Best Practice: A System of Instructional Support

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Best Practice A System of Instructional
Support
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• In regards to Best Practice
• Techniques and instructional strategies have
  nearly as much influence on learning as student
  aptitude.
• James Strong
• Qualities of Effective Teachers

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Best Practice What does it mean?

• Common Characteristics
• Based on current research
• Includes latest knowledge, technology and
  procedures
• Successful across student populations
• Applies across content areas and grade levels

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Best Practice A Bit of History

• Research
• Led by Zemelman, Daniels and Hyde 1990s
• Focus on teaching and learning
• Purpose to discover whats working
• Participants
• Classroom teachers/students throughout U.S.
• Professional Organizations
• Research Centers
• Process
• Interviews
• Meta-analysis of existing research

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Best Practice Findings
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The 13 Principles of Best Practice
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• The literature on instruction suggests that
  students whose teachers develop and regularly
  integrate inquiry-based, hands-on learning
  activities, critical thinking skills and
  assessments into daily lessons consistently
  out-perform their peers.
• Qualities of Effective Teachers, ASCD

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Best Practice and Authenticity

• Students provided with authentic curriculum
  achieved at levels 2-3 times higher than
  students in skills-oriented, low authenticity
  classrooms.
• Fred Newman, University of Wisconsin

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Best Practice Seven Structures

• Reading as Thinking
• Representing-to-Learn
• Small Group Activities
• Classroom Workshop
• Authentic Experiences
• Reflective Assessment
• Integrative Units

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Best Practice Reading as Thinking

• Interactive
• Constructive
• Strategic
• Examples
• Brainstorming
• Mapping
• Questioning
• KWL

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Best Practice Representing-to-Learn

• Active construction of knowledge
• Transferring ideas between mediums for deep
  understanding
• Examples
• Journals, logs, sketchbooks
• Free writing, mapping
• Variety of expressions music, visual, etc.

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Best Practice Small Group Activities

• Makes learning active
• Stresses collaboration/teamwork
• Preparation for real-life experiences
• Examples
• Buddy reading, lab partners
• Peer response/editing groups
• Literature circles

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Best Practice Classroom Workshops

• Class as studio or lab
• Student choice of topic
• Process orientation scientific process, writing
  process
• Examples
• Folder/portfolio work
• Mini-lessons with teacher modeling
• Sharing, presenting, exhibiting

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Best Practice Authentic Experiences

• Bring school to life
• Community connections
• Invite world in take students out
• Examples
• Speakers in classroom
• Primary source books
• Field trips, visits
• Service projects

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Best Practice Reflective Assessment

• Student reflection, self-assessment
• Multiple measures
• Formative assessments
• Examples
• Portfolios
• Performance assessments with scoring rubrics
• Student-led conferences

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Best Practice Integrative Units

• Focus on broad problems, issues, themes
• across subjects, disciplines
• Incorporates student interest
• Creates extended inquiries
• Examples
• Thematic Units
• Problem-based learning
• Integrated programs (Science and Literacy units)

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Best Practice Cross-content Instructional
Strategies

• Marzanos Classroom Instruction that Works
• Meta-analysis of research
• Identified effect sizes

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Best Practice Effect Size

• An effect size will help answer the question
• Does the technique produce a large enough impact
  that its worthwhile to pursue?

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Best Practice A Comparative Finding
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Which Best Practice Principles/Strategies do we
want to increase?
Reading Writing Math
Best Practice Strategies that Work ? ?
? ? ? ?
Increased Student Achievement
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Next steps

• Talk as a table to determine where in your day
  you can add best practice strategies
• Fill in the chart to determine which strategies
  you need help with