Closing the Achievement Gap for African American, Latino and

EL Students

2010-11 TOT, Session One

September 2010 Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD

Session Outcomes

Team members will:• Understand about the physiology of the

brain as it relates to learning • Understand the influence of teacher

expectation on students• Know the definition and characteristics of

growth and fixed mindsets• Be able to use language and strategies

associated with a growth mindset

Group Norms and Individual Agreements

4

Participate to the fullest extent appropriate.

Listen to understand the position of those with whom you disagree rather than preparing a defense of your own view.

Speak of your own thoughts, feelings, and reactions rather than debating those of others.

Seek common ground.Do not divert the issue.

Norms for Discussions

Two TOT Objectives

1. Building cultural understandinga) Understanding how culture works

b) Learning culture-specific information

2. Using culturally responsive strategies

How We Learn

Rigor Relevance

Relationships

How am I challenged in this lesson? What support will I receive to achieve success?

What is the purpose of this

lesson, and why should I learn it?

Does my teacher care about me

and respect me?

Daggett’s Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Model

Expectations for Learning

“If I believed this student was completely capable of learning this content, what would I be doing right now?”

Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162

Think · Pair · Share

MotivationMotivation

Think of a time when you were successful in motivating a student.

What steps did you take to successfully motivate them?

In order to successfully motivate this student, I __________ .

What challenges do you encounter when motivating students?

What were the common challenges shared?

Table Share

Defining the LanguageDefining the Language

(and so can our students!)

New research tells us that you can grow your intelligence!grow your intelligence!

You Can!

The Formula

Input + Lifestyle = Brain Growth

As the presenter narrates the process of growing your brain, construct a physical model of the brain using pipe cleaners.

Physical Model Building

How it worksHow it works

Tag Team

Choose a partner.

Disassemble ONE of the partner’s pipe cleaner neurons, leaving the other’s intact.

The partner with the shorter hair reenacts the first step of the pipe cleaner activity being sure to explain what s/he is creating.

Tag…the other partner takes over creating the next step and explaining as s/he builds the neuron.

Continue alternating steps until finished.

Here’s HowHere’s How

Input Lifestyle

Powerful learning

experiences

Brain foods

Deep practice Sleep

InputPowerful Learning Experiences

• Positive emotional connections to learning

• Student Engagement

• Relevance and Connectedness

Deep Practice

• Interacting with new knowledge

•Speaking and writing opportunities

Life style

Nutrition

Which foods grow your brain?

•Nuts

•Fish

•Protein

•Glucose (from whole foods)

Life styleLife styleSleep

How does sleep affect learning?

• 8-10 hours every night

• The brain needs sleep to produce melatonin

• Melatonin helps with memory and learning (myelination)

• It also helps people sleep deeply

The Two Mindsets

Are you Fixed Mindset

OR Growth Mindset?

Fixed Growth

BUT a continuum

NOT

X X X X

Easy v. Challenging LearningEasy v. Challenging Learning

Easy Challenging

• Possess an early

proclivity or talent•Enjoyable•Immediate pay off•Emotionally connected

•Early deep practice

•Posess no proclivity

or even aversion•Frustrating or stressful

•Delayed pay off •Little or no connection •No (or few) previous

experiences

What IS the optimal response to a challenge?

• Utilizing opportunities for powerful learning and deep practice

• Making healthy brain-friendly lifestyle choices

• Responding to challenges in a “growth-mindset”

(Dweck 2007)

Consider a time when you responded to a challenge with a growth mind set

Consider another time when you responded to a challenge with a fixed mindset

Jot down details about each example. Be prepared to share at your table.

Think · Pair · Share

What messages do we send to students?

You are SO fast!

You’re so smart, you should be able to do this.

Don’t worry, this is easy!

You’re my little

geniuses!

The Research on Expectation and Its Effect on Teacher Behavior• Teachers praise low students less frequently

than highs for success

• Teachers seat low students farther away

• Teachers generally pay less attention to low students and interact with them less frequently

• Teachers are less friendly with low-achieving students, including smiling less and using fewer friendly, nonverbal behaviors

• Teachers wait less time for low students to answer questions

Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167

The Research on Expectation and Its Effect on Teacher Behavior• Teachers give low students less eye contact

and nonverbal communication such as leaning forward and using positive head nodding

• Teachers wait less time for low students to answer questions

• Teachers give low students answers or call on someone else rather than delve into the logic underlying the answers or improve on the answers of low students

• Teachers generally demand less from low students

Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167

Article Reading and Whip Around

Read the article Mindsets and Equitable Education and be prepared to share one “a-ha” at your table in a Whip Around.

Instead of…Instead of…Fixed Message

You are so smart, why won’t you do this?

You are my little geniuses!

If you don’t pass the test, your grade is going to suffer.

If this part is missing from the assignment, it is a zero.

Growth MessageCan you tell me what is holding

you back?

Your hard work and practice are paying off!

Tomorrow’s assessment is your chance to show off your learning. Do you need more practice?

If you are missing a part, I will give it back to you to fix it.

Sort it!

• Sit with a partner – you’ll share a “sort”

• Remove paperclip and arrange pieces into two categories: Growth-minded and Fixed-minded.

• Each partner must have his/her fingers ON the sort pieces!

Become More Growth-Minded

In addition to transforming teacher language, teacher classroom practices can also be revised to reflect a more growth-minded mindset.

Guiding Questions

How do you determine if a practice promotes growth-mindedness?Does it …

• help students focus on effort?

• communicate that mistakes are opportunities to learn?

• provide interactive situations for deep practice?

• foster a student’s desire to take on challenges?

Choral Response

Read each of the following descriptions of teacher classroom practices. Think about whether it is more indicative of a fixed or a growth mindset practice.

When prompted, use choral response to either call out “fixed” or “growth” depending on your identification of practice.

Practice 1:

A teacher assigns an essay after first providing a rubric. Students turn in the essay and receive comments and a highlighted rubric/grade. They are given the opportunity to rewrite and resubmit up to two more times for an improved grade over the course of the next two weeks.

ANSWER: Growth

Rationale:

Students receive corrective feedback and an opportunity to learn from “mistakes.” Also, this reinforces the connection between effort and growth to an improved grade and learning experience.

Practice 2:

A teacher spends the majority of class discussion time posing questions and calling on students with raised hands.

ANSWER: Fixed

Rationale:

The teacher demonstrates no expectation that all students will interact with the material. This practice also allow students students to systematically ignore the learning opportunity.

Practice 3:When students are asked to turn in a major assignment, the teacher requires that his students submit an “effort evaluation” which is where they self-assess and answer the following questions:

What did my effort on this project look and sound like?

What are the strengths of my product?

What did I learn as a result of my effort?

What mistakes might I have made from which I can learn?

ANSWER: Growth

Rationale:

Students are prompted to reflect on learning experiences and articulate what effort looks and sounds like. The last question (“What mistakes might I have made from which I can learn?”) sends the message to students that we should be learning from our mistakes rather than quitting because of them.

Practice 4:

Each week, a teacher provides students with a new list of 10 vocabulary words on Monday. She tells the students to look up the definitions and be prepared to take a quiz on the definitions on Friday.

ANSWER: Fixed

Rationale:

Students are given no structured way to practice with the material to commit it to long term memory. Students who are typically unsuccessful with school assignments will continue to reinforce an isolated approach to information gathering. Students might be memorizing incorrect information, depending on the definition selected. Finally, there is no opportunity to return to the words to learn them more accurately or more deeply.

Practice 5:Students are given an end of chapter math test which has been graded and returned. The teacher directs the students to do an error analysis, something they have practiced, on three of the most commonly missed problems to identify why they got it wrong which the teacher checks for accuracy. Any student successfully completing this task may retake the test after school.

ANSWER: Growth

Rationale:

Students are prompted to reflect on learning experiences and identify WHY they made a mistake with the intent of learning from it. The opportunity to retake the test after the teacher checks to see if the error analysis is correct reinforces continued effort in the learning cycle.

Connections to the ClassroomAs teachers, we can:

Self-assess whether we have a tendency toward a growth or fixed mindset.

Consciously choose to use language that fosters a growth mindset in students.

Review classroom practices to determine whether they foster opportunities for deep practice and learning from mistakes.

Explicitly teach students how their brains work and what lifestyle and input choices will positively affect their intelligence.

Connections to the Classroom

In The Art and Science of Teaching, Robert Marzano poses a great question for us to ask ourselves when examining our expectations about student learning:

“If I believed this student was completely capable of learning this content, what would I be doing right now?”

Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162

Think-Pair-Share

Table Share

Physical Model Building

Tag Team

Whip Around

Sort

Choral Response

Active Participation Strategies

ResourcesResources• Doing What Works website: US Dept of Education

• http://dww.ed.gov/practice/?T_ID=18&P_ID=34

• “Even Geniuses Work Hard” by Dr. Carol Dweck in Educational Leadership

• “How Not to Talk to Your Kids” by Dr. Carol Dweck in New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck

www.mindsetonline.com

• BrainologyTM by Mindset Workswww.brainology.us

• Florin HS wiki space – lessons, book study materials, readingswww.florin.pbworks.com/Mindset

Closing the Achievement Gap for African American, Latino and

EL Students

2010-11 TOT, Session One

September 2010 Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD