Administrative Council
January 17, 2010
Big idea
Why are learning
strategies so
important?
Agenda
Before
9:00 – 9:15 –Activating prior knowledge
During
9:15 – 9:35 –What is this about and why are we
here?
9:35 – 10:10 –What does AFL data tell us about
learning strategies?
10:10 – 10:20 – Coffee break
10:20 – 10:50 –How does this look in real life?
After
10:50 – 11:00 –Assess and reflect (return to anticipation guide)
Essential questions
 How are learning strategies part of every subject area?
 How do I recognize learning strategies when I see
them?
 Are there certain strategies that hold more importance
than others?
 Do we have any data that tells us how we are doing on
learning strategies?
 How will this be reflected in UbD plans?
Activating prior knowledge
Complete the Anticipation
Guide at you table. Reflect on
what you already know to
answer your questions.
What is a learning strategy?
 Learning strategies are the thoughts and actions we engage
in, consciously or not, to learn new information.
 The goal of explicitly teaching learning strategies is to help
students consciously and metacognitively focus on how
they learn so they apply strategies before, during, and
after engaging with texts across all subject areas. Students,
over time, will develop skill in using multiple strategies
which they can then independently apply to new and
different situations.
Airplane analogy
 Destination – Outcome
 Connecting flights – learning experiences
 Strategies – Strategies
Telling students: “Make sure you make your connecting
flights” is like telling them about the outcome without
equipping them with strategies on how to do so.
Strategies – check the departure board, make sure you
have your carry on, pack entertainment for layovers,
find your gate early, look for signs, etc.
So how is a learning strategy different
from an instructional strategy?
Learning strategy
Instructional strategy
Activating prior knowledge
K-W-L
Anticipating author’s message
Think-pair-share
Pausing, thinking and making notes
T-chart
Consider illustrations
Picture walk
The reality
Have you ever been disengaged?
Why did this happen?
When is this a reality for students
in our schools?
Visualization
 Imagine a time when you were highly engaged in a
text, whether it be a novel, a movie, a television
program or a speaker.
 Think about how it felt to be engaged. How would you
describe this experience?
 What kinds of strategies did you use to increase your
comprehension or understanding? Did you think
about these things as you engaged in the text?
 People who are good at comprehension and creation,
are equipped with strategies to do what they do so
well.
Strategy proficiency
People who are “good” at comprehension and creation:
 Consider the text
 Question the author (or director or actor or…) and the
information
 Solve problems while engaging in the text
 Enjoy humour
 Savour interesting language (visual, written, spoken)
 Marvel over fascinating facts
 Wonder what may happen next
Strategy challenges
The elements learners bring to a text are:
 Word recognition knowledge
 Vocabulary knowledge
 Background knowledge
 Linguistic and textual knowledge
 Ability to infer meanings
 Ability to use strategies when comprehension or
composition is challenged
 Motivation and interest in engaging in text
This makes the teaching of learning strategies so
important!!
Brain research
 Research shows that students can only make sense of
texts, either through composition or comprehension,
by attaching new information and ideas onto old
schema.
 Students do not often come equipped to do this on
their own. Engaging in a learning event or linking one
learning event to the next is not easy and must be
taught explicitly.
A caveat
Teaching learning strategies must be explicit
but…
if we don’t go to the next step to discuss
how using the strategy helps us understand
text more deeply, then we are teaching a
strategy for the sake of teaching a strategy.
Return to the anticipation guide
 How did the strategy of activating prior knowledge
(learning strategy) through the anticipation guide
(instructional strategy) increase your ability to
understand this professional development
session?
 Why do we activate prior knowledge? How does it
help with our ability to comprehend and respond?
So why does this matter for everyone?
 Every single thing students do in every single class is
part of communication.
 When students read a science textbook, they are
reading to understand. When they create a poster in
health, they are composing a representation. When
they give an oral presentation, they are speaking.
 If you have ever wondered why students submit a less
than quality product in any subject, it is because they
did not use learning strategies effectively before,
during and after their learning experiences.
What we want to know…
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Are they engrossed in the text?
Are they asking questions?
Are they recording connections?
Are they noting significant or key ideas from quotations,
illustrations, or a speech?
Can they summarize what they’ve read or heard?
Can they make inferences?
Can they have deep conversations about what they are
reading or viewing or hearing?
Are they open to other viewpoints?
Do they reread or revisit portions of the text?
Middle and secondary
 Reading at the secondary school level is more
demanding, in part because the texts are longer and
more complex, in part because the expectations for
prior knowledge are so high, and in part because the
concepts become more abstract and complex.
 Reading in the domains is reading to learn, but it
nevertheless requires that young people also learn to
read these specialized texts. Subject matter teachers are
the best people to teach youth how to make sense of the
texts of those domains.

Comprehension Across the Curriculum: Perspectives and Practices K-12, Ganske and Fisher, 2010
Multiple subject areas
 A significant difference between expert and novice
mathematicians and between high and low performing
students is in their use of metacognitive skills during
problem solving. Whereas novices tend to read the
problem and then use trial-and-error methods to solve
it, experts devote considerable time to analyzing the
problem, planning, and verifying the results of their
chosen strategy.
Schoenfeld, 1987
Revisit your anticipation guide
Can you add to your
understanding?
What have you learned?
Assessment for Learning (AFL)
 Reading 2009, 2007
 Mathematics 2009, 2007, 2005
 Writing 2010, 2008
 Treaty Essential Learnings (TELs) 2010, 2009
 With each of the above two categories emerge:
 Performance Data
 Opportunity-to-Learn Data
Opportunity-to-Learn Data
 Two sets for each subject/grade level
1.
2.
Teacher Questionnaire Data
Student Questionnaire Data
Are there surprises within data? (Either teacher and student
surveys.)
Are there specific data pieces within OTL that, when
shared with teachers, would be beneficial for them?
Groupings for AFL
 Reading (4)
Reading (7) Reading (10)
Perry Mamer
Shelly Pierlot
Rodney White
Cory Froehlich
Jill Clapson
Kelly Christopherson
Brian Anderson
Eric Hufnagel
 Writing (5)
Writing (8)
Writing (11)
Randy Kerr
Brenda Gabriel
Trevor Norum
Neil Finch
Ken Okanee
Dean Armstrong
Yvonne Day
 Math (5)
Math (8)
Math (20)
Randy Steciuk
Trevor Wasilow
Wade Rolles
Rocky Chysyck
Trevor McIntyre
Jerry Heffernan
Bryan Young
Engaging in the data
Look at the AFL Assessment
data in assigned groups.
Note any patterns or trends in
the data. Are there surprises?
What should we share with
teachers?
Trends in the NESD
Areas of challenge
RAD – making predictions, justifying opinions,
identifying strategies
Reading – Reader Response
Writing – Expository, effective strategy use, organization
Math – Complex problem-solving, effective strategy use
*in many cases, the challenge seems to be moving from
adequate to proficient
Remember
Assessing student
comprehension, composition
and strategy use is not the
same as teaching students to
use strategies!
Constructing understanding
 Groups
Math
Jerry Heffernan
Rocky Chysyk
Jill Clapson
Trevor McIntyre
Phys. Ed
Rodney White
Randy Kerr
Perry Mamer
Neil Finch
ELA
Dean Armstrong
Ken Okanee
Brenda Gabriel
Robert Moore
Social Studies
Wade Rolles
Yvonne Day
Randy Steciuk
Health
Shelley Pierlot
Brian Anderson
Eric Hufnagel
Trevor Norum
Science
Cory Froelich
Kelly Christopherson
Trevor Wasilow
Bryan Young
Task
 Look in your envelope and read the task students will
need to do in your subject area.
 Using the planning sheet and the learning strategy
“menu”, choose the strategies that will be essential for
students to learn in the process of achieving the
outcome.
 If time, next to the learning strategies you have
chosen, jot in instructional strategies that may be used
to help students arrive at their destination.
Recognizing learning strategies
In UbD plans – Learning
Plan section
In the classroom - video
Task #2
Goal: Comprehend & Respond: READING, listening
Compose & Create:
WRITING
Assess & Reflect
Essential Questions: What makes poetry fun to read?
What are some of the features of poetry?
Why is poetry a unique way to express you?
1. BEFORE: Use following questions as prompt for journal writing
entry: a) How many times have you been asked, “What do you want to
be when you grow up?” Make a list of ten possible answers-real or
funny.
b) Think of a poem or a rhyme that you can say off by heart.
Write it down and explain why you remember it.
c) What do you think about poetry? Explain why you feel the way
you do.
2. DURING: Read, “When I Grow Up” for enjoyment. On second
reading, identify message. (Reader response: Personal/Critical
thinking) Read a third time and listen for rhyme scheme to identify
pattern of rhyme (couplets).
3. AFTER: Discuss how rhyme pattern adds to the enjoyment of text
and distinguishes the writing form. Consider how rhyme links to
memory. Think of nursery rhymes you can say off by heart.
Identify other features of poetry (expresses strong
feelings/emotions; figurative language; concise, takes grammatical
liberties to reflect message, can be humorous, etc.)
4. AFTER: Experiment with rhyming words.
5. AFTER: Brainstorm some of the challenges of growing up. What
changes and challenges are you facing? What are some of the pros
and cons of getting older? What are some of the challenges you will
face in the future? Experiment with rhyming couplets, to express
some of the issues that come with growing up. Develop these ideas
into a poem. Self reflect on poetry writing. (see attachment)
Other Poetry/Song Selections
“Yesterday” (Cornerstone)
“Moths and Moons” (Collections: Looking for Answers)
“I Want to Be” (Collections: Looking for Answers)
“Sunrise, Sunset” (Fiddler on the Roof)
“Cats in the Cradle” (Harry Chapin)
“I Will Take Care of You” (Amy Skye)
“Butterfly Kisses” (Bob Carlisle)
Video examples
Continuum of learning
I do, you watch
I do, you help
You do, I help
You do, I watch
Wilhelm, Baker & Dube Hackett, 2001
Introducing a new strategy
 Name the strategy to be learned.
 State the purpose of the strategy
 Explain when to use the strategy
 Link prior knowledge to the new strategy
 Demonstrate the use of the strategy
 Talk about errors to avoid when using the strategy
 Check the use of the strategy

Adapted from Differentiated Professional Development by Linda Bowgren and Kathryn Sever, 2010.
For more information
 Curriculum Corner – quick tour
 ELA curricular documents
 Metacognition, Strategy Use, and Instruction, Waters
and Schneider eds., 2010
 Comprehension Across the Curriculum: Perpectives
and Practices K-12, Ganske and Fisher eds., 2010
 Orchestrating Success in Reading, Reithang, 2002
 Teaching Students With Reading Difficulties and
Disabilities, Saskatchewan Learning, 2004
Essential questions
 How are learning strategies part of every subject area?
 How do I recognize learning strategies when I see
them?
 Are there certain strategies that hold more importance
than others?
 Do we have any data that tells us how we are doing on
learning strategies?
 How will this be reflected in UbD plans?
Revisit your anticipation guide
Can you add to your
understanding?
What have you learned?