RAPIDES PARISH SYSTEMIC INITIATIVE

2007-2008

BOOK STUDY:

CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION THAT WORKS

BY

Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, Jane E. Pollock

SO FAR IN OUR BOOK STUDY, WE HAVE:

1. Discussed the research behind research based strategies.

2. Studied identifying similarities and differences among student learning styles.

3. The strategy of summarizing and note taking.

4. Providing recognition to students to reinforce effort.

5. The benefit of homework and practice within the curriculum.

Today, we will finish our book study by looking at the following strategies:

1. Nonlinguistic Representations

2. Cooperative Learning

3. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback

4. Generating and Testing Hypotheses

5. Cues, Questions, Advanced Organizers

NONLINGUISTIC

REPRESENTATIONS

NON LADDA LIP STICK WADDA?

REPRESENTATIONS?

Knowledge is stored in two forms in the human brain and thereby recalled from it as needed. The two forms are:

1. Linguistic - containing actual statements in long-term memory.

2. Imagery Form - memory maintained via pictures, taste, smell, touch, kinesthetic association, sound. (NONLINGUISTIC REPRESENTATION)

Research has shown that when teachers help their students form this type of knowledge in the memory, it stimulates and increases brain activity.

HOW CAN TEACHERS HELP THEIR STUDENTS IN THIS TYPE OF LEARNING?

1. Varied activities

2. Creating graphic representations/graphic organizers

3. Making physical models

4. Generating mental pictures

5. Drawing pictures and pictographs

6. Engaging in kinesthetic activity

7. Time-sequence patterns

8. Process/cause-effect patterns

9. Episode patterns (info regarding specific events, I.e. setting, people, duration etc.

How do you or could you use nonlinguistic representation in your class room to enhance student learning and recall?

COOPERATIVE

LEARNING

The act of grouping students NOT according to homogenous abilities, but rather in a heterogeneous abilities.

There are five defining elements of cooperative learning:

1.Positive independence (sense of sink or swim together)

2.Face- to- face promotive interaction (helping each other)

3. Individual and group accountability, (each of us has to contribute to the group to achieve it’s goal).

4. Interpersonal and small group skills, (communication, trust, leadership, decision making, and conflict resolution).

5. Group processing, (reflecting on how well the team is functioning and to function even better) NOTE: WE SEE THIS IN OUR COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM CONSISTENTLY!

THREE GENERALIZATIONS TO BE USED AS

A GUIDE TO TEACHERS WHEN UTILIZING

COOPERATIVE LEARNING GROUPS:

1. Organize groups based on ability, (homogenous), sparingly. Mix the ability levels up within each team.

2. Keep groups rather small in size, (three to four members in each team)

3. Cooperative learning should be applied consistently and systematically, but NOT overused.

SETTING OBJECTIVES

AND

PROVIDING FEEDBACK

GOAL SETTING: establishing a direction for learning.

THREE GENERALIZATIONS:

1. Instructional goals narrow what students focus on.

2. Instructional goals should not be too specific.

3. Students should be encouraged to personalize the teacher’s goals.

SUGGESTION: Contract with students for the attainment of the goals. Gives them control

PROVIDE FEEDBACK!

Three Generalizations regarding feedback:

1. Should be corrective in nature

2. Should be timely

3. Should be specific to a criterion.

For feedback to be useful, it should reference a specific skill or level of knowledge.

4. Let student’s provide some of their own feedback; peer tutoring, self-evaluation.

RUBRICS FOR PROVIDING FEEDBACK.

EXAMPLES 8.5 AND 8.6

GENERATING

AND

TESTING HYPOTHESES

TWO GENERALIZATIONS FOR GENERATING AND TESTING HYPOTHESES:

1. Can be approached inductively or deductively.

deductive: using a general rule to make a prediction about a future action or event.

inductive: process of drawing new conclusions based on information we know or are presented with.

2. Ask students to clearly explain their hypotheses and their conclusions.

How to do this in the classroom?

1.System Analysis - explain the purpose, parts and function of each part

2.Problem Solving

3.Historical Investigation

4.Experimental Inquiry - the effects of literary devices in literature.

5. Invention

6. Decision Making - have students describe the decisions they are making and the alternatives they are considering; identify the criteria that will influence the decision; rate the alternatives on a scale.

HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CUES,

QUESTIONS,

ADVANCED ORGANIZERS

ARE WE DONE YET?

CUES AND QUESTIONS ARE WAYS THAT A

TEACHER HELPS STUDENTS USE WHAT

THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT A TOPIC.

FOUR GENERALIZATIONS:1. Focus on what is important opposed to what is

unusual.

2. Higher level questions produce deeper

learning than lower level questions; DUH!

3. Waiting briefly before accepting responses from the students has the effect of increasing the depth of students’ answers. Give students time to think.

4. Questions are effective learning tools even when asked before a learning experience.

ADVANCED ORGANIZERS

Advanced organizers are closely related to cues and questions. Research indicates that the utilization of advanced organizers enhances student learning and recall. The students in some cases must hear, see, write, and practice knowledge through the use of such devices.

Advanced Organizers should:

Focus on what is important, NOT what is unusual.

Advanced organizers are MOST useful with information that is NOT well orgainized.

Different types of advanced organizers produce different results.

TYPES OF:

1. Expository - describes new content to which students are exposed.

2. Narrative - presents info to students in story format

3. Skimming Information is a form of.

HANDOUTS

GO HOME ALREADY!

SHEEEEESHHH!