Prepared for the Professional Learning Communities of the Montana Educators’ Summer Institute by Dan Mulligan, June 2008 Mining for Diamonds in the Rough Research Strategies that Produce Positive Results

Premise of the Workshop We need to stop asking “how?’ We now have all the knowledge, the skills, the methods, the tools, the capacity, and the freedom to do whatever is required to serve all students well. All that is needed is the will and the courage to choose and to move on. Peter Block, 1998

Give One … Get One …  On the back of your handout, write one way being a teacher/administrator in Montana like an astronaut on a walk in space. Think and be creative.  When signaled, circulate the room to meet a colleague. Give him/her your answer and get their answer.  You need a total of 2 answers. You may not get more than one idea from an individual. When you have completed your task, return to your seat.  Enjoy!

Category Ave. Effect Size (ES) Percentile Gain Identify similarities & differences Summarizing & note taking Reinforcing effort & providing recognition.8029 Homework & practice.7728 Nonlinguistic representations.7527 Cooperative learning.7327 *Setting objectives & providing feedback*.6123 Generating & testing hypotheses.6123 Questions, cues, & advance organizers.5922

6 Identifying Similarities and Differences

What processes can students engage in to identify similarities and differences? Comparing The process of identifying and articulating similarities and differences among items. Classifying The process of grouping things into definable categories on the basis of their attributes. Creating Metaphors The process of identifying and articulating the underlying theme or general pattern in information. Creating Analogies The process of identifying relationships between pairs of concepts (e.g., relationships between relationships).

Similarities and Differences Similarities and Differences Analogies putter putter is to a set of golf clubs as 2 is to the set of primes 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, … What is the common relationship?

Three types of curricula exist in any classroom: The Intended Curriculum: content/skill specified by the state, division, or school at a particular grade level. The Implemented Curriculum: content/skill actually delivered by the teacher. The Attained Curriculum: content/skill actually learned by the students. Intended Curriculum Implemented Curriculum Attained Curriculum Effective Instruction #2: focuses Effective Instruction #2: focuses on essential knowledge and essential skills Montana Content Standards and PerformanceDescriptors

Content-Related Evidence of Validity (Attained Curriculum) Essential Skills & Processes Essential Knowledge Essential Vocabulary LEARNING TARGET (attained curriculum)

Demonstrate an understanding of and an ability to use data analysis, probability, and statistics Knowledge VocabularySkills When is a relation called a function? What does interact mean? Which event will most likely occur? How do you know?

a. The number of cavities the sixth graders have? b. The number of people in the sixth graders’ families? c. The ages of the sixth graders’ mothers? d. The heights of the sixth graders in inches?

First-grade children from higher SES groups know about twice as many words as lower SES children High school seniors near the top of their class knew about four times as many words as their lower performing classmates High-knowledge third graders have vocabularies about equal to lowest-performing 12 th graders Individual differences in vocabulary have a powerful impact on reading comprehension beginning about third grade

Category Ave. Effect Size (ES) Percentile Gain Identify similarities & differences Summarizing & note taking Reinforcing effort & providing recognition.8029 Homework & practice.7728 Nonlinguistic representations.7527 Cooperative learning.7327 *Setting objectives & providing feedback*.6123 Generating & testing hypotheses.6123 Questions, cues, & advance organizers.5922

Types of pictures: Draw the actual thing. Marine biologist

Types of pictures: Draw the actual thing. Abraham Lincoln

Mutualism When one thing helps another. Types of pictures: Draw the concept.

Change Types of pictures: Draw the concept.

Explorer Types of pictures: Draw an example.

revolve Types of pictures: Draw the concept.

Research on Imagery as Elaboration 6 37 percentile pts. higher than… …students who kept repeating definitions percentile pts. higher than… …students who were using the terms in a sentence. Students who used imagery to learn vocabulary, on average, performed # of studies

Step 1Teacher identifies the new word and elicits background knowledge. Step 2Teacher explains the meaning of the new word. Step 3Students generate their own explanations of the new word. Step 4Students create a visual representations of the new word. Step 5Students engage in experiences that deepen their understanding of the new word. Step 6 Students engage in vocabulary games and activities to help them remember the word and its meaning.

50 POINTS50 POINTS50 POINTS 100 POINTS 200 POINTS a teacher Organizing Theme: Things someone would say… a mothera student President Bush Rosa Parksa principal

50 POINTS50 POINTS50 POINTS 100 POINTS 200 POINTS Ways to make.25 Grade 4 Math Things that are parallel perimeter Types of graphs area Types of angles

50 POINTS50 POINTS50 POINTS 100 POINTS 200 POINTS Science Experiment Hypothesis Energy Electron DissolveAtmosphere

KEY QUESTION: Why are common assessments so important? “You can enhance or destroy students’ desire to succeed in school more quickly and permanently through your use of assessment than with any other tools you have at your disposal.” Rick Stiggins, Assessment Trainers Institute WHY do we ASSESS: 1. INFORM INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS 2. ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO TRY

Talk to Me… Directions – –Form a team of EIGHT (8) people… – –Determine the person with the most sisters and then send them to pick-up your team ziplock bag… PLEASE DO NOT OPEN!!! – –Determine the person with the least sisters and send them to pick-up a grid sheet for each person. – –Distribute a grid sheet to each team member.

Follow-up Debriefing Each pair should share with your other team members the method you used to graph the figure. Discuss with your team: –Which method appeals to you? –Is there another method that you would prefer? Prepare for a “pairs choice of method” with a new graph.

Key Question Did your performance on the second attempt to complete the grid exercise improve after having an opportunity to self-assess your initial strategy?

Formative Assessment Formative assessment is the process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust teaching and learning for the purpose of improving student learning. Council of Chief State School Officers, October 2006 Notes: Process rather than a particular test…. It is not the nature of the test itself that makes it formative or summative…it is the use to which those results will be put.