I’m NOT a Reading Teacher; I’M A SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER!

92nd NCSS Annual ConferenceNovember 16, 2012Seattle, Washington

Where is Lancaster, PA?

LANCASTER CITY, PA FAST FACTS• Nicked named: THE RED ROSE CITY • Capital of the U.S. -1777• small city of 7 square miles • 56,000 residents• poverty level is 2x the state average • 900 homeless children in the city school district• driving distance to DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Delaware beaches & the Jersey shore• a vibrant scene of art galleries, theatres, clubs, coffee shops, restaurants, & independently owned stores   Educational Institutions:  basic ed. / higher ed. / community college / technical ed. public/private / charter / parochial / special-needs

• 1836-PA’s 2nd oldest district

Students: 11,000-57.9% Hispanic-19.4% Black-16.5% Caucasian- 6.2% Asian/Other

- 78% from Low Income - nearly 20% ELL population - nearly 20% IEP population

Schools: - 1 ECE-13 ELE - 4 MS - 1 HS Campus- 2 Alt Ed.

Staff: -1,645 Budget:

-$160 Million

Research says…Effective instructional principles embedded in content, including content-area teachers providing instruction and practice in reading and writing skills specific to their subject area, raises student achievement.

Did you know?

Inquiry activities, which engage students in analyzing immediate, concrete data, help them develop ideas and content for a particular writing task.

Is it true?

Yes, it is!

Low-ability students perform worse when grouped in homogeneous ability groups.

-HS Juniors proposing a solution to a Lancaster City recycling issue in their government course

Asking students to continue working on a task until it is completed and accurate (until the standard is met) enhances student achievement (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

What implications for teaching SS does this fact have?

Before you teach…Make them ready to learn by…

Prepare a series of statements important to the reading

Have students read selection or watch video or demo

Think it - Provide time to process new learning

Ink it - Reflect in writing Link it - Application to prior learning, new situations

Think it, Ink it, Link itStrategy

Creating graphic representationsMaking physical modelsGenerating mental picturesDrawing pictures and pictographs

Engaging in kinesthetic activities

Do you know what nonlinguistic examples are that foster vocabulary development?

How do you make time for literacy in a content area?

-make it part of the instructional delivery

Consider….

-HS freshman reading in an authentic setting

PAUSE to ALLOW PROCESSING

Pause briefly after asking a question as it increases the depth of your students’ answers.

Visual Learners

Do you vary your style?

Do you only teach the way you learn?

Use a variety of organizers to assist students who learn visually.

Do you use all three learning styles to teach 1 concept?

KEEP it NOVEL

Use a variety of TEACHING techniques to ensure the is ready to LEARN!

Research shows…

that you can either pay attention or make meaning. So time to process is essential to transfer learning to long term memory.

The more we can use nonlinguistic representations while learning, the better we can think about and recall our knowledge.

TRUE OR FALSE? TR

UE

Shower board can be purchased and cut into desktop size slates to be used with dry erase markers and an old sock for cleaning the board.

Resourcefulness & novelty - the secrets of effective teachers

How will I know my students are college & career ready?

They build strong content knowledge. They value evidence. They use technology & digital media

strategically & capably. They come to understand other

perspectives & cultures.

-HS junior looking for state specific books to research for her Government project

Brain research says….

Cognitive research shows that educational programs should challenge students to link, connect, and integrate ideas and to learn in authentic contexts, taking into account their perception of real-world problems.

Use these to improve writing achievement in grades 4-12:

SummarizationCollaborative Writing Word ProcessingPrewriting

Inquiry ActivitiesProcess Writing Approach Study of ModelsWriting for Content Learning

-MS 7th graders reading on a spring day

Using Questions to Describe a WordPerson Place

What does he/she look like?Where did he/she come from?Why is he/she important?

What does this place look like?Who went there or came from there?What happened there?Why was this important?

Thing Event

What does it look like?What does it do?How big is it?Where would I find it?

When/where did it happen?Why did it happen?Who was there?What happened after that?Why was this event important?

VOCABULARY

Then help them to see patterns since the brain seeks patterns, connections, and relationships between and among prior and new learning.

Want to get students to remember content?

Representing similarities and differences in graphic or symbolic forms enhances students' understanding of and ability to use knowledge.

Is SAME & DIFFERENT really that important?

YES!

Could this be the most critical part of learning for students?

Homework’s Value?

Homework assignments provide the time and experience students need to develop study habits that support learning.

-MS students in their Read 180 class on the software at their instructional levels

Effective learning results from students providing their own feedback, and monitoring their work against established criteria.

Did you know when using standards to write goals for students, the goals should not be too specific because if too narrowly focused, they can limit learning?

Summarize (CRITICAL SKILL)My Teacher’s Description My Description

In your own words, briefly describe the most important details in the content or text.

It is like when I say or write the important stuff in my own

words.

How I’ll Remember This Word

Additional Experiences/Connections

Elements in Programs Designed to Improve Adolescent Literacy

Achievement1. Diverse texts2. Text-based collaborative learning3. Intensive writing4. A technology component

CAN SS TEACHERS SUPPORT THESE?

-HS sophomore actively reading in his World Cultures’ class

CCSS: WORDS TO KNOW

“Overall effectiveness in teaching must be defined in terms of the one indisputable criterion for success – student learning.”

~ DR. ROBERT MARZANO

Identifying Similarities & Differences is KEY

This means let students develop their own thoughts.

Students benefit by being asked to construct their own strategies for comparing similarities & differences.

Life after HS graduation

Did you know that motivation & self-directed learning, which includes building motivation to read & learn and providing students with the instruction & supports needed for independent learning tasks, will make students ready for what they will face after graduation?

-self directed learning

What is a highly effective practice for raising academic achievement of adolescences?

SUMMARIZATION, which involves explicitly & systematically teaching students how to summarize text, is a CRITICAL SKILL.

Recognition of Achievement

Do you rely on one over the other?

Abstract or symbolic recognition has more impact than tangible things, such as gum, movie tickets, or prizes

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS: ELA SHIFTS to CONSIDER in SS TOO

teacher-prepared notes show students what is important and how ideas relate, and offer a model for how students should take notes themselves.

You already know….

linguistic and nonlinguistic forms -idea webs –sketches -informal outlines -combinations of words & schematics

Do you have your students take notes this way?

READIN

G

Marzano identifies these teaching strategies as the ones with the greatest effect on

student achievement!What SURPRISES you?

This is HIGHLY effective.

Provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation.

What does RESEARCH say supports struggling

adolescent readers?

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE WILL STICK, if the learning is . . . .

Writing strategies, which involves teaching students strategies for planning, revising, and editing their compositions, are most effective to build comprehension.

Want to increase comprehension of SS content?

-HS freshman independently reading at his Lexile level in his Read 180 class

-interdisciplinary teacher teams that meet regularly to discuss students andalign instruction

Is this a focus in education?

It should be!

Pausing to reflect on learning is effective for retention and deep understanding.

A picture is worth….

Visual representations help students recognize how related topics connect.

(NCTM 2000.)

Robert Marzano’s

Why do adolescent readers struggle?

1. The problem is not illiteracy, but comprehension.

2. The bulk of older struggling readers and writers can read, but cannot understand what they read.

What works better, incidental learning of vocabulary or direct teaching of it?

Research suggest, educatorsprovide explicit vocabulary instruction.

-MS 6th grader reading to first graders

Are your students writing enough?

Writing has been shown to be an effective tool for enhancing students’ learning of content material.

Cooperative Grouping

Are you using this strategy?

Organizing students in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups at least once a week has a significant effect on learning.

Provide direct & explicit comprehension strategy instruction.What to do if students don’t

get “IT.”

-motivation

What is a highly effective practice for raising academic achievement of adolescences?

I pledge allegiance to the ____ of the United States of America, and to the __________ for which it stands, one Nation under ___, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ___.

Time zones may divide our nation, but effective teaching practices can unify it.