Last few weeks...

As I was reading educational articles this weekend, I ran across two very fitting ones. We are down to the wire, weeks...days... until summer break. This time of year brings stress and angst-I know if we work together, as a team, we can get through it. The best part about our job is the family that it forms. We lean and support one another when we get "tired." We get to the point we feel like we are hitting a wall. We are trying so hard to hold our eyes open with multiple cups of coffee. We are rolling out of bed hoping it is Friday. We can't sleep because all we dream about is testing. Yes, we have all been there, where the days seems endless. The minutes seem like they aren't moving fast enough. Remember though, you could be the ONLY smile some of our students see. So, when the days get tough, smile, laugh, and have fun with your students in these upcoming few weeks. They need that as much as we do now. They want to make you happy, they want to show you what they know, they want your love, kindness, and support. They need YOU...their role model and inspiration! As always, thank you for all that you do! I look forward to a great upcoming few weeks.

https://www.weareteachers.com/keeping-students-engaged-end-of-year/

https://www.weareteachers.com/25-tricks-to-get-your-students-through-the-last-weeks-of-school/

The End as a Beginning

The end of the school year can be challenging.  We know that the last few weeks of school will be crazy with all of our end of the year events and assessments.  We are confident that you have given our students what they need to be successful.  Please take time to breathe during what can be a very stressful time of year.

As you all know, FSA testing has already begun.  We appreciate your efforts with keeping the campus quiet while transitioning around the building.  Like all of you, we wish we did not have to spend the majority of our time over the next few weeks testing, but it is necessary.  Our students may be feeling very anxious during this time, and we can all help alleviate some of their pressure by remaining calm and encouraging them.

We have seen how much effort has gone into this year's focus on increasing student engagement to increase student achievement.  Our students and staff will shine bright this year and for many years to come.  We are so very proud of all our Mighty Manatees! 

When we welcomed our students and families at the start of this school year, we were excited and enthusiastic!  Even though we may be exhausted, we trust that we will make the end of the school year just as exciting and special as the beginning.

Thank you for all that you do!

Welcome back!

Good morning,

We hope everyone had a wonderful break. We are down to the wire...only a few weeks left. These upcoming weeks bring alot of angst and stress due to testing. Below are some useful tips for teaching emotional regulation and improving classroom behavior at the same time. It is important we teach children the connection on how they feel and how they act. Students often act out because of the way they feel. If we reach them internally, and help them express how they feel, then the way they act could be significantly improved. If we spend some time teaching emotional regulation children will realize they are in control of their feelings and actions in a positive manner instead of a negative one. Below are some ideas on how to incorporate this in your classroom.

As always, thank you for all you do!

https://www.weareteachers.com/emotional-regulation/

Who Moved My Standards? Joyful Teaching in an Age of Change: A SOAR-ing Tale (Michael D. Toth)

Thank you for listening to the story “A Soaring Tale” from the book Who Moved my Standards.  I forgot how much I enjoyed doing read-alouds with a class.  I felt this story was a great way to depict the challenges we as educators are faced with today.  We have to get our students a lot farther along in order to be successful.  We felt this struggle when the standards began to change.  The nut tree in the distance represents more than new standards.  It is a symbol of the changing world we are preparing our students to enter.  We are preparing our students for jobs that may not even exist right now. 

Teachers and educators quickly realized that the traditional model of lesson planning and instruction is no longer adequate for the challenges of meeting new standards or for the success in the new economy.  Education in the past prepared students for manufacturing jobs.  The traditional learning environment was good at producing the skills needed for assembly line jobs and mass production.  Skills and domains of knowledge were taught in isolation.  Science class did not have any connection to English, math, or art.  Order and efficiency were very important.  Students were directed on what to do and when to do it.  When students tried to work with other students, teachers quickly responded to that action by asking students to do their own work.  Problem solving skills were not necessary in an assembly line or production workplace.  Most of us learned in classrooms like this.  This model is still seen in many classrooms of today. 

With today’s technology and globalization, the skills necessary for today’s new economy are quite different.  Many of today’s jobs require dynamic teaming.  We may be asked to serve on one or more teams that were specifically formed to resolve issues or create a solution.  With this teaming, team leadership may shift.  Employees take ownership of their work and their teams’ results.  Employees need interpersonal skills for success.  Many times they are confronted with challenging projects that require fluid and complex problem solving, persistence in the face of difficult tasks, and less direction from superiors.  They are required to have the ability to do research, analyze, and synthesize information into persuasive arguments or compelling presentations. 

The new standards were developed to reflect the demands of today’s world and to foster the skills for success in the new economy.  Do our classrooms today reflect this? It makes little sense to teach academic standards developed for a new economy in a classroom learning environment that reflects the old economy.  We must transform the way students experience their learning.  Teachers who make this transformation in their classes are skilled at forming and facilitating student academic teams, where kids wrestle with the content as applied to real-world scenarios, where their thinking and problem-solving skills are fully engaged, and where the teacher expertly moves to the background to facilitate and guide when learning goes off track.  When classrooms make this transition, both teachers and students are able to master the full intent and rigor of new standards.

Old Economy Classroom Environment	New Economy Classroom Environment
Teacher is doing most of the work	Students are doing most of the work
Teacher is doing most of the talking and directing	Students are doing most of the talking and are directing their own work
Teacher feels like she/he is pushing the students to learn	Students take ownership of their academic progress and pull toward their learning goals
Students have a hard time visualizing how the learning will help them in the real world	Students are seeing the connections to the real world through their work
Teacher feels the pressure to engage and hold students’ attention	Students are highly engaged in complex tasks and real world problems
Teachers feel fatigue and the pressure to cover content	Students are feeling mentally stretched but excited about the task and what they are discovering

Here are some tips from Michael Toth to help transform our classroom learning environment.

• ·       Students can’t be direct-instructed into becoming critical thinkers.  Students develop critical-thinking skills by working with a level of autonomy from the teacher while applying the learned content to complex tasks in real-world scenarios.
• ·       Teacher over-support can rob students of the autonomy necessary to develop critical-thinking and teamwork skills.  Focus on scaffolding the release of responsibility to the students for their own learning.  If students are on task but struggling with content, allow them to practice persistence and stretch themselves mentally.  If they have misconceptions, errors in reasoning, or gaps in understanding that are preventing progress in the complex performance task, they may not yet be ready for the complexity of the task.  Clear up misunderstandings and content gaps and try again.
• ·       All learning in classrooms should be based on the academic standards, with thoughtful planning to align performance tasks, success criteria, and levels of deeper thinking with the standards.  The standards-aligned learning goal should always be clear to students, so they can track their own progress to mastery.
• ·       Not all standards are equal.  Work with your curriculum office to identify the power standards and the supporting standards.
• ·       Student academic teams need well developed roles and expectations, including team leaders, common performance tasks but accountable individual work, and visible peer coaching.  The team is only successful if all team members are successful.  If it feels like you are pushing the team to learn, then you do not yet have a student learning team.
• ·       As students perform real-world complex tasks, make sure they use correct academic vocabulary and engage in discussions and thinking like student scientists, engineers, mathematicians, essayists, or historians.  They should be questioning each other’s claims, probing reasoning, and examining text evidence as they investigate and solve problems or create new solutions.
• ·       Most important of all, have fun with it!  If you as a teacher are not feeling creative and excited about the performance task, it’s not likely your students will be either.  If you’re having fun teaching it, they most likely will have fun learning it. 

So many of these suggestions directly relate to the Charlotte County Expectations. 

Speed of Trust

I hope to continue with The Speed of Trust presentation this Wednesday.  Attached you will find a summary from the book and training.  I am also attaching another video for you to watch.  Happy Monday! 

https://www.cu.edu/sites/default/files/ExecSummaries-The_Speed_of_Trust.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuEEckocePs

14 more days until Spring Break...

It is this time of year...we are so close to break, but it does not feel close enough. We need to help and support each other....we are in it together! We started the year as a team and we need to finish as one! Please take a second to click the below link. It has some great information and funny Giphys! I hope this brings some light to the last few weeks and makes you realize that life is precious...stress is inevitable but there are ways to help it.

9 Stress Management Strategies Every Teacher Needs to Know...
By: Chris Mumford



As a teacher, you know that stress is inevitable. Papers will stack up, students will act out, and lessons will need to be planned.

But while stress is inevitable, how you respond to it can spell the difference between a long, rewarding career, and one cut short by burn-out.

New research into stress has given rise to some surprising (and even counter-intuitive) strategies to better deal with it.



https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/9-stress-management-strategies-every-teacher-needs-know

Technique #4

Using Student-Generated Scales

One way to increase student’s engagement and have them involved in the content is having them develop individual learning targets and scales. They become more invested in their learning by doing so. Their personal connections encourages participation within the learning content. This also empowers the students to become independent thinkers and learners. With this technique the students are in control. When they are in control it fosters personal efficiency and students self-direction, which all in all motivates them to work harder to meet their goals.

There are a few steps for students to be able to effectively create and implement targets and scales.

1-      Teacher Introduces and Explain Learning Target and Performance Scales-They need to understand the learning target of the content/unit. Teacher should help students make a connection from the content to real world. Encourage students to look for additional connections between their own personal interest and the content. This will help students determine what they would like to learn more about.

2-      Student Identifies Personal Learning Goal Target- Students need time to think (you can give them time to research or to have conversation) of a learning goal that is personally important to them that relates to the content. The individual goal/target should be aligned with the learning targets of the teacher created scale. You could use a KWHL to help the students generate a learning goal. Teacher could also pose guiding questions pertaining to the goal. Examples: What are some things I am interested in right now related to this topic? What do I want to be understanding in this lesson? Once they know their goal it should be written just as when teachers write them…I will be able to…or I will…

3-      Student Generates a Personalized Scale- Once students have their goal, they now move on to writing their scale. They need to consider what they will need to learn or do to be able to reach that goal/target. They may need to build their background knowledge to achieve their own goal. Once the foundation targets have been aligned with the student’s personal goal they are ready to enhance and deepen their targets. The scale should become a personalized plan of action that will lead them to a successful learning.

4-      Teacher Reviews, Supports, and Guides- Teacher must review the scales to make sure they are aligned to both the content and the target on the teachers scale. You can also provide support and guidance to foster and promote student independence. Students should feel challenged and supported during these processes. Some will need more direction than others. Some may need time to reflect, focus and self-monitor where others may need more hand by hand support. The use of students created target and scales requires teachers to act as a facilitator as the students strengthen their learning.

Implementing all of this is not enough, you must constantly monitor. To be most effective, view implementation as a three step process-

1.       Implement the strategy using energy and creatively to adopt and adapt the 4 different techniques.

2.       Monitor for the desired effect.

3.       If you realize as you are monitoring that it is not adequate for students achievement, then change and adapt.

Instructional Technique #3 Using Student-Friendly Scales

Using this approach ensures that the targets and scales remain aligned with the rigor or cognitive complexity of the standard. Learning targets and scales are only powerful if students truly comprehend what they are expected to know and do.  For many students, the wording of the targets and expectations for each performance level of the scale might need to be explained and then translated into student friendly language to make the learning experience meaningful.  For younger learners, the teacher can rephrase, shorten, or visually demonstrate the learning targets and scale using student-friendly language to make the content and learning more accessible. 

Consider the following guidelines when creating student-friendly scales:

Preserve the Intent of the Standard

Take care when adapting the scale to select words that students can understand without changing the intent of the standard.  For example if the standard requires the students to demonstrate, choose simpler replacement words such as show or use.  You want to ensure that the action verbs you choose to replace in student friendly targets and scales require the same level of cognitively complex thinking and operation from students as those originally stated in the standard. 

Include Words Essential to Demonstrating the Standard

Words essential to demonstrating the standard’s intent, such as the action verbs identify, compare, and count, and crucial vocabulary, such as circle, line, and key details, should be retained to avoid watering down the standard.  Use this opportunity to introduce terms and define new terms to deepen students’ academic vocabularies.  Always retain the intent of the learning target or scale.  It is up to the teacher to make sure that students ultimately understand the intention and meaning behind the words used in the standard. 

Use the I CAN Sentence Starter

Use the I CAN phrase as a simple sentence starter to preface learning targets.  I CAN statements help students concentrate on the immediate goal at hand as well as encourage them to take ownership of a learning target.  This also helps students understand and measure their own learning and progress.  Both students and teacher can use I CAN statements to formatively assess master of the content. 

Add Visual Support

Student friendly pictures add to the sense of community and foster engagement.  Visual aids emphasize without speaking or reading and are often used as a pre-reading strategy to activate prior knowledge.  Visual supports can increase the understanding of language, while providing the structure needed to clarify expectations and targets.  When selecting and preparing images or graphics to add visual support in a scale, determine what will be written and what will be visual.  Make sure the images reinforce, illustrate, or provide examples related to the target. 

Once Created, Explain the Teacher-Created, Student-Friendly Scale

Part of what makes a scale student friendly for younger learners is the support the teacher provides to ensure understanding of the expectations required at each level of the scale.  The combination of written, visual, and verbal support should help ensure that students understand what the targets and scale mean. 

Common Mistakes

The most common mistakes to avoid when creating student-friendly scales include the following:

• ·         The teacher does not ensure that student-generated examples accurately illustrate the expectations for each level of the learning progression in the student-friendly scale and are incorporated into the revised version of the student-friendly scale.
• ·         The teacher does not correctly translate or help the students translate the intent of the standard to student-friendly language.
• ·         The teacher uses a generic scale that does not describe the specific content targets.
• ·         The teacher creates an effective student-friendly scale but does not use it to provide direction and structure for classroom learning. 

Using Teacher-Created Targets and Scales- Instructional Technique 2

The essences of targets and scales: the identification of what students need to know and be able to do to attain the standard organized into a clear progression of learning targets. It is very important to remain focused on the learning goal target with consistency and intensity.

You will be unable to effectively implement this technique if the scales are not rigorous enough-key part! The four key teacher behaviors for target and scales: introduce and explain the scale and target to your students, help students become familiar with it, refer to it seamlessly throughout the lesson, and relate activities to the targets and scales throughout as well. 

Introduce and explain the scale and it's targets to students-

Think...How will you introduce and explain the scale and it's target to all of your students?

Explain the purpose of the scale/ target. 

Review the various routines in Technique 1. 

Do not lose your weight by shifting your emphasis to the content, you goal is to introduce and example the scale/target in a way that they will understand.

You can teach content once students grasp these two things, Targets are what they need to learn or do by the end of the lesson, scales show progression that they learning will follow.  

Should move quickly. 

Reveal and briefly explain it so they know what to expect within the learning targets.

Direct and explicit!

Ease students gradually into the challenge of using targets and scales-

Do not overwhelm your students. Make sure it is student friendly. 

They may be unfamiliar with it, so be cautious of that. 

Do not expect them to know the content until the actual content has occurred. 

It is becomes unobtainable or overpowering students may shut down. It's our responsibility to make it easier for them to understand. 

Refer continually, effortlessly, and seamlessly to targets and scales during instruction-

Should become part of your daily routine. 

During every lesson refer to it. 

Use an instructional strategy so it is effortless. 

Students will become quite accustomed to it and begin to think about it more when you are referring to it. 

Quality and depth of students understanding is dependent on all of this. 

Relate activities to the targets and scale throughout the lesson-

The activity/task needs to be purposeful and aligned to the specific target. 

Help students understand the purpose and alignment of the targets based on the scale. 

They will enjoy seeing how everything is connected and builds on one another for the ending goal. 

Common mistakes-

Posts or distributes copies of the target/scales but does not explain it. 

Confused the target/scales with content=two separate things. 

Too much time teaching scale- introduce/reference it at the beginning of lesson. 

Teacher introduces it and students are anxious because it was not presented as a progression. 

Does not explain the learning target and how it relates to the progression in a way the students understand it. 

Teacher does not refer to it during the lesson. 

Teacher does not relate activities to the target/scale. 

Teacher fails to involved and expect students to demonstrate their understanding. 

To determine if students understand the scale and target requires effort from the students and teacher. Here are some examples of monitoring the implementation:

Students draw pictures of diagrams to explain the goal/target. 

Teacher walks around and scans the artifacts, asks questions if needed. 

Students work in small groups on learning scenarios. They have time to identify the critical content related to the target in the learning. 

Teacher listens to students discussion. 

Teacher provides students the opportunity to write a brief description of how a previous activity during the lesson related to the learning goal. 

Teacher gives students a chance to sort the target to the activity they did (the alignment of it)

We will continue this post next week with instructional technique 3. 

Routines for Using Targets and Scales

There are many ways to help your students understand and use learning targets and performance scales to become more self-managed and independent in their learning.  Marzano has identified 4 instructional techniques that teachers can use to implement learning targets and performance scales.  

The first strategy we will look at is routines for using targets and scales. 

The effective implementation of a performance scale and the set of learning targets on which it is based requires that you know precisely how to communicate the purpose and value of these tools to your students in clear and understandable ways.  One way this can be accomplished is through using routines and procedures during instruction to precisely communicate the what, why, and how of a specific aspect of understanding and using a scale and its targets.  Helping students understand what the routine is, why it is being implemented, and how it will be used is imperative to using targets and scales in your classroom. 

According to Marzano, there are five different routines that can help you and your students realize the power of a scale and its learning targets to ensure student master of critical content. 

1. Explain the What, Why, and How of a Scale and Its Targets

What: Tools that communicate learning expectations and detail the progression of learning

Why: Scales and its targets provide focused direction and structure that makes learning more visible to everyone.  Using these tools helps students self-regulate their learning and motivate a growth mindset that will eventually empower them to take control of their own learning.

How: Spend time developing the explanation you will give your students during your initial implementation. Choose your terms carefully and be consistent in the way you use them.  Select a simile if appropriate: A scale is like a road map, or our “to do list” or a yardstick on which we measure our learning. Keep your introduction simple. Not every student will understand every part of a scale and its targets on the first day. 

2.  Make the Scale and its Learning Targets Accessible to Students

What: Accessibility means doing two things.  Having physical copies and artifacts that explain and relate to the goal within easy reach of you and your students and making the language and structure of the scale and targets as accessible as you can to students through creating student-friendly scales that use simpler terms or pictures to convey the intent of a standard.  Both you and your students should be able to view the tools as often as needed.  The targets on the scale should be clearly and concisely written to avoid confusion or misdirection when referenced.

Why: Accessibility to the performance scale is imperative if using it is to become a natural practice.  This will lead to familiarity, and familiarity will lead to regular usage.  Students will learn to rely on the structure the tool provides and refer to the targets and scale whenever they need direction or clarification.

How: Post a copy of scale and targets for easy reference. Create a copy on whiteboard so you can readily point to it during instruction. Student friendly language. Add the learning target to classroom activity and assignment sheets to make it more accessible.  Ask students to keep a copy in their academic notebooks.

3. Begin and Close Each Lesson With a Focus on the Target

What: Begin each lesson with a brief explanation connecting that day’s lesson to a target on the scale.  Then, when you are winding up the lesson, remind students of the target and together refer back to the scale.

Why: Making a connection between the content to be covered that day and the learning targets embedded in the scale provides both direction and background for students.  Students will not have to wonder “why they need to know this or when they would ever use this if the teacher makes a connection between the learning goal and the lesson.

How: Provide an overview of the day’s lesson, and then ask students to tell their partners what the target of the lesson will be.  Build a reference to the previous day’s learning target and then segue to the day’s target.  Communicate the target and give students a preview of your expectations for them during the lesson.  Close each lesson by going back to the performance scale and fitting the lesson’s target into the context of the learning progression of the scale. 

4.  Relate Instruction to the Target

What: Purposeful reminders to the learning targets are needed to integrate this routine into the culture of your classroom.  Simply announcing the target at the start of the lesson is not enough.  Correlation to the target should be made whenever the opportunity arises.

Why: This helps students understand the connection between the classroom activities and the learning targets.  Knowing the purpose often motivates students to indentify with and personalize their learning. 

How: Intentionally plan to include purposeful reminders to relate instruction to the target.  Use small group discussions to refocus learning on the target and forge a relationship between the activity and the target. Challenge students at the beginning of the class period to write down any connections between the lesson and the learning target. 

5.  Refer to the Learning Progression of the Scale

What: Consistently build students’ awareness of how their learning is building toward an ultimate goal or destination.  Reference should be made to the progression of learning embedded in the scale that provides the steps students need to follow to advance their understanding of the content the standard requires.

Why: Do not teach learning targets in isolation.  Students should be made aware of the connection between the learning targets and classroom activities as well as how the connections between targets advance their knowledge of the content.  Consistently remind students of the big picture.

How: Ask students how the activity they are doing relates to what they learned previously or to the learning targets yet to come. Encourage and expect students to take ownership of their learning by relating the knowledge they have gained to the learning progression of the scale to determine areas of weakness or possible misconceptions that might interfere wit their successful mastery of the learning goal target.  Plan a specific activity related to the learning progression in the scale such as using the performance scale to review for a test.  Progect a template of a performance scale on a magnetic whiteboard on which the scale is always present during instruction.  Create magnetic targets that can be affixed to the board.  Physically remove the target being taught and put on display for students to see throughout the lesson.  At the close of the lesson, pick up the target and place it on the scale at its appropriate level.

Common Mistakes to avoid include the following:

·         When first introducing the learning targets and scale to students, the teacher does not explain the purpose or the what, why, and how of a routine.

·         The teacher fails to purposely model how to use the learning targets and performance scale as an instructional resource tool to provide structure to the learning environment.

·         The teacher spends an excessive amount of time or overwhelms students with too much information instead of providing a brief overview or reference to the tool.

·         The teacher does not make a conscious effort to relate instruction to the focus targets or learning goal targets or make reference to the learning progression in the scale.

·         The teacher does not make the learning goals or performance scale assessable for all students.

We will be sharing the other instructional techniques in the upcoming weeks. 

Similarities and Differences

This element helps students deepen their understanding of content knowledge and enhance their long-term retention and problem solving abilities related to critical content. A wide range of strategies foster students knowledge by examining S and D, they are: 

Sentence stem comparison-The teacher has the students complete sentences to compare and contrast people, places, events, concepts, or processes. 

Summaries- The teacher has students summarize S and D using three columns- 1st- lists features that are only found in first item, 2- the far right lists features that are only found in second item, 3- the middle lists features that are similar between both. 

Constructed-response comparisons- The teacher has the students describe how items are S or D. How is ______ S to and D from ______?

Venn diagram- The teacher asks students to compare and contrast using circles.

T-Charts- Teacher has students uses this to compare two objects, ideas, events, or people. Two topics across the topic and details that describe on each side of the dividing line. 

Double bubble diagrams- The teacher has students write two items in large circles and has smaller circles coming off of them. Middle is S and outside ones are D. 

Comparison matrices- The teacher has students write elements they wish to compare at top of column. In the rows, students write the characteristics on which they will compare. In each cell, students record information related to each attribute. Finally, students summarize what they have learned. 

Classification charts- The teacher creates a chart with several categories listed across the top and asks students to fill in examples that fit. 

Sorting, matching, and categorizing- The teacher asks the students to sort, match, and categorize content. 

Similes- The teacher asks students to state comparisons using like or ask. 

Metaphors- The teacher asks students to state comparisons, where one this is another. 

Sentence stem analogies-The teacher has students use sentence stems to create comparisons that describes the relationships between two items. Item one is to item two as item three is to item four. 

Visual analogies- The teacher asks students to use visual organizers to help make analogies. Two parallel lines, one above the other, each with bisecting line in the middle. 

There are 6 steps that will lead you to effective implementation of this element: 

1. Develop and consistently use student friendly definitions of the four cognitive processes: comparing, classifying, creating metaphors, and creating analogies. 

2. Directly teach and intentionally model these 4 process for students. 

3. Gain proficiency in teaching and modeling mental tools students need- identifying critical attributes, summarizing and generalizing. 

4. Gain proficiency in teaching and modeling the recording and representing tools students need-sentence stems, graphic organizers. 

5. Continually remain focused on students mastery of critical content to the goal of meeting this element. 

6. Gradually release responsibility to students for managing their own thinking and learning about S and D. 

To successfully implement examining S and D you will need to develop student friendly definitions for them, below are a few key words and definition you could use. 

- Comparing is a way to identify S and C between things. 

- Classifying is a way to put things that are alike into categories based on their characteristics (properties, traits)

-Metaphor is a characteristic shared by two objects (topics)  that seem to be different. 

-Analogy is a comparison of two objects (things, ideas, people) that are similar.

Notice the first two terms are cognitive processes and the last two terms are patterns that communicate relationships between things.

Effective implementation of this strategy is more than just having students participate in an activity, it must including a monitoring piece-you could ask: Did my students deepen their understanding of the content by completing this work? How did I find out? Was the desired result of the strategy achieved? 

The desired result for S and D is for students to be able to describe how various aspects of the content are S and D and then be able to state any new information or generalizations they have learned as a result of the activity. This element requires deep and rigorous thinking, so monitoring will require that you ask probing questions, assess the quality of group discussions and student work, and observe students closely during the lesson.

As you self reflect, ask yourself these questions: How can you begin to incorporate some aspects of this strategy in your instruction? What are some ways you can encourage your students to become more independent with S and D? What are some ways you can check to see if most students are accurately identifying S and D? What are some ways you can adapt and create new techniques for identifying S and D that address unique students needs and situations? What are you learning about your students as you incorporate new techniques? 

If you would like further information about this element we do have a book you may check out. 

Marzano's High Yield Strategies and the Super 7

Did you know that Marzano has done extensive research on 9 instructional strategies that you can use in your classroom that will result in high achievement gains?  Each one of the instructional strategies relate to Marzano's Super 7.  Marzano has identified 7 elements that will have a high impact on the learning that takes place in your classroom.

Here are the 9 instructional strategies and the percent gains they should yield:
1. Identifying similarities and differences (45 percentile gain)
2. Summarizing and note taking (34 percentile gain)
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition (29 percentile gain)
4. Homework and practice (28 percentile gain)
5. Non-linguistic representations (27 percentile gain)

6. Cooperative learning (23 percentile gain)

7. Setting objectives and providing feedback (23 percentile gain)

8. Generating and testing hypothesis (23 percentile gain)

9. Questions, cues, and advance organizers (22 percentile gain)

You will notice that several of these instructional strategies relate to a number of Marzano elements.  Marzano research has shown that the following 7 elements from DQ #2,3,4, have the greatest impact on student achievement:
Element #6 Identifying critical information
Element #11 Elaborating on new information
Element #12 Recording and representing knowledge
Element #17 Examining similarities and differences
Element #18 Examining errors in reasoning
Element #20 Revising knowledge
Element #22 Engaging students in cognitively complex tasks involving hypothesis generation and testing

The highlighted elements are included in the Charlotte County Expectations.  Attached you will find a few documents that include what research says about the strategy and how it will look in the classroom.  There are also a few examples included in the document as well. 

Thank you so much for the great response to our Mighty Marzano PLC opportunity.  I was so pleased with the number of teachers who attended and gave their full effort to gain a better understanding of element #7.  I hope that you found it worthwhile.  Based on the information that was provided on the exit tickets, we will continue with our Mighty Marzano PLC. Our next session will focus on Element #18 Examining Errors in Reasoning on February 5^th.    

Processing Information

Active processing results in students' abilities to summarize, make predictions, ask clarifying questions, and discuss chunks of critical content. Processing new information is vital to engaging students in a more rigorous learning. This will help you grow into an innovative and highly skilled teacher who is able to implement, scaffold, and extend instruction to meet all of our students needs.

Students need on going opportunities to actively process new information. You must provide them with some type of processing experience after every chunk of new information they hear, see, or read.

The following teacher behaviors are associated with facilitating the active processing of new information:

• Teaching and modeling various techniques prior to their implmentation
• Planning and providing multiple opportunities for students actively process the information
• Organizing collaborative groups 
• Encourage and Motivate student to persevere through the new information
• Gradually release responsibility to students for their own processing
• Ongoing monitoring for result

Three common mistakes the teacher can make while seeking to become skills with this strategy:

• Does not intentionally plan for enough time that students can actively process the information
• Does not use the power of collaborative groups to assist students with the new information
• Does not gradually release the reins of responsibility for learning to students. 

Here is the main source of evidence that would show you your students are able to process information:

• They can explain or paraphrase after your lesson
• They can volunteer predictions
• They can ask clarifying questions
• They can discuss information by asking and answering questions 
• They can generate conclusionsa
• They can summarize new information
• They can write in response to the new information

There are 6 instructional techniques to facilitate the process of information.

• Using Collaborative Processing
• Using Think Pair Share
• Using Concept Attainment
• Using Jigsaw
• Using Reciprocal Teaching
• Using Scripted Cooperative Dyads

After reading the above, what elements do you think you could hit by using these instructional techniques? I know this is element 10 but it ties into many other elements too. You can use the techniques within DQ2, 3, and 4. 

Here is a link to the book (only some parts) that I pulled the information from:https://www.learningsciences.com/media/catalog/product//p/n/pni_lookinside.pdf

We have a hard copy of the entire book if you would like to borrow it. This will provide you an opportunity to read more about the 6 instructional practices.

Here is a useful video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtmB8uF8KiU

Have a nice week! :) 

Organizing Students to Interact With New Knowledge

At our last PPC meeting, we discussed formulating a plan to provide professional development on the Charlotte County expectations. (Marzano)  We decided that we would offer a few informal afterschool sessions to discuss the expectations.  Several teachers selected element #7 Organizing students to interact with new knowledge as their deliberate practice.  

Organizing students for learning is a powerful instructional strategy that focuses on facilitating small-group discussions in which students use academic vocabulary to talk about content with each other.  This strategy can be formal organization of students or informal conversations with small groups or partners.  This strategy does not encompass whole-class discussions.  While there is a time and place during instruction for teachers to lead whole-class dialogue, this strategy is focused on smaller groups of students interacting with each other rather that the teacher. 

It is important to note that there must be a stated purpose for interaction when you organize students to work together.  Some examples include processing new content, revise thinking, or practice a procedure.  Organizing for learning almost always goes hand and hand with other instructional strategies such as processing new information, practicing skills or processes, examining errors in reasoning, or elaborating on content.  Students are able to interact in two ways: collaboratively and cooperatively. Collaborative learning is interaction in which students share ideas and consider others perspectives as they are learning.  There is low interdependence with this learning interaction.  Their success in completing a task is not immediately ties to their productivity during collaboration.  There should be structures in place to ensure that all students participate and that groups remain focused.  Cooperative learning is interaction to facilitate the accomplishment of a specific end product or goal through students working together.  This type of grouping has higher accountability levels.  There is usually a task or a product that the group is expected to produce.  

Positive interdependence results when students recognize that their success is linked to the success of the members of their group and is an essential prerequisite for effective student interaction.  As you organize your students for learning you should create conditions and set the stage for positive interdependence.  The following teacher behaviors are essential to the effective implementation of organizing for learning:

• Identify critical information (#6)

• Plan meaningful tasks

• Structure intentional interactions

• Organize students into groups

• Establish routines

• Teach and reinforce skills

It is important to avoid the following common mistakes with organizing students for learning. 

• The teacher fails to identify the critical content or information

• The teacher fails to structure purposeful student interaction

• The teacher fails to prepare students to interact in groups

• The teacher fails to stay out of the conversation

Teachers should intentionally monitor their students to make sure they are enhancing their understanding of the critical information during their interactions.  Here are some ways that teachers can monitor the effectiveness of the strategy:

• Students use academic language to talk about content with each other

• Students share perspectives about critical content

• Students know their responsibilities during group work

• Students share the workload equally

• Students use small-group interaction to enhance their learning

While researching information related to this strategy, I am reminded of content that I learned during the Kagan Summer Academy.  I am excited that we will all get to participate in the day 1 training in February.  Please visit the links below for a video and resources related to this Marzano strategy. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL8qK0PXuOo

https://graniteschools.instructure.com/courses/1118234/pages/organizing-students-to-interact

Reflecting on Learning

This does not only focus students' attention on the content but also on themselves as learners. This results in higher ordered thinking on their part. 

Some strategies that you may incorporate, but are not limited to:

Reflective journals- Students can respond to reflective questions. The questions prompt the students to reflect on what predictions they made that were correct or incorrect, what information was easy or difficult, how well they understood the material, how well they think they did during the day, what what they think they could have done differently. 

If they state any of the above they should add why, give evidence!

Think logs- students reflect on cognitive skills-classification, inference, decision making, creative thinking, or self-regulation that the lesson focused on.

Exit slips- The student responds to specific reflective questions at the end of the room. Some examples include: What are the main ideas of today's lesson? What do you feel most and least sure about? Do you have specific questions about today's lesson? What aspects of today's lesson did you feel successful with?

Knowledge comparisons- Students compare and contrast their current level of knowledge on a topic of level of competence with a procedure to their previous level. Multiple methods may be used for this one. 

Two-column notes-Students use a two-column note sheet as an extended reflection activity at the end of the lesson. Left students record facts or other information they found interesting, right they record their reactions, questions, and extended ideas related to the facts or information to the left hand side. (This could easily be done in a Thinking Map fomat too)

The focus for this strategy is to help students understand the learning process as one that requires their attention and effort!

When the strategies in this element produce the desired effect, teachers will observe the following behaviors:

Students can describe what they are clear about and what they are confused about.

Students can describe their levels of effort and the relationship of their effort to their learning.

Student can describe what they might do to improve their learning. 

This resource breaks apart the scale:

https://www.kyrene.org/cms/lib/AZ01001083/Centricity/Domain/42/Art%20and%20Science/Enhanced%20Developmental%20Scales/Enhanced_Developmental_Scale_E13.pdf

Here is a great video on this element:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL_GKyh4FrI