Welcome to CORE 06:Contextualized Instruction

Across Content Areas!

Steve Schmidtabspd.appstate.edu

828.262.2262

Notable Quote“Ultimately, the most important learning occurs in the context of our day-to-day life, the aspirations we pursue, the challenges we face, and the responses we bring forth.”

- Peter Senge

Please Write on this Packet!You can find everything from this workshop at: abspd.appstate.edu Look under: Teaching Resources and scroll down to CORE Workshops

Agenda8:30 – 10:00 What is Contextualized Instruction?

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:45 Strategies for Contextualized Teaching

11:45 – 12:45 Lunch

12:45 – 2:00 Contextualized Lesson Planning

2:00 – 2:15 Break

2:15 – 4:00 Exploring Contextualized Resources

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This course is funded by:

What is Contextualized Instruction?Contextualized instruction answers the, “Why are we learning this?” question and gives meaning to learning. It connects what we teach to our students’ lives in their real world roles as family members, employees, and community members.

Simply put, it is connecting academic content to the context of students’ personal knowledge, experiences, and interests.

Source: ABSPD and Gillespie

The contextual approach recognizes that:

Learning is a complex, multi-faceted process that goes beyond drill-oriented, stimulus-and-response methodologies.

Learning occurs when learners process new information in such a way that makes sense to them in their own frame of reference.

The mind naturally seeks meaning in context, in relation to a person's environment, doing so by searching for relationships that make sense and appear useful.

Source: CORD

Adult Learning Theory and Contextualized Instruction

Adult Learning Theory Contextualized Instruction Strategies

Adults are self-directed in their learning

Problem Based Learning

Adults have reservoirs of experience that serve as resources as they learn

Workplace activities Where have you seen this word/skill/activity before? Where in a job or everyday life would you use this

word/skill/activity?

Adults are practical, problem-solving-oriented learners

Problem Based Learning Project Based Learning

Adults want their learning to be immediately applicable to their lives

Real Life Scenarios Thematic Instruction

Adults want to know why something needs to be learned

Real Life Scenarios Reflection opportunities Career exploration

Why Contextualize Instruction?Research has shown that contextualized instruction:

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is a promising practice for strengthening basic skills while simultaneously providing career content for lower-skilled adults. Contextualization enhances students’ motivation, engagement, persistence, and success while improving their career knowledge and readiness (Jobs for the Future, 2013)

improves students' motivation to persist in their education and pursue further academic and career courses (LINCS, 2013)

“Promotes short-term academic achievement and longer-term college advancement of low-skilled students” (Perin, 2011)

The WIOA legislation says that adult basic skills education programs should provide instruction in career pathways that use “occupationally relevant instructional materials.” (WIOA, 2014)

Contextual Learning Theory“According to contextual learning theory, learning occurs only when students process new information or knowledge in such a way that it makes sense to them in their own frames of reference (their own inner worlds of memory, experience, and response). The mind naturally seeks meaning in context by searching for relationships that make sense and appear useful.

Source: CORD

Contextualized Instructional Techniques

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Project-Based LearningStudents work in groups to research a topic of interest and produce a product (event, model, three panel display board, etc.)

Example: “When learners at the Canton, Ohio, Even Start Program decided to set up a family math night for their elementary school, they divided into committees based on their learning goals. Octavia, who had set a math goal, volunteered to be on the budget committee. Rosa, who had a writing goal, served on the committee that wrote a proposal to the principal requesting permission to do the project. Lou, who wanted to improve her computer skills, helped create a flyer to advertise the program.

“After the project was over, the program provided learners with a form to help them reflect on what they could do now that they could not do before. Octavia noted that although she already knew how to add, subtract, and multiply decimals, she had not known how to use those skills to prepare a formal budget. Already she had used what she had learned to develop a personal budget at home. Rosa wrote that this had been the first time she had written anything that would be read by someone as important as a principal. She realized that she had good ideas she could express through writing. Learning in a real-life context had made it easier for these students to see how they could transfer what they had learned to other contexts” (Meyer, 1999 in Gillespie, 2002).

Found Real Life Lessons Teaching using life situations students bring up in class (job challenges, stretching budgets, etc.)

Example: “Jim Carabell (1999) describes how he helped one of his students to see how important and meaningful learning activities can be “found” in the events of everyday life.

“One day, after beginning a math lesson with Tammy, a 22-year-old single Vermont parent working toward her GED, she mentioned that a state trooper might interrupt their lesson that day. She told Jim how she was in the process of trying to untangle herself from the complications of buying a $500 car from her brother, who, through a series of events, didn’t hold the title.

“Jim stopped what he was doing and began helping Tammy to fill out the papers she had received from the trooper at the police barracks. Together they wrote an explanatory letter to the DMV, made a couple of informational phone calls, and copied and mailed the key information to the DMV. At the end of their time together, Jim was able to show Tammy how much she had learned through this ‘unintentional’ lesson. Tammy saw that she had achieved some of her broader purposes for learning.

“She had learned to gain access to information, give voice to her opinions, and act independently. What’s more, she had worked in [writing skills, research skills, solving problems and making decisions]. As Tammy considered how she might use these writing, research, and problem solvingskills in other parts of her life, such as in her role as a parent, she expanded her mental model of learning and became aware that her time with Jim had indeed not been wasted” (Gillespie, 2002).Problem Based Learning

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“Problem Based Learning is a student-centered approach in which students learn about a subject by working in groups to solve an open-ended problem.”

Example: “[English Teacher] Keller may focus a part of his course on the issue of hunger. He starts with students reading Growing Up Empty—a book that claims America is experiencing a hunger epidemic. He then engages students in a class debate on food stamps and other potential solutions to hunger. Using an additional reading that focuses on the use of food stamps as an intervention, they are required to work in teams to develop positions for and against making food stamps more accessible. Following, students write an essay based on these readings that describes issues of hunger in America and then argues for a solution to the problem. To add further perspective, students subsequently read and discuss Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World.

“Building on these hunger-focused reading and writing assignments, Keller then engages his students in a voluntary service project on a Saturday. For example, students have volunteered at Samaritan House, a local food distribution center. Students can participate in the service project and write a reflection paper in lieu of a final exam . . . The final essay involves students informing the reader about the nature of the problem of hunger and reflecting on their own service experience. Keller requests an introduction that frames the problem based on the semester’s readings and additional research on the issue locally; he also requires students to reflect their observations from the service experience.”

(Definition from Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation, example from Baker 2009).

Thematic InstructionThematic instruction is teaching lessons around themes like a book, solar energy, social justice, exercise, etc. All areas of the curricula are connected to the chosen theme. Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire knowledge best when learning in the context of a coherent “whole,” and when they can connect what they are learning to the real world. Thematic instruction seeks to put the teaching of cognitive skills such as reading, mathematics, science, and writing in the context of a real-world subject that is both specific enough to be practical, and broad enough to allow creative exploration.

For example, students may study immigration and its effects on their community. This topic would involve reading, math, writing and social studies. The best themes are ones that students choose based on their interests.

Source: Thematic Definition from Funderstanding Web Site

REACT: How to Teach Contextually

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Relate: Learning in the context of one's life experiences or pre-existing knowledge

Many adults have life experiences where they have used math concepts like percentage often without even realizing it. Explaining an abstract concept like percentage is so much easier if we can relate it to something a student has done before like buying something on sale or having FICA deducted from their paychecks.

Experience: Learning by doing, through exploration, discovery, and invention

Think back to the lessons you learned in school that have stuck with you over the years. Why do you remember them? Many you remember probably involved experiential learning. An old saying goes, “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.”

Apply: Learning by putting skills to use

Help students use the knowledge they have gained in situations they will use in their families, in their work, and in their communities. In shopping, when would it be better to use a $20 off coupon or a 20 percent off coupon?

Cooperate: Learning through sharing with, responding to, and interacting with others

When students work together as a team to achieve a goal, their brains’ need for a social learning environment is met. Studies also show that cooperative learning results in much higher achievement than when students work alone. Additionally, today’s workplace structure demands that employees know how to function well as part of a team.

Transfer: Using knowledge in a new context or different situation

Students can transfer their skills when they are given opportunities to take what they have learned in one area and practice using it in another. Knowing how to transfer skills is vital for our students as they compete for jobs in a workplace with rapidly changing technology and less job stability. Students more easily transfer their skills when they have occasions to apply what they have learned in many different situations. We can also assist students by brainstorming after lessons about how to use what they have learned in other areas. For example, after a lesson about writing formal emails to a work supervisor, students could brainstorm how this kind of writing could be used in other areas of their lives like sending emails to a landlord or a child’s teacher.

Contextualized Cartoon 6

What does this cartoon have to do with contextualized instruction? Explain

Contextualized Lesson Planning Using Backward Design

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1. Begin with the End in Mind - What should students know/be able to do at the end of the lesson?

- Look at the NCCCS Standards

- Look at the skills necessary for success in career pathways/transition to post-secondary education and training

- Set objectives Example: Students will find the mean, median, and mode of a data set

2. How Do We Know They Know? – What assessment will I use to measure understanding?

Example: Given a prompt, students will write an email to their boss using a professional tone and formal style

3. Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

- How will I help my students meet the learning goal?

- What instruction and activities will help them learn the curriculum?

- Contextualize lessons with REACT:

Relate: Examples I will use to link this concept to what my students already know

Experience: Authentic hands-on activities I will use to make this concept real for my students

Apply: Activities I will use to show how this concept is used in career pathways/transition to postsecondary/integrated English and Civics

Cooperate: Group problem solving activities that help students reinforce their learning and build team work skills

Transfer: Students take what they have learned and apply it in new situations and contexts

Sample Contextualized Lesson Plan

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Title: Fix My Email! Time Required: 1 to 2 hours

Lesson Contextualized Toward: ☒Career Pathways ☒Postsecondary Transition ☐English Literacy/Civics

Benchmarks Taught: W.3.4.3, W.5.4.1, W.5.4.3, W.5.4.5

Objectives/Learning Goals:

Students will be able to:

- describe email’s importance in the workplace- compose an effective email using specific guidelines- apply their knowledge to re-write a poorly written email and send an effective email- demonstrate digital literacy skills including how to compose, edit, and send an email

Rationale: Why should my students learn this?

Emails are one of the most common forms of communication in today’s workplace. Using email properly can help students get and keep jobs. Emails are also essential for college students.

Materials/Resources Needed:Handouts: - Five Tips for Writing an Effective Email - Computer access appropriate to send emails - Sample Bad Email - Sample email prompt

Procedure/Instructional Outline:I Do:1. Begin class with a mystery (Guess how many emails are sent each year?) and then fun facts about email (https://www.lifewire.com/how-many-emails-are-sent-every-day-1171210). 2. The instructor will share stories about their experiences with emails in the workplace focusing on unprofessional email use (using all caps, sending angry emails). After watching the video Email in Real Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTgYHHKs0Zw), students will be asked to share their experiences sending/receiving poorly written emails. There will be a brief discussion about why emails are misunderstood (cannot hear tone of voice, no non-verbal cues).

3. The instructor will discuss the importance of using email properly in the workplace. (Cover letters and thank you notes can help get a job, proper use of email can help keep jobs).

4. The instructor will go over the handout Five Tips for Writing an Effective Email and students will discuss the article with a partner identifying the key part of each of the five tips.

5. The instructor will do a think aloud and begin the process of improving the Sample Bad Email.

We Do:

6. Students will complete the process of fixing the Sample Bad Email in small groups and share their responses with the whole group.

You Do:

7. Given the sample prompt, each student will compose an email focusing on applying the Five Tips9

for Effective Email and send it to another student (copy to the instructor). The instructor and students will evaluate each email.

8. Students are asked about how email/workplace communication is done in job fields they are interested.

9. For homework, students are assigned to write an email in an appropriate workplace style.

Contextualization Guide:

Relate: Examples I will use to link this concept to my students’ background knowledge.

- Students are asked to describe their prior experiences with email

Experience: Authentic activities I will use to make this concept real for my students.

- Students will edit actual poorly written workplace emails

- Students create workplace appropriate emails

Apply: Activities I will use to demonstrate how this concept is used in daily life and/or careers.

- Discussion about how email is important in job search and job retention

Cooperate: Activities I will use to engage students in team building/cooperative learning.

- Students discuss the Five Tips for Writing an Effective Email with a partner

- Students work in groups to revise emails

Transfer: Activities I use to help students know application of this concept to other areas/careers. - Students discuss how email/workplace communication happens in career fields of interest

Homework Assignment: Activities my students will use outside of class to apply this concept.

- Student are asked to create and send a workplace appropriate email

Contextualized Teaching in Action “[The Utilities and Construction Prep Program] focuses on preparing students to enter employment or apprenticeship in the construction trades and utilities as well as matriculate into college credit

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courses. In turn, these sectors serve as the context for building students basic English and math skills.

“English instructor Dodge describes her component of the program as “English for Contractors.” Instead of reading Wuthering Heights, I have students read articles from Fine Home Building. I assign reading pertinent to construction.” She describes developing students’ grammar, reading comprehension and composition skills by “going in through the back door.” Dodge notes the challenge of engaging students with the necessity of building English skills when preparing for a field such as construction. “To them, construction is about digging holes and building walls. I had to gain their trust before I could even begin addressing [skill development].”

“To do so, she often starts class with a warm-up, such as a review of construction vocabulary terms, to focus their attention on the utility of improving their English skills to their goal of employment. “When I start with a term that may be unfamiliar to them, it helps them realize that ‘maybe I don’t know everything I need to’ and then I can work from there.”

“Dodge begins her course with a focus on grammar to ensure a common foundation for subsequent reading comprehension and composition instruction. In-class activities to develop students’ grammar skills such as subject/verb agreement focus on construction and utilities situations. She then moves to texts that focus on a particular aspect of construction, say building a table, and works with students to analyze those readings to develop their comprehension skills.

“Math instructor Vessella speaks of how the context of construction lends itself naturally to developing students’ math capacity as the job commands that students utilize a range of basic skills such as fractions, decimals, multiplication, subtraction and beginning geometry and algebra . . . “For example, I teach them the Pythagoreom Therom and the 3-4-5 triangle rule. If a triangle is 3 feet on one end, 4 feet on the other and the hypotenuse is 5 feet, then the corner should be square. We then go into the lab and construct the triangle and if the corner isn’t square, they can use the Theorem to figure out why. Or, I give them 10 feet of lumber and ask them how many pieces they can cut if I need two foot sections.” To demonstrate their knowledge of ratios and scale, Vessella asks students to create a scale for and draw a 20 x 20 foot room based on paper with 2 x 2 inch squares, each of which represented five feet. Students then have to locate various items in the room based on the scale.

. . . “Lots of students did not have success in school, particularly with math. It’s the typical story where students say, ‘why do I have to learn this…I’m never going to use it.’ We put that to rest. When you’re on a job site, math is as valuable a tool as a screw driver or a power saw. Just cutting at random doesn’t do any good. Knowing where to cut is critical. They’ve been resisting math all their life and now we have to fundamentally change the game.” Unlike Vessella, Hanley tends to start instruction by engaging students in hands-on construction activity and then moves to identifying the math theory or English competency being developed as appropriate. He finds this helps students connect better to the theory, provides them a starting point for why or how something works the way it does and again, reinforces the relevance of further developing their capacity with a given math or English competency.”

Source: (Baker, 2009)

Contextualized Teaching in Action Part 2

Horticulture11

“A contextualized math activity I have used was the horticulture lessons on perimeter, area, and volume. We made two small gardens behind our ABE building. To prepare for this I taught the students what perimeter was. We learned how to solve perimeter problems using worksheets for practice. Then we learned about area and volume as well. For a real world application, we measured where the gardens were going to go. We bought railroad ties and placed them and then measured the perimeter. Next, we figured the area and decided how many plants could go into the gardens. Last, we figured the amount of soil would be needed for the garden by using the volume formula. Soil and plants were purchased based on what the students wanted to try to grow. They watered the plants throughout the summer and were responsible for harvesting the vegetables in the fall. It was a great learning experience for all of the students. Next time, I can have students figure surface area for the borders of the garden. Also, another math component could be to figure the cost of the total project where x represents the costs of the plants, y represents bags of soil, etc. Or I could have students figure the cost of all the railroad ties using the proportion equations. I learned that students do love to have something to show for their work. I saw a unity and possession of learning through this project." (Hartley, 2018)

Using Real Life Data“Several months ago when we had a very bad drought of students (during the summer), I decided to pull up attendance records with my students and go over some of the statistics. This worked for mean, median, mode, maximum, and minimum. We were also able to look at trends in the data and I used it as a great opportunity to show them how to input data into a spreadsheet. (I used Google Sheets.) I was able to present the attendance across a few different types of visual models and we were able to use the data to try and predict certain things such as which days were most populated, etc.

Because of attendance being such an obvious and relevant set of data, it was actually quite useful for helping my students visualize information. Especially since they could pay attention to it every day.”

(Lynch, 2018)

Adult Education and WIOA’s Integrated Education and Training

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The finish line has changed for our programs. It is no longer get your High School Equivalency (GED, TASC, HiSET) and see ya later! Now it is: “Completion of high school is not an end in itself but a means to further opportunities and greater economic self-sufficiency. “ (WIOA Key Provisions)

Integrated Education and Training is:

1. Literacy Instruction (We have always done this but now with contextualized instruction)

We should contextualize instruction toward:

- Career pathways - “Use occupationally relevant instructional materials”- Transition to postsecondary education/training- English literacy/civics and career pathways (ESOL learners)

“The adult education component of the program must be aligned to the State’s content standards”

2. Workforce Preparation Activities (Employability Skills)

“Help participants acquire a combination of basic academic, critical thinking, digital literacy, and self-management skills including: using resources, using information, working with others, understanding systems, and gain the skills necessary for successful transition into and completion of postsecondary education/training/employment”

3. Occupational (Job) Training

Use partnerships like a community college’s certification and degree programs and NC Works

Career Context Framework13

Tier 1: Career Infused - For students in ABE levels 1-3 and ESL levels 1-5

- Teaching academics contextualized to career clusters

- Do career awareness

- Do career exploration

- Have students do self-assessment and career planning

Tier 2: Career Focused - For students in ABE levels 4; ASE levels 5-6; ESL level 6

- Focus on specific career cluster based on students’ interest, selected occupational program of study, and/or high demand jobs in their area. Courses are often offered in sequential or co-enrollment delivery formats.

Source: McLendon, 2013

Are You Teaching Contextually?1. Are new concepts presented in real-life (outside the classroom) situations and experiences that are

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familiar to the student?

2. Are concepts in examples and student exercises presented in the context of their use?

3. Are new concepts presented in the context of what the student already knows?

4. Do examples and student exercises include many real, believable problem-solving situations that students can recognize as being important to their current or possible future lives?

5. Do examples and student exercises cultivate an attitude that says, “I need to learn this”?

6. Do students gather and analyze their own data as they are guided in discovery of the important concepts?

7. Are opportunities presented for students to gather and analyze their own data for enrichment and extension?

8. Do lessons and activities encourage the student to apply concepts and information in useful contexts, projecting the student into imagined futures (e.g., possible careers) and unfamiliar locations (e.g., workplaces)?

9. Are students expected to participate regularly in interactive groups where sharing, communicating, and responding to the important concepts and decision making occur?

10. Do lessons, exercises, and labs improve students’ reading and other communication skills in addition to scientific reasoning and achievement?

What Will I Do With What I Have Learned?1. What strategies do you want to try in your classroom?

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2. How will you do the strategy?

3. How will you know whether this new strategy has an effect on student learning?

Research BaseAdult Basic Skills Professional Development. (2011). Contextualized instruction. Boone

NC: Appalachian State University. Retrieved from https://contextualizedins.appstate.edu/

Baker, E. D., Hope, L., & Karandjeff, K. (2009). Contextualized teaching and learning: A faculty primer. Sacramento, CA: Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges.Retrieved from http://www.cccbsi.org/Websites/basicskills/Images/CTL.pdf

Center for Occupational Research and Development. (1999). Teaching mathematics contextually: The cornerstone of tech prep. Texas: CORD Communication, Inc.

Gillespie, M. (2002). EFF research principle: A contextualized approach to curriculum and instruction. EFF Research to Practice Note, 3, 2–8. Retrieved from http://www.edpubs.gov/document/ed001934w.pdf

Jobs for the Future (2013). Contextualizing adult education instruction to career pathways. Retrieved from https://www.smc.edu/AcademicAffairs/Workforce/Documents/Career%20Ladders%20Project%202014/Section%205%20Resources/Contextualizating%20Adult%20Education%20Instruction%20Career%20Pathways.pdf

McLendon, L. (2013). Contextualization: Creating career-infused classrooms, a toolkit for instructors. Texas Learns.

Perin, Dolores. (2011). Facilitating student learning through contextualization (CCRC Working Paper No. 29, Assessment of Evidence Series). New York, NY: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Wiggins, P. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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