Declarative Lesson DesignOrangethorpe Elementary School

January 22, 2014

Christina Marinelli

•Rigorous clean lessons

•Increasingly complex layered activities where students apply previous learning

Common Core

Common Core

Systems Practices

• Pacing

•Benchmarks

•Data

•Curriculum

•Depth of Knowledge

• Added Rigor

• Student Talk

• Expository text

?

Informational Text

Grade Literary Informational

4 50% 50%

8 45% 55%

12 30% 70%

2009 NAEP Reading Assessment: Distribution of literary and informational passages

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/documents/ccss6to12lhstcta.ppt

Informational Text

Grade To

PersuadeTo

ExplainTo ConveyExperience

4 30% 35% 35%

8 35% 35% 30%

12 40% 40% 20%

2011 NAEP Writing Framework: Distribution of Communicative Purposes

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/documents/ccss6to12lhstcta.ppt

English Language Arts• More expository text (50/50% at Elementary)• More short passages that teach students to

apply skills on diverse subject matter• Students asked to make meaning from

multiple texts and types of sources• Emphasis on informational and argumentative

writing• Speaking and listening are assessed• Use of academic language a must

Social Studies/Science• Appropriate declarative lesson where students extract

information themselves the majority of the time.

• Checking for understanding that holds all students accountable

• Appropriate use of expository text

• Groups working collaboratively with equitable accountability

• Minimize arts and crafts portion of social studies/science

Most methods courses and texts about lesson design focus primarily on Procedural lessons (where students are asked to DO something at the end of the lesson).

Much less emphasis is placed on Declarative lessons (where the end goal for the lesson is that students KNOW something)

The terms “Modeling” and “Guided Practice” imply the learner is practicing a skill, which seems less applicable when learning a new set of facts or concepts.

For example, if the learning objective is “Explain major differences in structural elements between poems, drama and prose” (4th RL5) or “Describe how common mixtures are separated” (5th Sci), how does one model that?

How do I model that?

In every subject, the teacher brings an expertise developed by context that can help the learner narrow down what is truly essential to know about that new content.

Similarly, the teacher groups the information in his or her brain, knowingly or not, in a way that helps bring the information up as part of a whole, and not as disconnected facts.

When you were in school, what was one trick a teacher taught you to help you remember content?

Share with a partner.

Objective

Describe modeling in declarative lessons

BRAIN CONCEPTS

Primacy – Recency Retention Pyramid

Repetitions

”Know”

Emphasis on Concept

Text Teacher

1. Choose Graphic Organizer2. Choose Markers3. Plan Think Aloud

1. Choose Delivery Method2. Choose Graphic Organizer3. Plan mnemonic4. Plan Contextualized example

Plan how big of a chunk to presentPlan Structured Academic Talk

Plan CFU Methods

Plan Gradual ReleasePlan Structured Academic talk

Plan CFU Methods

DECLARATIVE

DECLARATIVE MODELING

Contextualize

Connect to something they already know

Organize

Graphic Organizer

Memorize

Mnemonics

Access

How does my brain find the

most important info

Or ways to keep your students from going into a “COMA”

Big Idea: Reference materials help us find information. There are 4 main types we use.

Learning ObjectiveDescribe the reference materials and their use.

Reference Materials

Dictionary Atlas Thesaurus Encyclopedia

Big Idea: Weathering is the breaking down of rocks.Physical weathering causes rocks to change size and shape.

Physical Weathering

Freezing and Thawing Plants Exfoliation Abrasion

Learning ObjectiveDescribe the four types of physical weathering.

Learning Objective: Compare urban, suburban and rural communities

Community

Urban Suburban Rural

• many houses•many people•lots of streets•tall buildings• many cars• many businesses

• houses in neighborhoods• parks• outside a city• fewer businesses

• few houses• lots of land• farms• many animals• few roads• small shops

Big Idea:

George Washington

First President

Father of our Country $1 Bill

George Washington was the first president of the United States in 1789.

George Washington is called the father of our country because he was the leader in the Revolutionary War and helped write the Constitution.

George Washington’s picture is on the $1 bill because he is so important in United States history.

Learning Objective:Tell and write 3 facts about George Washington

Big Idea:

Big Idea: There are 4 major landforms: mountain, valley, hill, and ocean.

Learning Objective:Describe four types of landforms.

Big Idea: There were 4 main events and 1 outcome they are strength of Athens, attacks on Athens, epidemic or plaque, navy of Sparta, and dictatorship in Athens.

Learning Objective:Describe the events and outcomes of the Peloponnesian War.

Closure

1. What did we learn in this lesson?2. What are the 4 ways to model in declarative

lessons?3. How do we remember the 4 ways?

Q: Who teaches declarative lessons?

A: Every subject area, though most are found in science/history.

Examples:Math: Describe two dimensional figures based on their properties” (5th MG 3.1)ELA: Describe the overall structure of information in a text e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution (4th RI5)

Declarative Lesson Video:Joanne-landforms

Nicole-colonies

WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE LEVELS

Requires shallow understanding, verbatim recall or basic identifying

Includes engagement of some processing beyond recalling or reproducing, requires both comprehension

and subsequent processing

Involves reasoning, planning, explaining, generalizing or connecting ideas; students must be able to support

their thinking

Higher order thinking is central, application of significant conceptual understanding and synthesizing

ROTE REHEARSALDOK Level 1

• Used when a learner needs to store information exactly as it is entered into working memory

• Used when information needs to be learned in a specific form or sequence– Parts of a digestive system– Name the events leading up to the Revolutionary War

Rote rehearsal simply allows students to acquire information. It doesn’t ensure they understand the information or can apply it to new situations.

ELABORATIVE REHEARSALDOK Levels 2-4

• More complex thinking process that requires making connections to previous learning and assigning meaning.– Students use rote rehearsal to memorize the events leading

to the American Revolution, but elaborative rehearsal to understand how the events interacted and led to war.

If students are not explicitly taught how to practice elaborate rehearsal or how the expert thinks, they will resort to rote rehearsal.

Rehearsal Implications for Declarative Lessons

Rote Rehearsal

If students only use rote rehearsal tomemorize important facts they willdo fine on a true-false or fill in theblank test.

Elaborate Rehearsal

Elaborate rehearsal is necessary inorder for students to answer higherorder questions that have themapply their knowledge to newsituations.

Questions for planning my Guided Practice:

1. How am I having my students rehearse?2. What synthesis questions can I ask to provide opportunities for elaborate

rehearsal?

• From the Greek “MNEMA” – to remember• Increased rate of storage• Reduction, rhyming, & replacement

Mnemonic Devices

Reduction

• PEMDAS – Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication,

Division, Addition, Subtraction

• FAN BOYS– Common conjunctions (for, and, nor,

but, or, yet, so)

• HOMES- Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior

Rhyming

• In 1492…

• i before e, except after c

• Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived (the wives of Henry the Eighth)

Replacement• My very excellent mother just served

us noodles (planets)

• Never Eat Soggy Waffles (north, east, south, west)

• Kings play chess on four green stools (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)

Recent studies show that the cerebellum plays an important role in attention, long-term memory, spatial perception, impulse control, and the frontal lobe’s cognitive functions – these are the same areas that are stimulated during learning.

Bower & Parsons 2003

“It seems the more we study the cerebellum, the more we realize that movement is

inescapably linked to learning and memory” Sousa

MOVEMENT

Organizers

• Thinking maps• Depth & complexity icons• Declarative vs. Non Declarative

• • •

• • •

• • •

Cause & effect

context

Sequence

• •

• •

• •

Sequence with details

Athens Sparta

Compare & ContrastWay of Life

Economy

Military

5 Functions of the Skeletal System

Support Protect Structure Produce Blood Cells Movement

What:

Where:

How:

Stamp Act No Representation Intolerable Acts Tax on Tea

Events Leading to the American Revolution

Genres

Fairytale Folktale Fable Myth Legend

Basic Plot:

Character:

Example:

Declarative Graphic Organizer

Brain research tells us that we can forget 80-90% of what we learn within 24 hours

Sousa 2006, Jensen 2005

Therefore……. It is better to teach smaller chunks, and have learners practice independently, than to teach large objectives that cannot be reached.

Instructional implications of the OWLS

What is Guided Practice in a Declarative Lesson?

• Learners aren’t practicing a skill. They are more fully engaging with the big idea.

• This should include multiple methods of rehearsal including

– Review information

– Make sense of information

– Elaborate on the details

– Assign value and relevance

An unreasonable expectation…

That learners are successfully able to complete the task after modeling. It is

during guided practice that learners begin to master the skill.

Gradual Release

First I Process, Check and Notes

First I Process, Check and NotesF I P C Nrame

nput

rocess

heck

otes

From Input to Notes in Declarative Lessons

1. Frame the Big Idea (graphic organizer)

2. Input (mindful of chunks and length of input)

3. Process (neighbor talk, questions)

4. Check for understanding (authentic)

5. Notes

In a lesson, key ideas to keep in mind regarding checking for understanding

You need to know who doesn’t know and what they don’t know- not what they think they know,

or you assume they know.

Choral response or calling out is a very popular, very self-affirming….very dangerous way of:

– Exacerbating the achievement gap– Being led to believe that students are able to move

to independent practice

In a lesson, key ideas to keep in mind regarding checking for understanding

Steps for Checking for Understanding at Key Points in Lesson

1. Pose the question to make all students accountable2. Pause to allow time for all students to develop an

answer3. Process to build language and develop soft skills4. Pick a non-volunteer

Does it convey the concept?

Big Idea Is it something the students can do to elaborately rehearse the

knowledge?Guided Practice

Does it allow the students to demonstrate their knowledge of

the learning objective?Independent Practice Does it provide

background knowledge or allow for further practice?

Activity either before or after

the lesson

When should I use my demonstrations or projects?

Some common conversations:

When do I do the vocabulary?

What about the fun activities in science, social studies?

Can I incorporate movement, music, dance?

I like to have them pre-read the content….

What about scholarly discussion?

Some processing questions

• How are declarative lessons currently structured?

• What does checking for understanding look like?

• Are graphic organizers provided to help students group the information?