Issue 28: Dec 01, 2008 Connections Newsletter
Learning-Focused and the Performance-Based Classroom
Carol Gardner
Dec 01, 2008
LEARNING-FOCUSED recently received the following e-mail: "We had a discussion in our Fine Arts Department meeting this morning about how much of this model we can adopt. Some felt that the hands-on and performance-based subjects that we teach don't fit this model as well as it fits the content areas. Can you offer any light on this model and its relevance to our subject areas?"
The irony of this letter is that performance-based subjects by their very nature use a framework for learning that moves students through the levels of acquisition, extending thinking and authentic use. In addition, performance-based teachers are masters at being goal-oriented and in designing instruction for distributed practice. Graphic organizers that show the steps in a process have long been included in texts and manuals that teach performance skills. It is often helpful though to see examples specific to content areas to help understand how the model "looks" in that particular area. Notice in the following lesson how the art teacher incorporates and connects exemplary instructional practices using an essential question, a motivational activating strategy, vocabulary development, collaborative pairs, a graphic organizer to guide a process, distributed guided practice, and a summarizing strategy where students answer the essential question.
LEQ: How do artists use overlapping to create an illusion of depth?
Activating: Introduce vocabulary: background, foreground, middle ground using a word picture. Show illustrations from the book Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence and have collaborative pairs identify the items that are in the background, middle ground and foreground.
Teaching: Display flow chart of steps in creating a collage. Model and think aloud about each step. As each step is modeled have students complete that component.
Summarizing: Students attach a sticky note to explain the techniques that were used to create depth and use in sharing their artwork in a small group.
We have witnessed hundreds of vocational, arts, technology, and other performance-based subject area teachers adapt the LEARNING-FOCUSED Model in their classes and experience great success. We often find that teachers of performance-based courses are the first to recognize the connected strategies of Learning-Focused as really good teaching that matches what they are instructing perfectly.
Thanks to Linda Blake of Pasco County, FL for collaborating and providing feedback in the development of this article.
Math and Writing Connections
Brenda Hill
Dec 01, 2008
Many times, as educators, we fail to see the correlation between writing and math. Often we departmentalize math and writing without thinking of ways to integrate the two subjects. It is more difficult to make writing assignments in math, especially longer, more formal assignments, that students may take through the writing process. However, it is possible and extremely advantageous to have students write in math. As Doug Reeves states, "When students write to inform the results are two-fold. First, students process information in a much clearer way, and second, teachers have the opportunity to gain rich and complex diagnostic information about students. There is a significant impact on student test scores across all disciplines when students write to inform."
Most writing in math will occur at the beginning, during, or at the end of an acquisition lesson. These "writing to learn" assignments are brief and informal. Math examples of "writing to learn" include:
Activating (Beginning of Lesson) - Frayer Diagram or Word Map for key math vocabulary words/concepts
Teaching (During the Lesson)
Summary Point Writing - Students stop and "summarize" in 1-2 statements about learning up to a certain point in the lesson. Example: Fractions are parts of a whole. They can be written in many different ways.
Think-Ink-Share - Students think about a key vocabulary word or concept and write a statement or brief paragraph about it. Example: Explain the steps in long division. Write them down; turn, and share with your partner.
Summarizing (End of Lesson)
Ticket - Out - The- Door - Answer lesson essential question
The Most Important Thing - The most important thing to remember about decimals is ___.
Letter to the Absent Student - Students write a letter to an absent student explaining steps in solving a problem or key points of a concept. (Write a letter explaining the relationship between multiplication and division.)
Journal Writing is a great way to have students write about math at the beginning, during, or at the end of a lesson.
There are times students can "write to inform" (longer, more formal assignments) in math. For example, a compare and contrast organizer may be completed during the lesson on fractions and decimals. This organizer can then be used as writing prompt for a compare and contrast essay.
Even though most writing will be done in other subjects, writing can be effectively embedded throughout math lessons. As one teacher shared, "When I first had my students write in math, it was a very painful process for them and me. Most days they hated me, and some days I wasn't so crazy about them, either. They had never been asked to think about math in this way. However, on the end of the year test my students made significant gains in math."
Writing assignments in math may be more difficult to plan, but the results are well worth the extra time spent in preparation and planning.
More ideas for incorporating writing into every classroom can be found in the Learning-Focused Literacy Collection.
Read, Read, Read!
Carol Brewer
Dec 01, 2008
Do your students like to read? Do they get interested in a book and not want to put it down? Are you giving them time to practice reading? These might be easy questions to answer but difficult to properly implement. It is all about Self Selected Reading. This is the time of the day that students are reading books of their choice, as well as on their reading level. They are practicing reading, just as they need to practice anything to improve. These reading materials may be from a newspaper, a novel, a magazine, or anything else that might be of interest for the reader. The strength of the Self Selected Reading time is the conference between the teacher and the student. This is a time when the teacher sits with the student and talks about what has been read. It is a great time to model, teach, or reinforce what is being taught in whole group as well as small group instruction. For example, the teacher is emphasizing Compare and Contrast during whole group instruction time. During Conferencing time, the same type Compare and Contrast questions might be used. The Reading Assignments Flipchart, available for K-5 and 6-12, is a great resource for these type questions. The following dialogue might be used:
Teacher: Tell me what you have been reading.
Student: This is a book about a boy who has different names for different objects.
Teacher: Can you give me an example?
Student: On page 35 he called a pen a Frindle.
Teacher: He called a pen a what? That is so funny; you have got to read that page for me!
Student reads the page fluently.
Teacher: Nice job; I like how you read with such fluency! How does Nick compare to one of your friends?
Student: I can see Jamie doing something like that, because he is always trying to be the "class clown".
Notice how the teacher inspires the student to read through interest instead of demand. The typical conference has the teacher tell the student to read a page, and then ask questions about the story. The exemplary conference has the teacher asking questions that focus on a reading comprehension strategy. Other questions to ask during conferencing are Author's Purpose and Genre questions. Ongoing strategy questions, such as predicting, visualizing and summarizing questions are also important for comprehension. These questions are also included in the Reading Assignments Flipchart.
Remember, students need time to Read, Read, Read! Conferencing with students can strengthen this reading practice.
Additional Self Selected Conferencing information is included in the Comprehensive Literacy Training.
