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The 5 Levels of Engagement by Schlechty:  A Simple Guide

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Education Week - K-12 education news and information

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Paulo Freire's pedagogical approach has been applied in many contexts, but it is more than simply a collection of methods or techniques. Here we outline briefly some of the key concepts in Freire's work.

Praxis (Action/Reflection)

It is not enough for people to come together in dialogue in order to gain knowledge of their social reality. They must act together upon their environment in order critically to reflect upon their reality and so transform it through further action and critical reflection.

Generative Themes

According to Paulo Freire, an epoch "is characterized by a complex of ideas, concepts, hopes, doubts, values and challenges in dialectical interaction with their opposites striving towards their fulfilment". The concrete representation of these constitute the themes of the epoch. For example, we may say that in our society some of these themes would include the power of bureaucratic control or the social exclusion of the elderly and disabled. In social analysis these themes may be discovered in a concrete representation in which the opposite theme is also revealed (i.e., each theme interacts with its opposite).

Easter Experience

Paulo Freire says that "those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly. This conversion is so radical as not to allow for ambivalent behaviour... Conversion to the people requires a profound rebirth. Those who undergo it must take on a new form of existence; they can no longer remain as they were."

Dialogue

To enter into dialogue presupposes equality amongst participants. Each must trust the others; there must be mutual respect and love (care and commitment). Each one must question what he or she knows and realize that through dialogue existing thoughts will change and new knowledge will be created.

Conscientization

The process of developing a critical awareness of one's social reality through reflection and action. Action is fundamental because it is the process of changing the reality. Paulo Freire says that we all acquire social myths which have a dominant tendency, and so learning is a critical process which depends upon uncovering real problems and actual needs.

This is a way of gathering information in order to build up a picture (codify) around real situations and real people. Decodification is a process whereby the people in a group begin to identify with aspects of the situation until they feel themselves to be in the situation and so able to reflect critically upon its various aspects, thus gathering understanding. It is like a photographer bringing a picture into focu s.

Banking concept of knowledge

The concept of education in which "knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing".

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Paulo Freire's pedagogical approach has been applied in many contexts, but it is more than simply a collection of methods or techniques. Here we outline briefly some of the key concepts in Freire's work. It is not enough for people to come together in dialogue in order to gain knowledge of their social reality.

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The benefits of movement in the classroom aren't limited to younger students. Pairing new words and concepts with gestures or dance moves locks in understanding-and active brain breaks prime students to learn even more.

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A free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education.

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Credit: Andrew Reed/EdSource

The term "digital equity" has been talked about in K-12 circles for several years, but Covid school closures brought increased attention to the issue. Digital equity can take on many forms. Within a single school district, crucial components of learning such as internet access, device availability, technological skills, and accessible content vary significantly from household to household.

Addressing these challenges requires more nuance than providing the same services and devices to every student. Instead, equity requires that districts take a closer look at individual student needs regarding technology and accommodate those differences.

Digital equity likewise impacts parents. While much focus has been on improving access to technology for students, an area of digital equity that often gets overlooked is how parents are expected to engage with their children's schools.

The importance of communication between school and home cannot be overstated. Research shows that students with engaged families earn higher grades and test scores, adapt more quickly, attend school more regularly, have better behavior and social skills, and go on to graduate at higher rates. Parents who have an idea of what is happening in the classroom are better equipped to help their students succeed and can align learning at home with learning at school. That's why equitable communication with parents needs to be part of a district's overall equity goals.

Equitable parent communication requires schools to meet each parent where they are, especially considering that nearly 1 in 4 U.S. homes live without internet access. Parents who do not have smartphones and personal computers should have the same access to their children's teachers as parents with the latest technology. Communication should also consider and support parents with busy schedules and parents who do not speak English.

Often districts will employ communications platforms that require a parent to log into a portal (requiring a computer or smart-phone access), opt into a messaging service, or download software. Each of these obstacles restricts communication pathways for parents who do not have access to the required technology.

Communication tools that have low or no entry barriers and allow parents direct access to their children's teachers have the greatest potential to improve both school-home relationships and student performance. Districts should consider platforms that enable parents to receive phone calls to a landline and SMS messages to a standard cell phone.

Also, platforms that focus on "blast" and "mass" types of messaging are sufficient for distributing information pertinent to an entire classroom or school but miss the mark on developing meaningful relationships with individual parents and creating real engagement. Districts should opt to use tools that create digital parity for parents and foster an environment where meaningful conversations can take place.

Take, for example, the image on the right from a real tool that is used for parent-teacher communication. It depicts one school's parent-teacher engagement by classifying messages into broadcasts vs one-to-one messages. The pie chart shows that nearly 70% of all messages sent this academic year were mass style messages and fewer than one-third were direct communications between the teacher and a parent.

The bar chart below breaks the data down by individual teachers, which shows the type of communication - whether mass or one-to-one - that was chosen by each teacher and how often. Administrators can see which teachers to work with to transition mass messaging to more one-on-one communication through constructive communication practices.

Districts should also consider direct exchanges to see the level of reciprocity between parents and teachers. Ideally, the number of emails between a parent and a teacher should be about even, indicating that both the parent and the teacher consistently communicated with each other. And it is important to look at this by student group such as race or English learner status. For example, the chart to the right shows communication reciprocity remained balanced between incoming and outgoing messages regardless of students' English language learning status.

Parent support continues to be the most important factor on the path to graduation. District communication tools must support positive school-home relationships. Investigate your current communication efforts and remove barriers based on the unique needs of your school community. Equitable communication is the pathway to engaging all parents in supporting student success.

***
Russ Davis is founder and CEO of SchoolStatus, a company that provides communication and analytics tools for school districts.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

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COMMENTARY: Equitable, inclusive parent communication is key to helping students thrive

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Credit: Andrew Reed/EdSource The term "digital equity" has been talked about in K-12 circles for several years, but Covid school closures brought increased attention to the issue. Digital equity can take on many forms. Within a single school district, crucial components of learning such as internet access, device availability, technological skills, and accessible content vary significantly from household to household.

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You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact the author or publisher listed.

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Effective communication is essential for building school-family partnerships. It constitutes the foundation for all other forms of family involvement in education.

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Our website for families provides reviews and ratings of movies, books, games, apps, and other media to help parents and families make informed decisions about the media their children use.

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Common Sense Education provides educators and students with the resources they need to harness the power of technology for learning and life. Find our free K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum, reviews of popular edtech apps, tips on teaching responsible AI use, and resources for protecting student privacy and online safety.

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Need a super cool activity to get your students back into the groove of a new school year? If so, then I've got the perfect edtech resource for you and your peeps-a brand-new version of poetry magnets, a Google Slides activity containing almost 100 words, or "magnets", that can be creatively manipulated into a poem, story, etc.

So, if you're ready to combine a little bit of Back to School fun with Google Apps, then be sure to check out this must-try activity in your classroom! Here's how it works...

As with my other creations, the word boxes are actually images and cannot be edited; however, they can be deleted. Plus, additional words can be generated by creating a new text box and filling it with a black background.

Before you get started on your BTS adventure, here are a few additional items worth mentioning:

" The background on the Google Slide is locked so students can avoid accidentally moving it. However, it can still be changed if you wish to allow them to do so. Just right-click on the slide and select the "Change background..." opt.

" Some teachers have requested that I provide a word list for each activity so I have created additional slides that includes this info.

Check out a sneak preview below!

Click here to make your very own copy of the template. You will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be shared with your students. My favorite way to do so is via Google Classroom.

Click here if you would like to snag your very own copy of this super awesome activity. Once you access the link, you will be prompted to download your very own copy of the original and save it to your Google Drive. It can then be shared with your students. My favorite way to do so is via Google Classroom using the "Make a copy for each student" option.
Classroom Connection:
The Back to School Poetry Magnets template can be used in a variety of ways as either an independent or collaborative writing activity. Utilize the "magnets" included and/or add your own text boxes to extend the activity.

A shout out to Alex, one of my Tech Club kids, for helping with the creation of this really swell resource! ♥ And to Kasey Bell for giving me the inspiration to add my own twist to poetry magnet activities.

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Need a super cool activity to get your students back into the groove of a new school year? If so, then I've got the perfect edtech resource for you and your peeps-a brand-new version of poetry magnets, a Google Slides activity containing almost 100 words, or "magnets", that can be creatively manipulated into a poem, story, etc.

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For teachers, learning how to communicate with students can be a skill with a steep learning curve. However, fostering effective communication can be one of the most rewarding parts of the teaching experience.

Communication is important in the classroom for many different reasons, and many experts consider it to be an essential element to good teaching. I have found that there are many types of communication you can have with your students.

During my teaching experience, I have discovered that communicating well with students and parents of students can increase motivation and engagement in the classroom. I wanted to create an ultimate guide for communicating with students so teachers everywhere can have all the best tips in one place.

In this article, you will find a collection of all the best tips and tricks for communicating with your students and their parents. I have hand-picked all of these tips using my many years of experience and incredible sources with expert research.

If you're looking for advice on communicating with students, both online and in the classroom, you're in the right place! After reading this article, you will know all about:

The reasons why communication is important in the classroom

The types of communication to use at school

Communicating with students in the classroom

Communicating with students online

Communicating with parents of students

And always remember that...

A student's #behavior is a form of communication. #sketchnote by @kwiens62 #edchat #teachchat #teaching #selfregulation pic.twitter.com/EGDBLnbOze

- MindShift (@MindShiftKQED) October 27, 2018

Why is Communication Important in the Classroom?

To communicate effectively with your students, you must first understand why communication is important in the classroom. Successful communication is actually said to be the best strategy for improving student behavior.

Teaching is based around your students: you can't effectively teach unless you are able to communicate with students and understand their needs in the classroom. Studies have actually found that students are more successful when their learning environment is interactive and engaging.

Additionally, communicating well with students can increase their self-esteem. That's right, students tend to be more confident and willing to speak up in the classroom when they feel like their voices are heard. If students feel that their instructor understands and respects them, they will be more likely to return that sentiment.

There are many reasons why communication is a crucial component of a successful classroom. Overall, good communication can establish a trend of respect, good behavior, and good performance in the classroom. While good rapport can be difficult to achieve, the tips we have in this article are fantastic for achieving open communication with students!

Check out this video on YouTube for an in-depth lecture on communicating in the classroom if you want to become even more of an expert in communication!

5 Communication Types to Use at School

There are many types of communication you can use at school and outside school hours to establish a connection with your students. If you are looking to cover all your bases with your students, there are five main types of communication that you should know:

1. Meeting in Person

The first way to communicate with your students is simple: meeting in person! This can take place during pre-arranged office hours, before or after class, or during another time in the school day. Having a one-on-one meeting with your students in person can help them trust you and feel that they can share their thoughts and ideas with you as an instructor.

2. Phone or Video Call

If meeting in person is not possible, you can also communicate with your students by phone or video call. These both give similar benefits to a one-on-one meeting in person and can help increase your students' trust. Additionally, if students are having any problems, they might be more likely to tell you if they feel you are open to listening to them in a confidential setting.

3. E-mail and Online Messaging

Another way many students feel comfortable communicating is through email or online messaging. These are great because they can be implemented on both an individual and a group basis. An individual can message you if they are having trouble or have a question, but you can also email the class as a whole or post in a group message board.

4. Traditional Mail

While this one will probably be used more occasionally, one type of communication you can use with your students is good old-fashioned snail mail! If you have younger students, this can be a fun way to get your students excited and familiar with the conventions of letter-writing. This can also be great for students in areas with limited internet access or supplies.

5. Open Discussion

One final way to communicate that you don't want to forget is through simple open discussion. If you set aside class time for group discussion with your class, your students will feel that they have a forum for communicating with both you and each other. Don't underestimate the power of this one!

If you want a quick refresher on how to use communication in the classroom as a teacher, check out this video:

To learn more about interactive whiteboards and the best ones to buy for your classroom, check out this article!

4 Tips on How to Communicate with Students in the Classroom

If you're planning to teach students in a traditional classroom setting, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you establish a relationship with your students. It can be difficult to have all eyes on you but rewarding if you use it as an opportunity to create a safe learning environment!

1. Active Listening

One of the most important strategies you can employ in the classroom is active listening. Students can tell the difference when you're going through the motions compared to when you're actually listening to what they have to say. Make sure that the responses you give your students when they communicate with you are well thought-out and show that you care.

If you want to learn even more about active listening, check out this video:

2. Speak Mindfully

Any seasoned teacher will tell you that it's immensely important to think before you speak when you're in the classroom. What might seem like a simple comment to you can be influential to a student, so mind what you're saying at all times. Make sure that your speech is supportive and creates a safe environment for your students.

3. Ask for Feedback

Feedback is super important for improving your teaching, and students aren't always willing to offer up issues they are having with your methods without being asked. Asking your students for feedback shows them that you care and gives you a way to know what is and isn't working in your teaching strategy. Set aside time each semester for students to give anonymous written feedback for your course!

4. Rethink Where You Stand

Teachers traditionally stand at the front of the classroom, but this isn't always the best option. Many effective teachers like to move around the classroom to better create an open dialogue with students. This way, you can some points in the lesson where you are addressing the class and other points where you are attending to individual questions.

If you or your students want to see some examples of healthy dialogue and conversation taking place in the classroom, check out this video!

Document cameras can be an important part of the classroom. If you want to know about the best models for teachers, click here!

5 Tips on How to Communicate with Students Online

It can be a little more difficult to connect with students online, but there are many tools you can use as a teacher to help your students feel supported. Teaching online has become much more common recently, and many teachers are finding that they have to adapt their communication styles to suit the new circumstances. If you're setting up for an online semester, here are five of the most important tips to keep in mind!

1. Consider a Blended Learning Platform

One way to get to the next level with communicating your students online is by using a blended learning platform such as Google Classroom. An application like Google Classroom will allow you to do all sorts of education-related functions, such as creating assignments and sharing files. These types of platforms are revolutionary in creating opportunities for teacher-student communication in an online setting.

To learn even more about communicating with your students using Google Classroom, check out this video!

2. Make Sure Your Students Can Hear You

Another thing to keep in mind when teaching online is making sure you and your students have the correct equipment for conducting online class. Make sure that your camera and microphone are high quality and function well. Check-in with each of your students and make sure that they have the right equipment to properly attend class.

If you want to know about the best types of headphones for elementary school students, check out this article for more information!

3. Communicate Regularly

If your class isn't meeting in person, it will be easier for your students to forget about or neglect if they haven't heard from you in a while. Make sure you address the class as a group regularly in short emails or memos where you update the class on important dates and upcoming assignments. This also gives your students a natural opportunity to ask questions or reach out with individual concerns on a regular basis.

4. What Goes Online Stays Online

It's always important to remember that pretty much everything you say online is public. While it might seem like you're emailing or messaging with an individual student, anything you write can be screenshotted, forwarded, or otherwise shared with other members of your community. This shouldn't be something to cause you alarm, but it's still good to keep in mind that nothing is private or confidential when it comes to online communication.

5. Don't Go Too Far

While it's important to be available to your students it's possible to overdo it, especially online. Make sure that you are maintaining boundaries and answering emails and questions from students during work hours as opposed to 24/7. With an online classroom it can be easy to start working during your personal time, but it's important to maintain balance.

Watch this YouTube video for even more tips for communicating successfully with your students online!

How to Communicate with Students' Parents

Your students aren't the only people you'll have to establish good communication with as a teacher. Often in teaching roles it is important to have a good relationship and open line of communication with your students' parents as well. Thankfully, we have a few tips and tricks for you in this area as well!

Especially with remote learning being more common these days, it can be difficult to find ways to communicate with the parents of your students. Make sure that at the start of each semester you establish multiple means of communication with the parents. These means of communication can include email, video conferencing, phone call, or any other way.

Something that is important to remember with your students' parents is to keep it light. A good relationship with the parents of your class often involves light and little communication. If you're talking to the parents in your class a lot, it could be a sign that they don't trust you to teach their child without intervention.

One simple way you can improve levels of communication with parents is to CC them on your weekly email or memo to your students. Especially if you have young students, doing this can be a good way for parents to be adequately informed about what's going on in the class without overwhelming them or making them go through any extra effort.

If you establish a good relationship with your students' parents, it will go a long way in helping your students to respect and trust you. Plus, there can sometimes be surprise benefits to this relationship, too. Maybe a parent wants to lend a helping hand or donate materials to your class!

For more information on how to communicate and build a relationship with your students' parents, check out the video above!

Useful Resources

Conclusion

Overall, communicating with students is a difficult but essential aspect of teaching that some teachers can find difficult at first. It's important to remember that you are always being watched in the classroom and that your behavior and the way you communicate with your students directly affects your classroom environment. Students who feel that their voices are heard tend to have better performance and behavior.

In this article, you were presented with the ultimate guide on how to communicate with students. Here, all the top tips for communication are gathered in one place!

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9 Tips on How to Communicate with Students for Great Teaching

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For teachers, learning how to communicate with students can be a skill with a steep learning curve. However, fostering effective communication can be one of the most rewarding parts of the teaching experience. Communication is important in the classroom for many different reasons, and many experts consider it to be an essential element to good teaching.

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References

Click the "References" link above to hide these references.

These tips were written exclusively for LD OnLine by Dale S. Brown and Karen Ford. Dale S. Brown is an expert on learning disabilities who has written four books on the subject. Dr. Karen Ford is a lecturer in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education in the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education and works with the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) project at U.Va.

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Communication Strategies for All Classrooms: Focusing on English Language Learners and Students with Learning Disabilities

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Click the "References" link above to hide these references. These tips were written exclusively for LD OnLine by Dale S. Brown and Karen Ford. Dale S. Brown is an expert on learning disabilities who has written four books on the subject.

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contributed by Laura Reynolds

While assessment gets all the press, we often misunderstand effective feedback for learning.

When feedback is predominately negative, studies have shown that it can discourage student effort and achievement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007, Dinham). In my experience, the only thing I knew is that I hated public speaking and I would do anything possible to get out of it. As a teacher, most of the time it is easy to give encouraging, positive feedback.

However, it is in the other times that we have to dig deep to find an appropriate feedback response that will not discourage a student's learning. This is where the good teachers, the ones students remember forever in a positive light, separate themselves from the others.

A teacher has the distinct responsibility to nurture a student's learning and to provide feedback in such a manner that the student does not leave the classroom feeling defeated. Here you will find 20 ideas and techniques on how to give effective learning feedback that will leave your students with the feeling they can conquer the world.

20 Ways to Provide Effective Feedback

1. Feedback should be educative in nature.

Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly and incorrectly. However, the focus of the feedback should be based essentially on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student's learning when they are provided with an explanation and example as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work.

Consider using the concept of a 'feedback sandwich' to guide your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

2. Feedback should be given in a timely manner.

When feedback is given immediately after showing proof of learning, the student responds positively and remembers the experience about what is being learned in a confident manner. If we wait too long to give feedback, the moment is lost and the student might not connect the feedback with the action.

3. Be sensitive to the individual needs of the student.

It is vital that we take into consideration each student individually when giving feedback. Our classrooms are full of diverse learners. Some students need to be nudged to achieve at a higher level and others need to be handled very gently so as not to discourage learning and damage self-esteem. A balance between not wanting to hurt a student's feelings and providing proper encouragement is essential.

4. Ask the 4 questions.

Studies of effective teaching and learning (Dinham, 2002, 2007a; 2007b) have shown that learners want to know where they stand in regards to their work. Providing answers to the following four questions on a regular basis will help provide quality feedback. These four questions are also helpful when providing feedback to parents:

What can the student do?

What can't the student do?

How does the student's work compare with that of others?

How can the student do better?

5. Feedback should reference a skill or specific knowledge.

This is when rubrics become a useful tool (single-point rubrics, for example). A rubric is an instrument to communicate expectations for an assignment and a useful way to provide effective feedback for learning. Effective rubrics provide students with very specific information about their performance, compared to an established range of standards. For younger students, try highlighting rubric items that the student is meeting or try using a sticker chart.

6. Give feedback to keep students 'on target' for achievement.

Regular 'check-ins' with students let them know where they stand in the classroom and with you. Utilize the '4 questions' to guide your feedback.

7. Host a one-on-one conference.

Providing a one-on-one meeting with a student is one of the most effective means of providing feedback. The student will look forward to having the attention and allows the opportunity to ask necessary questions. A one-on-one conference should be generally optimistic, as this will encourage the student to look forward to the next meeting.

As with all aspects of teaching, this strategy requires good time management. Try meeting with a student while the other students are working independently. Time the meetings so that they last no longer than 10 minutes.

8. Feedback can be given verbally, non-verbally, or in written form.

Be sure to keep your frowns in check. It is imperative that we examine our non-verbal cues. Facial expressions and gestures are also means of delivering feedback. This means that when you hand back that English paper, it is best not to scowl.

9. Concentrate on one ability or skill.

It makes a far greater impact on the student when only one skill is critiqued versus the entire paper being the focus of everything that is wrong.

For example, when I taught Writer's Workshop at the elementary level, I would let students know that for that day I was going to be checking on the indentation of paragraphs within their writing. When I conferenced with a student, that was my focus instead of all the other aspects of their writing. The next day would feature a new focus.

Utilize this strategy when grading papers or tests to provide effective feedback for learning. This strategy allows you the necessary time to provide quality, written feedback. This can also include using a rotation chart for students to conference with at a deeper more meaningful level. Students will also know when it is their turn to meet with you and are more likely to bring questions of their own to the conference.

11. Educate students on how to give feedback to each other.

Model for students what appropriate feedback looks like and sounds like. As an elementary teacher, we call this 'peer conferencing.' Train students to give each other constructive feedback in a way that is positive and helpful. Encourage students to use post-it notes to record the given feedback.

12. Ask another adult to give feedback.

The principal at the school I taught at would often volunteer to grade history tests or read student's writing pieces. You can imagine how the student's quality of work increased tenfold! If the principal is too busy (and most are), invite a 'guest' teacher or student teacher to critique work.

13. Have the student take notes.

During a conference over a test, paper, or a general 'check-in,' have the student do the writing while you do the talking. The student can use a notebook to jot down notes as you provide verbal feedback.

14. Use a notebook to keep track of student progress.

Keep a section of a notebook for each student. Write daily or weekly, dated comments about each student as necessary. Keep track of good questions the student asks, behavior issues, areas for improvement, test scores, etc. Of course, this requires a lot of essential time management but when it is time to conference with a student or parent, you are ready to go.

Returning papers and tests at the beginning of class, rather than at the end, allows students to ask necessary questions and to hold a relevant discussion.

16. Use Post-It notes.

Sometimes seeing a comment written out is more effective than just hearing it aloud. During independent work time, try writing feedback comments on a post-it note. Place the note on the student's desk the feedback is meant for. One of my former students had a difficult time staying on task but he would get frustrated and embarrassed when I called him out on his inattentive behaviors in front of the class.

He would then shut down and refused to do any work because he was mad that I humiliated him. I resorted to using post-it notes to point out when he was on task or not. Although it was not the most effective use of my time, it really worked for him as a way to provide effective feedback for learning.

17. Give genuine praise.

Students are quick to figure out which teachers use meaningless praise to win approval. If you are constantly telling your students 'Good Job' or 'Nice Work' then, over time, these words become meaningless. Make a big deal out of a student's A+ on that vocabulary test. If you are thrilled with a student's recent on-task behaviors, go above and beyond with the encouragement and praise.

Make a phone call home to let mom or dad know how thrilled you are with the student's behavior. Comments and suggestions within genuine feedback should also be 'focused, practical, and based on an assessment of what the student can do and is capable of achieving' (Dinham).

18. "I noticed...."

Make an effort to notice a student's behavior or effort at a task. For example; "I noticed when you regrouped correctly in the hundreds column, you got the problem right." "I noticed you arrived on time to class this entire week." Acknowledging a student and the efforts they are making goes a long way to positively influence academic performance.

19. Provide a model or example.

Communicate with your students the purpose of an assessment and/or feedback. Demonstrate to students what you are looking for by giving them an example of what an A+ paper looks like. Provide a contrast of what a C- paper looks like. This is especially important at the upper learning levels.

20. Invite students to give you feedback.

Remember when you finished a class in college and you were given the chance to 'grade' the professor? How nice was it to finally tell the professor that the reading material was so incredibly boring without worrying about it affecting your grade? Why not let students give you feedback on how you are doing as a teacher?

Make it so that they can do it anonymously. What did they like about your class? What didn't they like? If they were teaching the class, what would they do differently? What did they learn the most from you as a teacher? If we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few things about ourselves as educators.

Remember that feedback goes both ways and as teachers, it is wise to never stop improving and honing our skills as teachers.
20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning; A version of this post first appeared on opencolleges.edu.au;

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20 Ways To Provide Effective Feedback For Learning

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One way to provide effective feedback for learning is a 'feedback sandwich' to structure your feedback: Compliment, Correct, Compliment.

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Understanding Cognitive Load theory is essential if teachers are going to help students learn topics and concepts efficiently.

What is Cognitive Load Theory? Cognitive Load Theory explains that working (or short-term) memory has a limited capacity and that overloading it reduces the effectiveness of teaching. There are 3 types of cognitive load; Intrinsic (how complex the task is), Extraneous (distractions that increase load, and Germane (linking new information with the already stored in the long term memory).

If only we knew how students mentally process new information?

Oh, wait...We do!

Why it isn't the first thing taught to new teachers bewilders me!

Wanna know all about it?

I thought so, let's dive in.

What is Cognitive Load Theory?

Cognitive load theory builds on the premise that working (or short-term) memory has a limited capacity and that overloading it reduces the effectiveness of teaching. Much in the same way that having too many windows open on your computer, reduces its capability to work properly.

Given that the goal of learning is to move new information from the working memory into the long term memory, Cognitive load theory suggests that instructional materials and environments should be designed to reduce this load, thus removing distractions enables a more efficient passage of the desired learning from working memory to the long term memory.

Cognitive Load Theory was initially developed by Psychologist, John Sweller in 1988 (Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning), with further work done in 1998 (Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design).

What is Working Memory?

The working memory is responsible for rapid perceptual and linguistic processing. Put simply, it works out what the new information is all about and whether to store it in long term memory or discard it.

What are Schemas?

When a student (or anyone for that matter) is subjected to new information, their brain gives it a classification and stores it in the long term memory, this classification is known as schemas.

Schemas are like folders in your memory where you store similar information, i.e. you may have a file for all things to do with clothes or things to do with pasta etc. You also have behavioral schemas. Those that store all things to do with driving a car, making a sandwich or ice skating.

The more you use these schemas (practice) the easier the retrieval of the knowledge. Schemas are a very big part of cognitive load theory.

What is Cognitive Load?

Cognitive load refers to the amount of information the working memory can hold at any one given time. Most people can handle a cognitive load of between 3 and 7 separate pieces of information.

Cognitive load theory differentiates the types of cognitive load into 3 types; Intrinsic, Extraneous and Germane.

What are the 3 Types of Cognitive Load?

The three types of cognitive load build upon each other, too much of each of the first two (Intrinsic and Extraneoous) may not leave enough working memory to deal with the third (Germane).

Intrinsic Cognitive Load

Intrinsic cognitive load refers to the innate difficulty of the task. For example, recalling that Clownfish live in anemones would be low intrinsic load, whereas, explaining why both species benefit from this would be a higher level of intrinsic load.

Teachers can match the intrinsic load of a topic to the experience of the learner but can't do much to reduce the complexity of the topic.

We can, however, reduce extraneous load.

Extraneous Cognitive Load

Extraneous cognitive load is where we as teachers have the most control.

Extraneous cognitive load is concerned with the material and environment we subject the students to.

Poorly constructed materials and busy classroom environments can lead to the split-attention effect and add to extraneous cognitive load, it is our job to reduce this with the way we present our lessons.

Simply stated the split-attention effect is the distraction generated by using too many conflicting principles. It is detrimental to cognitive load.

Reducing the materials down to only contain the elements that are required is crucial.

Irrelevant images, distracting sounds or animations or even fonts that are difficult to read, a monotone voice and complicated vocabulary all add to the extraneous load.

If you don't manage the first two correctly, the next one can't happen...

...and that's a BIG problem!

I bet you're wondering how you can reduce extraneous load right?

Don't worry we'll get to that in a bit.

Germane Cognitive Load

Germane load is what we actually want to happen, it is the capacity of the working memory to link new ideas with information in the long term memory (It's the moment we've all seen, the "a-ha" lightbulb when a student finally gets it!).

The more prior knowledge a student has, the more effective the germane loading stage. Germane load is where metacognitive strategies come into play, it is where students are aware of their thinking processes and able to adapt new information accordingly.

Teaching students the prerequisite skills prior to having them undertake a more complicated task will help them construct new schemas that strengthen their working memory.

This means that pre-training, or teaching people prerequisite skills before introducing a more complex topic, will help them establish schemas that extend their working memory; and this then means that they can understand and learn more difficult information.

If we overload a student's working memory with intrinsic load (making the task too difficult to comprehend or carry out) or extraneous load (giving too many distracting stimuli), we don't leave enough to achieve the goal, the successful germane load.

This results in frustration (in both the student and the teacher) and a reduction in engagement in future tasks. How many times have you heard "I just don't get it, it won't stay in my head"?

Maybe analyzing the intrinsic and extraneous load you are putting the students under needs a rethink.

What are the 5 Principles of Reducing Cognitive Load?

I told you earlier when talking about extraneous load that I'd show you the best ways of reducing it. Well, as promised, here we go. (I'd never let you down!)

In his 2002 paper, Richard E. Mayer described five principles that teachers can use to help reduce cognitive load and thus, increase retention and progress by our students.

As an exercise, take a look through a few of your lessons and ask yourself, "Do my lesson designs to follow these principles?".

The Coherence Principle

Quite simply, the coherence principle involves reducing the amount of information on each slide/page/worksheet to only that that is necessary.

Images, sounds and words that are not essential, add to cognitive load.

Giving the student's working memory fewer stimuli to focus on enables more processing power to be used by the germane load (remember this is our goal).

The Signalling Principle

The signalling principle tells us to help our students focus on the information we are talking about by highlighting the important details.

We can do this via arrows or rings around the information. This reduces cognitive load by taking the work of scanning this visual away from the working memory.

This results in more juice for the germane load!

Winner!

The Redundancy Principle

Students learn best from images and narration, rather than text and narration. Images (visual) and narration (audio) do not compete with each other, therefore they use less cognitive load.

This is known as the "Modality Effect".

Basically, don't put lots of text on your resources and definitely don't just read out the text word for word (you might as well tell your students to go to sleep, they're going to be doing that anyway!).

In John Sweller's original paper " Cognitive Load Theory" he concludes that, "Working memory capacity can be effectively increased, and learning improved, by using a dual-mode presentation." (Cognitive Load Theory, 2011, Sweller, Ayres & Kalyuga).

Dual coding theory suggests that images, a small amount of text and narration (visual and verbal stimuli) are the most efficient way of reducing extraneous load. Just look at the two examples below that I have taken from Oliver Caviglioli's brilliant book " Dual Coding with Teachers "

Spatial Contiguity

Placing labels next to the thing they are describing, so students don't have to waste cognitive load juice working anything out.

It's all about making the working memory's job easier in terms of intrinsic and extraneous load so students have more use of germane load, the ability to make those connections with previously learned information.

Temporal Contiguity

Last but not least is temporal contiguity. This one is achieved simply by presenting the visual images and their labels at the same time. By doing this, the working memory knows they should be treated as an individual unit rather than separate entities.

Conclusion

Now you see why I'm convinced Cognitive Load Theory should be taught to all trainee teachers. It literally teaches us how to teach!

Along with Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, Metacognition and Dual Coding Theory, Cognitive Load Theory, in my opinion, should be the basis of all teacher training.

What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts.

But first, there's a bonus poster at the bottom of this post from Oliver Caviglioli.

Cognitive Load Theory FAQ
What Is Cognitive Load Theory?
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Building World Knowledge: Motivating Children to Read and Enjoy Informational Text

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Exposing young children to informational text early on can help them to handle the literacy demands of fourth grade and beyond. Practical instructional techniques can be used to promote understanding and enjoyment of informational texts. The three techniques described here - Text Impression, Guiding Questions, and the Retelling Pyramid - can help children become familiar with the language and structure of non-fiction books.

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Vol. 61

No. 6

Abstract

Increase Access

Increase Time

Teach Comprehension Strategies

Use Informational Text for Authentic Purposes

Increasing Reading Achievement

Younger students need to expand their repertoire and build literacy skills with informational text.

Abstract

Increase Access

Increase Time

Teach Comprehension Strategies

Use Informational Text for Authentic Purposes

Increasing Reading Achievement

Think about the way you come to understand the world around you. What do you read to find out about the climate of a region you plan to visit? What do you consult to identify the bird that just flew past your window? In fact, what are you reading right now? The answer to all these questions is informational text.

We are surrounded by text whose primary purpose is to convey information about the natural or social world. Success in schooling, the workplace, and society depends on our ability to comprehend this material. Yet many children and adults struggle to comprehend informational text.

Increase students' access to informational text.

Increase the time students spend working with informational text in instructional activities.

Explicitly teach comprehension strategies.

Create opportunities for students to use informational text for authentic purposes.

Increase Access

Chances are that your personal bookshelves, magazine racks, and Web site bookmarks are replete with informational text. Many young students, however, have limited access to such text. One study of 20 1st grade classrooms found that on average, informational text constituted less than 10 percent of classroom libraries. And informational text represented an average of less than 3 percent of the materials displayed on these classrooms' walls and other surfaces (Duke, 2000).

Young students need to learn about the range of purposes that text can serve (Duke, 2003). By filling the classroom with books on insects, weather, firefighters, the ocean, families, trucks, reptiles, pets, and other topics that fascinate young children, teachers can demonstrate to their students that reading can help them obtain important information.

When teachers include informational text in the classroom, they also expand opportunities for home-school connections that support literacy (Duke &amp; Purcell-Gates, 2003). Research and experience suggest that even parents who rarely read fiction for pleasure can become inspired when teachers invite them to interact with their children around nonfiction texts, newspapers, magazines, and reference books (Duke, Bennett-Armistead, &amp; Roberts, 2002, 2003).

Increased access to informational text can also better motivate the many students who prefer this kind of text or who have strong interests in the topics addressed in such text (Caswell &amp; Duke, 1998; Jobe &amp; Dayton-Sakari, 2002). One student with whom I worked had shown little enthusiasm for the storybooks that his teachers had been providing, but genuinely enjoyed the informational books that we introduced, especially on his favorite topics: outer space, animals, and machines. When reading informational books, he was more willing to persist in decoding difficult words, and he applied background knowledge more readily. As he experienced success with informational books, both his overall reading ability and his self-confidence grew to the point where his narrative reading also seemed to benefit.

Increase Time

In addition to including informational text in the classroom environment, teachers also need to include such text in instructional activities. The study of 1st grade classrooms showed that students spent an average of only 3.6 minutes each day interacting with informational text-even less in low-socioeconomic-status schools (Duke, 2000).

One way to incorporate informational text in the classroom is to read it aloud to students. When teachers read aloud from informational text, young students become familiar with its characteristics and conventions (Duke &amp; Kays, 1998). Listening to informational text can be a valuable tool for knowledge building, especially when combined with other ways of learning about the world, such as hands-on investigations (Anderson &amp; Guthrie, 1999). Research also suggests that students are more likely to select informational text for independent reading if their teacher has read it aloud to them (Dreher &amp; Dromsky, 2000).

Teachers can also use informational text in guided and independent reading, in writing, and in content-area instruction. For example, one teacher with whom I worked taught the sp- blend during a guided reading of an informational book about spiders. Another teacher taught students how to summarize as they wrote reviews of favorite informational books. And a science teacher used a combination of hands-on experiences and informational text reading to build students' knowledge of simple machines.

Some educators worry that informational text may be too difficult for young students, or that spending time with informational text will distract students from learning basic reading skills. Research evidence does not support this concern, however (Duke, Bennett-Armistead, &amp; Roberts, 2002, 2003). In one study, 1st grade students whose teachers included more informational text in their classroom libraries, on classroom wall displays, and in classroom activities showed growth on standardized tests of decoding and word identification equal to those of students whose teachers focused less heavily on informational text. For classes whose students entered school with relatively low letter-sound knowledge, those exposed to more informational text actually had higher growth in this area. The study also documented other benefits, including better informational text writing and increased enthusiasm for recreational reading (Duke, Martineau, Frank, &amp; Bennett-Armistead, 2003).

Teach Comprehension Strategies

In addition to exposing young students to informational text, teachers must also teach them how to read it.

Research shows that good readers are strategic in their reading (Pressley &amp; Afflerbach, 1995) and that explicit teaching of comprehension strategies can foster comprehension development (Duke &amp; Pearson, 2002). Although most of this research has been conducted with older students, it makes sense to begin this long-term endeavor early on (Duke &amp; Bennett-Armistead, 2003; Pearson &amp; Duke, 2002).

Strategies that appear to improve comprehension include monitoring students' understanding and making adjustments as needed; activating and applying relevant prior knowledge (for example, by making predictions); generating questions; thinking aloud; attending to and uncovering text structure; drawing inferences; constructing visual representations; and summarizing. With each strategy, explicit teaching should include information about what the strategy is, when it is used, how it is used, and why it is worth using.

When talking with young students, I often discuss the strategies in terms of good readers, as in "Good readers think about what might be coming next." I also model the uses of comprehension strategies by thinking aloud as I read. For example, to model the importance of monitoring understanding, I make comments such as, "That doesn't make sense to me because . . ." or "I didn't understand that last part-I'd better go back." Accompanying the reading with written activities-such as constructing a Venn diagram when reading a text with compare/contrast structure or writing questions about a text for classmates to answer-can also help foster students' strategy development.

Research suggests that teaching even one comprehension strategy can lead to improved comprehension and that teaching multiple strategies can have an even larger impact (National Reading Panel, 2000; Pressley, 2000). One approach to teaching multiple strategies simultaneously that has received considerable support in the research literature-and that has been used with students as early as 1st grade-is reciprocal teaching (Palincsar, Brown, &amp; Campione, 1993). In this approach, the teacher explicitly teaches and models the use of four strategies: asking questions, summarizing, clarifying, and making predictions. In small groups, students take turns playing teacher and applying these strategies themselves, with help from the teacher and their peers as needed. Eventually, students apply these strategies on their own as they read increasingly complex and varied texts.

Another important aspect of teaching students how to read informational text is making them aware of the differences between informational text and other kinds of text, especially fictional narratives. For example, we typically read fictional narrative texts in their entirety, from beginning to end, and at a steady pace. In contrast, we typically read informational texts selectively-just the parts that might meet our needs or interest us. We might start at the index, then check a passage on page 38, then read a whole section on page 15. We may vary the pace of reading from section to section, reading some parts carefully and just scanning others. Students need to learn the differences between various kinds of text and the consequences of these differences for their reading processes (Symons, MacLatchy-Gaudet, Stone, &amp; Reynolds, 2001).

Use Informational Text for Authentic Purposes

When you read informational text, you do so for an authentic purpose-to obtain information that you want or need to know (Purcell-Gates, Duke, Hall, &amp; Tower, 2002). You may read a book on financial management to help you make good investments, a magazine article that deepens your knowledge of Buddhism, or a field guide to identify birds in your yard.

In contrast, students in school usually read informational text to answer questions at the back of the chapter, to complete a test prep worksheet, or simply because the teacher said to do so. Some of these activities may be unavoidable, but we need to create classrooms in which students read informational text as often as possible for more compelling purposes. In a recent study, 2nd and 3rd grade students whose teachers encouraged more authentic reading and writing of informational and how-to texts in science showed higher growth in reading comprehension as well as in writing (Purcell-Gates &amp; Duke, 2003).

Teachers can use many strategies to create authentic purposes for reading informational text. They can set up situations in which students need information, then encourage students to read to obtain that information. Students may want to find information about the life cycles of frogs before setting up a tadpole tank or learn about the needs of growing things before planting a window box. Teachers can pique students' curiosity: putting out some earthworms for students to observe; demonstrating that water left out in a pan on Friday has "disappeared" on Monday; setting out some magnets with various materials that the magnets will or will not attract. Students will read informational books and other print materials on earthworms, evaporation, and magnetism with greater interest and purpose after such activities as these.

Reading-for-writing may also increase authenticity. Students can read about electricity to write their own class book on the subject for the school library. They can read about pond life to prepare a brochure for a local nature center. They can read about trash and recycling before embarking on a letter-writing campaign to decrease trash output in their community.

In my experience, young students working to comprehend informational text for such purposes look noticeably different from those reading it simply because the teacher assigned it. The first set of students reads more strategically and pays more attention to components of the text, such as headings, vocabulary, and summary statements. Indeed, instruction that emphasizes reading to learn and sharing information with others has proven effective in increasing students' engagement, application of strategies, and comprehension (Guthrie, 2003).

Increasing Reading Achievement

The four strategies discussed in this article provide a good start for our efforts to improve young students' ability to read informational text. In the years to come, I hope that teachers and researchers will work together to develop and test techniques, observe and experiment, and gain new insights about how to help students with this important goal. Incorporating informational text in the curriculum in the early years of school has the potential to increase student motivation, build important comprehension skills, and lay the groundwork for students to grow into confident, purposeful readers.

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Vol. 61 No. 6 Abstract Increase Access Increase Time Teach Comprehension Strategies Use Informational Text for Authentic Purposes Increasing Reading Achievement Younger students need to expand their repertoire and build literacy skills with informational text. Abstract Increase Access Increase Time Teach Comprehension Strategies Use Informational Text for Authentic Purposes Increasing Reading Achievement Think about the way you come to understand the world around you.

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Dreading teaching informational texts? This post is filled with teacher tips and tricks to help you effectively engage students with informational texts. Additionally, learn my favorite sources for high-interest informational reading material.
Interacting with informational and nonfiction texts is an essential aspect of student learning. However, that doesn't mean it's always enjoyable. In fact, ask most students what they think about informational texts, and you can see boredom written all over their faces-no words necessary.

Trust me, I know it can seem like you keep hitting a dead end with informative texts. Informational texts are long-winded, filled with jargon, and downright boring, right? Sometimes, yes. However, this post will help you realize that it doesn't have to be that way.

When using the right approach, providing the right informational texts, asking the right questions, and incorporating the right activities, you can engage students with informational texts.

Why Is There Such an Emphasis on Teaching Informational Texts?

Don't worry. I've wondered the same thing, my friend. The easy (and lame) answer is "because they said so." There's no denying the increasing push for including informational texts in the ELA classroom, especially at the secondary level. (I'm looking at you, Common Core.)

But before we dismiss the initiative and groan and roll our eyes, I urge you to think about the why behind what we do. Sure, like me, you might have a love for literature and the humanities. But the other part of it is preparing students for success beyond the walls of our classroom.

Iin a time where information is available in the snap of a finger from the palm of our hands, understanding how to read informative texts is more important now than ever. Simply put, it's an essential real-world skill. Therefore, it's our duty to prepare students to properly interact with, comprehend, connect to, and analyze a plethora of informational texts and structures.

So, yes, understanding and comprehending information is a life skill. But here's the catch: we must teach the skill through topics that are relevant, thought provoking, or interesting--or a combination of the three--for our students.

Start with the Source

I'll admit informational texts can be a little dry, and they don't always appeal to students' lives, interests, or abilities. That's why incorporating high-interest informational articles is essential to getting students on board (and not bored) with nonfiction.

If I want my students to understand how to navigate, comprehend, summarize, analyze, and evaluate nonfiction, I have to get them to buy in first. My secret? Choosing the right articles. Sometimes that means providing multiple options for reading to give students choice based on their interests. Other times that means taking time to discuss the relevance of the topic to my student's lives or the world around them. After all, students can't effectively and critically think, discuss, or write about a topic if they don't know anything about it-or care to.

Trust me, taking the time to find high-interest informational texts will pay off. And it will get easier the more you get to know your students. However, regardless of how well you know your students, these resources are sure to have something that piques their interests:

Pre-Reading

Engaging students with informational texts begins before they even read a thing.
START WITH WHAT THEY KNOW
First, be sure to choose topics that they are already familiar with or interested in. These topics can be relevant to student interests, hot topics, cross-curricular content, or the modern world in general. While this isn't a make-or-break requirement, be sure to provide any necessary background knowledge if the topic is brand spankin' new. (I find that short video clips are a great way to engage students while providing the foundation needed before diving into the text.)

In fact, activating background knowledge is a key element in the pre-reading strategy for informational texts. Ask students to share their thoughts, connections, or predictions before diving in. This step will help set the stage for a meaningful reading experience.
THEN, GET THEM THINKING
Still, before introducing the actual text, begin by asking thought-provoking (and, perhaps, controversial) questions related to the topic. You can host a guided discussion, provide an anticipation guide, or play a game like four corners to get students up and moving-and thinking about the topic at hand.

For example, if you're reading a piece about technology, consider asking students to explain the role technology plays in their day-to-day lives. Alternatively, challenge them to explain which piece of technology they could never give up and why. If you were to read a historical piece about, say, the Holocaust, you could ask students to share not only what they already know about the historical genocide but ask how it connects to current issues facing society today.

During Reading

The following tips can help students stay focused and engaged while reading informational texts. Additionally, it helps guide them through any elements and structures that may feel unfamiliar:
TIP 1: REVIEW VOCABULARY.
While students are exposed to new vocabulary all the time, there is something especially intimidating about new words in an informational piece. Maybe it's because students are already hesitant to read these types of texts. Regardless, be sure to review any necessary and new vocabulary with your students prior to reading.
TIP 2: READ WITH A PURPOSE.
Rather than setting students loose to make sense of the informative text on their own, guide them with a purpose. Giving them a reason why they're reading helps to keep them active and engaged. Maybe it's to make a connection, draw a conclusion, form an opinion, or answer a question, just to name a few. Once they know their purpose, encourage students to track their thoughts and questions with annotations.
TIP 3: ENCOURAGE ANNOTATIONS.
Speaking of annotations, they are essential to reading, comprehending, and engaging with informational texts. Without annotations, students are more likely to glaze over the words on the page. Annotations can be used to track ideas, jot down questions, highlight important information, or note observations. No matter what they include, annotations help keep students accountable and actively engaged as they read.
TIP 4: INTRODUCE THE STRUCTURE AND ELEMENTS.
One of the reasons students are hesitant when it comes to informational texts is likely that they are intimidated by them. Think about it. Informational texts are off the beaten path of what they know. The purpose is different. They look and read differently. Set students up for success by explicitly introducing (or reviewing) the structure and features of a nonfiction and informational text. For example, you can introduce the five main text structures: Description, sequence, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution. Then, once they identify the structure, they can pick up on the main idea, supporting details, and the author's purpose more clearly.

Post-Reading
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.
Discussions in the wake of reading informational texts can get rather stale-if you're not asking the right questions, that is. Engage students with thought provoking questions or small group discussions that go beyond "any thoughts?" or "what was the piece about?" If you notice the conversation is slow, pull out the discussion dice! Each potential roll number should correspond to a question you have displayed on the board. Have students take turns rolling a pair of dice before answering the accompanying question.
MAKE CONNECTIONS.
Connections are powerful, whether students are making them between the text and themselves, other texts, or the world around them. For one, it elevates engagement and comprehension. It helps provide context, create meaning, encourage perspective, and promote critical thinking. As teachers, we can promote connections by bringing in other texts, literature, video clips, and other media to model and inspire student-generated connections. The more you can relate the informational texts and topics to your students' lives, the more they will see the significance and continue to develop and deepen connections of their own.
GET MOVING.
Getting students up and moving is always a good way to shake things up, especially after reading. While playing a game like four corners is a great pre-reading strategy, it can also be used after reading to redress essential questions. Similarly, you can hang posters with post-reading questions around the room and have students move about, adding their thoughts to the posters as they go. Not only will students be moving about, but they are likely to converse with those around them as well.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.
Don't be afraid to go beyond the classic discussion or writing response in the wake of reading an informational text. Get creative and come up with assignments that students will find relevant and highly engaging, and that require critical thought. Here are some fun challenges to assign to students:

6-word challenge: Similar to six-word memoirs, this activity challenges students to summarize an article in a mere six words!

Write a 500-750 word blog post in response to the article we just read.

What information would you include in a TikTok or Facebook live video about this topic?

If you were to summarize this article in an Instagram post, what would you include as a visual and caption?

If you had to create a PSA poster to spread the author's message, what would you include?

Additionally, you can have students create infographics, one-pagers, or brochures too! There are plenty of ways to get students thinking critically and creatively about nonfiction topics. The best part? Students will be so relieved that it's not "another paper" that they'll forget just how much critical thinking is involved.

If you were dreading teaching informational texts, I hope this post helped shift your mindset and gave you a few ideas and resources you're excited to try.

Trust me, these strategies and teaching tips changed the game of teaching informational texts in my classroom. And I'm not just talking about me, but for my students too. So, for everyone's sake, it's time we reframe how we approach informational texts in the secondary classroom. And, not to be dramatic or anything, but our future kind of depends on it.

On that note, here's to preparing our students to be active and engaged members of our society.

P.S. If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out my post all about teaching literary nonfiction in the secondary classroom.

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How to Engage Students with Informational Texts

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Dreading teaching informational texts? This post is filled with teacher tips and tricks to help you effectively engage students with informational texts. Additionally, learn my favorite sources for high-interest informational reading material. Interacting with informational and nonfiction texts is an essential aspect of student learning. However, that doesn't mean it's always enjoyable.

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Literacy Daily is a space to connect educators, students, and leaders with the latest news, ideas, tools, strategies, and research in literacy instruction.

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Scaffolding Discussion Skills With a Socratic Circle

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Encouraging Academic Conversations With Talk Moves

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Encouraging Academic Conversations With Talk Moves

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Public Speaking: Oracy Skills for the Real World

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Public Speaking: Oracy Skills for the Real World

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The power of Socratic Seminars in the classroom!

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Several weeks ago, I posted an article on my Facebook page about student fidgeting and the advantages of flexible seating. One teacher who commented was high school teacher Rebecca Malmquist, who described her own flexible classroom: "I have taken all the conventional desks out and replaced them with mostly tables and a number of different kinds of chairs; I've used garage sales and the generosity of friends to furnish my room this way. My classroom looks like a college apartment. But I also build in transitions every 15 minutes or so that require movement (to get into groups, turn something in, write on a paper-covered wall, etc). I have little to no fidgeting problems or issues with attention loss."

Intrigued, I asked to see a picture. Rebecca obliged, and then I lost my mind: "YOU HAVE THE PRETTIEST CLASSROOM E-VER," I shouted at her. "I WANT TO BE IN YOUR ROOM!!! I CAN'T STOP YELLING! OKAY, I'M OFFICIALLY STARTING A GALLERY OF BEAUTIFUL CLASSROOM PHOTOS AND YOURS IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST ONE."

And so Classroom Eye Candy was born.

Classroom Eye Candy will be a feature where I invite you to join me in ogling creative classroom design in any form. We will learn about the teacher behind the classroom and the process he or she used to put it all together. I have no idea when the next one will be or how often I will post these features. All I know for sure is the criteria: I'll know I've found the next classroom when I start writing in all caps.

Classroom Tour

Name: Mrs. Rebecca Malmquist (Twitter @beckymalmquist )

Job Title: High school English teacher - currently English 9 and 10, Creative Writing and Advanced Creative Writing

School Location: Hastings, Michigan

Q: What inspired you to arrange your classroom this way?

A: After my stay-at-home-mom years, as I explored the options of becoming a teacher or a school psychologist, I became an overly qualified paraprofessional for a few years at a school. While there, I noticed a need for teachers who were comfortable teaching all kinds of students. I also noticed that when a student had an accommodation for special seating, or some other really cool environmental thing prescribed by the OT or SLP (etc), they would stick out like a sore thumb. I mean, having a bean bag in your lap to help you feel grounded is awesome, but not if you're the only one with a bean bag. A chair on wheels that spins? Cool, but not if you're the only one. You get the idea. So, believing wholeheartedly that people gravitate towards what they need without even having to really think about it, I started noticing (in meetings, at my home, out in public) that most people, if given a choice, choose their spots based on some known or unknown instinct.

I vowed that my future classroom would be a place where those types of sensory needs were normal choices for anyone.

The Details

Seating:
So as long as a student's postures and movements do not disrupt others' learning and comfort, they are literally allowed to choose any number of places to land in our classroom. They can be:

on the floor, carpeted or tile

over/under a blanket, pillow, or lap-sized bean bags

on a couch, an easy chair, a Papasan chair, a traditional chair (wood), stools that don't move (with or without back support), stools that move up and down, "spinny" chairs on wheels, chairs that feel like they may tip (but don't), chairs that are plush on the seat and/or the back, or a high-backed easy chair

I did get rid of my exercise balls, because they just never held their air ... I have a dream for a balloon chair or an inflatable office chair or two ( dar Living Balloon Seat), but haven't acquired any yet.

Tables/Writing Surfaces:
Students can choose from end tables, clipboards, hard place mats, long conference tables, circular tables, rectangular tables, single tables near the teacher's desk, coffee tables, or the floor.

Manipulatives:
These are kept on my shelves for students to pick up and hold/play with: stress balls, tennis balls, plush animals, noiseless things, hard balls, plastic Slinkies.

Lighting:
No fluorescents-ever. I had a student with autism that could hear them and they would irritate him, which made me notice that I sometimes could get agitated when they are on too long, too. I have natural light in my classroom and a number of different light sources so they can always see well, no matter the time of year or day. Last year I had a student whose mom asked me to place a S.A.D. light in my room for her child, because she figured it would be the best place for the child to get a daily dose (30 min/day) and s/he fit right in when s/he sat in front of it in our classroom.

Music:
I play music every day when they come in for class; the genre changes, to accommodate all the different interests in the room. I think that adds to the environment as well.

Q: Where did you get the materials/furniture?

A: Mostly I find these things at garage sales; I buy them with my own money. I DO work at a school with a basement full of furniture odds and ends that no one wants; if I ask for a piece down there, I get to use it until someone else wants or needs it for something (that is where the cool street lamp comes from: an old prop for some play or dance some years ago). Now that people notice my classroom, I get offers for cool things to add to our classroom, and I take them.

Q: What's the deal with that rainbow wall in the back?

A: That is my affirmation wall. The colors correspond to class hours; the library card holders have numbers. Each color has 30 library card holders that are numbered. Each student has an address that reads something like this: Red 30; Blue 28. Here's a link to explain that a little bit more:

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsmalmquist/about-me/affirmation-station
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YAblJkJsW8I

If you're interested in hearing how I actually execute this efficiently for 150+ students after checking out that page, let me know. I'd LOVE it if people tried this with more high school settings; it makes a huge difference in the classroom.

I also have papered walls on which kids can and do write questions or good news (they sign and date these entries). Those are near the rainbow wall in the back.

Q: So how does it work? Do students choose where they want to sit all the time? Is there competition for the "best" seats?

A: I knew I didn't want to tie it to rewards, but I was afraid everyone would rush to all the sweet spots if I didn't assign it or have some kind of a procedure for it when I first started teaching, so I used to assign it randomly. I found it wasn't really necessary, and it didn't fit with my philosophy for making the environment in the first place. I mean, what if a kid NEEDED an accommodation in seating/lighting, and they always happened to get the couch, or whatever? I also found some people becoming proprietary, even when only assigned a spot every once in awhile, because it became the ever-elusive spot? I'm not sure. So I changed it up.

Now, I start every semester by greeting kids at the door and asking them to find a place in which they feel:
1: Comfortable
2: Capable of doing their best work

And then each day after that, for at least a solid 7-10 school days, I greet them with the same words, but I add this:
3: And it must be new to you. (Right...you cannot have chosen that place yet...yes, I'm serious...no, you can't pick a place you picked two days ago...)

After that time, it becomes natural for them to pick a handful of different places throughout the room. Every once in awhile, I go through this again if I notice that they are gravitating toward the same spots over and over again. I tell the kids I'm trying to get them to relax enough to learn and to figure out what works best for them; I remind them that what works one day may not work the next day.

Also, if a student chooses a place where s/he is not oriented to the front naturally, it is likely her/his chair is one which has been carefully placed so s/he can spin towards a speaker at any time, and I teach this as expected behavior at the beginning of the term.

People always assume that kids will fall asleep in such a relaxed environment. That's just not the case. Students tell me that the room is not only relaxing, but also makes them feel cared about and understood.

Q: Have you noticed a difference in how your classroom feels and operates compared to earlier arrangements?

A: No...because I never was a rows and desks person. Maybe that's not true...I didn't get the tables until the middle of my first year, so I had desks. Most of the kids hated the desks because they didn't fit well and felt constrained. No one ever chose them first, that's for sure. I slowly phased them out. This year, I have no conventional desks at all and I've never been asked for them.

Students tend to ask their parents to come visit during high school open houses (this is usually not a hot event for high school age students); I think that says a lot.

I'd like to thank Rebecca for sharing her space with me. I hope it inspires others to find ways to offer students choices for getting comfortable in the classroom. If you know of a classroom that deserves to be featured in Classroom Eye Candy, contact me here.

Want to see more flexible classrooms? Watch this Edutopia video that shows several other flexible classrooms in action: Flexible Classrooms: Providing the Learning Environment that Kids Need

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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Classroom Eye Candy 1: A Flexible-Seating Paradise

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Join me in marveling over the warm, cozy wonder that is the flexible classroom of Rebecca Malmquist.

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This post contains Amazon Affiliate links; if you purchase from Amazon after going through these links, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you.

If the first few classrooms featured in our Classroom Eye Candy series have anything in common, it's that they have all been very full-full of color and furniture, things hanging on the walls, and other small details that made them interesting and stimulating.

This classroom takes a slightly different approach: Since shifting from traditional to flexible seating this past school year, 5th grade teacher Kelly Almer's goal has been to continually simplify her classroom as much as possible, giving her students a clean, decluttered space to think and move freely.

Name: Kelly Almer
Job Title: 5th grade teacher
School Location: Littleton, CO

Q: Tell me about the evolution of this classroom. What motivated you to set it up this way?
I researched the concept of flexible or alternative seating for over a year before I took the plunge this past Fall (2016). Everything I found, with only one exception, were strong testimonials to the benefit of this type of seating. I have been an educator in the same public school district for 31 years. I enjoy trying new things and never have liked staying stagnant.

The idea of flexible seating was worth the plunge. This past year I was told to expect a large class (30+ students). That didn't excite me. I knew 30 desks plus chairs would take up all the room in my class. We needed to move.

So I decided to change: Eliminate slowly, helping the students adjust to the concept. Every step I took was worth the effort.

My first goal was to provide choice and options for seating to maximize the ability to learn and collaborate. I wanted my students to be able to choose where they wanted to sit, based on their individual comfort and learning mode.

I started by setting up three "seating options" in my room: high, middle, and low. I removed the legs from 12 of my student desks. This allowed for the "low seating". I purchased cushions from IKEA on top of these for seating comfort. The low seating was set up in groups of 6, 3, and 2 by themselves.

The middle level seating were still the regular desks. I kept the chairs with these. I purchased 3 high tables (also from IKEA: table legs purchased separate from the table tops). I had stools already so students could either sit or stand at these.

Each student was required to try out a different option each day. This helped them determine which location in the room and type of seating (or standing) worked best. One of the rules was to sit/stand where you can do your best work. I had the right to move students when their location wasn't working for them. This translates to anyone goofing around/ not on task. I simply move their seat, letting them know they could be "comfortable" at the other end of the room. No one can argue with that philosophy. Being comfortable and having every opportunity to learn are the priorities.

My other goal was fluidity. Every piece of furniture is movable in my room. This took a while for students to understand they aren't "cemented" to one spot all day. If that were true, the classroom would be a glorified traditional learning space with wonderful furniture. Things are in flux throughout the week and I find opportunities to move students, depending on the learning task.

With this arrangement, students do move around more. This takes getting used to but it only takes a short amount of time, and I realized we weren't disturbing anyone; the learning can still continue. I learned to let go more and so did they. The constant movement kids, those with ADD or ADHD, are able to move easier and it isn't a distraction. If it becomes too apparent, I simply ask them to walk or stand/move towards the back or side of the room. With people all over the place, this is not noticeable. Some even lay on the floor. We just walk around each other.

Q: How do you handle supplies and storage?
With the removal of desks, I knew I needed storage for supplies. At first, when a desk was removed from the room, two students shared one desk space to store their items. As we eliminated 4-6 desks at a time, sharing of available space was critical. I used some leftover bins from the dollar store ("Savers") we used until my principal ordered 2 rolling bookshelves/cubbie holders.

The changing space also meant we had to rethink our supplies. We no longer needed 5 folders, 3 spirals, and an excess of other items. Students simplified even further. This, as it turns out, helped them to organize themselves. We realized the desk was a space to "lose" things. Now each student has one storage bin (seen in the photo below), to house all their items. The two rolling bookshelves each hold 20 bins so I have a total of 40 bins: plenty for even a large class. Students take their bins with them, wherever they choose to sit. When they get up and move around they simply take their bin of supplies with them.

The students and I have a "common supplies" area in the room, behind the bench. Bins store extra paper, pencils, markers, sticky notes. There is no excuse for missing items. The Lost and Found bin is usually full, which I wish it wasn't but we can still continue on our day without my waiting for someone to find their pencil.

Q: Describe the main areas and special features of the room.
I have several rugs in the room, at designated gathering spaces. My main area is located in the middle of the room. There is a 5 X 8 rug there. The couch, bench, and chair, with the 4 tables, anchor this space.

I have a tall bistro table and stools (purchased from a second-hand store) by the windows. There is a rug there.

I also have 8 camp chairs at the front and back of the room. A simple table (our old school office furniture and IKEA) define these with simple rugs. The rugs were from Goodwill. As the months have gone by this academic year, I have discovered students gravitate towards certain spots. They no longer argue who gets the red chair or the couch. Many love the 2 camp chair areas. A few still prefer the couch, some love the floor at the back of the room.

Collaboration: I am in the process of eliminating bulletin boards from my classroom. My back wall is designated whiteboard space. My principal had leftover "Idea paint" and had the district "paint" a dry erase wall next to my closet. I defined this with bulletin board border. Now we have more space to write our thinking. I have students going to these boards and sharing their thinking. They take a picture of their work with their Chromebooks, to document their thinking. They love this. I didn't realize at the start of the year but we go through dry erase markers more than pencils.

Thinking Charts: For traditional large paper charts, I purchased a chart stand (Amazon). It has metal rings that hold a large paper chart. This houses our thinking charts for math and reading, writing. Students can move the chart around the room and flip to the references they need. It also acts as a partition for small group work areas.

Decorations and color scheme: I don't have things hanging from the walls, in front of the windows, or from wires. I believe this creates too much "visual pollution". Simplify what the kids see, keep it simple. What I have on my walls, above my boards, are nice decorations. My color scheme is traditional red (accent color) and navy blue. All of my boards (those that are left) are covered in navy blue fabric and lined with red and white polka dot border trim. I never change the color scheme or the fabric boards. This is year 3 and the color still looks brand new.

My furniture is also red and blue. The theme is cowboy/western. I have antique bridles, cowboy coffee pots, and such, displayed above the dry erase walls and on a shelf (up high). Above my wall of windows, I have evenly spaced cowboy hats. Each year I add one more hat with the students' thumbprints on it. I suggest keeping to a simple theme and color scheme. Dark bulletin boards (even black) work best.

Q: What other details make this room special?
Lighting and Music: I was never a fan of the overhead lights. I purchased from Lowes, a set of 5 lamps. These are placed at each main gathering spot in the room. My blinds are almost never closed (unless we're in a lockdown drill). I also play music throughout the day from Spotify to add to the atmosphere.

Snacks: I offer snacks and mints. My school population is 49-51% free and reduced lunch. I offer a bin of snacks: students can pick one a week. They LOVE this. The mints are from Target: Lifesavers mints. They come in a bag of 500. I keep these and pass them out when we are working on a test or studying. My classroom parents purchased a mini popcorn machine for us during the holidays. We have popcorn once a month This is a real treat and adds to the uniqueness of the room. We also have hot chocolate when it is cold out.

Q: What about fire codes?
My district doesn't have strict fire codes, other than nothing blocking the doors and the blinds must be able to close quickly. In case of a lock down, I placed simple dowels with fabric, above each door's window. I simply pull the dowel off the door (it is on Command hooks) and the fabric rolls down instantly. I place the dowel back on the hook and it covers the door (Pinterest idea).

Q: Where did you get the materials for the room?
I went through DonorsChoose and PledgeCents. Both were great, getting the wobble cushions, back patter chairs, and other supplies. For the other items, I am not afraid to approach local businesses, asking for their support. They can only say no. Most say yes. It never hurts to ask.

I also believe in garage sales, second-hand stores, IKEA, Walmart, Amazon. I can always find great deals there. I took my clipboards and decorated them, as the other teacher did on a different eye candy feature, for students. I keep these in a bin with the classroom supplies shelf.

The tractor stools are from Walmart.com. They were a bit pricey: $38 each (you can also find these on Amazon). I purchased them seven years ago and they are still as good as ever. Worth the investment.

Q: What advice would you give to someone wanting to simplify their classroom?
Start slow and change a few things. Shorten desks by eliminating the legs. Once you do that, purchase leg stoppers to slip on the ends of the desks, so the floor doesn't get marked up. Find a tall table in your building for standing space. Think of storage as you eliminate desks. Simplify students' materials and think of a central location to keep their items and common supplies.

Think of your "teacher area" as well. I am eliminating more of my space, as I don't spend much time there.

As you change the room, keep in mind you need to help the students think differently. A cool space only works if you are willing to help the kids learn how to work together.

Q: How is the mood of the room different now that you've made this change?
I started the switch in August of this school year. I originally had 30 desks, some chairs, traditional chairs. The room was CROWDED. As the transition took place, the students were as excited as me. When the room was finished (for the most part), by Fall conferences, everyone loved it. Parents came to every conference telling me how their student changed so much for the better this year. The atmosphere is very very relaxed. I have almost no behavior problems. The mood is very relaxed and happier. There is a sense of calmness that others in the building remark about. I even feel "relaxed" when I walk in. I will never go back to traditional seating again. ♦

There's more where this came from.
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Classroom Eye Candy 4: The Simplified Retreat

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This 5th grade teacher's goal is to simplify her classroom as much as possible, giving her students a clean, uncluttered space to think and move freely.

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Every lesson is different. There are many teaching methods for your lesson topics, so why not change your classroom interior based on your lesson? Sometimes, students have to work in groups, sometimes you give a presentation, sometimes you do some corner work. Every strategy needs an effective classroom arrangement.

In this post, I'll show you 19 possible classroom seating arrangements. I'll also mention the teaching methods that go with the arranged bench seating and at the end of this post, I added an interactive whiteboard with which you can create your own classroom seating chart.

19 types of seating arrangements for classrooms

1. Pairs

Let's start with one of the most used bench seating arrangements: Pairs. Pair up students and let them work individual or together. It's more fun with two but still gives you a nice overview. In this way, students can get their heads together when needed. If they have to work individually, let's say they have a test, you can place a binding folder between the students. Here, you can also easily divide your classroom into three columns of pairs. Ask, for example, the first column to answer question A, the second column to answer question B and the last column to answer question C. Go over the answers when they've finished. That way, you can speed up the classical work.

2. Grid

This seating arrangement is especially handy when testing your students or when you want them to work individually. They can't talk to each other or let their eyes wander on someone else's paper. I wouldn't recommend this seating arrangement in your classroom all the time. Students could get demotivated as they have no-one to "whisper" to.

3. Presentation

Get your students seated next to each other on one line. Repeat this a few times if you have enough classroom space. The purpose is to let students listen to the one in front of the classroom. This can be the teacher, or a student giving a presentation or demonstration. Seating your students this way is a good idea when you want them to focus on the front of the classroom. All students should be able to see something and it's easier for the one in the front to divide its attention and eye contact.

4. Groups of Four

Use small groups of four when you want your students to put their heads together. You can let them work on an assignment. You can also let them think about a question individually and ask them to deliberate with the other students in the group. Of course, just individual work is also possible. This seating arrangement just makes it a bit more social. When working with "groups of four" students get to sit with others all the time. They get to know each other better and make friends. This seating arrangement is a good idea to start the year.

5. Corner Work

When you're working on a big project or teaching a comprehensive topic with different aspects or themes, this seating arrangement will do just fine. Assign different tasks to each corner. For example, a (digital) crossword riddle, a quiz, a video with questions, a whiteboard exercise, ... All the assignments complete each other. Let your students shuffle so they've been to every corner and did every assignment. You can also use it to split up students with the same learning level. One corner where students get more instructions, the other has expansion exercises, one corner has noise-canceling headphones so students can concentrate, etc.

6. U-shape

The U-shape or the horseshoe. This classroom arrangement encourages discussion and makes it easy for the teacher to observe students and give one-on-one help. Don't use this desk arrangement for group work. This will be almost impossible.

7. Double U-shape

When you have more students or a smaller classroom, you can choose for the double U-shape arrangement. This allows you to put more students next to each other. It's very cozy but has some disadvantages as well. For example, it's harder for the teacher to go around in the classroom. One-on-one support is more or less off the table here. Students in the back might feel a bit left out as well. It's best to use this arrangement when giving a presentation or when teaching in front of the classroom.

8. U-shape Large Classroom

You can see where I'm going here. Let's say you have a large classroom and a lot of students, then you can definitely use this student desk arrangement. In contrast to the double u-shape arrangement, this u-shape for in a large classroom doesn't really cast students out. There's no separate "U" in the front, which makes it more open to the students in the back.

9. Conference Small Classroom

Are you teaching a small group of students? In that case, the conference classroom arrangement is a possibility. The "conference classroom" gives your students an "equal voice" and a snapshot of a business meeting room. Use the conference seating arrangement when making classroom rules, planning an event, for an intervention, a class discussion, etc. You can also practice speech (foreign language) by letting the students facing each other talk to each other. Let them switch places and move on to the next student in line and talk about another topic.

10. Conference Large Classroom

Don't worry though, there's a conference classroom layout for many students and a large classroom as well. Use this just like mentioned above. The only thing that's not possible is letting students face each other and talk directly to them. Don't use it for group work either.

11. Herringbone

This interesting student desk arrangement serves two purposes. It is rows of two, three or four, but slightly turned so they face the center of the classroom. This way, students give full attention to the teacher or students at the front of the classroom, and they can join in on a classroom discussion easily. You can also let your students work together with the ones on their row.

12. Rows

This is used most of the time in higher education when students have to listen to the teacher in the front. Here, the teacher can't give any one-on-one feedback as it's hard to reach students in the middle. It's a seating arrangement to get as many students in one classroom.

13. Computer Combination

Any of the other classroom seating arrangements work with portable devices like laptops, chromebooks or tablets. When you're in a classroom with student desks and computers, you can use this classroom layout. It gives you an overview of your students' computers.

14. Butterfly

This one is probably new to you. Let your students work individually, yet they sit together. This middle of the butterfly serves as a place where students go for extra instructions or a new assignment. Everything will be spread out on those desks in the middle. The teacher will be available to give more guidance when needed as well.

15. Eye

Use eye-formation when you're setting up a debate or discussion. Select a group of students that will debate in the middle of the eye. The rest will be the audience.

16. Circle

The circle is a classic seating formation in which you encourage your students to join a classroom talk or discussion. It's more or less the same as the conference classroom seating.

17. Large Groups

Split your classroom into two large groups. Let the groups work on bigger projects like organizing an event, putting together a play, setting up their own "company", keep a political meeting with different representatives,etc. Keep in mind that it might get loud in your classroom.

18. Horseshoes

Use this classroom desk arrangement to encourage discussion in smaller groups. Introduce some bold statements or "problems" about your teaching topic and let your students discuss them in their groups (in a foreign language you're teaching languages). Encourage your students to come to a consensus or a solution to the problem.

19. Banquet

Use this classroom seating layout for two things:

Let students talk to the one facing them (discussion, practice a foreign language, get to know each other, etc.).

Divide your classroom into two groups. Let them work together on bigger projects like in number 17. Let them organize an event, put together a play, set up their own "company", etc.

Create your own classroom seating arrangement

I guess these are more or less all the possible classroom seating arrangements. Of course, you can make combinations of different classroom layouts and adapt them to your own classroom and available space. Use this basic lesson plan template with a whiteboard below. Use the stickers I created to set up your own classroom layout for your teaching purpose. It's not a classroom seating arrangement app, but it comes close. It gives you much more freedom as you can draw your own classroom setup. Check out this tool (the worksheet widget) on BookWidgets!

This worksheet is created with BookWidgets - Click to open

Wrap up

Every classroom is different. The most important thing is that students feel confident and trust the classroom environment. Make sure to move around your student desks from time to time so you have the perfect classroom seating arrangement for your lesson.

Share this post with other teachers to inspire them! A little variety in class is always nice.

Let us know on Twitter what your favorite type of seating arrangement is! If you have any other setup ideas or a fun combination in your classroom, be sure to share them in our Facebook Group.

Find me on LikedIn! My name is Lucie.

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19 Classroom seating arrangements fit for your teaching

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Every lesson is different. There are many teaching methods for your lesson topics, so why not change your classroom interior based on your lesson? Sometimes, students have to work in groups, sometimes you give a presentation, sometimes you do some corner work. Every strategy needs an effective classroom arrangement.

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Deciding on a seating chart in your classroom can be a challenge. Who should sit together? Who MUST sit apart? However, before you can begin assigning seats in class, you must make the challenging decision about how to arrange the desks or tables. While it seems simple, there are so many different classroom seating arrangements to choose from and each has its own pros and cons. You've also got to take into account any flexible seating options you might have. So how do you decide the best seating arrangement for your classroom?

The reality is there is no single correct answer to the age-old question of how to best arrange your desks. Even when you try to find the research, it is difficult to find empirical evidence to support putting desks in rows, pairs, or table teams. So what's a teacher to do?

How does your seating arrangement affect learning for students?

You probably aren't surprised to read that the seating arrangement has an impact on student learning. Studies have shown that students who are in the front rows are typically more attentive than those in the back. They are more likely to ask questions and actively participate.

However, few elementary classrooms offer open seating, where students self-select their desk. Instead, we select students that need close proximity to maintain attention or get adequate support to sit in the front rows. Our goal is to improve those students' time on task and learning through our consistent interaction.

While you probably already knew that front row seats encourage engagement, did you know that your seating arrangement has also been shown to impact how you communicate with your class and how they communicate with peers? This makes it critical that we create seating arrangements that align with our instructional goals and activities so we can maximize student learning.

The Pros & Cons of Common Classroom Layouts

As you begin to consider your seating chart for this year, check out the pros and cons of several popular classroom seating arrangements. Hopefully, this will help you decide what is right for you, your students, and your classroom.

Rows/ Traditional Seating

Pros of Rows:

Rows work well if you have lots of space and there is little expectation for group or partner work at desks.

This set up also encourages less talking during instruction. With all students facing you, they are easily able to see the board.

Cons of Rows:

Most classrooms are not spacious, meaning that you'll most likely need to do a modified version of this (like stadium seating) or choose a different seating arrangement.

Rows are not conducive to cooperative learning or group work, and they can be challenging when it comes to classroom management unless you have a small class. Once you have three or more rows, it can be challenging to see and keep all students on task.

These cons were a reason my classroom was very seldom in traditional rows outside of state testing. Occasionally, we would do modified rows or stadium seating if the group was having difficulties staying on task and listening. However, cooperative learning and discussion is a huge part of my teaching so the cons of this format majorly outweighed any benefits for me.

Pairs

Pros of Paired Seating:

This is a great classroom seating arrangement for controlled conversations and partner work. Since you've selected the pairs, you can purposefully partner students who may work well together.

I loved using this arrangement later in the year, once I got to know my students and their personalities a little better because it allowed me to purposefully partner students in a way that allowed both partners to shine and lift one another up, academically. The partnerships often led to very rich discussions, which could then be shared in the larger class discussion.

This arrangement typically uses slightly less floor space than traditional rows, and it creates an environment where partnership and cooperative learning is expected.

Cons of Paired Seating:

Sitting in pairs also has some downsides. Since students are in partners, it can be more difficult to stop talking or off-task behavior. You may find that 1-2 students need to be "islands" and sit separated from a partner to do their best learning and maintain focus. Depending on how you present this, it can be stigmatizing for a student to have to sit alone.

I found that it was really important to explain why the student was becoming an island when I made this move. I also made sure to explain what he or she needed to do to become part of a pair again.

Depending on the parent, I also communicated this adjustment to parents to let them know why their child had been placed away from peers, making sure to discuss the benefits for their child and his or her learning rather than the idea of this being a punishment.

The arrangement also tends to still take up quite a bit of classroom space, so it can be difficult to pull off with large classes or in small rooms. You may also need to make a trio if you have an odd number of students.

Semi-circle or U-shape

Pros of U-shape seating:

This layout is great for classrooms that want to encourage discussion between the students and teacher. Students can still see anything projected onto the board, which makes it great for classroom conversations.

The double horseshoe layout, which has the inner and outer semi-circles, offers a slightly more restricted format for conversation. This can be a good alternative if you need some additional control of student interaction or in cases where you have a large number of desks in a small space.

I loved the double horseshoe those years that I had a rambunxious group where several students were able to set off peers because I could still make sure the students were seated in a way that reduced their likelihood of interactions. I could also have the kiddos who needed extra support closer to the front without the distractions from the entire class.

Cons of U-shape seating:

There are several major cons to this arrangement, but there are also a few fixes that I will share. This was an arrangement I used in my room regularly, but I had to find some adjustments.

The U-shape format requires lots of room, which means most classrooms will need to use a double horseshoe layout to make this work. One negative of the double horseshoe is that students often turn around and get chatty with peers behind them.

One of the biggest cons of this arrangement, however, is that kids move! When they move their desks tend to move with them.

Since my students sat on yoga balls, this was likely a bigger issue in my class than I would've seen with traditional desks and chairs, but we were constantly having to push desks back into their U-shaped format. I occasionally debated about using zip-ties to keep the desks together, but never actually went that far.

Another con was the fact that it was harder to get to the students in the outer U when I did the double horseshoe format. I solved this by leaving a space in the center of each so I could quickly and easily access all of my students if they needed help or had questions during work times. Here's what the layout looked like with that modification:

Table Groups

Finally, table groups are a common arrangement in many classrooms. Depending on how many students you have and whether you use desks or have tables in your room, you can create groups of 4-5 students.

Since this is one of the most common classroom layouts, I won't spend too much time digging into what it looks like. Instead, let's talk about the pros and cons of this classroom seating arrangement.

Pros of Table Groups:

By purposefully planning your groups, you can build upon student strengths and use the format as a part of your behavior management plan. Table points were a great way to build some friendly competition in my classroom, and they were great for encouraging on-task behavior.

Cons of Table Groups:

Remember how I mentioned that I liked to start the year in table groups? Well, we never stayed there for long. Here's why -

This is why I typically moved my students' desks into a double horseshoe layout for the middle chunk of the year. As they matured we were able to transition back into groups or table teams (like below) to finish up the year.

The table teams were the closest I could come to a round-table format, and they really encouraged some interesting discussion. However, they were definitely much harder to manage.

How can I improve my classroom arrangement?

As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to a classroom seating arrangement. You've got to take into account a number of factors to find what is best for you.

There are so many variables to consider, and you don't need to feel like a failure of groups don't work for you. (This was a feeling I often struggled with when I reached the point that I needed to move my desks from the table groups they began the year in.)

Instead, consider your classroom layout as a piece of your classroom management system. You use different classroom seating arrangements to serve different purposes and to keep your classroom on-task and learning.

If you are like me, you see grouping as the ideal seating arrangement and feel like you've somehow failed when you're not able to keep your students in groups and still keep everyone on task. I'm giving you permission to let yourself off the hook. Being a great teacher does NOT mean a one size fits all seating plan. Every year is different, and it's okay for the seating plan to change as well.

That being said, here are some ways you can improve your classroom seating arrangement.

Align your classroom seating arrangement to the activities you use most often.

When you plan your classroom seating arrangement, consider the goals of your instruction and the activities you commonly use.

If you're working through a unit that will have lots of whole group discussion, you may want to use a horseshoe or double horseshoe arrangement.

Working on some cooperative projects, table groups might be perfect!

There is no hard-and-fast rule about how often you should re-arrange your seating assignments, so you can make these adjustments as needed throughout the year. If your class is really on top of it, you can even practice transitioning between 2 different seating arrangements so your students can make a quick change to better meet the needs of the learning experience.

Take the classroom flow into account.

No matter how badly you might want to do a certain arrangement, if it impedes the flow of your classroom, it just isn't going to work.

Make sure that you've got adequate space for any arrangement you decide to try. This means that desks aren't too close to your small group space or classroom library.

It also means making sure you're easily able to reach all students to address questions or needs.

Don't be afraid to go your own way.

Consider a combination configuration if your classroom or students need it. By mixing and matching the arrangements described above you can find a way to meet the needs of all students.

There is no rule that says you can't create your own layout, so don't be afraid to play with your seating arrangement until you find a format that works for you. For example, the layout below is great if you have some students who are able to focus in groups, but others that need to fewer distractions or can only handle being partnered during instruction.

The reality of choosing a classroom seating arrangement

Your seating arrangement may seem like a small thing, but it is an important part of creating an effective classroom. Deciding on a good seating arrangement isn't easy, and you might discover the great ideas you thought you had are a total mess. There are also so many factors that come into play with your decision.

For example, I once worked with a principal that dictated classroom set-up, right down to the seating arrangement.

While I strongly believe that your seating arrangement should be determined by the individual teacher based on personality, teaching style, and the needs of the current class, there was only so much I could do in that situation so we spent a lot of time out of our desks.

Seating arrangements can certainly be changed throughout the year as students become more independent, more comfortable with each other, or as the needs in your room change.

If you enjoyed this article, here are others you'll love, too!

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The secret to classroom seating arrangements: What's right for you?

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Deciding on the right classroom seating arrangement for your classroom can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you decide what layout is right for you and your students because arranging your desks should be the last thing you have to stress about.

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Interested in switching to flexible seating? Get funding ideas, helpful tips, and how-to photos from the pros-your fellow high school teachers.

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The secret to giving great feedback | The Way We Work, a TED series

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Listen to the Interview with Matthew Johnson:
Sponsored by Parlay and ViewSonic

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My study of feedback began in earnest on a sunny afternoon during my third year of teaching. I was living in California - much to the envy of my midwestern friends and family - but I was also harboring a secret, a secret that was troubling me that afternoon. The secret was that while my social media pictures showed me at the beach and hiking past redwoods, those excursions were rare, maybe once-a-quarter outings. Instead, the vast majority of my days were spent doing exactly what I was doing in that moment: responding to and grading papers.

For the better part of my first three years as a teacher, student papers acted as the chains that shackled me to my desk day after day. Like Tantalus, I could see the beach gleaming through a crack between the apartment buildings next to mine, but when I looked at the towers of student work in front of me, the sand and waves receded out of reach. Maybe tomorrow after I chop these essay stacks down I would tell myself once again.

That afternoon though, for reasons I don't fully understand, something inside me finally snapped and I admitted to myself what I'd long known unconsciously: I didn't want to live like this anymore. I was drowning, submerged under a never-ending torrent of student work in need of feedback and assessment. I didn't want to leave the classroom, but I also didn't want to stay if it meant that my next forty years would endlessly orbit stacks of student work in the way that my first three years did.

That night, in a last-ditch effort to stay a teacher, I began to read whatever I could find about responding faster and better to student work, and it didn't take long for me to realize that I was far from the first teacher to resent living a life with papers at its geographic center. In fact, the very first article of the very first volume of the The English Journal in 1912 begins with a simple question written in all caps: CAN GOOD COMPOSITION TEACHING BE DONE UNDER THE PRESENT CONDITIONS?

The answer given by the author, Dr. Edwin M. Hopkins? "No." There were simply too many students and papers to manage. By the way, it is worth noting that Dr. Hopkins had 100 students. I currently have 158.

And the problem is that Dr. Hopkins wasn't fully wrong, then or now. The issue largely comes down to feedback, which is an essential part of good teaching-not just for composition, but for any content area. Just like the conditions in Dr. Hopkins' time, our present conditions make providing quality feedback incredibly difficult. This is because effective feedback generally shares a handful of characteristics: It is given regularly, returned in a timely manner, and written in clear language. It also works best when students are in the midst of creation, as opposed to as a postscript on final drafts once they finish.

When one digs down, the logistics of providing regular, timely, and formative feedback are absurd when one has 158 or even 100 students. Take my classes: Each minute of feedback I provide to each of my 158 students takes a time investment of over two and a half hours. That means reading and responding to one essay or project or test in ten minutes-a blisteringly fast speed based on the teachers I've talked to-will take over 25 hours. Even if a teacher works 60 or 70 hours, sacrificing countless evenings and weekends to student work, there exists a hard cap on the amount of feedback a teacher can give if it's only given in big chunks on big assignments.

Of course more global feedback on larger assignments is important, and there are ways to get more efficient and effective with that feedback (I wrote a book largely on this subject, Flash Feedback: Responding to Student Writing Better and Faster-Without Burning Out, and this very site has excellent suggestions here, here, and here), but if teachers want to provide timely, regular, formative, and meaningful feedback, we need to diversify our practices.

Feedback, after all, is just a teacher's response to something, and we can meaningfully respond to different assignments in a multitude of ways, many of them only taking a minute or two. I call these practices Flash Feedback, and while they come in small packages, they can pack a serious educational punch.

Characteristics of Flash Feedback

Teachers can take countless approaches to Flash Feedback. The exact structures will depend on the discipline, students, and teacher, but the most efficient and effective Flash Feedback tends to share these four characteristics:

It focuses on one or two learning objectives. A long history of scholarship argues that feedback, even on large assignments, should generally focus only on a manageable number of topics, no more than a few. Covering too many topics tends to overload students, so they learn no lessons (or no lessons deeply) and it takes longer, making it the exact opposite of Flash Feedback.

Students do the heavy lifting. Teachers often fall into the trap of correcting work for students and doing more reflection on student work than they require the students to do. Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle call this Helicopter Teaching, and while it generally comes from a place of wanting to help, it often holds students back for two reasons: First, when students don't have to work for an answer, they are less likely to remember it. Second, the time it takes to correct student work and solve problems for the students severely limits how much feedback the teacher can give them. For Flash Feedback to work, students must be the primary ones finding answers, patterns, and approaches, as the teacher plays the role of the guide standing well off to the side.

It utilizes systems and technology. Feedback often has a lot of redundancies that can be mitigated with better systems or by using technology, and even little efficiencies add up. For me, each 15 second increase in efficiency saves me 40 minutes when taken on the scale of all of my students!

There is a spillover plan and time allotted for special cases. There will inevitably be times when a student's specific needs won't fit within the system and structure being used by the teacher. This is why having a clearly defined spillover plan/time will help to make sure that the needs of one or two individuals don't derail the plan for the rest of the class.

Three Ways to Do Flash Feedback

In my classes, and especially during the time when I'm writing this-an era of emergency distance learning when time is tight-there are three types of Flash Feedback that I find myself coming to again and again: Targeted Response, Micro-Conferences, and Wise Interventions.

1. Targeted Response

My students, like most people, tend to struggle with comma usage. My approach to helping them with commas used to be to circle and correct every comma error I found in every paper, but this never led to much progress and it took a tremendous amount of time.

Now I mainly use Targeted Response, which is where the teacher focuses an assignment and its feedback solely on 1 to 2 targeted learning goals. When it comes to commas, my students write a very short one-page paper about anything they want in any genre. It is called the Comma Paper, and its only criteria (and the only thing I give feedback to) is that they must include at least four correctly used examples of each type of comma we studied in class.

To speed my assessment of and response to these papers, I have students turn them in on Google Classroom. That enables me to use the Find Function (Command-F) to highlight all of the commas in the piece, so I can quickly scan for comma issues. It also allows me to pre-populate two comments in the comment bank (if you don't know how to do this, here is a quick tutorial). One is a short congratulatory note for students who had no comma errors. The other is a message where I tell students the number of comma errors and let them know that to get credit for the assignment, they must find the errors and fix them during the class time provided.

By keeping the scope of the paper and feedback focused and using the technology tools available, I can give specific, individual, and meaningful feedback in less than a minute per student, and the best part is that the deep focus on commas leads to more student growth in one short paper than a year of circling and correcting commas ever did!

2. Micro-Conferences

Conferencing is one of the most celebrated pedagogical tools, and there is good reason for that. It is a rare one-on-one opportunity to offer individualized instruction and feedback, fix misconceptions, build relationships, and give students the opportunity to be heard by a caring adult. Like written feedback though, the logistics of conferences can be daunting in most classes. My classes meet for 210 minutes each week and average 32 students. This means doing a five minute conference with each student takes over 75 percent of the class time that week.

While larger conferences are sometimes worth this time investment for me, I can only do so many if I want to cover everything else I need to do. Enter the Micro-Conference, which is a conference that is done in a fraction of the time (generally 1 to 2 minutes) by being focused and carefully structured.

One of my favorites is one I do around paraphrasing, which is another deeply important skill that students tend to struggle with. Here's how it works:

1. Students write a rough draft of a paper with paraphrasing, like a research paper, and bring it to class.

2. As a whole class, we read and discuss mentor texts with strong paraphrasing.

3. Students take out their own drafts, pick a page to work with, and then highlight each moment of paraphrasing they see.

4. They then rate their paraphrasing in their paper from 1 to 10, based on the mentor text we read, and write at least four sentences justifying their rating.

5. Once students have rated and reflected on their work, they call me over and we quickly conference. I generally start conferences by asking students to share their ratings and what they noticed when comparing their work to the example. We then use those thoughts to plan an actionable path forward together. My role in this is mainly that of the gadfly - asking questions and helping the student to orient in the right direction - and while I try to keep the conferences to no more than a minute, most generally wrap up naturally in that time without feeling rushed.

Like the Targeted Response, everything about these conferences is designed to maximize time efficiency. The students have already laid the groundwork and highlighted the paraphrased sections, allowing us to jump right in at a high level. Further, by focusing just on paraphrasing, a minute is not too short to go deep, answer questions, and figure out meaningful action steps forward for the student.

3. Wise Interventions

Wise Interventions is a practice that came out of Stanford and the University of Virginia, among others, and the idea behind it is that while shifting negative student mindsets, beliefs, and behaviors is often painstakingly slow, in the right circumstances it can also happen incredibly quickly. The key to these moments of rapid positive change is that if teachers can find the exact moments that fuel and perpetuate negative student beliefs/mindsets/behaviors and disrupt them, sometimes it can open students up to better alternatives in surprisingly little time.

Probably the most famous example of this was a study of Massachusetts middle schools that found that students did twice as much revision on an essay when they each received a sticky note on the top of their essays that read "I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them," versus those who got a sticky note that read "I'm giving you these comments so that you'll have feedback on your paper."

The researchers theorized that the reason for why one sticky note-the product of no more than a few seconds work - would have such a large effect on student mindsets and behavior was that many students in the study might have felt the teachers didn't believe in them. Those narratives were disrupted by a note coming just at the moment they were preparing for teacher disappointment once again via the teacher comments, which in turn cleared the way for those students to put in more work.

I use a number of Wise Interventions in my classes, but my favorite with feedback is one called "I'm so sorry about the rain." It comes from Daniel Coyle's book The Culture Code, and the basic premise is that a study out of Harvard found that people were 422% more likely to let a stranger borrow their phone if the stranger prefaced asking for the phone by saying "I'm so sorry about the rain." The reason this rather banal comment about the weather led to a striking shift in behavior was likely that it was enough to signal a relationship, which changes nearly everything about how a brain responds to a request.

I have found that little personal things that take only a few seconds to write-like quickly referencing something a student said in class or an aspiration the student shared at some point-can often have the same effect on students, especially those who are wary of writing, and shift the attention and care they give to feedback on that paper and beyond.

By being focused and carefully structured, Flash Feedback allows us to make feedback a part of class that is as regular as the bells in the halls. It also allows us to teach many more personalized lessons each semester; gives us regular points of contact with students, which have been shown to improve performance and relationships; and best of all, can be done quickly, allowing teachers to break those shackles to student papers and take a day at the beach every once in a while.

Come back for more.
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Flash Feedback: How to Provide More Meaningful Feedback in Less Time

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If we want to provide timely, regular, formative, and meaningful feedback, we need to diversify our practices. These three strategies pack a lot of punch in very little time.

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This week on the Truth for Teachers podcast: There's a lot of research out there about what it means to be a warm demander but what I'm hoping to add to the conversation with this episode is a personal touch: What exactly does being a warm demander look like?
"The warm demander" approach isn't something that's brand new. In fact, the term was coined by Judith Kleinfeld back in 1975. It's an equity approach, grounded in showing students that you care and refuse to give up on their achievement. Being a warm demander is about mutual respect, and making it clear from your tone and body language that student effort is non-negotiable and you believe in students' ability to succeed. A warm demander builds trust and relationships by listening to kids and affirming them. Yet, a teacher who takes the warm demander stance also pushes kids and doesn't allow them to settle for less than they're capable of.

There's a lot of research out there about what it means to be a warm demander, and how that approach helps kids (particularly kids of color) be successful in the classroom. But what I'm hoping to add to the conversation with this episode is a personal touch: What exactly does being a warm demander look like? What, specifically, do we mean by being "warm" and what's a healthy model of being "demanding"?

I want to focus mostly on the demeanor of a teacher who is a "warm demander," because I feel like that's the most nebulous part. Everyone knows to have high expectations for kids, develop relationships, teach them to persevere even when things are hard, and so on. But personally, I think the key to making those strategies work is in your demeanor: how you communicate those expectations and care for your students through tone, facial expressions, and body language. I haven't seen very much written or shared online about that part, so I thought it might be helpful to talk about what worked for me and a few of the educators I learned from.

I'm going to give a disclaimer right up front that I am not implying that you as the teacher bear full responsibility for getting kids to stay engaged and do their work. There are many reasons that students fail to meet expectations and many of those reasons have nothing to do with the teacher's rapport or personality or teaching style. There is no implication here that if you execute this strategy perfectly, all your kids' disengagement and behavioral and learning issues will disappear.

But I'll tell you why I like this approach. The warm demander stance is focused on something you can control - your own behavior - rather than on manipulating or cajoling or rewarding or punishing students for THEIR choices. Trying to control other people leads to frustration. Focusing on you is where the real power's at because you can choose how you show up in your classroom each day. There's something very empowering about setting boundaries and limits to what you will accept, and then choosing to respond in a firm yet warm way when those limits are pushed.

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Let's talk a little bit about what's meant by being "warm." This is something that will look different for each person depending on your personality type. I was a warm demander in the classroom, even though I didn't know what it was called at the time. I just knew that I could say what I needed firmly AND with a smile on my face. Don't get me wrong, I could also be ice cold - there were many moments when I snapped and glared because the kids had pushed me too far and I lost my patience. I'm a human, not a robot, after all. But my default demeanor was that of a warm demander.

Here's how I developed that style. I had a professor in undergrad that always smiled when she taught us. She'd teach with a relatively straight face, but anytime she asked a question, she'd smile, and then maintain that smile while waiting for a response and listening to the student answer. So she'd say something like, "Piaget was a child development expert. Who can summarize his work for us?" and she'd start smiling during the question, then stand there, sort of beaming at us. The look on her face communicated, "I can't wait to hear these answers, someone's about to say something really good."

A question sounds different when the person asking is smiling. Your willingness to be vulnerable as a student and participate increases when the person is smiling. It was a simple yet profoundly effective way to demonstrate warmth and confidence in us. I really liked the way it felt as a student, so I tried it in my practicums. I found that I also really liked the way it felt as a teacher - it changed my energy and perspective when I spent much of the day smiling at my students, and it became a learned behavior. Anytime I'm teaching now - even when teaching adults - I automatically smile a lot. I get excited and energized by the responses of the people I'm teaching, and I smile more broadly, or my eyes get big and my eyebrows raise as I nod.

The other nice thing about smiling is that it makes the wait time when you ask a question less awkward. You're not just standing there staring the kids down and sort of daring someone to answer. When I ask a question and don't get an immediate response, I'll often just sit on the tall stool that's usually behind me when I'm teaching, and settle in. I'll keep smiling and looking around the room. This communicates: "I know you have something to say and it's worth waiting for. I'm not going to answer my own question or give you a hint, I'm just going to let you think because I have confidence in you and I know that you'll be able to answer this. Think about it, and I'll be ready whenever you are."

Now smiling may not really fit your personality type, and that's just one way to communicate warmth. I'm certainly not telling you to smile more if that's not something you want to do or that feels good to you.

Other ways to communicate warmth can be with playful jokes, inside jokes, and other forms of humor. I know teachers with a rather serious personality who occasionally crack a sarcastic comment or poke fun at themselves and it does so much to communicate to kids that the teacher enjoys being there and finds some fun in the job.

So when you think about what warmth looks like for you, consider what the opposite is. What does cold look like? Have you ever had someone tell you to do something or try to teach you something in a cold way? Maybe there was a customer service rep or a server at a restaurant who was extremely cold while supposedly helping you.

What did that coldness look like? They probably either avoided eye contact or stared you down with a stone face and made you uncomfortable while they waited for you to make a decision or act on what they said. Their tone of voice was probably dispassionate, or maybe condescending, which conveyed they didn't think you were capable of doing what needed to be done. They may have sighed, appeared impatient, or seemed disinterested in helping you.

That's coldness. Everyone dislikes being treated coldly. So watch out for those habits in your teaching, and look for ways to authentically be more warm with students. This could be through smiling, using humor, or being a little silly or crazy. A warm person lets their real personality shine through and tries to make an actual connection with another person instead of going through the motions with no real feeling or connection.

Think about how you treat the people you really like - that's what warmness looks like for you. And then practice incorporating more of those behaviors into your teaching until they feel like second nature.

This is easier when you develop unconditional positive regard. That's a term coined by psychologist Carl Rogers. It has to do with accepting and supporting a person regardless of what that person says or does. Unconditional positive regard doesn't mean you like or accept inappropriate behavior from others. It means you accept and support the person regardless. You do not require them to change in order for you to acknowledge their positive characteristics or have a positive relationship with them.

Unconditional positive regard is a great thing to look up if you're not familiar with it, and I encourage you to start by developing that attitude toward yourself. When you can let go of judgments and labels about who you are, it's easier to extend that same grace to others. Practice accepting yourself just as you are, without beating yourself up about your shortcomings and mistakes. Change the way you treat yourself and that will naturally impact the way you treat others.

So that's the warmth part. Let's talk about the demander part, which I think can be a little trickier to nail down.

The demander part for me manifested in not letting kids off the hook. There were times when I could tell I needed to let something go, of course, but in general, if a student said, "I don't know" or struggled to answer a question, I didn't let up.

I'd keep smiling, nod encouragingly, and ask follow up questions. Sometimes I'd ask a smaller, easier question and use that as a springboard. So if the student couldn't answer 14×5, let's say, I'd ask, "What's the first step in the problem?" and if the student couldn't answer that, I'd say, "If you multiply the digits in the one's place - 4×5 - what do you get?" and if the student was able to say 20, my eyes would light up and I'd nod vigorously. "Yes! That's it. Would you like to tell me the next step, or do you want to call on someone else to help you?" The student could then use this scaffolding to help them solve or ask a friend for help - either way, she or he still has decision-making power and doesn't look bad.

This is one example of being a demander. My students knew that they couldn't just say "I don't know" and have me move on to someone else. I was going to stick with them until they experienced some degree of success, and I would likely come back to them later in the lesson and ask a similar question, this time requiring them to stick with the answer until they got it right.

Providing the support students need to be successful is a major component of being a warm demander: you're not just believing kids CAN be successful or telling them failure is not an option. You're noticing what they need to meet the standards and coming alongside them to offer resources and different approaches to the learning which will help.

When it came to behavior, being a warm demander for me meant issuing reminders and initial corrections with a smile or at least a friendly tone. Then when a student pushed the limits too far, the smile disappeared and I got very serious. Immediately after issuing the firm correction, I'd go right back to being warm with the rest of the class.

This was a strategy I learned from the director of the Head Start program in my first public school teaching job. Her name was Afiya Graham. She taught a model lesson during my first month of teaching and was reading a book to my students while they sat on the rug. One of the kids started calling out during the read aloud. She made eye contact with the corners of her mouth turned up to communicate, "Mmm, I'm really not feeling that behavior," and shook her head to let him know that wasn't okay. Then she looked back at the book. When he didn't stop, she whipped her head over in his direction and stopped reading mid-sentence. He froze, realizing she'd stopped reading the story and was clearly not happy. The moment he was silent, she turned back to the book and kept reading in her warm, happy way.

This process repeated all throughout the lesson, but it worked. She gave a gentle or playful verbal or nonverbal reminder the first time expectations were not met and followed up swiftly with a serious look or reprimand for repeated misbehavior.

When I first tried this approach, I honestly felt like I had multiple personalities, switching from lighthearted to serious and back again in the course of just a couple of seconds. But the kids responded really well. After all, it wasn't fun for them if I had to get serious or mean with one child and then carried that attitude over into my interactions with them. They wanted their happy, fun-loving teacher and they deserved to have her. And, I deserved to be my best self - I didn't want to carry that grudge or annoyance with me.

So this very quickly became part of my teaching style, and I still do this to the current day, even if I'm teaching model lessons in a middle or high school. I am warm and pleasant and smiling with them, but the moment they try to push the boundaries, I have a cold-as-ice look that tells students I am not playing with them, and a cold-as-ice voice that communicates the same. I'll address that and then instantly turn back to the rest of the class with warmth and enthusiasm. I've found this approach to be incredibly disarming for teenagers and therefore, it's been very effective for me. It shows a sense of unflappability - that I will not let a handful of kids ruin my lesson, throw me off track, or cause me to get impatient with the whole class. I'm directing the coldness to where it's warranted and am sufficiently in charge of my emotions to switch back to my natural warm state.

These are just a couple examples of the "demander" portion of the "warm demander" approach. As I mentioned right up front, no method is fool-proof and guaranteed to work with every student.

It takes experimentation to find an approach that works for you and is authentic to your personality, and one that is also appropriate for your students. Being culturally responsive is a critical part of being a warm demander, because our beliefs about what constitutes both warmth and demanding behaviors are based on our own personal and cultural norms.

What is considered playful to you might be considered disrespectful to your students. And vice versa: you might consider something disrespectful that they find playful. What you see as being appropriately demanding might be perceived by kids as aggressive. Or what you see as being warm, like making sustained eye contact, might be perceived by kids as uncomfortable.

Being aware of this and monitoring your students' reactions is key. Get curious about their responses to you, rather than being judgmental. You don't have to label your attempts (or their reactions) as right or wrong, or good or bad. Just notice what's effective, and what doesn't get a great response. Probe into those reactions a bit more: What made this one instance work? What made this other one blow up in your face?

Let your kids know when you mess up, take things too far, or behave in ways that you aren't comfortable with. This sets the precedent in your classroom that people apologize when they mess up or mistreat others. They reflect on their behavior and continually try to do better because they care about those around them. That's being a warm demander.

There's obviously so much more I could say about this topic, but the information about being a warm demander is available online if you want to learn more. What I want to return to is the part that I said in the beginning, about why I think this is such a great goal to strive for as a teacher.

Being a warm demander allows you to focus more on who you are - how you show up in the classroom - rather than getting caught up in students' frustrating behaviors or failure to meet learning goals. This is about thinking about who you are as a person in the classroom: the way you show up, your personality, attitude, and enthusiasm.

If you pity your students or don't believe in them, trying to be a warm demander will come across as fake. If you think you're a bad teacher and have no confidence in your own abilities, it won't work either.

But when you establish the right mindset - the right beliefs about yourself and your students - becoming more of a warm demander will come naturally. You'll notice that it feels more effortless. And in the moments when you find yourself being cold, angry, impatient, or aggravated, you'll know how to self-correct and get back on track.

The only person you can change is yourself. You can't change your students, and you don't need to. When you get frustrated, refocus on the person you want to be each day for your students and expend your energy on being that person - that awesome teacher and supportive adult - rather than on trying to get the kids to be that awesome student.

You're not blaming yourself or putting all the responsibility on your own shoulders. Being a warm demander in an empowering stance, where you realize the tremendous influence your very demeanor can have on children, and how small shifts in your tone and facial expression can make a huge difference in your interactions. Being a warm demander helps you show up in the classroom as the best version of yourself. You can do this. And remember: it's not going to be easy, it's going to be worth it.

Further Reading

Alexander, A. (2016). The warm demander: An equity approach. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/warm-demander-equity-approach-matt-alexander

Bondy, E., & Ross, D. (2008). The teacher as warm demander [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/marachi/mle/Warm%20Demander%20Article.pdf

McKeown, K. (2018). Why teachers need to be "warm demanders" toward themselves. Retrieved from https://www.teachingbalance.com/blog/why-teachers-need-to-be-warm-demanders

Neesen, K. (2017). Students, especially African-Americans, thrive with warm, demanding teachers. Retrieved from https://news.virginia.edu/content/students-especially-african-americans-thrive-warm-demanding-teachers

Safir, S. (2019). Becoming a warm demander. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar19/vol76/num06/Becoming-a-Warm-Demander.aspx
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The Warm Demander: How to raise expectations (and have students rise to meet them)

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This week on the Truth for Teachers podcast: There's a lot of research out there about what it means to be a warm demander but what I'm hoping to add to the conversation with this episode is a personal touch: What exactly does being a warm demander look like?

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Classroom Management Tip: Be a Warm Demander

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Relationship Reboot: What Is A Warm Demander?

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Vol. 76

No. 6

Abstract

An Old Concept Reborn

Show Strength

Listen and Affirm

Challenge and Offer a Choice

From the Micro to the Macro

Adopting an equity-centered coaching model for school leaders.

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Abstract

An Old Concept Reborn

Show Strength

Listen and Affirm

Challenge and Offer a Choice

From the Micro to the Macro

I still remember the look on her face: an African American mother watching her son, once again, being underserved. She was quiet, but her face spoke volumes as she looked straight at me-a young white teacher-with an expression of sheer disappointment. I was giving up on her son.

"I'm just not positioned to serve Jason well," I insisted to myself. "I have tried and failed to build a relationship with this 14-year-old, and we just don't connect. It's better for him to have a second chance with my colleague Greg, a young African American man who teaches the same course. Maybe they will form a better connection."

Greg was at the table, as was my principal (also a white woman), Jason's mom, and Jason himself. I don't think any of us really believed that Jason needed a different teacher. I was more experienced than Greg, who was a brand-new teacher, and therefore had a stronger pedagogical skill set at the time. But somehow I had convinced myself that moving Jason was the best solution.

In truth, what Jason needed was for me to believe in him and persist in finding a way to serve him. He needed me to see that his distracting classroom behavior was an attempt at masking his struggle to read at grade level. He needed me to teach him how to read the complex texts we were studying with proficiency. He needed me to become a warm demander.

An Old Concept Reborn

That moment from nearly 20 years ago still pains me, and I share it with vulnerability and awareness that when it comes to educational equity, we are all part of the problem-and we can all be part of the solution. Becoming warm demanders is a critical approach we can take for increasing equity in our schools. With roots in Native Alaskan communities (Kleinfeld, 1975), this concept can be applied to both teacher-student and leader-teacher interactions.

In the words of author Lisa Delpit, warm demanders are teachers who "expect a great deal of their students, convince them of their own brilliance, and help them to reach their potential in a disciplined and structured environment" (2013). By extension, warm demanders are instructional leaders (coaches, principals, assistant principals) who expect a great deal of their colleagues, convince them of their own capacity to improve, and support them with a range of resources and coaching moves.

When I helped found the June Jordan School for Equity (JJSE) in San Francisco in 2003, I hoped to develop an instructional model with equity at its core. As a school leader, however, I struggled to find the language to convey an approach that would couple high support with high expectations for students and teachers alike. My colleagues Matt Alexander and Jessica Huang, fellow cofounder and the current principal of JJSE, respectively, have since built on the warm demander concept to create an equity-centered instructional framework rooted in four guiding principles. Although their principles were crafted with students in mind, I've translated them here for adults.

1. Believe in the impossible. This principle helps us interrupt the implicit biases and single stories we may carry about colleagues. Do you really believe that every teacher in your building can improve? Brain science, and specifically the concept of neuroplasticity, teaches us that every human being has the ability to grow and change. When you believe this, you convey it. When you don't, it shows.

2. Build trust. Warm demanders understand that all growth and learning is rooted in relational capital, the "resource that leaders accrue when they take time to listen to and convey authentic care and curiosity toward others. ... If relationships function as currency in schools, relational capital is like a big savings account of trust and goodwill" (Safir, 2017, p. 107). Particularly when it comes to working toward equity, trust is the foundation of any warm demander interaction.

3. Teach self-discipline. With trust in place, a leader who is a warm demander can communicate high expectations to his or her colleagues: "I respect you, and therefore I am not going to lower my bar for you." The combination of belief and trust creates a platform from which to help your colleagues develop self-discipline, or the will and skill to apply a laser-sharp focus to instructional improvement.

4. Embrace failure. Warm demanders model a growth mindset toward colleagues and encourage a culture of experimentation. They end coaching conversations with questions like, "What are you going to try out?" or "What are your next steps?" Warm demanders don't expect their colleagues to improve overnight. But they do expect them to take risks, make mistakes, and reflect on what they learn-always through an equity lens. They hold space for teachers to reflect and celebrate growth and failure alike, and they make it safe to fail (Alexander, 2016).

These principles are powerful, but what do they look like in action? What are the listening and coaching moves of a warm demander? Let's examine them from a school leadership perspective, using my story with Jason as a case study. 1

Show Strength

It's not enough to believe in your colleagues' ability to do better by kids. You have to proactively set the instructional tone and direction, and then be willing to interrupt inequitable mindsets and practices when they surface. This requires us to cultivate what I call an orientation to vision -a leadership stance in which we define, coach toward, and message a vivid picture of success (Safir, 2017). As a leader, what are your instructional values? What is your image of an equity-centered classroom or school? Overcommunicate your vision-in meetings, on agendas, on the school walls, on classroom observation tools-so that when a breach happens, you are ready to show strength.

Showing strength means holding the line on your vision and not capitulating to deficit language, single stories, or narrow views of student behavior. In my story with Jason, I misread his behavior in class as him "not liking me" as a teacher. Looking back, I can see how misguided my thinking was. Jason was a 9th grader reading at probably a 2nd or 3rd grade level. He was carrying around a backpack full of shame about his learning gaps and finding all sorts of ways to distract me and his peers. I needed a warm-demander leader to bring me back to our school values and to offer a different narrative about what was happening.

Rather than signing off on the class transition, here is how I imagine my principal could have shown strength:

Me: I don't feel like I am a good fit for Jason. He acts out in my class all the time, and I think he might do better with Greg. Could we move him?

Principal: Shane, moving Jason to another class is a last-ditch option. Frankly, it would make him feel rejected and reinforce his experience of marginalization as a young black man. You are an excellent teacher and I know you can find a way to serve Jason. I am here to help you figure it out.

Listen and Affirm

By shifting the narrative I was holding, my principal would have opened up space for a coaching conversation. First, however, she needed to stand with me in my struggle and shame around not being able to connect with this student. My colleagues at JJSE call this part of the warm demander framework "listen and affirm," similar to the concept of deep listening (Safir, 2017). In my coaching, I see many leaders choose to leapfrog this step, perhaps because they fear the emotionality that may emerge. But leading for equity is inherently emotional work, and we must cultivate our capacity to sit with and hold space for people's feelings. Otherwise, we risk shutting them down.

When we practice deep listening, we tune into the message beneath the words, paying close attention to the speaker's nonverbal signals and affirming his or her capacity to grow and change. What does the teacher's facial expression and body language reveal? As you assess these cues, form a mental picture of his or her experience and model the stance of mature empathy by showing care and compassion (Safir, 2017).

Here are a few powerful ways to do this:

Mirror the teacher's nonverbal signals to activate mirror neurons, a unique type of brain cell that fires when we observe an action or emotion.

Practice active listening by paraphrasing and summarizing what the speaker has said ("What I hear you saying is ...").

Use affirmative language to reinforce that you believe in this colleague ("I really appreciate how you ..." or "I know this is difficult, and I commend you for ...").

Here is how I envision my principal could have listened to and affirmed me. Imagine that I looked deflated as I approached her (for example, on the verge of tears or hunched over).

Principal: ( Taking a breath and accessing her own emotions so she can mirror mine, and putting a hand on my shoulder.) I can see that this is hard for you. What is coming up for you around your ability to serve Jason?

Me: I feel like a failure! I have had four successful years of teaching and now I can't figure out how to help this one student. I don't know why I can't build a better relationship with him.

Principal: What I hear you saying is that you have felt successful as a teacher for the past few years, and this dynamic with Jason has left you feeling like a failure and questioning why you can't build a connection. Did I hear that right?

Me: Yes. ( My shoulders relax and arms uncross. I sit down and lean forward with my elbows on my knees. My principal sits directly across from me, no desk between us, and leans forward to mirror me.)

Principal: Well, Shane, I believe in you as a teacher, and I can see how challenging this moment is for you. I also believe in Jason and our responsibility to serve him, and I am committed to helping you build a stronger relationship with him.

Challenge and Offer a Choice

When a person feels seen and heard, something magical happens. Often, they can breathe deeply once again. They might cry, sigh, or shift their posture in a way that signals increased openness. Look for that signal; it is your opportunity to engage in strategic listening (Safir, 2017), a style of equity-centered coaching that draws on reflective questions and a bias toward experimental action.

Alexander and Huang call this part of the warm demander framework "challenge and offer a choice," and it is connected to the idea of an orientation to vision. The challenge here is to call somebody in and up to their fullest potential, not to call them out. This is the moment to anchor your coaching conversation in school values, instructional vision, or even the teacher's own values.

Another way to "challenge" your colleague is to ask probing questions that invite her to reframe her thinking about the situation-what I call reflective inquiry. A few of my favorites are:

If you step back for a moment, what is a different way of seeing this student's behavior?

What might be getting in the way of ... (building a strong relationship with Jason, for instance)?

What makes this particular situation feel confusing or different?

Knowing that we are all prone to implicit bias, what unconscious biases or single stories might you hold about this student?

When have you successfully addressed a similar challenge, and what can we learn from that?

Finally, a warm demander always moves the conversation to action-what I call taking bias toward action. Remember the principle of embracing failure? This is the place to plant that seed. Offer the teacher small action steps to try, or better yet, ask: "What is a next step you could try?" or "What is another form of data we could gather to help us understand this problem from new angles?" 2 Reassure your colleague that it is indeed safe to try and even safe to fail. Identify a time to meet again to reflect together.

Here is how I imagine my principal could have challenged me and offered a choice:

Principal: What do you think is getting in the way of a trusting relationship between you and Jason?

Me: I think he just doesn't like me.

Principal: Have you tracked your interactions with him to observe the ratio of your positive to negative feedback? Sometimes, our unconscious biases lead us to reinforce a deficit lens on our students. This is especially important to pay attention to as a white teacher teaching boys of color.

Me: No, I hadn't thought of that.

Principal: Well, I'd be happy to come in and do an observation for you with that inquiry in mind. What other interpretations can we come up with for his distracting behavior? What is your assessment of his literacy skills, for example, as the class tackles tough texts?

Me: Well, the first time he read out loud in class, it was very halting and slow. He seemed to be struggling with decoding longer words and with fluency.

Principal: Aha! Have you done a fluency check with him? Do we have a plan in place to accelerate his reading?

Me: No, and honestly, I'm a high school teacher. I don't know how to teach reading.

Principal: I hear you but, if that is what's at stake here for Jason, we have a moral obligation to figure it out. What could be our next steps?

Me: Well, I do think it would be helpful for you to observe the class that he's in and share feedback. I also agree that we need to assess his reading level, but that will require support.

Principal: No problem. I'll ask Johanna ( the instructional coach) to show you how to do a running record. One more thing: Have you had an authentic, face-to-face conversation with Jason's mom? Try listening to an expert in this situation: Ask what she thinks you could do to strengthen the relationship.

Even writing this imaginary script gives me a profound sense of relief. How amazing would it be if all leaders held teachers to the expectation to serve, see, and connect with every child? What if we did this with care, humanity, and the belief that teachers can do better?

From the Micro to the Macro

In signing off on moving Jason from my class, my principal consented to two problematic narratives: First, that Jason couldn't find success in my classroom; and second, that I couldn't learn how to serve him. As I hope this article has modeled, there is another way. We can become warm demanders for equity by leading teachers and students toward a clear vision and values, believing in what may seem impossible, taking time to build trust, and cultivating a culture of risk taking. This approach requires courage, deep listening, and an expanding set of coaching moves.

Much of our work toward educational equity focuses on the problems we need to solve: institutional racism, sexism, exclusion, bias. While we must develop a robust analysis of our equity challenges, the warm demander framework offers us a path forward rooted in hope and possibility. Imagine a school full of warm demanders, where teachers and leaders confront and address deficit thinking and mindsets in themselves, their students, and their colleagues.

In her book Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown writes:

The micro reflects the macro and vice versa-Fibonacci patterns show up from space to cauliflower. The tiniest most mundane act reflects the biggest creations we can imagine. (p. 51)

As we invest in warm demander interactions, we create a new way of being and learning together. We envision the seemingly impossible-a place where every student and every teacher is held to high expectations in a loving and supportive manner-and then we begin to enact it. And suddenly, the tiniest conversation will be reflected in the image of the school we want to create.

Author's Note: All student and teacher names are pseudonyms.

References

Brown, a. m. (2017). Emergent strategy. Chico, CA: AK Press.

Delpit, L. (2013). Multiplication is for white people: Raising expectations for other people's children. New York: The New Press.

Kleinfeld, J. (1975). Effective teachers of Eskimo and Indian students. The School Review, 83(2), 301-344.

Safir, S. (2017). The listening leader: Creating the conditions for equitable school transformation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

End Notes

1 This framework weaves together JJSE's three warm demander elements-show strength, listen and affirm, and challenge and offer a choice-with the coaching stances outlined in my own book, The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation (Jossey-Bass, 2017).

2 "Data" here refers to qualitative or "street-level" data. Examples of data you could gather include: observing the class that has the student the teacher is struggling with; doing an empathy interview with the student; or scheduling a home visit with the student's family.

ASCD is a community dedicated to educators' professional growth and well-being.

Let us help you put your vision into action.

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Adopting an equity-centered coaching model for school leaders.

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Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books.

Danielson, C. (1996). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 403 245.

Sternberg, R. J., Torff, B., & Grigorenko, E. L. (1998). Teaching triarchically improves student achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 374-384. EJ 576 492.

Tomlinson, C. (1995). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 386 301.

Tomlinson, C. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of all Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ED 429 944.

Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Winebrenner, S. (1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Winebrenner, S. (1996). Teaching kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. ED 396 502.

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Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

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From The Student Motivation Handbook: 50 Ways to Boost an Intrinsic Desire to Learn written by Larry Ferlazzo

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From The Student Motivation Handbook: 50 Ways to Boost an Intrinsic Desire to Learn written by Larry Ferlazzo

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This is an overview of Relatedness and why it is important in order to build communities in our classrooms.

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There are 4 strategies that have been highlighted on the topic of relatedness. There titles are, Saying Students' Names Correctly & Greeting Them by Name (#32), Being Conscious of "Teacher Talk"(#35), Connection or Community-Building Circles(#38), & Supporting Students' Identities(#41).

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The latest news and resources in education since 2007

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels.

This article written for Colorín Colorado provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and includes:

what a language objective is

steps that teachers can take to create language objectives

how to implement language objectives in a general education classroom

how to align objectives to content and language standards

ideas and resources on how to support teachers as they become familiar with this practice

how to use language objectives in distance learning environments.

Language Objectives: An Overview
Mrs. Shell has been teaching eighth grade math for twelve years. She has deep content area knowledge and wants to provide all of her students with authentic activities and tasks to relate the significance of the mathematical concepts that she teaches to their lives. Mrs. Shell has always felt successful at teaching her classes but this year has been different. Her sections include students with more diverse backgrounds than previous years, particularly more English learners. As Mrs. Shell was beginning to feel frustrated with her inability to reach all her students because of their needs, she learned about one way to make her content more comprehensible to all her students - creating and posting objectives that tell the students not just what content concepts they will learn in each lesson, but also the academic language they will need to learn and use to meet the state's math standards. With this knowledge, Mrs. Shell is now confident that she not only knows what to teach, but also how to teach it so that all her students can be successful.

Generally speaking, academic English is the language of schooling and the language that helps students acquire and use the content area knowledge taught in schools (Anstrom, DiCerbo, Butler, Katz, Millet, & Rivera, 2010).

Teaching content to ELs: The challenge

In my work supporting general education and ESL/bilingual teachers who provide sheltered instruction for English learners (ELs), I have met many teachers like Mrs. Shell. While these teachers want to provide effective instruction for their ELs, often they don't see themselves as language teachers and so they aren't sure where to begin with their students.

These teachers aren't alone, however, and they are facing a challenge shared by teachers across the country. We know that for school-age students, academic language is crucial for school success (Francis, Rivera, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Rivera, 2006). In addition, research allows us to state with a fair degree of confidence that English learners best acquire English when language forms are explicitly taught and when they have many opportunities to use the language in meaningful contexts (Goldenberg, 2008).

Yet while the explicit instructional support that ESL and bilingual teachers provide is essential to English learners' academic language development, English learners receive a majority of their instruction from general education and content area teachers who may not have experience teaching academic language development.

The question becomes then: What do general education classroom teachers need to do in order to support the academic English development of language learners in both face-to-face and virtual environments, especially when English learners are one of many types of students they serve?

Teaching content to ELs: The solution

One principle that teachers of English learners can begin to apply immediately is creating and posting language objectives for their lessons (whether in the classroom or online in a virtual space. Many teachers are familiar with using content objectives to identify what students will learn and be able to do in the lesson. However, they are less likely to include language objectives that support the linguistic development of their students.

Implementing language objectives can be a powerful first step in ensuring that English learners have equal access to the curriculum even though they may not be fully proficient in the language. This is because the second language acquisition process requires opportunities for the language learner to be exposed to, practice with, and then be assessed on their language skills (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

To this end, language objectives:

articulate for learners the academic language functions and skills that they need to master to fully participate in the lesson and meet the grade-level content standards (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

are beneficial not only for language learners but for all students in a class, as everyone can benefit from the clarity that comes with a teacher outlining the requisite academic language to be learned and mastered in each lesson.

Now let's take a closer look at some examples and how to write language objectives.

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Writing Language Objectives

Interview with Dr. Jennifer Himmel

Learn more about language objectives in this podcast interview with Dr. Himmel from Teaching Multilingual Learners, produced by Tan Huynh.

What is a language objective?

Language objectives are lesson objectives that specifically outline the type of language that students will need to learn and use in order to accomplish the goals of the lesson. Quality language objectives complement the content knowledge and skills identified in content area standards and address the aspects of academic language that will be developed or reinforced during the teaching of grade-level content concepts (Echevarria & Short, 2010).

These objectives involve the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), but they can also include:

Below are examples of language objectives for different content areas and grade levels. They come from the Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts (2012) and state standards in New York and California.
Sources:
How do I create effective language objectives?

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the process of writing language objectives in this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview.

Language objectives are directly correlated to content objectives. Once a teacher determines the lesson topic from the appropriate content standards, the teacher will want to begin thinking about the academic language necessary for English learners to complete the tasks that support the content objectives. This identification of the academic language embedded in the lesson's content will become the basis for the lesson's language objectives.

You can use the following guidelines to start thinking about appropriate language objectives for the lesson:

1. Decide what key vocabulary, concept words, and other academic words students will need to know in order to talk, read, and write about the topic of the lesson. Those words might be taught as a language objective. They should include technical terms, such as ecosystem, and terms like distribution that have different meanings across content areas. Other terms to highlight are those that language learners may know in one context, such as family (as in parents, siblings, etc.), but that have a different use in science (e.g., family of elements in the periodic table).

2. Consider the language functions related to the topic of the lesson (e.g, will the students describe, explain, compare, or chart information). See your state English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards for examples of these functions for English language arts, math, science, and social studies for all English proficiency levels and grade-level clusters.

3. Think about the language skills necessary for students to accomplish the lesson's activities. Will the students be reading a textbook passage to identify the stages of mitosis? Are they able to read a text passage to find specific information? Will they be reporting what they observe during a scientific demonstration to a peer? Do they know how to report observations orally? Acquiring the skills needed to carry out these tasks might be the focus of a language objective.

4. Identify grammar or language structures common to the content area. For example, many science textbooks use the passive voice to describe processes. Additionally, students may have to use comparative language to analyze two related concepts. Writing with the passive voice or using comparative phrases might be a language objective.

5. Consider the tasks that the students will complete and the language that will be embedded in those assignments. If students are working on a scientific investigation together, will they need to explain the steps of the procedure to one another? The language objective might focus on how to explain procedures aloud.

6. Explore language learning strategies that lend themselves to the topic of the lesson. For example, if students are starting a new chapter in the textbook, the strategy of previewing the text might be an appropriate language objective.

(Adapted from Short, Himmel, Gutierrez, & Hudec, 2012. Used with permission.)

Aligning Language Objectives and Standards

English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards

Developing appropriate language objectives for lessons involves becoming familiar with a state's content area and ELP standards. Whereas the content standards will provide the topic of the lesson and what exactly the students should be doing with that topic (e.g., solving problems, creating models, ranking ideas), the English language proficiency or development standards help to identify language skills and functions that students should be working on to achieve academic language fluency. These ELP standards can help to identify:

English Language Arts (ELA) standards

Other resources in addition to the ELP standards are a state's English Language Arts standards or the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History, Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS). The English Language Arts and Literacy CCSS might be especially useful to teachers of English learners due to its attention to literacy across the content areas.

Additional resources to consult, especially if a state is a member of the WIDA consortium, are the Model Proficiency Indicators (MPIs) outlined in their ELP standards. The MPIs outline what an English learner at a specific level of English language proficiency can do in a language domain (e.g., listening) by addressing the language functions embedded in an example topic for that content area with appropriate scaffolds or support (Gottlieb, Cranley, & Cammileri, 2007). Classroom texts and other materials (e.g., science investigations, primary source documents) are other good sources to consult when preparing a lesson.

Getting Started

How can I get started?

Careful lesson planning

In creating measureable and student-friendly language objectives that support the content objectives, it is important that learner tasks in the lesson are aligned with the objectives. It is not enough to have well-written objectives that promote language acquisition if the lesson is lacking in tasks that support the objectives. If the language objective for a middle school social studies lesson is for the students to orally retell the key characteristics in a historical event using sequential language, it is important that the teacher previews sequential language with the students, such as providing sentence stems or frames, and builds into the lesson some structured pair work so the students have an opportunity to retell the event to a peer. Therefore, careful lesson planning is another essential step in preparing effective language objectives.

Collaboration

It is also useful for content area and ESL/bilingual teachers to plan lessons together, as we saw with the 7th grade science lesson scenario involving Mr. Zhang and Mr. Lewis. In this co-planning scenario, each teacher used his expertise to better integrate content and language instruction for the language learners. This type of collaboration can help a teacher like Mr. Zhang learn more about the second language acquisition process of his students and can help a teacher like Mr. Lewis become more familiar with the grade-level content expectations that his English learners encounter in content area classes.

How do I know which language objectives are best for my students?

The language objective that the teacher selects will depend on what the English learners in the class need most at that point in the year and what language is most important to understanding the content concepts. If the students have already spent a good deal of time working with new vocabulary, then the teacher might consider having students use that vocabulary to develop their writing skill by writing a summary of the process they followed.

Conversely, the teacher might want to help students become more proficient with a particular type of graphic organizer in order to develop more strategic language learning. As all teachers know, teaching is a dynamic and complex process that requires a multitude of decisions to be made. However, the advance planning required in creating language objectives allows teachers to better anticipate the academic English needs of all students thus increasing the comprehensibility of the lessons.

It is important for teachers to realize that even though their lesson may include all four language skills (it is good if they do, since the language skills reinforce one another), they do not need to post a language objective for every language-related item addressed in the lesson. Teachers address many instructional needs in a 50- or 60-minute class period. Rather than highlighting all language uses in a particular lesson, it is important for the teacher to think about what is non-negotiable in that lesson.

In other words, the teacher should keep the perspective of the English learner in mind and ask, "Of all of the skills and functions addressed in my lesson, which is most important for helping students meet the grade-level standard and develop their language proficiency?" These objectives then must be measureable (i.e., can you see or assess the student's mastery of that objective?) and written in language that accounts for the linguistic and cognitive development of the students.

How can I make language objectives "student-friendly"?

Both of the above objectives are measurable, but both also take into account appropriate developmental stages of the students. Teachers of young students (e.g., PK or K) may even want to consider further adapting the objectives. For example, we have seen kindergarten teachers use symbols such as a pencil to symbolize "write" and a mouth to symbolize "talk" when they post their objectives for the children to see. We have also seen teachers of young learners rely on pictures to show the key terms they want the students to use or to convey the topic of the lesson (e.g., a picture of a ruler and of hands to discuss standard and non-standard measurement).

One way that teachers can ensure that their language objectives are measureable and student-friendly is by using appropriate verbs. Because language objectives should provide students with practice in the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, verbs related to those skills might include, but are not limited to, the following:

List

Retell

Summarize in writing

Record

Read

It is also important to not equate low language proficiency with limited cognitive ability. Therefore, teachers will want to make sure that the language objectives they create also reflect tasks that fall on the higher end of Bloom's Taxonomy and use verbs (e.g., orally justify) accordingly.

As noted above in the guidelines to creating language objectives, language functions are also a potential source for language objectives. Verbs related to language functions might include:

When should I share language objectives with students?

To help students take ownership of their learning and provide explicit direction to students, especially the English learners who are processing content in a new language, it is important that objectives be stated at the beginning of the lesson and reviewed with the students at the end of the lesson to allow them to assess if they have met the objectives (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2008).

How this happens may differ according to the grade level and content area of the class. Some teachers like to have the students choral read the objectives, while teachers of older students sometimes have them record the language objectives in their journal in addition to asking an individual student to read them aloud. Some teachers, such as those who teach science, like to reveal the objectives later in the lesson, perhaps after the warm up or exploratory activity, so that they can maintain an inquiry-based approach (Echevarria & Colburn, 2006).

Should I differentiate language objectives based on my students' language proficiency?

Although all teachers have students of varying language proficiency and skill levels in their classes, it is not necessary to differentiate language objectives by creating and posting multiple language objectives that reflect these proficiency levels. Rather, teachers should have one language objective that is appropriate for all students to meet. To provide the appropriate differentiation, the teacher would provide different scaffolds (e.g., adapted text, visuals, sentence frames) for students to use in order to reach the objectives.

For example, an appropriate language objective for an upper elementary language arts class might be for the students to be able to orally list text features found in a non-fiction book. For lower proficiency language learners, the teacher may give them a word bank from which to choose the text features; therefore, the students are meeting the same objective but with the appropriate amount of linguistic support from the teacher.

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Using language objectives in a distance learning environment

While teachers like Ms. Shell understand that the characteristics of good teaching for English learners does not change in a virtual environment, they do understand that instruction will necessarily need to look different in order to account for the challenges that distance learning presents for many learners.

Accordingly, teachers will need to think through how to:

Presenting language objectives

Many different ways exist for teachers to present language objectives in remote learning. For example, teachers might:

begin every virtual class by orally reading and presenting the content and language objectives in their Google slides and then asking students to briefly summarize in the chat box the activities they will be doing in that lesson to meet those objectives.

post the objectives at the top of a shared digital document that serves as a capture sheet for the lesson. A teacher might then ask learners to self-assess their progress towards meeting those objectives at the end of the document.

use live or recorded videos, especially when working with English learners with lower English proficiency. These videos can include props, for example ears to signify a listening objective.

use realia, such as rocks, if one of the lesson's language aims is for students to orally describe different types of sedimentary rocks.

Monitoring student understanding and engagement

Teachers in distance learning environments must also carefully consider how they will assess learner understanding and engagement throughout the lesson. Given the challenges virtual learning platforms present towards capturing data on learner comprehension (e.g., paralinguistic cues such as facial expressions, gestures, posture) teachers working in virtual environments know that it is more important than ever to ensure that students clearly understand the content and linguistic aims for each lesson.

Using comprehension checks and assessing progress

It is also essential that students understand how teachers will measure their progress towards meeting each objective. Towards this aim, teachers must build in multiple comprehension checks throughout the lesson that align to the lesson's objectives. Teachers can:

At the conclusion of a lesson, teachers can assess student progress towards meeting objectives via:

tickets out that are submitted digitally

the recording of a Flipgrid or use of another video platform where learners respond to a prompt that requires learners to use the academic language highlighted in the lesson's objectives.

Teachers can respond to the submitted tickets out or video with feedback that explicitly targets the students use of the language. When appropriate, teacher can provide learners with additional resources and/or support towards mastering that particular language skill or function. Teachers might also use that linguistic data to inform mini-lessons conducted to small groups of English learners during office hours or intervention time.

Next Steps

How can I learn more?

For more information on the SIOP Model, see Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Short, & Vogt, 2008).

Although language objectives can be implemented in any lesson design approach, they are especially congruent with sheltered instruction and the SIOP Model. Since language objectives ensure that teachers meet the unique linguistic needs of English learners, they are sometimes easier to implement in the context of instructional practices espoused by the SIOP Model.

Practices that focus on explicit academic language teaching include:

Below are other resources that can help you learn more about creating language objectives and about integrating academic language into content area classes.

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Final Thoughts

We realize that it takes teachers some time to become very comfortable with creating language objectives, but our experience has shown that the implementation of language objectives can bring immediate benefits to instruction. Some immediate benefits include teachers understanding more concretely that they are both a content area and language teacher - as one teacher said in a CAL SIOP Model workshop, "I now see myself as a math teacher AND a language teacher".

We have also observed that when teachers consciously plan to meet the academic English needs of their learners, they end up with better planned learner tasks, and students begin to have more ownership of their content area and language learning. When it comes to building proficiency in academic English, as many teachers in our workshops remind us, "If you want to see it, you have to teach it." Therefore, if teachers want to see language development, language objectives are a great first step in helping teachers explicitly teach it.

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Recommended Resources

Further reading

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M.E., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching mathematics to English learners. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2011). The SIOP Model: A professional development framework for a comprehensive school-wide intervention. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/professional-development-framework.html

Himmel, J., Short, D., Richards, C., & Echevarria, J. (2009). Using the SIOP Model to improve middle school science instruction. Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) Brief. http://www.cal.org/create/resources/pubs/siopscience.html

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010a). The SIOP Model for teaching history-social studies to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Short, D., Vogt, M., & Echevarria, J. (2010b). The SIOP Model for teaching science to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Vogt, M.E., Echevarria, J., & Short, D. (2010). The SIOP Model for teaching English language arts to English learners. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Jennifer Himmel is the Project Director for the National Center for English Language Acquisition at the Manhattan Strategy Group. She previously served as the SIOP Manager at the Center for Applied Linguistics, a non-profit organization for language education research, policy, and practice in Washington, DC. She has served as a curriculum developer and research associate for the U.S. Department of Education funded project, Center for Research on the Educational Achievement and Teaching of English Language Learners (CREATE) that is investigating academic achievement of ELLs in grades 4th-8th, and as a language testing specialist for the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs® language proficiency test. She currently manages the SIOP Model professional development service line and provides technical assistance and professional development in sheltered instruction to districts and schools.

Video Clips: Language Objectives

How to Write Language Objectives: Tips for ELL Educators

In this video from Syracuse, NY, Jesus Ortiz, a bilingual teacher, learns how to write a language objective from Areli Schermerhorn, a peer evaluator with expertise in ELL and bilingual education.

Dr. Cynthia Lundgren explains language objectives

In this excerpt from her Meet the Expert interview, Dr. Cynthia Lundgren explains the value of writing language objectives when teaching English learners.

Anstrom, K., DiCerbo, P., Butler, F., Katz, A., Millet, J., & Rivera, C. (2010). A review of the literature on academic English: Implications for K-12 English language learners. Arlington, VA: The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence. Education.www.ceee.gwu.edu.

Echevarria, J., & Colburn, A. (2006). Designing lessons: Inquiry approach to science using the SIOP Model. In A. Lathman & D. Crowther (Eds.), Science for English language learners (pp.95-108). Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association Press.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.

Echevarria, J., & Short, D. ( 2010). Programs and practices for effective sheltered content instruction. In California Department of Education (Ed), Improving education for English learners: Research-based approaches. Sacramento, CA: CDE Press.

Francis, D., Rivera, M., Lesaux, N., Kieffer, M., & Rivera, H. (2006). Practical guidelines for the education of English language learners: Research-based recommendations for instruction and academic interventions. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. www.centeroninstruction.org/files/ELL1-Interventions.pdf

Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does-and does not-say. American Educator, Summer 2008, pp. 13-44.

Gottlieb, M., Cranley, E., & Cammilleri, A. (2007). Understanding the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards: A resource guide. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium.

Short, D., Himmel, J., Gutierrez, S., & Hudec, J. (2012). Using the SIOP Model: Professional development for sheltered instruction. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (2007). WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium http://www.wida.us/standards/elp.asp

You are welcome to print copies or republish materials for non-commercial use as long as credit is given to Colorín Colorado and the author(s). For commercial use, please contact [email protected] .

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Language Objectives: The Key to Effective Content Area Instruction for English Learners

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This article provides an overview of how to use language objectives in content-area instruction for English learners and offers classroom-based examples from different grade and subject levels.