How People Learn Working Together to Improve Student Learning

PAIR THINK What’s the name of one of your very best teachers? What are/were the characteristics of this teacher? SHARE Introduce your favorite teacher to your partner. Describe what makes her/him one of your favorites.

5 Common Characteristics of Our Best Teachers 1. Possessed a mastery of and passion for their content. 2. Displayed unwavering affection for students. 3. Challenge students to achieve more than they thought possible. 4. Displayed quirky/eccentric/memorable behaviors. 5. Shared parts of their lives with students.

Cognitive Science Why bother?

We should bother because: 1. What is common sense for some is not common for all. 2. Education today has similarities with medicine in the early 20th century. 3. We work too hard to be focused on the wrong things.

Michael Fullan “The main problem with educational systems and corresponding innovation and policy making is that they are intrinsically, endemically, inevitably overloaded and fragmented. Therefore, the main solutions have to be ones that contribute to coherence making and connectedness.”

Mike Schmoker’s Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvement in Teaching and Learning “If there is anything that the research community agrees on, it is this: The right kind of continuous, structured teacher collaboration improves the quality of teaching and pays big, often immediate, dividends in student learning and professional morale in virtually any setting. Our experience with schools across the nation bears this out unequivocally.”

The Leadership/Learning Matrix* *Doug Reeves Lucky High results, low understanding of antecedents. Replication of success unlikely. Leading High results, high understanding of antecedents. Replication of success likely. Losing Ground Low results, low understanding of antecedents. Replication of failure likely. Learning Low results, high understanding of antecedents. Replication of mistakes unlikely.

A Story about Our Dogs Framing Our Day

How can today inform how we “clean our counters”? Today’s Three Essential Questions: 1. What does research tell us about how people learn? 2. How can we use these findings to inform our practice? 3. What support will we need to transfer these findings skillfully to our setting?

Agenda Next Up: Making Sense of How People Learn Findings 12: :45: Lunch 12:45 - 2:15: A Close Look at One Teacher’s Work (Theater) 2:20 - 3:15: “Dear Bill & Leadership,” (Nearest Computer) -3 Most Compelling Ideas from Today -3 Things Bill Should Know about Us -3 Tips to Leadership for Cultivating a Culture of Greater “Coherence & Connectedness” 3:15 - 3:30: Closing (Theater)

3 Single-Page Excerpts from How People Learn Chapter 1: “Learning: From Speculation to Science” Excerpt #1: “Implications for Teaching” Excerpt #2: “Designing Classroom Environments” (1 & 2) Excerpt #3: “Designing Classroom Environments” (3 & 4)

Three Key Findings from How People Learn 1. Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside of the classroom.

Three Key Findings from How People Learn 2. To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

Three Key Findings from How People Learn 3. A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving.

Transitioning to Cafeteria 1. Prepare to read, take notes, and then discuss findings from How People Learn; 2. Bill will facilitate this process, but please identify a person who will “manage the table”; 3. Send a rep from your table to come pick up the first text, a graphic organizer for taking notes, and your Question/Comment Card. 4. Bill will be time keeper/prompter.

Key Finding #1 -Read/Take Notes -Discuss What’s the text mean? What do we think? -Question/Comment Card Jot Question(s)/Comment(s) on Card

Key Finding #2 -Read/Take Notes -Discuss What’s the text mean? What do we think? -Question/Comment Card Jot Question(s)/Comment(s) on Card

Key Finding #3 -Read/Take Notes -Discuss What’s the text mean? What do we think? -Question/Comment Card Jot Question(s)/Comment(s) on Card

Made to Stick

Two Quick and Easy Assessment Strategies 1. Exit Card Before class ends, ask students to answer (in writing) two or three simple questions to elicit a snapshot of students’ current conception of what you just taught. Example: 1. What would you say was the main point of today’s work? 2. What is the main confusion/unanswered question you are leaving class with today?

2. The Cover Page Whens students submit an assignment, ask them to complete a cover page tailored to the assignment that asks them to self-assess their work. Questions might include: 1. What’s the strongest part of your work? 2. If you had another day, what would you do to improve your work? 3. How would you rate the overall quality of your work? 4. What questions/challenges emerged as you did this work? 5. If you could go back in time and do this assignment all over again, what would you do differently and why? 6. If I could go back in time and redesign this assignment, what should I do differently and why?

Finding of Harvard Faculty “Faculty members at Harvard were asked what single change most improved their teaching. Two ideas swamped all others. One is enhancing students awareness of the big picture, “the point of it all.” The second is the importance of helpful and regular feedback from students so a professor can make midcourse corrections.” --Harvard Assessment Seminar, 1st Report 1993

Collect Comment & Question Cards

Agenda Next Up: Making Sense of How People Learn Findings 12: :45: Lunch 12:45 - 2:15: A Close Look at One Teacher’s Work (Theater) 2:20 - 3:15: “Dear Bill & Leadership,” (Nearest Computer) -3 Most Compelling Ideas from Today -3 Things Bill Should Know about Us -3 Tips to Leadership for Cultivating a Culture of Greater “Coherence & Connectedness” 3:15 - 3:30: Closing (Theater)

How People Learn Working Together to Improve Student Learning

The Strategic Reader Describing not Prescribing The Context -Struggling Readers -Types of Texts -Short Texts -End in Mind

“Dear Bill & Leadership,” -3 Most Compelling Ideas from Today -3 Things Bill/TASS Should Know about Us -3 Tips to Leadership for Cultivating a Culture of Greater “Coherence & Connectedness” so We Can Skillfully Transfer These Findings to Our Setting 3:15 - 3:30: Closing (Theater)

“Cleaning Our Counters” Today’s Three Essential Questions: 1. What does research tell us about how people learn? 2. How can we use these findings to inform our practice? 3. What support will we need to transfer these findings skillfully to our setting?

What research? How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School ( Dr. Robert Marzano’s The Art and Science of Teaching Dr. Carol Dweck’s Mindset Dr. Chris Jernstedt, a cognitive scientist from Dartmouth

Closing Whom shall we serve?

educere “to lead forth or draw out” midwife term meaning “to be present at the birth of”

Wisdom from Lao Tzu “Confront the difficult while it is easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.”

W isdom from a T.A.S.S. graduate: “Finding our own point of readiness and beginning there is as important for you as for your students. Not beginning is a guaranteed way to avoid progress. Biting off too much invites discouragement and failure. Begin where you are and chart a timeline of your own progress.”