Developing School Capacity to Provide Educational

Opportunities

A View of Educational Practices in the United States

In the U.S., there are many good teachers, but also teachers who have not changed their teaching styles since they graduated from university.

Many teachers “teach as they were taught” with no thought about infusing new research, which shows better ways to teach.

What are some of these practices?

SPOON-FEEDINGvs.

CRITICAL THINKINGAND

ACTIVE LEARNING

SPOON-FEEDING Teacher dishes out information, the students

write it down, and then they reproduce this information on a test.

Students do lots of memorizing of facts and data.

Students are not required to think critically about the material, nor are they actively engaging the material.

Students do not see the importance of learning this subject matter, nor do they understand how it relates to their lives.

CRITICAL THINKINGACTIVE LEARNING

Students are required to engage the material.

Students work in pairs or small groups to derive answers, solve problems, pose new problems.

Students are able to relate it to their lives.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Brain (Cognitive) Research› Students who use strategies that demand

critical thinking do better on exams, assignments, and papers.

› More sophisticated learning strategies assist students who move from high school to university.

› A variety of cognitive and metacognitive approaches embedded in learning strategies enhances students’ academic results.

TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM

vs.STUDENT-CENTERED

CLASSROOM

TEACHER-CENTERED CLASSROOM

Teacher asks questions, students respond.

Teacher decides on the content to be learning (within the context of the national curriculum).

Teacher decides on methods of instruction.

STUDENT-CENTERED CLASSROOM

Students drive the learning process. Students’ questions are important. Students’ needs are important. Students’ desire to know is important. Driven by new research

› Brain (cognitive) studies› Constructivism studies

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Constructivism

TEACHER ASSESSMENT vs.

STUDENT- INVOLVED ASSESSMENT

TEACHER ASSESSMENT

Teacher develops and gives all tests. Tests are essay, multiple choice, short

answer, matching. Multiple choice and matching are easy to

administer, but yield limited information. Short answer and essay reveal more

information about students’ thinking, but are time-consuming.

Test content is not relevant to students.

STUDENT-INVOLVED ASSESSMENT

Students are involved in their own assessment.

Students choose the types of assessments they want to have.

Students’ develop portfolios of their work, decide which artifacts they want to include.

Students are motivated to show what they have learned.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Constructivist Research› Students need to be the authors of their

own understanding and assessors of their own learning.

› Self-assessment promotes critical thinking, metcognitive awareness, and self-efficacy.

› Self-assessment empowers students to take charge of their own learning, to understand their abilities, needs, and potential.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Self-assessment opens up the range of assessment approaches a teacher can use:› Informal checks for understanding› Interviews and conferences› Portfolios› Performances and demonstrations

Student-responsive assessment provides for effective instructional practices and meaningful self-reflection from students.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Students who understand themselves as learners and are aware of their motivations, strengths, and weaknesses are more successful. (Strong self-efficacy)

Students who view knowledge acquisition as tentative and gradual, derived from reason after considerable effort on their part are more successful academically.

Students who search for relationships between key concepts will be more successful.

Motivation research

SAME INSTRUCTION FOR ALLvs.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

SAME INSTRUCTION FOR ALL

Lesson content is taught the same way for all students.

No accommodation is made for students with varying degrees of learning styles, learning difficulties, and behavioral issues.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Teacher differentiates instruction by content, by interest, by….

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Differentiated instruction research

TEACH CONTENT ONLYvs.

TEACH LITERACY SKILLS (READING, WRITING)

FOR CONTENT LEARNING

TEACH CONTENT ONLY

Middle and secondary teachers want to just teach their content.

They feel that literacy instruction (reading and writing) is the English teacher’s job.

TEACH LITERACY SKILLS FOR CONTENT LEARNING

Literacy instruction is every teacher’s job.

Vocab general specific Comprehension Metacognitive strategies How to engage a variety of types of

adolescent readers

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Content learning and content literacy learning are one in the same.

Academic literacy and disciplinary knowledge are inseparable.

Teaching reading, writing, and critical thinking skills in the disciplines is teaching the disciplines.

NO CONNECTIONS TO STUDENTS’ 21ST CENTURY

LITERACIESvs.

UTILIZING STUDENTS’ 21ST CENTURY LITERACIES

NO CONNECTIONS TO STUDENTS’ 21ST CENTURY LITERACIES

Teacher using chalkboard and paper. Teacher lecturing. Disjuncture between experiences and

goals youth bring to educational contexts and how they’re expected to perform in those contexts.

Lack of fit creates disaffected youth, at-risk youth, school failure, and school dropouts.

UTILIZING STUDENTS’ 21ST CENTURY LITERACIES

Teach using the technology that is available, e.g., › Computers – search information on

Internet, connect to global community› Smart boards - › LCD projectors – project information to

whole class› E-mail› Blogs› IM (Instant messaging)

Exploit the multiple literacy competencies that adolescents bring to school.› Communicating through digital means (e-mail, IM).› Interpreting and thinking critically about all content

areas (examining construction of video and computer games, web sites, videos, and other media).

› Constructing web pages and E-zines.› Creating hypertext documents.› Engaging students in identity construction through

social networking sites (Facebook, Blogs, IM, E-mail)

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Cognitive research.› What youth take from a text, discussion, or other

classroom discourse depends on how much they bring to it.

Social constructivist research.› New understandings emerge for youth as a result

of interactions with the teacher and students. Adolescents are active participants in the

mediasphere. Adolescents create forms of discourse that

need to be acknowledged, validated, and utilized in schools.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

Adolescence is an active and self-conscious process of identity construction.

Social networking sites help adolescents develop identity construction.

Adolescents need to be competent and literate in both academic and out-of-school contexts.

Adolescent competencies often go untapped in school. Failure to align school curricula with students’ interests and outside-

of-school competencies result in students dropping out of school. Adolescents make meaning of classroom activities based on the

various discourse communities they inhabit (home, peer group, sports, community)

These networks shape ways of talking, reading, knowing, and communicating.

Providing space for these literacies provide youth with a connection to academic knowledge.

REGULAR SCHOOLSvs.

ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS

REGULAR SCHOOLS

Teach the average student. Unable to effectively reach out to the

low-performing students and the high-performing and gifted students.

ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS

Reach the student where he is. Relate directly to emotional, social, and

academic needs. Alternative schools - for students at-risk

of dropping out. Magnet schools - for students with special

interests in the arts, sciences, multicultural, academically gifted.

Charter schools - for special populations of students.

RESEARCH-BASED TEACHING

SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS RESEARCH

THE END