ITIP of the Week: Creating a Brain-Friendly Classroom with Field Trips

Hi all!

Sorry I have been away. I am juggling a few books right now and I got away from Marcia Tate's Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites. I'm back at it, though!

Today's topic: Field Trips

I remember many of the field trips from elementary school. I remember the trip to the Nebraska State Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, the Kennard House, the one-room school house on the fairgrounds, and McDonalds. Yep...we went to McDonalds. That teacher was genius!

These trips are very clear memories. According to Marcia Tate, "the brain has but one purpose--survival in the real world," and real-world experiences stick with us for a long time. So, any time we can get our kids into the real-world and out of the theoretical-based classroom, the more life-long connections will be established. Pair that fact with Daniel Pink's "Motivation 3.0" idea that today's learner wants autonomy, self-determinacy, and purpose, and you will find real-world experiences are a must for the 21st Century student.

Here are just a few reasons why this works:

• Leaving the normal daily classroom will assist better recall.
• Field trips help kids to develop better observation and inquiry skills.
• Authentic and experiential learning build greater connections.
• The 21st Century learner needs to know how the content relates to their life. Creating life-experiences centered around the content will help build a sense of purpose.

I realize that budgets are tight all around, but studies show that virtual field trips can be just as effective. Here are a few to check out:

• Google Art Project: Here you can visit 230 of the world's galleries using Google Street View technology. It is pretty awesome! 

• World Wonders Project: This, too, is by Google and takes you to the World's natural and architectural wonders using Street View technology.

• Here is a list of virtual field trips for several curricular areas from Simple K-12

Of course, with the advent of Distance Learning, Skype, Facetime, and Google Hangouts, kids can be taken to practically any location we desire. Get them out of the classroom!

Have a happy day!

iTIP of the Week: Drawing for Learning

Pictionary is fun! Many of us have played it and had a blast! But if you start thinking about it from a teacher's perspective, the words you had the most difficulty drawing and conveying were probably the ones you didn't know very well yourself. The ones you could draw easily are the concepts and words you knew very well.

Check out this video to get your brain moving:

Granted, Sheldon is just conveying a set of words, but the game can also have the teams draw concepts. Drawing is a powerful tool to help make the abstract tangible, make connections with previous learning and other disciplines, and personalize notes and ideas. 

How much do you use this in your classes? 

Drawing and Artwork is Strategy 2 in Marcia Tate's Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies That Engage The Brain. In this section, she makes some very important points about how drawing aids in student learning:

• Adding drawings to notes helps in future recall and demonstrates a higher level of understanding (Bloom's Taxonomy)
• Drawing and artwork help to better understand abstract concepts.
• In math, drawing can help students visualize the problem before solving it.
• Success in STEM is due to keen observation, spatial reasoning, and kinesthetic understanding. These are all skills utilized in Art.
• When involved in art activities, different parts of the brain are activated thus increasing connections and engagement.
• Understanding artistic patterns can help the brain find patterns more easily in other learning.
• This personalizes the notes and ideas being given by the teacher.

Try it! The easiest way to incorporate drawing and artwork is to have kids add it to their notes. When you give them a definition or concept, have them draw a picture of it. If it is difficult, they may need more instruction as they have not reached full understanding yet.

Here are some other ideas Marcia Tate provides:

• Have the kids design a "Pictionary" game with the key vocabulary for the unit.
• Let the students draw on the marker board (or a big piece of paper) a key concept from the unit thus creating a class mural. Be sure to have them explain and defend their drawing.
• Have kids diagram the steps of a lab much like the instructions we all get for putting together home appliances.
• Have students design a book cover for the main idea/concept of the chapter or unit.

IMPORTANT!

It does not have to be aesthetically pleasing, a Van Gogh, or anything worthy of displaying. Also, it doesn't have to be what you would draw. It is personal to the student and its sole purpose should be to help he/she learn.

Have a happy day!

iTIP of the Week: Creating a Brain-Friendly Classroom

Hi all!

There is an awesome series of books out there and you must get them! They are written by Marcia Tate and they are the Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites series. Each book discusses "20 Instructional Strategies That Engage The Brain." Here is a video of Marcia explaining the series:

As with my walk through of the Jane E. Pollack's Feedback: The Hinge That Joins Teaching and Learning, I will be commenting on a tip per post.

Today's Strategy: Brainstorming and Discussion

Think about how we learn. We learn from our families, friends, churches, and a variety of other outlets. Learning is a social activity. Very rarely are we left out on our own without any support or learning partner.

Now think about our classrooms. How often do we leave kids out on their own? Don't talk, don't share, don't use your phone...it really is unnatural learning. Granted, we are trying to create self-supporting learners, but we don't have to throw them into the deep end of the pool without their water-wings! Even when learning to ride a bike, we first start with training wheels, and then when we take them off, mom or dad holds onto the seat until we gain our balance. And if we start to lose it, they grab the seat again. They don't just push us down a hill and wave.

So we need to provide more natural learning in our classrooms and one method is that of discussion. Here are some key points to consider:

• Not talking is unnatural. Communication is necessary in learning.
• Speaking actually sends oxygen to the brain. This will "wake-up" the student and increase engagement.
• Many of us find it necessary to "talk through" our problems in an effort to better understand the problem and find a solution. This is why brainstorming is such a good technique in the classroom.
• Discussion and using Graphic Organizers ensure that ALL students are involved and engaged.
• Kids 10 and younger benefit most from a teacher-led discussion. Students over the age of 10 benefit most from their own discussions in collaborative  groups. The secondary teacher needs to move from the "Sage on the Stage" to the "Guide on the Side."
• When brainstorming, enforce the DOVE guidelines: Don't judge, One idea at a time, Variety of ideas, Energy on task.
• Have students in collaborative groups as a rule. During your instruction, give them processing time periodically. Use the 10:2 rule: after 10 minutes of instruction, provide 2 minutes of processing.
• Use Think-Pair-Share! Make it commonplace. This is a simple and POWERFUL tool to increase engagement.
• Provide "wait time" before eliciting an answer. Give everyone a chance to wrap their brains around what you have asked of them.

When a brain is deprived of oxygen for more than six minutes, it is considered dead. If you want to increase engagement, get them talking!

Have a happy day!

A Thought on Engagement

Student engagement needs to be overt.

Politeness is not engagement.

I can't see my students' thoughts.

I can see writing, talking, creating, moving, DOING.

I love The Big Bang Theory! Watch this clip and then think about your students. How do you know they are engaged?

Have a happy day!

Thoughts About Feedback

My guess is that when we first start talking about feedback in the classroom, we probably see it as a teacher-driven activity. The students do something and we tell them if it is right, wrong, or how to fix it. In reading the Pollack book (put it on your Christmas list!) they focus a lot on students receiving feedback from peers and feedback from themselves. Those were two scenarios that I had difficulty wrapping my brain around. Here are some thoughts of mine and from the book:

Feedback From Peers

When I first thought of this, the activity that came to my mind was students doing peer-reviews of papers. That is a great activity, but not utilized daily in every classroom. Further, feedback needs to be timely, personal, and specific. That one activity is not very timely.

So what can we do?

• Asking/Answering Questions:  When asking a question, rather than asking it of one student ("Kelly, what is the capital of Nebraska?") ask it of the ENTIRE class. Provide a few seconds of wait-time, and then have the kids pair/share. By doing this, a few scenes might play out. First, the partners might agree and they will have increased confidence in their answer. Second, the partners might disagree and then they would have to discuss how they each arrived at their answer and have to decide which is the correct answer. Third, one partner might turn to the other with absolutely no clue and might gain the correct answer from their partner. Finally, both might be clueless and could raise their hand for a little coaching from the teacher or use the APL "Temporary Pass Option."

• Objective Reflection Sheet and Sharing With A Partner: Another pair/share activity, but hey, it is powerful and quick! The kids write the day's objective and then rate their understanding of that objective (1-5). While this alone provides great self-feedback, adding a pair/share element opens the door for a conversation as to why their understanding is where it is. Hopefully, students would say something that might break-loose some details they forgot or missed that would raise the understanding level of one or both instantly.

• Sharing Notes: Many of us have our students take notes, and certainly we all have taken notes before. How many times have we looked at our notes and asked "Why did I write that?"? As a processing activity, have students share their notes with a partner. In this activity, kids would have to justify why they wrote what they wrote. Also, the partner might point out something missed, or pick up items they missed themselves. Again, this doesn't have to take long at all and would be one of those activities you could do after 10 minutes of instruction.

Feedback From Self

I have a lot of conversations with myself…maybe I need help…but what if it was planned and organized? 

• Interactive Notebooks: When taking notes, have students use a normal spiral-bound notebook. The right page is for the student to write the notes from the teacher. The left page is for the student to reflect on the notes they have written. There is where they paraphrase, draw pictures, write power sentences, or do some processing activity that brings greater meaning to their notes. Again, they are asking and answering the question "Do my notes make sense to me?".

• Objective Reflection Sheet: By rating their understanding, effort, and motivation regarding the day's objective, the student is gaining feedback from themselves. "How much do I understand?" "How hard am I trying?" "How motivated am I to learn about this?" Then there are the follow up questions: "Why don't I understand?" "Could I try harder?" and "Why am I not as motivated to learn this?"

Here is a link to the Reflection Sheet. If you aren't a member of my school district, you can email me and I will be glad to send you a copy!

• "Fist-To-Five": This signaled response is a great check of the student's understanding. After going over a topic, instead of asking the entire class "Does this make sense?" ask them to rate their understanding on a "fist-to-five" continuum with 5 being high and fist being low. This is better than the "thumbs-up/thumbs-down" technique as it gives you more information. Students can use the following Understanding Rubric:

Understanding Rubric

5. I could teach the class!

4. I can talk about it with classmates.

3. I know it but I have questions.

2. I somewhat understand it.

1. I have no idea!

This rubric is the same one used with the Reflection Sheet mentioned above. You can download both here. If you aren't a member of my school district, just email me and I will be glad to send you a copy.

There are so many other techniques that can be used for both peer feedback and self feedback. What do you do? Please share!

Have a happy day!

Feedback: Chapter 4 - Learn To Engage

Hello!

Chapter 4 of Jane E. Pollock's book, Feedback: The Hinge That Joins Teaching & Learning, is titled LEARN TO ENGAGE. The focus here is on the power of engagement and how we reach ALL students in the class.

Here are my sticky-notes:

Errors are an important part of learning.

Most things we learn in life are preceded with "I'm never going to do THAT again!" True, isn't it? The classroom needs to be a place where errors are embraced and not ridiculed. The over emphasis of the grade book has made errors into "gotcha" moments to thin the herd. It took Thomas Edison 1000 tries before he got the light bulb figured out. When asked about all of those failures, he responded "I have not failed 1000 times. I have successfully discovered 1000 ways NOT to make a light bulb."

I work with teachers who are embracing the ideal that homework does not go in the grade book. It is practice and every problem is reviewed each day. Sports teams are not ranked based on their practices. Why should we penalize kids' works in progress? These teachers are only putting the summative assessments in the grade book. If they are diligent with providing actionable feedback to the students' "practice," then the summative should take care of itself.

We learn from mistakes. Have you ever heard that before?

Verification & Elaboration

In providing quality feedback, these two elements are necessary. Verification tells the kid if the answer is right or wrong. Elaboration is then needed to guide the student towards achieving the right answer or tackling the next question.

Verification without elaboration is meaningless feedback.

"How was I supposed to teach those students who did not want to be engaged?"

This is a good question and one that we have all encountered. There are kids who put up a greater fight than others, to be sure. But I am going to address one element of this statement: "...did not want to be engaged."

Is it the students' sole responsibility to be engaged? I don't think so. Actually, I think the onus is on the teacher. We have to give them a reason to be engaged. Our subject area is the most exciting thing in the world to us, but not to everyone. And guess what? There are people who will think it is awful for their whole lives. However, we have tools to get kids engaged in the work at hand:

• Pair/share
• Graphic Organizers
• Interactive Notebooks
• Choral Responses
• Signaled Repsonses
• Writing Activities (Yes/No/Why, Think-Ink-Link

The list is endless. If they are not getting in the game, coach, it is because you are not putting them in. If they refuse to do any of those things, there are people in the school who get paid more money than you to deal with that.

Don't fish for them; teach them to fish. But what if they don't want to?

This is linked to the previous idea. We need to cut down on the "Stand and Deliver" model of teaching. Lecture has its place, but he is a roommate with other techniques of teaching. Make the kids responsible for the information and take some heat off of yourself. Here is where we would talk about transitioning from the "Sage on the Stage" to the "Guide on the Side," but it is overused. True, but overused.

Instead, here is the moment in my teaching where I let go of the information monopoly:

I was teaching Music History and decided to give something a try. The unit was on the Romantic Era, and I created a Google Doc with the key composers, elements, ideals, and compositions I wanted the kids to know about. I shared that document with the entire class thus making it a WIKI. Here were the rules:

1. Tell me what you think is important about each one of these items.

2. You cannot duplicate someone else's answer (thus, they had to read the other responses. Hee, hee!)

3. You can use your book, internet, my books, or me as a resource.

I watched the document as they typed and would offer feedback if they were getting off topic or duplicating. This was the best lesson I taught that year as the students were far more successful and retaining that information. Why? IT WAS THEIR OWN! I guided them, but they figured it out on their own.

Turn & Talk/Pair-Share = Peer Feedback

If I were to ask you where feedback in the classroom comes from, my guess is that most of you would have the gut reaction of "the teacher." We don't think about students seeking feedback from each other. Pair-Share is the easiest cooperative learning strategy there is and it is so very effective (d=.73).

In many of the classrooms I work with, pair-share is becoming a consistent expectation with every question asked. The old standard way of asking a question generally is like this:

"Cindy, what is the capital of Nebraska."

If your name is not Cindy, then you are off the hook and could care less what the capital of that state is. Only one student, Cindy, is engaged. If you want everyone on the edge of their seat and responsible for the answer, here is what you do:

1. Ask the question.

2. Provide a brief wait time (a couple of seconds will do...)

3. Pair-Share with a neighbor

4. Call on a student to answer the question. (I recommend using the "Popsicle Sticks Method" of drawing a stick with a student's name out of a cup at random.)

This way, no one knows who will have to answer. IT MIGHT BE ME!!! And what happens during the Pair-Share time might be my partner helping me find the right answer. Thus, Peer Feedback and I now have another teacher in my classroom.

To mix it up a bit, so kids are not with the same partner each time, here are some different Pair-Share techniques:

• Clock Partners
• 2x2
• Tripods
• Face Partner
• Shoulder Partner
• North, South, East, West Partners

The learner needs multiple methods to learn and store new material to activate old learning.

How many different methods of learning happen in your classroom? How many of the Multiple Intelligences do you hit in a lesson? If we want information to be retained and accessible, we need to offer material in multiple ways. Again, it cannot just be "Stand and Deliver."

Effect size of note taking is very high! (d=1.00)

I am a bad note taker. But studies show that, if done properly, it can be very effective in helping us learn. What I got out of this portion of the chapter is that teachers need to teach their classes how to take notes in their class in order to be successful. There are many types of note-taking methods. Here are a few:

• Cornell
• Cloze Notes
• Graphic Organizers

The method I think is very cool and effective is the Interactive Notebook. Read on to learn more about it:

Interactive Notebooks

There is no fancy technology needed to make this interactive. The idea is that the student "interacts" with the notes they are taking. Here is how it works:

1. The student has just a normal spiral-bound notebook and a writing utensil.

2. The right-hand side of the two pages is the Teacher Page. This is where the student writes the information the teacher is giving.

3. The left-hand side of the two pages is the Student Page. This is where the student writes their thoughts, draws pictures, or answers questions about the information on the Teacher Side. It is their reflection space. These reflections should justify and clarify what is on the Teacher Side.

I have seen this in some of my classrooms and it is way cool! Some teachers have kids paste graphic organizers or other items into their notebooks. To make it even more effective, have kids use multiple colors of ink. The brain responds to color!

The student's notebook is an important tool of engagement. The must reflect on learning, not just write facts.

Sharing notebooks with peers and having to justify why you wrote it down.

I have never thought of using notes for this purpose. Having kids share their notes with each other is a great way for them to receive peer feedback. If they can't justify why they wrote something down, then it is either not important or they don't know enough about it and need to ask for clarification. It is most likely the latter. Again, the teacher does not need to be the source of that clarification. The student's partner can be that teacher at that time.

Engagement is a means to achievement.

Simple. If no one on the team plays, then they certainly won't win the game.

Consider the classroom from the students' perspective.

Would you like being in your classroom? Record your classes and ask yourself that question. Give yourself some feedback. What things might you be doing that is getting in the way of the students' learning. What habits to you have? What would make the lesson even better?

I am in a band and we record every one of our gigs and listen to them. We are always considering our show from the audience's perspective. Because of this process, we have become a more refined and entertaining band. It actually works!

Have a happy day!

Feedback: Chapter 3 "The Tell Tale Students"

Hello!

As with the last post, the following post is a listing of my "sticky notes" and some further reflection on each.

At the beginning of this chapter, Pollack mentions "The Tell-Tale Students." These are the students who become disengaged in the lesson and "...indicate in that moment that our teaching technique is not helping them learn well." Pollack points out that we need to be aware of these students and use the valuable feedback they have provided us in that moment and change something.

My notes...

• Goal + Feedback = Engagement

Pollack's assertion here is that if the student has a clear goal, and is given feedback on his/her relationship to that goal throughout the lesson, that they will be more engaged. Simply having a goal is not enough; we need to know how we are doing in order to be continually focussed on that goal.

Really, this is an "out of sight out of mind" scenario. If the student is told the goal of the day at the beginning of the day and it is not referenced again, they will not be focused. If there are checks throughout the lesson and they are continually asked to take stock of where they are in relation to the goal, they will be more on task.


• Goal/Objective Form & Rubric

There are few examples in the book of forms that students can use to interact with the objective. Here is the form and rubric that my school has created based on the forms found in the book. The idea is that the student:

1. Copy the objective/goal of the day
2. Rates their understanding of the topic at the beginning and end of class
3. Rates their motivation to learn about the topic at the beginning and end of class
4. Rates their effort during the lesson

• Seeing the standard is not enough. Students need to understand why it is important.

How many times have we heard "Why do we have to know this?"? How many times have we wanted to answer "BECAUSE!"? The 21st Century learner wants to know how the material you are giving them will matter to them and the world they live in. This is sometimes a tough sell, but if you make the sale, it pays off dividends.

• Effort vs. Motivation

I take issue with the amount of emphasis the book places on "effort." Effort is not a determinant of learning. We have all known students who didn't have to try at all and the material came so easily to them. We have also known students who work harder than anyone in class and still cannot grasp the material. I contend that Motivation should be the focus, rather than Effort. Motivation does affect the rate and degree of learning, as per Madeline Hunter's Instructional Theory Into Practice. So, that is why my teachers and I added the Motivation column to the Goal/Objective Sheet. However, as you can see, we still left "Effort" so that kids can still be reminded that it is vital that they work as hard as they can in class.

• Sharing Goal Understanding with a neighbor

This is a great way to start the Feedback Loop running! Simply sharing with a neighbor can open up teaching between peers and also build a sense of community. When people feel safe and not alone, they will be engaged. Pair/Share and other cooperative learning strategies are so valuable because they provide each learner with additional resources besides the teacher. I don't know how many times I learned a concept through a conversation with a friend rather than the teacher.

• Purposeful Interactions

It is important to build relationships. There is no doubt about it that students will be motivated to work for a teacher when they know the teacher has taken interest in them. However, it is important that all interactions within the lesson are purposeful. This means that every question, anecdote, story, and activity are directly in-line with the objective. If a student starts to veer off topic, it is necessary for the teacher to re-direct him or her back on track and aimed at the objective. Again, we want to have fun with our students and tell jokes and stories, but it is best to save those for between classes or lessons so that the learning path is clear.

• Always come back to the objective.

When you stop to check for understanding, to begin a different activity, or when an interruption (fire drill, announcement, etc.) occurs, always remind the students about the objective and have them interact with it in some way. Make sure it is crystal clear what is to be learned today and why you are doing the things you are doing. Finally, as I have said before, make sure you have the kids go back to the objective at the end of the class or lesson as well. Think about it...you will remember a person's name better because you have interacted with them more.


• Goal sheets add structure to the beginning and ending of classes.

I think most teachers would agree that the most wasted time comes at the beginning and end of class. At the beginning, attendance needs to be taken, people are handing in assignments, announcements are being made...the list goes on and on. At the end, some of the same activities are taking place. Use this time to have the kids interact with the objective. They will now have something structured to do during those times and it will be far more meaningful.



• Do teachers share the standards and objectives of their classes with their students?

My guess is that it is not very often that this happens. I don't think students know what the state standards are. It might bore them to tears, but it might also be a "wake-up-call" when they see the breadth of skills they need to master. My school has required teachers to post course objectives and daily clear learning goals. If you make it clear as to why the student is here, what they are required to do, and why it is important in their life, there will be less resistance.