PTK

Open-Ended Questions

"Why" questions tend to be the most open-ended. Most effective group discussions questions to allow for students to explore a range of possible answers. Promote student achievement and expansion. Require critical thinking, not just info recall

Establishing a purpose for reading..

(Entertain, evaluate, discover) helps students focus on material.

Adequate support for claims

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Analyzing Cause & Effect

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Communicating in suitable ways

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Stages of Learning

1. Acquisition of knowledge: Introduce or demonstrate concept 2. Fluence: Speed & Accuracy. Give kids a chance to practice frequently 3. Generalization- give periodic opportunity to review 4. Adaptation: Practice skill in a new setting

Closing a Lesson

1. Closing with a group discussion on main ideas allows the teacher to assess whether or not they have met the goals of the instruction and adjust accordingly. 2. Best done by students so that the teacher can assess the effect of a lesson. 3. Include a short review of main concepts and then relate the main ideas to what will be covered in the next lesson. 4. Reflective thinking: establishes a link between lesson and prior or everyday knowledge 5. Summaries: Valuable source regarding comprehension of a lesson

Promoting comprehension

1. Divide major objectives int small learning units, each with objectives and assessments. BEST way to promote comprehension. 2. Identifying and mastering all of the skills and concepts that make up each objective ensures that students truly comprehend. 3. Summaries, homework, and guided practice are effective tools.

Student effort

1. Effort is necessary for success in attaining rigorous standards. 2. Place value on the effor attempted, regardless of accuracy. (ex: giving student full credit for all answers on math homework with computations shown) 3. communicate that the same level of work is expected from all students.

Involving Parents

1. Email or postcards are best method for updating them on their student's progress. Phone calls are good but difficult to do consistently for all students. 2. Offering parents a list of books that would be interesting to students gives them a starting point for encouraging leisure reading. 3. When conferencing, be prepared! have data and evidence and present in a caring yet factual manner.

The Learning Cycle (Piaget)

1. Exploration : new concept at concrete level 2. Concept Introduction: guided discovery, teaching stage. transition from uncertanty to understanding 3. Concept Application: once student is comfortable, introduce in new situations. +++ Engage the students, introduce the topic, extend the learning+++

Referring a student to a specialist/ students with special needs

1. For special ed needs (perhaps brought into light by behavior), a good evaluation by the teacher must have already been made. 2. See if IEP is in place- can make accomodations 3. ADD- learn best in an environment with fewer distractions 4. If learning disability is suspected, teacher should seek expertise from a specialist. 5. Test anxiety- might refer to guidence counselor 6. Sever and violent behavior- seek help

Frequent Practice

1. Frequent INITIAL practice helps people acquire a new skill and develops frequency (speed & acurracy). Further practice aids retention. 2. A skill must be established using frequent practice to avoid having students practice mistakes later on. 3. Frequent practice distributed across the available time period helps students develop fluency. Key skills should be practiced frequently until retained. 4. Students are most successful when practicing in a highly structured way.

Steps in planning a lesson

1. Goals- determing overarching goals, then create measurable objectives to met those goals. Utilizing state standards sets the goals that should be set prior to planning. 2. Objectives 3. Task analysis- helps guide the lesson 4. Prerequisite knowledge

Effective techniques during cooperative learning.

1. Grade students individually but also evaluate group process. 2. Each member has a specific task and the group has a clearly defined objective. 3. If students are working in groups as an end result (i.e. creating a class newspaper) testing their solo performance is unhelpful.

Organizational structures

1. Help students to connect and remember information. (ex: make a chart of the important topics with the notes on subtopics below each in preparation for a test) 2. Students need specific information about a topic before they can organize, make sense of, and remember information. Don't introduce an organizational structure too early.

Translating Curriculum Standards

1. Identify length of time needed 2. Wriet the assessment 3. Teach the skills 4. Review for assessment 5. Evaluate effectiveness of instruction 6. Redesign or repeat as necessary

Higher level thinking

1. Intelligently discussing how a concept applies to other scenarios exhibits mastery of higher level thinking.

Metaphors and Analogies

1. Metaphors can build understanding of new ideas by building on the foundations of a previously taught concept. 2. Use familiar objects or ideas to increase understanding of new concepts.

Providing grading criteria or rubrics PRIOR to giving an assignment

1. Motivates students to analyze and improve their work. 2. Allows students to assess their own work and make adjustments to it before turning it in.

Classroom rules

1. Must be enforced consistently. If student is actively choosing to disobey a consequence must follow. 2. Working well when students recognize violations and change their behavior on their own. 3. Immediate ATTENTION, not immediate consequence is the key to good classroom discipline. 4. Rules must be understood before they can be enforced. 5. Halting class momentum should be avoided whenever possible.

Types of Reinforcement

1. Negative Reinforcement: attaching an undesirable consequece for undesirable behavior (missing 5 minutes of recess for name-calling) 2. Partial reinforcement: A certain behavior is only sometimes reinforced 3. Token economy: giving a token reward (sticker, star) for achieving a goal.

Grading distributions

1. Normal Distribution: the majority of students score near the mean (i.e. bell curve) 2. Bernoulli- ex; heads and tails coin toss 3. Continuous Probability distribution: If a random variable is a continuous variable 4. Poisson- statistical experiment that can be classified as a success or failure

Using examples and non-examples

1. Real world examples will help students understand the validity of a unit. 2. Examples will help explain difficult concepts. 3. students should be given many examples so they can generalize when new infor is presented 4. Providing non-examples provides students with an opportunity to induce the features necesary to identify the concept. Extends understanding.

Assessment

1. Should be used to determine whether students can generalize concepts to new scenarios and problems. 2. Track verbal responses during a lesson. Waiting to ask questions at the end of a lesson may cause students to forget. 3. Continuously assessing during a lesson will help teachers gauge understanding. 4. Best Rubrics contain specific information . 5. Procedural checklists help students to self-monitor for learning and progress during an activity and gives teacher a framework to evaluate student't progress.

Introducing a new lesson

1. Start the unit with what they know (instead of what they dont' know) to help students create connections between thier prior knowledge and new concepts. 2. Begin with overt or covert participation. will help students focus and absorb material. Give them a specific task to focus their minds on the topic. (ex: hold hands in a circle to introduce a lesson on circuitry) 3. Share with students lesson objectives and the questions to be answered by the lesson. 4. Introducing a lesson with a knowledge-based answer is most effective for presenting a new concept. Ask a relevant question with a verifiable answer. This starts to build a store of information that can be used later.

Monitoring reading fluency

1. Teacher must track errors over time 2. A running record allows a teacher to be more consistent in monitoring all students because errors are noted.

Promoting effective transfer of knowledge.

1. Topics need to be organized and connected. 2. A large number of topics covered too quickly will hinder student transfer because they will have too little time to connect and organize info. 3. Most people do not transfer what they learned unless they are encouraged or required to do so. 4. Designing a lesson that is cross-curricular promotes the opportunity for transfer. 5. Relating a lesson to real life promotes understanding and retention and allows student to transfer to highter level thinking

Instructional methods

1. Tutoring: when only 1 or 2 students are behind 2. Lectures 3. Cooperative leraning 4. whole class instruction; when students have teh same level of ability 5. Short and specific corrrect answers are best practiced in groups involving all students (spelling words)

Beginning a class period.

1. Warm-up activity is effective to maximize instruction time and control behavior. Should be available the minute they walk into class. 2. Begin the lesson by telling students what will be covered in class that day. 3. If necessary, follow with a review of the previous lesson or tie prior knowledge to new.

Arrange scheule for maximum student engagemeng

A combination of Teacher-directed Indpendent work Group work will engage all students

Making inferences

An educated guess based on available evidence or one's on backgroud knowledge.

Socratic

Asks students a series of questions designed to guide them toward understanding a concept.

Rule relationships

Backbone of organizing new material Must form rules to organize and categorize individual units of knowledge.

Procedures

Best taught through demonstration. Teachers need to specify the important elements when demonstrating.

Behavioral Objective

Clear, precise statement used to describe what students should be able to do when they have completed their instruction. OBJECTIVES MUST BE MEASURABLE AND CONTAIN AN ACTION VERB. The verb describes the behavior produces by the learner (ex. Describe)

Graphic Organizers

Cluster Diagram: stimulates creative thinking and brainstorming T-Chart/ web cluster: weighing 2 sides of one issue. organized details Flow Chart: Clarify a complex process Quadrant/Frayer: new concepts and vocab. examples and non-examples Timeline: actively relates to selecting facts to illustrate ideas in the classroom concept mapping: relationships among different topics

Portfolio

Contains a representation of work in different areas. shows progress over time

Convergence vs. Divergence

Convergence: We locate the problem at the center of our focus, gather resources, and bear down on the problem. ex: Multiple choice test. Test take draws on gathered knowledge, brings it to the test to converge on the problem. Divergence: Assess the problem and then "branch off" in search of new ideas. Instead of a single idea there may be a host of possibilities.

Statistics

Data table: summarize an organize raw scores Ordered array: ranked by value Range: middle range is hardest to interpret Percentiles: divide ordered data into 100 separate units. Frequency distribution: how many students scored the same level histogram: graphic representation of related data

Standard Deviations

Describes the average distance a number in the data set is from the mean of the set. At +2, the student is at approximately the 95th percentile. Does noe indicate intelligence, only achievement level. Low standard deviation is tightly grouped around the mean. Small SD goes along with distributions that do not have outliers It is relatively rare for a score to be more than 2 standard deviations from the mean in a set of normal scores (95%) High range of scores: suggests that highest and lowest scores were far apart, suggesting at least one student scored poorly Low scores: one low score can heavily skew the mean. Mode or median would give more accurate representation.

Assessment terminology

Disaggregates: data in subgroups to reveal patterns among subpopulations Aggregated: entire population Achievement tests: measures the knowledge students have required in a specific subject area or topic Aptitude test: overall intelligence or ability

Quartiles

Each unit represents 1/4 of the population. Interquartile range: the difference between the upper and lower quartiles. Third quartile minus first quartile (the medians of the top and bottom halfs of a set of data);

Outliers

Extreme high or low scores 1. Fairness 2. Prejudice 3. Stereotyping

Deductive

General to Specific First give students a definition or rule, then ask them to apply specifics ex: learn a model of world warfare and examine how WW2 fits into the model.

Closed-ended questions

Good for factal recall. Have a clear and correct answer. Do not promote studetn achievement and expansion. ex. ask a ? to determing if child has completed a reading assignment.

Formative Assessment

Guides (forms) Instruction Gives indication of what needs to be adjusted, corrected, or otherwise improved based on feedback. Designed to give immediate assessment of student learning.

Lecture

MOST effective way to impart information on an entire group. Also gives kids opportunity to listen attentively and take notes. Should be combined with other interactive activities Lecture-question keeps kids on task Keep it short 15-20 minutes

Inductive / Induction

Making a general conclusion based on several examples. Generalized based on specific rules or examples Process of building a general model Specific to Genaral

Other types of assessment

Matching : provides a glossary within the test. can be used as memory aid to assist with other questions Multi choice and matching: both objective assessments. Can be used to quickly determine if a student knows certain facts Short answer: no guess. applies learned skills to real world thinking project based: allows students to show concepts they have learned and to articulate concepts. Ipsative: compare a student to his best previous attempt Diagnostic: looks back at prior learning and provides data that connects to new learning Selected Response (multiple choice) Lab Set: Ordered set, authentic prompt Constructed response: essay

Valid Test

Must be reliable to be valid, but a valid test is not automatically reliable. Measures what it is intended to measure To keep an assessment valid, the student should be tested in the same or similar modality as classroom practice what is being measured and what do the results mean? ++construct the assessment to represent an adequate sampling of the skills taughe in class

Reliable Test

Must produce CONSISTENT results all measurements are not perfectly reliable

Visual Aids

Necessarily engage students in thinking about what's suitable for the content, purpose and audience.

Providing incentives

Offering incentives is the best way to build interest and promote participation. (ex. offer extra credit for kids who participate in the sience fair)

Norm-Referenced

Percentile score, may compare kids to a larger group. 50th percentile is average Discriminates between higher and lower achievers. not used to determing advanced placement NCLB has caused many to move away from these

Standard Score

Requires raw score, mean, and standard deviation to determine

Organizing Instruction

Routines: Allow techers to organize instruction into defined segments. Review: Briefly review previousl lesson before introducing a new one. Homework: Gives students ample opportunity to practice and master new material Lessons should be organized around a central theme or concept. Use all of these tools to help students organize their own thought patterns and guide thier own learning.

Synetics

Seeing old ideas new ways

Inquiry or Discovery Learning

Should only be used when an act of discovery truly helps them learn. ex. Building a model to discover concepts in a structured lesson Demonstrations: great way to frame a new concept.

Cognitive strategy

Specific routine that gets results.

Feedback

Specific, accurate, meaninful, descriptive To encourage student effort, give specific feedback about successful learning or performance and point ahead to better performance. - Provide a hint which gives the student the opportunity to correct the porblem. -does not need to be intriguing or lengthy to reinforce learning.

Fluence

Speed or accuracy Once a student has acquired a skill, the next step is to build fluency

Active lessons

Students learn best when they are actively involved. Students engaged in active participation ar more likely to learn and understand complex interconnections. Learning stations are good tool

Summative Assessment

Sums up instruction that has been completed. Content driven Purpose is student evaluation and assigning a grade. Measures achievement, not cooperation , attitude or effort.

Direct Instruction/ Active Teaching

Teacher presens concepts directly to students.

Criterion-Referenced

Tests whether or not students have mastered specific skills. Does NOT compare students against a sample group. Content questions based on predetermined standards. Pre-test fits in this category Working towards mastery, not against each other

Learning Objectives

The objectives must be MEASURABLE & SPECIFIC ex: A test on major concepts (not recalled facts) Primary purpose is to link curriculum to daily lesson plan. Must consider/evaluate prior knowledge when writing objectives.

Generalizing

The process of extending what has been learned. It calls for finding identical cases or uses of what has been learned. Finding similar cases or uses. - Having students apply knowledge to new examples is the best way to assess whether or not they have mastered new material.

Worksheets, Skill & Drill

Useful for building accurac on a topic already discussed

To help build a sense of community in a classroom....

Working together builds a community effectively. Working on a specific problem as a group is preferable to an open-ended conversation.

critical thinking

refers to higher order thinking that questions assumptions.

Homework

should be of appropriate length and difficulty - a student who turns in homework with blatant errors is either asking for help or acting out. contact a parent. -allowing students to correct their own work best fosters their own understanding of the material. having students correct their mistakes and then turn in their homework again for full credit is an appropriate consequence.

Meeting class behavioral goals

the most apporpriate reward would be a class field trip. It provides an incentive that would also increase the motivation for learning and further instructional objectives.

Bias

the presence of some characteristic may unfairly influence the scores.

Standard Error of Measurement

used to determine the accuracy of a test in gauging student knowledge. Acutal score minus hypothetical score.

Performance Assessment

usually involves an activity or application of hands-on skill. students must be able to actively demonstrate the skills they have learned