Issue 50: Jun 01, 2009 Connections Newsletter

9 Motivating and Meaningful Things Students Can Do

Toni Enloe
Jun 01, 2009

One Connections reader recently asked, "How do we motivate students who have all the advantages but are content to just 'float along'... content with mediocrity?"  Examining the tasks that we ask our students to complete can provide us with the answers.  Do the tasks help students make connections to their world? If the answer is "no", students may become unmotivated and bored. Activities that help students make authentic and meaningful connections (Level 3 in the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Model) solidify learning for our students. In an article by John Lounsbury, "Understanding and Appreciating the Wonder Years", he identifies several characteristics that may help guide us in designing mean ingful learning experiences for our students.  Based on research of young adolescents, Lounsbury identified the following generalizations about 10-15 year olds.

  • They are by nature explorers, curious and adventuresome.

  • They have intellectual capacities seldom tapped by traditional schooling.

  • They learn best through interaction and activity rather than by listening.

  • They seek interaction with adults and opportunities to engage in activities that have inherent value.

When students can make connections, they begin to see the value of their newly acquired knowledge beyond the school setting.


Meaningful Activities for Students:


1.  Read aloud to younger students.  Former middle school teacher, Mary Leslie Anderson, decided to have her struggling readers read to K-2 students at a local elementary school for Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Many of these students had younger siblings at home that they cared for after school, so the goals included having students read with fluency and build confidence in their own abilities. About one month out, students spent a few minutes each week reading their self selected picture books to adult volunteers.  When the day arrived to travel to the elementary school, a nervous group of 8th graders gathered for the walk.  When they returned, they were asked to reflect on their experience.  Many said tha t they were initially anxious about reading in front of others but enjoyed it and wanted the opportunity to do it again.  Mrs. Anderson observed, "I really saw many benefits to the students who participated in the reading project.  Students showed an increase in their self-esteem and reading fluency while demonstrating the ability to take charge of their own learning as they prepared the project."

2.  Create a team or class newspaper and place them in local businesses.

3.  Have students publish a literary magazine.

4.  Design informational brochures for the local Chamber of Commerce that highlight historical attractions.

5.  Have students design or maintain the school website that includes student art, writing and accomplishments.

6.  Create picture books for younger children on topics in science, math, and social studies.

7.  Publish a collection of local oral history interviews.  Northwest Middle Sc hool in Travelers Rest, South Carolina had groups of student! s interv iew local community members about topics of historical interest.  A book was published each year for twenty years and now they are producing DVD's using the latest digital technology.  The books and DVD's are sold in the community to support the program.  In the process of researching, interviewing, writing, storyboarding, etc. the students cover a wide range of academic skills.  One of the greatest benefits for students is seeing their work being shared with an audience beyond the classroom.

8.  Participate in Elementary Science and Math Fun Day activities.  Many elementary schools have days devoted to science and math where students participate in relevant and fun activities.  Offer to let older students design and conduct the activities with younger children.

9.  Have students teach their parents.  Use PTA nights to focus on specific subjects, and have students take their parents through some of the learning experiences.

When students know their work is going to be seen, read, or heard by others, their enthusiasm and motivation increase building their confidence through competence.
For innovative ideas on making meaningful, personal connections, you may want to review the Scaffolding Grade Level Learning book!

Special thanks to Lynn Duncan, Northwest Middle School and Mary Leslie Anderson, Greenville High School, Greenville County Schools, SC, for their contributions.



Using Assessment Prompts to Improve Teaching and Learning

Bill Blynt
Jun 01, 2009

Assessments facilitate learning by providing teachers with timely information on how their students are progressing.  Assessments that are administered on a consistent basis as part of regular classroom instruction can assist teachers in determining their students' progress.  Depending on the results of these assessments, teachers can make informed decisions on whether or not their students have mastered the content OR if there is a needs for additional instruction to further assist students as they work to mastery.  Creating lesson assessment prompts as part of the lesson planning process will promote the use of this type of formative assessment to influence and improve the teaching and learning process.

Course and lesson instructional goals are driven by State Standards.  As such, it becomes critical that teachers develop lessons driven by the content embedded in their Standards and build in a system to check on students' progress toward mastering these goals.  The Lesson Essential Question provides the framework for the lesson.  It is introduced at the beginning of the lesson and then used as a means to check for understanding at the conclusion of the lesson.  Critical to a student being able to answer the Lesson Essential Question is their success in understanding the knowledge and/or skills being developed during the instructional activities designed by the teacher. Creating Assessment Prompts and distributing them throughout the lesson will provide the teacher with an opportunity to monitor student progress and adjust instruction if necessary.  Student responses to these Assessment Prompts will provide teachers with meaningful and immediate feedback on their students learning progress.  Students must understand the content reflected in the series of assessment prompts in order to have accumulated the knowledge necessary to respond accurately when answering the Lesson Essential Question.

Creating Assessment Prompts should be part of the lesson planning process.  Creating prompts requires a teacher to clearly define what a student needs to know in order to answer the Lesson Essential Question.  Once identified, this information becomes the basis for Assessment Prompts that will be distributed throughout the teaching component of a lesson.  Teachers must determine the lesson sequence and align the Assessment Prompts to the instruction. Better yet, let the Assessment Prompts drive the instructional experiences! Teachers must also determine what strategy or format will be used with students as they respond to the prompt.  Finally, teachers should consider what alternative instructional strategies might be employed if student responses indicate a lack of understanding of the required content.

Assessment Prompts provide teachers with the opportunity for timely intervention during the instructional process. Student res ponses will serve as a rich source of information teachers as they monitor student progress.  This information enables the teacher to determine if it is time to move on, or if additional and/or alternative instruction must be provided.  According to the work of Thomas Guskey, "Classroom assessments that serve as meaningful sources of information....and are well aligned extensions of the teacher's instructional activities....facilitate learning by providing essential feedback on students' learning progress."  Developing lesson Assessment Prompts as part of the lesson planning process and using them for distributed summarizing or practice will increase the amount of feedback available to the teacher and more strongly align these activities with the intended lesson outcome.

Refer to Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquisition Lessons for more information about assessment prompts.



Writing to a Prompt - Persuasive

Brenda Hill
Jun 01, 2009

Research supports writing across the curriculum as a means of raising student achievement in all disciplines. Schools that have shown significant increases in student achievement have consistently focused on nonfiction writing. (Douglas Reeves, 2006).  Students write for various reasons, for different audiences, and from different perspectives. To help students produce a quality writing product, it is imperative that we teach them how to organize and pace themselves to effectively meet state writing standards. Narrative, expository, persuasive, and descriptive writing prompts are great ways to prepare students for formal and informal assessments.

Persuasive writing is consistently required of students, especially older students, on state-mandated tests.  Essays and business letters are the most common organizational formats for these types of written products.  The chara cteristics of persuasive writing are:

  • persuades or convinces

  • shares and supports a point of view

  • contains proven facts

  • presents a logical argument

  • may be written as an expository passage

Students need multiple, varied opportunities to experience and practice persuasive writing.  Practice and preparation allow students to feel confident in their ability to effectively construct support in order to convince others to accept their argument, opinion, or point of view.

Examples of persuasive writing prompts:

  • Construct an argument to support the statement: Recycling should not be an option, but a law.

  • Write a letter to your congressional representative to support a decision: Should the U.S. adopt the metric system - yes or no?  Support your position.

  • What do you think is the perfect food?  Support your choice with valid reasons.

  • Do you think school uniforms should be mandatory?  Write a paper to construct support for your opinion.  Be sure to include 2-3 reasons for your choice.

There are endless possibilities for subjects/topics for persuasive writing (everybody has an opinion or point of view).  Challenge each of your students to become great persuasive writers through encouragement, support, and practice.  Persuasive writing prompts provide these practice opportunities.  Good luck as you grow and develop effective persuasive writers!!!!

See the LEARNING-FOCUSED Literacy Collection for more ideas on writing.