Classical Charter School 102

1. Classical Charter School 102

2. Overview of Presentation • The Two Schools of Thought in Education • How do they differ? • Our Approach • “Philosophy” vs. Research • Designing Instruction • Myths About Teaching and Learning • Cognitive Science • Pedagogy Summary • Special Education • Gifted Education • School Management and Culture • Answer your questions

3. Schools of Thoughtin Education

4. The Two Main Schools of Thought The following slides were derived from this book, written by Dr. Jeanne Chall, renowned Professor of Education at Harvard University

5. The Two Main Schools of Thought There are two main schools of thought in education, each of which are referred to by a number of terms. The terms do not indicate political leanings. Some liberal scholars favor traditional education, and vice versa. Most education schools lean toward the progressive approach.

6. The Two Main Schools of Thought These schools of thought are idealized archetypes that are useful for comparing educational approaches. In reality, no school (or teacher, for that matter) is entirely traditional or progressive. A discussion of the differences in approaches is a discussion about leanings, not absolutes. We’ll summarize some of the differences…

7. The Two Main Schools of Thought Curriculum All content on this slide was derived from “The Academic Achievement Challenge”, Jeanne Chall, pp 187-192

8. The Two Main Schools of Thought View of Student Learning All content on this slide was derived from “The Academic Achievement Challenge”, Jeanne Chall, pp 187-192

9. The Two Main Schools of Thought Attitude Toward Instructional Materials All content on this slide was derived from “The Academic Achievement Challenge”, Jeanne Chall, pp 187-192

10. The Two Main Schools of Thought How Student Difficulties Are Explained and Treated All content on this slide was derived from “The Academic Achievement Challenge”, Jeanne Chall, pp 187-192

11. The Two Main Schools of Thought Focus: Intellect or Motivation? All content on this slide was derived from “The Academic Achievement Challenge”, Jeanne Chall, pp 187-192

12. Our Approach

13. Our Approach Quite often we are asked, “What is your educational philosophy?” From our perspective, that’s the wrong question to ask. Education should not be about following a “philosophy” or strongly-held belief system. What works is an question of evidence, not philosophy. If we have a “philosophy”, it is empiricism coupled with a heavy dose of common sense.

14. Our Approach We choose approaches based on solid research where it is available, and logical extension of known findings where conclusive research is not available. We are a classical school, but we don’t rigidly adhere to a classical “philosophy” or make instructional decisions based primarily on how “classical” an approach is. However, many of the approaches commonly used in the classical approach are well-supported by research (such as phonics in reading instruction, for example).

15. Our Approach So what does research say? “[T]he traditional, teacher-centered approach generally produced higher academic achievement than the progressive, student-centered approach. Only one study reported few consistent differences in achievement between the progressive and traditional schools. But, it should be noted, none found that progressive, informal education resulted in higher academic achievement than the more formal, traditional education.” -The Academic Achievement Challenge, page 170

16. Our Approach Research also shows that the more traditional approaches are better for less well-prepared students, those with disabilities at all social levels. Students taught with traditional approaches like school more and have higher self-esteem compared to students taught through progressive approaches. However, research does not conclude that traditional approaches are better in every circumstance. More research on specific ways to teach specific topics to children of different age levels and abilities is needed.

17. Our Approach Unfortunately, most education “theory” is speculative, not a theory in the scientific sense. A scientific theory is based on a body of evidence that has accumulated over a long period of time. Our approach has been to research each subject area to determine if scientific research supports particular approaches in that subject. Though not conclusive in all areas, well-conducted education studies, cognitive science, and the design of effective programs point to similar practices.

18. Our Approach “Theory of Instruction” puts forth a education theory in the scientific sense. The programs used by the very successful Baltimore Curriculum Project implement this theory. It provides useful ideas for designing instruction that are based in research, but it is really, really hard to read.

19. Our Approach Another book, “Introduction to Direct Instruction”, provides a simpler explanation of the same ideas. We will train teachers in this approach, so that they have another tool in their toolkit; this is not the only one. Now, we’ll briefly explain it to you!

20. Designing Instruction The theory makes two assumptions about students: Students can learn any quality through examples. Students can generalize based on sameness of quality. We didn’t have to teach the second example, despite its different shape. The student generalized from the first. Teacher: “The color is orange” Teacher: “What color?” Student:“Orange”

21. Designing Instruction If students learn from examples, then the trick is to present the examples so learning is easier. There is a sophisticated set of rules to create what is called “logically faultless communication”. The fundamental principle is: Examples must result in a single interpretation with no misconceptions. See if you can figure out what is wrong with this…

22. Designing Instruction Teacher: “I’m going to illustrate some fractions.” This teaches students the misconception that fractions have the smaller number on top and the bigger one on the bottom, and has no examples with zeros. The presentation should include examples such as 8/5, 0/7, and 5/5. Let’s try another example. What’s wrong here?

23. Designing Instruction Teacher: “This line is horizontal” Teacher: “This line is not horizontal” This violates the “difference principle”, which states that examples and non-examples should be alike except for the critical feature you are trying to teach. Students will think that a line has to be vertical to be “not horizontal”. Here is how the presentation should be corrected. It shows the minimum difference needed to communicate what “not horizontal” means. Example from “Introduction to Direct Instruction”, page 33

24. Designing Instruction How you juxtapose examples matters. We’ll illustrate by teaching you something. You can generalize to new, untaught examples because the sequence quickly taught you what “vudged” meant. Illustration from http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/387/OpenModules/Engelmann/theory.shtml

25. Designing Instruction The kinds of problems students are assigned also need to reflect a full range of examples. American teachers tend to assign fraction problems that involve pizzas, pies, and other concrete items.1 Chinese teachers assign a full range of problems that use the concept of fractions in more abstract ways, such as work problems: “If Fred can finish a job in 5 hours and John can finish the same job in 3 hours, how long will it take both of them to finish it.” 1 “Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics”, Liping Ma, page 76

26. Designing Instruction Generally speaking, there are four forms of knowledge, each of which has an associated presentation technique.

27. Designing Instruction There are many more principles like these, and various ways of presenting material in accordance with those principles. We won’t cover that now. But the main point is this: Teaching is technical. Our approach focuses on the minutia of presentation techniques and the sequencing of content, and regards well-designed lesson plans as the heart and soul of educational improvement.

28. Myths About Teaching and Learning But to improve, we first have to avoid misleading beliefs. Well-intended but unproductive myths about teaching and learning that are prominent in education schools and are documented in these books and other research.

29. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Learning Styles” 1http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/summer2005/cogsci.htm, 2http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/fall99/DiffStrokes.pdf, 3http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/summer2005/cogscisb.htm

30. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Multiple Intelligences” 1http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3261311.html, 2http://vocationalpsychology.com/essay_10_gardner.htm, 3http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1495588,00.html, 4http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/fall99/DiffStrokes.pdf

31. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Authentic Learning” 1http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/papers/misapplied.html

32. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Discovery Learning” and “Rote Memorization” 1http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/papers/misapplied.html, 2http://idea.uoregon.edu/~ncite/documents/techrep/tech06.html 3http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/winter2002/CogSci.html

33. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Fun and Interesting” This slide was derived from “Myths and Misconceptions about Teaching”, Dr. Vicki Snider, pages 45-59

34. Myths About Teaching and Learning “Eclectic Teaching” This slide was derived from “Myths and Misconceptions about Teaching”, Dr. Vicki Snider, pages 60-84

35. Myths About Teaching and Learning “The Good or Heroic Teacher” This slide was derived from “Myths and Misconceptions about Teaching”, Dr. Vicki Snider, pages 85-105

36. Cognitive Science So those are the myths. What about the science? Cognitive science, which studies how the brain works, reaches similar conclusions. Top cognitive scientist Dr. Daniel Willingham wrote an excellent book for teachers, which we’ll summarize on the next slides.

37. Cognitive Science “The brain is not designed for thinking.” The brain is designed to avoid having to think, since thinking is slow and unreliable. If students thinks a problem is solvable, they’ll be more motivated to think because it is more likely that they will experience the rush that comes with success. This slide was derived from “Why Don’t Students Like School”, by Dr. Daniel Willingham, page 3

38. Cognitive Science “Factual knowledge must precede skill.” “Higher-order” thinking skills and knowledge are intertwined. You can’t think about something unless you have enough knowledge about it. Factual knowledge improves your memory. However, knowledge must be meaningful. Lists of disconnected facts are not helpful. Factual knowledge should be related to the other facts and concepts students know. This slide was derived from “Why Don’t Students Like School”, by Dr. Daniel Willingham, pages 19-39

39. Cognitive Science “Memory is the residue of thought.” The human memory system is designed to remember things that you think about carefully, since that means you’ll probably have to think about it again. Therefore, discovery learning should be used judiciously, since students may actually be more likely to think about misconceptions and remember those! Stories are “psychologically privileged”, and treated differently in memory than other information—organizing lessons around a story or in the form of a story may help student retention. This slide was derived from “Why Don’t Students Like School”, by Dr. Daniel Willingham, pages 40

40. Cognitive Science “It is virtually impossible to become proficient at a mental task without extensive practice.” Practice makes mental processes automatic, which frees short term memory to perform higher-order thinking. Practice improves the ability of the mind to transfer ideas to another application, and see the underlying structure, or what educators call “deep conceptual understanding.” Practicing for a short duration (10 minutes) over a longer period (several weeks) is better than practicing for a longer duration (5 hours) over a short period (1 day). This slide was derived from “Why Don’t Students Like School”, by Dr. Daniel Willingham, pages 81-95

41. Cognitive Science “Children do differ in intelligence, but intelligence can be changed through sustained hard work.” For young children, genes account for roughly 20% of intelligence, and have a increasing relationship to intelligence as we age (60% ). Students need to see that their efforts create better academic results, and should be praised for their effort, not their ability. This slide was derived from “Why Don’t Students Like School”, by Dr. Daniel Willingham, pages 131-145

42. Pedagogy Summary Students will be taught through a variety of instructional approaches supported by research. The techniques used will be selected for effectiveness and efficiency. Teaching is both an art and a science. We’ll provide teachers with training in technical aspects of the craft that can make a difference for students. We define “a modern approach to classical education” as using data and research to drive improvements.

43. Special Education We’ll use a Response to Intervention (RtI) model. Unlike the “wait for failure” model this takes a proactive approach that catches kids before they fail. Differentiation begins with regular classroom instruction. Students who struggle are given interventions and monitored on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Their response to intervention is monitored using data. More or different interventions are added until students get back on track.

44. Special Education RtI uses a tiered approach. Students receive increasingly specialized services as they move through the tiers. The goal is to prevent failure before it happens.

45. Gifted Education Provisions for “gifted and talented” pupils are not regarded as a privilege or reward for high-achieving students, but as a necessary academic intervention to help students reach their potential. In a similar fashion as for special education, students who need more challenge may receive enriched or accelerated instruction. Gifted education doesn’t mean adding work. It means teaching students in a way that other students would not be able to be taught.

46. Schools Management and Culture

47. School Management and Culture The Board of Trustees sets the policy for the school. The Board of Advisors consists of locally and nationally known figures in business, law, and education.

48. School Management and Culture Several slogans describe our school’s culture: High standards, low pressure “Motivation begins with success.”1 “Climb the mountain”2 “There are no shortcuts”3 Books, not looks. Ask the seven “whys”. 1http://www.brainsarefun.com/words.html 2 This slogan comes from the Knowledge Is Power Program. 3 This slogan comes from RafeEsquith. See http://www.amazon.com/There-Are-Shortcuts-teacher-winner-Award-inspires/dp/0375422021