Marzano’s Essential Instructional Strategies

Amory School DistrictPresenters:Tony Cook

Andrea Patterson

Top Three Instructional Strategies that

Affect Student Achievement1. Identify Similarities and Differences

(45% gain)2. Summarizing and Note Taking

(34% gain)3. Reinforcing Effort and Providing

Recognition (29% gain)

Research from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)

Identifying Similarities and Differences

Identifying Similarities and Differences

• Identifying similarities and differences helps students understand more complex problems by analyzing them in a simpler way.

Four Strategies for Similarities & Differences1. Comparing is the process of identifying similarities

between or among things or ideas. The term contrasting refers to the process of identifying differences; most educators, however, use the term comparing to refer to both.

2. Classifying is the process of organizing things into groups and labeling them according to their similarities.

3. 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 has the same general pattern.

4. Creating analogies is the process of identifying relationships between pairs of concepts---identifying relationships between relationships

From Classroom Instruction That Works

Importance of Identifying Similarities &

Differences• Identifying similarities and differences is the

process of comparing information, sorting concepts into categories, and making connections to existing knowledge. Simply put, identifying similarities and differences helps us make sense of the world. We ask, “Is this like that?” By answering the question, we enhance our existing mental representation or abstract schema for the information. This increases the likelihood that we will make connections to the schema when we encounter more new information and be able to make sense of that information.

From Classroom Instruction That Works

Recommendations for Classroom Practice on

Identifying Similarities & Differences

a. Use comparing, classifying, creating metaphors, and creating analogies

b. Give students a modelc. Use a familiar context to teach

stepsd. Use graphic organizerse. Guide students

Similarities and Differences

• Teachers can either directly present similarities and differences, accompanied by deep discussion and inquiry, or simply ask students to identify similarities and differences on their own.

• While teacher-directed activities focus on identifying specific terms, student-directed activities encourage variation and broaden understanding, research shows.

• Research also notes that graphic forms are a good way to represent similarities and differences.

Similarities & Differences: An Instructional Strategy

• As an instructional strategy, it includes various activities that help learners see patterns and make connections.

• For example, students compare things that are similar and contrast things that express differences. They classify when they identify features or characteristics of a group of objects or ideas, and then develop a scheme to organize those objects.

Similarities & Differences: An Instructional Strategy

• Metaphors are created when two ideas or experiences are compared based on a common underlying structure.

• Analogies provide another way to identify similarities and make comparisons.

• Each approach helps the brain process new information, recall it, and learn by overlaying a known pattern onto an unknown one to find similarities and differences.

Examples of Similarities & Differences Strategy

• Use Venn-Diagrams or charts to compare and classify items

• Engage students in comparing, classifying, and creating metaphors and analogies

Comparing• The identification of important characteristics

is the key to effective comparison.• These characteristics are then used as the

basis to identify similarities and differences.Marzano, 2001

For example:

Recognize and compare the following plane and

solid geometric figures: square, rectangle,

triangle . . .

Graphic Organizer For Comparing

Graphic Organizer For Comparing

Classifying

• The process of grouping things that are alike into categories on the basis of their characteristics.

• It is critical to identify the rules that govern class or category membership.

Marzano,2001

For Example:

• Invertebrates-animals without a backbone or spinal column

• Vertebrates-animals with a backbone or spinal column

Comparing Terms

• Sentence Stems provide very structured guidance for students, thus helping them to avoid common errors in their thinking.

____________ and ______________ are similar because they both _______________________.______________________________________________________________________________

Sentence Stems____________ and ______________ are similar because they both ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________ and ______________ are different because ________________ is ___________, but ___________ is _________.________________ is ___________, but ___________ is _________.________________ is ___________, but ___________ is _________.

Sentence Stem ExamplesThe sun and moon are similar because they both are in space.Influence our lives and our moodsShine

The sun and moon are different because the sun is about 93 million miles away from the Earth, but the moon is only about 250,000 miles away.The sun is made of gases, but the moon is made of rocks.The sun influences the temperature, but the moon influences ocean waves.

Graphic Organizers For Classification

Place categories in column headingsmost useful when all categories are equal in generality

Graphic Organizers For Classifying

more useful when all categories are not equal in generality

Creating Analogies

• Analogies help us to see how seemingly dissimilar things are similar.

• They increase our understanding of new information (most complex).

-Marzano,2001

Analogy Examples

• Carpenter is to hammer as painter is to brush.

• Hot is to cold as night is to day.

• Oxygen is to humans as carbon dioxide is to plants.

• Core is to earth as nucleus is to atom.

Analogy Activity

• Have students read “Analogies” by Lynnette Sandvold independently or with a partner. Ask students to evaluate the analogies in the reader’s theater script.

• Extend the piece by having students to create another analogy and write additional lines.

• Students can present their finished script to their peers.

Interactive Read-Alouds by Linda Hoyt (Grades 6-7)

Creating Metaphors

• Metaphors expose how objects or ideas that seem quite different might actually be, at a more general level, very similar.

• Example: “Love is a rose.”The concepts love and rose, taken literally, are very different. However, they have general attributes in common; for example, they both have qualities that attract people, and they both can cause pain.

Senior English VideoMaking Sense of Symbols, Patterns, &

Themes• In this video 12th grade English students search

for meaning in a novella and its graphic novel • Questions to Consider:1.Why is it important for students to compare

ideas (symbols vs. patterns, text vs. graphic novel)?

2.How does Ms. W hold each group accountable for its work?

3.Identify specific moments where Ms. W's questioning helps students better understand the book's meaning.

Grades 2-3 Science VideoDichotomous Key

• In this multi-age classroom students use a dichotomous key to classify shoes and then apply that to a cactus.

• Questions to Consider:1. How does starting with shoes help students learn

about using a dichotomous key?2. What advantages exist in having students identify

plants outside instead of plants in a book?3. How could you adapt this lesson plan to work

near your school?

Activities For Identifying Similarities &

Differences

Candy Bar Measurement

• Divide students in groups of 3 or 4.• Distribute a variety of candy bars to each group.• Students will work cooperatively to predict the

length, width, and weight of each candy bar. Predictions will be recorded.

• Then students will measure and weigh the candy bars. Their findings will be recorded.

• Students will compare/contrast their predictions to the actual measurements.

Geometric Pop-Up Book

• This project gives students the opportunity to closely examine geometric shapes and their relationships to each other. Students describe two different shapes. Based on those descriptions, they are to compare similarities and differences of the shapes.

Fairy Tale Compare/Contrast Activity

• Assign students to cooperative working groups. • Each group will receive two different versions of a fairy tale.• Students will read both fairy tales and complete story maps

for each fairy tale.• Then students will note similarities and differences between

the two versions of the fairy tale.

Compare/Contrast Characters

• Students can create Venn-Diagrams using paper plates to compare/contrast the main characters in books.

Story Impressions

• Share a bag containing items from a “secret” children’s book.

• Work with students to create a story about these items.• Then share the “secret” book as a read aloud.• Compare/contrast the student created story to the

actual story using a Venn-Diagram.• As a follow-up activity students can work in cooperative

groups or pairs to complete a story impression of their own.

Graphic Organizers

Recommended Websites• http://www.inspiration.com/

Kidspiration• http://www.readwritethink.org• https://www.lucidchart.com/(FREE!!! Send an email requesting an account for every student in your class.)

Setting Objectives &

Providing Feedback

Setting Objectives

• When teachers identify and communicate clear learning objectives, they send the message that there is a focus for the learning objectives to come. This reassures students that there is a reason for learning and provides teachers with a focal point for planning instruction.

From Classroom Instruction that Works

Providing Feedback

• Providing feedback specific to learning objectives helps students improve their performance and solidify their understanding.

From Classroom Instruction that Works

Importance of Setting Objectives

• When teachers communicate objectives for student learning, students can see more easily the connections between what they are doing in class and what are supposed to learn. They can gauge their starting point in relation to the learning objectives and determine what they need to pay attention to and where they might need help from the teacher or others. This clarity helps decrease anxiety about their ability to succeed. In addition, students build intrinsic motivation when they set personal learning objectives.

From Classroom Instruction that Works

Importance of Providing Feedback

• Feedback provides information that helps learners confirm, refine, or restructure various kinds of knowledge, strategies, and beliefs that are related to the learning objectives.

• When feedback provides explicit guidance that helps students adjust their learning, there is a greater impact on achievement, students are more likely to take risks with their learning, and they are more likely to keep trying until they succeed.

From Classroom Instruction that Works

Four Classroom Practices for Setting Objectives

1. Set learning objectives that are specific but not restrictive

2. Communicate the learning objectives to students and parents

3. Connect the learning objectives to previous and future learning

4. Engage students in setting personal learning objectivesFrom Classroom Instruction that Works

Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback

• Setting objectives and providing feedback provide students with a direction for learning.

• Objectives should not be too specific and should be adaptable to students’ individual objectives. There is no such thing as too much positive feedback; however, the method by which you give that feedback should be varied.

Tips for Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback

• Set a core goal for a unit, and then encourage students to personalize that goal by identifying areas of interest to them.

• “I want to know” and “I want to know more about” get students thinking about their interests and actively involved in the goal-setting process.

• Use contracts to outline the specific goals that students must attain and the grade they will receive if they meet those goals.

• Ask students to keep track of their progress or learning goals.• Make sure feedback is corrective in nature; tell students how

they did in relation to specific levels of knowledge. Rubrics are a great way to do this.

• Ask students to assess themselves at the end of a unit.

A well written goal should…

• establish direction and purpose• be specific but flexible• be stated in terms of knowledge

rather than learning activities• provide students opportunities to

personalize

Think, Pair, Share…

1. Write an effective classroom goal for the students you teach.

2. Share with a partner.

Providing Feedback

Generalizations based on research:1.Feedback should be corrective in

nature.2.Feedback should be timely.3.Feedback should be specific to a

criterion.4.Students can effectively provide

some of their own feedback.

Learning Activities

Fact-Question-Response

• A fact-question-response (F-Q-R) chart (Harvey, 1998) is an anchor chart that actively engages students in the reading of nonfiction material. The use of questioning and thinking strategies will help students identify what they still wonder about.

• It is a good idea to use three different colors of sticky notes to write down facts that are gathered, questions that arise, and responses to the reading that detail the readers’ opinions and reactions to the text.

F-Q-R New York Times Activity

• Chart your thinking as you read a New York Times article of your choice.

• In the “fact” column, record interesting or useful factual information you learn about the topic.

• In the “question” column, write a list of questions that occur to you as you read.

• Finally, in the “response” column, make a list of responses to the article, either as they occur to you or in direct relation to one of the facts or questions you’ve listed.

REFLECTION

• After students have completed their chart, gather them together to do some thinking about how this strategy worked for them.

1. How did the F-Q-R chart help you narrow your focus for research?

2. What did you discover about your topic that you might not have known before?

3. What are you still wondering about?4. When could you use this strategy again? 5. Can you take one of your responses and change

it into an essential question for further research?

K-W-L Chart

• Teachers often introduce a K-W-L (what I know, what I wonder about, what I learned) at the beginning of a unit of study.

• The K-W-L strategy allows students to take inventory of what they already know and what they want to know.

Providing Feedback During Writing Conferences

Peer Revision and Editing• These seem to be the hardest stages of the writing process for

students. The first time students revise and edit you’ll hear comments such as:

“It looks good to me!”“A+”“I don’t know.”“Good job!”• It is critical that students understand that their role is to help their

partner become a better writer, and the way to accomplish this is to find something that the writer can improve on. No one is perfect!

• Providing students with revision and editing checklists will help students stay focused on what they are doing and assist them in completing their task efficiently.

Providing Feedback During Writing Conferences

Teacher/Student Conference• Jotting down ideas and suggestions on small sticky

notes is one way to provide feedback. Be sure to write positive comments.

• Good questioning is the key to successful feedback!

Providing Feedback During Writing Conferences

“The teaching response is like water to a growing plant. If you water it well, it will grow strong and healthy. Too little water produces puny plants. And, of course, if we fail to water it, the plant

withers and dies.”

Karen Mendenhall, Making Response Meaningful

10 Student Self-Evaluation Questions

1. What is the best part of my piece of writing?2. Did I stay on the topic assigned?3. Is my presentation adequate? How could it be improved?4. Can you tell I know about my subject?5. Did I use complete sentences?6. Did I use correct punctuation, capitalization, and spelling?7. Is my writing lively and entertaining?8. Is my paper easy to read aloud, or is it a rough read?9. Have I used colorful words?10. Do I have a clear beginning, middle, and end?

Third Grade Writing Process Video

• The video consists of three short segments of steps in the composing process.

• Segment 1 features two students providing feedback during the editing stage of the composing process.

• Segment 2 features A. Patterson and a student in a writing conference.

• Segment 3 features a group of students providing feedback on the publishing stage of the composing process.

Learning Activities Assessed With Rubrics

When Do I Use a Rubric?

• Rubrics are best suited for situations where a wide range of variation exists between what’s considered very proficient and what’s considered not yet proficient.

• Teachers have found rubrics to be very useful in providing guidance and feedback to students where skills and processes are the targets being monitored.

• Examples of skills/processes that adapt well to rubrics include the writing process, the application of scientific inquiry, thinking skills, and cooperative working.

The Educator’s Network

A to Z Book

• This activity is a great research activity to use in any unit of study.

• Use M Is for Magnolia: A Mississippi Alphabet Book as a mentor text.

Sample A to Z Book Activity

• A 5th grade class recently studied the Revolutionary War.

• Each student was assigned a letter of the alphabet.

• Students had to select a word related to the Revolutionary War beginning with their assigned letter and research their chosen word.

• Students added their research and illustrated their page of the book and shared with their peers.

• Students were assessed with a rubric.

Your Turn!Create a Rubric

• Work with a partner or small group to create a rubric for the Stand Up and Deliver Speech.

• Use the following website to create your rubric:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/