assignment 2 2022

36

3 A FOCUS ON LEARNING

Deepening Our Impact as Instructional Leaders Im

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A Focus on Learning

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Instructional S

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Collective Efficacy

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A Focus on Learning

Scan this QR code for a video introduction to the chapter.

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 2 0 . C o r w i n .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

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A Focus on Learning 37

What should leaders be expected to know when they enter into class-rooms or talk with teachers and students in the hallway? In many countries, leaders have always been asked to play the role of manager, in which they focus on the day-to-day functions of a school or concern them- selves with budgets and parental engagement. In contrast, instructional lead- ership is when those in a leadership position focus on implementing practices that will increase student learning. Although instructional leadership has been heavily researched over the last 50 years, the idea of focusing on leader- ship practices that positively impact student learning is a fairly new one for some leaders. While research has focused on instructional leadership, many building principals have been focusing instead on management, which is an example of the disconnect between research and practice. The expectation that principals be instructional leaders is generating dialogue around exactly what role leaders should take in the teaching and learning that happen in school.

Defining the role of the leader when it comes to teaching and learning is a question I have been confronted with lately at conferences and in coaching sessions around the world, such as in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and Australia. I love to dive into different contexts and listen to the issues that building leaders, teacher leaders, and instructional coaches face in their par- ticular educational system. What I have found is that many people believe that leaders should be expected to be content experts in every area. This idea of leaders being content experts piques my interest. Why is it that, in addition to all the tasks and responsibilities that leaders are charged with, they should be experts in every content area taught in an entire school building?

Advocates for content expertise are of the belief that the more leaders understand the content, the more impactful they will be as instructional lead- ers. As much as I can see why, the reality is that leaders have little time to get to know all the content taught by all the teachers of all the grade levels under their leadership. Leaders are so weighed down already, I worry this expecta-

tion of content expertise will place so much burden on them that they will leave the role. Therefore, in my opinion, being a content expert doesn’t matter as much as asking teachers important questions about what students are learning in the classroom.

Take a moment to relax and breathe. Ask yourself: What is the relationship between your leadership practices and what

students learn? What do you believe you do during the day that impacts student learn- ing in a positive way?

Mindful Moment

Being a content expert doesn’t matter as much as asking teachers important questions about what students are learning in the classroom.

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38 Instructional Leadership

The debate about what leaders should be expected to know when it comes to student learning relates to a macro-level conversation about how our students should be educated and, specifically, what and how they should learn.

Student Voice Questions

How often do you ask students how they learn? How often do your con- versations with students include why students are learning what they are learning?

We never seem to look for the middle ground in all of this debate. Researchers and publishing houses believe their way is the best way, so we should buy what they are selling because it is what our students truly need. I believe we should look at all of the information and find a balance in it all. We need to find a balance between listening to outside expertise, on one hand, and focusing inward and listening to our staff, on the other. You must understand the current reality when it comes to student learning and decide how to go deeper in the practices that are already taking place in your school. Let’s begin with a discussion of knowledge versus skills.

TYPES OF LEARNING: KNOWLEDGE VS. SKILLS

Our students need a balance between knowledge and skills. Knowledge is important, but being able to process information or complicated learning situations both academically and social-emotionally requires skills as well. Figure 3.1 may help illustrate the difference between the two more clearly.

As you can see, knowledge is about understanding facts and concepts. Both are extremely important to the learning process. As leaders, when we enter into classrooms or have educational conversations with parents, stu- dents or teachers, we need to develop an understanding of which classrooms focus on both factual and conceptual knowledge and which ones really focus on one more than the other. As we know, facts are important, but it is equally as important that our students understand how learning can become inter- related and dependent on itself. This knowledge aligns with conceptual understanding.

The other side of Erickson’s example focuses on process. What strategies can we give our students in order to cope, and what skills do students need to understand how to achieve their own learning? If leaders are going to

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A Focus on Learning 39

Figure 3.1 Erickson’s Knowledge vs. Process

Knowledge

Factual Knowledge

Conceptual Understanding

Process

Strategies

Skills

Adapted from Erickson, H. L. (2008).

begin having walkthroughs and formal observations with depth, they need to begin thinking about the different types of learning that are taking place in classrooms. They also need to understand which classrooms focus on one area of learning, such as factual knowledge, more than on another, such as conceptual knowledge. Identifying the type of learning that is occurring in each classroom allows leaders to have more of a keen eye in those informal and formal observation situations, and it also allows them to have more robust conversations with teachers, students, and families. Another facet of learning that leaders need to understand in order to deepen their practice is the topic of surface-, deep-, and transfer-level learning.

Student Voice Questions

Do students who major in career technical education (CTE) understand that you respect them as much as those students who major in liberal arts, math and science, or the arts?

LEVELS OF LEARNING: SURFACE, DEEP, AND TRANSFER

Understanding and identifying the levels of learning that are happening in the classroom is a very important aspect of instructional leadership. Our time is much better spent when we can take our walkthroughs, engage in faculty meetings and conversations with teachers, and align them so that we can better understand what is going on in classrooms within our schools.

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40 Instructional Leadership

Instead of always focusing on standards, I believe we should focus on creat- ing dialogue with teachers and students around evidence of impact and how students’ learning will help them both now and in their future. I’m tired of hearing people say that students need to know information because it’s on a test. That’s a political answer, and it’s one that seldom focuses on good learn- ing. Let’s start having fewer political answers and begin fostering better pedagogical ones.

Surface-level understanding comes when learning is brand-new for stu- dents. For example, when we’re teaching teenagers to drive a car, we keep our instructions and lessons very simple so as not to overwhelm the new driver. We first have to teach the students some mechanical basics, like where the brake and gas pedals are, and where the fuel goes. We can then slowly connect the actual in-car experience to each student’s prior knowl- edge, such as from a classroom-based driver ’s-ed course. We then help students learn how delicately or firmly they need to turn the steering wheel of the particular car they are driving. We guide them through all the prelimi- nary questions that will become second nature after some driving experience (e.g., Are the mirrors all adjusted properly before getting underway?). Then, we allow them to cruise slowly in a safe area, such as an empty parking lot. As they put what they have learned into practice, we give simple cues, gaug- ing their level of understanding, and providing quick one-step directions (e.g., “Brake!”) to guide their learning.

We need to have that same mindset when we enter classrooms to observe learning in action. How are teachers creating a safe environment for students? Are they giving them some basic instructions around the learning (i.e., the rules of the road) and connecting it to students’ prior knowledge?

Not to complicate the situation, but every time we discuss how we are helping students understand new learning, we need to couple that with ask- ing teachers how they are scaffolding the information to ensure that students who already possess a higher level of understanding are challenged as well. Surface-, deep-, and transfer-level learning may come quickly to one student, but with dozens of students to a class, it may be a little more messy because the whole class does not always achieve the same level of understanding at the same time.

Deep-level learning comes after students have had some experience with the content being learned. They need to activate that prior knowledge to get to a deeper level. That’s where we move from the slow drive around the parking lot to taking the car on some of the main roads in town. We begin to ask our new drivers “What if” questions, like “What if we hear an ambulance coming up quickly behind us when we are driving? What should we do?” It’s when teachers should be using organizational strategies or concept mapping with students, so that those students can begin to mind-map the challenges that accompany the new learning.

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A Focus on Learning 41

When leaders enter classrooms and see this type of teaching and learning taking place, they can begin to ask students about the intentions of the les- son and ensure that those intentions will lead to deep-level learning for those students. When leaders sit down with students and ask them what they are learning, students should be able to articulate the learning and not just the activity that may be the vehicle for the learning.

Lastly, transfer-level learning builds on the surface and deep learning that came prior. We all need to find effective methods of helping students get to the deep and transfer levels of learning, because we often spend too much time on surface level. Transfer level is when students can “hit the highway” with all of that prior driving knowledge and put it to use by beginning to drive in complicated areas on their own. It is about understanding multiple directions at the same time the learning gets a bit more complicated, and applying that learning in other parts of their lives.

Take a moment to put this learning into your context as a leader. Surface-, deep-, and transfer-level learning isn’t just the job of a teacher. This progression of learning needs to take place among other adults as well. Our formal professional learning and development, faculty meetings, and PLC meetings should provide the opportunity for teachers to go from surface, to deep, to transfer learning.

Mindful Moment

Example – In Chapter 2, I used the program logic model to show how a school leadership team might focus on common language and common understanding around the term “student engagement.” To continue with the same topic, here are three quick ways to get faculty from surface- to deep- to transfer-level learning with the concept of student engagement.

• Surface—Teachers read an article focusing on student engagement techniques.

• Deep—Teachers bring evidence of a student engagement strategy they use in the classroom and share their best practice.

• Transfer—Teachers take one peer-shared idea and try the technique in the classroom, where leaders may see it in action during walkthroughs. Teachers can bring evidence of how it worked to the next scheduled faculty meeting.

Figure 3.2 draws on the work of Hattie and Donoghue (2016), who listed instructional strategies that will help students acquire surface-level learning and then consolidate that learning; acquire deep-level learning and then con- solidate that deep level of understanding; and, finally, look for similarities

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42 Instructional Leadership

Figure 3.2 Surface- to Deep- Learning Strategies

Acquiring Surface Level

highlighting, note taking, mnemonics, underlining,

and imagery

teaching test taking,

rehearsal, and learning how

to receive feedback

organization, strategy

monitoring, concept

mapping, and

metacognitive strategies

self-questioning, self-monitoring, self-explanation, self-verbalizing, peer tutoring,

collaboration, and critical thinking

techniques

similarities and

differences

Acquiring Deep Level

Consolidating Surface Level

Consolidating Deep Level

Transfer Learning

and differences between what they have learned throughout the first two levels of learning. In multiple subject areas.

Student Voice Questions

How often are the learning strategies represented in Figure 3.2 explicitly taught in your school? How often do students have the opportunity to talk about which strategies work best for them?

One specific strategy that can help promote the surface, deep, and trans- fer learning that Hattie and Donoghue discuss is the use of graphic organiz- ers. The Australian Society for Evidence Based Teaching (n.d.) suggests that teachers can use common graphic organizers, such as the following, to help students visualize the mental processes involved in learning.

• Linking to Prior Knowledge (use progressive mind-maps, cumulative concept maps and KLR charts—what do I already know, what have I learned, how does this relate to what I knew)

• Hierarchical Classification (use mind-maps, t-charts, e-charts, fishbone charts and tree diagrams)

Source of Graphics: iStock.com/rangepuppies.

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A Focus on Learning 43

• Cause-Effect (use cause-effect chains, trees and webs) • Comparison (use Venn diagrams, tables, continuums) • Sequence (use timelines, sequence charts and cycle diagrams) • Drawing Conclusions (use LUC charts and multi-flow maps)

As instructional leaders, we need to know what to look for in classrooms and what to try to stimulate dialogue about in our PLC, grade-level, depart- ment, and faculty meetings. When discussing and debating surface, deep, and transfer learning, the Australian Society for Evidence Based Teaching (n.d.) offers these eight tips for deep learning:

8 Tips for Deep Learning

1. Explicitly teach students the knowledge that they need to think about topics more deeply.

2. Once students have sufficient knowledge, set lesson goals focused on deep learning.

3. Model and let students practice deep-learning strategies before asking them to do so independently.

4. Teach students how to use graphic organizers to show relationships and to nurture deeper thinking.

5. Have students apply thinking strategies to content they have learned. 6. Assess students’ thinking. 7. Give students feedback about misconceptions they hold

(faulty thinking) and about the depth of thought that their work reflects.

8. Incidentally use deep learning strategies yourself throughout the day, and use think-alouds to model this practice for your students.

Reflect a bit here. What do you look for when you go into classrooms? Do you look for student work? Or do you prefer professionally made or teacher-made charts that help students move forward when they are stuck? Do you talk with students when you are in the classroom?

Mindful Moment

KNOWLEDGE DIMENSIONS

Our instructional leadership practices also need to align with an under- standing of and focus on knowledge dimensions. There are four knowledge dimensions in the cognitive process (Anderson & Krathwohl 2001b, Stern,

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44 Instructional Leadership

Lauriault, & Ferraro, 2018): factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. Within each of these knowledge dimensions, teachers and students can go from surface- to deep- and then on to transfer-level learning.

Anderson and Krathwohl adapted the knowledge dimensions from Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the dimensions are specifically designed to be viewed as learning objectives and not learning activities. Knowledge dimen- sions are not only the catalyst for a conversation around engagement and instructional strategies (Chapters 4–5), but they are also necessary when we think of how we can offer our students a well-rounded education. We can- not dive into understanding robust instructional strategies or academic and social-emotional student engagement without highlighting and diving into knowledge dimensions. Many schools focus on Depths of Knowledge (DOK) or SOLO taxonomy, and they should continue with that focus if they share a common language and common understanding within those frameworks with their teachers. However, many leaders that I work with do not have a framework to draw from when they engage in walkthroughs or observa- tions, and the knowledge dimensions are a very solid place to begin.

In our daily practices, knowledge dimensions are the core objectives of the learning taking place in the classroom, and they provide us with a perfect topic to discuss in our instructional leadership practices. We can focus on these four dimensions during faculty and department meetings, as well as grade-level meetings, formal teacher observations and informal conversa- tions with teachers, other staff members and instructional coaches.

Figure 3.3 provides definitions of each knowledge dimension (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001b; Stern et al., 2018). For instructional leadership to occur, we need to take this knowledge of the four dimensions and think of ways to begin using!it.

Beginning with factual knowledge, we can see that this is often the type of learning schools have been known to promote over the years. Factual knowledge is the knowledge of details and isolated bits of information. Factual knowledge involves the basic elements a student must know within a discipline and in order to solve problems within that discipline. If you have ever taught literacy, you know that general vocabulary can play a large role in the acquisition of language, which is important to the literacy rates of our students. In a similar way, specific vocabularies are quite important to science, social studies, math, music and virtually every content area offered in schools. In order to get by, you first have to know the lingo. This composes factual knowledge.

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A Focus on Learning 45

As far as details are concerned, we know that understanding details helps us process information, which leads to procedural knowledge. Dates and timelines help us compose plots and settings, as well as understand when history took place.

Understanding the role that factual knowledge plays in education is important. Factual knowledge can help lay the foundation for all other learn- ing. However, what we also have to understand is that, at some point, teach- ers need to move on from just teaching factual knowledge and move on to a deeper level of learning, which moves us into conceptual knowledge.

Conceptual knowledge provides a journey toward deep-level learning by looking at those interrelationships within our learning. After they under- stand facts and details, students can use that knowledge to begin seeing pat- terns across their larger world. It’s often something adults in school take for granted because it has become automatic for us. Conceptual understanding helps students see, for example, how they can take those timelines and set- tings and begin to understand what was happening at the same time in his- tory in another country.

Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of skills. In our teenage-drivers example, the students gain important procedural knowledge as they learn the mechanics of a car so that they can troubleshoot and repair the car on their own. In the classroom, students gain procedural knowledge as they learn how to solve equations in math, as they build phonemic awareness to develop their reading skills, or as they master the basics of the scientific

Figure 3.3 The Four Knowledge Dimensions

Knowledge Dimension

Factual Factual knowledge includes isolated bits of information, such as vocabulary definitions and knowledge about specific details.

Conceptual Conceptual knowledge consists of systems of information, such as classifications and categories.

Procedural Procedural knowledge involves knowledge of skills, such as how to carry out a task.

Metacognitive Metacognitive knowledge refers to knowledge of thinking processes and information about how to manipulate these processes effectively.

Adapted from Anderson & Krathwohl (2001a, b) and Stern et al. (2018).

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46 Instructional Leadership

method to develop an investigation and make breakthroughs in science. It’s a short road from factual knowledge to procedural knowledge, but here’s the difference. As we know, facts remain fairly constant. However, when devel- oping skills for reading, the process may change as students increasingly read and sound out larger words, which means that procedural knowledge can transfer to allow for deeper understandings as the learning gets more complex.

Lastly, there is metacognitive knowledge, which is the ultimate in deep and transfer-level learning. It means that students are at a point in their learning where they understand their way of thinking, how they got to where they are, and where they can take themselves next. This overall awareness that students have of their own learning is built through self-monitoring and self- verbalization, as well as peer tutoring.

To further illustrate each of the knowledge dimensions, Figure 3.4 gives some simple examples of each.

As in other chapters throughout the book, I want to provide you with a program logic view—in this case, of implementing knowledge dimensions in your school, in the event that it may be useful. Keep in mind that this program logic model is meant to be an example. Leaders may find that this example provides them with a starting point, but they can develop some- thing more robust or effective for their own contexts.

Figure 3.4 Examples of Each Knowledge Dimension

Factual When was JFK assassinated? What are some of the reasons that contributed to the Vietnam War? What does a .40 effect size mean in Hattie’s research?

Conceptual What is the relationship between Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien? What is the relationship between the research around school leadership and what you experience in your school?

Procedural What is the order of operations? How would you go about sounding out that first word in the sentence?

Metacognitive What did you learn today that challenged your thinking?

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A Focus on Learning 47

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48 Instructional Leadership

IN THE END

What used to be a separation between teachers and leaders has now become a place to bond those two groups together. Leaders need to know how learning works, and the focus behind learning, in order to improve their walkthroughs, observations, and discussions in those places that focus on learning. Leaders who lack that background knowledge are less able to give teachers effective feedback.

From a very practical sense, having an understanding of knowledge dimensions and the types of learning that take place in classrooms allows leaders to be more integral when creating a school climate that focuses on learning. In addition, it helps them understand how to involve parents in their children’s learning.

Student Voice Questions

How much of the teaching and learning taking place in classrooms focuses on one knowledge dimension over the rest? Do students know this?

Is there balance among the types of learning taking place for students?

Which students in the classroom can answer factual knowledge, but lack the ability to display more metacognitive development because they do not get the opportunity to be introduced to that type of learning?

As leaders, how can we help teachers and students in all of this?

Can we work with teachers in our faculty meetings around a sample focus on learning and decide which knowledge dimensions will help achieve that learning? Can students be encouraged to provide a short presentation about what each knowledge dimension might look like?

When entering classrooms or talking with teachers and students about learning, we need to make sure that there is a balance among the knowledge dimensions, which will depend on where the students are in the learning process. For example, when students are just beginning to learn new content, factual knowledge will most likely be the focus. As a leader involved with doing walkthroughs or formal conversations with teachers, it’s important that you ask, and understand, what the learning objectives are behind a

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A Focus on Learning 49

lesson, and whether the learning objectives or goals focus disproportionately on factual knowledge.

There is so much good in all of this information, and it begins with under- standing the four knowledge dimensions. We need to combine how students learn with what students learn, and follow up by discussing the best ways to engage students in that learning. Our moral obligation is to inspire students to think for themselves, and our actions in the classroom may not always provide that inspiration if we have low expectations of students.

Instructional leadership is about working with teachers to combine our thinking and talk about the necessary elements of challenge for students. Instructional leaders need to understand focus on learning more than they need to have content expertise. State academic standards may change, but looking for student engagement and high-quality instruction will never change. I believe we can do a better job of helping students go from surface-

to deep- to transfer-level learning using better instructional strategies, which I will cover in the next chapter. One of the ways we can encourage this shift is by being instructional leaders who know what to look for in our everyday practices.

STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

• As a leadership team, what conversations around knowledge versus skills do you have in your schools?

• What knowledge and skills would you hope that the average student from your school possesses by the time he or she graduates?

• How are you helping promote those hoped-for outcomes right now? • What examples of surface-, deep-, and transfer-level learning do you

see taking place in classrooms? • As a leadership team, if you did an instructional round together, do

you believe you would see one type of learning emphasized over the rest? Or would you see balance among them all?

• As leaders, how do you provide professional learning opportunities for teachers where they experience surface-, deep- and transfer-level learning?

• How often do you talk with teachers about the four knowledge dimensions?

• Just as with surface-, deep- and transfer-level learning, does a particular knowledge dimension seem to dominate in your school? Or, if your team did an instructional round together, would you see a balanced approach?

• Provide some specific examples of how you look for the four knowledge dimensions in your walkthroughs.

Instructional leaders need to understand focus for learning more than they need to have content expertise.

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