Introduction to Instructional Strategies

Robert Marzano’s

Classroom Instruction that Works

Research Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement

Nine Research-Based Instructional Strategies

• Identifying similarities and differences

• Summarizing and note-taking

• Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

• Homework and practice

• Nonlinguistic representations

• Cooperative learning

• Setting objectives and providing feedback

• Generating and testing hypotheses

• Questions, cues, and advance organizers

Identifying Similarities and Differences

•Comparing is the process of identifying similarities between or among things or ideas.

•Contrasting is the process of identifying differences between or among things or ideas.

Graphic Organizers: Venn Diagram

Graphic Organizer: Comparison Matrix

•Classifying is the process of grouping things that are alike into categories on the basis of their similar characteristics

•Creating Metaphors is the process of identifying a general or basic pattern in a specific topic and then finding another topic that appears to be quite different but that has the same general pattern.

“Love is a Rose” – Metaphor

Literal: Love – Makes you feel happy, but the person you love can end up hurting you.

Literal: Rose - The blossom is sweet to smell and pleasant to touch, but if you touch the thorns, they can stick you.

Abstract: Something is wonderful and you want to be near it, but if you get too close, you might get hurt.

Creating Analogies

• the process of identifying relationships between pairs of concepts – in other words, identifying relationships between relationships.

Happy:sad::big:small

“Happy is to sad as big is to small”

Happy and big are opposites of sad and small respectfully.

Summarizing and

Note Taking

Summarizing

To effectively summarize, the student must

delete some information, keep some

information (citations), and substitute or

paraphrase information.

• Teach students the rule-based summarized strategy

using summary frames - guiding questions that drive summary writing

Teaching students reciprocal teaching strategies

restating, asking clarifying questions, going deeper into understanding

Note Taking

Note taking is closely related to summarizing

in that a student must determine what information is important. • Verbatim note taking is least effective.

• Notes are a work in progress.

• Notes should be used as study guides to prepare for tests.

Students must know how to use their notes to support their

learning (knowing and understanding).

Note-taking Formats:

• Informal outline notes• Teacher prepared notes• Webbing• Split page• Index card• Combination technique• Cornell Note-taking Method

Notes

Semantic Webs

Reinforcing Effort andProviding RecognitionPeople generally attribute success at any given task to one of four

causes:

• Ability

• Effort

• Other people

• Luck

WHICH IS IT?

Reinforcing Effort

• Belief that hard work and determination – effort – will lead to success has the greatest effect on achievement.

• Believing in effort can serve as a powerful motivational tool.• Teach students that effort can improve achievement – tell

stories and share• Ask students to chart effort and achievement

Providing RecognitionUsing recognition in the classroom:• Establish a clear rationale for recognition

• Understand the difference between effective (specific connection to a learning task/goal) and ineffective praise (generalized comments)

• Use recognition tokens

• Utilize the pause, prompt, and praise technique – ask students to stop their work, ask a guiding prompt, observe their use of the prompt/suggestion, then praise their success with the task.

Homework and Practice

Homework and practice provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding and skills relative to content that has been presented to them.

Nonlinguistic Representations

• Graphic organizers Venn Diagram, pie chart, concept web

• Pictographic representationsDrawing the human skeleton or Solar System

• Mental imagesMental picture of the knowledge – ex. force

• Physical modelsMath manipulatives, volcano, scale models

• Kinesthetic representationsRole play movement of planets, electric circuit

Mental Image for Inflation

INCOME PRICES

Cooperative Learning

• Positive interdependence – we are in this together

• Face to face interaction – assisting one another in learning and cheering each other on

• Individual and group accountability – each member must contribute to the group achieving its goals

• Interpersonal and small group skills – building trust and communication through activities of shared decision making and conflict resolution

• Group processing – reflecting on effectiveness and functioning of the group

Setting Objectives andProviding Feedback

Objectives:

• Set objectives that are not too specific

• Personalizing objectives

• Communicating objectives

• Negotiating contracts

Feedback:

• Use criterion-referenced feedback and explanationsspecific skill, compare to a performance standard

• Use feedback from assessmentsgive timely feedback on correct and incorrect items

• Engage students in peer feedbacknot grading, but clarifying what was correct/incorrect

• Ask students to self-assessask students to score themselves using a rubric or to summarize their progress on learning goals at the end of a grading period

Generating and Testing Hypotheses• System analysis

generate hypotheses that predict what might happen if an aspect of a system changes

• Problem solvingproblems that do not have clearly defined goals or have more than one solution; the kind of messy problems in life

• Decision makingmaking a prediction and weighing that prediction against other possible alternatives

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

• Historical Investigationconstruct and investigate a plausible scenario for an event from the past about which there is no general agreement

• Experimental inquirydescribe observations, generate explanations, make predictions, and test them in any class

• Inventioninventions should address this question “Shouldn’t there be a better way to….?”

Although some inventions change the world, some inventions make one small thing a little better.

Cues, Questions, andAdvance OrganizersCues and questions should:

• Focus on important informationtrigger students’ memories; identify important facts

• Use explicit cuesbest approach to elicit prior knowledge - KWL

• Ask inferential questionsquestions that help fill in gaps; how is this usually used?

• Ask analytic questionsquestions that require students to analyze and critique

Advance Organizers:

• Organizational frameworks teachers present to students prior to teaching new content to prepare them for what they are about to learn.

• Take the surprise out of what is to come.

• Help students retrieve what they already know about a topic.

• Focus the students on the new information.

Advance Organizers:

• Expository Advance Organizers

straightforward descriptions of the new content

• Narrative Advance Organizers

stories; stimulate students’ thinking and help make personal connections to the new information

• Teach Students to Skim

focus on and noting what stands out in headings, sub-headings, and highlighted information

• Use Graphic Organizers

visual representations of information the students are about to learn