Culture, Curriculum & Pedagogy

SCSU EDU200 Professor M. Bless

Spring 2014

A Nation at Risk & NCLB

• 1983 Government report: A Nation at Risk:• 13 percent of all US 17-year-olds in the considered

functionally illiterate• Steady decline in science achievement scores of U.S.

17-year-olds from 1969-1977• Remedial math courses in public 4-year colleges

increased by 72% between 1975-1980• Suggested solution: reform our Nation’s schools

• 2001: No Child Left Behind Act• Emphasis on testing & accountability• Tied to funding

Think and Write:

• What is school culture and how is it created?

4-4

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

• Positive teacher-student relationships are associated with:

Increasing student understanding and meaningfulness of what is being taught

Feeling a sense of personal empowerment

Decreasing incidences of depression

Improving self-confidence

Reducing student stress

Developing resiliency

Improving creativity

Other???

4.3

4-5

THE AMERICAN FAMILY

Figure 4.2

SOURCE: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011.

4.4

4-6

CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY

SOURCE: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011.

4.5

22% of American children live in poverty.

4-7

BOOKS AND SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS

Figure 4.3

SOURCE: Adapted from Royal Van Horn, Bridging the Chasm between Research and Practice: A Guide to Major Educational Research. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2008), p. 32.

4.6

4-8

KINDERGARTNERS READ TO DAILY

SOURCE: Adapted from Royal Van Horn. Bridging the Chasm between Research and Practice: A Guide to Major Educational Research. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2008), p. 33.

4.7

Income

Per

cen

t o

f C

hild

ren

4-9

WORDS IN THE HOME

SOURCE: Adapted from Royal Van Horn. Bridging the Chasm between Research and Practice: A Guide to Major Educational Research. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2008), p. 39.

4.8

Family Income

Nu

mb

er o

f W

ord

s

4-10

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES

Figure 4.4

SOURCE: Education Week, Diplomas Count 2012.

4.9

What Teachers Teach

Lesson Design

Learning Objective

sCurriculu

mCCS

Standards

6-12

SHAPING THE CURRICULUM

Figure 6.1

6.5

Curriculum

• Formal/explicit curriculum

• The formal written set of courses and content

• Hidden/implicit curriculum

• Competition, rule following, embarrassment, rejection, reward & punishment, American values & culture

• Null curriculum• What gets left out—controversial texts,

history, sex education, etc.

• Extra-curriculum • Sports, drama, clubs, etc.

6-14

FORMS OF BIAS•BIAS

•Invisibility

•Stereotyping

•Imbalance/selectivity

•Unreality

•Fragmentation/isolation

•Linguistic bias

•Cosmetic bias

•EXAMPLES

Student-Generated Responses

6.8

Grouping & Tracking

• Ability grouping (AKA homogeneous grouping) = the practice of grouping students by “ability” or performance level

• Tracking = students rigidly tracked into levels with no opportunity to improve or take more challenging courses

• Heterogeneous grouping = grouping students all together regardless of “ability”

What is Worth Knowing?

2 Ways of Conceptualizing Knowledge

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001

DOK is about depth and complexity—not difficulty

• The intended student learning outcome determines the DOK level—What mental processing must occur?

• It is what comes after the verb that is the best indicator of the rigor/DOK level:• Describe the process of photosynthesis• Describe how the two political parties are alike

or different• Describe the most significant effect of WWII on

the nations of Europe

Hess’s Cognitive Rigor Matrix

• What type of thinking (verbs) are needed to complete a task?

• How deeply do you have to understand the content to successfully interact with it?

• How complex or abstract is the content?

Bloom: Webb

What is Pedagogy?

• “..effective teaching is not some complex combination of talent, technique or long experience” (Schmoker, 2011)

• “…for outstanding teachers, the root cause of success is not some gift but work ethic, diligence, and high personal standards” (Lemov, 2010)

• Pedagogy = the “science” of teaching

Teaching Job #1: Classroom Management

Creating a climate for learning by:

• Establishing routines & procedures

• Planning for instruction• Physical space• Affective environment

• Developing presence

4-24

SCHOOL TIME

SOURCE: From Jon Goodlad, A Place Called School (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984/2004).

4.1

Direct Teaching

• Based on an apprenticeship model

• Teacher-centered—teacher as expert

• Highly structured

• Teacher presents new material

• Students practice the material

• Teacher assesses student performance

• Teacher gives feedback

Teaching Strategies: Wait Time

• Average teacher wait time is 1 second, but...

• When wait time increases to 3 seconds:• The length of student responses increases• More frequent, unsolicited contributions (relevant to the

discussion) are made• An increase in the logical consistency of students'

explanations occurs• Students voluntarily increase the use of evidence to

support inferences• The incidence of speculative response increases• The number of questions asked by students increases• Greater participation by all learners occurs

• Beginning-End-Middle Principle (AKA the primacy-regency principle)• Students learn most from the beginning and end of an activity

• Chunking lessons into 3-5 learning activities minimizes “middles”

Teaching Strategies: Brain-Based Learning

Cooperative Learning

• Small group learning

• Student-centered

• Differentiated

• Students learn from each other

• Teacher acts as a facilitator

Mastery Learning

• Teaching philosophy in which students must demonstrate “mastery” before moving on to the next level

• Student-centered

Differentiated Instruction: Definition 1

“In the context of education, we define differentiation as a teacher’s reacting responsively to a learner’s needs…The

goal of a differentiated classroom is maximum student growth and

individual success.”

Tomlinson & Allan, 2002

SERC 200932

Differentiated Instruction: Definition 2

Curriculum differentiation is a process teachers use to enhance student learning by matching

various curriculum components to characteristics shared by subgroups of learners

in the classroom (e.g., learning style preferences, interests, prior knowledge,

learning rate).

Purcell & Burns

2002

SERC 200933

Differentiated Instruction: Definition 3

Differentiating instruction is doing what’s fair for students.  It’s a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students’ learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated.  It requires us to do different things for different students some, or a lot, of the time. It’s whatever works to advance the student if the regular classroom approach doesn’t meet students’ needs.  It’s highly effective teaching. (Wormeli, 2007)

SERC 200934

Teachers Can Differentiate...

What...• Content- deciding which

content is essential and making strategic decisions about what to focus on

• Process- engaging students in inquiry-based learning tasks with real world application

• Products-developing performance tasks in which the student rehearses, applies or extends what he or she has learned

• Learning Environment- creating a welcoming, safe, and academic learning environment

According to...• Readiness- offering a

range of learning tasks (concrete or abstract; simple or complex; more structured or more open, etc.)

• Interests- allowing students to have a say in how they will apply the key skills being studied

• Learning Profile- taking into account the students’ learning styles & ways of knowing

Differentiated Instruction Is...

• A student-centered philosophy of teaching that directly opposes tracking/ability grouping

• Predicated upon a growth mindset

• Requires 75% planning time /20% teaching time

• Multifaceted

• Intended to be doable for targeted lessons or learning tasks

Student Differences for Teachers to Consider

• Prior knowledge, readiness• Cognitive processes/thinking skills• Reading level• Interests, strengths• Motivation, attitude• Technology skills• Communication preferences• Learning style• Native Language