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What Do We Know About Teaching?

Goals

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

• Analyze some of the various learning theories

• Understand what learning-centered education is

• Be aware of the importance of lesson planning

• Recognize the relationship between classroom management and lesson planning

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

Introduction

Teaching, by its very nature, presents a study in contrasts. At one and the same time, it offers you a universal and a unique experience. While this chapter presents a gen-eral overview of learning theories, classroom-management strategies, and lesson planning fundamentals, each of you should take away and implement the specific ideas and strategies you believe will work for you as an educator.

Teaching is an art form; it can be learned. Teaching is not a career of mastery; it is a career built on responsiveness, fluidity, trial, and error. You will find teaching a world of extreme “highs” and equally extreme “lows,” requiring a level of passion and commitment unique among professionals. Why this stark contrast in experiences? Because a teacher never truly works in isolation. Your students stand alongside you, confident of your expertise and relying on your commitment, whether you are grading in your empty classroom, meeting with an administrator in the front office, or lesson planning with a colleague in a local coffee shop.

The role and responsibilities of a teacher constantly change. Measurements of teaching success change at an equally rapid pace. Your constant? A commitment to students’ mas- tering the knowledge and skills necessary for success in the 21st century.

3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

Pre-assessment

1. The behaviorist educator believes

A. learning occurs through peer-to-peer interactions. B. it is important to take a student’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions into con-

sideration when teaching. C. learning occurs through interactions with the environment. D. learning requires a change in students’ thinking to affect their behavior.

2. According to behaviorists, students learn desired behaviors in a three-step process:

A. Conditioning, extinction, and rewarding B. Modeling, shaping, and cueing C. Acquisition, application, and practice D. Activation, construction, and repetition

3. Cognitivism emphasizes a system of effects including:

A. Meaningful effect B. Social effect C. Butterfly effect D. All of the above

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

4. Constructivism is linked to the

A. social movement, founded by Lev Vygotsky. B. progressive movement, founded by John Dewey. C. conservative movement, founded by Jean Piaget. D. All of the above E. None of the above

5. The distance between completing a task with assistance and completing the same task alone is known as the

A. Most knowledgeable other (MKO) B. Zone of proximal development (ZPD) C. PDA D. CTA

6. In the constructivist classroom, how something is learned is _________ what is learned.

A. equal to B. less important than C. irrelevant to

Answers 1. C. learning occurs through interactions with the environment.

2. B. Modeling, shaping, and cueing

3. A. Meaningful effect

4. B. progressive movement, founded by John Dewey.

5. B. Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

6. A. equal to

“Education is choreog-raphy for learning” (Perkins, 2009). How is learning “choreographed”? You, the teacher, create a learn- ing environment that balances students’ acquisition and appli- cation opportunities—allowing students to acquire the content knowledge they need and sup- porting those students as they apply that content knowledge in increasingly rigorous academic and real-world situations. As the choreographer, you decide what curriculum will be taught and how the mastery of that curricu- lum will be measured. Holding to this “dancing” metaphor, you

Comstock/Thinkstock

As you read the following section, think about which learning theories you would use to “choreograph” your students’ learning.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

also decide how the curriculum will be taught. As the classroom teacher, you choreograph the learning.

Learning Theories

Over the past two centuries, three dominant and sometimes conflicting learning theories have shaped content pedagogy—the design of lessons that support students’ acquisition and application of knowledge. These three theories are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

Behaviorism Behaviorism asserts that learning requires an external change in a student’s behavior that can be observed. Behaviorist theory dates back to the mid-19th century and draws its influences from both science and philosophy. The behaviorist educator believes that learning occurs through interactions with the environment. The classroom environment shapes a student’s behavior. Taking a student’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions into con- sideration is useless in explaining a student’s learning behavior.

One of the most famous behav- iorists, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), used experi- ments with dogs to develop his theory of classical condition- ing. His experiments focused on creating very specific cir- cumstances in a dog’s environ- ment that resulted in specific responses from the animal. With classical conditioning, the edu- cator focuses on creating the exact environment necessary to “evoke” the desired learning from students.

Like Pavlov, American psy- chologist John B. Watson (1878– 1958) saw controlled laboratory studies as the most effective

way to promote learning. According to Watson, systematic manipulation of the student’s environment can and should result in new learning.

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, law- yer, artist, merchant-chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.—Watson (1924)

Bettmann/Corbis

Ivan Pavlov used condition reflex phenomenon with a dog to demonstrate classical conditioning.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) developed the law of conditioning and the law of extinction. Skinner believed that a response followed by a reinforcing stimulus is strengthened and therefore more likely to occur again (conditioning), and a response that is not followed by a reinforcing stimulus is weakened and therefore less likely to occur again (extinction).

Behaviorist teachers focus primarily on students’ actions and reward desired behaviors. Students learn these desired behaviors in a three-step process:

1. With modeling—observational learning—students learn the desired behavior/ response by watching the teacher model it.

2. With shaping—breaking down the desired behavior into achievable units—only when one desired behavior is demonstrated can a student progress to the next behavior.

3. With cueing, using verbal or nonverbal cues lets a student know if his or her behavior is appropriate (Stanridge, 2002).

Cognitivism Cognitivism asserts that the focus needs to be on the thought process behind the behav- ior. Although its roots stretch back to ancient Greece, the cognitive movement grew in popularity in the second half of the 20th century, when some educators found the theory of behaviorism incapable of explaining certain social behaviors. The cognitivists’ quarrel with the behaviorists was that their focus on observable behavior did not account for what was going on in the mind. Cognitivism emphasizes a system of effects, including:

• Meaningful effects—meaningful information is easier to learn and remember. • Transfer effects—prior learning impacts the learning of new materials or tasks.

Well-known linguist Noam Chomsky (born 1928) has followed the cognitive approach while studying how children learn to talk. Chomsky maintains that each of us is born with a “universal grammar” ready to absorb the details of whatever language is pre- sented to us at an early age. Chomsky applied his theories of language acquisition to learning as a whole, underscoring the importance of relevant, culturally based instruction (Boeree, 2000).

Constructivism Constructivism maintains that learning requires a change in a student’s thought process (linking previous learning to new learning)—an internal change that cannot be observed. Constructivism is linked to the progressive movement, founded by American educa- tor John Dewey (1859–1952). Progressive educators believed that a “top-down” system, where some of the populace is educated and others are not, would ultimately undermine American democracy (http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/articles/proged.html).

Jean Piaget (1896–1980) expanded the progressive movement’s sociopolitical emphasis to a broader understanding of how children learn. According to Piaget, learning, whether it takes place inside or outside the classroom, involves the two-pronged process of assimi- lation (the ways by which a person takes material into the mind from the environment) and accommodation (the difference made to one’s mind or concepts by the process of

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http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/articles/proged.html

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

assimilation). Assimilation and accommodation exist together in every learning situation and form Piaget’s theory of adaptation (Hummell & Huitt, 2003).

With the U.S. publication in 1962 of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s (1896–1934) Social Development Theory, constructivist theory expanded yet again to a new level of specificity around how, when, and from whom a student learns. Vygotsky maintained that learning constantly takes place in all kinds of social settings. Social Development Theory introduced educators to the idea that students naturally seek out people who know more about a situation, problem, or concept than they do. This person, whom Vygotsky dubbed the most knowledgeable other (MKO) can be a teacher, a coach, a librarian, a tutor, or another student in the classroom. Vygotsky expanded this idea to when and how a stu- dent can complete a learning task without the assistance or scaffolding of the MKO. The distance between completing that task with assistance and completing the same task alone is known as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Figure 3.1).

Application: Constructivist Teacher

Simply put, the constructivist teacher helps students construct knowledge instead of memorizing and/or reproducing facts. In the constructivist classroom, how something is learned is equal to—and in some cases, more important than—what is learned.

Constructivism in the classroom is all about collaboration and negotiation with your stu- dents around four major topics.

1. What are we going to learn? 2. Why are we going to learn it? 3. How and when will I assess what you have learned? 4. How will we decide what types of assessments are complete, fair, and timely?

Skills too difficult for a child to master on his/her own, but that can be done

with guidance and encouragement from a knowledgeable person.

What is not

Known

What is Known

Learning

This figure shows how learning is accomplished with the assistance of a teacher or guide.

Source: http://www.experiment-resources.com/social-development-theory.html

Figure 3.1: Zone of proximal development

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http://www.experiment-resources.com/social-development-theory.html

CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

As you learned in Chapter Two, classroom success is predicated on knowing as much as possible about your students: their interests, their learning styles, their prior knowledge. The constructivist teacher understands that when students encounter something new, they have to reconcile it with their previous ideas and experiences (Seigel, 2004). This rec- onciliation process is unique to each student because each student brings different content knowledge and different learning experiences to the new learning situation.

If you were to travel to London and use the sub- way system, the “Tube,” you would hear an auto- mated voice warning you to mind the “gap,” which is the distance between the edge of the plat- form and the train. Similarly, the constructivist teacher envisions his or her students as learning travelers, poised and ready to acquire new knowl- edge and skills. The teacher is constantly aware that a student can fall off the learning platform at any time. It is the mission of the constructivist teacher, then, to find the gap, mind the gap, and fill the gap so that each student can continue his or her learning journey.

The constructivist teacher is also constantly aware that a student’s prior knowledge can help or hinder the learning and application of new knowledge. Good teaching can be as much about unlearning as it is about learning—getting students to recognize and correct their miscon- ceptions. These misconceptions can be socio- economic, cultural, familial, or religious. They must be handled with skill and respect. Loving, respectful correction and guidance are at the core of constructivist teaching.

Brand X Pictures/Thinkstock

One of the greatest challenges in teaching is providing constructive feedback. Your goal is to inspire and “inflate” the student’s sense of control and possibility.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.1 Learning Theory for Teaching

Case Study: Michael Alvarez

Overview

Michael is a 15-year-old native Spanish-speaking student in a ninth-grade English Language Learners (ELL) class of 23 students in a suburban California public school. He has been in the United States and attending school for the past 3 years, having emigrated from Mexico City with his parents and two younger siblings.

Problem

While Michael speaks English well—he is skilled in the face-to-face conversational fluency known as Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)—he struggles with reading and writing English. He manifests his frustration in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, routinely arriving late to class, failing to complete homework assignments, interrupting his teacher when she is explaining an upcoming assignment, and refusing to participate in collaborative groups. Michael’s openly disruptive behavior is impacting other students in the class. Three Spanish-speaking students (two males and one female) have begun conversing across the classroom with Michael in Spanish.

Key Players

Ms. Watkins, Michael’s ELL teacher. In addition to two ELL classes, Ms. Watkins also teaches three sec- tions of Advanced Placement English Language.

The other ELL students in the class, each of whom is at a different level of English-language mastery.

Sabrina, Michael’s 8-year-old sister.

Victor, Michael’s 11-year-old brother.

Contributing Factors

• Michael is currently repeating all of his classes—except for Introduction to Algebra—that he failed the previous year.

• At 15, he is older than most of the students in his ELL class. • Several students in Michael’s ELL class have expressed to Ms. Watkins their discomfort with

Michael’s behavior. • Michael’s sister Sabrina is fluent in reading, writing, and speaking English. Sabrina is currently

placed at grade level in a third-grade mainstream class. • His brother Victor is also moving toward full fluency in English. Victor is currently at grade level in

a sixth-grade ELL class. • Michael is working at a part-time job after school and on Saturdays, and he is unable to attend

remediation or support classes. • Michael’s parents have not attended Back-to-School night and have not responded to Ms. Wat-

kins’s e-mails and phone messages.

Designing a Solution

Construct an intervention plan for Michael by answering the following questions:

1. Which approach—constructivism, cognitivism, or behaviorism—would you take? Why? 2. What strategies would you use to improve Michael’s classroom behavior and participation? 3. How would you encourage him to complete and submit assignments on time as well as to estab-

lish personal learning goals? 4. Can you name some ways you would involve Michael’s parents and siblings in supporting these

learning goals?

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

3.2 Learning-Centered Education

Pre-assessment

1. What is the key to ability grouping in differentiated instruction?

A. Constantly moving and changing ability groups based on individual students’ performance, interests, and background knowledge

B. Staying consistent with the group members between grade levels and content areas

C. Grouping and regrouping must be a dynamic process, changing with the con- tent, project, and ongoing evaluations

D. Both A and C E. None of the above

2. Differentiation emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge and problem-solving skills. ____________ drives this acquisition/application process.

A. Engagement B. Relevance C. Content D. Skill level

3. One of the key elements in planning differentiated instruction that consists of using concept-focused and principle-driven instruction is

A. Process B. Product C. Content D. None of the above

4. Successful differentiation requires that you

A. post lesson objectives. B. begin the lesson with a formal assessment to gauge where the students’

knowledge level lies. C. offer creative avenues for students to acquire knowledge and creative assess-

ments to display their knowledge. D. None of the above E. All of the above

Answers 1. D. Both A and C

2. B. Relevance

3. C. Content

4. C. offer creative avenues for students to acquire knowledge and creative assessments to display their knowledge.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

When you see purpose in what you do, when you really like what you do, when you get up in the morning ready to make a differ-ence, when you see human beings that are going to be impacted by your work—I think these things enable you to be a fulfilled person.— Tomlinson in Rebora (2010)

Envision yourself in the following scenario: You are a stage actor who has landed the dra- matic role of a lifetime in a play that has stood the test of time. It is a role you have hoped for and prepared for since you stepped out in front of the footlights in your fifth-grade tal- ent show. High school theater classes, an undergraduate degree in Performing Arts, years of playing minor roles and understudying major parts, and now, this!

You have spent weeks researching your character’s background, days pondering your character’s motivation. You have memorized dialogue, run through lines, rehearsed. You have incorporated the director’s suggestions, bonded with your fellow actors, and com- pleted the dress rehearsal. You know the importance of this play, the responsibility of this particular character to impart the play’s message and bring to life its enduring themes. You are ready.

Just before you step onto the stage, your director stops you. There is something you need to know about tonight’s audience. Several of the theater goers speak a foreign language; at least half of them have never attended a live performance before. Others are experienced theater goers, who have watched the theater’s greatest actors perform. Some have come to tonight’s performance willingly, excitedly. Several have been dragged along by partners or parents.

And in the front row? Theater critics, who will be evaluating your performance and pub- lishing their findings in several local and national newspapers.

Your director steps back and smiles encouragingly. “Break a leg.”

Like this actor, a teacher spends years acquiring a wide range of content knowledge, classroom-management strategies, and instructional techniques. And like this actor, the classroom teacher must perform in front of an ever-changing audience, including not only students in the classroom but the critics in the front row: parents, school administrators, and local, state, and national evaluators.

Differentiated Instruction

As school populations grow more diverse, teachers must consider how they will address this diversity and how they will reach as many students as possible. They can

1. Instruct homogeneously: teach all students in the same way; this is a “one-size- fits-all” approach that relies on students adapting their learning needs and styles to the presentation style and assessment techniques of the teacher.

2. Create ability groups: separate students into ability groups and teach each group differently, which also produces varied results.

3. Differentiate: address each student’s abilities, interests, and learning style; this is the learning-centered approach we will focus on in this section.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

Differentiated instruction creates a classroom environment where learning goals, instruc- tion, and assessment are consistently individualized. Students are expected to be active participants in their learning, assisting their teacher in evaluating their mastery of content and their progress toward meeting learning outcomes.

To be a teacher who consistently and effectively differentiates instruction and assessment is challenging work! As you learned earlier in this chapter, good teaching requires con- stantly minding the gap—determining where your students are in their individual jour- neys toward mastering a specific learning target. But minding the gap is not simply about diagnosing learning or performance deficits; it requires you, the teacher, to constantly modify and individualize instruction to address these deficits.

Effective teaching in the differen- tiated classroom involves the for- mation of trusting relationships between teacher and students. Teachers question and listen to their students. They customize the instruction and assessment for critical learning targets based on what they have learned about each student through these ongo- ing conversations. This question- ing, listening, and customizing engender mutual respect among teachers and students and result in the creation of a true learning community.

Differentiated instruction, like many other instructional theo-

ries or systems, has its passionate believers and equally passionate detractors. Proponents emphasize the positive impact on student learning and the increased sense of community within the classroom. Opponents emphasize the negative impact on teachers who, they believe, cannot possibly customize learning in classrooms of 20 or more students.

Differentiated instruction can effectively serve students without sapping a teacher’s focus and energy. The key? Grouping students according to ability but constantly moving and changing ability groups based on individual student’s performance, interests, and back- ground knowledge.

Traditional ability grouping often forms permanent, unchanging groups within the class- room, between grade levels, and even between content areas. Ability grouping can lead to tracking that prevents high-performing elementary students from working in groups with identified “gifted and talented” students. This same type of tracking may prohibit high school students from taking a Chemistry course until they have passed Algebra 1-2 with a grade of “B” or better.

Compare that inflexibility with the following description from the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials:

Valueline/Thinkstock

Building strong student–teacher relationships is an important aspect when using differentiated instruction in your classroom.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

In the differentiated classroom . . . learners are expected to interact and work together as they develop knowledge of new content. Teachers may con- duct whole-class introductory discussions of content-big ideas followed by small group or paired work. Student groups may be coached from within or by the teacher to complete assigned tasks. Grouping of students is not fixed. As one of the foundations of differentiated instruction, grouping and regrouping must be a dynamic process, changing with the content, project, and on-going evaluations.—Hall, Strangman, and Meyer (2009)

Application: Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge and problem- solving skills. Relevance drives this acquisition/application process, with students in the differentiated classroom encouraged to ask:

• Why does this information matter? • How does it relate to information I already know? • When, where, and how can I use this information?

Once students determine the relevance of information presented to them, they should be assigned performance tasks that measure their unique and changing abilities to apply that knowledge. There are three key elements in planning differentiated instruction: content, process, and product (Tomlinson, 2001), as seen in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Key elements for planning differentiated instruction

Content Process Product

• Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content.

• Align tasks and objectives to learning goals.

• Instruction is concept focused and principle driven.

• Flexible grouping is consistently used.

• Classroom management benefits students and teachers.

• Initial and ongoing assessment of student readiness and growth is essential.

• Students are active and responsible explorers.

• Vary expectations and requirements for student responses.

Source: Tomlinson, 2001.

Differentiation involves designing a road map to a particular destination that every stu- dent can and will reach. Successful differentiation requires that you pay careful attention to the following:

• Get all of your students “on the same page.” Be sure you understand, and make clear to your students, the learning objectives for your lesson. Students deserve to know your expectations for learning. They can be as simple as, “By the end of today’s lesson, you will know how to identify a proper noun,” or as complex as, “By the end of this unit, you will understand the social, political, and eco- nomic causes of the Vietnam War and will be able to explain how those causes

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

transformed into long-term effects that changed the face of American society.” Posting lesson objectives is not sufficient. Always build in time for students to ask questions. Explain, expand, restate, and check of understanding. It is time well spent!

• Make assessment your students’ “new best friend.” Begin your lesson with informal, observational assessments. “Has anyone learned about proper nouns before?” “Is there anyone in the room who knows someone who fought in the Vietnam War?” Use individual student responses to build all students’ knowledge. Have stu- dents capture their existing knowledge through a quick-write, an “information- only” quiz, a small-group idea exchange.

Throughout the lesson or the unit, continue with formative assessments that allow students to measure how far they have progressed toward meeting the learning objectives. Use “pop” or scheduled quizzes, quick-writes, journals, classroom debates, 2- to 5-minute individual or group presentations. All of these formative assessments give you and your students the opportunity to see how far they have come toward meet- ing your instructional objectives and what knowledge and skills they still need to acquire and master.

Remember to weight formative assessments in a manner that allows students to be rewarded for mastery. A forma- tive quick-write that earns 5–10 points while a student is learning the material can support mastery on a 50-point end-of-unit essay on the same topic.

• Allow your students to express their creativity. As you ask students to demonstrate their content mastery, consider the multiple modalities by which individual students can express that mastery. Have students work in groups to design quiz questions; stage a competition for the writing prompt that best captures students’ knowledge of a particular topic; ask students to construct a “wrong answer” quiz in which they have to select an incorrect answer and explain why it is wrong; hold a debate; stage a news broadcast; have students write a play. Creative avenues to acquire knowledge and creative assessments to display their knowledge will keep your students engaged.

• Revisit, revise, and share the teaching load. As we discussed earlier in this chapter, determining each student’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) is critical to successful lesson implementation. Using formative and summative assessments as your guide, constantly determine where students are along the learning con- tinuum. A learning task one student can complete independently may require

Hemera/Thinkstock

Formative assessments are important because they help you and your students keep track of their progress.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.2 Learning-Centered Education

another student more time working in a group to master. The teacher skilled in differentiation taps those students who have mastered a specific skill or concept as instructors and guides for those students who need the knowledge of the group to scaffold their learning. A truly rewarding teaching moment comes when you remove yourself from “center stage” and watch your students educating each other. That demonstrates the true power of differentiation.

Case Study: Alicia Jones

Overview

Alicia Jones is a fourth-year middle school teacher assigned to teach a seventh-grade Humanities class of 32 students. While Alicia has taught seventh grade since she was hired at the school 3 years ago, the makeup of this particular class is new to her and unique to this middle school. Eight Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) students are clustered in this class, along with five newly redesignated English Language Learner (ELL) students and 10 Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) stu- dents. The remaining 9 students in the class cover an ability spectrum that ranges from below basic to advanced on state assessments.

The School Site Council at this middle school recently adopted a new school motto: “Equitable Access for All Students to Consistently High-Quality Academic Experiences.” This motto reflects the school’s response to the growing ethnic and socioeconomic makeup of its student population and addresses the tracking process that had divided the campus into remedial, basic, and accelerated classes over the years.

Alicia’s principal assigned her to teach this class based on the recommendations of the school’s English Department chairperson and its AVID coordinator, the consistently high performance of her students over the past 3 years on the state achievement tests in Language Arts, and her position as site coordi- nator for the school’s Gifted and Talented Program.

Alicia is working feverishly to address the specific emotional, cultural, and learning needs of this diverse classroom.

Problem

Although the students in the classroom appear to be thriving under Alicia’s instruction and guidance, her principal has shared with her that several parents have contacted him with concerns about Alicia’s ability to meet their students’ learning needs. Chief among the complainers is the parent of a GATE student. This parent, who maintains she speaks for all of the GATE parents in that class, believes that her daughter’s intellectual talents are being “underserved and wasted in a classroom full of students who are nowhere near college bound.”

Key Players

Alicia Jones

Principal

English Department chairperson

AVID coordinator

GATE parents

School Site Council members

Contributing Factors

The School Site Council, comprised of the principal, department chairs, and parents representing GATE, AVID, ELL, and other student groups, spent weeks wordsmithing the school’s new motto. Sev- eral parents and one of the department chairs expressed concern that equity and access (continued)

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

3.3 Planning for Teaching

Pre-assessment

1. During the “through” part of a lesson, students should

A. start to understand the “why” of the lesson. B. activate prior knowledge. C. be ready to learn and be clear on what you will expect them to know. D. be moving from acquisition to application.

2. Successful teachers

A. save time by adopting other teachers’ lessons. B. don’t need to modify their lesson plans. C. differentiate and scaffold the instructional core of their lesson. D. can teach two lessons in a single lesson plan. E. All of the above.

3. Understanding by design (UBD) lesson planning

A. begins with the end in mind. B. is also known as “top-down planning.” C. has the lesson design lead to the unit assessment. D. involves systematic collaboration.

4. Which of the following is something a teacher would record in curriculum mapping?

A. The essential questions or enduring understandings that were addressed B. The content of the lesson C. How the content aligned to local, state, and national standards D. When and how the content was assessed E. All of the above

would mean “dumbing down” the curriculum to meet the needs of the lowest performing students. Despite the principal’s assurances that high-quality teaching would continue to be the norm at this school, the opposing parents and teacher insisted on a small and precise rollout of what they viewed as yet another educational experiment. In the end, a single seventh-grade Humanities class was selected as the piloting venue.

Designing and Implementing a Solution

Construct a plan that addresses the specific concerns of the parents and shows that all students in Ali- cia’s classroom are having their educational needs met by answering the following questions:

1. Where does differentiated instruction fit in the context of this case study? 2. How can a student’s interests, learning style, prior knowledge, and content mastery improve Ali-

cia’s classroom management? 3. What do you see as the critical elements in Alicia’s fostering a positive relationship with both her

students and their parents?

Case Study (continued)

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

Answers 1. C. be ready to learn and be clear on what you will expect them to know.

2. C. differentiate and scaffold the instructional core of their lesson.

3. A. begins with the end in mind.

4. E. All of the above

The consistent delivery of reasonably well-structured lessons . . . have we ensured that all educators know that the influence of such lessons, if delivered consistently, would be jaw-dropping?—Mike Schmoker Legions of educators believe that well-planned lessons stand at the very core of educa- tional success. As with anything worth doing, lesson planning is worth doing well. Doing

it well involves a complex process that takes into consideration state and local standards, district curriculum and assessments, learning outcomes, and formative and summative assessment data. Most important of all, effective lesson planning requires ongoing, formative evaluation, in real time, of whether or not your students are advanc- ing toward your intended learning outcomes.

Lesson Planning

When Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote, “The best laid schemes of Mice and Men/oft go awry,” he may well have had teachers in mind! Lessons that look perfect on paper can go terribly “awry” in the classroom. Beth Lewis (n.d.) describes the intellectual and emotional tightrope that teach- ers often walk when designing and implement- ing their lesson plans. “In my classroom I am constantly amazed by how a thoroughly planned lesson can often fall flat, while sometimes when ‘I’m flying by the seat of my pants,’ I can stumble upon magical teaching moments that really speak to and excite my students.”

Flying by the seat of your pants? Falling flat on your face? This does not sound appealing. To ensure that instructional magic occurs more often

than instructional mayhem, be sure you have a complete understanding of the into- through-and-beyond of each lesson.

Into First, your students should understand the “why” of the lesson. Was this lesson designed to meet district standards or state standards? Why is it important that students acquire this

Photos.com/Thinkstock

Effective lesson planning demands time and concentration. It is important to remain flexible when planning and implementing your lessons.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

specific knowledge? Is this lesson a “building block” that will support more complex learn- ing later in the week? Later in the month? Later in the year? When students understand the “why” of your lesson, they will engage more fully and more deeply in the learning.

Getting your students ready to learn also involves assessing what prior knowledge each student brings to the lesson. As discussed in the earlier section on differentiation, assess- ing this prior knowledge can happen informally, through Q & A and open-ended discus- sion, or through a more structured assessment such as a quick-write or a pop quiz.

If, at the end of your “into” activities, you realize that a significant number of students are not ready to learn this material, you need to have a backup plan in place. Do not move headlong through the lesson, hoping that students can and will catch up. Take time to reteach now.

Through Once your students are ready to learn, be clear, precise, and thorough on what you will expect them to know and be able to do at various points throughout the lesson. As you discuss performance expectations, make sure that you capture and post them prominently in the classroom so students can refer to them throughout the lesson. An example of perfor- mance expectations for the lesson on identifying proper nouns is: “After working in groups of four to create a skit that explains the role of proper nouns, students will work individu- ally on a short formative assessment where they identify the proper nouns in a paragraph.”

Make sure that your students are always working harder than you are. Don’t let them become passive learners. Instead, keep them involved in the learning by balancing “sit and get” (your directly instructing students) with ongoing opportunities for kinesthetic learning. Mix up student groups so that physically active learners can move to a differ- ent seat several times throughout the lesson. Add noise to the mix. (For example, “Snap your fingers three times if you understand what I just said.” “Give me a hoorah if your group got more than four answers correct on that quiz.”). Seek feedback (For instance, “Is this the best way to teach this?” “Am I making this hard or easy for you to learn?” “How would you teach this idea?”) Questions like these let students know that you expect them to be active, informed, and opinionated learners. Students understand that they can trust you to listen to and respond to their feedback.

As with your “into” activities, you should be prepared to go where your students’ per- formance assessments and feedback take you. If the majority of students in the class self- identify at the mastery level after a formative assessment and let you know that the lesson is working for them, then you can move on. If the majority of students are performing at a level that doesn’t meet their or your expectations for this lesson, you need to have a plan already in place to scaffold the learning.

Beyond Once students have acquired the knowledge (they know the types of proper nouns; they can identify proper nouns in a piece of prose), your lesson should push them beyond acquisition to application. Just as in the acquisition part of your lesson, students’ abilities to apply what they have just learned may differ significantly. Be sure to design your les- sons with a range of performance tasks so that every student is pushed to the limit.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

These magical teaching moments that all effective teachers strive for must begin with you clearly communicating your lesson’s objectives and checking for students’ understanding of those objectives. As you learned earlier in this chap- ter, students link new knowledge with previous knowledge. They make individual connections between what they are about to learn with what they have already learned not only from their teachers but also from their families, their friends, their community, and their cultures.

It is crucial that you bring your knowledge of individual student’s intellectual strengths and learning gaps into the lesson planning and imple- mentation process, making sure that you consis- tently build in differentiation that allows your most accomplished students to stay engaged and soar and your struggling students to gain confi- dence and mastery.

Application: Lesson Planning

The good design of lesson plans and the effec- tive delivery of those plans cannot be mastered overnight. As with most art forms (and planning for teaching is an art form), you need to focus on lesson planning essentials in your initial days and months of teaching. Technique, expres- sion, depth, and nuance will come with time and experience.

Lesson Planning Essentials 1. Make sure you have a prepared, “bell-to-bell” lesson. You must be prepared to teach

every time you step in front of your students. Nothing feels worse than being forced to “wing it” because you are underprepared. Students will catch you every time.

2. Have all of your materials ready and close at hand. Walk through your lesson plan and list necessary materials in the margins. Copies? Make them the night before (the copy machine may not work in the morning). Markers? Test each one to make sure it works. Time-specific activities? Download a stopwatch app to your computer or cell phone. Whiteboard? Butcher paper? Internet resources? Have them ready to go.

3. Visualize how the lesson will play out physically. Will you begin in the front of the room? In the back? Will you lecture and then move to group work? Will students be moving from one seat to another? Will you want them to take some or all of their books and materials when they move?

4. Know your intended pacing and have a backup plan. You may fear underplanning, but in fact, most teachers overplan and often stuff a lesson and a half or two full lessons into a single lesson plan. If you see that you are behind schedule—and

Eyecandy Images/Thinkstock

Allowing students to display “mastery of content” in their own unique ways creates a more interesting, engaging, and respectful classroom.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

that you are off because you underestimated the time needed for transitions between activities or as a result of deep and mean- ingful classroom conversa- tion or because you need additional time to ensure that every student under- stands the lesson’s objec- tives—then be prepared to modify your lesson on the spot. Do not simply “fall off the cliff,” teach to the bell, and then yell over the noise of students leaving the room or readying for another subject lesson. Instead, find a good stop-

ping point and allow your students time for meaningful closure on what they have learned today. Take time to explain what part of the work you and they will continue tomorrow. (By the way, nothing feels better than overplanning. It means that you have the anticipatory set for tomorrow’s lesson already in place.)

5. Adapt, adapt, adapt. Keep your eyes and ears open as your lesson unfolds. Are your students maintaining SLANT (Sit up; Lean forward; Ask questions; Nod “yes” and “no”; Talk with teachers both during and outside class time)? Are they alert, focused, and ready to participate? Do you find you need to raise your voice to be heard? Do any students look confused? Are some students restless? If you observe any of these behaviors, you need to pause and regroup. You may want to create a call and response that students know signals a time to regroup. Physi- cal cues for regrouping also work well. Do not consider these behaviors issues of classroom management. The best classroom-management plan is an engaging lesson plan. If you are seeing or hearing unwanted behaviors, modify your lesson on the spot.

Successful teachers must learn to plan their own lessons. They must learn how to embed curiosity and excitement into an anticipatory set, how to determine the instructional objective of the lesson, how to differentiate and scaffold the instructional core of their lesson, how to create instructional activities that support students and meet the instruc- tional objective, how to formatively measure students’ understanding of what has just been taught, and how to close the lesson in a manner that leaves students wanting to learn more the next day.

Lesson Planning Models There are several widely used lesson planning models. Each has its own strengths, but none can eliminate the time, focus, and energy that you, as a teacher, need to put into the planning of your instruction. The model you choose on any given day may be decided by your instructional aims, by your students’ readiness, or by your awareness that you need to “mix it up” to keep your students energized and engaged.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Successful teachers spend time planning and adjusting their lesson plans to provide the most effective instruction to their students.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

Standards-Based Units

With standards-based lesson planning, teachers use local and state assessment targets to plan their units (Harris & Carr, 1996). The planning process involves:

• Identifying a topic or essential question; • Selecting standards from state, local, and national frameworks; • Using local curriculum objectives; • Designing learning and teaching activities; • Deciding on products and performances; • Defining assessment criteria; • Writing performance descriptors; • Creating scoring guides; • Collecting and displaying exemplars.

Understanding by Design

Also known as “backward planning,” understanding by design (UBD) lesson planning begins with the end in mind. With UBD, unit assessments are designed first—before the lessons. Because you now know what you want your students to know and be able to do at the culmination of a single lesson or the end of the unit, you can continually check for understanding and differentiate to meet individual student’s needs. You can evaluate and modify your instruction to “meet students where they are” in their journey toward meeting the unit’s instructional objectives and achieving the enduring understandings, or essential questions that are the bedrock of a cogent, relevant educational experience (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).

Curriculum Mapping This approach to lesson planning involves systematic collaboration among groups of teachers who teach in the same content area or at the same grade level. The difference here is before and after the evaluation of a lesson’s success. Curriculum mapping allows teachers to test their lesson plan- ning and lesson implementation skills against a common rubric of expectations for learning devel- oped with their colleagues.

With curriculum mapping, each teacher in the collaborative group individually records the following:

1. What essential questions or enduring understand- ings were addressed;

2. The content of the lesson; 3. How that content aligned

to local, state, and national standards;

4. When and how the con- tent was assessed.

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In curriculum mapping, teachers collaborate with their colleagues to assess the effectiveness of their lesson plans.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.3 Planning for Teaching

These data can be collected weekly or monthly, but all teachers must hold to the same data-collection timetable. The importance and value of curriculum mapping come in the collective review of this feedback and in the agreed-upon changes to curriculum and assessments that occur as a result of that careful and honest review.

Case Study: Robert Sullivan

Overview

Robert Sullivan is a 2nd-year teacher currently assigned to a fourth-grade class of 32 students. Last year, he taught third grade where class size reduction (CSR) policies had capped his class at 20 stu- dents. As a newly minted teacher, last year, Robert routinely met with this grade-level team three times a month throughout the school year for these planning sessions. He sought out the four other members of his team for advice on lesson design. The team responded quickly and positively to Rob- ert’s questions, encouraging him to join them in their after-school curriculum planning sessions where they developed instructional outcomes and shared lesson ideas, instructional materials, assessments, and strategies. One of the team members, a 20-year veteran teacher, also met individually with Robert twice a month to review his assessment results.

Problem

With a significantly larger number of students and a teaching curriculum that is new to him, Robert has repeatedly requested lesson planning support from his two fourth-grade teammates. Neither team member has participated in the curriculum mapping process, and one of the team members has flatly stated that “every new teacher needs to learn how to lesson plan on their own.”

Now in his 2nd month of the school year, Robert already feels that he and his students are falling behind, especially in science and mathematics. He has scheduled a meeting with his principal and his clinical supervisor to discuss his problem.

Key Players

Robert Sullivan

Third-grade teaching team

Fourth-grade teaching team

Principal

Clinical supervisor

Contributing Factors

The principal is in his 3rd year at this school site. After spending several months reviewing performance data and discovering significant discrepancies in student performance among teachers at the same grade level, the principal instituted curriculum planning as a schoolwide expectation at the end of his 1st year. Several teachers on the staff have voiced their resistance to what they call “an unnecessary mandate.”

Robert’s students scored well on state standardized tests last year. His students’ scores closely aligned with the scores of his third-grade teaching team, all of whom have been teaching for more than 6 years.

Designing and Implementing a Solution

Design a plan that addresses Robert’s professional isolation as well as his concerns for his students’ learning by answering the following questions:

1. How could standards-based planning and backward planning be combined into an effective les- son planning model that would help Robert?

2. What strategies can Robert use to get his team members support? 3. How can Robert assess his lesson planning to see if it is too “loose” (not addressing and staying

focused on specific learning goals) versus too “tight” (not allowing for planning to be changed in response to students’ needs)?

4. Why do you think the lesson planning process evokes such passionate responses from teachers?

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

3.4 Classroom Management

Pre-assessment

1. There needs to be a system of learning expectations established—and continu- ally reinforced—in the classroom. Which one of these expectations will internally motivate students to stay engaged?

A. What: What they are expected to know B. When: When and how they will demonstrate mastery of learning C. How: How they will acquire the knowledge D. Why: Why this knowledge is important

2. While there are a great variety of strategies and programs aimed at school improvement, all of these strategies and programs share a single crucial element.

A. Adhering to state standards B. Paying special and continued attention to the learner C. Professional development for teachers D. Home/School communication

3. Crafting a system of agreed-upon expectations helps to

A. bring students to task and asks them to account for and change their behavior. B. create consistency and mutual respect. C. refashion the “I say and you do” model it into a system of “we say and we do.” D. All of the above

Answers 1. D. Why: Why this knowledge is important

2. B. Paying special and continued attention to the learner

3. D. All of the above.

The best classroom-management plan remains an engaging lesson plan (see Section 3.3). Now that you have reviewed and critically considered the fundamentals of effective lesson planning, the focus shifts to creating and maintaining a classroom environment that allows the “magic” of those lessons to be realized.

Engagement is a critical element in creating a positive classroom environment. When you engage a classroom of students, you draw them in, hold their attention, maintain their focus, and keep them involved with meaningful learning tasks. Although it may sound overwhelming, engagement is, in fact, the natural order in the classroom. Learners want to be engaged. They want to explore, discover, reflect, evaluate, and create. Keeping them engaged requires you to “sell” your lesson for the day, infusing excitement and curios- ity in your students and creating internal and external motivation in them to engage in learning.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

Creating student motivation and engagement is not a one- time process. It cannot simply take place at the beginning of the school year. You cannot lock in students’ motivation and engagement when class starts and then expect it to con- tinue until the closing bell rings. Engagement requires a constant hitting of the “Refresh” button in your students’ hearts and minds. At any given time, a sin- gle student or group of students may go off task and derail the intended learning outcomes for that session. At that moment, wherever you might be in your carefully planned lesson, you

must circle back to the basics of classroom management. You must trigger your students’ motivation to redirect their energy and reengage in learning.

As discussed in Chapter Two, triggering motivation, like differentiating instruction, requires that teachers know their students’ background, family structure, culture, edu- cational history, and learning strengths and gaps. Triggering motivation in the high-per- forming student is no less complex than finding that trigger point in the educationally at-risk student. Both students need to believe that their teacher is deeply and consistently invested in their success.

Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships

If a student feels a personal connection to a teacher, experiences frequent communication with a teacher, and receives more guidance and praise than criticism from the teacher, then the student is more likely to become more trustful of that teacher, show more engagement in academic content presented, display better classroom behavior, and achieve at higher levels academically.—Rimm-Kaufman (n.d.)

What are the steps to establishing the connection, the communication, and the personal guidance described above? Like most endeavors in teaching, there is no set formula. It varies from year to year, class to class, and student to student. However, some overarching principals for establishing positive relationships do exist.

• You openly and visibly share your enjoyment of the teaching/learning process with your students.

• You honestly share classroom successes and challenges with students. They deserve to know when they have been meeting your expectations and when they have failed to meet those expectations.

BananaStock/Thinkstock

Spontaneity, differentiation, and caring are essential elements in creating a classroom environment where students want to learn.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

• You work to keep personal and professional distractions and pressures outside the classroom. When you can’t, you explain these pressures and distractions in a professional and appropriate manner. Students need to respect that you have a life outside their classroom.

• When you fail to meet your own expectations for maintaining a caring and respectful classroom environment, you apologize to your students, seek their feedback, and all of you move on.

• You respectfully push each student’s intellectual limits by routinely asking dif- ferentiated critical thinking questions. These questions subtly or overtly address individual student’s background, academic level, and preferred learning style.

• You provide respectful and timely feedback to students’ request for clarification and/or support.

• You design instruction and assessment that allow for as many classroom suc- cesses as possible.

Note the word choices: Effective classroom management systems naturally evolve from such a positive environment.

No matter how differentiated and positive, classroom envi- ronment alone cannot ensure students’ motivation to learn, student engagement, and ulti- mately, student learning. There needs to be a system of learn- ing expectations established and continually reinforced in the classroom. Make sure that stu- dents know, at any given time:

• The learning goal: what they are expected to know;

• The learning relevance: why this knowledge is important; • The learning activities: how they will acquire the knowledge; • The learning measurement: when and how they will demonstrate mastery of

learning.

The what, when, and how of the lesson will trigger students’ engagement; the why (relevance) of the lesson will internally motivate students to stay engaged.

Until you have established a positive, responsive relationship with a student, however, getting that student to rise to the challenge of academic rigor will remain a struggle. While there are a great variety of strategies and programs aimed at school improvement, all of these strategies and programs share a single crucial element: paying special and contin- ued attention to the learner (Kirp, 2011).

Liquidlibrary/Thinkstock

Students naturally support one another’s accomplishments when the teacher makes a point of routinely acknowledging and celebrating successes in the classroom.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

Creating an appropriate environment for learning begins with establishing ground rules that include many of the aspects of quality teaching, such as respect, responsibility, honesty, civility and tolerance. Only after these val- ues are established with students in the classroom can real learning based on the other two essential R’s, rigor and relevance, begin to accelerate.— McNulty and Quaglia (n.d.)

Application: The Classroom

Students learn what they care about, from people they care about and who, they know, care about them.—Carson (1996)

Your classroom should be a haven of consistency and mutual respect, where you hold high expectations for your students and they hold equally high expectations for you. Many classroom-management systems focus on bringing students to task, asking them to account for and change their behavior. Seriously consider crafting a system of agreed- upon expectations that calls both you and your students to task when the expectations are not met.

These expectations can be as general as:

• I will treat everyone in this classroom with respect. • I will always be honest. • I will take other people’s feelings into account when deciding what to say or do. • I will not take or destroy another person’s property.

or as specific as:

• I will display tolerance and kindness to everyone in this classroom. • I will respect the privacy of this learning community and will not repeat informa-

tion or conversations shared in this room. • I will share my social, political, and religious views with the understanding

that they are mine and do not necessarily represent or support the views of others.

• I will maintain strict adherence to the academic honesty policy of the school and will self-report if I violate any provisions of that policy.

• I will report others whom I observe violating the school’s academic honesty policy.

• I will submit all required work on time, out of respect for the instructor and fel- low students.

• I will listen to and accept feedback when I violate any of these expectations.

These two sets of expectations presume an ongoing system of self-monitoring and report- ing for both teachers and students. They rely on everyone in the classroom admitting when they have failed to meet an agreed-upon expectation. They take behavior management out of the “I say and you do” model and refashion it into a system where “we say and we do” what is best for each other.

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

Consider the classroom expectation “I will submit all required work on time.” The behav- iorist educator (Section 3.1) might rely on a system of extrinsic motivators (a hall pass, a homework pass, deleting the lowest grade of the month from the student’s grade book) for work turned in on time and negative reinforcements (accepting no late work, lower- ing a possible grade by 10% for every day it is late, after-school detention) for late or missing work.

Constructivist educators would see “submitting all required work on time” applying as much to their timely grading of student work as it does to students’ timely submis- sion of that work (Section 3.1). As such, when they assign in-class work or homework, these teachers must take into consideration whether or not the work can be thoughtfully reviewed, carefully graded, and returned to students on an agreed-upon date to support the class’s next learning goal.

When you, as a teacher, have gone through the process of establishing an in-class and home assignment calendar for students and coordinated it with a grading calendar that takes into account your in-class and home responsibilities, your family’s needs, and your desire for some free time nights, weekends, and holidays, you clearly see why the considerations you have extended to yourself must also apply to your students. The same holds true for sharing social, political, and religious views, for maintaining aca- demic honesty and grading integrity, for maintaining privacy, and for treating others with respect and tolerance.

Just like planning lessons and differentiating instruction, creating and maintaining a respectful, managed learning environment take time and energy. And like planning and differentiating, it is a skill set that requires patience on the part of all involved. On your way to establishing a classroom of consistent expectations and mutual respect, you will encounter challenges to your authority, setbacks in your implementation, and moments of sheer frustration.

The successful classroom teacher relies on self-discipline along with systematic classroom policies to ensure the emotional, intellectual, and physical safety of both staff and stu- dents. The National Education Association (NEA) publishes “Management Tips for New Teachers.” In this publication, it states:

• Be consistent in what you say and what you do. • Quickly learn and use student names. • Find an effective means of quieting students. Instead of saying “Shhh,” consider

using a subtle strategy such as dimming the lights, playing classical or other soothing music, or putting on the board a problem, a brainteaser, or an intriguing question relating to the lesson of the day.

• Avoid using threats to control the class. If you do use a threat, be prepared to carry it out.

• Nip behavior problems in the bud. Intervene quickly when students are behav- ing inappropriately.

• Whenever possible, reprimand a student one-on-one instead of across the room, in front of the whole class.

• Don’t permit students to be inattentive to an educationally useful media presentation.

• Use appropriate punishment for classroom misbehavior. (Zauber, 2003)

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CHAPTER 3Section 3.4 Classroom Management

Case Study: Ricky Steward

Overview

Ricky Steward is a student in a ninth-grade World History class on a high school campus of 2,800 stu- dents. He continually interrupts his teacher’s lectures as well as other students’ presentations. Ricky cannot work alone and constantly requests that he be partnered with another student.

Ricky entertains his classmates with nonstop mimicking of his teacher’s movements and gestures, sneaking up behind his teacher when he writes on the whiteboard, and waiting for his teacher to “catch him in the act.” Three months into the 18-week semester, Ricky’s grade for this class stands at 36.7%, and his parents have been notified—via e-mail and a printed progress report—that Ricky is “In Danger of Failing” this class.

Smart, witty, and good-looking, Ricky’s academic performance and discipline record from middle school reflect a culture of tolerance among Ricky’s teachers and counselors. As one seventh-grade teacher reported: “If I can just keep Ricky in his seat, and out of everybody else’s way, I consider it a successful day!”

Health records indicate that Ricky was prescribed medication in fifth grade for attention deficit hyperac- tivity disorder (ADHD). The health records do not show if Ricky currently takes this medication. He rou- tinely displays the inattentiveness, overactivity, and impulsivity that usually accompany such a diagnosis.

Problem

Ricky’s teacher, Mr. Marshall, has made repeated attempts to contact Ricky’s parents. His phone calls and e-mails have not been returned. Mr. Marshall hoped he might connect with one of Ricky’s siblings (two older sisters) but found out from the school’s registrar that both of these young women graduated several years earlier and now live out of state. Mr. Marshall wants to connect with Ricky in a meaningful way, hoping that the connection might motivate Ricky to control his impulsivity and focus on learning.

Key Players

Mr. Marshall

Ricky Steward

Ricky’s parents

Guidance counselor

School nurse

Contributing Factors

Ricky has missed 11 days of school over these first 3 months. The majority of these absences have been partial day, with his father signing him off campus. When asked by Mr. Marshall why he missed class, Ricky usually responds, “To go golfing with my Dad.” When questioned by Mr. Marshall about his plans for college and career, Ricky responds, “My father owns his own construction company, and I am going to run it someday.”

Ricky spends most afternoons in Mr. Marshall’s classroom playing video games on his cell phone or lis- tening to music. He stays as long as Mr. Marshall allows him to, often remaining with his teacher until 5 or 6 p.m. Mr. Marshall has negotiated a contract with Ricky that allows Ricky to stay with Mr. Mar- shall after school as long as he works on his missing World History assignments. Ricky has repeatedly broken this contract with Mr. Marshall. As a result, his grade in World History continues to decline.

Designing and Implementing a Solution

Design a plan for engaging Ricky in the learning process by answering the following questions:

1. How important is it that Ricky adheres to an agreed-upon system of behavior? How would you enforce this?

2. Should differentiation come into play when establishing classroom rules and expectations? Why or why not?

3. What do you see as the roles and responsibilities of Ricky’s parents in ensuring a positive and pro- ductive classroom environment for all students? What about Mr. Marshall’s role?

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CHAPTER 3Chapter Summary

Chapter Summary

In the corporate world, the various high-level executive positions are often referred to as the “C-Suite.” Overseeing a corporation and reporting its performance to share-holders? You are the CEO—Chief Executive Officer. Ensuring the effective and timely performance of systems and employees within this corporation? You are the COO—Chief Operations Officer. Managing fiscal resources? You have earned the title of CFO—Chief Financial Officer. Evaluating, adopting, and troubleshooting hardware and software? Your business card will read CTO—Chief Technology Officer. Brainstorming, forecasting, predicting, and experimenting to achieve the goals of the corporation? You are the CCO— Chief Creative Officer.

If you are filling all of these roles in a classroom of students, you have earned the single, unique title of Teacher.

This chapter opened with the statement that teaching, by its very nature, presents a study in contrasts. Chief among those contrasts is the fact that teaching remains both the most immutable and the most adaptable of professions. The importance of good teaching stretches across the millennia, from Plato, in the hills of Athens, learning philosophy from Socrates to a 21st-century student, sitting with a laptop, learning quadratic equations from Salman Khan. And while location, delivery methods, forms of assessment, and measures of accountability change, the power of the teacher to effect students and, subsequently society, remains constant.

If you are committed to becoming the best teacher possible, accept and embrace the fact that you can never do enough. You will never be fully prepared and will always be on the lookout for that perfect anticipatory set, that powerful hands-on activity, that target-spe- cific assessment. Your work will always be with you, but in an energizing and seamless way. Conversations with family and friends, movies, music, essays, newspaper columns, sporting events, and the evening news will all provide source material for your teaching. You have committed to the role of lifelong learner.

Do not overlook the role of your students in your quest for learning. When pushed by one of my advanced placement students to explain why the lesson I was teaching that day mattered, I responded with a promise to the class and to myself. Everything I presented that semester would “go into the soup.” Nothing would be extraneous or unnecessary. I challenged the students to challenge me whenever they felt I had somehow gone off track.

That promise forced me to consider and reconsider the “why” of each lesson and unit as students challenged my planning, my pedagogy, my assignments, and my assessments. As a result of their questioning, I became a better, more precise planner and a much better teacher. Love your students and your work. Model and create energy. Inspire yourself, your colleagues, and most important, your students to act “audaciously” and by these actions prove the worth of your profession on a daily basis.

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CHAPTER 3Concept Check

Concept Check

1. The behaviorist educator believes

A. learning occurs through peer-to-peer interactions. B. it is important to take a student’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions into con-

sideration when teaching. C. learning occurs through interactions with the environment. D. learning requires a change in students’ thinking to affect their behavior.

2. According to behaviorists, students learn desired behaviors in a three-step process:

A. Conditioning, extinction, and rewarding B. Modeling, shaping, and cueing C. Acquisition, application, and practice D. Activation, construction, and repetition

3. Cognitivism emphasizes a system of effects including:

A. Meaningful effect B. Social effect C. Butterfly effect D. All of the above

4. Constructivism is linked to the

A. social movement, founded by Lev Vygotsky. B. progressive movement, founded by John Dewey. C. conservative movement, founded by Jean Piaget. D. All of the above E. None of the above

5. The distance between completing a task with assistance and completing the same task alone is known as the:

A. Most knowledgeable other (MKO) B. Zone of proximal development (ZPD) C. PDA D. CTA

6. In the constructivist classroom, how something is learned is _________ what is learned.

A. equal to B. less important than C. irrelevant to

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CHAPTER 3Concept Check

7. What is the key to ability grouping in differentiated instruction?

A. Constantly moving and changing ability groups based on individual students’ performance, interests, and background knowledge.

B. Staying consistent with the group members between grade levels and content areas.

C. Grouping and regrouping must be a dynamic process, changing with the con- tent, project, and ongoing evaluations.

D. Both A and C E. None of the above

8. Differentiation emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge and problem-solving skills. ____________ drives this acquisition/application process.

A. Engagement B. Relevance C. Content D. Skill level

9. One of the key elements in planning differentiated instruction that consists of using concept-focused and principle-driven instruction is

A. process B. product C. content D. None of the above

10. Successful differentiation requires that you

A. post lesson objectives. B. begin the lesson with a formal assessment to gauge where the students’

knowledge level lies. C. offer creative avenues for students to acquire knowledge and creative assess-

ments to display their knowledge. D. None of the above E. All of the above

11. During the “through” part of a lesson, students should

A. start to understand the “why” of the lesson. B. activate prior knowledge. C. be ready to learn and be clear on what you will expect them to know. D. be moving from acquisition to application.

12. Successful teachers

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CHAPTER 3Concept Check

13. Understanding by design (UBD) lesson planning

A. begins with the end in mind. B. is also known as “top-down planning.” C. has the lesson design lead to the unit assessment. D. involves systematic collaboration.

14. Which of the following is something a teacher would record in curriculum mapping?

15. There needs to be a system of learning expectations established—and continu- ally reinforced—in the classroom. Which one of these expectations will internally motivate students to stay engaged?

A. What: What they are expected to know B. When: When and how they will demonstrate mastery of learning C. How: How they will acquire the knowledge D. Why: Why this knowledge is important

16. While there are a great variety of strategies and programs aimed at school improvement, all of these strategies and programs share a single crucial element.

A. Adhering to state standards B. Paying special and continued attention to the learner C. Professional development for teachers D. Home/School communication

17. Crafting a system of agreed-upon expectations helps to

Answers 1. C. learning occurs through interactions with the environment. The answer can be found in Behaviorism,

Section 3.1.

2. B. Modeling, shaping, and cueing. The answer can be found in Behaviorism, Section 3.1.

3. A. Meaningful effect. The answer can be found in Cognitivism, Section 3.1.

4. B. progressive movement, founded by John Dewey. The answer can be found in Constructivism, Section 3.1.

5. B. Zone of proximal development (ZPD). The answer can be found in Constructivism, Section 3.1.

6. A. equal to. The answer can be found in Application – Constructivist Teacher, Section 3.1.

7. D. Both A and C. The answer can be found in Differentiated Instruction, Section 3.2.

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CHAPTER 3Key Terms to Remember

8. B. relevance. The answer can be found in Application: Differentiated Instruction, Section 3.2.

9. C. content. The answer can be found in Application: Differentiated Instruction, Section 3.2.

10. C. offer creative avenues for students to acquire knowledge and creative assessments to display their knowledge. The answer can be found in Application: Differentiated Instruction, Section 3.2.

11. C. be ready to learn and be clear on what you will expect them to know. The answer can be found in Lesson Planning, Section 3.3.

12. C. differentiate and scaffold the instructional core of their lesson. The answer can be found in Lesson Planning, Section 3.3.

13. A. begins with the end in mind. The answer can be found in Understanding by Design, Section 3.3.

14. E. All of the above. The answer can be found in Curriculum Mapping, Section 3.3.

15. D. Why: Why this knowledge is important. The answer can be found in Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships, Section 3.4.

16. B. Paying special and continued attention to the learner. The answer can be found in Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships, Section 3.4.

17. D. All of the above. The answer can be found in Application: The Classroom, Section 3.4.

Key Terms to Remember

ability grouping Grouping students according to their actual and potential development levels.

behaviorism A learning philosophy that relies only on objectively observable behaviors to measure learning.

classical conditioning A form of behav- iorism. Specific stimuli are used to elicit a specific response. True classical condition- ing will elicit the behavior even when only part of the stimuli is present.

cognitivism A learning philosophy which attempts to answer how and why people learn by attributing the process to cogni- tive activity.

content pedagogy The pedagogical (teaching) skills teachers use to impart the specialized knowledge/content of their subject area(s).

constructivism A learning philosophy that maintains human beings construct their own interpretation and understand- ing of their world by reflecting on their own experiences and connecting those reflections to new learning situations.

differentiated instruction A type of instruction that takes into account stu- dents’ readiness to learn, current mastery of information, cultural background, lan- guage, preferred assessment type(s), and personal interests when designing lessons and assessments.

enduring understandings or essential questions The essential learning objec- tives that encompass, in broad terms, overarching concepts which are the primary or essential elements that encom- pass subordinate learning objectives.

engagement Describes energy in action, the connection between a student and a specific learning activity. Three types of classroom engagement have been identi- fied: behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement.

external motivation Motivation that comes from outside an individual, such as money or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.

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CHAPTER 3Key Terms to Remember

instructional activity An essential compo- nent in lesson or unit planning. The spe- cific steps you and your students will take as you move through a lesson. Can include focused note taking, silent reading, Web research, self and peer editing.

instructional objective A description of how learners will demonstrate competence or conceptualization of a concept and/ or skill they have achieved. Instructional objectives often begin with, “The student will be able to . . .”

internal motivation Motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards. The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task.

relevance The connections students make between what is being taught and their lives outside the classroom.

SLANT A body language or behavior that shows a student is interested and involved in the learning. The SLANT acronym stands for: Sit up; Lean forward; Ask questions; Nod “yes” and “no”; Talk with teachers both during and outside class time.

theory of adaptation A theory that sees the thinking process as a corollary of the biological process of adaptation. Assimila- tion and accommodation are the primary components of the adaptive process.

zone of proximal development (ZPD) The distance between the actual develop- ment level (where a student can complete an assigned task independently) and the level of potential development (where a student needs assistance from another student or an adult to complete an assigned task).

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