Teaching Beyond the Standards

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Teaching Beyond the Standards

• January 2007
• Shelly D. Smede, M.Ed
• smedshel_at_ifschools.org
• 208-525-7598

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The Evolution of Curriculum
1950 (Basic math) A lumberjack sells a
truckload of lumber for 100. His cost of
production is 4/5 of this price. What is his
profit?
1960 (traditional math) A lumberjack sells a
truckload of lumber for 100. His cost is 4/5 of
this price, or in other words 80. What is his
profit?  
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The Evolution of Curriculum
1980 (politically correct math) A lumberperson
sells a truckload of lumber for 100. His or her
cost of production is 80, and his or her profit
is 20. Your assignment Underline the number
20.
1990 (outcome-based education) By cutting down
beautiful forest trees, a lumberjack makes 20.
What do you think of his way of making a living?
In your group, discuss how the forest birds and
squirrels feel, and write an essay about it.
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Mike Schmoker ResearchResults Now, 2006

• In lowest achieving schools, most of the class
  period was spent on activities such as drawing or
  coloring or filling in worksheets that had no
  connection to learning outcomes.
• Student work was handed in, but rarely returned.
• In all schools, poor or affluent, students were
  rarely, if ever, reading. (86)

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The Crayola Curriculum

• What was the single most predominant activity in
  the schools observed, right up through middle
  school?
• Coloring, Cutting, and Pasting

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What were the two least common activities seen in
classrooms?

• Reading and Writing

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Literature Based Arts Crafts

• Instead of reading and writing, students were
  found to spend most of their day making
• Dioramas
• Game boards
• Posters
• Mobiles
• Bookmarks
• Book jackets
• Coats of Arms

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Classes that spend their time (bell to bell)
reading, writing, and talking result in

• A College Prep Curriculum

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Ignoring the Standards.

• I teach what I want.
• I know whats best.
• Were overtested.
• They cant do anything to me.

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Teaching to the Standards.

• You all need to learn this today.
• You still dont get it. Heres more of the same.
• This is stressful.
• If you dont pass the
  test, our school will fail.
• This isnt why I went into
  teaching.
• I think Im more bored than the students.

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Teaching beyond the Standards.

• I know you can do it.
• I want to know how you
  learn best.
• I want you to feel challenged.
• This class goes so fast!
• I love teaching!
• The test is going to be so easy for you! What a
  smart class!

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US Govt Instructional CalendarSkyline High
School
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US Govt Instructional CalendarSkyline High
School, cont.
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Thirty years of research tells us
kids do better on tests--if you teach them what
you test them on than if you don't!
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• And no amount of instruction

is a substitute for teaching the right stuff.
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• It doesnt matter how high our students climb
  the ladder of success if its leaning against the
  wrong building.

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Curricular Chaos
Reported
Written
Taught
Tested
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District 91 Curriculum Unity Model
Taught
Reported
Written
Tested
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Without an aligned curriculum, four variables
predict student achievement

• Type of community
• Poverty rate
• The education of their parents
• Number of parents in home
• Opportunity to Learn affects student achievement
  more than double any other school factors
  (Marzano, Borman, Hewes, 2000).

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What does it mean to teach beyond the standards?

• Teaching standards does not mean that the
  teacher must resort to drill and kill
  approaches.
• Objective
• 10.LA.5.4.1 Demonstrate in writing the correct
  use of conventions emphasizing verbals
  appositives.

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Teaching to the Standards

• Lesson 221 - Verbals - Participles
• A participle is used as an adjective and ends in
  various ways. A present participle always ends
  with ing as does the gerund, but remember that it
  is an adjective. A past participle ends with ed,
  n, or irregularly. Participles modify nouns and
  pronouns and can precede or follow the word
  modified. Find the participles in these sentences
  and tell what word they modify.
• 1. The bike had a broken spoke.
• 2. Her smiling face made everyone happy.
• 3. The frightened child was crying loudly.
• 4. The people were frightened by the growling
  dog.
• 5. The squeaking wheel needs some grease.

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Teaching beyond the Standards

• Assignment by Kelle Martin - 7 January 2007,
  0534 PM
• After the holiday, I gave each of my students ten
  strips of paper. I asked them to write something
  important from 2006 on each strip. Events could
  be from their own lives, the country, the world .
  . . whatever. Next, I asked them to organize the
  strips into logical groupings, then think of a
  way to incorporate these into a piece of writing
  using generalizations, the events on the strips,
  and transition words. The next day, we used their
  writing to work on sentence fluency. I asked
  individual students to read one sentence and then
  I wrote it on the board. I then revised the
  sentence using a participle at the beginning.
  Every student was able to do this in his own
  work. We then moved on to gerunds and
  appositives. Usually, this would be a painful
  lesson, but the students really enjoyed
  themselves and created great sentences on their
  own once they understood.

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Teaching beyond the Standards

• 7.LA.4.2.2 Write a research report that supports
  a main idea with details compiled through a
  formal research process.
• 7.LA.4.2.1 Write technical text that identifies a
  sequence of activities or processes.
• See Expert Project
• See Technical Writing Project

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Drill and Kill worksheets have proliferated
in schools residing in states where high stakes
tests are in use. Such responses will not result
in sustained student gains and will also produce
classrooms of incredible boredom and
mindlessness. Learning in such places has been
tragically dumbed down. Fenwick English
UNC Professor Chair of Educ. Leadership
Program
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Do Tests Improve Learning?
No.
Learning only improves if we change what we are
doing based on what we learn from the test
results. Allan Olson, NWEA
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Tests, by themselves, do not improve learning,
any more than a thermometer reduces fever.
(Hubert, 2000)
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The main factor in improving achievement is a
knowledgeable, skillful teacher. (Breaux
Wong, 2003)
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Teacher Effectiveness (Randall, 2001)

• In a study, researchers determined that students
  assigned to three effective teachers in a row
  grew from the 59th to 76th percentile in three
  years. A different group, assigned to three
  ineffective teachers for three years dropped from
  the 60th to the 42nd percentile in the same time
  period.

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Average School/ 50th 50th Average Teacher
Highly Ineffective School/ 50th 3rd Highly
Ineffective Teacher
Highly Effective School/ 50th 37th Highly
Ineffective Teacher
Highly Ineffective School/ 50th 63rd Highly
Effective Teacher
Highly Effective School/ 50th 78th Average
Teacher
Highly Effective School/ 50th 96th Highly
Effective Teacher
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Yearlong Calendar
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Less Summer Break
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Less Weekends and Holidays
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Less Professional Development, Parent Teacher
Conference, and Spring Break
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Less Field Trips, Testing, Concerts, Class
Parties, and Assemblies
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Do you really have time to teach fog?
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Freedom Writers
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No significant learning occurs without a
significant relationship.
Dr. James Comer
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As an educator, it is impossible to go through a
school day without impacting someones life.
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for better or for worse.
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What a great responsibility.
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What an even greater opportunity.