 In the U.S., there are many good teachers, but also teachers who have not changed their teaching styles since they graduated from university.  Many teachers “teach as they were taught” with no thought about infusing new research, which shows better ways to teach.

SPOON-FEEDING vs. CRITICAL THINKING AND ACTIVE LEARNING

 Teacher dishes out information, the students write it down, and then they reproduce this information on a test.  Students do lots of memorizing of facts and data.  Students are not required to think critically about the material, nor are they actively engaging the material.  Students do not see the importance of learning this subject matter, nor do they understand how it relates to their lives.

 Students are required to engage the material.  Students work in pairs or small groups to derive answers, solve problems, pose new problems.  Students are able to relate it to their lives.

 Brain (Cognitive) Research › Students who use strategies that demand critical thinking do better on exams, assignments, and papers. › More sophisticated learning strategies assist students who move from high school to university. › A variety of cognitive and metacognitive approaches embedded in learning strategies enhances students’ academic results.

TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM vs. STUDENT-CENTERED CLASSROOM

 Teacher asks questions, students respond.  Teacher decides on the content to be learning (within the context of the national curriculum).  Teacher decides on methods of instruction.

 Students drive the learning process.  Students’ questions are important.  Students’ needs are important.  Students’ desire to know is important.  Driven by new research › Brain (cognitive) studies › Constructivism studies

 Constructivism

TEACHER ASSESSMENT vs. STUDENT- INVOLVED ASSESSMENT

 Teacher develops and gives all tests.  Tests are essay, multiple choice, short answer, matching.  Multiple choice and matching are easy to administer, but yield limited information.  Short answer and essay reveal more information about students’ thinking, but are time-consuming.  Test content is not relevant to students.

 Students are involved in their own assessment.  Students choose the types of assessments they want to have.  Students’ develop portfolios of their work, decide which artifacts they want to include.  Students are motivated to show what they have learned.

 Constructivist Research › Students need to be the authors of their own understanding and assessors of their own learning. › Self-assessment promotes critical thinking, metcognitive awareness, and self-efficacy. › Self-assessment empowers students to take charge of their own learning, to understand their abilities, needs, and potential.

 Self-assessment opens up the range of assessment approaches a teacher can use: › Informal checks for understanding › Interviews and conferences › Portfolios › Performances and demonstrations  Student-responsive assessment provides for effective instructional practices and meaningful self-reflection from students.

 Students who understand themselves as learners and are aware of their motivations, strengths, and weaknesses are more successful. (Strong self-efficacy)  Students who view knowledge acquisition as tentative and gradual, derived from reason after considerable effort on their part are more successful academically.  Students who search for relationships between key concepts will be more successful. Motivation research

SAME INSTRUCTION FOR ALL vs. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

 Lesson content is taught the same way for all students.  No accommodation is made for students with varying degrees of learning styles, learning difficulties, and behavioral issues.

 Teacher differentiates instruction by content, by interest, by….

 Differentiated instruction research

TEACH CONTENT ONLY vs. TEACH LITERACY SKILLS (READING, WRITING) FOR CONTENT LEARNING

 Middle and secondary teachers want to just teach their content.  They feel that literacy instruction (reading and writing) is the English teacher’s job.

 Literacy instruction is every teacher’s job.  Vocab general specific  Comprehension  Metacognitive strategies  How to engage a variety of types of adolescent readers

 Content learning and content literacy learning are one in the same.  Academic literacy and disciplinary knowledge are inseparable.  Teaching reading, writing, and critical thinking skills in the disciplines is teaching the disciplines.

NO CONNECTIONS TO STUDENTS’ 21 ST CENTURY LITERACIES vs. UTILIZING STUDENTS’ 21 ST CENTURY LITERACIES

 Teacher using chalkboard and paper.  Teacher lecturing.  Disjuncture between experiences and goals youth bring to educational contexts and how they’re expected to perform in those contexts.  Lack of fit creates disaffected youth, at- risk youth, school failure, and school dropouts.

 Teach using the technology that is available, e.g., › Computers – search information on Internet, connect to global community › Smart boards - › LCD projectors – project information to whole class › › Blogs › IM (Instant messaging)

 Exploit the multiple literacy competencies that adolescents bring to school. › Communicating through digital means ( , IM). › Interpreting and thinking critically about all content areas (examining construction of video and computer games, web sites, videos, and other media). › Constructing web pages and E-zines. › Creating hypertext documents. › Engaging students in identity construction through social networking sites (Facebook, Blogs, IM, )

 Cognitive research. › What youth take from a text, discussion, or other classroom discourse depends on how much they bring to it.  Social constructivist research. › New understandings emerge for youth as a result of interactions with the teacher and students.  Adolescents are active participants in the mediasphere.  Adolescents create forms of discourse that need to be acknowledged, validated, and utilized in schools.

 Adolescence is an active and self-conscious process of identity construction.  Social networking sites help adolescents develop identity construction.  Adolescents need to be competent and literate in both academic and out-of-school contexts.  Adolescent competencies often go untapped in school.  Failure to align school curricula with students’ interests and outside-of-school competencies result in students dropping out of school.  Adolescents make meaning of classroom activities based on the various discourse communities they inhabit (home, peer group, sports, community)  These networks shape ways of talking, reading, knowing, and communicating.  Providing space for these literacies provide youth with a connection to academic knowledge.

REGULAR SCHOOLS vs. ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS

 Teach the average student.  Unable to effectively reach out to the low-performing students and the high- performing and gifted students.

 Reach the student where he is.  Relate directly to emotional, social, and academic needs.  Alternative schools - for students at-risk of dropping out.  Magnet schools - for students with special interests in the arts, sciences, multicultural, academically gifted.  Charter schools - for special populations of students.

 SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS RESEARCH

THE END