Angela Stockman WNY Education Associates

Confessions of a Former Teacher

Essential Question: If background knowledge is the greatest predictor of how much and how well students will learn NEW material, what can teachers do to build each student’s base of prior knowledge??? How do they know when they’ve accomplished this??? In Response to Research Disseminated by the Mississippi Department of Education, September

FLUID CRYSTALLIZED

Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields, 2006

Robert Marzano, 2007

1. Background knowledge is stored in “memory records” associated with the following “I” questions:  what I did  how I felt  what I did to something  where I did something  what I did for or gave to someone  what happened to me during the event  what someone else did for me  how I felt at the end of the event. Robert Marzano, 2004 Mississippi Department of Education,

2. We can enhance each student’s ability to move new learning into long-term memory. ◦ Students need minimally four exposures to new content, no more than two days apart.  The four exposures cannot be mere repetition  The four exposures must provide a variety of elaborations of the new content without requiring students to access another knowledge set. September 2007 Robert Marzano 2004 Mississippi Department of Education11

3. The target for instruction must be content- specific information. ◦ A student’s background knowledge outside the target content area can be a valuable tool as the student personalizes the new information. September 2007 Robert Marzano 2004 Mississippi Department of Education12

4. Teachers must create opportunities for students to build academic knowledge through multiple exposures to the surface- level or basic terminology or concepts for a content area. ◦ Teachers cannot build “more” background knowledge until their students have acquired the basic information. September 2007 Robert Marzano 2004 Mississippi Department of Education13

5. Vocabulary acquisition builds background knowledge. ◦ Words are labels students store in their memory packets for single objects and for groups or families of objects. ◦ Only if the student has a memory packet can that student apply background knowledge to new experiences through words.  A store becomes a grocery store, a convenience store, a department store, etc., only for the student with an expanded memory packet. September 2007 Robert Marzano, 2004 Mississippi Department of Education14

6. Virtual experiences enhance background knowledge. ◦ A student’s ability to read allows one type of virtual experience. ◦ Equally important is the use of spoken language for virtual experience.  Conversation is an important instructional tool that should be used in the required repetitive process to allow students to build background information. September 2007 Robert Marzano, 2004 Mississippi Department of Education15

 Sustained, Silent Reading  Allow students to identify topics of interest to them.  Require students to write about what they have read. But expecting students to learn words in context is not enough………….. Robert Marzano, 2004 Copyright © 2007 Mississippi Department of Education 16

Chances of Learning Word Ability Low8% Average12% High19% Grade LevelGrade 48% Grade 1133% Text Density1 new word per 10 words7% 1 new word per 74 words14% 1 new word per 150 words30% Debra Pickering, 2005

1. Does not rely on definitions 2. Requires linguisitic and nonlinguistic expression and demonstration of understanding 3. Involves the evolution of word meanings through multiple exposures 4. Teaching word parts enhances students’ understandings of words. 5. Different types of words require different types of instruction. 6. Students should discuss the terms they are learning. 7. Students should play with words. 8. Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing student success. Marzano and Associates, 2007

Number of Studies Percentile GainAs Compared To 637 Percentile Points Higher Students who kept repeating definitions 421 Percentile Points Higher Students who were using the terms in a sentence Marzano and Associates, 2004

 Identify essential academic terms and phrases.  Use a research-based process for teaching and assessing new terms and phrases.

TIER 1 WORDS: Basic words that rarely require instruction in school. Examples: house, book, dog, ball, telephone, computer TIER 3 WORDS: Low frequency, domain- specific words. Examples: personification, iambic pentameter, ion

High frequency High probability of impacting academic success High probability of association with life skills High probability of appearing on assessments

A Six Step Method for Vocabulary Instruction that Works Teacher Description Student Description Non-linguistic Representation Adding to the Knowledge Student Discussions of Learning Having Fun With Words Marzano and Associates, 2007

 Marzano, R. (2004). Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  Pickering, D. and Marzano, R. (2005). Building Academic Vocabulary. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  Perini, M., Silver, H. & Strong, R. (2001). So Each May Learn. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  The Role of Vocabulary Instruction in Improving Student Achievement. Sept Mississippi Department of Education. 19 August  Stockman, Angela. “The WNY Young Writers’ Summer Studio.” Duns Scotus Hall, Daemen College, 4 August  Photos used with subject and parent permission.