August 24, 2009

Sarah Thomason

What’s in it for you?

Teach active, independent learners

Reach more of your students

Experience a teacher’s high

continued

Have more of those “light bulb” moments

Grow in your professionParticipate in a big experiment

What’s in it for your students?A more disciplined way to learn

Greater understanding of your material

Better performance on testsReduction of test anxietyHigher grades

Students, Cont.More course completersMore degree completersFewer tearsProgress toward goalsHappiness ripples

“deliberate actions that learners select and control to achieve desired goals or

objectives”

Definition 2

“behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning and that are intended to influence

the learner’s encoding process”

Definition 3“specific actions taken by the

learner to make learning easier, faster, more

enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more

transferrable to new situations”

Research Tidbits

Research in the 60’s and into the early 80’s focused on trying to identify one specific study system that was superior.

Research focus shifted toward a general

investigation of “whether the performance of college students could be altered

if they received an instructional intervention”.

“Important generalizations about studying and active learning have emerged.”

Students need to know how to use the strategy and why using the strategy will help them.

Strategy instruction needs to be modeled.

Students need to apply the strategy to authentic tasks.

Students need practice in using the strategy.

Students need feedback.

It “is best to teach students a limited number of validated strategies.”

Six Learning StrategiesTwo for read to understand

1.Generating Questions2.Graphic Representations

Two for listen actively1.??2.??

Two for organize for effectiveness

1.??2.??

What will you do?1. Choose one of the 3 areas

2. Choose one of the 2 strategies

3. Receive training in how and why to use the strategy

4. Directly teach the strategy via modeling

5. Embed the strategy

6. Use the rubric to assess a minimum of two tasks or assignments

7. Provide feedback to students and “scaffold” as appropriate

8. Submit composite scores

Read to Understand RubricGenerating Questions

Evaluates student’s ability to:

Identify the main idea and key supporting details

Understand key vocabulary in the text

Draw appropriate conclusions based upon the nature of the text

(assess reading)

Evaluates student’s ability to:

Generate Questions (assess work product)

Example Passage

by Bill McCarty

The Knoxville News Sentinel

October 10, 1992

Generate QuestionsAfter reading “Mr. Junes,” create some

questions that relate to the story. Consider using the following words to start your questions. Be sure to include “why” and/or “how” questions.

Who What When Where Why How

Write both your questions and your answers.

Who is Mr. Junes?

Mr. Junes is a man of modest means who has lived a life of

self-sacrifice. He was happy as a child, enjoying life on a farm,

until his father died and he had to go to work in the city to help support his family. From age 14 until he retired, he continued to

work in the “grimy” city.

Why does Mr. Junes run the ad about the dog?

He is a man with principles, honest and filled with a sense of right and wrong. He dearly wants to keep the dog, but he knows the dog’s rightful owner would want him back. Just as he did his duty to support his family by working a job he did not enjoy, he will do his duty to the dog’s owner, too.

Feedback: My QuestionsWhy does the writer refer to the man as “the stranger”?

To depersonalize him. Make us identify with Mr. Junes as the “good guy.”

What was the dog’s dilemma?

The dog recognized two owners and did not know which one to go to.

Why does the writer tell us the stranger looks at the dog and at Mr. Junes?

He wants us to recognize the stranger recognizes the

emotions of both the dog and of Mr. Junes.

Why does the stranger say, “Here, Chief; here Chief” quietly?

By using a fake name and a non-authoritative tone to

make it as easy as possible for the dog to pick Mr. Junes.

What does “Try Tennessee “ mean?

Tennessee is the dog’s name. The stranger is communicating this important information to Mr. Junes in a way that leaves no way for Mr. Junes to return the dog.

What does the word “his” in the last sentence add to the essay?

“His” recognizes the final resolution of the conflict. The dog belongs to Mr. Junes, and Mr. Junes and the dog stand

on “their” porch.