Best Practices for High Impact Learning

1. Best Practices for High Impact Learning Christy Battle, Lindsay Simpson, Vince Farrugia EDUC 4800 Action Research Project Georgia Gwinnet College School of Education Fall 2012

2. Introduction • Need: As a team, we realized that there are excessive correlations between high yield strategies and student achievement. We discovered that there are multiple teaching strategies of making the content favorably interesting and exceptionally creative. These particular strategies help structured activities engage students within the classroom and motivate them to explore the content further. • Causes:Berkmar High School “On the 2012 Advanced Placement exams, students will achieve an exam pass rate of 49.9% or higher; will exceed the pass rate benchmark estimate by 267%; and will exceed the AP enrollments benchmark by 100%.” Collins Hill High School “Increase the performance of students through offering interventions and extentions for critical reading, writing, and language arts skills in academic classes and through CHIPS (Collins Hills Intervention Programs).” Mill Creek High School “Faculty and staff will strive to increase academic performance in the area of mathematics. We will use the GHSGT as our measurement tool. Our goal is for all students to meet or exceed annual targets. We will utilize data analysis, creative instruction strategies, proactive academic and extension opportunities, and implement before, during and after school tutorials.” • Solution: To not utilize only a single strategy but the ability to use multiple strategies when delivering content.

3. School Improvement Plans: Berkmar High School Collins Hill High School Mill Creek High School • Analysis of School Improvement Plan: Common Core Standards in all content areas by 2015. all content areas are becoming more prevalent and an expectation in all classrooms in order to meet the various learning strategies for all students. IT is encouraged to focus on engaging the students in an active learning environment by using various strategies suggested by Marzano’s Learning Cube. • Topic Selection: Teacher strategies within the classroom is an exceptionally important focus. We concentrate on high yield instructional strategies, big idea thinking, and engaging qualities as the main emphasis in secondary classrooms; thus, spotlighting on visions, patterns, and emotions while incorporating differentiated instructions. • Benefit: By implementing state QCC (Quality Core Curriculum) and county AKS (Academic and Knowledge Skills), through stressing quality-plus teaching strategies that include problem solving, research techniques, and varied instructional methods; student success may improve.

4. Description of Action Plan • Together as a group we researched the Local School Plan of Improvement (LSPI) for each of our corresponding schools and collaborated to find a common theme. With small aspects of the Common Core being currently implemented in the classrooms, the use of high-impact learning strategies as well as engagement has proven to be the focus of many Gwinnett County Schools. Finding creative and innovative ways to reach students through the use of big idea thinking and allowing students to construct his or her own thoughts and relating our lessons to everyday lives are key factors in keeping students engaged. We researched many journals and other educational resources to find the best or the most effective high-impact learning strategies that are being used in many classrooms today.

5. Relevant Literature • Best Practices: A Resource for Teachers • This article focuses on best practices for high-impact learning for all grade levels. The article focuses on what a classroom exhibiting best practices looks like, how to introduce a balanced curriculum, and how it is beneficial to the students involved in best practices. Retrieved from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/bpractices2.pdf • High-Impact Strategies for Linking Family Engagement to Student Learning • This article focuses on connecting the family with the school in order to provide the best practices for high impact learning. Boston Public Schools focuses on linking the families directly toward the academic targets. The school focuses on common criteria, including: focusing on a specific group of students, focusing on a specific learning task, having a specific role for families to assist in, and a clear process for communicating between the parent and teacher. Retrieved from http://www.bpsfamilies.org/schools/impact-strategies/high-impact-strategies/high-impact-strategies • High Impact Teaching Strategies in Science • (HITS) in Science is a 25 page document that shares the best high impact teaching strategies within a high school science classroom. Teaching strategies are what shape a learning environment and this set of specific strategies combined with effective teachers have proven to make enhancements within the engagement of the students within the classroom. This article outlines some steps you can take in order to practice as well as implement these engagement strategies within your teaching. Retrieved from http://www.tedd.net.au/

6. Relevant Literature • Supporting Science Teacher Leaders • Teacher Leadership within the school is what plays an integral part in providing expertise when it comes to reforms within the classrooms. Teacher Leadership is where teachers, either individually or collectively, influence members of the school, colleagues, as well as the principal in order to improve teaching strategies. Hanuscin, Deborah L., Carina M. Rebello, and SomnathSinha. "Supporting the Development of Science Teacher Leaders- Where Do We Begin?" Science Educator 21.1 (2012) • Setting the Record Straight on High Impact Learning Strategies • There is much debate nationwide concerning whether or not the use of high impact learning strategies has led to higher student achievements. Marzano, along with other colleagues wrote three books describing the uses of high impact learning strategies within the classroom and the manner in which they can be applied. The names of these books are Classroom Instruction that Works, Classroom Management the Works, and Classroom Assessment and Grading that Works. Marzano, Robert. "Setting the Record Straight on High Impact Learning Strategies." Phi Delta Kappa 8th ser. 91.1 (2009). • After-School Literacy Initiative • This article focuses on researching the best practices for after-school students for high-impact learning. After-school faculty of all grade levels and content area majors are to receive literacy coaching and training on-site to better enhance student development and learning. Studies found that this created a higher impact on learning because faculty and staff were able to bridge the gaps between reality and expectations of low reading comprehension students. These highly structured literacy programs allowed after-school faculty to aid students in every content area when tutoring, mentoring, or teaching in after-school classrooms. Retrieved from http://www.mass2020.org/node/24

7. Presentation of Findings/Artifacts • Through the Engagement Conference with John Antonetti, many approaches to high yield instructional strategies and big idea thinking were shared. Robert Marzano’s book called Writing as a Measure and Model of Thinking is used in many classrooms to encourage teachers to incorporate these instructional strategies that give students a vision. Many of the strategies found within this book are proven to have a greater impact on student achievement. Research shows that you can take the level of retention from 10-30% to 70-90% just by incorporating periodic writing into your lessons. Writing breaks are a great way for you to do a quick formative assessment as you “work the room.” • The important aspect in writing a high yield lesson means structuring your lesson, aligning your tasks and aligning levels of thinking. The Best Practices Checklist allows you to pick and choose the best strategies you want to incorporate into lessons for learning. These strategies allow student inquiry as well as students synthesizing their own thoughts through these lesson plans.

8. Presentation of Findings/Artifacts • Through the Summarizing Sticky Method, students were asked to utilize this method to improve student summarization which is a big factor on the school LSPI. When studying Language Arts, the material can come across vast in size and overwhelming in understanding. Students learn best when looking at information in small sections rather than a whole. A method that has been proving to work among students, especially reading comprehension students, is the Summarizing Sticky Method. The method is user friendly for the students and does not scare them as they approach it. There are three phases that the method is executed through. • The 3-2-1 Method utilizes checkpoints for understanding are important. When teaching Language Arts, it is important that students understand the lesson that was taught, including the content and the skills they need to know. The 3-2-1 Method is a great method to implement in the classroom to receive feedback from students on the day’s lesson and know that they actually understand and are not just agreeing for the sake of appeasing the teacher.

9. Responses 1.) Positive Responses: • Very detailed and great research! I like the artifacts. • Love the laminated board with the GGC symbol in the middle. • Loved the “ Walking a Lesson Plan.” • Very neat and professional board. Easy to read! Great research and it looked like you put a lot of time and effort into the board. • Loved all the research available. 2.) What others would change: • Overwhelming with all the extra info. • Nothing! • Have a slide show showing Bloom’s Taxonomy • Keep it Simpler!

10. We Learned THESE Lessons • Lessons Learned: Specifically from the Learning Cube, participants will 1) observe the power of individual reaction as a lever for thinking and engagement; 2) integrate middle- and upper-level thinking from Bloom’s Taxonomy into student-controlled activities; and 3) integrate researched-based instructional strategies into lessons of analytical and creative thinking. • Meaning to Us as Educators: As future teacher leaders and with the new teacher evaluation system coming into effect in the near future, there are expectations for educators to incorporate these high impact learning strategies within their lessons. It is important to understand and implement engaging qualities of work as well as big idea thinking. There is an increase in the expectations of teachers to make sure that all lessons are meaningful and that the students are learning in a way that involves synthesis as well as inquiry based learning. With the new Common Core Standards being implemented in specific content areas and the completion of upcoming Common Core Standards within other fields, there is going to be an expectation for these high impact learning strategies to be incorporated into our lessons. • Things We Would Do Differently Next Time: As we enter our classrooms, we will try to incorporate one strategy into the lessons we create each day. We will make notes of what worked and what didn’t work and use it as a reflection tool to modify or change the lesson for the following year. Identifying Similarities and Differences, Summarizing and Note-taking, Nonlinguistic Representation, Generating and Testing Hypotheses as well as Advance Questions, Cues, and Organizers are representations of what to include within these lessons.

11. Credit; Appreciation; Thanks • Christy Battle would like to thank: Collins Hill High School, Mrs. Tara Termes, Mr. McFall, Georgia Gwinnett College, Dr. Bernadette Peiffer, Dr. Barbara McKinney, Dean Cathy Moore, Cody Battle, and children. • Lindsay Simpson would like to thank: Mill Creek High School, Dr. Markham, Mrs. Kay Reynolds, Mr. Rob McFerrin, Mrs. Megan Ivester, Mrs. Marianne Wyman, Georgia Gwinnett College, Dr. Bernadette Peiffer, Dr. Barbara McKinney, Dean Cathy Moore, Mark Simpson and children. • Vince Farrugia would like to thank: Berkmar High School, Ms. Jameela Reed, Georgia Gwinnett College, Dr. Bernadette Peiffer, Dr. Barbara McKinney, Dean Cathy Moore and Sherry Farrugia.