PLANNING for Success: Closing the Achievement Gap in Social Studies

PLANNING for Success:

Closing the Achievement Gap in Social Studies

Texas ordered to improve bilingual educationTEA has until the end of January to change program for secondary schools.By Jeff CarltonASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — A federal judge on Friday gave the state of Texas until the end of January to come up with a plan to improve education programs for secondary school students with limited proficiency in English, criticizing the state education agency for "failing to ensure equal education opportunities in all schools."

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Recent News Item:

Best Practices.

Austin ISD Social Studies Professional Development

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Best Practices.

In 2006 Education Week named Darling-Hammond one of the nation's ten most influential people affecting education policy over the last decade. She is the Charles E. Ducommon Professor of Education at Stanford University, where she launched the School Redesign Network and the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute.


“Student achievement is much less related

to demographic characteristics

than it is to student access to

appropriate, quality instruction.”

~ Linda Darling-Hammond

Mike Schmoker, RESULTS NOW:

How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning

Dr. Mike Schmoker has worked on school and district improvement, assessment, curriculum and staff development as a central office administrator in two school districts in Arizona, as a senior consultant at McREL (Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory) in Denver, Colorado and now as an independent speaker and consultant. He is a former middle and high school English teacher and football coach.

The single greatest determinant of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels.

It is the quality of instruction.

Educators in overwhelming majorities across our nation have agreed that there is indeed a yawning gap between the most well-known, incontestably best practices and the reality of most classrooms.



Best Practices.

Michael Phelps wins record 8th Olympic gold

Michael Phelps has gone where no Olympian has gone before.Phelps swam to his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games on Sunday, propelling the U.S. team to a hard-fought victory in the 4x100 medley relay.With their 23-year-old star pushing them into the lead on the third (butterfly) leg, the

Growing up Michael Phelps “always wanted to be an Olympian, I always wanted to wear the stars and stripes.”

And now he’s the greatest of all. “I’m speechless,” he claimed.

But added “I can’t stand here today and say this was unexpected. This is something I’ve always wanted and something for which I’ve always planned. Everything I have today is because of that planning.”

Phelps was also full of praise for his coach Bob Bowman.

“I don’t think I’d be any where today without him he’s very thorough. He’s always been on top of things, always there by my side, together we focused on that planning that would bring us here.” ~ Telegram.co.uk

Best Practices.How do we get there?

You expect me to do all that and look like her

at the end of the day?

Without question, the very best teachers are good planners and thinkers.

The success of professional teachers doesn't "just happen."

Bob KizlikLesson Planning:

From Writing Objectives to Selecting Instructional Programshttp://www.adprima.com





The road to success for teachers requires commitment and practice, especially of those skills involved in planning lessons and learning activities….

Planning lessons is a fundamental skill all teachers must develop and hone.






The road to success for teachers requires commitment and practice, especially of those skills involved in planning lessons and learning activities….

Planning lessons is a fundamental skill all teachers must develop and hone.

Being able to develop an effective lesson plan format is a core skill for all who teach. Quality instruction begins here.



PLANNING FOR SUCCESS:

• Well-planned instruction is the key to making consistent improvements in student achievement a reality.


Objectives:

What do we want the students to learn?

OBJECTIVES

ORGANIZING FOR EFFORT

• Objectives

• Essential Questions

• Guiding Questions

• Overarching Idea / Big Question

Standards (TEKS)

Honing it down to the essentials… what is “it” students need to know.

Lesson opener – the “hook”[Provocative, relevant.]

Posted at all times in classroom for each new day of instruction


In discussing these with students,make connections by returning frequently to the overarching question

Standards (TEKS)

• Objectives




How will we know the students have learned it?

(Formative and Summative Assessments)

• Formative • On a daily basis

• Common Assessments (summative)• non-negotiables• team created • created BEFORE instruction begins

• Common Rubrics• Consistency of grading within the department

• Rigorous and Relevant

• Does it measure what we want students to learn?

Standards (TEKS)

• Objectives




Formatively assess frequently with these




Culminating Activity / Assessment


CLEAR EXPECTATIONSHigh expectations are communicated clearly in ways that become embedded in the thinking of educators, parents, the community and, above all, students. Lesson objectives, descriptive criteria and models of work that generate high interest (because they are both relevant and meet the standards that are to be assessed) are publicly displayed. Students refer to these to analyze and discuss their work.

FAIR & CREDIBLE EVALUATIONSAs mentioned, teaching and assessment should be aligned to the standards and focused on mastery of a discipline’s core concepts. If we expect students to put forth sustained effort over time, we need to be upfront with them about the essentials they are expected to know and design assessments that meet these expectations. Fair evaluations are those for which students can prepare: therefore, classroom assessments as well as the curriculum, must be aligned to the standards. The standards currently being taught are always made public (visibly posted in the classroom) for students and visitors to reference.


* Red indicates one of the Institute for Learning’s 9 Principles of Learning


Standards (TEKS)

• Objectives









ACADEMIC RIGORKnowledge and thinking are intimately joined. This implies a curriculum organized around major concepts and / or habits of thinking specifically related to the discipline that students are expected to own. Students are expected to raise questions, solve problems, and to reason. Students practice Accountable Talk, wherein explanations and justifications are expected. Understanding of the discipline’s major concepts is consistently being assessed as students apply and discuss these with one another, socializing intelligence.

CLEAR EXPECTATIONSHigh expectations are communicated clearly in ways that become embedded in the thinking of educators, parents, the community and, above all, students. Lesson objectives, descriptive criteria and models of work that generate high interest (because they are both relevant and meet the standards that are to be assessed) are publicly displayed. Students refer to these to analyze and discuss their work.

FAIR & CREDIBLE EVALUATIONSAs mentioned, teaching and assessment should be aligned to the standards and focused on mastery of a discipline’s core concepts. If we expect students to put forth sustained effort over time, we need to be upfront with them about the essentials they are expected to know and design assessments that meet these expectations. Fair evaluations are those for which students can prepare: therefore, classroom assessments as well as the curriculum, must be aligned to the standards. The standards currently being taught are always made public (visibly posted in the classroom) for students and visitors to reference.


* Red indicates one of the Institute for Learning’s 9 Principles of Learning



What is rigor?


Rigor – the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging.

Increased Rigor = Increased Engagement



• Well-planned instruction aims to be rigorous in design and, by being so, is naturally engaging. It seeks to present all new subject matter in a manner that immediately reveals relevance for students.


Standards (TEKS)

• Objectives










EXAMPLE

TEKS: Trace the development of events that led to the Texas Revolution, including the Law of April 6th, 1830, the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, and the arrest of Stephen F. Austin. (2E) B

OBJECTIVE: The student will analyze primary and secondary sources related to the Texas Revolution in order to establish the facts leading to the Texas Revolution.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can the examination of primary source documents help historians distinguish between fact and myth?

GUIDING QUESTION: Why do myths arise when studying conflicts? How do leadership styles influence the outcomes of conflicts? How does controversy play a part in conflict?

OVERARCHING IDEA / BIG QUESTION: Understanding conflict includes a combination of historical myth, fact, and controversy.


Let me tell you about a favorite myth of mine…

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can the examination of primary source documents help historians

distinguish between fact and myth?

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can the examination of primary source documents help historians

distinguish between fact and myth?

As our state continues to change…

…our profession will meet the challenge of providing every child with the tools to be successful by by committing to those “tried and true” -

Best Practices.

In 2006 Education Week named Darling-Hammond one of the nation's ten most influential people affecting education policy over the last decade. She is the Charles E. Ducommon Professor of Education at Stanford University, where she launched the School Redesign Network and the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute.


“Student achievement is much less related

to demographic characteristics

than it is to student access to

appropriate, quality instruction.”

~ Linda Darling-Hammond


Can you identify the

Novice

Expert

readers in your classroom?





• Well-planned Social Studies Instruction takes into consideration the unique difficulty of Social Studies texts while developing lesson activities for diverse student populations.


“Teaching reading in social studies is not so much about teaching students basic reading skills as it is about teaching students how to use reading as a tool of thinking and learning.”

~ Teaching Reading in Social Studies Doty, Cameron, Barton (2003)





• Well-planned Social Studies Instruction takes into consideration the unique difficulty of Social Studies texts while developing lesson activities for diverse student populations.


“It takes careful planning to bring students to the place where they feel confident asking questions, identifying different perspectives, and developing their own interpretations of data they gather.

Teachers should collect resources that are accessible to all students and that reflect their interests and their own cultures and ethnicities.

With the increasing diversity of students, the materials teachers use take on more importance.

Specific strategies – such as Questioning the Author, I-Charts, and Jigsaw Reading assignments - strengthen students’ abilities to make personal choices, to work collaboratively in teams, and to engage actively with authors or materials they read.

These strategies work most effectively when teachers master the art of weaving them together in thoughtful units of instruction.”

~ Building Literacy in Social Studies, p. 31


“Students need to be examining big ideas of ‘enduring understandings’; engaged in problems that matter to them and that have more than one solution or right answer;

it is vitally important that students learn to use a variety of sources to develop concepts about our society, government, and history; and learn to work collaboratively and cooperatively on meaningful projects, regularly connecting what they are learning to their own communities and to world events.

They will need strategies to help them think critically about what they read, what they hear in and outside the classroom, what they view in the media. Only then are they nurtured to become the involved citizens we hope they’ll become.”

~ Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (2005)

Documents

PLANNING for Success: Closing the Achievement Gap in Social Studies