Effective Classroom Instruction
Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy Pre-K, K-3, 4-5
(MAISA/GELN Early Literacy Task Force)
Assessments to Ensure Literacy Competence
DRAFT
Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Resources/Publications, Ontario Ministry of Education
Paying Attention to K-12 Literacy
Six Foundational Principles for Improvement in Literacy, K-12
- Focus on literacy.
- Build an understanding of effective literacy instruction.
- Design a responsive literacy learning environment.
- Support student learning with fair, transparent, and equitable assessment practices.
- Coordinate and strengthen literacy leadership.
- Support collaborative professional learning in literacy.
Leaders in Educational Thought
Michael Fullan, Allen Luke, Lucy West, Ken Leithwood, Avis Glaze, John Hattie
Revisiting Five Standards of Authentic Instruction
Fred Newmann (U WI) ASCD
Served as the basis for the Michigan Curriculum Framework Teaching and Learning Vignettes
- Higher Order Thinking
- Depth of Knowledge
- Connectedness to the World Beyond the Classroom
- Substantive Conversation
- Social Support for Student Achievement
We Need a Bigger Definition of Creativity - John Spencer
Productive Group Work
Fisher and Frey -- "The First 20 Days -- Establishing Productive Group Work in the Classroom"
- Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework (See article link and detail below)
- Focus Lesson
- Guided Instruction
- Collaborative Work
- Independent Work
- Getting to Productive Group Work -- 20 Spotlight Lessons
- Spotlight Lessons on Personal Responsibility
- Silent Interview, On-Task Partners; The Helping Curriculum; Noise Meter; Walking Review; ReQuest
- Spotlight Lessons on Respectful Discourse
- Accountable Talk; Discussion Partners; Sounding Board; Opinion Stations
- Spotlight Lessons on Collaborative Problem Solving
- Paired and Group Response Cards; Think-Pair-Square; Conversation Roundtable; Novel Ideas Only;
Reading Partners; Numbered Heads Together; Collaborative Posters
- Get That First Month Ready!
- Additional Resources
Productive Group Work -- Nancy Frey Ppt Presentation
Productive Group Work - Indicators of Success DRAFT Rubric
The First Twenty Days -- Common Core Edition -- Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
IRA Engaging the Adolescent Learner Series --
20 Spotlight Literacy Lesson Topics to establish a range of practices about how the content is understood, discussed, and written.
The First Month of School
Although the domains of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language are organized in a linear fashion in the CCSS for English Language Arts, in practice they require an integrated and interleaved approach. The first month of school consists of about 20 instructional days that serve as students’ gateway to the disciplinary knowledge they are expected to learn. These first weeks of school are a critical period in the lives of teachers, too: We encounter and assess students, establish habits of mind and of procedure, and build a community from a group of strangers. Students learn about us as well.
Week One -- Community Building and Assessment
Week Two -- Building Skills
Weeks Three and Four -- Quickening the Pace
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility
Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching describes how teachers can help students develop stronger learning skills by ensuring that instruction moves from modeling and guided practice (situations where the teacher has most of the responsibility) to collaborative learning and, finally, to independent tasks. You'll find out how to use the four components of this approach to help meet critical challenges, including differentiating instruction and making effective use of class time:
1. Focus Lessons: Establishing the lesson s purpose and then modeling your own thinking for students.
2. Guided Instruction: Working with small groups of students who have similar results on performance assessments.
3. Collaborative Learning: Enabling students to discuss and negotiate with one another to create independent work, not simply one project.
4. Independent Tasks: Requiring students to use their previous knowledge to create new and authentic products.
Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework
IRA Engaging the Adolescent Learner Series -- Oct. 2013 -- Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
- Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework
- Focused Instruction Up Close
- Establishing Purpose
- Modeling Think Aloud
- Guided Instruction Up Close
- Robust Questions
- Cues
- Collaborative Learning Up Close (See above - "First Twenty Days")
- Independent Learning Up Close
- Fluency Building
- Spiral Review
- Application of skills and concepts
- Extension to deepen knowledge
Teachers' Toolbox UK
Based on materials by Geoff Petty, the Teachers Toolbox looks at teaching from an evidence based point of view through concise video overviews of key subjects, backed up by further reading, document downloads, and Geoff Petty's presentation 'Teaching Tomorrow'.
Article of the Week -- Kelly Gallagher
To help build my students’ prior knowledge, I assign them an "Article of the Week" every Monday morning. By the end of the school year I want them to have read 35 to 40 articles about what is going on in the world. It is not enough to simply teach my students to recognize theme in a given novel; if my students are to become literate, they must broaden their reading experiences into real-world text.
Strengthening Student Engagement, Richard Strong, Harvey F. Silver and Amy Robinson, ASCD
Literature Circles
How to Create a Classroom Literature Circle -- Edutopia
Classroom Literature Circles Expand Thought -- Edutopia
Promoting Creativity -- The Creativity Core
Daniel Weinstein, English teacher, Great Neck South High School
Setting Goals and Deadlines
(MAISA/GELN Early Literacy Task Force)
Assessments to Ensure Literacy Competence
DRAFT
Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Resources/Publications, Ontario Ministry of Education
Paying Attention to K-12 Literacy
Six Foundational Principles for Improvement in Literacy, K-12
- Focus on literacy.
- Build an understanding of effective literacy instruction.
- Design a responsive literacy learning environment.
- Support student learning with fair, transparent, and equitable assessment practices.
- Coordinate and strengthen literacy leadership.
- Support collaborative professional learning in literacy.
Leaders in Educational Thought
Michael Fullan, Allen Luke, Lucy West, Ken Leithwood, Avis Glaze, John Hattie
Revisiting Five Standards of Authentic Instruction
Fred Newmann (U WI) ASCD
Served as the basis for the Michigan Curriculum Framework Teaching and Learning Vignettes
- Higher Order Thinking
- Depth of Knowledge
- Connectedness to the World Beyond the Classroom
- Substantive Conversation
- Social Support for Student Achievement
We Need a Bigger Definition of Creativity - John Spencer
Productive Group Work
Fisher and Frey -- "The First 20 Days -- Establishing Productive Group Work in the Classroom"
- Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework (See article link and detail below)
- Focus Lesson
- Guided Instruction
- Collaborative Work
- Independent Work
- Getting to Productive Group Work -- 20 Spotlight Lessons
- Spotlight Lessons on Personal Responsibility
- Silent Interview, On-Task Partners; The Helping Curriculum; Noise Meter; Walking Review; ReQuest
- Spotlight Lessons on Respectful Discourse
- Accountable Talk; Discussion Partners; Sounding Board; Opinion Stations
- Spotlight Lessons on Collaborative Problem Solving
- Paired and Group Response Cards; Think-Pair-Square; Conversation Roundtable; Novel Ideas Only;
Reading Partners; Numbered Heads Together; Collaborative Posters
- Get That First Month Ready!
- Additional Resources
Productive Group Work -- Nancy Frey Ppt Presentation
Productive Group Work - Indicators of Success DRAFT Rubric
The First Twenty Days -- Common Core Edition -- Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
IRA Engaging the Adolescent Learner Series --
20 Spotlight Literacy Lesson Topics to establish a range of practices about how the content is understood, discussed, and written.
The First Month of School
Although the domains of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language are organized in a linear fashion in the CCSS for English Language Arts, in practice they require an integrated and interleaved approach. The first month of school consists of about 20 instructional days that serve as students’ gateway to the disciplinary knowledge they are expected to learn. These first weeks of school are a critical period in the lives of teachers, too: We encounter and assess students, establish habits of mind and of procedure, and build a community from a group of strangers. Students learn about us as well.
Week One -- Community Building and Assessment
Week Two -- Building Skills
Weeks Three and Four -- Quickening the Pace
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility
Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching describes how teachers can help students develop stronger learning skills by ensuring that instruction moves from modeling and guided practice (situations where the teacher has most of the responsibility) to collaborative learning and, finally, to independent tasks. You'll find out how to use the four components of this approach to help meet critical challenges, including differentiating instruction and making effective use of class time:
1. Focus Lessons: Establishing the lesson s purpose and then modeling your own thinking for students.
2. Guided Instruction: Working with small groups of students who have similar results on performance assessments.
3. Collaborative Learning: Enabling students to discuss and negotiate with one another to create independent work, not simply one project.
4. Independent Tasks: Requiring students to use their previous knowledge to create new and authentic products.
Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework
IRA Engaging the Adolescent Learner Series -- Oct. 2013 -- Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey
- Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework
- Focused Instruction Up Close
- Establishing Purpose
- Modeling Think Aloud
- Guided Instruction Up Close
- Robust Questions
- Cues
- Collaborative Learning Up Close (See above - "First Twenty Days")
- Independent Learning Up Close
- Fluency Building
- Spiral Review
- Application of skills and concepts
- Extension to deepen knowledge
Teachers' Toolbox UK
Based on materials by Geoff Petty, the Teachers Toolbox looks at teaching from an evidence based point of view through concise video overviews of key subjects, backed up by further reading, document downloads, and Geoff Petty's presentation 'Teaching Tomorrow'.
Article of the Week -- Kelly Gallagher
To help build my students’ prior knowledge, I assign them an "Article of the Week" every Monday morning. By the end of the school year I want them to have read 35 to 40 articles about what is going on in the world. It is not enough to simply teach my students to recognize theme in a given novel; if my students are to become literate, they must broaden their reading experiences into real-world text.
Strengthening Student Engagement, Richard Strong, Harvey F. Silver and Amy Robinson, ASCD
Literature Circles
How to Create a Classroom Literature Circle -- Edutopia
Classroom Literature Circles Expand Thought -- Edutopia
Promoting Creativity -- The Creativity Core
Daniel Weinstein, English teacher, Great Neck South High School
Setting Goals and Deadlines