A. If we knew what could have the largest impact on learning and the achievement gap, would we implement it? Because we do know. Curriculum — what we actually teach — may be the single largest school factor that affects learning, intellectual development, and college and career readiness. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/3/70.full?sid=e9b293ee-82b6-42b1-bc3f- c32cf9f594ec

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Curriculum NOW Phi Delta Kappan November 2011 93 (3): 70-71

B.

Should teachers implement a less rigorous curriculum or a more rigorous curriculum for disadvantaged children?

Research shows that disadvantaged students could handle the rigorous curriculum if given the chance http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/3/21.full?sid=1f6f19e4-aa4f-499e-8533- be65c0556c58

Teacher beliefs shape learning for all students Phi Delta Kappan November 2011 93 (3): 21-23

C. information collected on best practices used in high-performing schools and school divisions (districts) in the state.

Six major findings resulted from the review: • Over the course of several years of SOL (standards of learning) implementation, SOL test scores and pass rates have increased substantially. • However, a large percentage of the difference in the SOL test performance of schools and school divisions is still explained by the demographic characteristics of students and their communities. Further analysis revealed that the relationships between these factors and test scores could be partially explained by differences in teacher qualifications and experience, family support and structure, school and division characteristics, and local fiscal conditions. • Some of the schools challenged by these demographic factors have used best practices that have helped them to achieve success on the SOL tests, and these practices are identified in the report. • Support provided at the division level has a direct bearing on the success of individual schools, and successful divisions generally provide more support to their schools. Effective division practices are identified in this report. • In the divisions and schools visited for this review, superintendents, principals, and teachers generally indicate a belief that the SOLs have been helpful in improving the performance of their schools and students.

Overall, the study identified nine practices used in schools with good standard of learning test results. 1. strong principal leadership 2. an environment conducive to learning 3. an effective teaching staff 4. data-driven assessment of student weaknesses and teacher effectiveness 5. curriculum alignment, pacing, and resources 6. differentiation in teaching (altering content according to student needs and learning styles) 7. academic remediation 8. teamwork, collaboration, and vertical integration 9. and the structure and intensity of the school day

However, the project recognized that lack of parental support, lack of student motivation, lack of academic preparation, the transiency of students, and the presence of violence in the community create enormous challenges that principals and teachers must overcome. Schools with a student population facing these challenges are referred to throughout the study as challenged schools.

Successful challenged schools maximize the amount of time available for instruction. They focus on setting schedules and allocating time to address potential weaknesses or to provide for remediation. The report presents a number of examples of creative practices used by the successful challenged schools. For instance, teachers might hand-deliver trophies to the homes of those students who pass the SOL tests. Male students might be matched with male role models who teach them life skills and provide them with learning opportunities after school. Teachers of grades in which SOL testing does not take place might be reassigned to teach for at least one year in the grades in which the testing does take place so that they can better understand the pressures felt by their colleagues. Principals might videotape teachers during daily observations and use the videos of skillful teaching for staff development (those of ineffective teaching would be used to provide constructive feedback to that teacher).

The report also covers the practices used at the division (district) level. In successful challenged divisions, for example, superintendents emphasize the importance of classroom instruction. They set a tone and spirit of achievement. High-scoring and successful challenged divisions are able to support or dismiss ineffective teachers. They use professional development to encourage learning at all levels. They use data analysis to improve performance and to ensure accountability. They provide more support to schools from instructional specialists. Successful divisions encourage collaboration between schools in order to improve instruction; sometimes the collaboration will be between those working at the same grade level and sometimes it will be organized vertically between schools that serve the same group of students in sequence. Successful challenged divisions use divisionwide grade-level meetings to share best practices and lesson plans. the low-scoring divisions that the researchers visited often reacted slowly to the requirements of the SOLs. Principals in some of these divisions stated that the division did not take the SOLs seriously and thought they would just go away in time. Low-scoring divisions appeared to be affected by a lack of effective leadership on the part of their superintendents. In addition, they provided limited support for curriculum alignment. They appeared to lack the resolve to dismiss ineffective teachers, and they often did not seem to provide sufficient professional development or support for data analysis. Lowscoring divisions provided fewer instructional specialists and exhibited less collaboration among schools. In general, these divisions appeared to take fewer steps to encourage sharing ideas or resources. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/85/8/565.full.pdf+html?sid=7e8d9728-1573-4906- 88cf-9cd0e555633b

Stateline: VIRGINIA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE Phi Delta Kappan April 2004 85 (8): 565-567 D. Lessons From a KIPP School: What distinguishes KIPP is not just hard work, but thoughtful work linking the daily processes of schooling to the goals of schooling, in this case success in college. Day-to-day tactics reflect broader themes: having a clear mission and hiring staff who support the mission, building student culture to support the mission, ensuring consistency, building relationships, empowering principals to lead, and using frequent measurement of success to motivate teachers and students. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/3/52.full?sid=e9b293ee-82b6-42b1-bc3f- c32cf9f594ec

Lessons from KIPP Delta Phi Delta Kappan November 2011 93 (3): 52-56

E.

The average classroom is a pressure cooker crammed with so many shoulds, oughts, and musts that creativity, joy, and a sense of teacher ownership have lost their place in the conversation about teaching

There is no quick fix to embrace, no 10-step program to follow. Getting personal simply requires that teachers do what they can to give life to their talents and dreams. Doing so means thinking about what they value in teaching and searching out practices that bring success and satisfaction. Getting personal asks teachers to trust their instincts and

Scripted programs and detailed rules don’t help, nor does leaving teachers completely on their own.

1. Reconnecting to purposes. Teachers benefit from going back to their own beginnings and thinking about why they wanted to teach. 2. Visualizing purposes. Teachers benefit from time spent daydreaming, imagining themselves doing what they most believe in. Precision in dreaming is the goal 3. Targeting models. Teachers learn from many sources, but colleagues are among the most important. 4. Negotiating for needs. Teachers committed to making their work more personal should know how to negotiate for what they need. 5. Spending time in reflection. Teachers thrive on time alone to reflect on who they are as teachers.

Teachers - Inspired, imaginative teaching is key to educational success, even when confronting a one-size-fits-all mentality.

Administrators - Leaders perform a major service to education when they take time to know teachers’ dreams. They do even more when they find ways to help those dreams become reality. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/88/1/76.full.pdf+html?sid=7e8d9728-1573-4906-88cf- 9cd0e555633b

The Personal Side of Teaching: Getting Personal About Teaching Phi Delta Kappan September 2006 88 (1): 76-78

F. In Mississippi's statewide language arts exams in 2009-10, 88% of Dundee's 4th graders scored proficient, up from 16.2% proficient in 2007-08. In 2009-10, no Dundee students were in the minimal category. The school ranked 23rd out of 401 elementary schools in Mississippi for the 2009-10 school year, according to schooldigger.com, up from its ranking of 160 the previous year.

Learning Words Inside and Out, Grades 1-6: Vocabulary Instruction That Boosts Achievement in All Subject Areas [Paperback] books.heinemann.com/learningwords

How to help students improve: 1. Determine limiting factors – for the Dundee School it was limited language and literacy skills 2. Provide professional learning in that area (at the teachers level, differentiated for teachers) 3. Implement job-embedded professional learning for teachers (Literacy coaches, leaders, outside partners, and peers) 4. Assess results and create a plan to further development 5. Arrange for mentoring sessions with individual teachers selected by the principal and literacy coach 6. Teacher reflection 7. Adapting instruction 8. Create a school-based leadership team 9. Continued administrative support from the principal and literacy coach played a significant role in the path toward success. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/3/40.full?sid=1f6f19e4-aa4f-499e-8533- be65c0556c58#ref-3

Overcoming the education challenge of poverty in the Mississippi Delta Phi Delta Kappan November 2011 93 (3): 40-43 G.

Examples of reform-oriented (meaningful discussions about problems that encourage invented algorithms or multiple solution paths) and traditional teaching (memorization of facts)

However, including both reform-oriented and traditional teaching can be seen as a good thing – allowing more students to be successful and offering a broader image of mathematics in our world. find figures that had different perimeters, but areas of 16.

This doesn’t mean students should not experience and get better at genres that aren’t their strengths; but, a classroom that has many genres is more likely to provide all students with the opportunity to feel successful

Students who have the opportunity to recognize that mathematics can encompass all of these ways of thinking and acting may be less likely to make blanket statements about “not being good at math.” The language of genres could allow teachers to ask, “What kind of math do you mean?”

This move toward genre acknowledges that there is no one best practice.

FIG. 1 Genres of Teaching In Diana’s Classroom 1. Mathematical discussions 2. Game shows 3. Group work 4. Individual student math book work 5. Cross-examination 6. Presenting work publicly 7. Individual student-teacher conversation 8. Games 9. Journal writing 10.Tests/quizzes http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/90/8/601.full.pdf+html Teaching by Genre: Embracing a Diversity of Practices in Mathematics pdk April 2009 90 (8): 601-606

H. They're also likely to observe that students who depend on the teacher for help at nearly every step are unable to use their cognitive skills in solving problems.

Yet, despite the usefulness of the theory for classroom teachers, classroom practices in the last 40 years have failed to show any systematic attempts to implement teaching for thinking (Goodlad 1984). Although there have been instances in selected and selective classrooms, thinking-skills development has been sporadic. While the “promotion of thinking” is included in virtually every school board list of goals, teaching for thinking is heard more in the rhetoric than seen in practice.

He offers 14 “thinking operations” — specific mental functions that serve as guidelines for developing classroom activities (Raths et al. 1986). These operations include:

Comparing,

Interpreting data,

Observing,

Summarizing,

Classifying,

Making decisions,

Suggesting hypotheses,

Imagining and creating,

Criticizing and evaluating,

Designing projects and investigations,

Identifying assumptions,

Applying principles in new situations,

Gathering and organizing data, and

Coding to become aware of certain patterns of thinking.

 A. The first stage, students would gather data through their own observations. (knowing) B. The second stage of the curriculum model requires that students process the data they've gathered. That means they'll be comparing, classifying, coding for certain patterns of thinking, looking for assumptions, suggesting hypotheses, summarizing, and interpreting data. (understanding) C. At the third level, students are given opportunities to use the operation of problem solving to apply what they know. This involves applying principles to new situations, making decisions, designing projects and investigations, and imagining and creating. (knowing how) D. In the fourth stage, the teacher uses higher-order questions to help students reflect on their work. What was good about what they did? What kind of fixing is needed? What new insights were acquired? What additional information is needed? And most important, what are the standards by which these assessments are being made? (reflection) http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/91/5/81.full?sid=7e8d9728-1573-4906-88cf- 9cd0e555633b

KAPPAN online exclusive: Teaching for THINKING Redux: A Curriculum Model for Classroom Practice Phi Delta Kappan February 2010 91 (5): 81-84

*Redux - brought back; resurgent:

I. 1. Boys Are Relational Learners. the boys took special pains to acknowledge and appreciate teachers' openness to what interested, excited, and worried them.

In the presence of attentive teachers and their refined lessons, boys seemed to find it difficult to resist engaging in learning. They shared stories of being uplifted by their teacher's humor, passion, and care and of seeking, finding, and submitting themselves to the inspiration of mentors. Many wrote of responding well to a highly structured, demanding, ''no-nonsense'' teacher, especially when they found that teacher to be ''fair'' and to want the best for them. Others praised the teacher who was kind, a ''friend.''

2. Boys Elicit the Kinds of Teaching They Need.

Consciously or not, teachers of boys tend to modify what they teach and the way they teach in response to what engages the boys in front of them. Intentionally or not, those teachers find themselves ''experts'' at teaching boys. Deterrents’ worth mentioning

If boys really do ''elicit'' pedagogy that enables them to respond productively to teachers, why doesn't this gratifying outcome always occur? There are a number of reasons, and they are worthy of serious consideration.

B. Boys and girls may elicit different and even contradictory teacher responses, resulting in muddy, only partially successful lessons.

C. School or state-mandated protocols may not allow teachers the flexibility to make adjustments that actually engage boys.

D. There may be insufficient openness on the part of schools or individual teachers to examine and reconsider actual student-teacher dynamics.

E. Teachers may lack the empathy or openness to consider the causes of student responses and instead proceed according to a prescribed method or an eccentrically established personal approach, punishing or even banishing those who resist or disrupt.

F. Other conditions bearing on students' lives — troubled domestic circumstances, lack of physical and emotional safety — may make engagement in scholastic activity impossible.

3. Lessons for Boys Have Transitivity.

By ''transitivity,'' we mean the capacity of some element of instruction — an element perhaps not normally associated with the lesson at hand — to arouse and hold student interest. That is, the motor activity or the adrenal boost of competing or the power of an unexpected surprise in the classroom serves not merely to engage or delight; it is transitive — it attaches to and carries along a specific learning outcome.

Example: One can also see this kind of transitivity in a technology lesson offered by a teacher from New Zealand, intended to teach principles of momentum. The teacher challenged

students to design a model race car powered by CO2 cartridges that would race other models. The learning objectives include student mastery of a number of physics principles — momentum, aerodynamics, friction — as well as interpersonal skills necessary for teams to construct their vehicles. There were a number of factors transitive to the achievement of these learning outcomes. One is the stimulus of competition. Another is the stimulation of interactive exchanges with team members. The exercise also offers opportunities for physical movement and manipulation of materials. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/91/4/35.full?sid=7e8d9728-1573-4906-88cf- 9cd0e555633b

Reaching Boys: An International Study of Effective Teaching Practices Phi Delta Kappan December2009/January2010 91 (4): 35-40 J.

Spaced Learning

Newspaper Report www.telegraph.co.uk/education/5166111/Revealed-new-teaching-methods-that-are-producing- dramatic-results.html

Web Page with an example http://www.monkseaton.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

Other:

The Basic Simplified Conclusion:

Professional Development Believing Your students can

Ensure that teachers consistently observe the most fundamental elements of a good lesson — a clear, curriculumbased learning target, multiple segments taught in short cycles of instruction, checking for engagement/understanding by all students before moving on. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/1/68.full.pdf+html?sid=5b09fac2-7970-42fa-8f6e- 53c116723aea

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Hiding in plain sight Phi Delta Kappan September 2011 93 (1): 68-69 Not for report – My info A Socratic seminar in my classroom looks like this: Students sit in a U-shape or circle so that every student can see every other one. Students have a handout that details expectations for the discussion: • Every discussion should have balanced participation (shy people are encouraged to speak and loquacious ones don’t dominate); • Students should cite the text often to support ideas or clarify questions; • Students don’t talk over one another, interrupt, or put down other ideas; and • The discussion should build, “get somewhere,” and raise everyone’s understanding. The catch is that nearly all of this gets done without the teacher speaking. Usually, I sit off to the side, or even http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/1/33.full.pdf+html?sid=7e8d9728-1573-4906-88cf- 9cd0e555633b

Not teaching ethics Phi Delta Kappan September 2011 93 (1): 33-35

Behavior:

Among the most effective teacher-based practices identified are such basic strategies as teacher clarity, teacher feed- back, opportunities for students to respond, modeling, and guided practice. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/93/2/30.full.pdf+html?sid=ab05fef9-109b-4088-b7cc- c6ce7afb62c9

Classroom misbehavior is predictable and preventable Phi Delta Kappan October 2011 93 (2): 30-34

A new web site, the Zinn Education Project, promotes and supports using Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States (Harper Perennial, 2003) and other materials for teaching history in middle and high schools. Zinn’s work emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. The web site offers more than 85 free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level. The Zinn Education Project is coordinated by two nonprofit organizations, Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change. http://zinnedproject.org

. What Type of Teacher are You? http://712educators.about.com/library/quizzes/blteacher_personality.htm http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/what-kind-teacher-are-you

Teaching Channel – videos about teaching http://www.teachingchannel.org/videos? landing_page=Classroom+Culture+Behavior+Landing+Page&gclid=CJP3zILzwKwCFQqb7Qo d-3JPpw

Teaching Tips http://www2.honolulu.hawaii.edu/facdev/guidebk/teachtip/teachtip.htm

Project-Led Learning http://www.homeeddirectory.com/articles/5_Jan10