2.  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.

4. SPOON-FEEDING vs. CRITICAL THINKING AND ACTIVE LEARNING

5.  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.

6.  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.

7.  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.

8. TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM vs. STUDENT-CENTERED CLASSROOM

9.  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.

10.  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

11.  Constructivism

12. TEACHER ASSESSMENT vs. STUDENT- INVOLVED ASSESSMENT

13.  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.

14.  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.

15.  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.

16.  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.

17.  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

18. SAME INSTRUCTION FOR ALL vs. DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

19.  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.

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

21.  Differentiated instruction research

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

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

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

25.  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.

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

27.  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.

28.  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 › E-mail › Blogs › IM (Instant messaging)

29.  Exploit the multiple literacy competencies that adolescents bring to school. › Communicating through digital means (e-mail, 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, E-mail)

30.  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.

31.  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.

32. REGULAR SCHOOLS vs. ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS

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

34.  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.

35.  SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS RESEARCH

36. THE END