Chief Dan George
1899-1981, Chief of the Coast Salish Tribe
If you talk to the animals, they will talk with you
and you will know each other. If you do not talk
to them, you will not know them. And, what you
do not know you will fear. What one fears one
destroys.
Knowing our students’ stories:
Teaching excellence with diverse learners
RCDE Faculty Retreat, February 3-4, 2011
Carol Rosenthal, Director
Academic Resource Center, Logan campus
Teaching excellence…
• Ensures engaged, active, relevant learning
experiences.
▫ Weave instruction with students’ “stories”
• Hones teaching basics.
▫ Simple, yet elegant solutions
• Embraces fresh perspectives and methods.
diverse learners….
• Represent richness and heterogeniety.
• Need their “stories” known and integrated into
instruction.
▫ Encourages trust, rapport, motivation, effort
▫ Discourages fear, anxiety, isolation, pessimism,
(learned) helplessness
Discovering richness
• First week exercise: Learn student stories
▫ “What are some of your family and cultural
strengths?”
▫ “What are some talents and skills evident in your
family?”
▫ “If I were to walk into your home, describe what
I would find that helps me know (you) (what you
are most proud of) (how you are unique).”
Weave stories into content instruction
• Applications, metaphors, examples that fit
students’ stories
▫ Oil worker
 Chemistry, Economics, USU 1300…..
▫ Returning vets
 Physics, Sociology…..
▫ Non-traditional students
 Accounting, Psychology……
▫ Other examples?
KWL: “stories” to prepare for learning
K
▫ What do you already now about _____? (and
how did you come to know it?)
Want to know about _____?
▫ What did you Learn about _____?
▫ What do you
 How will you Use what you learned?
What drives students’ stories about learning?
• Dr. Marlene Schommer-Aikins, Wichita State
University
Beliefs about knowledge and learning affect:




active participation
persistence
reading comprehension
learning in complex or poorly structured
environments
Beliefs about learning
Omniscient Authority
Certain Knowledge
Simple Knowledge
Fixed Ability
Quick Learning
Professor responsible <-------> self-responsibility
Static <------------------------------------ > Dynamic
Fact bits <------------- Concepts & relationships
Innate <------------------> effort: learn how to learn
One time <--------------------------> Time/effort
Counterproductive
Productive
Think-Pair-Share
• What beliefs do you see most prevalent in your
students?
▫ In what ways do the beliefs show?
• Guiding students through teaching methods
• All-knowing authority
• Collaborative, active learning
• Problem-solving tasks
• Certain, unchangeable knowledge
• Structured controversy
• Exposure to evolution of view
points
• Simple knowledge
• Teach about Bloom’s
• Think Alouds
• In-class demonstration of complex
tasks
• Reflection writing
• Quick learning
• Share your experiences
• Explicit and implicit study
strategies instruction
• Fixed, innate ability
• Role models
• Scaffolding learning
• Tap into current abilities (use
their “stories”)
Wait time
…Think Time
Essential teaching strategies
“Wait time” as an instructional tool
Dr. Mary Budd Rowe,
1925-1996
1972 study
Average wait time < 2 seconds
Increase to >3 seconds = improved
Logic
Language
Length & correctness of responses
 Volunteered answers

 Variety of questions
 Higher level of thinking
“I don’t know”
 No response

 Amount (quality vs quantity)
• “Wait time” is really “think time”
▫ uninterrupted silence by teacher and
students so both can complete
necessary information processing
(Stahl, 1990)
 on-task thinking
Information processing
• Exercise: cats and dogs
• Multiple cognitive tasks take time
• We need uninterrupted time to process, reflect, think
of response
• How often are students typically provided sufficient
time?
Types of “think time” silence
1. After teacher asks a question

Clear question with adequate cues

“What is the difference between a change on the
demand curve and a shift of the entire curve”?
2. During a student’s response

Allow hesitation as student continues
3. After a student responds

Other students need time before they comment
4. Teacher pause time

Consider what your next statement or behavior will be
Effects of increased think time
• More questions asked
• More accurate and complex responses
• Students initiated discussions more frequently.
• Teachers’ questions = fewer and higher quality
Think time works with all learners,
especially certain cultures.
English Language Learners:
BICS & CALP
• BICS: Basic interpersonal
• CALP: Cognitive academic
communication skills
language proficiency
▫ Day-to-day language
▫ Content-specific
▫ Meaningful context
▫ Low context: lectures,
textbook
▫ Low cognitive demand
 Language not specialized
▫ High cognitive demand:
 language and concepts
▫ Acquired in 6 months-2
years
▫ 5-7 years acquisition (7-10
years if low or no native
proficiency or schooling)
Advance Organizers: Vocabulary “Wall”
Presidential
election
Cell division
Age of
Discovery
• Electoral college
• Primary
• Meiosis
• Mitosis
• Potosi
• Kunta Hara
Advance Organizers: Key questions
Age of Discovery, 15th-17th c.
How did silver from the “New World” transform European
civilization?
Keywords: Potosí
Key Questions:
1) What triggered the Great Age of
Discovery?
2) How does silver transform the
global economy?
Questioning Techniques
“The most powerful technology we have in
education is the ability to ask good questions”.
“Always the beautiful answer/who asks a
more beautiful question.”
ee cummings
Beautiful Questions help students
“dive deep”
• Beautiful questions move students from
“Beginner” to “Expert” thinking levels:
▫
▫
▫
▫
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation
How do we learn: beginner to expert
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking & Learning
Evaluate
Can you evaluate, judge,
make informed opinion?
Analyze
Can you break info. into parts
and examine?
Apply
Can you apply what you know
to “real life” situations?
Deep learning
Comprehend
Can you put information into your own words,
explain to others accurately
Knowledge: (memorize)
Can you recognize and recall information?
Shallow learning
• Do you have any questions?
• Are there any questions?
• What questions do you have?
How do students typically respond to these
types of questions – and why?
Students don’t always know what they don’t know
or understand. Or they need a specific focus.
Do you have any questions?
 Okay, so summarize why it’s important to use Think Time. (a great
Think/Pair/Share)
 Which of the following is the better example of an application level question
and why?
Are there any questions? What questions do you have?
 In the past two lectures, I covered the following concepts. What parts are still
confusing for you?
 What would you like me to explain better ? What can I clarify?
 I know this topic can be really confusing. What things are still unclear or don’t
make sense to you?
Give students permission to be confused.
Beautiful questions
Don’t just
happen.
Take
effort &
practice
Model for your
students how they
need to think.
• Brief, active (I-Clicker)
• Students process individually & together
• Effective for beginning and ending class
▫ Helps you avoid the “What questions do you have?”
trap
• Great during lectures (with Think-Pair-Share)
Select the best response.
Example
Jean stole a loaf of broad in order to feed his starving
family. What level of moral development would say that
what he did was “OK”?
A. Pre-Conventional
B. Conventional
C. Post-Conventional
D. Les Miserables is a sweet musical, I don’t care if it
makes me less of a man!
Correct the error
The Equilibrium Constant
Reactant
K=1
Product
[Products]
K = [Reactants]
K<1
K>1
Compare or contrast
Example: Compare Alpha vs Beta Decay
relative to radioactive decay.
Relative size
Alpha decay
Beta decay
Particle charge
Reorder the steps
Example
Drawing stereo-images
1. Identify the molecule as R or S.
2. Create a 3-D drawing of the molecule.
3. Draw the mirror image of your 3-D molecule.
4. Draw a "mirror".
Teaching students how to learn
• Note taking
systems: how to
“dive deep”
▫ Summaries
▫ Self-test questions
• Cornell
system/adaptations
Strategic reading
• Think Aloud textbook tour
▫ “architecture” of the text
Teaching students how to learn
Visual organizers:
match how information
is organized to the
learning task
Why teach visual organizers?
Words
alone not
sufficient
Humans
seek
patterns
Elaborative
rehearsal =
long term
memory
How we organize information
affects comprehension!
Patterns help us learn & remember
CATs
• Classroom Assessment Techniques: Thomas
Angelo & Patricia Cross 2nd ed., 1993, Jossey Bass
• Informal, consistent monitoring of students’
learning
• Feedback: Are they getting it? >>> teaching
effectiveness
Minute Paper
• Quickly assesses student learning vs teacher’s perceptions
• Students evaluate and self-assess
▫ How well did I understand?
Examples
▫ What was most confusing about ____________?
▫ What is the single most significant reason Italy became
a center of the Renaissance?
▫ List the 3 most important points from today’s lecture?
Class opinion poll
Step 1: Please respond to each of the following statements:
strongly agree (1)……..I’m neutral (3)………I strongly disagree(5):
1.
2.
3.
4.
I need to change my teaching methods to improve students’
critical thinking.
I can’t take time in class to add activities or discussion.
I’m reluctant to create any more I have to respond to.
If students don’t take responsibility, what I do doesn’t matter.
Step 2: Discuss answers with your partner.
Step 3: Show of hands poll (I-Clicker). Discuss with class.
Defining Features Matrix
 Analytical skills (Bloom’s)
 Concepts and facts
 Implicit and explicit study strategy (how to
organize information to see relationships)
Example
CAT
Teacher-directed
+
Standardized & validated
Focused on classroom teaching
and learning
Institutional
assessment
+
+
Replicable
+
Useful to administrators
+
Feedback for teachers and
students
+
+
“Misconceptions/Preconceptions”
• Gauge where students are
• Develop students’ ability to distinguish between fact
and opinion
• Determine, develop openness to new ideas
Question: What makes the seasons change on Earth?
1.
Sort explanations into categories (e.g., correct; “weather”,
“distance”, “other”) Perfect for I Clicker!
2.
Quick discussion to explain choices - Think-Pair-Share
3.
Assignment: Students research which answer is correct
and explain in short paper.. Class discusses evidence for
each position.
4.
Professor concludes explaining why other models are
reasonable, though incorrect.
Muddiest Point
What was the muddiest point in……lecture, video, lab,
discussion, presentation?
 Instructor responds in next class with discussion,
activity, additional simulation
One more….
• What do you want your professor to Start,
Keep Doing?
Start Doing
Stop Doing
Source: Teaching Professor: Magna Publication
Keep Doing
Stop,
ARC: www.usu.edu/arc
Study Smart Starter Kit