Closing the Achievement Gap
for African American, Latino and
EL Students
2010-11 TOT, Session One
September 2010
Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD
Session Outcomes
Team members will:
• Understand about the physiology of the
brain as it relates to learning
• Understand the influence of teacher
expectation on students
• Know the definition and characteristics of
growth and fixed mindsets
• Be able to use language and strategies
associated with a growth mindset
Group Norms and
Individual Agreements
Norms for Discussions
Participate to the fullest extent
appropriate.
Listen to understand the position of
those with whom you disagree rather
than preparing a defense of your own
view.
Speak of your own thoughts, feelings,
and reactions rather than debating
those of others.
Seek common ground.
Do not divert the issue.
4
Two TOT Objectives
1. Building cultural understanding
a) Understanding how culture works
b) Learning culture-specific
information
2. Using culturally responsive
strategies
How We Learn
Daggett’s Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Model
Rigor
Relevance
How am I
challenged in this
lesson? What
support will I
receive to achieve
success?
What is the
purpose of this
lesson, and why
should I learn it?
Relationships
Does my teacher
care about me
and respect me?
Expectations for
Learning
“If I believed this student was
completely capable of learning this
content, what would I be doing right
now?”
Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162
Think · Pair · Share
Motivation
Think of a time when you were
successful in motivating a student.
What steps did you take to successfully
motivate them?
In order to successfully motivate this
student, I __________ .
Table Share
What challenges do you
encounter when motivating
students?
What were the common
challenges shared?
Defining the Language
New research tells us that
you can grow your intelligence!
You Can!
(and so can our students!)
The Formula
Input + Lifestyle = Brain Growth
Physical Model Building
As the presenter narrates the
process of growing your brain,
construct a physical model of the
brain using pipe cleaners.
How it works
Tag Team
Choose a partner.
Disassemble ONE of the partner’s pipe cleaner
neurons, leaving the other’s intact.
The partner with the shorter hair reenacts the
first step of the pipe cleaner activity being
sure to explain what s/he is creating.
Tag…the other partner takes over creating the
next step and explaining as s/he builds the
neuron.
Continue alternating steps until finished.
Here’s How
Input
Lifestyle
Powerful
learning
experiences
Deep practice
Brain foods
Sleep
Input
Powerful Learning Experiences
• Positive emotional connections to learning
• Student Engagement
• Relevance and Connectedness
Deep Practice
• Interacting with new knowledge
•Speaking and writing opportunities
Life style
Nutrition
Which foods grow your brain?
•Nuts
•Fish
•Protein
•Glucose (from whole foods)
Life style
Sleep
How does sleep affect learning?
• 8-10 hours every night
• The brain needs sleep to produce melatonin
• Melatonin helps with memory and learning
(myelination)
• It also helps people sleep deeply
The Two Mindsets
NOT
Are you
Fixed Mindset
OR
Growth Mindset?
BUT a continuum
X
Fixed
X
X
X
Growth
Easy v. Challenging Learning
Easy
Challenging
•Posess no proclivity
proclivity or talent
or even aversion
•Enjoyable
•Frustrating or stressful
•Immediate pay off
•Delayed pay off
•Emotionally connected •Little or no connection
•Early deep practice
•No (or few) previous
experiences
• Possess an early
What IS the optimal response to a
challenge?
• Utilizing opportunities for powerful
learning and deep practice
• Making healthy brain-friendly lifestyle
choices
• Responding to challenges in a “growthmindset”
(Dweck 2007)
Think · Pair · Share
 Consider a time when you
responded to a challenge with a growth
mind set
 Consider another time when you
responded to a challenge with a fixed
mindset
Jot down details about each example.
Be prepared to share at your table.
Don’t worry,
this is easy!
You’re my
little
geniuses!
What messages do we send
to students?
You are
SO fast!
You’re so smart,
you should be
able to do this.
The Research on Expectation and
Its Effect on Teacher Behavior
• Teachers praise low students less frequently
than highs for success
• Teachers seat low students farther away
• Teachers generally pay less attention to low
students and interact with them less frequently
• Teachers are less friendly with low-achieving
students, including smiling less and using fewer
friendly, nonverbal behaviors
• Teachers wait less time for low students to
answer questions
Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167
The Research on Expectation and
Its Effect on Teacher Behavior
• Teachers give low students less eye contact
and nonverbal communication such as leaning
forward and using positive head nodding
• Teachers wait less time for low students to
answer questions
• Teachers give low students answers or call on
someone else rather than delve into the logic
underlying the answers or improve on the
answers of low students
• Teachers generally demand less from low
students
Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167
Article Reading
and Whip Around
Read the article Mindsets and
Equitable Education and be
prepared to share one “a-ha” at
your table in a Whip Around.
Instead of…
Fixed Message
Growth Message
You are so smart, why won’t
you do this?
Can you tell me what is holding
you back?
You are my little geniuses!
Your hard work and practice are
paying off!
If you don’t pass the test, your Tomorrow’s assessment is your
chance to show off your
grade is going to suffer.
learning. Do you need more
practice?
If this part is missing from the
If you are missing a part, I will
assignment, it is a zero.
give it back to you to fix it.
Sort it!
• Sit with a partner – you’ll share a “sort”
• Remove paperclip and arrange pieces
into two categories: Growth-minded
and Fixed-minded.
• Each partner must have his/her fingers
ON the sort pieces!
Become More
Growth-Minded
In addition to transforming
teacher language, teacher
classroom practices can also
be revised to reflect a more
growth-minded mindset.
Guiding Questions
How do you determine if a
practice promotes growthmindedness?
Does it …
•
help students focus on effort?
•
communicate that mistakes are
opportunities to learn?
•
provide interactive situations for deep
practice?
•
foster a student’s desire to take on
challenges?
Choral Response
Read each of the following descriptions
of teacher classroom practices. Think
about whether it is more indicative of a
fixed or a growth mindset practice.
When prompted, use choral response to
either call out “fixed” or “growth”
depending on your identification of
practice.
Practice 1:
A teacher assigns an essay after first
providing a rubric. Students turn in the
essay and receive comments and a
highlighted rubric/grade. They are
given the opportunity to rewrite and
resubmit up to two more times for an
improved grade over the course of the
next two weeks.
ANSWER: Growth
Rationale:
Students receive corrective feedback and an
opportunity to learn from “mistakes.” Also,
this reinforces the connection between effort
and growth to an improved grade and
learning experience.
Practice 2:
A teacher spends the majority of class
discussion time posing questions and
calling on students with raised hands.
ANSWER: Fixed
Rationale:
The teacher demonstrates no
expectation that all students will
interact with the material. This practice
also allow students students to
systematically ignore the learning
opportunity.
Practice 3:
When students are asked to turn in a major
assignment, the teacher requires that his
students submit an “effort evaluation” which is
where they self-assess and answer the
following questions:
What did my effort on this project look and sound
like?
What are the strengths of my product?
What did I learn as a result of my effort?
What mistakes might I have made from which I
can learn?
ANSWER: Growth
Rationale:
Students are prompted to reflect on learning
experiences and articulate what effort looks
and sounds like. The last question (“What
mistakes might I have made from which I
can learn?”) sends the message to students
that we should be learning from our mistakes
rather than quitting because of them.
Practice 4:
Each week, a teacher provides
students with a new list of 10
vocabulary words on Monday. She tells
the students to look up the definitions
and be prepared to take a quiz on the
definitions on Friday.
ANSWER: Fixed
Rationale:
Students are given no structured way to
practice with the material to commit it to long
term memory. Students who are typically
unsuccessful with school assignments will
continue to reinforce an isolated approach to
information gathering. Students might be
memorizing incorrect information, depending
on the definition selected. Finally, there is
no opportunity to return to the words to learn
them more accurately or more deeply.
Practice 5:
Students are given an end of chapter
math test which has been graded and
returned. The teacher directs the
students to do an error analysis,
something they have practiced, on
three of the most commonly missed
problems to identify why they got it
wrong which the teacher checks for
accuracy. Any student successfully
completing this task may retake the
test after school.
ANSWER: Growth
Rationale:
Students are prompted to reflect on learning
experiences and identify WHY they made a
mistake with the intent of learning from it.
The opportunity to retake the test after the
teacher checks to see if the error analysis is
correct reinforces continued effort in the
learning cycle.
Connections to the Classroom
As teachers, we can:
Self-assess whether we have a tendency
toward a growth or fixed mindset.
Consciously choose to use language that
fosters a growth mindset in students.
Review classroom practices to determine
whether they foster opportunities for deep
practice and learning from mistakes.
Explicitly teach students how their brains work
and what lifestyle and input choices will
positively affect their intelligence.
Connections to the Classroom
In The Art and Science of Teaching, Robert
Marzano poses a great question for us to ask
ourselves when examining our expectations
about student learning:
“If I believed this student was
completely capable of learning this
content, what would I be doing right
now?”
Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162
Active Participation Strategies
Think-Pair-Share
Table Share
Physical Model Building
Tag Team
Whip Around
Sort
Choral Response
Resources
• Doing What Works website: US Dept of Education
•
http://dww.ed.gov/practice/?T_ID=18&P_ID=34
• “Even Geniuses Work Hard” by Dr. Carol Dweck in
Educational Leadership
• “How Not to Talk to Your Kids” by Dr. Carol Dweck in New
York Magazine
http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol
Dweck
www.mindsetonline.com
• BrainologyTM by Mindset Works
www.brainology.us
• Florin HS wiki space – lessons, book study materials, readings
www.florin.pbworks.com/Mindset
Closing the Achievement Gap
for African American, Latino and
EL Students
2010-11 TOT, Session One
September 2010
Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD