Best Practices in Instruction

1. Best Practices in Instruction Creating the best classroom environment for learning

2. Agenda • Questioning Techniques • Conversing with Students • Teaching Students to Question • Answering Questions • Cooperative Learning Techniques • Activities for Cooperative Learning • Teaching Self-Regulation Study Strategies

3. Best Practice • Questioning • Answering • Praise • Modalities • Modeling • Cooperative Learning • Vocabulary • Problem Variety • Practice Quizzes • Formative Assessment • Motivation • Bloom’s Taxonomy • Cognitive Disfluency • Webb’s Depth of Knowledge • Spaced Recall • Practice Retrieval • Independent Practice • Self-Regulation • Learning Styles • Differentiation • Problem Solving • Mastery Teaching • Learning Tasks • Brain-Based Learning • Cognitive Coaching • Seating Arrangements • Advanced Organizers • Whole Group Cues • Interleaving • Manipulatives • Error Correction • Mastery Learning • Using Technology • Active Learning • Content Integration • Examining Student Work • Reflection • Goal Setting Opportunity, not Mandate!

4. What works? • US Dept of Ed

5. Questioning Techniques • Purpose? • Engage students • Think at a higher levels • Assess formatively • “Never say anything a kid can say.” – Steven Reinhart • “Teaching is listening; Learning is talking.” – Deborah Meier

6. Questioning Techniques • How do we accomplish good questioning? • We have to plan our ETA!

7. Planning Questions • When is it appropriate to ask questions to elicit a more constructivist/discovery learning approach and when is direct instruction necessary? • Notation, definitions • How can we replace most lectures with a series of questions? • We have to plan our ETA!

8. Planning Questions • What sort of questions should we be asking? • Lens: Bloom’s Taxonomy • Knowledge – basic recall • Comprehension – conceptual understanding • Application – use of knowledge • Analysis – whole to part • Synthesis – part to whole • Evaluation – judge value or validity • Pick a topic and write some Bloom’s questions.

9. Planning Questions • What sort of questions should we be asking? • Lens: Webb’s Depth of Knowledge • Level 1 – recall • Level 2 – skill/concept • Level 3 – strategic thinking • Level 4 – extended thinking • Using the same topic, write some DOK questions.

10. Planning Questions • How does Bloom’s compare to DOK?

11. Planning Questions • Tips for asking questions • Ask open-ended questions • Ask questions that need answers • Anticipate student thinking • Ask less product and more process questions • Focus on the content • Build coherence by asking questions that connect to prior and upcoming content • Think about CPA and Math Practices • Plan your ETA!

12. Planning Questions • What sorts of questions should we avoid? • Does anyone… or Who can tell me… • Do you have any questions? • Questions to individual students during whole group interactions • Questions to punish students for inattention • Difficulty qualified questions (easy or hard) • Rhetorical questions

13. Managing Student Responses • Share with students reasons for using questions • Utilize wait time • Teach students how to build consensus • Teacher is not the giver of knowledge • Make participation mandatory • Thumbs up/down • Clickers • Require several answers to the same question • Use cooperative learning strategies

14. Continuing the Conversation Ask students to… • Revoice • In your own words, can you restate what she just said? • Evaluate • Do you agree or disagree? Why? • Participate • What can you add to that? • Extrapolate • Does that always work?

15. Continuing the Conversation • Tips when responding to student answers • Don’t improve student responses • Be non-judgmental • Praise can be as detrimental as negation • Accept and reflect

16. The Art of Questioning • 5. Questions that need enhancing • 6. Value of a pause • Teacher post-question pause • Student within-response pause • Student post-question pause • Pause may not be silent • 7. Encouraging student questions • 9. Troubleshooting

17. Just Some Good Questions • How would you explain this to a student in grade ___? • How would you summarize what we have learned today? • How does this look like something you already know? • What would happen if…? • How could you solve this in a different way? Have we found all the ways to solve this problem and how do you know? • What do you think is the best way to solve this problem? • Will it be the same if we use different numbers? Will it work the same way every time? Why? • What decisions can you make from the patterns you’ve seen?

18. Big Idea for Questioning • Plan your ETA!

19. Lesson Examples • A standard lecture on solving two-step equations • Whole group questioning with solving two-step equations • Cooperative learning about solving two-step equations (later)

20. Teaching Students to Question • “Once you have learned how to ask questions – relevant and appropriate and substantial questions – you have learned how to learn and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know” - Postman and Weingarten • Chinese word for knowledge is two characters meaning “to learn” and “to ask questions.”

21. Teaching Students to Question • Question Formulation Technique • Find a Focus • Brainstorm • Refine • Prioritize • Determine Next Steps • Reflect

22. Teaching Students to Question • Questions for students to ask themselves in order to explore a problem • What do I know? What can I find with that information? • What do I want to know? What information do I need to be able to find that? • How does this look like something I know? How do I solve those problems?

23. Teaching Students to Question • Questions for students to ask other students (or the teacher) to help them when they are stuck • I think I understand _____, but I’m still not sure about ______. • How can we…? • I found _____ challenging because… • I need help with _____ because…

24. Teaching Students to Question • Student Question Cards (Wong and Quek) • Meaning • What do you mean by …. • What is the difference between …. and …. • Can you use a diagram to show …. • (Your own question)

25. Teaching Students to Question • Student Question Cards (Wong and Quek) • Method • Can you show us how to do this problem in another way? • Can you explain/show us this step (….) again? • What will you do next? • (Your own question)

26. Teaching Students to Question • Student Question Cards (Wong and Quek) • Reasoning • Why do you do that ….? • What happens if you change …. to ….? • (Your own question)

27. Teaching Students to Question • Student Question Cards (Wong and Quek) • Application • Why do we study this topic (….)? • How do we use this (….) in everyday life? • (Your own question)

28. Answering Student Questions • “Is this right?” or “I don’t get it?” or “What do I do next?” • Can you be more specific? • With a specific question… • Control body language and facial expressions. • Ask additional probing questions. • Have the student convince you they have figured out the issue.

29. Cooperative Learning – Student • Positive interdependence • We sink or swim together. • Each student’s contribution is important. • Building positive interdependence • Rewards • Resources • Roles • Group identity • Competition

30. Cooperative Learning – Student • Individual accountability • Every student must do their part. • Participation is not optional. • Building individual accountability • Roles – Facilitator, recorder, timer, presenter • Individual report-out (random?) • Individual formative assessment

31. Cooperative Learning – Student • Collaborative skills • Listen • Contribute • Question • Stages of learning collaborative skills • Unconsciously incompetent • Consciously incompetent • Consciously competent • Unconsciously competent • Building collaborative skills • T-charts – Looks like/Sounds like

32. Cooperative Learning – Student • Group processing • Reflect on the group learning process. • Set goals for improvement. • Summarize learning.

33. Cooperative Learning - Teacher • Specify objectives • Explain the cooperative goal structure and academic task • Monitor and intervene • Evaluate and process

34. Cooperative Learning Groups • Formal learning groups • Grouped heterogeneously by ability • Grouped homogeneously by ability • Grouped by social comfort level • Grouped randomly • Red, green, blue groups

35. Cooperative Learning Groups • Informal learning groups • Pick a partner • Neighbor talk • Nearby cluster

36. Cooperative Learning Strategies • Stop and talk • Group talk with roles (numbered heads) • Individual reflections • Strategize (group), solve (ind), share (group) • Solve (ind), share (group), revise (ind) • Think (ind), pair (two), share (four) • Jigsaw • Tea Party • Create, solve, switch • Pass a problem • Three-minute review

37. Cooperative Learning Activities • Sorts • Reflect on student work • Good, better, best instead of right/wrong • Find the error • Modality shifts • Alternate solution method • Create a flow chart for a procedure • Create a knowledge map for a concept • Compare/contrast

38. Lesson Examples • A standard lecture on solving two-step equations (previously) • Whole group questioning with solving two-step equations (previously) • Cooperative learning about solving two-step equations

39. Self-Regulation • The most effective learners regulate and monitor their own learning. • Self-regulation skills need to be explicitly taught.

40. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Time-on task self-rewards • Check, correct, reflect • Teach someone • Review and summarize • Create and solve • Flashcards • Study with a buddy • A proper study environment is critical to all of these.

41. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Study environment • Quiet place with appropriate background noise • Desk or table to spread out • A room or place of their own • Appropriate tools (calculator, computer, etc.)

42. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Time on-task rewards • Homework should take no more than twenty minutes. • Studying should be ten to twenty minutes per night (bite-sized chunks). • Use the five-minute rule. • Text, tweet, post every five • Study stars every five • Ask parents to give tangible rewards.

43. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Check, correct, reflect • Make the answer key available. • Don’t just write down the correct answers, but also identify the errors. • What was one thing I did well? • What is one thing I need to improve? • What do I need to ask questions about?

44. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Teach someone • Find someone who preferably doesn’t know the math. • Ask them questions to make them think. • Can you get them to do the math? • Can you get them to explain the math? • What do you still need to know before you can effectively teach it?

45. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Review and summarize • Re-read and highlight your notes. • Green – vocab • Blue – example problems • Yellow – concepts or procedures • Read the textbook and take new notes. • Summarize the big ideas of the section. • Summarize the steps in any process involved. • If possible, where could this math be used? • Write down any questions you still have.

46. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Create and solve • Create problems that look like the ones in the homework. • Create problems that look different. • Create problems that use a different modality.

47. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Flashcards • Vocabulary cards • Concept cards • Process cards • Application cards

48. Self-Regulation Study Strategies • Study with a buddy • Create a step-by-step guide to a procedure. • Think of examples and non-examples of a concept. • Make problems, trade them, and solve them. • Compare corrections.

49. Self-Regulation Strategy Teaching Plan • Quarter 1 • Study environment • Time on-task rewards • Overview all strategies • Quarter 2 • Check, correct, reflect • Teach someone • Quarter 3 • Review and summarize • Create and solve • Quarter 4 • Flashcards • Study with a buddy

50. Self-Regulation Accountability • Model and practice it in class. • Make it homework. • Give a weekly survey. • Assign different strategies to different cooperative groups members to share the next day. • What’s monitored, matters.