Toolbox for better teaching(tracey tokuhama espinosa)

Activities, Methods, and Tools for Better Teaching Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa October 2008 Costa Rica

Today’s Focus:  Background  Two presumptions  General Tools:  Best practices  Retention varies with Methods  Emotions and Teaching  Sense and Meaning  Learning Environments  Specific Tools (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock)  Evidence-based teaching methods for long-term retention and more efficient teaching  Classroom applications

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 memory: 1. Survival value 2. 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 Practices

by Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, y Arthur Hyde (2005): STUDENT CENTERED: • AUTHENTIC • CHALLENGING • EXPERENCIAL • HOLISTIC

COGNITIVE: • REFLECTIVE • CONSTRUCTIVIST • EXPRESSIVE • DEVELOPMENTAL

SOCIAL: • DEMOCRATIC • COLLABORATIVE

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.

David Sousa, How the brain learns, 2nd edition, Corwin Press (2000, p.88)

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.

David Sousa, How the brain learns, 2nd edition, Corwin Press (2000, p.54)

Good Learning Environments

by Dorothy Billington: Seven factors influence learning environments: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Sense of security Intellectual liberty Respet Self-directedness Paced goals Active learning Feedback

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

EDUCATION

 Sense of security

EDUCATION

 Intellectual liberty

EDUCATION

 Respet

EDUCATION

 Self-directed learning

EDUCATION

 Paced challenges

EDUCATION

 Active learning

EDUCATION

 Feedback

Appropriate learning environments:  “A learning environment conducive to growth includes an atmosphere of trust” (Legutke & Thomas 1991, p. 43).

 Quality, amiable student-teacher interaction, in our opinion, is the most essential factor in successful foreign language learning.

Sano, M., Takahashi, M. & Yoneyama, A. (1984). Communicative language teaching and local needs. English Language Teaching Journal, 38(3), 170-177.

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  Kinesthetic activities  Drawing  Mind maps  Rubrics

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 hypotheses through:  Systems analysis  Problem solving  Historical investigation  Invention  Experimental inquiry  Decision making And the ability to justify findings and re-think problems.

 From which point of view or perspective is this information?  How do we know when we know?  What evidence is there and how reliable is this?  How do you connect ideas, events and people?  What is the cause and what is the effect?  What is new and what is old?  Have we seen this idea before?  What importance does this have and why is it important?

The Art of Questioning  Provide explicit cues  Develop questions that elicit inferences  Generate analytic questions. § How do we know? § Why do we believe? § Why do we accept this evidence? § What do we know about…?

Advanced Organizers (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

 Preview and activate student knowledge  “Expository advance organizers” describe new content to students  “Narrative advance organizer” present information to students in story format.  “Skimming” information before reading advances knowledge (preview)  “Graphic organizers” are one form of advance organizers.

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:

Specific Tools  Note taking;

General Tools

 Summarizing;  Questioning;

 Creating good learning environments;  Considering the role of emotions in learning;  “Primacy-receny”;  Sense and meaning

 Clear objectives;  Cooperative learning;  Reinforcing effort;  Feedback;  Nonlinguistic representations;  Organizers;  Homework;  In-class practice

Referencies 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. Directora Instituto de Ense単anza y Aprendizaje (IDEA) de la Universidad San Francisco de Quito Casa Corona, primer piso Telf: 297-1700 x1338; x1005; 1020 desarrolloprofesional@usfq.edu.ec