Over Spring Break, I attended the Assoication for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. I spent a whole day with Robert J. Marzano, widely known in Houston ISD for his work in the book, Classroom Instruction that Works: Researched -Based Strategies for Reaching Student Achievement.
Well in 2007, he published another book for educators entitled, The Art and Science of Teaching, and this was my favorite session I attended. One of the many nuggets I will share is the three ways that content might be approached in a given lesson. Marzano identifies them as follows:
- Critical Input Lessons - the content is new to students.
- Knowledge Practice and Deepening Lessons - the content has been presented previously and students are being asked to review and revise the content (transformation).
- Hypothesis Generation and Testing of Hypotheses - the content is being applied to new situations via robust or "real world" tasks that involve the generation and testing of hypotheses.
He reminds us that each type of lesson requires specific and unique teacher behavior.
Now, you may be thinking this is nothing new in education, however, are all educators using them appropriately in designing lessons to meet the needs of all students? There is a reason for so many low achieving students, and please do not say "It's the neighborhood." I have never met a student who did not want to learn, but I have met many who felt they were incapable of learning. An anonymous author once stated, "A sign of failure is to pass the blame to others."
It is time for us as educators to embrace one another and share what it is we are doing successfully and to ask questions on what we do not understand. Let us grow in knowledge together. Think on one or more of these questions and let me hear from you.
- What are some ways you develop rapport with your students?
- What teaching strategies do you use in teaching new concepts/skills to your students?
- How do you keep your students actively engaged in the lesson?
- How do you know students have internalized the information before you choose to take a grade on an assignment?
- How do you assist students in making a connection with new learning to their previous experiences and background?
Thank you for sharing…. it’s nice to finally have a visual of Marzano. As to your questions, I think it’s important to first see where your students are coming from. This way, you can modify your approach to address their needs and learning styles. I always go by some ESL strategies like TPR and Comprehensible Input (of course with the use of the Marzano strategies). Not only does it make learning fun, having relevance and coherence aids and pushes them to greater understanding.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely gift this morning. I was reading Teaching High School Science Through Inquiry, by Douglas Llewellyn last night and it really hit on so many key points that you have mentioned above. The section in the book that I really enjoyed was on discrepant events,demonstrations or activities that can create mind-engaging lifelong learning, based on students observing unexpected results. It addresses how these contradictory results have a motivational impact that can be profound. The activity or demonstration has to be followed by probing question that peaks that level of interest and curiosity in the students. Unfortunately, too many teachers use "low- cost" discrepant events in their teaching. I could go on and on about this book. I do believe the title of the great book should have been Teaching Through Inquiry.
ReplyDeletewhat a great opportunity...and picture.
ReplyDeleteWow Corina!
ReplyDeleteMay I touch you? The respecatable Robert Marzano. I concur with Janice - nice to know what the fella looks like.
I admire your initiative! I'm proud to know a lifelong learner. You're a great asset to our team.