INCORPORATING RESEARCH SKILLS

ACROSS THE GRADE LEVELS

AND CURRICULUM

PRESENTED BY: KAREN HORNBERGER & AMBER SCHLOSSER

WHO WE ARE

KAREN HORNBERGER

• Librarian at Palisades High School AMBER SCHLOSSER

• English teacher at Palisades High School

HOW TO ACCESS THIS SLIDESHOWhttp://bit.ly/1rLOABU

OUR PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY Our group started three years ago with

the philosophy that we wanted to introduce students to research skills in various grade levels and various courses. We felt that we were isolating the skills to be taught mainly during the senior research paper process and worried that the students were not given enough time to master the skills and exhibit them during different curricular areas.

As a result, we developed a study group to approach our concerns.

THROUGH THIS PRESENTATION, ATTENDEES CAN…

Investigate a model on a research skills integration study group

Look through our resources and see which seem useful to utilize within their own programs

YEAR ONE2013-2014

GOAL ONE

Set a vertical alignment/scope and sequence to incorporate research skills into projects during 9-12 grade English and social studies classes.

GOAL TWO

Identify research skills (aligned with AASL standards) that we wanted to ensure were covered.

GOAL THREE

Survey former students and college librarians on preparedness concerns.

GOAL FOUR

To create and improve existing resources through:

• Design/test run new resources• Development of discussion questions• Examination of student work • Modify/tweak resources

GOAL FIVE

To develop a research check-in.

YEAR ONE ANALYSIS

WHAT WORKED WELL

• Set a framework based upon guidelines

• Improved resources• Research check-in procedure

(extremely valuable)

WHAT DID NOT WORK WELL

• Difficult to survey former students• Discussion questions were a good

idea but ones that were originally developed were not high level (Amber and Karen followed up by taking a course during year three)

Example of Research Check-in responses (teacher view)

YEAR TWO2014-2015

GOAL ONE

Coach/mentor within department.

GOAL TWO

Initiate middle school collaboration.

GOAL THREE

Research and differentiate between long and short term research.

GOAL FOUR

Begin to instruct students to evaluate sample work against rubrics.

GOAL FIVE

To develop a system for progress monitoring and feedback.

GOAL SIX

To focus upon teaching using primary source documents.

YEAR TWO ANALYSIS

WHAT WORKED WELL

• Beginnings of a research-centered relationship with middle school

• Student evaluation of sample work against rubrics (extremely valuable)

• Identifying short versus long term research opened an important discussion

WHAT DID NOT WORK WELL

• Coaching/mentoring (too hit and miss)

• Instruction on primary source documents needed to be stretched into English classes

YEAR THREE OUR CURRENT YEAR: 2015-2016

GOAL ONE

Incorporate scholarly journals and primary source documents into English classes more successfully.

GOAL TWO

Align with school improvement plan.

GOAL THREE

Create consistency with editing.

GOAL FOUR

Develop skill specific rubrics (along with modified versions).

GOAL FIVE

To create launchpads for units.

GOAL SIX

To align summer reading assignments.

YEAR THREE ANALYSIS

WHAT WORKED WELL…SO FAR!

• Skill specific rubrics• Google Site launchpads• Integration of scholarly journals

into English• Alteration of summer reading assi

gnments…so far ☺

WHAT DID NOT WORK WELL…SO FAR!

• Editing comment banks – not much feedback

PHILOSOPHIES

HELP TO CREATE CONSISTENCYDeveloping a Launchpad for important research units helps to have all teachers teaching the course access the same resources.

Integrating the same resources across the board helps students familiarize with expectations.

Offer to teach any lessons that you can.

Karen sat with each department and we determined in which units we would integrate which skills.

BE FLEXIBLE AND UNDERSTANDINGTrust teacher’s professional judgment. Don’t worry how teachers are using the resources; be happy that they are using the resources while trying to get them to use and understand consistent resources (English example with units & skill specific rubrics example).

Recognize not all teachers are trained English teachers. The teachers you work with may need professional development combined with patience and time to explain concepts that you want the students to understand.

Develop resources prior to running it by peers; limit to review/feedback.

View yourself as an educational support leader.

BALANCE THE WIDE PICTURE (SCHOOL AND DISTRICT GOALS) WITH SMALLER DETAILS (STUDENT READINESS AND RESPONSES)Work with students individually to see where they commonly struggle and try to develop assistive resources.

Align to wider (national, state, and school (local) goals.

Plan professional development on the larger level (inservice days) and the smaller level (ask to meet during department meetings, meet one-on-one, etc.)

Time to Explore!

Thank you! We hope our resources are useful to you!

Contact info:Karen: khornberger@palisadessd.orgAmber: aschlosser@palisadessd.org