ICSD Book Study

1. ICSD Book Study 6-26-13

2. Ice Breaker Activity • Take an index card but DO NOT put your name on it. • Write 3 interesting facts about yourself and one lie. This can be in any order. • Turn in your card. • We will guess which card belongs to everyone. • Once everyone is matched with their card, we will determine which one is the lie.

3. Learner Centered Instruction: Building Relationships for Student Success • We will review all the chapters in this book and complete some of the “Think, Talk, or Write About It” activities. • We will complete some discussion questions. • We will also look at some of the case studies.

4. What is Learner-Centered Instruction? • Write a 1-Minute Paper • Write everything you remember about LCI from reading this book. • GO! • Read your paper to a neighbor.

5. Chapter 1 Research on Learner-Centered Instruction • Reflect on your own experience: 1. What kind of teacher or leader motivates you to share your thoughts, come up with new ideas, or discover who you are and what you want to do with your life? 2. How much choice and control do you like in what you learn and how? 3. Does it take structure or fun to motivate you to get things accomplished?

6. Chapter 1 • Reflect on your own experience…continued 4. Do you learn better when you hear about something, watch something, or try it firsthand? 5. In your everyday life, what do you learn? How much is academic versus interpersonal versus emotional versus something else? 6. If you had one thing you would want to make sure students learned in your school, what would it be?

7. Chapter 1 • DISCUSSION Question (Find your State/Capital partner) Consider examples from your experience as a Pre-K-12 student, in teacher training, and as a teacher that are consistent and/or conflict with the research on LCI.

8. Chapter 1 Case Study-History Repeating? • Pick a partner and read the case study on p. 14-15. • Reflect on the case study on p.15.

9. Chapter 2Theoretical Foundations of LCI • Reflect on your own experience 1. What is my purpose as a teacher? Do not censor yourself. Come up with 5 things. Consider your core values and knowledge about education. 2. Teaching is like ________________________ (fill in the blank)

10. Chapter 2 • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Reflection is a big part of educational success. How are we becoming better at reflecting on our work as teachers? How can we help our students reflect on their learning?

11. Chapter 2 Case StudySelf-Regulating Students with ADHD • Pick a different partner and do the case study on p. 30-31. • Answer reflection questions on p. 31.

12. Chapter 3Teaching as Facilitation • Reflect on your own experience • Share with your next door neighbor Consider your favorite teachers. Take a moment and answer the following questions on your index card: 5-Ws: Who, What, When, Where, Why Describe what they looked like or sounded like. How old were you and what did you look like? What is one thing that you learned from them at that time? Was it fun or were you challenged? If you have feelings and memories about this person, they were impactful on your life.

13. Chapter 3 • Discussion Questions How do you show that you care about your students? Think about a time when it was easy to like and show caring for a particular student. Contrast this with another time when a student was difficult to care for. Can you identify any feelings or beliefs that may have been behind your feelings?

14. Chapter 3 • Read the following statements by kids. How could you respond in a positive way? What would be a negative response? “Tests are stupid.” “I don’t want to wear my coat outside.” “I like addition okay, but division sucks.” “I think that George is not nice.” “Why do we have to do this?” “My Mom says she can’t even understand the homework.” “Jay keeps hitting me.”

15. Chapter 3 What are some team building things that you can do with your students to help facilitate a caring relationship environment in your classroom? Brainstorm some ideas of how you can help your students get to know you better. How could you incorporate “Class Meetings” into your weekly routines?

16. Chapter 3- Case StudyA Facilitative Dialogue in the Classroom • Read the dialogue on p.48. • Discuss the reflection questions on p. 48 in the large group.

17. Chapter 4Engagement Focused Instruction • Reflect on your own experience Recall an assignment, project, or course in elementary, middle, or high school that was highly engaging. What factors made you so interested? Who are the experts you turn to in your daily life when you do not know something? What about each of these people draws you out of your shell or compels you to ask for help? Think of a time you have become interested in something and just dived right in. What is something that felt more like fun than work?

18. Chapter 4 • Discussion Questions- How do you use rewards or incentives in your classroom? What are some of the consequences of poor choices in your classroom? Think of a power struggle that you have had with a student. How did the situation get better?

19. Chapter 4 How would you feel as a student in your classroom today? How can we incorporate more LCI into our rooms and balance the demands of student needs, curriculum, standardized test scores, etc.?

20. Chapter 4- Case StudyDisengaging Curriculum • Read the case study on p. 65. • Reflect on p. 66 with someone you haven’t partnered with today.

21. Chapter 5Classroom Management • Reflect on your experience- How has your idea of classroom management changed from when you were a student teacher or beginning teacher to now? What is one of the most valuable pieces of advice you can give new teachers about classroom management?

22. Chapter 5 • Discussion Questions- Is a LCI classroom management style different than yours? Discuss some student actions or statements that could be misinterpreted and likely mishandled by teachers. Look at the table on p. 83. Which approach sparks your interest the most?

23. Chapter 5 Case StudyOrder in the Classroom • Read the case study on p. 84. • Consider the questions on p. 85.

24. Chapter 6A Focus on Learning • Reflect on your experience- Consider your best learning experiences. Perhaps remember the last class in which you exceeded your own expectations or made an important personal discovery or transformation. Who was your teacher? Who were your peers? What did these people do to help you learn? What did you learn? Do you remember what things looked like and how you felt when you realized you were getting it? How can you help students have that feeling?

25. Chapter 6 • Discussion Questions- How do you “Trust” your students to complete learning tasks? Is it hard for you to place trust upon your class? Why or why not? Do you feel that your students are “Over Learning” any concepts in your class? How does Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning fit into your classroom?

26. Chapter 6 Watch the video about the wolf’s perspective. What are some lessons that we do that foster higher level thinking? What are some lessons or projects that we do that help kids create? How can we incorporate more creativity into our daily routines?

27. Chapter 6 Case Study-The Girl in Black • Read the case study on p. 102 • Answer the reflection questions.

28. Chapter 7Redefining Achievement • Reflect on your experience- What do you think about media coverage of schools and student achievement? Are you embarrassed or proud when you read or hear about what high school graduates do not know? In your view, how important are reading, writing, and arithmetic? How important are science and social studies? What about arts and physical education? What are the strengths and weaknesses of grades, test scores, or other measures of student achievement?

29. Chapter 7 • Discussion Questions • Watch “It’s not on the test” video Read the implications list of high stakes testing on p. 106. How have these affected our classrooms or our kids? How have we risen above these as a district? Let’s talk “Authentic Assessment.” On page 116 the authors talk about this topic. Do you do any of these in your classroom? How could you do more in the future?

30. Chapter 7 Case StudyWhat are your priorities? • Read the case study on p. 117-118. • Answer the reflection questions together.

31. Chapter 8Inquiry Teaching and Authentic Learning • Reflect on your experience- Read p. 121 and reflect on the questions given

32. Chapter 8 • Discussion Questions- How are your PLC groups helping you with formative assessments and providing authentic learning for your students? Read the “Things to Think, Talk, or Write About” on p. 125. What are some ways that you can teach your classroom curriculum that makes them more “relavent” to your students?

33. Chapter 8 How do you use technology in your classroom? What technology do you feel would make your job easier? What service-learning, field trips, etc. happen in your school? How do these activities foster higher order thinking and learning? Do you notice a difference in your students when they are completing these activities as opposed to in classroom routines?

34. Chapter 8 Case Study • Read the case study on p. 131. • Answer the reflection questions on p. 132.

35. Chapter 9Cooperative Learning • Reflect on your own experience Looking at p. 137, what things like this do you see popping up into student work? How do you handle this situation?

36. Chapter 9 • Discussion Questions- How do you use cooperative learning in your classroom? Do you feel your students learn faster, better, easier, or is it more difficult for certain kids? Look at the chart on p. 147. Do you use reflections such as these during cooperative learning? Do you think these would be to your advantage to do so?

37. Chapter 9 • Tech Field Trip • Go to wikipedia.com • Type in a topic of interest to you like Kennedy, California, Justin Bieber, Star Wars, Downton Abby, etc. • Read the entry • What are you thoughts on Wikipedia? How do you address Wikipedia with your students?

38. Chapter 9 Case StudyI want to work by myself! • Read the case study on p. 151. • Answer the reflection questions.

39. Chapter 10Strengthening Relationships in the Ecological Context • Reflect on your experience: • Do you see a role for yourself in school reform?

40. Chapter 10 • Discussion Questions- How can we invite parents to be better partners? What are the pros and cons of this?

41. Chapter 10 How can administrators help us in our work? What characteristics do you value in an administrator? Think about the pros and cons of the current teacher mentoring system for beginning teachers. Do you think a building wide mentoring program would be beneficial? How could a mentor teacher help you with your classroom?

42. Chapter 10 Case Study • Read the Case Study on p. 166 and answer the reflection questions.

43. Ending Reflections • List 5 Take-Away ideas that you have learned from reading this book. • How will you apply these in your room when school starts?’ • Watch Math Clip