditioned to the "one day training: do what you will with it and then forget it syndrome?" Training is not the complete answer. Certainly we need guidance on research based strategies, but it is what we do with it when we return to our classrooms that ultimately makes the difference. As Ron Edmonds has stated, "WE can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to know in order to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact we haven't so far."
Common sense is allowing ourselves to make mistakes but maintain consistency in how we use and apply the LEARNING-FOCUSED Model. We must use all of our available resources to develop plans for learning. This includes our fellow teachers as well as manipulatives and print materials. All lessons and standards do not need the same amount of devotion in relationship to time. We must prioritize lessons and units in order to allocate time for acquiring knowledge and extending thinking on the most essential concepts and skills. It is imperative that we allocate time for what will have the greatest positive impact on student learning. Hence, applying what we learn in workshops/training consistently and pervasively is far more important than the training itself.
The third and final problem is the belief in a magic bullet. There is not a quick fix to increase student achievement. This often leads to the gerbil on the wheel, Christmas tree approach. More is better should not be the mantra. Less is often more. While in some settings "one size fits all" programs may appear to work for the short term, most often schools do not get the long term results that they desire because these programs do not address the basic principles of learning.
Learn more about this and other terrific principles in The Amazing Book of Connections for Learning.
I want to strongly recommend that leaders attend training and use the LEARNING-FOCUSED Starting and Sustaining Exemplary Practices notebook. Starting and Sustaining Exemplary Practices will help leaders to identify what to do and when to do it. You will be able to devise a 2-4 year plan to reach Balanced Achievement and exceed your goals. I know that together we can accomplish these goals and avoid the 3 major problems that are stumbling blocks to success!
Summarizing - It Is Worth the Time
Bill Blynt
Mar 15, 2010
Summarizing is defined as the ability to produce a comprehensive but condensed recapitulation of learned information. This learning strategy, when consistently used as an instructional tool, has been proven to have a significant positive impact on learning (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, Classroom Instruction That Works, 2001). Summarization requires that students review a great deal of information, identify the most important points and then produce a synthesized statement of the most salient points. It is the student who must extract the information, weed out the irrelevant and produce a summary that identifies the key points supported by significant details.
Summarizing is important because it benefits both you and the student. For students, summarizing provides an opportunity for them to create a ‘schema' for new information that will allow them to remember and retain it longer. During the summarization process, students grapple with new information. As they participate in this learning strategy, confusions, misconceptions and misunderstandings surface. These misconceptions can then be addressed either through the activity or in a future teaching experience. Summarizing also provides an opportunity for students to practice specific learning skills such as decision-making and sequencing while at the same time provide them an opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of their understanding of the new information.
Summarizing serves as a check for understanding. Based on the responses of the students, you are able to obtain an informal indicator of comprehension. Future teaching can then be adapting based on the information obtained (Do I re-teach or go on?). Summarizing also provides evidence of a student's ability to utilize certain life-long learning skills such as prioritizing, sequencing and identifying main ideas.
A major misconception regarding Summarizing Strategies is that it is only done at the end of a lesson. Summarization should be distributed throughout the lesson. Lessons should be designed to include opportunities to synthesize new information or practice new skills during the teaching component as well as at the conclusion of instruction. Summarization opportunities embedded throughout the lesson serve as formative assessments. These "checks for understanding" inform as to a student's progress toward understanding the new information or mastering the new skill. The feedback collected provides the opportunity for timely intervention if needed or the confidence to move on in the curriculum.
Consistent use of summarizing strategies as a learning strategy will increase student achievement. Carefully plan these events and be sure they are aligned to learning goals. Research emphasizes the importance of breaking down the process of summarizing into a structure students can understand. The activities designed for use during the lesson should result in student's having the knowledge necessary to perform the Summarizing Strategy at the end of the lesson. The end-of-the-lesson Summarizing Strategy must require the student to demonstrate an understanding of the answer to the original Lesson Essential Question.
For more ideas on Summarizing see Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquistion Lessons.
