Using Writing Contests to Prepare Students for State Writing Tests

In this article in The Reading Teacher, Danielle DeFauw (University of Michigan/ Dearborn) acknowledges the need to prepare students for cold writing prompts in state assessments, despite the fact that students usually get to select their own topic when they write in school. DeFauw suggests a way to “teach to the test” that really helps students: submitting their work to writing contests. Entering a writing contest, she says, shares three characteristics with writing in a state test: (a) they have to respond to a prompt; (b) the audience is distant and unknown; and (c) it’s about competition, evaluation, and perhaps enjoyment. Here is her recommended procedure for 2-5 days of writing workshops: • Stage 1: Genre exploration – The class reads winning contest entries together, using them as mentor texts. • Stage 2: Modeling – The teacher chooses a contest prompt, reads the guidelines, rules, and rubric, selects a personal topic, and thinks aloud as he or she responds to the prompt. • Stage 3: Students write – The teacher provides students with a writing contest prompt and has them apply what they have learned about writing to produce a draft, self-evaluate based on the contest guidelines and rubric, and decide whether to submit their work. • Stage 4: Sharing and feedback – Students read each other’s writing with a partner, in a small group, or to the whole class, and the teacher then collects and gives students feedback on the writing. DeFauw concludes by recommending ten websites that have no-fee writing contests or publishing opportunities (many of them post winning and exemplary entries): Creative Communication: A Celebration of Today’s Writers for grades 3-12, essays up to 300 words, deadlines in February, August, and October: www.poeticpower.com The Grannie Annie Family Story Celebration for grades 4-8 – Students interview family members about events that happened before the student was born, 275-500 words by February 1st each year: www.thegrannieannie.org The Legacy Project’s Listen to a Life Contest for students 8-18 years old writing about an interview with a person who is 50 or older about his or her life experiences, dreams, goals, challenges, or successes: www.tcpnow.com/contests/winners.html Letters About Literature, Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, for grades 4-10 writing personal letters to an author, living or dead, whose work has influenced their view of the world or of themselves: www.lettersaboutliterature.org Magic Dragon from the Association for Encouragement of Children’s Creativity for elementary students; not a contest, but poems, stories, essays, or artwork on any topic may be published: www.magicdragonmagazine.com Optimist Club for students under 19 by the end of February, 700-800 words, sharing an opinion through persuasive, explanatory, or narrative prose in response to a prompt: www.optimist.org/e/member/scholarships3.cfm PBS Kids Writers Contest for K-3 students, a story with at least five illustrations, 50-200 words for K-1 and 100-350 words for 2-3: http://pbskids.org/writerscontest/contest.php Scholastic has multiple contests through the website and magazines (Scope and Storyworks): http://clubs2.scholastic.com/programs The Writing Conference has a January deadline and welcomes all students to write in narrative, poetic, or expository genres to a specific prompt: www.writingconference.com/contest.htm Young Voices Foundation: Mentoring Young Writers has an annual poetry contest and three themed fiction/nonfiction contests for K-2, 3-6, and 7-12: www.youngvoicesfoundation.org/youngvoiceshome.html

 “10 Writing Opportunities to ‘Teach to the Test’” by Danielle DeFauw in The Reading Teacher, April 2013 (Vol. 66, #7, p. 569-573), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/TRTR.1161/abstract; the author can be reached at daniellp@umd.umich.edu.


 Stephen Anderson

Dealing with a Defiant Student

“When children are defiant, their goal is not to annoy, disrespect, or frustrate us,” says Margaret Berry Wilson in this article in Responsive Classroom Newsletter. “Rather, their goal often is to feel significant.” Teachers sometimes get into power struggles with defiant children, she says. “But teachers never win power struggles. Once you’re in one, you’ve lost. And so has the child: No one wins a power struggle.” What’s the alternative? Orchestrating things to prevent defiance in the first place, says Wilson, and if it occurs, calmly working with students in ways that address their need to feel significant – while holding them accountable for following the rules. Some specifics: • Build positive relationships. Potentially defiant students need to know that you’ll still care about them whatever happens. Focus on positive attributes, learn about their interests, and channel those strengths into playing an important role in the classroom – for example, a student might be the expert at fixing jammed door locks. • Reinforce progress and effort. Notice and give specific praise for positive, cooperative behaviors, however small. Wilson believes teachers should avoid saying “I like”, “I appreciate”, and “I want”, which convey the idea that it’s about pleasing or complying with the teacher rather than doing the right thing. Such language may also make a student feel manipulated. Better to talk about positive results – for example, “When you helped Kevin this morning, I think he felt valued.” • Teach how to disagree respectfully. “It’s empowering for all children – especially those who struggle with authority – to know that they may disagree with adults,” says Wilson – as long as it’s done appropriately. Students should be taught to use phrases like “I feel that” and “I suggest” when they believe something is unfair or should be changed. • Channel children’s energy in positive directions. If students are fired up about an issue, they should be encouraged to write letters to the school or community paper, get involved in service projects, or do their own research on it. • De-escalate defiance. The goal is to keep the child safe and cool things down. Wilson suggests: Avoid pushing the student’s buttons; don’t do anything that will heighten stress or invite more resistance. Don’t try to reason or make an emotional appeal when the child is too angry to process it. Slow down. Taking a few minutes before saying anything raises the probability that the child will listen. After the incident, reflect on what the trigger might have been – an unexpected schedule change, perhaps? • Intervene early. At the first sign of defiance, set clear limits. The earlier the teacher intervenes, the less likely the child will be to dig in and escalate. Use brief, direct statements, speak in a calm, matter-of-fact voice, avoid questions, and keep body language neutral – for example, “Andrew, take a seat. You can read or draw for now.” • When using consequences, offer limited choices. Because students who have escalated to defiance are often seeking power, it’s smart to give them a selection of consequences – for example, “Anna, either you can come with us now, or I can have Mrs. Bell come sit with you. Which do you choose?” • Avoid negotiating in the moment. Once a teacher has decided on a consequence or redirection for a defiant child, it’s wise to stick with it. “Negotiating during the incident will invite further testing,” says Wilson. “It also sends the message that children can avoid a redirection or consequence by resisting.” And don’t get into a power struggle. “Max, we’re done talking about that for now. Everyone, get your writing journals out and start on your stories from yesterday.” • Give the child time and space. Once a consequence has been given, it’s best to step back and give the child space to comply in a reasonable amount of time. Asking for immediate compliance invites further defiance.

 “When Children Are Defiant” by Margaret Berry Wilson in Responsive Classroom Newsletter, Summer 2013, http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/when-children-are-defiant


 Stephen Anderson

Classroom Management 101

In this NJEA Review article, Tracey Garrett (Rider University) refutes three common myths about classroom management: (a) that it can’t be taught and must be learned by experience; (b) that it’s a bag of tricks; and (c) that it depends on giving students extrinsic rewards. In fact, says Garrett, one of the major success stories of educational research in the 20th century was establishing a set of principles and strategies that can be taught, observed, and emulated. Here’s her take, with a major focus on preventing discipline problems from happening in the first place: • Develop an organized physical layout for the classroom. Purge the classroom of all unwanted clutter. Personalize the classroom so it communicates information about the teacher and students. Plan pathways to avoid congestion. Plan adequate space for students to line up by the door. Make it clear where materials belong. Provide space for both academic and social tasks. Display students’ work. Involve students in the design of the classroom. Locate the teacher’s desk in an appropriate place. • Develop clear rules and routines. Create 4-6 classroom rules that clearly specify appropriate behavior. Consider involving the students in generating these rules. Write the rules using positive language. Post classroom rules and refer to them as necessary. Develop routines to provide direction about how different classroom tasks are accomplished. Teach and demonstrate classroom rules and routines as specifically as you do academic content. • Establish caring relationships with and among students. Get to know something personal about each student. Be aware of students’ accomplishments and comment on them. Send positive notes, phone calls, or e-mails home. Be sensitive to students’ moods and concerns. Praise more, criticize less. Hold high expectations. Be a “real person.” Maintain a sense of humor. • Plan and implement engaging instruction. Match the physical layout of the classroom to the teacher’s style. Have all materials organized and ready before the start of each lesson. Establish an attention-getting signal. Adapt content and activities to students’ interests. Ensure students work at the appropriate level of challenge or difficulty. Give students the chance to exercise autonomy and make choices. Give students the opportunity to finish and display their work products. Show enthusiasm for the curriculum • Address discipline issues when they arise. Use nonverbal interventions such as proximity, eye contact, hand signals, and facial expressions to redirect misbehavior. Ignore minor misbehavior, if possible. Use brief, concise, and specific verbal interventions to redirect misbehavior. Use positive teacher language to tell the student what to do rather than what not to do. Implement logical consequences to help students learn something about why that particular misbehavior was inappropriate.


 “Classroom Management: It’s More Than a Bag of Tricks” by Tracey Garrett in NJEA Review, Oct. 2012 (Vol. 86, p. 17-19), http://bit.ly/Qsy5CV (spotted in Education Digest, May 2012)

 Stephen Anderson

What Art Did for One Child

“My vivid and colorful imagination turned me into a hopeless daydreamer in elementary school,” recalls award-winning New York art teacher Michele Sommer in this poignant Harvard Educational Review memoir. “Once, in first grade, I was so completely absorbed in a daydream that I didn’t notice all the children had been dismissed. I found myself sitting completely alone at my desk, my teacher glaring at me… I was keenly aware even as a child that the adults in my life regarded my daydreaming as a defect, and so I was deeply ashamed of it. I worked hard to learn to pay attention and follow directions like everyone else. What I wouldn’t give today, as an artist, to once again have that extraordinary mental capacity!” In second grade, Sommer had difficulty with subtraction, so one day she drew vertical lines through all the subtraction signs, turning those problems into addition, which she knew how to do. Her teacher was not fooled and put a big red F on her paper. On the way home, Sommer disposed of the paper under the neighbor’s pine tree. “My earliest failures in school set the tone for my entire kindergarten through twelfth-grade education,” she says. “The negative academic expectations were somehow passed on from grade to grade, teacher to teacher. I felt I could never be an A student.” As she went through elementary school, Sommer did well in art and was praised for her ability. But was it a gift she might lose? “I have a distinct memory of the moment of terror I experienced entering the fourth grade,” she says, “wondering if I ‘still had it’ or if I had somehow lost my artistic ability over the summer months. What if I couldn’t draw anymore? How would I get through the school year?” In junior high school, she still felt “dumb, humiliated, and worthless” as a student. But on graduation day, she was astonished to hear her name called by Mrs. Kiester, her art teacher, to receive an award for a colored-pencil drawing she had done of a geranium. The teacher’s note on the back commended her for her work – for “the satisfaction and happiness it has brought to me and others who have known, loved, and marveled at your creativity while you joined us here.” “My art teacher saved my life that day,” says Sommer. “The feeling of success and the knowledge that I had a valuable skill that I could share with others did buoy me and set me on the path to my bright future… Art continues to save my life every day. I need the elements of art like I need food and water; to me these elements are the basic building blocks of life.” As an art teacher, she continues, “I often get to see another side of a student who is struggling in academic subjects. For parents and teachers of these students, having someone witness this side of them is extremely valuable in working toward a deeper understanding of a child. I have an important role in discovering how children learn and how they see and feel about themselves and the world around them. I know that every child can experience success and become excited about learning. Art education has the power to make that happen.”

 “The Cream Does Not Always Rise: The Plight of Visual-Spatial Learners and the Power of Art Education” by Michele Sommer in Harvard Educational Review, Spring 2013 (Vol. 83, #1, p. 40-42), www.harvardeducationalreview.org


 Stephen Anderson

The Wisdom of Maya Angelou

In this interview with Alison Beard in Harvard Business Review, author Maya Angelou talks about how she learned courage from her mother: “I realized that one isn’t born with courage. One develops it by doing small courageous things – in the way that if one sets out to pick up a 100-pound bag of rice, one would be advised to start with a five-pound bag, then 10 pounds, then 20 pounds, and so forth, until one builds up enough muscle to lift the 100-pound bag. It’s the same way with courage.” Angelou also talks about what she learned from watching her mother and grandmother run businesses: “That it’s wise to be fair, and it’s unwise to lie. That doesn’t mean tell everything you know. Just make sure that what you do say is the truth. There are people who say I’m brutally frank, but one doesn’t have to be brutal; one can tell the truth in such a way that the listener really welcomes it.” She shares what she does about writer’s block: “I sit on the hotel bed with a deck of cards and play solitaire to give my ‘little mind’ something to do. I got that phrase from my grandmother, who used to say, when something surprised her, ‘You know, that wasn’t even on my littlest mind.’ I really thought that there was a small mind and a large mind, and if I could occupy the small one, I could get more quickly to the big one. So I play solitaire.” Finally, she’s asked about what she’s learned about leadership from her encounters with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama: “A leader sees greatness in other people. You can’t be much of a leader if all you see is yourself.” “Life’s Work: Maya Angelou” an interview by Alison Beard in Harvard Business Review, May 2013 (Vol. 91, #5, p. 152), http://hbr.org/angelou Stephen Anderson

Spotting Students Who Are Suffering from Depression

“Depression is a quiet crisis in schools,” say John Desrochers (Fairfield University, CT) and Gail Houck (Oregon Health and Science University) in this article in Principal Leadership. About 11 percent of adolescents experience depression serious enough to require expert help. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people; in 2009, there were 1,934 suicides in the 5-19 age bracket. Desrochers and Houck tell the story of a ninth-grade girl who attempted suicide. She appeared to be popular, high-achieving, and involved in school and community activities, but upon further investigation, it turned out that as early as elementary school, she had periods of moodiness and withdrawal and a psychological evaluation documented occasional depressed behavior. In the weeks before her suicide attempt, several teachers noticed that her class participation, grades, and social engagement had fallen off. Her English teacher mentioned “dark themes” in some of her writing, and the school nurse said the girl had visited her with vague physical complaints that were followed by absences. The girl also quit the volleyball team, dropped out of all her school activities, and was no longer singing in the church choir. “To recognize and effectively address depression and other mental health problems, schools must have systems in place to connect the dots and provide appropriate support,” say Desrochers and Houck. “Depression is a developmental process. Early (even mild) episodes of depression left untreated make it more likely that major depression will develop later. Early intervention is essential.” The authors recommend a multi-tiered system of supports paralleling Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): prevention and wellness promotion for all students, universal screening for academic and behavioral barriers to learning, effective interventions that increase in intensity as needed, monitoring students’ responses to interventions, and systematic decisions about services. Even if a systematic approach like this is not in place, principals should work with their mental-health team to: • Review current problem-solving structures and identify how they can help spot and intervene with students suffering from depression. • Facilitate planning by and close collaboration among school mental-health professionals. • Establish some form of universal screening for depression and other mental-health disorders. • Provide parent education sessions and professional development for school personnel on signs, symptoms, outcomes, and how to refer students who are showing signs of depression. Here is a list of symptoms (of course, not all students who show these are clinically depressed): Disengagement from family and friends; Difficulty with interpersonal relationships; Increased irritability, anger, sensitivity to criticism, and classroom misbehavior; Excessive time spent with video games and other solitary activities; Lack of interest in activities that had been giving enjoyment; Declining school achievement; Changes in eating habits, frequent physical complaints, fatigue, or sleep disturbance; Increased tardiness and absence from school; Lack of grooming or self-care; Feelings of boredom, apathy, sadness, hopelessness, helplessness, or worthlessness; Low self-esteem; Self-destructive thoughts or thoughts of suicide or death; Crying; Difficulties paying attention, remembering, completing tasks, or making decisions.

 “Depression: A Quiet Crisis” by John Desrochers and Gail Houck in Principal Leadership, April 2013 (Vol. 13, #8, p. 12-16), www.nassp.org


 Stephen Anderson Principal,

“Essential Questions”

Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins on “Essential Questions” In this important new book, backwards curriculum-unit design gurus Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins further explain the use of “essential questions”, including lots of examples. Here is a sampling: • In history and social studies: How can we know what really happened in the past? What is worth fighting for? Whose “story” is it? • In mathematics: When and why should we estimate? How does what we measure influence how we measure? How does how we measure influence what we measure (or don’t measure)? What do good problem solvers do, especially when they get stuck? • In language arts: Why am I writing? For whom? How do effective writers hook and hold their readers? How are stories about other places and times about me? • In science: How are structure and function related in living things? Is aging a disease? How do we decide what to believe about a scientific claim? • In the arts: What influences creative expression? What’s the difference between a thoughtful and a thoughtless critique? If practice makes perfect, what makes perfect practice? • In world languages: What should I do in my head when trying to learn a language? How do native speakers differ, if at all, from fluent foreigners? How can I sound more like a native speaker? How can I explore and describe cultures without stereotyping them? McTighe and Wiggins believe good essential questions have seven key characteristics: They are open-ended; there isn’t a single, final, correct answer. They are thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate. They call for higher-order thinking – analysis, inference, evaluation, and prediction. They point toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines. They raise additional questions and encourage further inquiry. They require support and justification, not just an answer. They beg to be revisited over time. McTighe and Wiggins go on to clarify how three kinds of questions are useful in teaching but are not essential: Questions that lead – They point to a single, correct answer – for example, Which letters in the alphabet are vowels? Questions that guide – These are a little more robust than leading questions, but they still point students toward previously targeted knowledge and skills – for example, Can you state Newton’s 2nd Law in your own words? Questions that hook – At the beginning of a lesson or unit, a teacher uses these to grab students’ attention and provoke wonder – for example, a science teacher in an Alaskan village asked students, Are we drinking the same water as our ancestors? Should essential questions be posed at the beginning of every lesson, as some principals require? McTighe and Wiggins think not. Essential questions are designed for the curriculum unit; they are “too complex and multifaceted to be satisfactorily addressed within a single lesson,” they say. “In particular, essential questions are meant to focus on long-term learning and thus be revisited over time, not answered by the end of a class period. Not only would it be difficult to come up with a new EQ for every lesson; the predictable result would be a set of superficial (leading) or, at best, guiding questions.” Why use essential questions? “For the majority of learners,” say McTighe and Wiggins, “school is a place where the teacher has the answers and classroom questions are intended to find out who knows them. Ironically, many teachers signal that this is the game even when they don’t intend to communicate it – for example, by posing questions that elicit only yes/no or single right answers, by calling only on students with raised hands, and by answering their own questions after a brief pause.” Essential questions, on the other hand: Signal that inquiry is a key goal of education; Make it more likely that the unit will be intellectually engaging; Help clarify and prioritize standards; Provide transparency for students (Where are we going with all this?); Encourage and model metacognition; Provide opportunities for intra- and interdisciplinary connections; Support meaningful differentiation. Essential questions are also important in professional learning community discussions of interim assessment results and student work – for example: Are these the results we expected? Why or why not? Are there any surprises? Any anomalies? What does this work reveal about student learning and performance? What patterns of strengths and weaknesses are evident? What misconceptions are revealed? How good is “good enough”? What actions at the teacher, team, school, and district level would improve learning and performance?

 Essential Questions: Opening Doors to Student Understanding by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (ASCD, 2013)

 Stephen Anderson

Handling Seven Interpersonal Challenges with Skill and Grace

        In this article in Psychology Today, Mary Loftus says that “it is one of the operating principles of social psychology that even the most minute encounters can have large effects on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors… If there is a unifying theme to the findings, it is that the most successful encounters accommodate, even anticipate, the respondent’s point of view. That is, if we want something only another person can give – friendship, acceptance, forgiveness – we need to factor in the other person’s mindset into our requests and behaviors.” Here are a few examples:

        • Getting an honest answer – “When you want to hear the unvarnished truth, you have to ask for it,” says Loftus. General questions (What can you tell me about this job?) yield little useful information and may even elicit a misleading response. Positive-assumption questions (There aren’t any problems in this school, are there?) are equally unhelpful. Researchers have found that negative-assumption questions, communicating that you assume there will be difficulties and drawbacks (What are the worst parts of this job? What mechanical problems does this car have?) are the best for getting the truth.

        • Framing criticism – People don’t like to be told they’ve messed up, and even constructive criticism is often met with defensiveness, says Loftus. “There is mounting evidence that criticism can be damaging to all relationships and individual mental health… We are social creatures, and the way we say things has real power. To show care when choosing how to phrase something is a way to honor, and safeguard, any relationship.” So skip the complaining and go straight to the explaining, advises psychologist Susan Heitler. With children, it’s better to say what you would prefer them to do rather than criticizing what they have not done or done incorrectly. Compare these two approaches by a parent concerned about a messy playroom: “This place is a mess! What have you been doing? You haven’t picked up one thing. No one is coming over this weekend until this room is spotless.” versus “I’d love to see your playroom cleaned up by this weekend so you and your friends can have fun downstairs.”

        • Responding to a compliment – There are three internal questions when someone says something like, “That’s a beautiful sweater”: (a) Do we agree or disagree with the statement? (b) Do we accept or reject it? and (c) How can we avoid seeming proud or conceited if we accept the compliment? Studies reveal that two-thirds of people respond inappropriately to positive comments, says Loftus, and people tend to respond better to compliments from men than from women. Here are some possibilities:

• The praise upgrade: “Yes, it really brings out the blue in my eyes.”
• The follow-up: “Do you really think so? Do you want to borrow it?”
• Deflecting: “It was on sale at Walmart, and they didn’t even have the color I wanted.”
• Rejecting: “It’s itchy; I hate it.”
• Adding a relevant, related comment: “Thanks, it’s my favorite too.”

“But nothing tops a smile, looking the complimenter in the eye, and saying, ‘Thank you,’” says Loftus.

        • Giving praise – “Praising someone’s ability to work hard is more effective than gushing about how brilliant she is,” says Loftus. People who are praised for ability don’t try as hard at future tasks because they come to believe that success should come naturally and having to work hard shows a lack of innate ability. Praise for talent and “smarts” can also lead to people going to pieces when they encounter frustration, setbacks, or failure. “The ideal is to help someone think positively but realistically about achieving goals while praising their hard work,” she says. “When praised for persistence, those who think the path ahead will be difficult invest more effort.”

        • Persuading people – To change someone’s mood, mind, or willingness to do something, we shouldn’t think in terms of winning an argument, says Loftus. Think instead of how to win agreement without stirring up bad feelings. Avoid the undebatable, focus on goals, watch for persuadable moments, express similarities and shared values, show you have their best interests at heart, cite peers who have taken this route, and be agreeable.

        • Apologizing – It’s hard to say you’re sorry, and simply bringing yourself to apologize when you’ve made a mistake is the most important step, says Loftus. Insincere apologies are worse than none at all. The best apologies have five components:

• A simple expression of regret – for example, “I’m sorry.”
• An explanation of the cause – “I forgot to call you the other day with the information.”
• Taking responsibility – “I blew it.”
• A promise of forbearance – “I promise nothing like this will happen again.”
• An offer of repair – “What can I do to make it up to you?”

The more of these elements an apology contains, the better. But don’t apologies result in negative consequences? Apologizing certainly makes it clear that you did what you did, but researchers have found that it reduces sanctions, anger, and negative evaluations. Do women apologize more than men? Yes, say social psychologists Karina Schumann and Michael Ross (University of Waterloo in Ontario). Why? Because men seem to have a higher threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.

        • Complaining – “Both direct observation of experts and psychological research point in one direction,” says Loftus: “A successful complaint usually boils down to being really nice and staying very calm, but never settling for less than you believe is fair.” Ideally there are three components:

• Say something positive – for example, “This is one of our favorite restaurants.”
• Make your complaint or request – “But tonight the cheese bread was burned. Could we possibly get another order that is less crisp?”
• Follow up with a statement of gratitude – “Thanks so much, you’re a dear.”

This approach is most likely to get the problem solved and maintain good relationships.

“Smooth Encounters” by Mary Loftus in Psychology Today, April 2013 (Vol. 46, #2, p. 69), no e-link available

Stephen Anderson

Expectations For Student Learning: ACADEMIC

Expectations For Student Learning: ACADEMIC Central High School Students will demonstrate: 1. Responsibility for their own learning. 2. Ability to research and to synthesize information. 3. Effective reading, writing and speaking. 4. Competence generating solutions to authentic life situations. Expectations For Student Learning: SOCIAL Central High School students will demonstrate: 1. Appreciation for the unique contributions of each individual. 2. Cooperation in achieving a common goal. 3. Understanding of basic social values that promote moral and ethical conduct. 4. Skills that lead to non-violent conflict resolution. 5. Connections between education and life-choices.

Stephen Anderson

An example of higher order thinking

Higher-order thinking

Are students using higher order thinking operations within a critical framework?

• Explanation
• Continuum of practice
• Example

Explanation

Higher-order thinking requires students to manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications. This transformation occurs when students combine facts and ideas in order to synthesise, generalise, explain, hypothesise or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation. Manipulating information and ideas through these processes allows students to solve problems and discover new (for them) meanings and understandings. When students engage in the construction of knowledge, an element of uncertainty is introduced into the instructional process and makes instructional outcomes not always predictable; i.e., the teacher is not certain what will be produced by students. In helping students become producers of knowledge, the teacher's main instructional task is to create activities or environments that allow them opportunities to engage in higher-order thinking.

Lower-order thinking occurs when students are asked to receive or recite factual information or to employ rules and algorithms through repetitive routines. Students are given pre-specified knowledge ranging from simple facts and information to more complex concepts. Such knowledge is conveyed to students through a reading, work sheet, lecture or other direct instructional medium. The instructional process is to simply transmit knowledge or to practise procedural routines. Students are in a similar role when they are reciting previously acquired knowledge; i.e., responding to test-type questions that require recall of pre-specified knowledge. More complex activities still may involve reproducing knowledge when students only need to follow pre-specified steps and routines or employ algorithms in a rote fashion.

^ Top of page

Continuum of practice

1. Students are engaged only in lower-order thinking; i.e., they either receive, or recite, or participate in routine practice and in no activities during the lesson do students go beyond simple reproduction.
2. Students are primarily engaged in routine lower-order thinking a good share of the lesson. There is at least one significant question or activity in which some students perform some higher-order thinking.
3. Almost all students, almost all of the time, are engaged in higher-order thinking.

^ Top of page

Example

The topic of a year 2 Maths lesson was classification and grouping generally and, more specifically, set theory. The teacher brought in a range of diverse objects. Students, in groups, had to categorise them according to criteria which the students themselves determined in their groups.

At the end of that part of the lesson, the groups rotated around the classroom and in groups suggested the basis of classification. The teacher then gave hula hoops to each group and asked them to place them in an overlapping set fashion. Instructions were given as to what was desired, with the request that objects in the overlapping or intersecting set had to have characteristics in common with each of the hoops. The groups did this and again rotated and discussed the basis of the classification.

The basis of the classification was determined by the students and could be determined for a variety of reasons for example, they were all yellow, or all dirty, all cubes etc. Students simply had to articulate reasons and justify their classifications. The lesson concluded with the teacher making comments regarding the use of symbolic representations in Maths.

 

 

Stephen Anderson

Teaching the way YOU Learn

Think about how you learn best.  What motivates you?  Excites you?  Encourages you to know more about a subject?  If you could learn using any instructional strategy you wanted, what would you choose?

Next, think about how you teach.  What is comfortable for you?  What strategies do you enjoy using most and are your “Go-to” instructional methods?  If you’re having a tough day and didn’t get the time you wanted to plan a stellar new lesson, what practices do you rely on? What methods do you struggle with, enjoy using the least, or possibly avoid?

Now, think about how your students learn.  What motivates them?  Excites them?  Encourages them to know more about a subject?  If they could direct how you teach, what would have you do?

For some students, how they learn and how I learn fit very well.  When I plan lessons and think about learning, I feel I can do pretty well by them.

For other students who learn differently than I do, it can be a struggle.  I have to consciously make an effort to include instructional strategies that I don’t like, because I don’t learn that way.

I am more of a visual and auditory learner.  It’s pretty easy for me to come up with teaching techniques that utilize these types of learning.  I am not a very good hands-on learner.  I have to work pretty hard to come up with something that engages my students who learn this way.  I have been lucky enough to work with some fantastic colleagues who are hands-on learners.  They have helped me to develop a better understanding of this learning style and how to better integrate it into my own teaching.

When I discuss with students what works for them and what they’d like to see more of in my classes, competition is almost always one of the responses.  I struggle with competition.  I am not a competitive person and I don’t understand this mindset very well.  It’s actually something that can set me on edge.  When I think about the students I have difficulty motivating or don’t connect with as well as I’d like, many of them have a competitive nature.

So I’m asking for your help.  I am looking for resources and instructional strategies on how to better reach my competitive students.  What works in your classroom?  Are you someone who enjoys competition?  How do you leverage that for your own learning or teaching?  What instructional strategies do you find comfortable or challenging?  Do you find yourself teaching how you learn?

Stephen Anderson

Teaching Students with Asperger to Deal with Anxiety

        “Anxiety can be understood as a hidden disability,” say Jessica Minahan (a Newton, Massachusetts special educator) and Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance) in this Kappan article. They believe anxiety is the culprit in many of the behavior problems experienced by children with Asperger syndrome. Standard behavior modification approaches (stickers, points, praise) are ineffective and can make things worse, say Minahan and Rappaport: “If students with Asperger are to succeed in school, they need a prescribed behavioral intervention plan that addresses anxiety, explicit instruction in underdeveloped skills leading to anxiety, which helps them learn alternative, more appropriate responses to use when they’re flooded with anxiety, and includes accommodations that teachers can use while students learn new skills.”

        Some students show obvious signs when they’re anxious – flushed cheeks, tense muscles. But with others, there aren’t clear signs until they act out and anxiety is expressed indirectly – increased insistence on routines and sameness, preference for rigid rules, repetitive behavior, anger outbursts, and silly behavior. Minahan and Rappaport use the analogy of a shaken can of soda: you can’t tell it’s been shaken by looking at it (the student looks fine); you only find out when you pop the can open (the student inexplicably explodes). Anxiety also undermines students’ academic performance by the effect it has on working memory, attention, and other abilities.

        “A student’s anxiety-related behavior is often motivated by escape or avoidance,” say Minahan and Rappaport – asking to see the nurse when a writing assignment is handed out, or cursing just before a math test. “If the teacher responds with a time-out or sends the student to the office,” they say, “this may accidentally reinforce the avoidant behavior…” What’s needed is explicit instruction in the following underdeveloped skills:

• Self-regulation – the ability to calm oneself and manage frustration;
• Thought-stopping and thought-interruption – the ability to short-circuit a cycle of negative thinking by refocusing attention on a replacement thought;
• Thinking traps – the ability to recognize common thought patterns that can increase anxiety and learn how to manage those thoughts;
• Social skills – the ability to take another person’s perspective and use conversation skills;
• Executive functioning – the ability to think before acting and follow sequential steps to complete a task effectively;
• Flexible thinking – when anxious, this can help a student avoid becoming upset when things don’t turn out as expected.

“These skills must be explicitly taught if the student is to change his or her behavior over the long term,” say Minahan and Rappaport. “Sadly, many behavior plans/programs don’t address these skills.”

        It’s critically important for teachers to backtrack from a behavior meltdown and find the antecedents. These might include unstructured times (cafeteria and recess), transitions, writing demands, social demands, and unexpected events. “Ninety percent of every behavior plan should be dedicated to antecedent management,” say Minahan and Rappaport. “Students will continue to require accommodations until they develop the skills to cope and can succeed without them.” For example, a student might be given two 10-minute anxiety-reduction breaks during each day, and these shouldn’t have to be “earned” by good behavior. Academic accommodations are also important – for example, previewing a math worksheet early in the day and doing the first problem with the student, or providing a list of commonly misspelled words. Students need to be coached from statements like “I’m a horrible speller” to saying “I’m not a great speller, but I have a strategy.”

        Students with anxiety issues also benefit from cognitive behavior coaching. It’s a big step when they can understand that emotions start small and grow larger – from calm to an explosion – and what the outward signs are. “Once students understand this,” say Minahan and Rappaport, “they can learn to catch themselves at the frustration point and practice a coping strategy to regulate themselves before becoming explosive or shutting down.” A teacher might say, “I notice your face is scrunched, your shoulders are up near your ears, and your fist is clenched. You’re frustrated right now.”

The authors also recommend using an “emotional thermometer” with pictures of various facial expressions and matching emotions and steps to take. Teachers can also provide a “calming box” containing small items the student can use to calm down – putty, a good-luck charm, a “lucky penny”, or noise-reducing headphones.

 

“Anxiety in Students: A Hidden Culprit in Behavior Issues” by Jessica Minahan and Nancy Rappaport in Phi Delta Kappan, December 2012/January 2013 (Vol. 94, #4, p. 34-39),www.kappanmagazine.org

 

 

Stephen Anderson

Why Some Students Are Silent in the Classroom

        Silence in the classroom can be good and it can be bad, says Katherine Schultz (Mills College, CA) in this Educational Horizons article. Getting quiet is wonderful if a class has been rowdy, but silence in response to a teacher’s discussion question can bring a lesson to a grinding halt. Schultz says we may have notions of stereotypically silent students – timid girls and Asians or Native Americans – but should consider other reasons students don’t speak up:

• The student is shy at that particular moment.
• The student lacks the knowledge or facility in English to join in a group conversation.
• The student is following cultural norms of not speaking when there’s nothing to add.
• The student may be momentarily daydreaming.
• The student might be uncomfortable talking about the topic (race, for example).
• The student may need more time to think through an idea.

“Rapid-paced classrooms favor students who can respond quickly and accurately,” says Schultz; “other students may need time to reflect and the opportunity to try out ideas in small groups or through writing. Teachers may need to learn to read students’ nods and facial expressions to understand silence as a form of participation and to understand that students who are silent may be as engaged in learning as the student who speaks frequently, dominating the conversation.”

In her observations of classrooms, Schultz has come to appreciate students who are silent most of the time but have thoughtful comments that drive the discussion forward. This makes her wonder, “Do students have a responsibility to contribute to the silence of a classroom so that others can talk, along with a responsibility to contribute verbally to the discussion?”

Of course some students’ silence means they are opting out of participating in class and missing out on important learning opportunities. There are several techniques teachers use to get silent students talking and broadening class discussion:

• Cold-calling, which may increase the number of students who speak in a class – but doesn’t address the underlying issues that make some students silent.

• Having students turn and talk with a “shoulder partner”, or write silently for a few moments, before sharing thoughts in an all-class discussion. “Writing and talking informally may give students the courage they need for speaking aloud in class and provide them with practice and time to gather their thoughts,” says Schultz.

• Giving students a few moments to reflect and then going around the circle asking everyone to contribute a few words.

 

“The Role of Silence in Teaching and Learning” by Katherine Schultz in Educational Horizons, December 2012/January 2013 (Vol. 91, p. 22-25)

http://pilambda.org/horizons/the-role-of-silence-in-teaching-and-learning/

 

 

Stephen Anderson

Three Case Studies on the Widening Achievement Gap

Three Case Studies on the Widening Achievement Gap

        In this sobering front-page New York Times article, Jason DeParle reports on three young women who were inseparable as high-school students in Galveston, Texas. They were determined, despite humble backgrounds and a high school named “academically unacceptable” by Texas state education officials, to be the first in their families to graduate from college. “I don’t want to work at Walmart,” said one of them. “We wanted to do something better with our lives.”

With the support of Upward Bound, all three graduated from high school and at this point, their stories seemed to validate the American ideal of education as the great equalizer. One was headed for Emory University, another for Texas State University, the third to a local community college. “I felt like we were taking off, from one life to another,” said the first. “I felt like, ‘Here we go!’”

        Four years later, their stories provide sad testimony to how difficult upward mobility is in an age of soaring inequality. “Not one of them has a four-year degree,” says DeParle. “Only one is still studying full time, and two have crushing debts.” The young woman quoted just above dropped out of  Emory and is working as a clerk in a furniture store. “Each showed the ability to do college work, even excel at it,” DeParle continues. “But the need to earn money brought one set of strains, campus alienation brought others, and ties to boyfriends not in school added complications. With little guidance from family or school officials, college became a leap that they braved without a safety net.”

As DeParle tells each young woman’s post-secondary story in depressing detail, these factors stand out:

• One chose an “under-matched” community college, graduated, but passed up an offer to attend a nearby four-year college.
• One missed opportunities to get a much better scholarship deal at Emory because she made errors in her application, and university officials refused to make a retroactive correction.
• The colleges they attended were expensive – there’s been a 60-percent increase in tuition and fees over the last two decades.
• Living in single-parent homes meant there were no fathers to get involved and help out. This may have made the young women more dependent on their boyfriends, some of whom were less than supportive.
• Despite the heroic efforts of a dedicated high-school counselor, the young women didn’t have anything approaching the level of support that most middle-class students have when applying to college and figuring out financial assistance.
• Two of the young women had to deal with crises at home; investing in education was seen as “selfish” by some family members.
• The young women had some ambivalence about rising above their social stratum and leaving Galveston.

These and other factors conspired to sabotage an upward trajectory that had seemed so promising four years earlier. All is not lost, but the news is not good.

“The story of their lost footing is also the story of something larger,” concludes DeParle, “the growing role that education plays in preserving class divisions.” Thirty years ago, the difference in college graduation rates between well-off and poor Americans was 31 points; today it’s 45. While both groups have improved, the affluent improved much more rapidly, widening the gap. There’s also a wider income gap: a generation ago, Americans in the richest 90^th percentile had five times as much income as those in the 10^th percentile; now they have ten times as much. The extra resources at the upper end of the income continuum pay for enrichment programs, travel, college prep, SAT prep, and support applying to college.

 

“For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall” by Jason DeParle in The New York Times, Dec. 23, 2012 (p. 1, 28, 29), http://nyti.ms/UmzwHn

 

 

 

New Factors for College-Bound Students to Consider

        In this ASCA School Counselor article, Don Fraser of the National Association for College Admission Counseling suggests that high-school counselors research the following criteria for students to help them become more savvy consumers of higher education:

        • Academic services available – The level and sophistication of support for struggling students is important, even if applicants don’t think they’ll need it.

• Retention efforts and student advising – What is the college equipped to do to help students get through to graduation?

• The retention and graduation rates for the student’s demographic – Overall retention rates aren’t very helpful, says Fraser. If the college hasn’t broken the data down by race and sex, that’s a red flag.

        • Career services available – Are drop-in appointments the extent of support? If so, the college isn’t very invested in helping students find a job after graduation.

• The employment rates for similar graduates – “If your student wants to be a psychology major, then he or she should ask about the post-graduate outcomes for students who graduate with a psychology degree,” says Fraser.

        • Average debt upon graduation – Applicants need to know how well students are funded, on average.

       

“Beyond the Traditional Factors: Learn How You Can Help Your Students Construct a Better

List of Potential Colleges” by Don Fraser Jr. in ASCA School Counselor, November/December

 

 

Stephen Anderson

Fostering a "Growth" Mindset in Students

Fostering a “Growth” Mindset in Students

Parents, teachers, and other adults shape young people’s mindsets by what they say about successes and failures. Praise for being “smart” leads kids to believe that learning should be easy – and if it feels difficult, they’re not smart. Praise for focusing and sticking with a task fosters a much more positive mindset – you can get smart through effective effort.

        Fisher and Frey say educators can foster students’ motivation by the way they talk to them about accomplishments, identity, and agency:

        • Accomplishments – “When teachers phrase compliments so that students understand their own roles in the accomplishment, they will begin to see that their efforts allow them to meet their goals,” say Fisher and Frey. “In doing so, teachers can guide students to ‘attend to their internal feelings of pride’ (Johnston,Choice Words, Stenhouse, 2004), which will build students’ internal motivation and reduce their need for external praise.” Some examples:

• “You figured that out. Feels good, huh? Tell me how you did it.”
• “I bet you are proud of yourself.”
• “Marcos, your group tells me that you were very helpful in figuring out the answer to this problem.”

• Identity – Teachers’ comments can help students build a sense of who they are in the world. Some examples:

• “How are you thinking like a historian today?”
• “Your opening line reminds me of one thing that other authors do. As a reader, I enjoy openings with a startling statement and you really captured that here.”
• “There are so many ways to solve this problem, and I see that you solved it two different ways… I’d bet it was fun to see it work out both ways.”

• Agency – This is the feeling that one’s efforts lead directly to accomplishments, as opposed to luck being the main variable. Teachers can build children’s sense of agency by talking to them in specific ways:

• Asking “Why?” is a helpful way to get students to connect actions to effects.
• “What might you do next?” helps students plan actions that will produce results and also communicates the teacher’s belief that students can and will succeed.
• “You did it, but tell me how,” a teacher might say. “I’m particularly interested in efforts that were and were not helpful.”

Fisher and Frey suggest that when principals visit classrooms, they should listen carefully to teachers’ language and see if it’s appropriately praising accomplishments and building identity and agency.

“Choice Words” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey in Principal Leadership, December 2012 (Vol. 13, #4, p. 57-59), http://www.nassp.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=Instructional_Leader_1212

The authors can be reached at dfisher@mail.sdsu.edu and nfrey@mail.sdsu.edu.

Stephen Anderson

Robert Marzano on Analyzing Complex Texts

(Originally titled “Analyzing Complex Texts”)

        In this Educational Leadership column, author/consultant Robert Marzano says that when students analyze a text’s structure, they should be aware of two levels: (a) the overall organization – for example, rising action, climax, falling action in literature or, in non-fiction, presenting and supporting a claim; and (b) the underlying relationship among ideas, including these four:

• Addition: one idea adds to or is similar to another – for example, She is dark and beautiful.
• Contrast: one idea is different or subtracts from another – for example, He is fast but doesn’t like to play sports.
• Time: one idea occurs before, during, or after another – for example, She walked away before he arrived.
• Cause: one idea leads to another – for example, He woke up because the garbage truck made a racket.

When students hear a complex sentence like: Mary called Bill after he left for work, but he didn’t get the call because his cell phone was off, they can probably follow the logic, but when they are reading, they may need guidance analyzing the relationship among ideas. Marzano says students should be explicitly taught the four types of relationships among ideas and use symbols to mark up passages: an equal sign for addition, a not-equal sign for contrast; an arrow for time; and a double-stemmed arrow for cause.

 

“Analyzing Complex Texts” by Robert Marzano in Educational Leadership, December 2012/January 2013 (Vol. 70, #4, p. 84-85), www.ascd.org

 

 

Stephen Anderson

How to Unleash Creativity

        “Most people are born creative,” say Tom Kelley (University of California/Berkeley and University of Tokyo) and David Kelley (Stanford University) in this thoughtful Harvard Business Review article. “As children, we revel in imaginary play, ask outlandish questions, draw blobs and call them dinosaurs.” But as the years pass, formal education takes its toll and many people no longer see themselves as creative.

Kelley and Kelley believe creativity is vital to getting results, and they’re in the business of helping people rediscover their creative confidence, defined as their “natural ability to come up with new ideas and the courage to try them out.” They use “guided mastery” to help people get past fears that inhibit creativity:

        • Fear of the messy unknown – One’s office is cozy and predictable, say Kelley and Kelley: “Out in the world, it’s more chaotic. You have to deal with unexpected findings, with uncertainty, and with irrational people who say things you don’t want to hear. But that is where you find insights – and creative breakthroughs.” Venturing out of one’s comfort zone and treating it like an anthropological expedition is a sure way to fire up creativity.

        • Fear of being judged – “If the scribbling, singing, dancing kindergartner symbolizes unfettered creative expression,” say Kelley and Kelley, “the awkward teenager represents the opposite: someone who cares –deeply – about what other people think. It takes only a few years to develop that fear of judgment, but it stays with us throughout our adult lives, often constraining our careers.” People self-censor ideas for fear they won’t be acceptable to peers or superiors, constantly undermining the creative process. Kelley and Kelley recommend keeping an idea notebook or whiteboard and scribbling ideas – good, bad, indifferent – with abandon. It’s amazing how much good stuff is written down by the end of each week. They also suggest scheduling “white space” time when the only task is to think and daydream – perhaps while taking a walk. It’s also important to reach an agreement with colleagues to use more supportive language in response to wild and crazy ideas, shifting from “That will never work” to “I wish…” or “This is just my opinion and I want to help.”

        • Fear of the first step – “Creative efforts are hardest at the beginning,” say Kelley and Kelley. “The writer faces the blank page; the teacher, the start of school; businesspeople, the first day of a new project… To overcome this inertia, good ideas are not enough. You need to stop planning and just get started – and the best way to do that is to stop focusing on the huge overall task and find a small piece you can tackle right away.” A boy who procrastinated on a school report on birds till the night before it was due was on the verge of a panic attack, but he got some great advice from his father: “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

        • Fear of losing control – Many people think they have to solve problems or come up with answers by themselves. Kelley and Kelley say that when we’re stuck, we need to let go and reach out for help. “Confidence doesn’t simply mean believing your ideas are good,” they write. “It means having the humility to let go of ideas that aren’t working and to accept good ideas from other people.” Call a meeting of people who are fresh to the topic and brainstorm. Let the most junior person in the room lead the meeting. Look for opportunities to let go and leverage different perspectives.

 

“Reclaim Your Creative Confidence” by Tom Kelley and David Kelley in Harvard Business Review, December 2012 (Vol. 90, #12, p. 115-118), no e-link available

 

Five Myths About the Common Core ELA Standards

(Originally titled “The Common Core Ate My Baby and Other Urban Legends”)

            In this important Educational Leadership article, literacy expert Timothy Shanahan (University of Illinois/Chicago) debunks five myths about the common core literacy standards:

            • Myth #1: The new standards prohibit teachers from setting purposes for reading or discussing prior knowledge. True, the original publishers’ criteria written by lead authors David Coleman and Susan Pimentel in 2011 suggested deemphasizing the common practice of spending time building up students’ background knowledge, establishing the purpose for reading a passage, and asking for students’ predictions. Facing a storm of protest, Coleman and Pimentel retreated and issued an April 2012 revision that eliminated admonitions against pre-teaching.

            “So to clarify, there simply is no ban on pre-reading in the Common Core State Standards,” says Shanahan. But there are significant changes – close reading and re-reading – which suggest that it’s a good idea to get students to plunge into texts without a lot of prior teaching. “The benefit of the pre-reading controversy,” says Shanahan, “is that it’s getting educators to take a hard look at how best to send students into a book – and this rethinking can help us clear up our pre-reading act… Preparing students to read a text… should be brief and should focus on providing students with the tools they need to make sense of the text on their own.”

            • Myth #2: Teachers are no longer required to teach phonological awareness, phonics, or fluency. Not true, says Shanahan. The common-core standards are strong on phonological awareness K-1, phonics K-3, and fluency K-5. So how did this myth get started? Perhaps because the new literacy standards began with comprehension, which is the reverse of the sequence in many previous standards documents.

            • Myth #3: English teachers can no longer teach literature in literature classes. Nonsense, says Shanahan. What the new standards do is give informational texts equal billing with novels, stories, poems, and plays in the elementary grades and 30 percent of classroom time in the upper grades – but that includes science and social studies. English teachers can continue to teach literature, as they have always done.

            • Myth #4: Teachers must teach students at frustration levels. It’s true that the common-core standards call for students to work with more-challenging material at each grade level than has been typical in basal readers in recent years. This is based on research showing that students make less progress when they read easier texts – and the urgent need to prepare students for the literacy demands of college and the workplace. But the higher reading levels in the new standards should not lead primary-grade teachers to push students beyond what is required by the common-core (which is similar to previous expectations) in order to prepare them for more-demanding grade 2 standards. And all teachers should give their students a mix of reading material – more-demanding material for close reading and direct instruction, easier material for fun reading.

            • Myth #5: Most schools are already teaching to the new standards. Baloney, says Shanahan: “We are going to have to make some real changes in our practices.” These include (a) less emphasis on pre-reading and more on close reading, re-reading, and follow-up;

(b) building students’ skills and motivation to tackle difficult texts without telling them what the texts say; (c) an increase in critical analysis and synthesis of information from multiple texts; (d) a greater emphasis on informational texts in upper-grade social studies and science classes; and (e) more student writing about the ideas from texts than personal thoughts.

“Each one of these changes is considerable and will require better and more appropriate professional development, instructional materials, and supervision,” says Shanahan. “Educators who shrug off these changes will face a harsh reality.” The fact is that 40 percent of students who currently meet state standards need remediation when they get to college and many fail to graduate. The new standards are in line with what students need to know and be able to do to succeed in college and careers. Shanahan believes they will give teachers, students, and parents a much more accurate picture of where students stand, and what they need to succeed.

“The Common Core Ate My Baby and Other Urban Legends” by Timothy Shanahan in Educational Leadership, December 2012 (Vol. 70, #4, p. 10-16), www.ascd.org; Shanahan can be reached at shanahan@uic.edu.