Reflection
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| Reflection is a process for looking back and integrating new knowledge. Reflections need to occur throughout the building blocks of constructivism and include teacher-led student-driven and teacher reflections. We need to encourage students to stop throughout the learning process and think about their learning. Teachers need to model the reflective process to encourage students to think openly, critically and creatively. | ||
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Techniques for Reflections Closing Circle – A quick way to circle around a classroom and ask each student to share one thing they now know about a topic or a connection that they made that will help them to remember or how this new knowledge can be applied in real life. Exit Cards – An easy 5 minute activity to check student knowledge before, during and after a lesson or complete unit of study. Students respond to 3 questions posed by the teacher. Teachers can quickly read the responses and plan necessary instruction. Learning Logs – Short, ungraded and unedited, reflective writing in learning logs is a venue to promote genuine consideration of learning activities. Reflective Journals – Journals can be used to allow students to reflect on their own learning. They can be open-ended or the teacher can provide guiding, reflective questions for the students to respond to. These provide insight on how the students are synthesizing their learning but it also helps the students to make connections and better understand how they learn. Rubrics – Students take time to self-evaluate and peer-evaluate using the rubric that was given or created at the beginning of the learning process. By doing this, students will understand what areas they were very strong in and what areas to improve for next time. Write a Letter – The students write a letter to themselves or to the subject they are studying. This makes the students think of connections in a very personal way. Students enjoy sharing these letters and learn from listening to other ideas. Source: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/how/reflection.html |
Exhibits
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Exhibits |
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By using a variety of ways to show what they know, such as projects, metaphors or graphic organizers, students are allowed to come to closure on some idea, to develop it and to further their imagination to find understanding. Understanding is taking bits of knowledge in all different curriculum and life experiences and applying this new knowledge. When students apply new knowledge, connections are made and learning is meaningful and relevant. Application is a higher order thinking skill that is critical for true learning to occur. |
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Possible Student Exhibits Analogies – Students compare a topic or unit of study to an inanimate object such as comparing something known to the unknown or some inanimate object to the topic. Blogs – Blogs, short for weblogs, are online journals or diaries that have become popular since the mid 1990’s. Bloggers post personal opinions, random thoughts, connections and real life stories to interact with others via the Web! Weblinks and photos can also be added to the blog. A learner may choose to have their own blog to record their learning on a specific topic. A group of learners could choose to share a blog and read, write, challenge, debate, validate and build shared knowledge as a group. Check out Blogger.com to set up your own personal or professional blog – develop your digital voice and model for your students. Collage – Students cut out or draw pictures to represent a specific topic. To evaluate the level of understanding, students write an explanation or discuss in small groups the significance of the pictures and why they are representative of the topic. This technique encourages students to make connections, to create a visual representation and to then explain or exhibit their understanding. Celebration of Learning – A demonstration where students have the opportunity to share their expertise in several subject areas with other students, teachers and parents. Graphic Organizers – Graphic organizers, also known as mind maps, are instructional tools used to illustrate prior knowledge. Portfolios – A portfolio is a representative collection of an individual student’s work. A student portfolio is generally composed of best work to date and a few “works in progress” that demonstrate the process. Students show their knowledge, skills and abilities in a variety of different ways that are not dependent upon traditional media such as exams and essays. Multiple Intelligences Portfolios are an effective way for students to understand not how smart they are but how they are smart. Project-Based Learning– Students create projects by investigating and making connections from the topic or unit of study to real life situations. Multimedia is one effective tool for students to design their projects. T-charts – A simple t is drawn and students jot down information relating to a topic in two different columns. Venn-Diagram – A graphic organizer that is made with 2 intersecting circles and is used to compare and contrast. Using this tool, students identify what is different about 2 topics and identify the overlap between the two topics in the shared shared area. http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/how/exhibits.html |
The Importance of Self-Esteem
The Power of Self-Esteem:
Build It and They Will Flourish
Jim Paterson
The term “self-esteem,” long the centerpiece of most discussions concerning the emotional well being of young adolescents, has taken a beating lately.
Some people who question this emphasis on adolescent self-esteem suggest that it takes time and attention away from more important aspects of education. Others contend that many of the most difficult adolescents suffer from too much self-esteem and our insistence on building higher levels is detrimental to the student and to society.
But many experts and middle school educators stand firm in their conviction that since self-worth is rigorously tested during the middle school years, attention to it can only help students become successful. Perhaps, they say, self-esteem simply has not been defined properly or the strategies used to build it have done more harm than good.
For example, “Praising kids for a lack of effort is useless,” says Jane Bluestein, a former classroom teacher, school administrator, speaker, and the author of several books and articles on adolescence and self-esteem. “Calling a bad job on a paper a ‘great first draft’ doesn’t do anyone any good. I think we’ve learned that. If I’m feeling stupid and worthless and you tell me I’m smart, that makes you stupid in my eyes,” she says. “It doesn’t make me any better.”
But Bluestein and others say that simply because the corrective methods are misguided doesn’t mean middle school educators should not pay close attention to their students’ self-esteem.
Jan Burgess, a former principal at Lake Oswego Junior High School in Oregon, explains, “We’ve all seen kids whose parents believe self-esteem is absolutely the highest priority. But heaping praise without warrant is empty praise. Self-esteem is important, and it comes from aiming high and reaching the goal. That is much more meaningful.”
On the other hand, James Bierma, a school counselor at Washington Technical Magnet in St. Paul, Minnesota, says he is wary of those who want to reduce praise for students. “I don’t see heaping praise on kids as a big problem. I work in an urban area where we have more than 85% of students in poverty. I wish our students received more praise,” he says. “You can go overboard, but that rarely happens in my dealings with families. Students respond well to praise from parents and school staff.”
Robert Reasoner, a former school administrator and the developer of a model for measuring and building self-esteem that has been adopted by schools throughout the United States, says there has been a lot of confusion about the concept of self-esteem.
“Some have referred to self-esteem as merely ‘feeling good’ or having positive feelings about oneself,” says Reasoner, who is president of the National Association of Self Esteem. “Others have gone so far as to equate it with egotism, arrogance, conceit, narcissism, a sense of superiority, and traits that lead to violence. Those things actually suggest that self-esteem is lacking.”
He notes that self-value is difficult to study and address because it is both a psychological and sociological issue and affects students in many different ways.
“Self-esteem is a fluid rather than static condition,” says Sylvia Starkey, a school psychologist and counselor for 16 years in the Lake Oswego School District. She notes that the way adolescents view themselves can depend on how they feel about their competence in a particular activity. It also is influenced by the child’s general temperament and even family birth order, all of which might make it harder to identify the causes of low self-esteem—or raise it.
Reasoner says self-esteem can be defined as “the experience of being capable of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness.” He notes that the worthiness is the psychological aspect of self-esteem, while the competence, or meeting challenges, is the sociological aspect.
He notes that when we heap praise on a student, a sense of personal worth may elevate, but competence may not—which can make someone egotistical. Self-esteem, he says, comes from accomplishing meaningful things, overcoming adversity, bouncing back from failure, assuming self-responsibility, and maintaining integrity.
Self-Esteem at the Middle Level
Middle school students are particularly vulnerable to blows to their self-esteem because they are moving to a more complex, more challenging school environment; they are adjusting to huge physical and emotional changes; and their feelings of self-worth are beginning to come from peers rather than adults, just at a time when peer support can be uncertain, Reasoner says.
“Early on, it’s parents who affirm the young person’s worth, then it’s the teacher. In middle school, peer esteem is a powerful source of one’s sense of self,” according to Mary Pat McCartney, a counselor at Bristow Run Elementary School in Bristow, Virginia, and former elementary-level vice president of the American School Counselors Association. No matter how much students have been swamped with praise by well-meaning parents, she says, what their friends think of them is most important.
Beth Graney, guidance director at Bull Run Middle School in Gainesville, Virginia, says adults gain their self-esteem through accomplishments and by setting themselves apart from others, while adolescents gain it from their group. “Peer relationships are so critical to kids feeling good about themselves,” she says.
Opportunities to Succeed
The solution, rather than praising without merit, seems to be providing students with an opportunity to succeed.
“Self-esteem that comes from aiming high and reaching goals helps build resilience for students as well,” says Burgess. She says teachers can help kids target their learning and fashion goals that are obtainable, while giving them constructive feedback along the way. “Self-esteem rises and students feel in charge—and this can help parents understand how to heap praise when it is earned.”
Bluestein says students often want an opportunity to feel valued and successful. As a group, they can perhaps make a simple decision in class (which of two topics they study first, for example) and individuals might gain from helping others, either collaboratively or as a mentor or tutor. She suggests having students work with others in a lower grade level. As a result, the self-esteem of the students being helped also improves.
“Peer helpers, lunch buddies, peer mentors often help kids feel that someone is in their corner and can help them fit in with a larger group,” Graney says. She says parents should encourage their children to find an activity that they like where they can have some success and feel accepted.
Bluestein recalls a program she began in which her “worst kids” who seemed to have lower levels of self-worth were asked to work with younger students. Their sense of themselves improved, she says, and eventually they were skipping recess or lunch periods to work with the younger students.
Mary Elleen Eisensee, a middle school counselor for more than 30 years at Lake Oswego Junior High School, says if kids can be “guided to accept and support one another, the resulting atmosphere will be conducive for building self-confidence and esteem for everyone.”
| Special Care for Special Students
Michelle Borba, nationally known author and consultant on self-esteem and achievement in children, says there are five things middle school educators can do easily to improve the self-esteem of their students:
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Adult Affirmation Is Important
Adults play a role, too, by helping students find areas where they can have success and making note of it when they do. They can also just notice students.
“Legitimate affirmation makes a huge difference. But plain recognition is just as meaningful. Greeting a student by name even pays big dividends,” says Starkey. She says adult volunteer tutors and mentors help students with social and academic skills and encourage them. An assessment of factors that promote self-esteem in her school district showed such adult attention is very valuable.
At Bierma’s school, counselors call parents on Fridays when students’ scores on achievement, attendance, academic, and behavior goals are announced. “It has helped students turn negative behaviors into positive ones.”
McCartney says simply treating students respectfully and listening carefully affirms a student’s self-worth. She says teachers can also bolster self-esteem if they allow the students to accidentally “overhear key adults bragging about one of their accomplishments.”
Reasoner points out that despite thinking to the contrary, strong self-esteem is critical in the middle school years. Students without it withdraw or develop unhealthy ways of gaining social acceptance, often by responding to peer pressure to engage in sex, drinking, drug abuse, or other harmful behaviors.
“Many of these problems can simply be avoided if a child has healthy self-esteem,” Reasoner says.
Understanding Learning Disabilities
Learning Disabilities: Signs, Symptoms and Strategies |
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A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. The disability may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations.
Every individual with a learning disability is unique and shows a different combination and degree of difficulties. A common characteristic among people with learning disabilities is uneven areas of ability, “a weakness within a sea of strengths.” For instance, a child with dyslexia who struggles with reading, writing and spelling may be very capable in math and science.
Learning disabilities should not be confused with learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantages.
Generally speaking, people with learning disabilities are of average or above average intelligence. There often appears to be a gap between the individual’s potential and actual achievement. This is why learning disabilities are referred to as “hidden disabilities:” the person looks perfectly “normal” and seems to be a very bright and intelligent person, yet may be unable to demonstrate the skill level expected from someone of a similar age.
A learning disability cannot be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong challenge. However, with appropriate support and intervention, people with learning disabilities can achieve success in school, at work, in relationships, and in the community.
In Federal law, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the term is “specific learning disability,” one of 13 categories of disability under that law.
“Learning Disabilities” is an “umbrella” term describing a number of other, more specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. Find the signs and symptoms of each, plus strategies to help:
Dyslexia
A language and reading disability
Dyscalculia
Problems with arithmetic and math concepts
Dysgraphia
A writing disorder resulting in illegibility
Dyspraxia (Sensory Integration Disorder)
Problems with motor coordination
Central Auditory Processing Disorder
Difficulty processing and remembering language-related tasks
Non-Verbal Learning Disorders
Trouble with nonverbal cues, e.g., body language; poor coordination, clumsy
Visual Perceptual/Visual Motor Deficit
Reverses letters; cannot copy accurately; eyes hurt and itch; loses place; struggles with cutting
Language Disorders (Aphasia/Dysphasia)
Trouble understanding spoken language; poor reading comprehension
Symptoms of Learning Disabilities |
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The symptoms of learning disabilities are a diverse set of characteristics which affect development and achievement. Some of these symptoms can be found in all children at some time during their development. However, a person with learning disabilities has a cluster of these symptoms which do not disappear as s/he grows older.
Most frequently displayed symptoms:
- Short attention span
- Poor memory
- Difficulty following directions
- Inability to discriminate between/among letters, numerals, or sounds
- Poor reading and/or writing ability
- Eye-hand coordination problems; poorly coordinated
- Difficulties with sequencing
- Disorganization and other sensory difficulties
Other characteristics that may be present:
- Performs differently from day to day
- Responds inappropriately in many instances
- Distractible, restless, impulsive
- Says one thing, means another
- Difficult to discipline
- Doesn’t adjust well to change
- Difficulty listening and remembering
- Difficulty telling time and knowing right from left
- Difficulty sounding out words
- Reverses letters
- Places letters in incorrect sequence
- Difficulty understanding words or concepts
- Delayed speech development; immature speech
Effective Instructional Strategies for ESE and Struggling Learners
What are instructional strategies?
Instructional strategies are methods that are used in the lesson to ensure that the sequence or delivery of instruction helps students learn.
The term “effective” means that student performance improves when the instructional strategies are used. The strategies were identified in studies conducted using research procedures and guidelines that ensure confidence about the results. In addition, several studies exist for each strategy with an adequate sample size and the use of treatment and control groups to generalize to the target population. This allows teachers to be confident about how to apply the strategies in their classrooms.
These six strategies have been proven to work with diverse groups of learners (Kameenui & Carnine, Effective Teaching Strategies that Accommodate Diverse Learners, 1998). All students, and particularly those with disabilities, benefit when teachers incorporate these strategies into their instruction on a regular basis.
- Focus on essentials.
- Make linkages obvious and explicit.
- Prime background knowledge.
- Provide temporary support for learning.
- Use conspicuous steps and strategies.
- Review for fluency and generalization.
Identify important principles, key concepts, and big ideas from the curriculum that apply across major themes in the subject content.
- Big Ideas: Instruction is organized around the major themes that run through a subject area. This helps students make the connections between concepts and learn to use higher order thinking skills. Kameenui and Carnine (1998) gave these examples of big ideas for social studies:
- problem-solution-effect
- success of group efforts is related to motivation, leadership, resources, and capability
- Graphic organizers: Important ideas and details are laid out graphically to help students see connections between ideas. Semantic webs and concept maps are examples of graphic organizers.
- Thematic instruction: Instructional units combine subject areas to make themes and essential ideas more apparent and meaningful. Lessons and assignments can be integrated or coordinated across classes.
- Planning routines: The Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas website (go to http://www.ku-crl.org/sim/lscurriculum.html) has developed the Learning Strategies Curriculum, systematic routines that include graphic organizers to help teachers plan a course, unit, or lesson around the essentials or big ideas. Teachers guide students to use the organizer to monitor their learning.
Make linkages obvious and explicit
Actively help students understand how key concepts across the curriculum relate to each other as you are teaching.
- Give clear verbal explanations and use visual displays (such as flow charts, diagrams, or graphic organizers) to portray key concepts and relationships.
- Help students use techniques like outlining or mind mapping to show connections among concepts.
Connect new information or skills to what students have already learned. Provide additional instruction or support to students who lack necessary background knowledge.
- Ask questions to prompt student recall of relevant prior knowledge.
- Make comparisons between the new concept and things students already know.
- Relate the topic to current or past events that are familiar to students.
- Relate the concept to a fictional story or scenario known to the students.
- Use instructional materials that provide easy access to critical background knowledge.
Provide temporary support for learning
Provide support (scaffolding) while students are learning new knowledge and skills, gradually reducing the level of support as students move toward independence.
- Provide verbal or written prompts to remind students of key information or processes.
- Physically assist and guide a student when learning a new motor skill, such as cutting.
- Provide study or note taking guides to support learning from text or lectures.
- Use commercial materials that have been specifically designed to incorporate supports for learning.
- Use mnemonics to help students remember multiple steps in a procedure.
Use conspicuous steps and strategies
Teach students to follow a specific set of procedures to solve problems or use a process.
- Model the steps in the strategy, using a think-aloud process.
- Name the strategy and give students prompts for using it such as posting steps on the board, providing an example of a problem with the strategy steps labeled, or using memory strategies, such as mnemonics to help student recall the steps.
- Prompt students to use the strategy in practice situations.
- Reduce prompting as students become proficient in applying the strategy.
- Explicitly teach students the organizational structure of text and prompt its use.
Review for fluency and generalization
Give students many opportunities to practice what they have learned and receive feedback on their performance to ensure knowledge is retained over time and can be applied in different situations.
- Use multiple reviews of concepts and skills.
- Give students specific feedback about what they are doing well or need to change.
- Give students enough practice to master skills.
- Distribute reviews over time to insure proficiency is maintained.
- Provide review in different contexts to enhance generalization of learning.
- Provide cumulative review that addresses content learned throughout the year.
Classroom Management Ideas
| C L A S S R O O M M A N A G E M E N T | |
Teachers, Start Your Engines:
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Classroom Management and Procedures
Weekly Tip – The 3 P’s of Classroom Management – 3 Part Series
Part II: Procedures
The first building block of good classroom management is positive environment, as we discussed last week. This week we’re going to take a look at the 2nd building block of good classroom management – procedures. For those of you who have been subscribing to this newsletter for a long time, you’ve heard my soap-box about procedures. I simply cannot say enough about this topic. In my mind having set procedures for your classroom means the difference between having an okay year and a great year. It definitely can mean the difference between having a bad year and a good year!
Human beings are typically creatures of habit. Even those of us who pride ourselves on being spontaneous have habits. We drink our coffee the same way every morning. Some of us brush our teeth first thing while others wait until after eating breakfast. There are people who live their lives by a watch and others who don’t. Think through your day for just a moment. What activities and/or tasks do you do similarly every single day? Do you walk the dog? Feed the fish? Get dressed? These activities become habits. We tend to complete them the same way (or very close to the same way) every day. You could say that these are procedures for your life.
A procedure, simply put, is :
1. An act or a manner of proceeding in any action or process; conduct.
2. A particular course or mode of action.
3. The sequence of actions or instructions to be followed in solving a problem or accomplishing a task.
(Source – http://www.dictionary.com)
When we create classroom procedures we are developing a course of action and/or a sequence of actions to accomplish a task. For example, an “opening class” procedure may consist of students checking their “mailbox” for returned papers, getting out their journal, sharpening their pencil, and beginning the focus assignment before the bell rings. A “closing” procedure may consist of students putting their journal back in their “mailbox”, turning in the class assignment, cleaning up the area around their desk, and sitting quietly until dismissed.
Classroom procedures should be developed for the different activities accomplished daily in your classroom. How do you expect students to turn in homework and classroom assignments? How do you expect students to work together in groups? What are your expectations for students to label their papers for assignments? What do you expect students to do when participating in writing or reading activities, labs, or learning centers? How will students request to go to the restroom, see the nurse, or get materials for class? What about lining up and walking down hallways to Art or recess?
All of these actions and activities require procedures. Some procedures should be written down so that students can easily see and refer to what is expected of them. Other procedures will be communicated verbally by the teacher. However, it is vital that you take the time at the beginning of the school year to think about how you want your class to operate. It is this proactive reflection and determination that will make your life easier. Clear communication only happens when you are certain about what you expect. If you only have vague ideas of what you think you want, chaos can easily happen. Don’t forget that your students are human beings also. They are likely to develop their own ways of acting and their own “procedures” to follow if none are specifically given to them. The more prepared you are in the beginning, the less likely your students will come up with their own more creative habits.
Take, for example, students entering and leaving your classroom. With clearly marked procedures in place, students know to enter the classroom, get necessary materials, and begin working before the bell rings. This does not mean that you will not have to redirect and remind students to get this done, but it does mean that each one already knows what they should do. When the bell rings most of your students will be sitting at their desk either working or preparing to work. Without a set procedure you’ll end up with students entering class at their leisure, chatting with friends, hanging out about the room doing “whatever” until the bell rings. Then you have to take the time to herd them all back to their seats in order to get class started. This, as some of you know, can take a chunk out of class time.
Once you have developed your procedures, be sure to train students in following these procedures. Go over them at the beginning of the year and practice. Stick to these procedures daily so that students can get into the routine and develop the habit. Before the bell rings, remind students of what they should be doing. If you see students not following your procedures/expectations, stop and practice it again until they do it properly. Taking time at the beginning of the year to practice and get into the habit of following these procedures will save time at the end of the school year when everyone is feeling that spring fever. Do not think that you are wasting class time by practicing and revisiting these procedures. Instead, you are wisely using time to reinforce positive habits that will continue throughout the school year.
As we discussed last week, a positive environment is only the beginning to good classroom management. The next step is developing classroom procedures. These will then reinforce that positive environment when everyone knows what to do and what is expected. There are no hidden surprises and everyone is on the same page. This results in a teacher who feels less stressed and less likely to show frustration in the classroom. Students respond to this positive atmosphere and tend to behave in a more positive manner. Next week we will discuss the last of the 3 P’s – Productive Students – and how this element increases the likely-hood of having a well-disciplined class.
Modifying Regular Classroom Curriculum for Gifted and Talented Students
Many educators have become well-versed in modifying the regular classroom curriculum to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Educators are not as experienced, however, in meeting the instructional needs of high-ability students. In a growing number of states, revisions in regulations pertaining to gifted and talented students are requiring that high-ability students, previously served in part-time pull-out programs, must also receive appropriate instruction within the context of their regular classrooms. For example, in Kentucky, high-ability students can no longer be viewed as sufficiently served by a once-monthly or once-weekly program. These students have educational needs that must be met daily, just as students with disabilities have.Many regular education teachers report that meeting the needs of high-ability students equals and often exceeds the challenges of integrating disabled students in their classrooms. High-ability students can be delightful, but they can also be demanding, impatient, perfectionistic, sarcastic, and disruptive. In addition, few regular education teachers have received sufficient training in issues related to gifted and talented education. Before teachers can develop appropriate instructional strategies to meet the needs of high-ability students, they must recognize the value of such efforts. For many educators, services to gifted and talented students may seem to be elitist. However, public education is founded on the belief that all students (including those with high abilities) have the right to instruction appropriate to their needs. Gifted and talented students, like all students, should learn something new every day.
General Strategies for Modifying the Curriculum
The objectives for modifying standard curricula for high-ability students include:
- meeting the learning capacity of the students,
- meeting the students’ rapid rates of learning in all or some areas of study, and
- providing time and resources so that students can pursue areas of special interest.
In order to modify standard curricula for high-ability students, Lois Roets (1993) proposed three options:
- lesson modifications,
- assignment modifications, and
- scheduling modifications.
Lessons can be modified through acceleration or enrichment of content. Assignments can be modified through reducing regular classroom work or providing alternate assignments. Scheduling options include providing opportunities for high-ability students to work individually through independent study, shared learning in homogeneous groupings with peers of similar ability and interests, and participation in heterogeneous groupings of mixed-ability students.
Lesson Modifications
One way teachers can extend or enrich the content they present is by asking open-ended questions. Such questions stimulate higher order thinking skills and give students opportunities to consider and express personal opinions. Open-ended questions require thinking skills such as comparison, synthesis, insight, judgment, hypothesis, conjecture, and assimilation. Such questions can also increase student awareness of current events. Open-ended questions should be included in both class discussions and assignments. They can also be used as stimulation for the opening or conclusion of a lesson.
Another strategy for lesson modification developed by Susan Winebrenner (1992) is to use Bloom’s taxonomy of six levels of thinking to develop lesson content. Bloom’s model implies that the “lower” levels (knowledge, comprehension, and application) require more literal and less complex thinking than the “higher” levels (analysis, evaluation, and synthesis). Teachers are encouraged to develop thematic units with activities for students at all ability levels. This strategy involves four steps. Teachers first choose a theme that can incorporate learning objectives from several different subject areas. Secondly, teachers identify 6 to 10 key concepts or instructional objectives. Third, they determine which learner outcomes or grade-level competencies will be targeted for the unit. Finally, they design instructional activities to cover each of the six levels of thinking.
Assignment Modifications
High-ability students are often expected to complete assignments that they find boring or irrelevant because they represent no new learning for them. Allowing them to reduce or skip standard assignments in order to acquire time to pursue alternate assignments or independent projects is called curriculum compacting. The curriculum for a gifted student should be compacted in those areas that represent his or her strengths. When students “buy time” for enrichment or alternate activities, they should use that time to capitalize on their strengths, rather than to improve skills in weaker subjects. For example, a student advanced in math should have a compacted curriculum in that area with opportunities given for enriched study in mathematics.
The first step in compacting the curriculum is determining the need to do so. A student is a candidate for compacting if he or she regularly finishes assignments quickly and correctly, consistently scores high on tests related to the modified area, or demonstrates high ability through individualized assessment, but not daily classwork (i.e., he or she is gifted, but unmotivated for the standard curriculum).
The second step in compacting the curriculum is to create a written plan outlining which, if any, regular assignments will be completed and what alternate activities will be accomplished. A time frame for the plan should also be determined. Modification plans can be limited to a few days (i.e., length of lesson or chapter) or extend over the course of an entire school year.
Alternate assignments for high-ability students can either be projects related to the modified area of study that extend the curriculum, or they can be independent projects that are chosen based on students’ individual interests. Winebrenner (1992) described a strategy in which students use written independent study contracts to research topics of interest to become “resident experts.” The students and teacher decide upon a description and the criteria for evaluating each project. A deadline is determined, and by that date, each student must share his or her project with the entire class. Before choosing their projects, students are also given time to browse various areas of interest. After completing compacted work, students are allowed to look through research materials to explore various topics. A deadline for choosing a topic for independent projects is also given to the students to limit their browsing time.
Scheduling Modifications
Cooperative learning through traditional heterogeneous groups is often counterproductive for high-ability students. When the learning task involves a great deal of drill and practice, these students often end up doing more teaching than learning. When placed in homogeneous cooperative learning groups, however, gifted students can derive significant learning benefits. This does not mean that high-ability students should never participate in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups. Rather, groupings should be chosen based on the task that is being assigned. When the task includes drill and practice, such as math computation or answering comprehension questions about a novel, gifted students should be grouped together and given a more complex task. When the task includes critical thinking, gifted students should be part of heterogeneous groups to stimulate discussions. Open-ended activities are excellent choices for heterogeneous groupings.
Cluster grouping of high-ability students in the same classroom is another option for meeting the needs of gifted students in the regular classroom. The traditional method of assigning students to classes has often been to divide the high-ability students equally among the available classes so each teacher would have his or her “fair share.” Under this system, however, each teacher must develop strategies for modifying the curriculum to meet the needs of the advanced students. With cluster grouping, four to six high-ability students are placed in the same classroom. This system allows the students to learn with and from each other and reduces the need for multiple teachers to develop appropriate instructional modifications.
Case Studies
The following case studies describe how the curriculum was modified for three academically able students.
Mark
Mark entered first grade reading at a fourth-grade level. He had mastered math concepts that challenged his first-grade peers. He was placed in a second-grade class for math instruction and in a third-grade class for reading and spelling instruction. Despite these opportunities, Mark was always the first to finish assignments and spent the majority of his school day reading library books or playing computer games. His parents and teacher were concerned that he was not sufficiently challenged, but as a 6-year-old, he was too young to participate in the district’s pull-out gifted program. They were also concerned that he was having difficulty developing friendships in his classroom since he spent much of the day apart from his homeroom peers. A request for consultation was made to the school psychologist.
With input from Mark’s parents and teachers, an independent study contract was developed for Mark to channel his high reading abilities toward study in a specific area. After browsing for a week, he chose dinosaurs as his project area. Mark then narrowed his focus to the Jurassic Period and decided to create a classroom reference book complete with pictures he drew. When he completed his daily work, Mark researched his topic area and worked on his project. When completed, Mark’s teacher asked him to share his project with his classmates. Because he had chosen a topic of high interest to his peers, Mark’s status as “resident expert” on dinosaurs made him attractive to his classmates. Mark’s teacher encouraged these budding friendships by asking the other students to bring dinosaur toys and books from home to share with the class during the following weeks.
Katrina
Katrina’s parents chose to move her from a private school to public school at the end of her third-grade year. Following the advice of the private school staff, Katrina’s parents enrolled her in a second year of third grade at the public school due to reported weaknesses in reading and written expression. After a few weeks of school, Katrina’s teacher approached the school psychologist with her concern that retention may not have been in Katrina’s best interest. The teacher reported that Katrina was performing on grade level in all areas and demonstrated high-ability math skills.
Upon meeting with Katrina’s parents, however, they expressed the desire to keep her in the third grade. They felt that Katrina had suffered no harmful effects from the retention since it involved a move to a new school with different peers. Further, Katrina’s parents reported that she felt very comfortable and successful in her classroom. Although the committee decided to keep Katrina in the third grade, they developed a compacted curriculum for her in the area of math. A contract was written specifying modifications for Katrina in the regular class math curriculum. She was required to complete half of the assignments given to her peers, as long as she did so with 90% or higher accuracy. When finished with her modified assignment, Katrina then used her time earned through compacting for enriched study in mathematics. The committee was careful to avoid presenting material to Katrina that she would study in the future to avoid the possibility of repetition. Instead, an enriched program of study was developed that emphasized critical thinking and problem solving related to the addition and subtraction being taught in her classroom.
Katrina’s contract included several choices of activities, any of which she could choose to do on a given day, such as creating story problems for the class to solve, drawing pictures or using manipulatives to demonstrate calculation problems, or activities involving measuring, classifying, estimating, and graphing. Katrina’s teacher would present a specific activity choice in these areas that extended and enriched the basic concepts being taught to the class as a whole.
With these modifications, Katrina’s advanced skills in math were addressed. Her parents and teacher judged her school year a success, and Katrina made an easy transition to fourth grade, where she was able to work on grade-level material with an average level of accuracy in all areas.
Adam
Adam demonstrated a very high spoken vocabulary and advanced ideas when participating in class. He completed few of his assignments, though, and showed strong resistance to putting pencil to paper despite obvious high abilities. He was able to read orally at a level 2 years above his fourth-grade status and could perform multidigit calculation problems mentally. However, in the classroom, Adam demonstrated task avoidance and disruptive behaviors. His teacher and parents were frustrated by his lack of work output and behavior problems, and they sought assistance from the school psychologist.
In interviewing Adam, the psychologist found that he did not see the need to put on paper answers he already knew. It seemed likely that Adam’s behavior problems were related to boredom and frustration. To test this theory, the psychologist recommended the use of Winebrenner’s (1992) “Most Difficult First” strategy. With this strategy, the teacher identifies the most difficult portion of an assignment and the student is allowed to attempt that portion of the assignment first. If he or she completes it with 100% accuracy, the student is excused from the remainder of the assignment and allowed to use his or her free time to pursue an alternate activity.
Adam was resistant to this strategy at first, but he quickly saw its advantages and began completing those assignments that were modified using the strategy. With guidance from the school psychologist, Adam’s teacher then extended modifications to include pretesting and compacting opportunities across the curriculum. Adam used his time earned from compacting to pursue independent projects and recreational reading, and his behavior problems decreased accordingly.
Conclusion
The focus of educational services for high-ability students is shifting to the regular classroom. While this expansion of services to the regular classroom is a welcome recognition of the need to challenge high-ability students all day, every day, this initiative also brings with it a significant need to train regular education teachers. Support staff such as educators of gifted and talented students and school psychologists must learn to become effective consultants to assist regular classroom teachers in applying instructional strategies appropriate for meeting the needs of high-ability students.
Advanced Learners
All Means All: Classrooms that Work for Advanced Learners
Susan Rakow
Meeting the needs of all learners means all, including those who learn rapidly or are inherently curious about the world, eating up everything we offer—books, history, geometry proofs, science experiments. Some of these students make themselves known immediately. Others, especially during their middle school years, prefer to hide their talents, their academic interest and enthusiasm, and their abilities.
Regardless of whether they are students who need us to draw them out or students whose abilities are immediately apparent, we have a responsibility to help them reach their full potential.
Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by the needs of struggling learners that we believe we don’t have time for the gifted, talented, high achieving, and high potential students. But they are just as desperate as any other students for good teachers to help them progress. Middle school is a turning point for them, too.
Schools can be structured in many ways to meet the needs of these top students. Part of a continuum of services might include honors or accelerated classes, co-enrollment with the high school, pre-IB (International Baccalaureate) or pre-AP (Advanced Placement) programs that coordinate with high school offerings, multi-age classes, grade acceleration, magnet schools, or honors clusters or teams.
But teachers in most middle schools meet these students in heterogeneous classes where there’s a wide range of abilities, interests, learning styles, and special education needs. Cluster grouping is one approach that helps narrow the range. Effective cluster grouping places four to eight high achieving and gifted students in a heterogeneous class that does not include special needs students who require significant attention from the classroom teacher. This number of students ensures that students feel more comfortable doing advanced work and the teacher is more willing to provide it, since there isn’t just one student who needs it.
Providing Challenge and Choice
Whether in a clustered classroom or a fully heterogeneous one, all teachers can use strategies to help differentiate instruction for gifted, high achieving, and high potential learners. When applied consistently, these strategies help all students make progress throughout the school year.
The three components of curriculum that should be adjusted are content, process, and product. Content is the actual material being learned. The process is the way the students are engaging with the material, such as whole class instruction, small group work, online instruction, and independent projects. The product is how the students demonstrate what they have learned. Each approach that follows incorporates one or more of these and helps meet the two most basic needs of these students: challenge and choice.
Pre-Assessment: Who Knows What?
The cornerstone of any attempt to meet the needs of diverse learners is to find out what they are interested in, how they learn best, and what they already know. This is the purpose of pre-assessment.
Administer an interest inventory or a learning styles inventory to all students at the beginning of the school year. Questions can include: What sports do you play? Do you prefer to work alone or with a group? What musical instruments do you play? What do you enjoy learning about? What do you do with your free time? If you had to put together your new desk, would you rather hear the instructions, read the instructions, or watch someone do it and then follow their model?
Identify or collect from existing data information about each student’s reading and writing levels in all content areas. If the responsibility for gathering this information is divided among grade level team members, students don’t end up completing four writing samples or filling out six interest inventories during the first two days of school.
Teachers should be aware of any student who has been identified as gifted in a specific academic area, in a cognitive ability, or in the visual or performing arts. Criteria for this designation vary by state and district; this is different from the consistent federal guidelines for identifying special education students.
This pre-assessment gives teachers a general overview of students’ academic and personal starting points. The next step is to be more teacher- and content-specific. At least two weeks before instruction about a specific unit begins, teachers should give students a pre-assessment covering the content of that unit.
Often teachers misuse the K-W-L technique (What do you Know? What do you Want to know? What have you Learned?) for this purpose by doing it as an oral whole-class activity on the first day of a unit. While it is a great way to engage students’ interest in a topic, it is not an effective pre-assessment. The students who know the most stop talking after they offer two or three answers, even if they know more (it’s socially “uncool” and teachers ask “can we hear from anyone else?”) while students who don’t know anything about the topic say “he took my answer” or remain silent. Teachers get a false “read” of the class’s knowledge base. In addition, doing this activity on the first day of an already-planned unit gives them no time to adjust for individual learners’ needs.
Instead, pre-assessments should be
- Written.
- Individual.
- Focused on the key information, concepts, and skills of the unit, including the embedded state and local standards.
- Relatively short.
- Assessed only for instructional planning and grouping (not graded).
- Returned to students only at the end of the unit when they can assess their own growth.
Other effective pre-assessments can be specially constructed pre-tests, post-tests, journals, incomplete graphic organizers, or open-ended questions. It is often useful to add “What else can you tell me about your experiences with this topic and what you know about it?”
Once teachers have a good idea of the starting point for each student, they can select the appropriate materials, pacing, and instructional approaches. This is the foundation of middle school philosophy and differentiation of instruction: start with the student.
Tiered Assignments
Tiered assignments, both in class and for homework, are a great way to differentiate instruction when all students need to work on the same content or material. This might include differentiated journal prompts, comprehension questions at different levels of Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy, or a range of sophistication in math problems.
For example, when students are reading The Gettysburg Address, teachers can develop two sets of questions. One set is for struggling readers or more concrete thinkers with little background knowledge. These questions might emphasize the first three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (remember, understand, apply) and some key vocabulary words. A second set is for advanced readers or more abstract thinkers. These questions might emphasize the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy (analyze, evaluate, create) and include a question about the oratorical devices that made this speech memorable.
Both groups get the same number of questions. The whole-class discussion that follows can include all students so everyone benefits from shared insights and knowledge, and encourage critical thinking.
Menus of Activities
Another approach is to create a menu of choices for learning activities ranging from reading the basal social studies text and creating an outline of its content to analyzing primary source material. Each activity in the menu is assigned a point value and all students must complete the same number of points. Making a basic map may be worth 5 points. Making a map of contemporary Europe and contrasting it with what that same map looked like in 1900 would be worth 20 points. The key is that point values are determined by cognitive complexity, not just quantity or amount of time needed.
Through thoughtful coaching by the teacher, all students can learn new material on the assigned topic. Struggling learners may be required to master certain skills needed for state assessments while those who already have those skills may work toward above-grade level proficiency. The emphasis is on meaningful work for all students connected to the unit’s essential questions.
Orbital and Independent Study
While differentiation is definitely not individualized education, opportunities for independent and orbital studies may be appropriate. For example, in a language arts unit on folk tales, fairy tales, and myths, a student with a lot of background might do an orbital study on Rafe Martin’s book Birdwing (Scholastic 2007). This novel extends Grimm’s fairy tale of “The Six Swans” in which six brothers are cursed and turned into swans. Their sister bravely breaks the spell, but one brother, Ardwin, is left with a birdwing. How he faces his difference, how the author has spun his ideas from the original tale, whether the moral is consistent with Grimm’s intention—all can be part of the students’ study. Significantly advanced students can explore Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces.
While orbital studies extend a given topic, independent study may replace a topic. If students have mastered the goals, objectives, and concepts of this unit and have no interest in the topic, they might substitute in-depth study of a topic of interest such as science or history.
21st Century Technology
We are lucky that today, computer and other media technologies provide unique opportunities for student learning. There are online courses at both the high school and college levels for advanced learners. There are Web quests, podcasts, and video lectures from some of the greatest thinkers and teachers of our time. These experiences extend the boundaries of our classrooms and the learning of our students.
Some Cautions
Differentiation is an approach to teaching and learning, not just a strategy. It has a profound impact on the classroom community. Students must understand that not everyone in the classroom does the same thing at the same time, but everyone gets what they need.
It’s not OK to make the top students into junior teachers. It has the opposite effect of what is often intended; rather than build compassion and caring, it creates arrogance and resentment. In addition, often gifted students don’t know how they know what they know or how to explain their leaping insights to more structured learners.
Differentiating instruction for advanced learners takes time and resources. Teachers should reach out and ask for help from gifted coordinators, gifted intervention specialists, online resources in the gifted community or in a content area, or from teachers in higher grade levels.
The Rewards
When we apply these strategies in our classrooms, we are delighted to see students blossom beyond our wildest dreams. We see students reach up to accept challenges because they see others doing it. We exemplify the ideals of middle schools and ensure that all our students are learning every day.
Your Student’s Mindset
Today’s students have a different (not better or worse, just different) mindset from those born 10, 20, 30+ years ago. To reach your students, you have to understand how they think. In order to help the faculty at Beloit College, one of the professors compiles an annual mindset list for the incoming freshmen. You might find this information interesting – and useful.
A note about the Beloit College Mindset List
To save readers the time and effort of writing to us about the Beloit College Mindset List, we offer four brief explanations.
The Mindset List is not a chronological listing of things that happened in the year that the entering first-year students were born.
Our effort is to identify a worldview of 18 year-olds in the fall of 2007. We take a risk in some cases of making generalizations, particularly given that our students at Beloit College for instance come from every state and scores of nations.
The “Class of 2011” refers to students entering college this year. They are generally 18 which suggests they were born in 1989.
The list identifies the experiences and event horizons of students as they commence higher education and is not meant to reflect on their preparatory education.
BELOIT COLLEGE’S MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2011
Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead.
- What Berlin wall?
- Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
- Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.
- They never “rolled down” a car window.
- Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
- They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
- They have grown up with bottled water.
- General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
- Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
- Pete Rose has never played baseball.
- Rap music has always been mainstream.
- Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
- “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
- Music has always been “unplugged.”
- Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
- Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
- They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
- The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
- Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
- Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
- Eastern Airlines has never “earned their wings” in their lifetime.
- No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
- Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
- Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
- Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.
- Katie Couric has always had screen cred.
- Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
- They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola “MagiCan.”
- They were too young to understand Judas Priest’s subliminal messages.
- When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
- Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.
- They grew up in Wayne’s World.
- U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
- They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”
- Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
- American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.
- Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
- On Parents’ Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.
- Fox has always been a major network.
- They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-Head laugh.
- The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere.
- Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
- Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
- Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
- They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
- Most phone calls have never been private.
- High definition television has always been available.
- Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.
- Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
- Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.
- China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
- Time has always worked with Warner.
- Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
- The purchase of ivory has always been banned.
- MTV has never featured music videos.
- The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
- Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.
- They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
- They’re always texting 1 n other.
- They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
- They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
- They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said “goodbye to rusty cars.”
- Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
- Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.
- Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.
- The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
- Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
- Burma has always been Myanmar.
- Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.
- Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.
Here is this year’s list, for the Class of 2010:
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
2. They have known only two presidents.
3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
5. They have grown up getting lost in “big boxes”.
6. There has always been only one Germany.
7. They have never heard anyone actually “ring it up” on a cash register.
8. They are wireless, yet always connected.
9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.
10. Thanks to pervasive head phones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
19. “Google” has always been a verb.
20. Text messaging is their e-mail.
21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
24. Madden has always been a game, not a Super Bowl-winning coach.
25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
26. “Boogers” candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
27. There has never been a “skyhook” in the NBA.
28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents’ attics.
29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing. religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in minivans.
32. Reality shows have always been on television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask “…can we all get along?”
34. They have always known that “In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups.”
35. Young women’s fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
39. “So” as in “Sooooo New York,” has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else.
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that “flock of seagulls hair” has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them have never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
49. They have always been searching for “Waldo”.
50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put their money in a “Savings & Loan.”
57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
68. “Outing” has always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always “dissed” what they don’t like.
71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has always been the mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.
Lists for previous years can be found at http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/.
Principal Kendrick 