Understanding and Applying the Standards

By Zalino Bona

One of the most important activities of a teacher is translating a standard into learning experiences. Unpacking a standard and backwards mapping help a teacher to do this.

Unpacking a standard is the process of translating a standard into lessons. Unpacking a standard helps me, the teacher, to be clear about what the standard means.

First, I need to identify:

-         What students need to know

-         What they need to do to demonstrate that they are meeting the standards.

I need to pay attention to:

Nouns: They help me to identify the concepts (character, plot, setting)

Verbs: They help me to identify the tasks (explain, compare, analyze)

Identifying the concepts and tasks help me to know what and how I need to teach the standards.

Big Ideas and Essential Questions: The big ideas are core concepts or principles. Identifying the big ideas helps me to know what is important and what I should focus on. Essential questions help me to think about those ideas. For example, a big idea in a fourth-grade reading class could be: Writers use diagrams to help readers understand important ideas. The essential questions could be: How do readers figure out what the diagrams mean? How do readers know what is important?

Backwards Mapping is basically a three-step process of creating a lesson plan by starting with the end/goals in mind. First, I need to identify what the desired goals are: what I want my students to know and be able to do. Next, I will decide how I will know when students meet those goals, and plan relevant instructional activities which will help students to reach the desired goals. 

How these two processes helped me understand the standards:

Learning about ‘unpacking a standard’ helped me to understand the process of translating a standard into a lesson. Identifying the nouns and verbs helps me to break down the standard into manageable pieces: what students need to know and do to meet the standard. Knowing how to translate a standard into a lesson helps me to be clear about what I need to teach and to design activities that will help students to accomplish the learning goals.

‘Backwards Design’ helped me to see the importance of having clear and specific goals. It helps me to think about what I should look at first; what I want to see at the end of the unit. For example, if a fourth-grade writing literacy standard is: ‘The student will use grade level, descriptive vocabulary words,’ at the end of the unit, I will look for evidence of descriptive words in the student’s writing. To help the student get to that level, I need to plan lessons and activities which will help the student to learn descriptive words at grade level and to use those words in his/her writing.

Backwards mapping makes a lot of sense to me because it helps me to focus on what’s important. It pushes me to think more deeply about my lessons. While developing lesson plans, I need to be asking questions like: What is the goal of this unit? What should I do to help my students reach the goal? What should happen in the classroom? What skills would I need to teach? What would be the evidence that the desired goals have been achieved?

Learning about unpacking a standard has helped me to understand that it is important for me to be clear about concepts and tasks that are encapsulated in a standard. Backwards mapping helps me to think about how I would apply them in my classroom.

How is backwards mapping helpful? "We cannot say how to teach for understanding or which material and activities to use until we are quite clear about which specific understandings we are after and what such understandings look like in practice."(Wiggins and Mctighe) I think one of the main strengths of backward mapping is that it is goal-focused. Keeping the goal or a picture of the end design in my mind as I develop the lesson would help me to know what I would need to focus on to help students to accomplish that goal. I would also have a reasonably good idea about how I would assess their performance as well as align instruction to help my students to reach that goal.

I do have questions about how it will be implemented in my classroom. A question that comes to my mind is: Does this mean we may not cover all material? If we pick and choose only what is needed to reach the desired goals, will there be gaps in our students’ learning? When will they ever get to cover those sections that were skipped? Will this in any way influence the outcomes of tests they are required to take?

References:

Backward Design. (Updated: December, 2013). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/backward-design/

Mctighe, Jay. (December, 2012). Common Core Big Idea 4: Map Backward From Intended Results. Retrieved from:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

McTighe, Jay. (January, 2014). Greatest Lessons Learned. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtzbJtS1aY

Wiggins, Grant and McTighe, Jay. (n.d.). Understanding by Design: Backward Design. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/resources/wiggins-mctighe-backward-design-why-backward-is-best.pdf

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Standards and Backwards Mapping

By Zalino Bona

Subject and Grade: Reading Literacy Grade 4

Standard: The student will ask and answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus. 

Source of the Standard: Reading Literacy Grade 4, Quality Schools International
The Reading Literacy course is built on “best practice” research and is aligned with the Common Core Curriculum Standards.

Why I chose this standard:

Asking questions helps students to dig deeper and to be more engaged with the text. “Right questions foster powerful learning.” (Mathis, 2015) If we want our students to engage with whatever they read, we need to teach them to ask questions.

This reading strategy will enable students to engage in active inquiry, which is an essential element of college and career readiness. Good questioning skills go hand-in-hand with thinking, problem solving, decision making and judgment skills.

“Questioning is the strategy that propels readers on.” Stephanie Harvey (Scholastic)

Goals:                                         

Students will ask questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Students will answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Students will be able to independently use their learning to…                                         

• Engage with the text by asking questions
• Ask questions before, during, and after reading.
• Get answers by asking specific and relevant questions
• Get information by reading different genres of fiction and informational text

Understandings:                           

Students will understand that… questions can lead us to great discoveries.

• Asking the right question is essential if you want to arrive at the right answer.  
• Right questions lead to right answers.
• We can learn to ask the right kind of questions

Proficiencies that indicate what students will be able to do when they finish this unit:

Students will demonstrate their ability to:

• List the different words which can be used to ask questions and explain when each will be used (For example: Who? What? When? Where? Why, How, and I wonder.)
• Ask questions before, during and after reading a text
• Know how to ask questions using right vocabulary. Questions will vary depending on the genre and context.
• Ask pertinent questions that will lead them to the right answers
• Find answers to their questions in the text (and know that not all answers will be found in the text)

Assessments that will help me know students are meeting the standard (Performance tasks):

1.      Generating Questions: 

-          Students read a nonfiction text.

-          Use graphic organizer to write down questions before, during and after reading the text or
create a chart with questions asked before, during, and after reading the text

2.      Finding answers to Questions:

-          Were answers found in the text? Write down the answers. If answers were not found in the text, what would you do to find the answers?

3.      Using right vocabulary (Key words for asking questions)

-          Did the student use the right vocabulary? For example: who, what, where, when, why, how, and I wonder.  

4.      Transfer learning to real world experiences:

-     Generate questions for an interview to get information about a person or a profession or   

      life in the past

-     Conduct the interview

-     Create a presentation (poster or PowerPoint) about the person to share with the class

Learning experiences or activities I will use to help students meet the standard

Activity #1: Watch a video on Asking and Answering Questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fWZHaNugc

Activity #2: Read a nonfiction text -  Who was Amelia Earheart

Students will use a chart to write their questions and answers.

1.      Explain that good readers ask questions before, during, and after reading to help them understand a story better.

2.      Read the book “Who was Amelia Earheart?” to the students.

3.      Questions Before Reading: Read the title, and the back cover and look at the illustrations and ask students to think of as many questions as they can. Ask them to write their questions on the chart.

4.      Questions while reading: Read the story to the children. Have them write down questions that pop into their minds during reading of the story.

5.      When you have finished reading the story, ask them to write down questions they have about the story.

6.      Students can then be assigned into groups and asked to share their questions and answers.

7.      Ask students to narrow down their question to three or four questions.

8.      Gather all students and have them share their questions.

9.      With help from the class, have students categorize their questions.

10.  Discuss the questions that are important vs. interesting, and have students focus on the important questions: those that help them to better understand the text.

11.  Student can also be asked to categorize questions into those answered in the text and those that would require more research.

 Activity #3 - Game: Who Am I?

“To get right answers, we must ask specific questions that will lead us to those answers.”

 A sticky-note with the name of an animal is placed on the forehead of a student. The student will ask ‘Yes/No’ questions to find out the name of the animal.

 (Sample Questions: Do I live in the desert? Do I have fur? Can I fly? Do I have four legs? etc.)

This activity will help students to learn to ask specific and relevant questions to find the answer.

Variations: Where am I? The name of a place can be used instead of an animal. The student will ask questions to find out where he/she is (city, country, etc.)

References:

Backward Design. (Updated: December, 2013). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/backward-design/

Georgia, K.M. (August, 2015) Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions. Retrieved from:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/inquiry-based-learning-asking-right-questions-georgia-mathis

Mctighe, Jay. (December 2012)Common Core Big Idea 4: Map Backward From Intended Results. Retrieved from:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

McTighe, Jay. Greatest Lessons Learned. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtzbJtS1aY

Wiggins, Grant. (September, 2005). Understanding by Design: Overview of UbD and the design Template. ASCD.

Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

                                                              

                                                 

“When students do a good job at following rules and procedures, their willingness to be a positive influence in the class should be recognized and acknowledged. Conversely, when students do not follow classroom rules and procedures, their behavior that detracts from learning should be noted. (Marzano, 2007)

If effective learning is to take place in our classroom, I believe a well-managed classroom is a pre-requisite. First, students need to know why we have rules and procedures. They need to know required behaviors for creating a good learning environment. Spending a good amount of time teaching and reinforcing classroom rules and procedures will help a teacher to ensure that the class runs smoothly. Teaching rules and procedures at the beginning of the year and reviewing them periodically over the year will help students to be well-versed with these rules. However, as every teacher knows, there are times when students will break a rule or forget a procedure. What should a teacher do when that happens?                                                

Research shows that classroom disruptions decrease when both positive and negative consequences are used appropriately. In his book, The Art and Science of Teaching, Marzano cites Stage and Quiroz (1997), and Miller, Ferguson and Simpson (1998), who agree that ‘interventions do reduce disruptive behavior’ and call for a ‘healthy balance between rewards and punishments.’

As a believer in “what we focus on grows,” I used to lean more toward positive consequences in my classroom management. However, over the years, I have learned that negative consequences for disruptions or breaking rules are equally important. I fully agree that “a combination of positive and negative consequences appears to be the optimum approach.” (Marzano, 2007)

Apart from establishing a strong relationship with every student, I believe that a teacher should demonstrate a strong sense of what Marzano calls ‘withitness’ in the class. For me, this would mean being aware of what goes on in the class at all times, and responding appropriately. It would include not only noticing when a student is breaking a class rule, but also would mean noticing when students are ‘being good’ and contributing to a positive atmosphere in the classroom.

When students follow rules and procedures, I can acknowledge them by giving positive consequences. Some examples of positive consequences are:

• When a student follows direction, I could acknowledge it with a verbal or non-verbal cue such as making a ‘thumbs up’ sign, smiling, or saying, ‘Good job.’
• I can demonstrate awareness when students are following the rules by commenting on it or by thanking them.
• Positive consequences can also include tangible recognition which involves “providing students with some symbol or token for appropriate behavior.” (Marzano, 2007) This can be in the form of stickers, stars, privileges or other material rewards.
• Catch them being ‘good’ and reward them with a star or a ‘spot on a dalmation.’ Paste them on a board, and when they get a hundred stars or a hundred and one spots, have a class party to celebrate. 
• Send positive notes home to parents/guardians, or make positive phone calls.

Marzano lists four actions that would enable a teacher to address behaviors that could lead to problems: Being proactive and taking actions to prevent problems before they occur; occupying the entire room physically or visually; noticing potential problems which would include noticing ‘unusual behavior’ and attending to them; and using a series of graduated actions to stop problem behavior like looking at students, moving closer to them, and if the behavior continues, stopping the class and confronting the behavior. These actions would enable a teacher to intervene before a problem becomes serious.

However, not all behavior outcomes can be predicted. Things do happen in class which require interventions. When students break a rule, or do not follow procedures, I need to respond appropriately.

• When students do not follow a procedure, I can ask them to show how to do it the right way. For example, if a student runs into the classroom, I can ask the student to demonstrate the correct way to enter our classroom, or when a student speaks rudely, I can ask that student to rephrase the sentence in a polite way.
• Direct Cost would include losing privileges or time out. An off-task or disruptive student could be given ‘time out’ and asked to complete assigned work during recess.
• Over correction is perhaps one I would use sparingly and only for more serious offences. For example, if Johnny ‘repeatedly’ forgets to clean his materials after art, I might ask him to clean not only his materials, but his peers’ materials as well.
• A series of offences would lead to more actions that would help the student to change his or her behavior. It could include contacting the parents or guardians and drawing up an action plan, charts, or checklists.

The following flowchart shows my decision making process in applying rules and procedures in my class:

The following video  from Teaching minute has some concrete examples of giving positive feedback to students who are contributing positively to the class atmosphere: verbal praise, and acknowledging good behavior of individual students as well as the whole class. We also see tangible rewards and rewarding the whole class with a party for good behavior. 

In conclusion, it is important to remember that consequences are used to create an effective learning environment, and should be applied consistently. Appropriate  use of positive or negative consequences will help to preserve students' dignity as well as reinforce desired behaviors.

  

                                       

 Resources:

Fritz Redl’s Prevention Strategies for students with emotional Disability. Retrieved from
http://www.blackbinder.com/uploads/3/4/0/9/34090823/cipage1.pdf

Marzano, R.J. (2007). The Art and Science of Teaching. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.

The IRIS Center. (2012). Classroom Management (Part 2): Developing your own comprehensive behavior management plan. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/beh2/

TeachingMinute: Positive Consequences. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPRh1FaeqlI

Creating High Performance Learning Environments

The three videos were interesting and fun to watch. I think each teaching style is based on the premise that ‘it’ is the best way to teach in that particular context.

Roller Coaster Physics:

Academic Expectations: This teacher holds her students to high academic expectations. It is evident in the way she assigns work and interacts with the students as they work on their project. The students are researching, discussing ideas, predicting, experimenting and testing their theories on a simulation before the actual experiment. At each step, the teacher is asking questions and pushing them to give reasons for their answers, using appropriate vocabulary. The students are building, measuring, sharing ideas and taking notes. In ‘chiming,’ students discuss the problems they faced and ideas on how those problems can be solved. I think adding constraints to encourage them to become better problem solvers is a great strategy.

Behavior Expectations: It is evident that the students are held to high standards of behavior. All students are engaged in different activities and no one is off-task.

Norms and Procedures: Norms and procedures that build strong performance here is a strong collaborative culture, which is evident in the way they work together, listen to each other as they discuss ideas and take notes. Group members have assigned roles, and each one seems focused on carrying out his/her assigned job. 

3rd Grade Chinese Math:

Academic Expectations: The teacher is delivering instruction based on the belief that “routine practice is the most efficient way to learn.” Kan Wei (2014).  The kids are learning math facts by saying them aloud after the teacher in a rhyming fashion to help them to memorise the facts, though one wonders how much is being absorbed. Whole class instruction and feedback are important components of these classes. I think that due to the rigid regulations and test-oriented education system in China, math teachers are focused on teaching concepts and processes and not so much on real-world applications. However, based on the results, this system seems to work for the Chinese, and when it comes to memorising facts like multiplication facts, perhaps this strategy will work as well as, if not better, than some other strategy that we use in our classes.

Behavior Expectations: The students are expected to pay attention at all times. Chanting the multiplication rhymes would help to keep the children focused and engaged. And most children are willing participants in a group activity. 

 Norms and Procedures: Students are seated in rows, facing the teacher and the board. They raise their hands to speak, and seem comfortable and confident in sharing their answers.

Whole Brain Teaching: This method uses signs, gestures, and verbal responses to get students involved in their learning.

Academic Expectations: The students are held to high expectations because they are constantly kept ‘on their toes’ as they interact with the teacher by way of verbal responses and actions and gestures. The teacher teaches small sections at a time, after which the students teach each other what they learn from the teacher. The teacher will not move to the next section unless he/she is satisfied that all the students have learned the new concept.

Behavior Expectations: Expectations for behavior are very high in this teaching strategy. Students need to listen and pay attention to what the teachers says in order to give the right responses. The class goes over the rules at the beginning of each class. One of the rules is to follow directions quickly. Points are earned for good behavior, or taken away if students do not follow the rules.

Norms and procedures:

This class appears to have well-established norms and procedures. They listen to the teacher and respond with appropriate actions or words. A lot of communication takes place through actions. For example, the action for permission to speak is ‘raise hand and bring down to head and make a talking motion.’

Setting high performance expectations among my students

All three videos employ strategies that are unique and effective in each situation. There are some strategies that I can employ in my upper elementary classroom to create high performance expectations. In the roller coaster activity, the students are actively involved in discussions, note-taking, building, measuring, testing and crystallizing their ideas. All these take place in a positive learning environment where students are encouraged to share their ideas and work together to find solutions. This is a learning environment I would like to create in my classroom.

In the Chinese math class. Students are expected to know their basic math facts, and the teacher employs what she believes to be the best strategy, which in this case, is routine practice. Whole class instruction and practice seem to be the best practice for this. My version of this would be to add some actions as in ‘skip counting.’

I believe there are many ‘take-aways’ for me in the whole brain teaching strategy.  The part I like in whole brain teaching is where the students work in pairs and take turns to teach each other (switch). I think this is a great way to reinforce learning and can be used right after teaching a new concept in math or other subjects. The ‘Class-Yes’ and the other repetitive responses and actions seem to me to be a bit much. But I can see how some of these actions and responses can be useful in a language class or in teaching students with special needs. For example, in geography, drawing a vertical line in the air with your hand for longitude and a horizontal line for latitude might help some students to better understand the concept.

In conclusion, although these are great strategies, I would need to consider the age group and comfort level of my students before using the strategies, especially the ones which involve actions and chanting in unison. Therefore, my first step should be to get to know my students well as only a good knowledge of my students' needs, interests, and abilities would enable me to employ strategies that would create a high performance learning environment that would meet their needs. 

References:

Chen Crystal. 3rd Grade Chinese Math. [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7LseF6Db5g

Migdol, Donna. (n.d.). Roller Coaster Physics: Stem in Action. [Video File]. Retrieved from

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies

Roxishayne. (May 31, 2011). Whole Brain Teaching Richwood High- The Basics. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXTtR7lfWU&feature=youtu.be

Wei, Kan. (March 25, 2014). Explainer: What Makes Chinese Math Lessons So Good. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-makes-chinese-maths-lessons-so-good-24380

Whole Brain Teaching. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://ashleytipton.weebly.com/whole-brain-teaching.html

Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

It is the first day of school. My hands tremble as I grasp the doorknob to open my classroom door and walk into the room I have been preparing for the past few days. The bulletin boards greet me with their colourful displays - some filled with pictures, plans and schedules, and some bare, waiting for the students to fill them with their pictures and work. What does it take to make a room a welcoming and inviting place? Will my students want to sit in this room? Will they want to work here? More importantly, will they want to learn here?

The Classroom Setup:

The first thing the students will notice as they come into the room is how it is set up. It says a lot about how learning will take place. To make it a positive learning environment, I have to think about how my students are going to learn: in groups, whole group and small groups, in pairs, or individually. I have to ensure that every student will have easy access to all the learning materials. The special needs student shouldn’t have to struggle to get to the pencil sharpener in the corner. 

A reading corner, where students can sit on cushions or on a rug, is always a good idea. Bookshelves filled with their favorite books, written by their favorite authors would help them to spend some productive time in this corner. To these, I would add my own selection of books, which would include genres reflecting different reading levels, interests, and cultures.

The Classroom Culture:

Creating a Positive Classroom Culture: What can I do to ensure that every student feels valued and respected in this class?

First, it is important to create an environment in which every student feels safe and secure. Relationship and community- building activities in the first week (and subsequent months) will help students to get to know each other. Games and ice-breakers can be used for students to learn each other’s names, their likes and dislikes, their families, and other details. Putting students in groups for these activities will further help to establish a sense of community.

My students come from diverse cultures, language groups, religions, socio-economic backgrounds and other social constructs that separate and divide people. Scharf (2014), in Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education, talks about the importance of “genuinely seeing diversity as a strength and an opportunity, rather than as an “issue” or problem.” This diversity in my class gives me an opportunity to teach my students to understand and embrace diversity as it exists in the real world. To prepare my students to live and work successfully in the community, I should help them to appreciate diversity by focusing on understanding each other’s cultures and on what we can learn from, as well as do for, each other.

Making our classroom a safe and secure environment would mean teaching them to respect each other, and treating each other well. While focusing on relationship-building is important, I would also need to educate my students on issues like bullying and other forms of abuse that can happen in schools and communities. In teaching about bullying prevention and intervention, I need to focus on helping them to understand what bullying is, and what everyone needs to do to establish a safe and secure environment in the school; that it is not only about not bullying others, but also stepping in to stop it, or doing something about it when they see it. In addition to educating them on all these issues, I would need to ensure that I never let any disrespectful remark or behavior go unaddressed. Brownstein (2009) calls this ‘zero indifference.’ I need to practice ‘zero indifference.’

Discipline and Behaviour Management: It is important for any class to have a well-thought out and understood system for the way things are done. My students would need to know what the expectations are in reference to behavior as well as completing assigned work. When students have a say in their classroom rules, they will have a sense of ownership, which in turn, will make them more responsible. And with regards to implementing consequences, Sharf (2014) recommends ‘restorative justice’ which emphasizes “repairing harm and restoring relationships rather than simply punishing those who have engaged in misconduct.”

Instruction and the Learning Culture:

Every student in my class comes with different experiences and skills. I have to think of ways to get them to share these experiences and skills.  Researchers report that students learn more from their peers when they work in groups, and as a teacher, I should look for opportunities to let them work on projects and other activities in groups. Working with their peers will enhance their social and communication skills as well.

Keeping in mind the learning styles, capabilities, and interests of the students will help me to craft lessons that will reach every learner. I have to ensure that each culture is addressed and celebrated in our class. Culture, as defined by Scharf (2014), “can refer to an individual’s race, class, gender sexual orientation, religion, immigration status and age, among other things.” Marzano recommends bringing students’ interests- which can include any of the factors listed by Scharf- into content and personalizing learning activities. Knowing the range of diverse cultures in my class will enable me to personalize learning activities and make learning relevant and meaningful for my students by connecting it to their real-world experiences.

How will I as the teacher pull all these threads together to make our time together in this class a meaningful and worthwhile one? Do I know the cultures of all my students? As an Asian teacher, I do not know all the ins and outs and nuances of other Asian cultures, let alone the cultures of other races. I need to educate myself by designing my professional development plans to include learning about the cultures represented in my class, which can and should include parents as a resource.

In conclusion, to create a positive classroom climate for my students, I would need to get to know each one of them. I would need to let them know that I’m interested in them as individuals, and that their interests and dreams matter to me. A positive attitude will help me to get the message across that I enjoy having them in my class. I can show them that I care by showing respect, trust and a caring attitude. Teacher-student relationship, according to Marzano is the ‘keystone’ of effective management, and that “teacher behavior is the language of that relationship.” There’s so much that I need to learn.

For now, I will begin by greeting them at the door.

References

Brownstein, Rhonda. (2009) Pushed Out. Retrieved from

http://www.tolerance.org/pushed-out

Scharf, Amy. (2014). Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education. Montgomery, Alabama. Teaching Tolerance.

 Marzano, R.J. (2007). The Science and Practice of Teaching and Learning. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.