January 6, 2013 Content from presentation taken from Mike Schmoke Ed.D. and his book entitled Focus. This is from a webinar and can be found on The Leadership and Learning Center’s website. TEACHER LESSON PLANNING WORK DAY

Focus on “first things” LESS is MORE: “First things must be ceaselessly and repeatedly clarified, practiced and mastered FIRST” So which things are the highest priority?

Which are most effective? (Improving test scores; college and career success) Laptops for all/Smartboards in every classroom Common, content-rich curriculum All commercial math/literacy “program” Differentiated Instruction Small class sizes Cold calling (and other “checks for understanding”) Various small/school-within-a-school “academics” minutes of purposeful reading & writing per day “Turnaround” strategies (new faculty; school design, etc) Cognitive/concept mapping; graphic representations

Which are most effective? (Improving test scores; college and career success) Laptops for all/Smartboards in every classroom Common, content-rich curriculum All commercial math/literacy “program” Differentiated Instruction Small class sizes Cold calling (and other “checks for understanding”) Various small/school-within-a-school “academics” minutes of purposeful reading & writing per day “Turnaround” strategies (new faculty; school design, etc) Cognitive/concept mapping; graphic representations

Hidden Opportunity “ Effective practices never take root in more than a small proportion of classrooms and schools” Tyack and Cuban Effective teaching is quite different from the teaching that is typically found in most classroom” Odden and Kelley

Reasonable Implementation of: Guaranteed Curriculum Authentic, college-prep literacy Effective Lessons

Reading & Writing vs. “stuff” ratio Reading & Writing CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.6 Compare and contrast a firsthand and secondhand account of the same event or topic; describe the differences in focus and the information provided. (4 th grade) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.6CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. (1 st grade) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.8CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.8 Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not. (6 th grade) Stuff Literature-based arts and crafts: dioramas; game boards; worksheets, posters; coats-of-arms; mobiles; moves; cutting; gluing coloring; drawing; designing book jackets; skits; collages Multiple Choice Curriculum: short passages followed by multiple choice questions about conflict; elements of literature; identifying the main idea

Reading & Writing vs. “stuff” ratio The message is not that “stuff” is bad and therefore teachers should never use it. There is a time and a place for “stuff” and when done well it can be very beneficial to students. The key is that the ratio of authentic reading and writing needs to be greater than “stuff”

Authentic Literacy Defined Authentic Reading: Reading that is meaningful, relevant, and useful to reader, often read difficult or content rich text Print-rich environment, ability to interact with others in response to reading Focus on communicating ideas or shared understandings Authentic Writing: Writing that is meaningful, relevant, and useful to reader Will most likely write like this as an adult Print-rich environment Understand that the writing process in recursive Critical Thinking: Being a strategic thinker, using metacognitive strategies to develop reflective thinking, distinguish between fact and theory Purposeful Teaching: Explain, model, and thinking aloud by teacher Make the invisible thought process visible to students

Effective Lesson Structure 100% engagement and… Clear learning objective/target written on the board…. “Today we are going to learn…..” Anticipatory set/background/purpose/preview of lesson Teach; model, model, model “think out loud” Guided practice- & lots of think/pair/share Multiple checks for understanding Independent practice/assessment

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