McREL Strategies and BTOP Barb Light, BTOP Project Director Today’s Agenda: 9:00 Introduction into the McREL Strategies 10:30 Break 10:40 Finish McREL Strategies 11:45 Lunch 12:30 BTOP Info 1:00 School Wires Training

Why?  These are two regional efforts you may (should?) hear about.  This information should give you an idea of where we have been and where we are headed.  Plus, it’s good stuff!

McREL  It started as for Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory; now it stands for Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.  It is a research and development corporation in Denver.  Dr. Robert Marzano, Dr. Debra Pickering, and Dr. Jane Pollack wrote a book called Classroom Instruction that Works while they worked for McREL.  The strategies come from that book.  They are often referred to as Marzano’s strategies, but technically McREL “owns” them.

Meta-Analysis  Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock wanted to know what strategies were the most effective teaching strategies.  Instead of designing a new study, they searched existing research and identified 9 strategies that work.  Called a “meta-analysis” because they analyzed so many studies to derive the conclusions.

Instructional Strategies that Make a Difference INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGYPERCENTILE GAIN Identifying Similarities and Differences45 Summarizing and Note Taking34 Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition29 Homework and Practice28 Nonlinguistic Representation27 Cooperative Learning27 Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback23 Generating and Testing Hypotheses23 Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers22

Identifying Similarities and Differences  45 percentile gain compared to classrooms that did not use it  Compare & contrast  Venn diagrams Venn diagrams  Analogies  ______________ is to _____________ as ____________ is to ____________  Noun is to verb as shopping is to money.  Similes and metaphors Similes and metaphors  The cell nucleus is like a human brain because _______________  Classifying or grouping things

Try It!!  Think of something you will be teaching this year and figure out how you could use one of the identifying similarities and differences strategies we just discussed to deepen the learning for your students.  Think, pair, share

From: Marzano, R. J. The art and science of teaching. (2007).

Summarizing and Note Taking  34 percentile gain  These are skills that must be taught with focus on deep knowledge over focus on the process.  To summarize some material must be kept, some must be reworded, and some must be deleted.  Think Twitter.  Reciprocal teaching  Main point or most important idea or one thing you learned  Note taking can be words, pictures, diagrams, etc.  Model it  Big picture sets the stage for learning and allows for connection to background knowledge  Layering information builds understanding piece by piece

Try It!!  Think of something you will be teaching this year and figure out how you could use one of the strategies we just discussed to deepen the learning for your students.  Discussion Question: How can you make note taking fun/engaging/worthwhile/meaningful for students?

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition  29 percentile difference  People like to be recognized for EFFORT and SUCCESS.  Believe it or not, research shows that students do not always connect effort to success. You should clearly state that effort matters and leads to success in education.  Students can track their own efforts and see if increased efforts = increased success.  Rewards – most effective when linked to meeting a standard; research shows that specific task related verbal praise is much more motivating to students than candy or even money.

Try It!!  Think of something you will be teaching this year and figure out how you could use one of the strategies we just discussed to deepen the learning for your students.  Brainstorming Session: List all the ideas you have for reinforcing effort and providing recognition.

Homework and Practice  28 percentile difference  Let’s get real about homework and its role in education:  Do kids have to hate homework?  Will kids do homework?  Yes, if it is interesting or worthwhile.  No, if it is punishment or boring.

Homework and Practice  What is effective homework?  Amount of homework = 10 minutes per grade of student maximum (3rd grader = 30 minutes max)  Homework is LEAST effective in grades middle grades (4 th -8 th grades).  Minimum parent involvement makes for better homework.  Purpose of homework must be identified and articulated.  All homework must be evaluated somehow (graded, commented on, etc.). If they do it you need to acknowledge their efforts and offer specific feedback.

Homework and Practice  Think, pair, share: What will you do to make homework an effective part of your student’s education?

Homework and Practice  Practice can lead to mastery.  What is mastery and when is that our goal for students?  Is there a difference between teaching skills and teaching knowledge?  What skills will you have to teach?  How will you encourage students to practice?  How will you encourage students to practice knowledge?

Nonlinguistic Representation  27 percentile gain  Simple idea – have students draw pictures, create models of or act out concepts. Graphic organizers are great, too!  re=plcp re=plcp  e=plcp e=plcp  Picture was done by a teacher to represent the concept of sentence fluency in writing.

Cooperative Learning  27 percentile gain  Grouping by ability is less effective than mixed ability grouping and low achieving students learn less in a low ability group than when working on their own.  Group sizes: 3-4 students/group is most effective; pairs are next most effective, and 5 or more students/group is ineffective  What are some creative ideas you have seen or have about cooperative learning?

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback  23 percentile gain  Gosh, you mean, setting goals and letting students know if they are headed the right direction is effective education? Rubrics actually work?!?  Put the standard on the board!! (Or else you lose points when your principal walks through your classroom.)  Feedback should be corrective in nature – specifically what student is doing correctly and specifically what student is doing incorrectly – focus on the task or standard to avoid student’s taking it personally.  Feedback should be timely. You have certainly had a teacher or professor who took forever to grade your work. How effective was that for you?  Students can provide feedback for themselves and should be part of this process! Thoughts on how to do this?

Generating and Testing Hypotheses  23 percentile gain  Making an educated guess and then figuring out if you are right creates meaningful learning. Some students love the idea of challenging themselves. It’s key to some students that it’s OK to be wrong in your hypothesis.  Predicting what will come next in a story  Science class experiments; science fair  Relationships and problem solving in math  Historical investigations of events – plausible scenarios for events that are debatable  Can be used in any class  Key: have students explain their hypotheses so you can understand their thought processes (be on the lookout for misconceptions), how they tested them, and what they learned from all this.

Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers  22 percentile gain  Set the stage for learning  Students want to know why they should learn today’s lesson.  Students want to know how today’s lesson connects to what they already know.  What’s the big picture??  Use questions, cues, and advance organizers to set the stage.

 How did I do this today?  How will you do this in your classroom? Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers

BTOP  Broadband Technology Opportunities Program  Federal grant (ARRA funds) awarded to EUPISD  $3.165 million granted + 28% match = $4.4 million project  Jobs provided: project director, instructional technologist, 3 techs, half time community outreach specialist  Provided netbooks for all 7 th -12 th graders in region, teacher PD, community outreach events about broadband use  Technology and 21 st century education is a big deal in our schools!

So, what can you do with technology?

Instructional Strategies that Make a Difference INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGYPERCENTILE GAIN Identifying Similarities and Differences45 Summarizing and Note Taking34 Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition29 Homework and Practice28 Nonlinguistic Representation27 Cooperative Learning27 Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback23 Generating and Testing Hypotheses23 Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers22