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Powerful Learning Nancy Doda, Ph.D.

www.Teacher-to-Teacher

WHAT ARE STUDENTS LEARNING?

•  “I am in the accelerated program and we did it so fast, I don’t remember much.”

•  “I get good grades.”

•  “That was last week!”

•  “We’re doing this packet.”

•  “Something about cells.” •  Students can pass without understanding very much.

•  Students may succeed in “doing” school, but do not perform well on application or critical thinking tasks.

•  Students don’t really understand the relevance of what they learn nor how to put that knowledge to use. (NAEP, TIMMS)

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Author Unknown

“Crustaceans are at their most vulnerable when they are between shells.”

When asked to explain why it is colder in winter than in summer, very few incoming Harvard Freshman could explain it correctly.

(Schneps, 1994)

Example: A Harvard Study

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=earth+orbit+seasons&view=detail&simid=1237920327542&sid=4950B283284B03068041B6821666A58378554F9D&id=4950B283284B03068041B6821666A58378554F9D&first=0&qpvt=earth+orbit+seasons&FORM=IDFRSI

FYI: as the 23 degree tilt of the Earth on its axis changes in relation to the Sun, the northern and southern hemispheres get differing amounts of sunlight. In the Northern Hemisphere, when the axis points most toward the Sun in June, the hemisphere receives more direct rays of sunlight for more hours and is thus warmer.

WHY? What gets in the way of

powerful student learning?

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Misguided Assumptions

Nostalgia

“Yours is not to reason why, just invert and

multiply.”

“CURRICULUM COVERAGE

IS THE GREATEST

ROADBLOCK TO

UNDERSTANDING.”

–  Harvard,  HOWARD  GARDNER  

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Many students view classroom activities as “…an arbitrary

sequence of exercises with no overarching purpose.”

From “Inside the Black Box” by Paul Black and Dylan William, Phi Delta Kappan, October 1998.

Almost everyone has had occasion to look back upon his school days and wonder what has become of the knowledge he was supposed to have amassed during his years of schooling…but it was so segregated when it was acquired and hence is so disconnected from the rest of experience that it is not available under the actual conditions of life. – Dewey (1938, 48)

What are we after?

Consider the end in mind.

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Career, Life and College Ready

•  Think, Innovate and Work Creatively

•  Reason Effectively

•  Solve Problems and Make Sound Judgments

•  Collaborate with Others

•  Communicate Clearly

•  Be Self-Directed, Persevere

•  Demonstrate Empathy and Kindness

If we are successful, then students should be able to

explain what they are learning and how it is useful

in our world.

Sources of Proven Middle Level Practices

This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (AMLE, 2010) www.nmsa.org

Breaking Ranks in the Middle® (NASSP, 2005) www.principals.org

Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century (Jackson & Davis, 2000)

National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform: Vision Statement (1999) www.mgf.org

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Current Research: Top Two School-Related Factors Impacting Student

Achievement 1) In a 1998 study involving a half million elementary and

middle grades students in 3,000 Texas schools, researchers found that the most important factor in student achievement was teacher quality.

(Hanushek, Kain and Rivkin)

2) “It turns out that leadership not only matters – it is second only to teaching among school-related factors in its impact on student learning…”

Christina DeVita, President of The Wallace Foundation,

“Review of Research: How Leadership Influences Student Learning,” 2004

Our Goal is to move from this…

To something more like this….

8th grade, Vermont, 2008

Best  Prac>ces  •  active, hands-on learning; co-operative, collaborative

activity •  acceptance of the noise and movement •  reading of whole, original, real books and nonfiction

materials •  deep study of a smaller number of carefully chosen

topics •  emphasis on higher-order thinking •  responsibility and choice for students •  attention to the affective needs and the varying cognitive

styles of individual students •  coherent, relevant curriculum

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Common Core Essentials

o Collaboration

o Problem-Solving/Application

o Accountable Talk

o Using Informational Texts/Media

o Reading for Meaning and Evidence

o Informational and Persuasive Writing

The Work This Year

1. Understand the Developmental Needs of Young Adolescent Learners

2. Study Best Practice Research and Common Core

3. Examine the Understanding by Design Framework for Unit & Lesson Planning

4. Draft and Finalize actual Units, Modules and Lessons

Curriculum is not just a bunch of isolated lessons, no matter how powerful the individual lessons may be.

A curriculum must be cohesive, coherent, and relevant.

“The academic challenge in a middle

school curriculum lies not in painful

abstraction, but rather in its capacity to

engage the intellectual imagination and

curiosity of young adolescents.”

(Beane, 2005)

Rigor and Challenge

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Challenging

•  Students must draw conclusions, elaborate on their understandings, make and support arguments.

•  Students must interpret, analyze, apply and evaluate information.

•  Students must make connections to their own lives and the world.

“Show me something I can’t Google.”

Ron Berger, Shutesburg, MA.

Comparisons

The Usual •  Ancient Egypt

•  Tectonic Plates

•  Persuasive Essay

More Rigorous •  Where you lives

shapes how you live

•  The earth is constantly changing

•  Effective persuasion depends on rational arguments

Lean on Big Ideas and Essential Questions

  Is geography destiny?   Does power inevitably corrupt?   Are human beings more alike than different?   Can people resolve conflicts without violence?   What does it mean to lead a healthy life?   Is it possible to know the truth?   Is need really the mother of invention?   Are humans basically good?

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8th Grade Unit: “Systems”

1. Why do human beings like to design things?

2.  Is it harder to live without organized systems?

3. What systems occur in nature?

4. Should we copy nature when designing systems?

Systems of the

Human Body

Art as a System Of Quality

The

Wyeth's

The Systems in Our Homes

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Systems in a Watershed

Wastewater Treatment

Water Treatment

Power Generation

Recycling

Investigation & Inquiry

Creating & Producing

Authentic Audiences

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Assessment Student-Led Conferences

Empow

erment

& Engagem

ent

Assessment for Learning

Community & Citizenship

Soci

ally

Sig

nifi

cant

Con

tent

POWERFUL LEARNING

Copyright, Doda & Springer