Issue 59: Sep 07, 2009 Connections Newsletter

An Interview with a Learning-Focused Principal

Brenda Hill
Sep 07, 2009

Turner County Elementary School is a Title I school located in Ashburn, GA under the leadership of principal, Tim Huff. The school began implementing the Learning-Focused Model two years ago. With much effort, determination, and commitment to the Learning-Focused Model by district personnel, administrators, and teachers, Turner County Elementary School has increased academic achievement for students and met the stringent requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind. AYP under NCLB requires schools to meet criteria in three areas: Test Participation (for both Mathematics and Reading/English Language Arts), Academic Performance (for both Mathematics and English/Language Arts), and a second indicator (Second indicator for Turner County Elementary is Attendance Rate).

How long has your district/school been using Learning-Focused?
"We have been working with Learning-Focused for two years. The first year we focused on strategies. At the conclusion of year 1, we realized that many of our deficits were a result a curriculum that was not guaranteed. The work with LFS mapping our curriculum was critical to our making AYP. There were many 'aha' moments for staff as we dug into the curriculum, mapped out our instruction, and built benchmarks for assessing student learning. "

What can you say about the quality of Learning-Focused services?
"The support and services that we have received from Learning-Focused have been extraordinary. They have been honest with us during their visits to our school while being sensitive to the needs of our staff. Any resistance that we first faced when LFS training began has declined significantly."

What impact has Learning-Focused had on your teachers since receiving their initial training?
"We are much more focused on the curriculum than we were a couple of years ago when our focus was on our resources."

What changes have occurred in student achievement since you started working with Learning-Focused?
"During the first year of implementation, our primary focus was on reading. We had a 6% improvement in Reading/ELA on the CRCT (Georgia's state assessment). During the second year, we continued our focus on reading and added math as a focus. We saw a 15.6% improvement in math performance on the CRCT. The best measure of our success has been that we made AYP after having not made it in 2007-2008."

How have you or your administrators benefited from working with Learning-Focused?
"Working with LFS has focused my efforts to meet the instructional needs of our students. It has made me a better leader."



Extending Thinking Strategies

Bill Blynt
Sep 07, 2009

In order to adequately prepare students for assessment challenges, it is important to provide them with multiple opportunities to practice the skills tested. As state assessments begin to include more Extending Thinking questions, teachers must build this type of activity into their classroom practice and lesson design.  It is important that each unit of study include a minimum of one extending thinking activity or lesson. This activity should require students to use one of the extending thinking strategies. Using these strategies regularly has been determined, in the research of Bob Marzano, ASCD and the US Department of Education, to be the number one strategy leading to increased student achievement.

As districts and teachers begin to develop or revise their Student Learning Maps, a particular focus of this activity should include Extending Thinking Essential Questions into each unit of study. Extending Thinking Essential Questions are framed using content acquired in earlier acquisition lessons in concert with one of the Extending Thinking strategies. If the strategy is new to the students, an acquisition lesson teaching the strategy should be utilized before students are asked to use it. If the strategy has been taught, a quick review of the strategy will suffice before the content-based Extending Thinking lesson or activity is introduced.

Confusion exists regarding Extending Thinking. Extending Thinking about content is not just a second lesson to master content; many times rigorous content needs more than one lesson in order for students to master it. These are just a series of acquisition lessons. Only when the lesson requires a student to show a deeper understanding of content AND to demonstrate this understanding by performing an Extending Thinking strategy does the lesson rise to the level of an Extending Thinking lesson.

Although different people identify the Extending Thinking strategies with different labels,  LEARNING-FOCUSED has identified eight strategies that are critical for students to master in order to be successful. These strategies are:  abstracting, classifying/categorizing, constructing support, analyzing persp ectives, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, error analysis, and comparing/contrasting. As Extending Thinking Essential Questions are put into units and displayed in Student Learning Maps, it is often helpful to list the specific strategy required in parentheses. This provides specific directions for the teacher and helps students initially understand what strategy is being practiced.

The goal of any instructional program is to make students independent learners. Once students have been implicitly taught the strategy, and have had multiple opportunities to practice the strategy, it is anticipated that when faced with a new assessment task, they can identify what strategy is required. Because they have had multiple experiences with each strategy, key words help them identify which strategy is required. Once the strategy has been identified, students can then work through the steps in the process, utilize an appropriate graphic organizer and complete the task efficiently and correctly. Students who have frequent opportunities to practice these important strategies will be in excellent shape to be successful on state assessment tasks. Frequent and targeted practice makes proficiency possible.

Click here to view the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies Connecting Extending Thinking notebook and flipchart.



Have You Tried These Activities to Help Students Become More Fluent Readers?

Denise Burson
Sep 07, 2009

Research on reading development identifies the importance of fluency. The three components of reading fluency are speed, accuracy, and expression. Fluency integrates word recognition with comprehension. A child who reads a passage fluently reads quickly and with expression because he/she knows the words and grasps the meaning of the text. It is possible to help your students become a fluent reader (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Have you tried these activities to help students become more fluent readers? 

  • Read Aloud - An adult reads aloud a text to the whole class.
  • Buddy Reading - An upper grade child reads aloud to a lower grade child.
  • Choral Reading - All the students, led by the teacher, read aloud together.
  • Peer/Paired Reading- Students are required to work as pairs.  Each student reads his or her text silently. Then the students take turns reading the passage three times orally to the other student.  The listening student acts as the teacher by giving suggestions and feedback.
  • Echo Reading - In echo reading, the teacher reads a sentence or brief passage aloud using phrasing and expression to convey meaning.  Then, the student reads the same sentence or passage aloud.  Echo reading can be used with storybooks, poems, and nonfiction books.  Choose material that is relatively short and reread it at least four times until the student reads the material quickly, accurately, and with expression.
  • Books with Tapes/CD Sets - Many popular children's books come with tapes or CD's so students can listen while following along in the book.
  • Recorded Books - You can also record your student's favorite books.  Use a tape recorder, or record through your computer microphone and burn onto a CD.  This method has been developed to help struggling readers by Dr. Marie Carbo.
  • Poetry Reading - Reading poetry is a good way to build fluency because poems have rhythm and expression.  The process involves multiple readings and oral expression, two components of fluency development.
  • Reader's Theater - In readers' theater, students rehearse and perform a play for peers or others.  They read from scripts that have been derived from books rich in dialogue.  Students play characters who speak lines or a narrator who shares necessary background information.  Readers' theater provides readers with a legitimate reason to reread text and practice fluency.  Readers' theater also promotes cooperative interaction with peers and makes the reading task fun.
  • Word Study - Build student's sight word knowledge in order to recognize words quickly when reading.  Use a list of sight words, such as the Dolch List, Fry's 300 Instant Words and Fry's Instant Phrases and Short Sentences.


View Learning-Focused Reading Resources in the Literacy Collection by clicking on this link.