building background knowledge for academic · pdf file · 2005-12-01building...

Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement

Robert J. Marzano

Robert J. MarzanoDebra Pickering

Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement

Robert J. Marzano

Presented by Debra Pickering

What Works in Schools- Robert Marzano1. Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

2. Challenging Goals and Effective Feedback

3. Parent and Community Involvement

4. Safe and Orderly Environment

5. Collegiality and Professionalism

6. Instructional Strategies 7. Classroom Management

8. Classroom Curriculum Design

School

Teacher

Student

9. Home Environment

10. Learning Intelligence/ Background Knowledge

11. Motivation

Factors Influencing Achievement

9. Home Environment

10. Learned Intelligence/ Background Knowledge

11. Motivation

Student


Student

9. Home Environment


11. Motivation

9. Home Environment


Student

9. Home Environment


11. Motivation


FrankHildaIrisLOW

CalvinEthanGinaMEDIUM

AlanBarbaraDelbertHIGH

HIGHMEDIUMLOW

INFO

RM

ATI

ON

PR

OC

ES

SIN

G A

BIL

ITY ACCESS TO EXPERIENCES THAT

INCREASE ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

1

Experience--

Rich/Varied Limited

Innate Intelligence

High

Low

High Learned

Intelligence

Low Learned

Intelligence

Can still have relatively High

Learned Intelligence

Low Learned

Intelligence

Can’t change

Canchange INCREASE

INCREASE

INCREASE

FAQ

But this sounds like more breadth, not depth. Isn’t the curriculum already a mile wide and an inch deep?


Student

9. Home Environment


11. Motivation

9. Motivation

Engagement

Sensory Memory

Permanent Memory

Working Memory

Engagement

Sensory Memory

Permanent Memory

Working Memory

FAQ

I can’t be expected to engage all the students all of the time. I am not paid to entertain. Look, what is the responsibility of the student?

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6. Instructional Strategies

7. Classroom Management

8. Classroom Curriculum Design

Teacher

Identifying similarities and differences

Summarizing and note taking

Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

Homework and practice

Nonlinguistic representations

Cooperative learning

Setting objectives and providing feedback

Generating and testing hypotheses

Cues, questions, and advance organizers

Nonlinguistic Representations

Building Background Knowledge

Teaching vocabulary is teaching background knowledge.

Academic Language

Nagy and Herman (1984)Vocabulary gap between low- and high-achieving students– approximately 5000 words

Low–achieving students

High–achieving studentsVocabulary Gap

5000 words

FAQ

Do you expect us to close that gap?

Building an Indirect Approach

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Instruction should

• Try to install background knowledge in permanent memory.

• Make sure students have multiple exposures to the information.

• Focus on students’ developing surface-level knowledge across broad spectrum of subject areas.

Instruction should

• Help students give labels to direct experiences.

• Require processing that is both linguistic and nonlinguistic.

• Include wide reading, language interaction, and educational visual media.

Direct Vocabulary Instruction


1.Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions.

2.Students must represent their knowledge of terms in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways.

3.Effective vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of word meanings through multiple exposures.

4.Teaching words parts enhances students’understanding of terms.


5.Different types of terms 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 academic success.

Students read new information; comprehension assessed:

If the direct instruction is for words in the passage that is being read,

33%ile gain

If there is some regular vocabulary instruction--

12%ile gain

4

Research on Imagery as Elaboration

…students who kept repeating definitions.

37 percentile pts. higher than…6

…students who were using the terms in a sentence.

21 percentile pts. higher than…4

Students who used imagery to learn vocabulary, on average, performed

# of studies

Defining Academic Vocabulary

Defining an Academic Vocabulary

• Identify the subject areas for which you want to select the academic terms all students should learn—that all students should move to permanent memory.

• Identify those terms considered to be essential.

• Determine how many terms can be learned per period of time—per quarter, semester, year.

FAQ

So how many do you try to teach—that is, how many can and should students learn?

Using a Research-Based Process to Teach Academic Vocabulary

Step 1: Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

Step 2: Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.

Step 3: Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term or phrase.

Step 4: Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks.

Step 5: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.

Step 6: Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms.

A Six-Step Process for Teaching New Terms

5

FAQ

This sounds like too much.





Step 5: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another..










Help students develop an initial understanding of the term.

Provide multiple, quick opportunities to revisit the term.









Build on direct experiences, such as a field trip or a guest speaker, that provide examples of the term;

Tell a story that integrates the term;

Use video or computer images as the stimulus for the information;

“provide?”

Ask individual students, or small groups, to do the initial investigation into the term and present the information—sometimes in the form or of a skit or pantomime—to the class.

Use current events to help make the terms applicable to something familiar to them;

Describe your own mental pictures of the term;

Find or create pictures that exemplify the term.

“provide?”

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A function is a relationship between two things like height and weight. As one goes up, the other goes up. Isn’t it generally true that as you have grown in height over the years, your weight has also gone up? We could describe this relationship by saying, “Your weight is a function of your height.”



■ Mr. Collier noticed that the science book glossary defined climate as follows: “The prevailing meteorological conditions, or weather, of a place, including temperature, precipitation, and wind.” Instead of using that definition, he explained the term this way:

“Climate is the word that describes what weather is generally like in a particular place. If someone says that a place has a warm, dry climate, it means that the winters are not really cold and there is probably not much snow, plus the summers are probably pretty hot without much rain.”













Percent means how many things there are out of 100 things. 75 percent means 75 out of 100.

Percent



Native means the first people who lived somewhere so Native American means the first people who lived in America. They lived here before it was called America. We used to call them Indians, but that did not make sense. They weren’t from India.

Native American

7













Centralization Decentralization I sympathize with you because of the

noise the synthesizer is

making.

I sympathize with you because of the

noise the synthesizer is

making.



New Delhi






8

Revolve: When something moves around something else, like the earth revolves around the sun.

sun

earth

Income tax is the money we pay to the government that they use to provide things we all need, like roads. The money is taken out of our paychecks.

Pay day!!

A fraction tells you how many parts a whole thing is divided into and then how many of those parts you are thinking about. Example: 3/10 looks like this.

Dynamic character: It’s when a character in a story changes; usually changes a lot.

Czar: A ruler in ancient times. They were sort of like kings.

Addition: When you start with a certain number of things and then get a certain number more

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Subtraction: When you start with a certain number of things and then a certain number are taken away.

FAQ

Many students say they just can’t draw. How do you deal with that?

The students are taking sooo much time drawing. Help.

Challenge: Students believe they cannot draw.

Challenge: Students try to “overdraw”

Suggestions: Model, model, model

Provide examples

Allow students to work together

Suggestions: Model, model, model

Play “Draw Me” and allow them share tipson “quick-draws.”

Helping students create nonlinguistic representations

Suggestions: Discuss with them the power of pictures.

Conduct classroom action research.

Allow students to work together.

Challenge: Students would rather just copy the definition.

Challenge: The students—and you—are having trouble representing the term.

Suggestions: Practice creating nonlinguistic representations

Types of pictures:

• Draw the actual thing.

• Use a symbol.

• Draw an example.

• Represent the idea with graphics.

• Dramatize the drawing with cartoon bubbles.








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Free Association

Comparing Terms

Classifying Terms

Solving Analogy Problems

Creating Metaphors

FAQ

How often?

Free Association



Comparing terms

• Sentence Stems

• Venn Diagrams

• Double Bubble

• Matrix



Comparing terms

• Sentence Stems

A and B are similar because they both

________________

________________

________________

A and B are different because

A is __________, but B is ___________.

A is __________, but B is ___________.

A is __________, but B is ___________.

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Comparing terms

• Venn Diagrams

1. Can co-exist with representative government.

2 Not uncommon for people to show great affection for the ruler.

2. Not uncommon for ruler to be hated or feared.

3. Usually come into power through heritage.

3. Usually come into power through coercion or force.

1. Often perceived as police states.

Forms of government

Government dominated by a single person

History has examples of rulers who were considered by many as tyrants.

Term: Monarchy Term: Dictatorship

Venn Diagrams

Creating Analogy Problems

as

Solving Analogy Problems

David Hyerle’s Bridge Map



Think, Pair, Share

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ThinkProvide a few minutes of quiet “think time” to allow students, individually, to review their own descriptions and images of thetargeted terms in their notebooks. Consider modeling for them, by thinking aloud, some of the kinds of thinking they might do during this quiet time.

Think, Pair, Share

Pair

After students have had a chance to think about the targeted terms, organize them into pairs and ask them to discuss their descriptions and pictures of the terms with their partners. Ask students not to change their entries in their notebooks yet. At this point in the process, they should simply be discussing their understanding of the terms.

Think, Pair, Share

Pair (continued)

You might need to guide these interactions by suggesting or modeling ways they can discuss the terms, such as

*Comparing their descriptions of the term.

*Describing their pictures to each other.

*Explaining to each other any new information they have learned or “ahas” they have experienced since the last time they reviewed the terms.

*Identifying areas of disagreement or confusion and seeking clarification from you or other resources.

Think, Pair, Share

Share

Invite students to share aloud with the whole class any new thoughts or understandings they have discussed in their pairs. As students share, highlight interesting ideas and encourage students to explain any examples of confusion or any misconceptions that surfaced during their discussions.

This step provides an opportunity for you to make sure that confusion and misconceptions have been resolved accurately. Ask students to make additions and revisions to their notebook entries. Monitor their work to ensure that their additions and revision are accurate.

Think, Pair, Share



What is the Question?

Vocabulary Charades

Name That Category

Draw Me

Talk a Mile a Minute

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