Best-Practice Instruction
in Birdville ISD
Crysten Caviness
Curriculum Management Specialist
Birdville ISD
Best-Practice Instruction
Objectives
Explore BISD’s Learning Platform
Identify, analyze, and apply Marzano’s 9 bestpractice strategies
Make connections between the work we have
been doing in BISD and the next steps we
need to take
Brainstorm classroom applications for the
strategies we apply to our own learning today
Explanation Game
BISD Alignment Model
BISD Learning Platform
BISD Learning Platform
STUDENT-
COGNITIVE
CENTERED
Standards
INTERACTIVE
Student-Centered
The focus is on what
STUDENTS do, not what
the teacher is doing. It is
about the LEARNING.
Students will be involved
in more authentic tasks
that are challenging and
provide experiences that
lead to holistic learning.
Cognitive
This is about the RIGOR higher-order, conceptual
learning.
This represents the THINKING
required by the standards.
Learning causes students to
construct their thinking
according to their
developmental stage.
When they can reflect upon and
express this, their thinking is
made visible and teachers can
better assess their levels of
cognition to determine
necessary scaffolding.
Interactive
This is about the dynamics
and structures of the class,
as well as the locus of
control.
Teachers empower students
to be more accountable for
their own learning and
provide opportunities for
sociable collaboration that
allows students to interact
not only with each other, but
with their own learning.
Learning expectations for students
Teachers deeply understand the content,
context, and cognitive requirements of the
standards
Teachers explicitly communicate learning
expectations so students clearly understand
and can take ownership over their own
learning
Teachers design learning tasks that closely
align to the content, context, and cognitive
requirements of the standards
Teachers and students monitor learning toward
achievement of standards
Feedback based on student performance
Mostly formative and reflective
Triangulation of data: numerical, descriptive,
observational feedback
Timing and efficiency of assessments
Feedback from teacher, peers, and selfreflection throughout the learning cycle
Authentic Student Tasks and Products
The focus is on what students are actually
doing each day
The work students do causes them to
engage in the content, context, and
cognitive rigor of the standards
Students are able to demonstrate
understanding of the connection between
the standards and their work tasks and
products
Best-practice strategies and structures
Robert Marzano and John Hattie have both done
extensive work in determining what effect certain
teaching strategies and structures have on learning.
How much do we know about these
best-practice strategies and
structures?
Best Practices
Average
Percentile
Point Gains on
Student
Achievement
Tests
Advance Organizer
How did this strategy push my thinking?
What processes did I go through in my brain
throughout the activity?
How could I use this to advance student learning in
my classroom?
5 Out of 9
We have already. . .
Used analogies to
find similarities
between concepts
and practices
Set objectives
Incorporated
Cooperative
Learning
Generated and
tested hypotheses
Begun an advance
organizer that also
serves as a guide
for note-taking
Setting Objectives
& Providing Feedback
Research:
•Students learn
more efficiently
when they
know the goals
and objectives
of a specific
lesson or
learning activity.
Cooperative Learning
Research:
• Organizing
students into
cooperative
groups yields a
positive effect on
overall learning if
approach is
systematic and
consistent.
Generating & Testing Hypotheses
Research:
•Generating and
testing
hypotheses
involves the
application of
knowledge, which
enhances
learning.
Generating & Testing Hypotheses
Examples of
Strategies
Problem
Solving
Invention
Investigation
Experimental
Inquiry
DecisionMaking
Questions, Cues &
Advance Organizers
Questions
• Help students analyze what they already
know
Cues
• Provide explicit reminders about what a
student is about to experience
Advance Organizers
• Help students retrieve what they know about a topic
and focus on the new information
Questions, Cues &
Advance Organizers
Recommendations:
Introduce new
vocabulary
Begin with student
predictions
Provide links to prior
knowledge or
experiences
Tell students the
topic of an article
they are about to
read
Provide ways for
students to
organize new
content
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Research:
The ability to break a
concept into its similar
and dissimilar
characteristics allows
students to understand
and solve complex
problems by analyzing
them in a more simple
way.
Identifying Similarities and Differences
-Comparing
-Classifying
• similarities
and
differences
• grouping
things that
are alike
-Metaphors
-Analogies
• comparing
two unlike
things
• identifying
relationships
between
pairs of
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Recommendations:
Give students a
model for the
process.
Use familiar content
to teach steps.
Give students
graphic organizers.
Guide students as
needed.
Identifying Similarities and Differences
Step 1
• Where does each Marzano category fit
on the learning platform?
• WHY?
Step 2
• What parts of the learning platform
remain?
• How does it meet and go beyond
Marzano?
Step 3
• How are these qualities SIMILAR and/or
DIFFERENT from what you already do in
your classroom?
How did this strategy push my thinking?
What processes did I go through in my brain
throughout the activity?
How could I use this to advance student learning in
my classroom?
Valuable Homework and Practice
Research:
•Both homework
and practice give
students
opportunities to
deepen their
understanding and
proficiency with
content they are
learning.
Increasing Value in Homework and
Practice
Non-Linguistic Representations
Research:
•Engaging students
in the creation of
nonlinguistic
representations
actually
stimulates and
increases activity
in the brain
Representations
NonNon-Linguistic
Linguistic Representations
Recommendations:
Generating mental images
Drawing pictures or
pictographs
Constructing graphic
organizers
Acting out content
Making physical models
Making revisions to
physical models, mental
images, pictures, graphic
organizers
Representations
NonNon-Linguistic
Linguistic Representations
Use Graphic Organizers to:
Make thinking
visible
Activate
current
knowledge
Present
information
Take notes
Summarize
information
Assess student
learning
Using Non-Linguistic Representations
Identifying similarities and differences
Using non-linguistic representations
Questions, cues and advance organizers
Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
Increasing value in homework and practice
Generating and testing hypotheses
Setting objectives and providing feedback
Incorporating cooperative learning effectively
Summarizing and note-taking
How did this strategy push my thinking?
What processes did I go through in my brain
throughout the activity?
How could I use this to advance student learning in
my classroom?
Reinforcing Effort &
Providing Recognition
Rewards do not
necessarily have a
negative effect on
intrinsic motivation.
Reward is most effective
when it is contingent on
the attainment of some
standard of
performance.
Symbolic recognition is
more effective than
tangible rewards.
(charts)
Reinforcing Effort &
Providing Recognition
Recommendations:
Recognize effort
& progress
throughout unit
Specific praise
Students chart
effort and
achievement
Intermittent
celebrations
Students record
progress toward
goals
Reinforcing Effort &
Providing Recognition
Summarizing and Note Taking
- encourages powerful
learning
- leads to deeper
understanding
- facilitates long-term
recall
Verbatim note taking is the least
effective way to take notes.
Summarizing
Recommendations
Verbal summaries
Written
summaries
Have students
paraphrase key
points
Graphic
organizers
Revise and
interact with
notes during and
after learning
Note Taking
Research
• Note taking and
summarizing are closely
related. Both require
students to identify what
is most important about
the knowledge they are
learning and then state
that knowledge in their
own words.
Note Taking
Recommendations
Explicitly teach
students a variety
of note-taking
formats
Provide an
organizer for
taking notes
Have students
revise and review
their notes
Provide an activity
for students to use
their notes
Headlines
Think
Write
Share
Discuss
Advance Organizer
How did this strategy push my thinking?
What processes did I go through in my brain
throughout the activity?
How could I use this to advance student learning in
my classroom?
Best-Practice Teaching
Involves
incorporating all
pedagogical
categories
All strategies will
not work all of the
time
Categories help us
select strategies
based upon their
purposes
Accounts for the
art and science of
teaching
Critical for the
shift to a learning
platform
Critical to ensuring
that all students
learn
Best Practices
We hit
them
all!
Professional
Development
Website
One step at a
time toward a
platform of
learning in BISD
http://schools.birdvilleschools.net/surveys