toolbox for better teaching

Activities, Methods, and Tools for Better Teaching in

Multilingual Classrooms

Tracey Tokuhama-EspinosaNovember 2009

Rotterdam, The NetherlandsEarly Bird

Today’s Focus:1. Background and Two presumptions2. General Tools:

– Best practices– Retention varies with Methods – Emotions and Teaching– Sense and Meaning– Learning Environments

3. Specific Tools (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock)– Evidence-based teaching methods for

long-term retention and more efficient teaching

4. Rubrics

Background

Comparative education (“What is intellligent” in different cultures)– Comparative

educational systems – Individual learning

styles and cognitive preferences

Taught all grades (Kinder -University)

Interdisciplinary focus (espcially neuroscience, psychology and education)

Premise: Memory + Attention = Learning

Criteria for information to go into long-term mempory:

1. Survival value2. Emotional link (personal)3. Association (related to past knowledge)

• Does the information make sense?• What significance does this have in

my life (“significance” or “meaning” is often more important than “sense”).

Premise: The best of both worlds…

A teacher that can have a positive emotional impact on you while transmitting quality information is more likely to be remebered…

Who was your favorite teacher? It is likely that it was someone who touched you both emotionally as well as through content.

Best Practice by Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, y Arthur Hyde (2005):

1. STUDENT-CENTERED 2. EXPERIENTIAL3. HOLISTIC4. AUTHENTIC5. EXPRESSIVE6. REFLECTIVE7. SOCIAL8. COLLABORATIVE9. DEMOCRATIC10. COGNITIVE11. DEVELOPMENTAL 12. CONSTRUCTIVIST13. CHALLENGING

The Brain, Learning and Emotion

“When a concept fights with an emotion, the emotion almost always wins.”

David Sousa, How the brain learns, 2nd edition, Corwin Press (2000, p.53)

Retention varies with methodology:

Lectures 5% Readings 10% Audio Visual 20% Demonstration 30% Small group discussion

50% Rehersal (practice) 75% Teaching others 90%

(Results 24 hours after a class. Orginial study done by the National Training Laboatories in Bethel, Maine in the 1960s, and later replicated by the National Training Laboratories in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Use of the Primacy-Recency Effect in Class

During a period of learning, we remember best what happens first, second best what happens last, and in last place we remember what happens in the middle.

This means we should teach important informacion (concepts) first (and avoid secreatrial duties like roll call).

It also means we should avoid asking students to

guess at the beginning of class as false answers are rememebred better than correct information given later.


Sense and Meaning in Classroom Planning:

Teachers spend a lot of time making sure their lessons make sense, but little time ensuring they have meaning in the lives of their students.

Initial learning involves being able to attribute significance and value to the information.


Good Learning Environments by Dorothy Billington:

Seven factors influence learning environments:

1. Sense of security2. Intellectual liberty 3. Respet4. Self-directedness5. Paced goals6. Active learning7. Feedback

By Dorothy D. Billington. PhD By Dorothy D. Billington. PhD Seven Characteristics of Highly Seven Characteristics of Highly Effective Adult Learning ProgramsEffective Adult Learning Programs

Specific Tools

Identifying similarities and differences (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001)

Compare Classify Create

metaphors Create analogies

Summarizing (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock,

2001)

“Rule-based strategy” (help students identify what is trivial or redundant and identify topic sentences--or write one themselves)

“Summary Frames”– Structures for organizing information (e.g., in a

narrative, identify the main characters, setting, time, etc.)

Reciprocal teaching– (1) Summarizing; (2) questioning; (3) clarifying;

(4) predicting

Note taking (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001)

Note taking– Format:

• Teacher-prepared• Student-prepared

(informal outlining, webbing)

• (Combination)

Homework (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Establish and communicate expectations (homework policy)

Design homework assignments with purpose and identified outcome.

Vary feedback mechanisms.

Practice (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Design practice that focuses on specific elements of complex skills (break down skill areas)

Chart progress (accuracy and speed)

Give time for practice (to solidify conceptual understanding of skills or processes)

Nonlinguistic representations (Marzano, Pickering & Pollock, 2001)

Use of graphic organizers Use of physical models Mental pictures Drawings Mind maps

Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Explicitly teach about effort

Keep track of effort and achievement

Personalize recognition

Pause, prompt, and praise

Concrete symbols of recognition

Cooperative Learning (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Groups students in a variety of ways using clear criteria

Consciously use informal, formal and base group organization

Ensure manageable group size

Use as both a method as well as a means.

Cooperative learning(Allen, 2002)

“Cooperative learning physiologically engages more of the brain's neural networks through the stimulation of sensory information from kinesthetic, visual, and auditory input.... cooperative learning taps into students’ ‘natural capacities to be engaged socially and emotionally’ and supports their efforts to construct knowledge and apply it in problem solving, says Dickmann.”

Rick Allen (2002), descargada de ACSD: http://www.ascd.org

Set clear objectives (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Set specific but flexible goals

Be sure the objectives are shared with the student.

Develop contracts where appropriate.

Provide precise feedback (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

Provide clear understanding of evaluation criteria (e.g., rubrics)

Focus feedback for specific types of knowledge and skill

Use student-led feedback structures in addition to teacher feedback.

Habits of Mind (Marzano, 1992)

The ability to generating and test hypothese through:

Systems analysis Problem solving Historical

investigation Invention Experimental inquiry Decision makingAnd the ability to justify

findings and re-think problems.

¿Desde qué punto de vista, ángulo o perspectiva se plantea esto?

¿ Cómo nos damos cuenta cuando sabemos?

¿Qué evidencia hay de esto y qué tan confiable es?

¿De qué manera se conectan las cosas, los eventos y las personas entre sí?

¿Cuál es la causa y cuál el efecto?

¿En qué forma encajan unas con otras?

¿Qué es nuevo y qué es viejo?

¿Hemos encontrado esta idea anteriormente?

¿Qué importancia tiene y por qué significa algo?

The Art of Questioning

Provide explicit cues Develop questions that elicit

inferences Generate analytic questions.

What do we know about…. How do we know…? Why do we accept or believe that… Is there evidence for…

Summary There are general tools that facilitate student

learning (e.g., creating good learning environments; considering the role of emotions in learning; primacy-receny; sense and meaning)

There are specific tools that facilitate student learning (e.g., note taking; summarizing; questioning; clear objectives, cooperative learning; reinforcing effort; feedback; nonlinguistic representations, organizers; homework; in-class practice).

Both general and specific tools become second nature to great teachers.

In practice:

Choose one tool you have not taken advantage of in the past and think about how you will apply it starting tomorrow:

Creating good learning environments;

Considering the role of emotions in learning;

Primacy-receny; Sense and

meaning

Note taking; Summarizing; Questioning; Clear objectives; Cooperative learning; Reinforcing effort; Feedback; Nonlinguistic

representations; Organizers; Homework; In-class practice

General Tools

Specific Tools

Referencias

Abbott, J. & Ryan, T. (1999). Constructing knowledge, reconstructing schooling. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 66-70.

Allen, R. (2002). Honing the tools of instruction: How research can improve teaching for the 21st century. Curriculum Update 8, 1-3.

Ames, C. (1992). Classroom goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84(3), 261-271.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman.

Billington, D. (1997). Seven characteristics of highly effective adult learning environments. Retrieved January 4 2005 from www.newhorizons.com.

Coplen, W., Duffield, J., Swimpson, I., Taylor, D. (2005) Developing the moduel: Monitoring student progress. PowerPoint. Descargada de www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/churchillwootton/CITW%20powerpt..ppt el 12 de octubre 2008.

Giordano, P. J. (2003). Critical moments in learning: Student, faculty, and alumni experiences. Workshop presented at the meeting of the National Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Oxford, OH.

Marzano (2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Marzano, R., Pickering, D.J., and Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Sousa, D. (2000). How the brain learns. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. (2000). Reconcilable Differences? Standards-Based Teaching and Differentiation. Educational Leadership, 58(1), 6-12.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H. & Hyde, A. (2005). Best practice: new standards for teaching and learning in America’s schools, 3rd ed.. New Hampshire: Heinemann.

For more information:

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.Universidad San Francisco de QuitoEdif. Galileo #101Telf: +593 2 297-1700 x1338 o +593-2-297-

[email protected]

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa is a professor of Education and Psychology at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador at the undergraduate and Master’s levels.

Tracey received her doctorate (PhD) in the new field of Mind, Brain, and Education Science in July 2008 (Capella University), her Master’s of Education from Harvard University (International Development) and her Bachelor’s of Arts (International Relations) and Bachelor’s of Science (Communications) from Boston University, magna cum laude.