USING TOOLS TO HELP STUDENTS THINK AND LEARN

Teaching with Tools

Overview

Create a Community: Well WordsReflect on the Week: Instructional VerbsIdentify Elements of Effective InstructionTeach the Academic EssentialsTeach with ToolsDesign Meaningful Units Make Time to Talk: The Value of DiscussionReview and Reflect: Next Steps and Questions

? Connect Listen Exercise Celebrate Challenge Laugh ?Eat (Well) Join Trust Give Learn Wait

Delegate

Simplify

Love Refuse Accept TryRemembe

rPraise Engage Toss

Appreciate

Balance ImagineContribut

eThank Clarify Limit

Entertain

Grow Respect Risk Practice Honor Eliminate Smile Reward

Confront Change Ask RenewExperienc

eParticipat

e Relax Breathe

? Choose Create Forgive Express Notice Enjoy ?

Well Words Debrief1. Treat every student as a valued contributor

2. Establish high expectations

3. Create a safe, productive environment

4. Give students choices

5. Use multiple modes: read, write, speak, represent

6. Engage students in meaningful conversations

7. Teach students to be generative thinkers

8. Support all learners

9. Write to think

10.Integrate test preparation

11.Provide models for students

12.Use one step to prepare for the others

13.Align instruction with standards

14.Make connections: to self, world, other texts

Although some students show up at school as “intentional learners”––people who are already interested in doing whatever they need to do to learn academic subjects––they are the exception rather than the rule. Even if they are disposed to study, they probably need to learn how. But more fundamental than knowing how is developing a sense of oneself as a learner that makes it socially acceptable to engage in academic work. The goal of school teaching is not to turn all students into people who see themselves as professional academics, but to enable all of them to include a disposition toward productive study of academic subjects among the personality traits they exhibit while they are in the classroom. If the young people who come to school do not see themselves as learners, they are not going to act like learners even if that would help them to be successful in school. It is the teacher's job to help them change their sense of themselves so that studying is not a self-contradictory activity. One's sense of oneself as a learner is not a wholly private construction. Academic identity is formed from an amalgamation of how we see ourselves and how others see us, and those perceptions are formed and expressed in social interaction. How I act in front of others expresses my sense of who I am. How others then react to me influences the development of my identity.

–––Magdalene Lampert, from Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching

Reflecting on the Week

Generate a list of what went well—and why it went well.Examine what was not effective—and why.Identify the instructional verbs: What students did.Choose one example from each list and discuss in groups.Identify the elements of the effective lessons. including a

rationale and examples to illustrate.Discuss and debrief.

What: Traits Why: Rationale What: Example

The Week in Review

6 Features of Effective Literacy Instruction

1. Students learn skills and knowledge in multiple lesson types.

2. Teachers integrate test preparation into instruction.

3. Teachers make connections across instruction, curriculum, grades, and life.

4. Students learn strategies for doing the work.

5. Students are expected to be generative thinkers.

6. Classrooms foster cognitive collaboration.Source: Judith Langer (cela.albany.edu)

GenerateGenerate EvaluateEvaluate AnalyzeAnalyze OrganizOrganizee

SynthesizSynthesizee

ReadRead

WriteWrite

TalkTalk

Take Take NotesNotes

Take Take TestsTests

The Academic EssentialsThe Academic Essentials

Article Notes

Main Idea Organizer

Technology

Technology is improving our lives, though such progress comes at a cost.

One Benefit Another Benefit Costs

Examples/Quotes: Examples/Quotes: Examples/Quotes:

Explanation Explanation Explanation

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•••

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Taking Tests

Teaching with Tools

What are “tools”?

Words Images• Individual Words• Sentences/Statements• Passages• Texts• Questions

Graphic Organizers

Shapes/Diagrams

Words and Texts Are Tools

“…A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one….” Barack Obama

Faith

Images Are Tools

Questions Are Tools

• Am I my brother’s keeper?

• Who did what to whom—why, and so what?

•What is the question you are trying to answer?

•What does it take to be a survivor?

Analogies and Diagrams Are Tools

Graphic Organizers Are Tools

…Human beings have always sat in circles and councils to do their best thinking, and to develop strong and trusting relationships.

Margaret Wheatley

from Turning to One Another

Groups Are Tools

Research Says that Using Tools

Helps struggling students and those with special needs by providing structure and support.

Supports English learners by helping them see how information is organized and giving them a more visual means of understanding or conveying ideas.

Increases engagement by providing ways for “cognitive collaboration” on academic tasks.

Acheives more sophisticated thinking by asking students to analyze, organize, and synthesize.

Improves comprehension by allowing students to analyze text structure and connections.

Enhances memory through organization of info.

Promotes “generative thinking” and scaffolding.

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?Family

Sports

VideoGames

Culture

Cars

History

InterestsInterestsInterestsInterests

War

Gangs

Topic Target

?Family

Sports

VideoGames

Culture

Cars

History

InterestsInterestsInterestsInterests

War

Gangs

Examine a Character from Multiple Perspectives

Paintings FilmsOphelia 1 Ophelia 2 Ophelia 3 Gibson Brannagh

Sir John Everett Millais. Ophelia. 1851-1852. Oil on canvas. Tate Gallery, London, UK.

Ophelia 1

Eugène Delacroix. The Death of Ophelia. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.

Ophelia 2

Ophelia 3

Heroic Cycle

Orientation

Disorientation New Orientation

Color and Arrangement

EnglandEngland OuterOuter CentralCentral InnerInner HomeHome

PlotPlot

SettingSetting

Charac.Charac.

MoodMood

ToneTone

ThemeTheme

Speadsheet OrganizerSpeadsheet Organizer

Character Arc

Begin End

Use before, during, or after

Use with individuals, pairs, groups, full class

Use to generate, organize, analyze, synthesize

Use to prepare to read, write, speak

Do not make the tool the end product if possible.

Demonstrate how to use

Use for all but especially ELD, Special Ed, strugglers

Use Tools Effectively

Instructional Principles1. Work independently and with others to solve a range of intellectual problems.

2. Process material on multiple levels and in various ways.

3. Use tools and strategies to help them solve a range of academic problems.

4. Learn skills and knowledge through a range of instructional modes.

5. Communicate their understanding by multiple means, including other media.

6. Monitor and evaluate their performance and progress towards goals.

7. Connect what they learn today to their other studies, the world, and themselves.

8. Develop and use skills and knowledge in the context of meaningful conversations.

9. Know what a successful performance looks like on all tasks and assessments.

10.Read a variety of types of texts, including multimedia and visual.

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