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End of the Year: What do you think your teacher does over the summer?

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Featuring Carol Ann Tomlinson, G. Michael Pressley, and Louise Spear-Swerling discussing teaching strategies for differentiating reading instruction.

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Featuring Carol Ann Tomlinson, G. Michael Pressley, and Louise Spear-Swerling discussing teaching strategies for differentiating reading instruction.

Transcript

Studio

Delia Pompa: Hello. I'm Delia Pompa. Welcome to this year's first Reading Rockets teleconference. Today we're going to talk about a perennial challenge for reading teachers, teaching to the many different levels of young readers in each classroom.

We've gathered three of the nation's leading experts in the field to help us. Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson is professor of educational leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia. And Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling is professor of special education and the reading area coordinator of the graduate program in learning disabilities at Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Michael Pressley is professor of educational psychology at Michigan state university.

We are also joined by an audience of teachers, administrators, special education professionals, and parents from across the country, and in Quebec. Later in the program we will be taking questions from our studio audience.

Let's begin with Dr. Tomlinson. Here's the question of the day-how can one teacher address the individual needs of every child in the class so that they all become strong, confident readers?

Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson: Well, I think an honest answer probably is that no teacher can be all things to all students all the time. But I think the real truth of teaching is that if our goal is to understand the particular needs of students, and we stay in pursuit of that, and we try to address those needs as we can come to understand them, we're likely to do a lot better job for more students than if we assume they're all basically alike.

Delia: Set the scene for us. What does an ideal differed classroom look like?

Dr. Tomlinson: An ideal differentiated classroom is a flexible one, and I don't think there's a particular recipe for a differentiated classroom. What you're really hoping for is a teacher who establishes flexible routines well enough so that when the teacher is aware of particular students' needs, there will be at least some times in the classrooms where different students are doing different things to address those needs.

Maybe at some point a teacher would be meeting with one small group of students who have a particular need that she's able to address more appropriately within that small group. At the same time, you might have some students working at learning centers with particular skills that assessments indicate they need. And the centers can be tailored to those particular needs. Might have some students working with one another to discuss books or to share reading on a topic that they find interesting, together. And you might still have some other students working at a table or a desk on reading or writing things that are particular to their needs.

There will always be times when the teacher needs to meet with the whole class and keep them a community of learners, but the trick really is to establish routines where at least some of the time multiple things can happen so that students are working in areas that are closer to their particular needs.

Delia: What are the first steps that a reading teacher might take to create a differentiated classroom?

Dr. Tomlinson: Well, I really think there probably are three big elements to a good differentiated classroom. One of those is being very aware of what the components of successful reading are. And I think that takes time for us as teachers. It's a complex endeavor, and to understand those facets, the different elements and the particular skills within those is important, and I think that's a lifelong pursuit for teachers.

I think the second thing is to become more and more skilled at being aware of student needs, really watching kids as individuals and trying to attend to them, both formally and informally to get a sense of what's working for a student in relation to those goals and what's not working for a particular student.

Then I think the third big piece is to figure out how to be more and more flexible as a classroom teacher. How can I use space more flexibly than I have been? What can I do to be more flexible with time use than maybe I have been? What about resources? Is there a way to get more resources or to use the resource has I have more flexibly?

And an important thing in starting for teachers is to realize that differentiation is not apart from good teaching, it's a part of good teaching. So by doing those sort of standard good teaching things, you can become better and better. I think an important piece of advice for teachers is to begin with something that seems manageable. I think often as teachers we feel so compelled to do everything perfectly for students that we want to get it all right tomorrow, we want it all perfect next week, then that becomes overwhelming, so we decide it's not within our reach and we give it up.

A teacher might decide simply to do one vocabulary routine differently for different students or might begin with whole-class reading, then just different work that the students do with it. I think you constantly have to refresh yourself on the components of reading to which you're aiming and continually refine your assessment skills and your awareness of students. When it comes to the routines, beginning in a way that seems small and safe and effective to that teacher is a great starting place.

Delia: That's a very thoughtful process, practice, lots of practice.

Dr. Tomlinson: Absolutely.

Delia: What is the role of assessment in such a classroom?

Dr. Tomlinson: Well, assessment is actually, of course, the root system of differentiation. Sometimes it's easy to think that differentiation is some sort of tea leaf reading, I look at her, she looks like she would do better with this. But assessment really is our measure of where a particular student is in regard to particular goals.

And if we're clear about the goals, and we understand where students are in proximity to those goals, we sort of have a logical response of what we do next. So continually monitoring students. I think preassessment is important before we begin a new session or unit of study, to see what our spread of learners is.

But continually, as we teach, it's really important to see that every piece of work a student does really can inform our thinking and our planning as teachers. So if we use what students do, to help us have insights about who's progressing, who's moving further ahead, who's behind in an area, that's really what helps us make our instructional decisions.

It's probably important to remember that while there's an important emphasis on standardized testing in schools, and that can give us kind of a big sense of a class, it's really that daily assessment or frequent assessment throughout a sequence of study that's very close to our instructional decision making tomorrow and can really help us understand how to modify the plans that we basically made to benefit various students.

Delia: So regular assessment is very important?

Dr. Tomlinson: Absolutely.

Delia: Dr. Pressley, let's take a step back. Why are our students coming to us at so many different levels? And why can't we just expect them to catch up on their own?

Dr. Michael Pressley: Human variation is natural. There isn't any collection of people that don't differ in multiple ways. And one of the absolute realities of kindergarten or first grade is the individual differences will be huge. And here's the really tricky part-not only will they be huge on day one, the rate of change for these children will be very, very different.

Here's another tricky part-what you do for each one of those individual kids can matter very much. So the particular type of instruction can result in either rapid change or not-so-rapid change. So my friend Fred Morrison at Michigan has just done some wonderful work showing that for kids entering grade one, low skills, a very explicit skill-oriented curriculum is the best way to give them a big growth year in first grade.

For the kids entering high, you're much better off having a much more holistic curriculum, where if they can enter reading, easy chapter books, have them reading more chapter books. Kids are different. OK? With respect to the assessment piece, I've spent a great deal of my time studying very effective teachers, and one of the things they do every day, every hour, and the best of them actually every minute of every hour, is size up how the kids are responding to the tasks and the instruction they've been given. And oftentimes there's five or six different taxes or instruction going on, because the most effective teachers do differentiate instruction.

But they're always there monitoring, always on their feet, looking over the shoulder. They're listening to the kid when they partner read. They're watching when the kids write. They get in, intervene and give mini lessons. They know their kids really well because they spend more of their time oriented to their kids during the school day than anything else. They also know their curriculum well and curriculum options well, because they've spent years building that competence, OK?

There is no one professional development that develops a good first grade, second grade, or third grade teacher. What develops a person who knows many, many curriculum options is long-term immersion in developing the skills and taking advantage of every skills opportunity. What develops the competence to match the curricular options to the-curricular options to the particular children is doing it a lot, over the years, and from the moment those kids land in your classroom, orient it like crazy.

Delia: I saw lots of nods taking place while you were talking, so we must have a lot of agreement on that.

Dr. Spear-Swerling, are there any negatives to differentiated instruction? Is it controversial?

Dr. Louise Spear-Swerling: I don't think there are negatives to it if it's done well. I think it's very challenging to do it well. And I think teachers need good preparation and also opportunities for ongoing professional development. You know, one of the things that we're realizing more and more is that teacher preparation is not-you can't give somebody four or even five years of preservice preparation and prepare them to a level for a whole career.

It really takes-preservice preparation is very important, but opportunities for ongoing professional development are also extremely important.

Delia: What else does a teacher have to do to do it well?

Dr. Spears-Swerling: Well, certainly teachers need adequate resources. As Mike mentioned, and Carol mentioned, there's a big range that teachers of kids-of kids that teachers will have in their classrooms. That's true even in kindergarten, and that the spread only gets larger as you go on in school because the kids will progress at different rates.

So it's vital, for example, that children have access to a range of books, teachers need to have a range of materials to teach with. They need adequate support in terms of specialists in human resources, to help them, and also adequate time in the school day. For doing this well.

Delia: There are a lot of support systems a teacher needs. Is there anything in particular administrators can do to help teachers in differentiating classroom instructions?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Administrators can make reading a priority. They can make sure that there is adequate time allotted. They can have-they can play a role in providing adequate resources, making sure that there are different kinds of curricular options available, and making sure teachers have good professional development in this area.

Delia: Thank you. That it was a lot from all of you to start with. We visited a school in Portland, Oregon, that works very hard to teach every child to read. Let's take a look at how Metzger elementary teachers support each of their kids.

Video

Narrator: Meet Miss Darby. She's a kindergarten teacher here at Metzger Elementary.

Miss Darby: G-o-z.

Narrator: Kindergarten is a critical time for developing early reading skills, sometimes by using nonsense words.

Miss Darby: If you change the last letter, how can you turn it into real word?

Student: A "t", got.

Narrator: One of the hard parts about teaching kindergarten is that kids come in at all different levels. Metzger handles that by assessing each student on a regular basis.

Teacher: The name of this letter is "q". Say the name with me. Ready?

Students: "Q".

Narrator: Some kids are already at risk, kids who don't know their letters, have trouble with rhyming or may speak a language other than English. They get an extra dose of small group instruction every day. The instruction is very explicit. The teacher helps the kids break the 26-letter code of our alphabet by being very clear about what each letter looks and sounds like.

Teacher: I go left around the queen, and way down her staff. You guys are going to trace the letter "q".

Narrator: So when you're trying to figure out if the school is doing a good job, here are two questions to start with-one, do they assess all students regularly? And two, is the instruction explicit? In first grade, Metzger continues to teach the five elements of good reading instruction. They teach phonemic awareness, helping children understand that the language we speak is made up of individual sounds.

Student: Et.

Teacher: Lock.

Student: Lock.

Narrator: They teach phonics, the concept that letters represent sounds.

Teacher: Say it fast. Chirped.

Narrator: They teach fluency, how to read smoothly and with expression. They teach vocabulary. And they teach comprehension. The ability to understand and interpret what you read.

Teacher: What else do you know about Martin Luther king Jr.?

Student: He was a minister.

Narrator: These are all skills that parents with practice can reinforce at home.

Parent: What's this word?

Student: So.

Parent: So.

Narrator: At Metzger, the first job is to divide the kids into flexible groups based on reading level. That way, they're challenged and also achieve some success every day.

Narrator: These students are working to catch up with their fairs grade peers.

Teacher: What does fond mean?

Student: It means you really like something a lot.

Narrator: For kids who struggle, teacher assistant Marilyn Peterson uses a basic curriculum with more opportunities to practice basic skills.

Student: Hop.

Marilyn Peterson: Start over.

Student: Kite, hop, hope, kit.

Marilyn Peterson: Perfect. All right.

Narrator: For kids who are behind like J.T. Richardson, Metzger throws in an extra does of reading with one on one tutoring while the rest of the class works on science or social studies. J.T. gets to review the lesson for the day. This book is at a good level for J.T., so the more he practices the more comfortable he gets. Being able to read fluently and automatically is critical to comprehension.

Teacher: Ready, set, go.

J.T.: Dana said let's bake cupcakes. Jack said I hate to bake. Have you ever baked cupcakes, Jack asked Fran? Granddad, can you help us?

Teacher: Wow. Oh, my gosh you got in the word bake right at the time. Wow, 15 more words. High five. Other side. Down low. Way to go, J.T.

Narrator: J.T. charts his progress every day. But while they continue to give him positive feedback his teachers are concerned.

Teacher: He's a concern because there's a marginal growth but totally not consistent.

Narrator: Every three months Metzger school district comes in to do their own assessment of each child. That's in addition to the weekly or biweekly assessments that the school does.

Pam Zinn: J.T. is a student that I would be concerned about. It's the end of first grade. He still needs to sound all of his words out. He has a few words memorized. The basic sight words. But he still has a ways to go there.

Pam Zinn: We are finished. Thank you very much.

Narrator: Dr. Rolland Good of the University of Oregon worked to develop assessment that Metzger uses.

Dr. Rolland Good: His progress is telling us that we have not yet found the level of support that he needs. And the child is always right. The child is telling you I'm not getting enough support. They are right and then we need to fine a way to provide more support to him.

Narrator: At Metzger they do flexible grouping, small groups, a variety of researched based teaching methods, a variety of interventions for struggling readers and regular ongoing assessment.

Studio

Delia: Dr. Pressley in Oregon we see one way of differentiating reading and that's flexible grouping across class rooms. What are the pros and cons of that approach?

Dr. Pressley: Well, I think that it's one arrow you have in your quiver and one teachers use a lot. With respect to the most challenging students, however, a few years ago I wrote a book on a 581 challenges of beginning teaching. As part of that we had a contrast, are any of these challenges that endure?

There's one that endures throughout your career as a teacher and it's figures out what to do with the most difficult students, the ones who are making the least gain. Every one of them requires unique problem solving and reflection. OK. So the flexible grouping is a start.

Now, one of the things that was very important on that tape was talking about a additional instruction. They talked about one does of additional instruction. Some of the affected schools I work I, the most at risk kids are getting three or four additional half-hour segments of one to one or very small group support and then they are looking around for some after school stuff as well. For the most challenged students, just the flexible grouping will not be enough.

With respect to the assessment issue, there was also kind of a one size fits all type of assessment implied in there. And without a doubt, what you see in the very best, most effective schools and class rooms is they are using lots and lots of assessments. Using standardized test, sometimes they use something like a dibble system but much more important is the teacher monitoring, is the kid responding to this instruction? Are they showing growth?

A centerpiece of new thinking about how you differentiate instruction is to try different, you know if the kid isn't getting it in the current setup try something else and monitor is there growth going on and go what works for that youngster.

Delia: There's no question that teaching reading is hard. what characteristics do you see in teacher that can make this work?

Dr. Pressley: The teachers who make it work come in with a head set. This kid can learn and I'm going to figure out how to do it. OK. I have a variety of materials, I'm going to figure out which ones mesh with that youngster. I have a variety of instructional strategies. I'll figure out which of my kids need the additional instruction. Foster grandmother or a skilled reader tutor. They are continuously thinking about that kid, what do they need and flexible problem solving and the very best ones are good at doing this, not only for the weakest kids in the class but for the strongest kids as well.

Delia: Give us a short answer to this question because it's important to get it in here. What about schools that adopted a single reading program? How do you differentiate instruction?

Dr. Pressley: An excellent-you should not adopt a program that does not offer many, many roots to differentiation. The very best, most well thought out, heavily researched and historically important published programs have that in them. The ones that were cooked in 18 months by a major publisher to try to compete with those best of the bunch are not what you should be buying.

Delia: Dr. Swerling in listening to this, we thought about whether schools are doing right. In what situations is it beneficial to pull a child out of class for individualized instruction?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: I think it's more helpful to focus on how you meet a child's needs. So, sometimes pull out remediation can be appropriate. In my experience it's more often related-the issue of that is more often related to how much an outlier a child is.

If a youngster is really far behind other children than often they need something that is different than what is provided as part of standard classroom instruction. And whether you pull the child out for remediation, or whether a specialist comes into the classroom and works with them in the classroom, they are still going to be needing something different.

As an example of that, consider, say, a third grader who is essentially a nonreader and may need systematic phonic instruction that's not needed to the same degree by many other third graders. That child-you see that even more at the upper grade. That happens more as children advance in school. To meet that child's needs there has to be instruction provided, whether in the classroom or out of the classroom that meets that need.

Delia: Carol, what's your take on pulling out kids for individualized instruction?

Dr. Tomlinson: Do the least invasive thing first. Sometimes we pull a child out of a classroom during a time when there's something rich and beneficial to them to take them some place else when we can provide it meaningfully in the classroom and keep the student in the community of learners. I think that's a positive. If we can't do that then I agree, the question is usually not for any student where do we put their bodies it's what do they need and the multiple ways we can provide that and given what our options are what's best for that child.

Delia: Mike, in your research when has pull out worked and when doesn't it work?

Dr. Pressley: Pull out often works with the kids who are most at risk. You pull them out, especially if you have an excellent reading specialist, and give them a half-hour of instruction a day and that can really help a great deal.

What's really interesting in those places is what's going on in the regular classroom often when those kids are pulled out is individualized instruction going on rather than whole group instruction that they are missing. The whole group stuff, these teachers are good at managing their time. They make sure everybody is there for it.

Or if it's something the kid is just going to die if they are not there, some art activity or drama or something. These people who are really effective teachers manage the kids in every way they can be managed well. But, no doubt about it for the highest at risk kids tutoring does work, the more skilled the tutoring the better, although even college student volunteers can make some impact.

Delia: Lots of individual decisions. Along that vein, Dr. Tomlinson, how do we create accelerated learning opportunities for higher learning students.

Dr. Tomlinson: Having a mind set that our students vary and it's our job to know where they are and what their next step is. Applies to high end learners as well as to other students and it's really important for those kids that we give them opportunities to read things that they can read. We're so compelled as teachers to want to make sure we taught every student reading that we spend a lot of time teaching kids how to read who know very well how to read.

I think it's important, again, to monitor those students, against the competencies that we feel are important, but I think once a teacher has evidence that a student is competent in an area, there's really no point and in fact there's a detriment to continue to just teaching it.

So you may find a high even reader who needs some work with syllables but for the most part can read on their own. Letting those students read books that are appropriately challenging for them, giving them opportunities to work with like peers who read at that level and can discuss things with them and giving them opportunities to read books about things that they care about is extremely important for them and in a lot of ways what it is, is the teacher taking the lead from the student and, again, sort of saying that student is giving Tuesday clues that she's ready to move ahead this, is something we can do that lets her grow as well.

Delia: How do you work with your students in terms of higher performing students?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Well, certainly I agree with the thing that Carol has said, making sure that students who are high achieving have adequate opportunities to read books at their level, that they are not continuing to practice things they already know how to do. With my students I do quite a bit of work in the urban schools, and one of the things that I sometimes see in the district where we work is that, of course, everybody tends to be very focused on low achievement and helping low achieving kids but in fact there are kids who are also very high achievers and if we don't give those children opportunities to read challenging books to move ahead, then we lose them as they advance in school.

Delia: Good thought. Thank you.

Now we'll visit Arlington, Virginia, where we'll take a look at Arlington public schools' Intake Center. Kids at different levels are challenging enough for most teachers, but what happens when kids speak a different language?

Video

Narrator: 8-year-old Marlon Escobar-Lopez has an important appointment today. He's checking into his new school system in Arlington, Virginia. He's at the Arlington Intake Center where staff will figure out exactly what he needs from his new teachers.

Silvia Koch: Intake Center is the place where children who speak another language or have another language background enters school.

Narrator: The Intake Center stays very busy. Arlington's English language learners speak 104 languages and come from 122 different countries.

Teacher: Most of the children speak Spanish. But those kids are diverse too, both culturally and economically.

Teacher: Children from middle class have had certain experiences that other students may not have had. They have been to museums, they have been read to in their own language.

Narrator: Marlon is from Honduras. He looks like he's ready for school. Will the school be ready for him in the process starts with his dad.

Silvia Koch: Parents are just that part of the learning equation that we cannot do without. It's the child, the parent, the teacher. They are the three most basic components.

Narrator: The interview gives Arlington important information about Marlon like the fact he's been to school in the United States for a year already.

Silvia Koch: We look totally at the academic background but we also look at the whole child. We look at his health situation, we look at family history.

Narrator: When his dad is finished with his questions, it's Marlon's turn. His teachers need to know how well Marlon can understand spoken and written English.

Teacher: If you are assessing a child you not only want to assess their knowledge of letters and sound and so forth in English but you want to tap into it in Spanish, too. whatever they know in Spanish, you can be quite certain you can use to help them acquire the skills in English.

Marlon: Put strawberries and-

Narrator: Marlon can read a little bit in English already and his comprehension skills in both languages are strong, so the Intake Center places him in a second grade class for English language learners.

Teacher: Short sound of "i". Everybody?

Students: "I".

Teacher: "I".

Narrator: His teachers at be Abbingdon elementary have received all the information gathered, both social and academic, so they know exactly where to start with Marlon.

Silvia Koch: Using time for instruction, right away at the correct and appropriate level, is important to us. We want all our students to achieve at a high level, to be challenged, regardless of where they started.

Marlon: Indigo?

Teacher: Indigo. Excellent!

Studio

Delia: Dr. Spear-Swerling, what should teachers keep in mind when differentiating instruction for English language learners?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: I think it's important to know about the child's language and literacy abilities in the native language as well as in English, as they tape indicated-take indicated children who have knowledge in their native language can often transfer that to English especially if the native language is an alphabetic language like English, which is true in the case of Spanish. So instruction can build on those strengths that children have.

Also developing children's spoken English ability is very important, because that's going to be a foundation for them to learn to read in English.

Delia: Carol, what do you think? I know where you work it's become a growing challenge for schools.

Dr. Tomlinson: Well, I think in addition to what Louise just said, we think in terms of students' readiness levels, and these students have a huge need to develop vocabulary efficiently and quickly, and particularly to develop the academic vocabulary they need to help them learn math and science.

They may need different degrees of help in phonics. I think in addition to the readiness needs, it's important also to look at students' interest. If you have students from other languages who have a particular interest in a topic or thinking back on their own experiences in another country, there's a lot can you do to motivate students by letting them develop verbalized vocabulary banks around words that they care about, topics that they care about, and also to remember that students vary not just in readiness or interest, but how they learn, and some students will learn much better in conversation with other students, some in one-on-one tutoring, some by hearing, some by drawing what they do.

It goes back to what Mike said, trying to have a large instructional repertoire, trying enough things with students to see what's really clicking for them, then being able to steer them certainly in their readiness needs, but also capitalizing on that by capping into interests and by trying to capture their best ways of learning.

Delia: Another major challenge has to be kids with learning disabilities. How do teachers handle teaching reading to special ed students within the mainstream classroom?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Well, I think it's important to remember that the special education umbrella covers a wide range of students. So although children with learning disabilities are the most commonly identified, there are children with other disability conditions as well. For children with learning disabilities, difficulty learning phonics kinds of skills and word decoding is often a core problem, and that's something that does need to be addressed. Those students often benefit from very systematic, explicit instruction in that area.

If that instruction is part of the curriculum that will be helpful to those students, although some of them, as Mike indicated, will need more than that. The most challenging students will need more than that. They may need some sort of pullout remediation or help from a specialist.

Other disability conditions, such as intellectual disabilities, for example, will involve other needs. Kids with intellectual disabilities usually have broad language and vocabulary delays, so that would need to be addressed. Sometimes children who are on the autism Spectrum, especially high-functioning youngsters, do well often in decoding, but will have comprehension difficulties, especially related to more inferential things.

Delia: Mike, do you have something to add to the special education issue?

Dr. Pressley: Yes. And it ties back as well to the second language kids. There is a great deal of converging evidence, if you want the best possible outcomes you can get with at-risk kids and with second-language kids, who are mostly going to be educated in regular education classrooms in this country and all over North America, including in Quebec, a strong balancing of the skills instruction and holistic reading and writing opportunities is just absolutely essential.

That's how you get the best outcomes for the weakest kids. And there's simply-that's very difficult and challenging to do. It's challenging from the point of view of training teachers who can deliver all those components. It's challenging from the point of view of identifying materials that can serve all those components. But there's one more thing that is right in the center of every effective classroom and every effective school we've seen. They're over-the-top motivating. These schools have developed a culture of very, very positive education for children, and the direction that they're focusing on hardest are the most at-risk kids. You go in these schools and you cannot miss it works. These kids like being there.

Delia: That's a great point. Louise, I'd like to segue from Mike to you around that question. How do you keep students motivated when instruction is so varied?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Well, there's certainly a variety of ways to motivate kids. You know, having choice, for students to have choice of books or topics or reading materials is one very important way to motivate them. Having students share interests. Often a child will be interested in a recommendation from another child that they wouldn't listen as closely to what the teach her to say about that. So those kinds of things are very important for kids who are struggling and reading at low levels, listening comprehension and oral discussion are very important because often those children can function at much higher levels in terms of oral language. And you can do much more motivating things, more interesting books and materials orally than you can sometimes in reading.

Delia: What have you motivated on focusing students, with your own students in college?

Dr. Tomlinson: I think again having students be able to function in areas of interest to them. I think there's just nothing quite as exciting as wanting to find out something and being able to find it out. And also again, the notion of how you learn. There are some students that will learn with technology when they can interact with the Internet or work with a computer that simply will not from a book.

Other students who if they can hear it and follow will get it better than if they don't have that support. For most students, making that connection between things that they really want to know about, or books that their peers like, things that are just fun to read, and having dialogue with peers, there's something just very satisfying for a child in being able to have a conversation and share and realize that they've contributed to that.

Really, on the whole, I'd agree with what Louise is saying there-choice, interest, attention to mode of learning. And one of the things that certainly we know is that students are not motivated to read books that they cannot read. It comes back to the notion of having books at the right readability level for a student, as well as topics of interest.

Delia: Go ahead, Mike.

Dr. Pressley: Let me chime in. The one thing that you see in really effective schools is the students are having success at tasks that are challenging and interesting to them. Really good teachers are just masterful at figuring out what's just a little bit beyond this kid. OK? That this kid can get with some effort, and if they can get it with the strategies and competency has we can deliver to them. And I have the privilege of a lifetime of being able to spend so much time in really excellent classrooms, and that vision of creating success, if you aren't seeing success in your students, you need to rethink how can I improve my teaching so every one of these kids is succeeding. And here's the real trick-and I'll never forget, I just saw my friend Barb skinner yesterday, she's a master at this.

They'll have a writing assignment and all the kids are jazzed about reading maybe "Julia the Wolf" or something, and everyone will be writing in response to it and some kids will only be able to write three or four lines, and some kids will be able to write four or five pages. And Barb strokes every one of them for the success that they've had and the growth they're showing. And you know what? You watch the kids in the classroom like that, and they go from writing two or three lines in October to writing three or four pages at the end of the year.

Delia: That is a teacher who knows what she's doing. I think one of the questions on the lips of lots of our viewers is what do you do for a child who continues to struggle after all this?

Dr. Tomlinson: You continue to work. What Mike said, about the fact that students come to us very differently, they do come with intellectual handicaps, with huge challenges in learning language. I talked with an elderly teacher who retired a number of years ago in Idaho last year, and I was talking to her about the concept of differentiation. She said when I first started reading, they taught me how to teach reading and I worked at it very hard and some kids didn't get it, so I developed a second way, then more kids got it.

After she took me through the progression, she said, as well as I recall, by the time I stopped teaching, I was up to nine ways of teaching reading, but they were all learning it.

Delia: Let me follow up on that, then. Nine ways of teaching. What do you recommend for a teacher who has a very large classroom and very few resources?

Dr. Tomlinson: I think you do the best you can do. For example, you can sometimes make better adoption decisions in your district big, as Mike suggested, finding resources that give you more flexibility rather than resources that hamper your flexibility. You can sometimes ask community members to contribute a range of books and magazines. I did that in my own classrooms and was almost overrun with possibilities. You have to teach the routines more carefully if you have lots of students.

And I think exactly like in a large family, parents learn that they have to ask the children to participate in making the family work. The larger the classroom, the more the students have to be collaborators with the teacher in making it work. We can do most of what we need to do in classes that are too large.

We can do it with fewer resources if we're innovative in the way we use those things. It's too bad that is the case. But we also have to say to ourselves, life may not be perfect this year, but it's this child's only third grade year, it's the only chance he'll have to develop these skills and competencies and we have to be innovative, use the materials, resources, flexibilities that we can.

Delia: Let me ask Louise a question about these problematic classrooms, where you don't have very many resources, you have a large classroom. I want to go back to the issue of special Ed students and accommodations. How do you reach students with all those different accommodations in one classroom?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Well, there are certainly accommodations that can be very appropriate for kids with special needs. For children with reading, serious reading difficulties, a good example of that kind of legitimate accommodation is extra time. Often the students can understand the material and do the work, but they need more time because they're slower readers. One of the concerns I have about accommodations, especially this is more with older kids, not so much at the primary level, is that if accommodations are not coupled with good and aggressive remediation, you can accommodate the child right out of learning how to read.

So your goal in the extended time example, your goal really should be to try to make the student a fluent reader so that ultimately they can read as other people do. And that may or may not be feasible for every single student. But that it should be a goal and so I think we have to be careful about accommodations if they're not coupled with good remediation.

Dr. Tomlinson: I think sort of a point there is there's a difference between accommodations and enabling, under a don't want to enable a student to relax or to become slack or stay where they are.

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Right.

Dr. Tomlinson: You want to accommodate always with the notion of a higher ceiling.

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Exactly. There is a judgment there, similar to the thing of trying to find work that is just challenging enough for this student, but not that's so challenging that they can't be successful. It's sort of the same issue with special needs kids in making these decisions.

Dr. Pressley: One of the things, even in the most underresourced school, the most important resource is you, the teacher. I'll give you a great example. I was talking to some people in a reading-first school, in a program I helped develop. They said what do we do? You know one thing you can do, take that manual and learn everything you possibly can about reading from spending time with it and spending time with the Internet.

I give this advice quite a bit and I often have teachers come back saying, my gosh, when I dove in there and this is like an advanced graduate course. OK? I got so many ideas about how I could deal with particular problems I'm getting. So whatever resources you've got, you can spend more time with them, you can go at them with the headset I'm going to figure out how these can work with my kids.

These days with the Internet, one of the resolutions I made in my life is every night before I go to bed, I spend a half-hour at that Internet and get smarter about something that matters to me. Can you do that with respect to reading and differentiated instruction just as easily as you can with respect to any other topic that net is loaded with quality resources. It's also loaded with junk. One of the things that happens is as soon as you start getting better at this, you start to pick out the wheat from the chaff.

Delia: I'm going to throw this all out of you. Some of the support that schools has is paraprofessionals and parent volunteers. How can they implement the model we described today?

Dr. Tomlinson: They can be involved in a myriad of ways. As Mike noted earlier the better training the person has the more specific kinds of help they can give. And person who comes and sits and reads with a child and establishes that relationship and gives that kid a chance to hear an adult read is really important thing. Especially gifted ed and special ed.

It can be so helpful, certainly as another pair of hands to make those routines run a. But they also become teachers of the teacher, to help them see strategies that are in their realm of expertise which interestingly will be important for a second language learner but that same strategy can be important sometime for many other students in the class who don't have that particular need. So I think that range is hugely important.

Delia: Louise I see you nodding.

Dr. Spear-Swerling: I think oftentimes also, you know, it takes fairly minimal training to learn how to do a certain set of things that could be helpful. For example, one of the things I have concern about sometimes is the kind of feedback that children get when they're reading which I think is very a important to provide the right kind of feedback during children's oral reading. You can train somebody in how to provide good feedback in a fairly minimal amount of time and then that person could play a role in working with children, listening to children read and be extremely helpful.

Dr. Pressley: I'm real high on this theme and I'm going to give a different spin on it. I think communities are filled with funds of competence out there who will come in to schools. You know, a school we did work with last year, Bennett Woods, it was thrilling to watch. You had parents in the community who would come in. For various reasons they decided to stay home, raise their kid but during the school day their kids are at school, they come in there and tutor kids in math, reading.

When you get a good one, work hard with that person to get them as involved as possible. Up in Michigan I'm watching this program where they have Foster grandmothers in these classrooms. Some of them are terrific and they have been at this six or seven years. We need to work with churches, community groups. We need to identify those funds of competence and get them to realize there's an important role in improving the lives of children and the future of the country by coming in there and providing tutoring that they can provide.

Delia: Lots of roles for everybody. Thank you so much.

As I mentioned earlier, many of our friends from the education community are here with us in the studio, and they also have questions for our panelists. Dr. Tomlinson will answer the first question and each of you can follow up with a short response. And I'd like to go to our first questioner.

Questioner: I'm interested in the panelist's thoughts on the role of technology in differentiating instruction. What works?

Dr. Tomlinson: Technology is an interesting arena because it does open up so many possibilities. We can find material at different readability levels. We can tap into interest. It does have to do with mode of learning. Some students respond better that way. I think two cautions for me would be to plug a child into a computer and assume the computer is going to become the teacher is not appropriate.

It need to be something that a teacher carefully monitors and continually stays with and watches that particular student. One of the things that we know from the study of integration of technology into schools is that the best integration of technology is always in service of the students thinking of the understanding of ideas, of really helping that student have a broader reach and a broader competency of the world not simply checking off little worksheet kinds of things on the screen.

That rich use of technology can be very important in addressing readiness level, second language mode of learning but need to be under the very careful watch of a teacher who understands it's just one of a number of tools in the classroom that has certain ways of appropriate use as opposed to insipid use.

Delia: Mike, a brief answer.

Dr. Pressley: The brief answer for me is that every person in the country, every child in the country has to get good at dealing with technological environments, the biggy right now for our time is the Internet. This is highly motivating for kids but also a set of skills they need to learn how to navigate. Now, what's in the Internet, there is some terrific high quality stuff. So, one of my favorite sites is National Geographic site on Lewis and Clark.

Every third and fourth grade class in the country studying Lewis and Clark, can you go to that site and have a high quality set of experiences that expand kid's Social Studies understanding and reading competence. As a nation we need to get attentive to figures out which of these sites are great and we need to work very hard to get teachers to realize that to navigate kids into those can do a lot of positive good.

Delia: Thank you. I'm going to throw the next question to you Louise. And we'll go to our second questioner.

Questioner: The goals of the no child left behind require addressing the needs of every student to meet state standards for successful reading. Do you believe actual implementation of the law, shaped by the reading first act, encourages differentiated instruction?

Dr. Spear-Swerling: Well I think implementation can vary, so implementations can always be faulty. The basic idea of the law in terms of the five main components of reading, you know, phonemic awareness, phonic, vocabulary comprehension, fluency are an excellent basis for beginning to differentiate instruction in terms of abilities because we know those are key abilities for learning how to read and if children have weaknesses in those areas those are weaknesses that are important to address. But there are certainly other ways to differentiate instruction that are also important, some of those have been touched upon today, students motivation, students interests, the background knowledge that they bring to the classroom characteristics like that. So I think it's important to consider those things as well.

Delia: Carol, would you like to add something to that?

Dr. Tomlinson: A short thought. There's a difference between standards that you want students to achieve and standardization. The more it becomes a national goal for us to ensure that students all reach at least a certain level of competency the irony is the more we can't standardize what we do to help all students succeed is going to take many different routes, time period and it's critical we not confuse standards and standardization because we simply can't achieve what we're trying to by ignoring student differences.

Delia: Mike?

Dr. Pressley: As many of you in the audience know I'm on the public record that reading first could be a lot better. And what's happened in this first-generation, I think this was a noble effort and I think there's great positives, but it turns out there's been a lot of feedback coming in on how this can be improved.

As rethink elementary and secondary act and reading first it's very important we have leadership in place that will, in fact, take that feedback and constructively come up with a much better law that will work-will work much better with every kid and allow schools to do a much better job with the resources they receive.

Now, if you want to see my further comments on this, there will be something in a couple of weeks and you can go to the Michigan state litter racy achievement web site and I have a document on there about some of the improvements.

Delia: Thank you Mike. Next question.

Questioner: I have been an educator for many years, and have seen a great number of attempts, under a variety of names, to differentiate reading instruction. Yet when I go to schools I see very little differentiated instruction. My question is what can be done within the school structure, in the classroom to enable teachers to implement "differentiated reading instruction"?

Delia: Who wants to take a stab at that?

Dr. Tomlinson: You know, I think we have to believe that as teachers we're learners as well and one of our difficulties has been we haven't been good teachers of teachers. We're famous for the one-shot staff development, or we do differentiation for a year and then we go away. In schools where we see this working, there's a sustained focus by an involved leader who understands the concept and the difficulty, who makes sure that teachers have models of what they're looking at, who is constantly in classrooms to encourage teachers to share with one another to make this happen.

In the places where we see it happen on a broad scale, rather than the occasional wonderful teacher is sort of sustained leadership effort and a critical part of that we have not gotten is we have to differentiate for our teachers as well. Our research suggests four common barriers to differentiation is lack of clarity of what the real reading goals would be. Lack of reflection on individual students. Lack of a repertoire of instructional strategies and fear of managing a differentiated classroom.

The trick is not all teachers have the same issues. So, what we really need to be doing is figuring out what we're doing with each teacher that helps them to succeed.

Delia: That was a great answer. We have another question that was a very good answer.

: Interested in your thoughts in teachers who use differentiated instruction faces skepticism from parents as you attempt to meet the needs of all the students in your classroom.

Delia: Louise.

Dr. Spear-Swerling: That's an interesting question that's not something that really would have occurred to me before. I don't think so if parents perceive that the teacher is setting high goals for the student in providing instruction that's appropriate for them. One of the things you see sometimes in special education, you know, because that's my specialty, kids who really struggle is that the children kind of go along at the same level year after year, don't really progress, so they may be getting something different from the other children but the real problem is the lack of progress. I think if the instruction is effective, most parents are going to be happy with that.

Delia: We have another question from our audience.

Questioner: How can students in a differentiated classroom work together in cooperative teams say for example on a reading activity.

Delia: Mike?

Dr. Pressley: It turns out in effective classrooms students are working cooperatively all the time. But the real trick here in the cooperative situation is that everybody has to be on task and has to be accountable and that comes about because the teacher is there monitoring like crazy. Is this a healthy situation or is this kid being allowed to be a wall flower in this group. Being a wall flower in this group tomorrow they will be in a different group if you are an ineffective teacher. I would like to pick up on that last question a little bit.

No matter what you do as a teacher there's skepticism from parents. You need to educate them. My greater concern is that there's a lot of skepticism among policy makers and educational leadership with respect to differentiating instruction. We have to get in the head of the next generation of educators that differentiated instruction is a great thing. The real challenge you can't do that after you finish your teacher's college. You are at the start. You have to get the head set, you know what you have to get better at this every year you are working and you can do that by learning more about instruction, learning more about kids, becoming a professional educator is a five to 10 year venture.

Delia: That sums up a lot of what we learned today. It's a long, long process. Thank you, everyone. Please let us know what you thought about this program. Visit readingrockets.org to take our survey and please join us for the next Reading Rockets conference on March 22, "From Babbling to Books," about building prereading skills. You can find more information on our web site, readingrockets.org. Thank you for joining us, take care and thank you all.

The Reading Rockets Professional Development Webcast Series is a production of WETA. The Reading Rockets project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. This program was produced by WETA/Reading Rockets, which is solely responsible for its content. The views expressed in the program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of WETA/Reading Rockets, our funders, or our partners.

* To view this file, you'll need a copy of Acrobat Reader. Most computers already have it installed, or you can download it now.

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Featuring Carol Ann Tomlinson, G. Michael Pressley, and Louise Spear-Swerling discussing teaching strategies for differentiating reading instruction. Delia Pompa: Hello. I'm Delia Pompa. Welcome to this year's first Reading Rockets teleconference. Today we're going to talk about a perennial challenge for reading teachers, teaching to the many different levels of young readers in each classroom.

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Links to apps for teachers

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1. YaYMath
http://www.yaymath.org/video
2. MathAntics
https://www.youtube.com/user/mathantics
3. Hands-on-Equations
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ceKgR64Akp4

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Sustaining the Teaching Profession

Ronald Thorpe

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Abstract

Within the United States and across nations, there seems to be consensus that teacher quality is the most important school-based variable in determining how well a child learns. While such an observation hardly sounds like headline news, it is a milestone in the development of teaching as a profession. It suggests where investments should be made if people really are serious about student learning. It also explains why policymakers and the public should care about what it means to be an effective teacher and what it will take to create and sustain a teaching workforce defined by accomplished practice. Teachers, administrators, and others whose work is designed to support best practice in our schools must seize this moment to rethink every aspect of the trajectory people follow to become accomplished teachers. Getting that path right and making sure all teachers follow it asserts the body of knowledge and skills teachers need and leads to a level of consistent quality that is the hallmark of all true professions. No profession has ever been established in any other way, and there is no reason to believe that teaching is or should be different.

Recommended Citation

Thorpe, Ronald (2014) "Sustaining the Teaching Profession," New England Journal of Public Policy: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol26/iss1/5

DOWNLOADS

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Within the United States and across nations, there seems to be consensus that teacher quality is the most important school-based variable in determining how well a child learns. While such an observation hardly sounds like headline news, it is a milestone in the development of teaching as a profession.

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Math Curriculum PreK-12

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Author Doug Lemov shows how teachers use the 100% technique to get everyone's attention during a class.
Full book pdf version

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Marzano's Six Step Process

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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Technology, particularly smartphones, has changed the way we sleep, eat, read and watch TV. So why should teachers still regularly relay information to parents by sending a piece of paper home with their child?

A Gallup poll found that only 20 percent of parents consider themselves "fully engaged" with their kid's school. Conversations with their child's teacher tend to consist largely of paper-based notices and a few parent-teacher conferences a year.

"Parents have told me that they can't always depend on their kids to deliver a note that was sent home in their take-home folder," says Jessica Meacham, a first-grade teacher and blogger, on SmartBrief. "There's a clear disconnect between the way teachers are communicating and the way most of the world is getting its information."

As reported by , the average American checks his or her phone 46 times a day. Now, a number of apps have cropped up aimed at harnessing this attentiveness into parent-teacher communication.

Ranging from Facebook-like social formats to simple SMS reminders, these apps provide safe messaging options and communication tools to create a stronger relationship between teachers and parents. Here are a few worth checking out:
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With the vibe of a social networking site, Bloomz has teachers invite parents to join the class group. Once there, parents have access to class schedules, photo albums, private messaging with teachers and other parents, and interactive sign-up sheets.

Though very similar to Bloomz, SimplyCircle can also be used by PTA and PTO organizations and other parent groups.

This app, perfect for younger students, enables kids to regularly share is picture messages and achievements with their parents. With similar photo sharing and messaging, the app lets teachers report, long before the parent-teacher conference, the skills their students are excelling at and the areas they need to work on.

The simplest of these apps, Remind is aimed at parents of high school students. Teachers can use Remind to send schedule reminders, homework updates or even encouragement. The biggest difference with Remind is the flexibility of messaging. Communication can be done in app or through a simple SMS to a parent who doesn't have the app.

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4 Parent-Teacher Communication Apps For Your Classroom

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School communication apps help deepen parent-teacher relationships. Check out our favorite apps for helping you share information with your student's parents.

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Class Messenger | Teachers, parents and students in sync.

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Class Messenger is the only service available that enables a greater connectivity between teachers and parents, without asking for more time from either. In fact, the easy-to-use and versatile communication tools can actually reduce teacher workloads. And they keep more parents involved by requiring only the time it takes to glance at a phone or click a mouse.

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Listen to this post as a podcast:

Sometimes I will be going about my normal day and I'll notice a negative haze has descended on me - some vague feeling of apprehension, guilt, or maybe self-pity - but I won't have a clue where it came from. If I ignore this feeling, it just gets worse. But if I stop and try to trace it back to where it came from, I can usually pinpoint something: An off-the-cuff comment that sparked jealousy. A news preview that spun me into a worry spiral. The facial expression of an acquaintance that planted a seed of insecurity. Once I nail down the source of a bad feeling, I can think it through and make a plan to deal with it.

This practice can be applied to our teaching as well. The end of a school year is a natural time to reflect, and while it's easy to find good questions for reviewing accomplishments and setbacks, I believe that to learn as much as possible from a reflection on your teaching, you have to let your gut talk, too.

Here are five questions that can help you listen to your body's emotional responses and uncover problem areas in your teaching. Use when the year is done, before the start of a new semester, or any time it feels like things aren't going well, but you just can't figure out why. They will work best if you process them at a quiet time, when you can do each one slowly. If that's not possible, just looking over the questions should sharpen your awareness of how your body responds to the different facets of your work.

[Download these questions in a free worksheet from my store at Teachers Pay Teachers]
1. Look around your classroom (or picture it in your mind). What parts of the room make you feel tense, anxious, or exhausted? What parts make you feel calm, happy, or proud?
Sometimes the reasons for these feelings will be clear - your back table is always cluttered, the traffic patterns in one part of the room were awful, a particular shelf contains materials that never got used, for an activity that never ended up happening. In other cases, the reasons may be deeper: You were hanging that poster right before you gave your class the worst yelling you've ever unleashed. Two kids got into a fight right by the pencil sharpener. The classroom phone reminds you of a terrible call you received.

After considering all parts of your room, pick 2 to 3 hot spots that need the most attention. These should be your priorities for change.
2. Open up your plan book (or spreadsheet, or wherever you keep your lesson plans from the year) and just start browsing, paying attention to how you're feeling as your eyes meet certain events. What days and weeks give you a lift when you see them, a feeling of pride or satisfaction? Which ones make you feel disappointed, irritated or embarrassed?
You may not know exactly what made certain lessons great and others not so great, but your gut-level reaction will tell you there's something to investigate. Did you take a risk that paid off in some exhilarating learning gains? Did you try something new that completely flopped? Do you see a lot of the same thing, over and over again? Were there times when your plans fell apart because you said yes when you should have said no?

Try to find common themes or patterns. What changes do you need to make so you feel less stressed about your workload, and more satisfied about how you design your students' learning experiences?
3. Take a look at your student roster. What do you feel when you see each name? Which names make you feel relaxed, satisfied and proud, which ones make your chest tighten with regret, and which ones make your stomach tense?
Look for patterns here, too. If several students give you the same bad feeling, try to find the common thread between them. Is there a hole in your classroom management style? Are there quiet, well-behaved students you haven't given much attention to? Do you need to learn more about working effectively with minority students? Do you lack confidence when working with students with autism?
4. Mentally travel from classroom to classroom, picturing each teacher in the building. What are your feelings as you approach each one? Which coworkers give you a generally positive feeling, which ones are neutral, and which ones make you feel nervous, angry, or annoyed?
Once you have identified some themes in the relationships you have with your students, choose 2 to 3 areas where you need to grow. And next year, consider collecting student feedback in a systematic way.

Your relationships with your colleagues have a huge impact on how you feel about coming to work every day. Are there Marigolds and Walnut Trees in your midst that you've never identified? Are there some strong, positive teachers in the building whom you feel intimidated by, but should probably get to know better? Is it time to fix a relationship that has been damaged?
5. Look at the following professional practice "buzzwords." As you read each one, do you have positive, negative, or mixed feelings? What other words have you heard a lot this year that give you a strong feeling one way or the other? technology differentiation data research-based strategies Common Core higher-level thinking flipped learning standards-based student choice PLC
After going through the faculty and staff, choose a few people with whom you need to change your relationship, whether by repairing it, limiting it, or nurturing it.

If any of these words give you negative or hard-to-name emotions, chances are you're feeling insecure about these topics. The struggle may be caused by policies you have nothing to do with, or they may indicate an area where you need to grow. If it's the latter, this is an opportunity to take one weakness and face it head-on - make it a priority to develop your skills in that area.

Identifying Priorities and Creating an Action Plan

After working through each question, take what you learned and turn it into a plan of action. For each of the five areas (classroom, planning, students, co-workers, professional practice) identify one or two priorities for change. They may be positives into which you want to put more energy, negatives you want to correct, or ambiguities that need more investigation. Then, jot down a concrete plan to address each priority, including deadlines when possible. Here's a sample completed action plan, using the worksheet that's available for download:

The Final Step: Share with a Friend

The positive effects of doing this kind of reflection will be maximized if you and a few other teachers do the exercise, then share your results. We work too often in isolation, but we all have the same struggles. Opening up to other teachers is one of the best ways to grow as a teacher and love what you do.

Download a free copy of these questions from my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Like what you've seen so far?
If you found this article useful, I'd love to have you come back for more.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 joyful. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloads, including 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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It's easy to find good questions for reviewing accomplishments and setbacks, but to learn as much as possible from a reflection on your teaching, you have to let your gut talk, too.

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Happier Classrooms

The simple way to build an amazing classroom community

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Develop Growth Mindsets

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Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in School
By Mary Cay Ricci
(Prufrock Press, 2013 - Learn more)
Reviewed by Katie Gordon
Like some of my favorite professional books, this one has a conversational tone. It is no hit and run introduction to growth mindset, either. Mary Cay Ricci provides a thorough foundation in what growth mindset is, why it matters, and just as importantly, how to foster it in key stakeholders, namely teachers, students, and parents.

The lens of the gifted learner

I appreciate that in her role as Gifted and Talented Coordinator, Ricci has framed this book in such a way as to help us see how growth mindset is critical for the learners we often don't mention - those who excel.

When reading about a mindset that embraces failure on the way to ultimate success, we can easily see how struggling learners could benefit. Certainly children who have "failed" repeatedly could use the sense of possibility that comes with the mindset. But as a mom of two boys who often find schoolwork easy, I recognize the truth of what Ricci explains about children in that position.

For those to whom reading or math has always been a cinch, bumping into something hard can make a child question their self-identity as someone who is smart. To them smart might mean everything has to be easy. A few months ago my third grader sobbed because he was afraid that three wrong on his spelling pretest meant he couldn't go to college. He was genuinely fearful because of this novel experience.

I might have seen the episode coming years ago. When he was three he came home from preschool where they'd been tracing the letters in their names. He started to draw a Q, and I praised him when I recognized the letter in his squiggly new writing. He threw up his hands and growled, "It's not even round." Obviously, now that I've learned about mindsets, his is fixed. I need more than one tool to help my son cope with life that's going to throw more than a few spelling pretests his way.

A differentiated classroom is critical

Ricci lays out the critical importance of a differentiated, responsive classroom to a growth mindset. Her lens is one of making sure that every learner has the opportunity to learn every day. To foster and embrace a growth mindset in the classroom, topic or content area, acceleration cannot be a reward; it is a necessity for those students who have demonstrated mastery and are ready to embrace more challenge. (Stepping off my Mom Soapbox now).

I suspect that many of you wish that you could better meet the needs of all your learners, including those at the top, but your time and energy has been directed to those who struggle, because, let's face it, the Common Core and the new high stakes assessments threaten to bring out a bit of the fixed mindset dread in all of us. And RTI legally requires us to provide significant time and support to those who have not yet mastered our content and concepts.

Ricci offers hope in the form of a plan that reflects...good teaching. She outlines the kinds of things that many teachers already do. Pre-assessment prior to instruction respects the needs of all learners if teachers take the second step of using the results to adjust what they teach next. (You probably already pre-assess. Check. You're on your way to growth mindset teaching.)

Ricci explains the options (thank you!): acceleration or enrichment for those who already show mastery of some or all of the content. She also explains compacting and gives us permission - invites us, in fact - not to merely give extra worksheets after students have done all the regular work. Instead we can opt students out of what they already know so that they can encounter the kinds of challenges that allow them to experience frustration and learn to embrace it through their burgeoning growth mindset.

The power of failure

Ricci devotes an entire chapter to failure. In a culture driven by a belief that everyone needs to feel successful and every child gets a trophy for showing up, failure might be a third rail. As parents we sometimes strive to shelter our children from the devastating impact of failure. When in reality we're all going to fail, possibly many times, before we succeed. It's not the falling down, but the getting up from that failure that is important.

Ricci explains what other authors like Tony Wagner have previously described as crucial to developing innovators. Ricci cites research about intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards and the effects of praising effort vs. product. Children (or face it, adults) who see "smart" or "athletic" or "artistic" as who they are rather than as what they do tend to internalize failure and be hurt by it. Those who attribute their success to the effort they put forth are less likely to be crushed by a setback. It hasn't challenged who they are fundamentally, just pressed them to put forth an additional effort.

Helping parents contribute

Since parents contribute so centrally to a child's view of the world, any effort to create a growth-mindset school needs to bring parents onboard. Like any other initiative, support from home can mean the difference between a three-color banner and a real change.

Ricci advocates teaching parents about the brain research as well as giving them tools for reflecting on the kinds of praise they use with their children. We can't tell people how to think, nor should we. But we can offer an understanding of how different types of thinking impact the brain and behavior. The chapter also gives parents tools for sharing growth mindset with teachers, who might not be on board yet.

Raising student awareness

Many children don't have a growth mindset yet. So as schools or teachers or parents plan to make the shift, then mindsets need to be explained to children. Ricci provides suggestions and resources for explaining the brain research and how the brain works. She offers not a single lesson but a series of experiences and tools for walking students along the path of understanding what fixed and growth mindsets are, and how they affect the way we perceive effort, intelligence and success.

Teacher professional growth

Administrators or coaches will also find this book helpful for the concrete plan it provides for professional development. Like all other human beings, some teachers already have a growth mindset and others don't. But like parents, teachers have a major impact on the outlooks our children develop. Many of us probably have mixed mindsets. We may have a growth mindset in some areas but a more fixed mindset in others. Ricci shares just such an experience she had herself.

Mindsets in the Classroom came along just when I needed it. If you are a parent, teacher or administrator who would like to understand growth mindset more fully, or who wants to bring others along toward growing their own growth mindsets, this 150-page resource might be just what you're looking for.
Katie Gordon, an elementary reading consultant and coach, splits her time between "building the reading capacity of my students and the teaching capacity of my colleagues." She comes to coaching from ten years in middle and high school classrooms, during which time "I struggled to find the answers for the challenges my own students were facing." She lives in Connecticut.

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Review: Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in School

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Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in School By Mary Cay Ricci (Prufrock Press, 2013 - Learn more) Reviewed by Katie Gordon Like some of my favorite professional books, this one has a conversational tone. It is no hit and run introduction to growth mindset, either.

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The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model

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The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model

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Learn about SIOP

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The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model is a research-based and validated instructional model that has proven effective in addressing the academic needs of English learners throughout the United States.

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Ideas and resources to run a Socratic Seminar
1. Opening and sustaining questions
2. Developing Opening, Guiding, and Closing Questions
3. Types of seminar questions

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What Do Principals Look For As They Observe And Evaluate?

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What Do Principals Look For As They Observe And Evaluate?

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Some principals are fixtures in classrooms; they get into every teacher's classroom at least a couple times a month -- even if only for a quick walk-through observation and follow-up. Other principals never seem to find time to get into classrooms until the deadline for completing evaluations looms.

Whether a principal is a fixture or a rarity in the classroom, his or her skill at observing teachers is the linchpin to effective evaluations. To get an idea of what principals look for as they evaluate teachers, we asked Education World's "Principal Files" team to share their thoughts.

Click here to view a list of the "principal contributors" to this article on teacher evaluation.

THE KODAK MOMENT: A SNAPSHOT OF LEARNING

"When I observe the non-tenured teachers in my school, I use a standard classroom observation approach that I call 'The Kodak Moment,'" principal Jim Thompson told Education World. "My observation takes a 'snapshot' of learning in a classroom."

Notice that Thompson said a snapshot of learning, not a snapshot of teaching. "Instead of observing a teacher teaching a lesson, I start out with the idea that I'm observing learning in Mrs. Smith's class. That is where I try to keep my emphasis. The more I focus on learning -- evidence of student learning in classrooms and evidence of teacher learning through the development of a collegial learning community -- the stronger my school will be."

"You can't prove anything was taught, until you have proof of learning," added Thompson, borrowing a quote from Rick DuFour . DuFour's work in the area of transforming schools into professional learning communities focuses on three essential questions:

What do we want students to learn?

How do we know students are learning?

What do we do when we find out students are not learning?

"Those questions are not a bad place to start off when evaluating teachers," said Thompson, who is principal at Wolcott Street School in LeRoy, New York. "When I observe a teacher I am looking to glean evidence in response to those questions, especially the last one."

One area of teacher evaluations that Thompson feels is discussed too infrequently is the quality of work in which teachers engage students. "That is a key area to give teachers feedback on," said Thompson, citing the work of Phil Schlechty in Working on the Work.

If focusing on student learning is the key to evaluating non-tenured teachers, what does Thompson think the focus of evaluating tenured teachers should be? "With experienced teachers, the key is to actively engage teachers as learners," said Thompson. "Most teacher contracts provide a menu of 'best practices' that tenured teachers can choose to focus on for their professional development and evaluation. They can be evaluated based on project learning, cooperative learning strategies, specific curriculum work, peer observation The key is that the more we engage teachers as learners, the better their classroom practices will become. The better their practices become, the higher degrees of learning we see."

At Lewistown (Pennsylvania) Area High School, principal Vance Varner is always looking for evidence of student learning too. "Has the teacher created a classroom environment that is conducive to learning? Is the classroom climate student centered? Are students engaged in the learning process? Those are some of the questions I'm considering as I observe and evaluate teachers."

"I'm looking to see that the light is going off and students are learning while they are being academically pushed," added Varner.

LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE OF SOLID LESSON PLANNING

Closely tied to student learning are the lesson plans that teachers use to actively engage students. Their lessons should include brief explanations or mini-lessons and then segue into an activity in which students interact with one another, learning materials, or technology, with the teacher acting as facilitator, said principal Addie Gaines.

"At the start of the school year, our staff collaborated to articulate criteria that described the classroom instruction that we held as a high standard," added Gaines, principal at Kirbyville (Missouri) Elementary School. "We can all measure ourselves and our lessons against those criteria and look for evidence of those teaching standards to be present. Rather than picking at what is wrong, evaluating our performance with those criteria in mind creates a climate where teachers want to improve things for kids."

Principal Ron Tibbets recognizes the complexity of lesson planning. "The teaching act is so interwoven with different threads that it is impossible to identify one strand that holds the entire tapestry together," said Tibbets, principal at the Henry Barnard Laboratory School of Rhode Island College in Providence. The following are among the aspects of a lesson that Tibbetts thinks are most important:

Is there a logic to the lesson and material being taught? Is the material connected to previous lessons? Does this lesson have an introduction, a middle that includes guided work and independent work, and an end that includes student assessment and a conclusion?

Are students meaningfully engaged in the lesson -- time on task -- and, when students are not engaged, how much time elapses before the teacher brings them back on task?

Are students equitably "called-on" by the teacher? That includes gender representation and minority representation. When a teacher questions students, are the questions a mixture of divergent and convergent questions? Do students have an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas?

"A good teacher makes it very clear to students why the lesson is being taught," said principal Karen Mink of O.C. Allen School in Aurora, Illinois. "I look for the components of a lesson that demonstrate that the teacher knows why she is teaching it."

Principal Duane Kline agreed. "Too often I'm left with the perception that the kids don't really know what they are supposed to be learning," he said, "so I ask all teachers to post on the board the essential questions for each lesson. Those questions help students define what they are to be learning. Questions engage students much more than simply posting a lesson objective."

A LESSON'S NUTS AND BOLTS

Principal Michelle Gayle examines every lesson she observes to be certain it addresses standards and benchmarks. Her observation instrument includes a place where she records that information as well as evidence of low, mid-level, and higher-order questioning and learning.

"We are a Florida Reading Initiative (FRI) School," said Gayle, "so I look for aspects of our FRI plan in every classroom -- things such as active word walls and students who are using text marking and other strategies that enable them to learn as they read."

In addition, Gayle, who is principal at Griffin Middle School in Tallahassee, looks for evidence of research-based instructional strategies; infusion of technology within the lesson; the use of manipulatives and other resource materials; classroom displays; and "target boards" that display examples of high-quality work so students know what it looks like.

At Whitebead Elementary School in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, principal Mary Smith looks for lots of things when observing a classroom lesson.
--- Is everyone on task during the presentation of the lesson?
--- Does the lesson flow smoothly?
--- Is the teacher organized?
--- How does the teacher handle distractions?
--- Is the lesson grade-appropriate?
--- How does the teacher "wrap up" the lesson?

Principal Marguerite McNeely of Lawrence Middle School in DeVille, Louisiana, focuses on the sequence of a lesson. "I want to see that the lesson supports yesterday's lesson, illustrates today's objectives, and opens the door for tomorrow's learning."

"I'm not sure it is the most important thing, but when I observe a teacher lesson I look for good use of time," said principal Brian Hazeltine of Airdrie (Alberta) Koinonia Christian School in Canada. "Master teachers make use of every minute. When the bell rings, things start happening. Because the teacher is so organized and efficient, students are always busy and engaged and classroom management largely takes care of itself."

Gwendolyn McClinton, principal at Florence B. Price Elementary School in Chicago, also focuses her observations on student engagement. "You'll see the students' enthusiasm for learning if the lesson is an interactive one. The teacher is energized too -- a moving target. A good teacher never sits down."

When principal Brenda Hedden observes a lesson at the Park City (Utah) Learning Center she's looking to see if instruction is appropriate for students. "I want to see if the teacher is pitching where the student can hit," Hedden explained.

Before observing a teacher, principal Tim Messick always asks to review the lesson he will observe. "I want to see that the teacher has written clear objectives about what will be taught," said Messick, principal at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. "In addition, I want to see that teachers have looked for ways to make their lessons practical and relevant to students. I want to see that they are engaging students through hands-on activities. And, finally, I want to see that the lesson plan includes a place for post-lesson reflection -- a place where teachers will answer questions such as Did I meet my objectives?, What were some highlights from my lesson?, What would I do differently next time?, and What have I learned about my teaching as a result of my assessment of the lesson?"

THE STUDENT-TEACHER CONNECTION

For principal Teri Stokes at Weatherly Heights Elementary School in Huntsville, Alabama, the most important thing she looks for when observing a teacher is the overall climate of the room. "That includes the seriousness of the learning environment, the physical appearance of the classroom, and the consideration and respect that are 'felt' when I walk into the room."

Brenda Hedden agreed. "I can learn a lot about teachers' abilities by watching student interactions with them."

"I look for respect from the teacher toward the students," said Karen Mink. "I look for the teacher to have a genuine interest in what the students have to offer."

Principal Gretchen Schlie looks for a teacher's 'connectedness' with students. "Are they getting students involved and interacting? Is the teacher interacting on a personal level, or is she or he more standoffish?"

"Children don't learn or listen if they sense you are not invested in what you are teaching," added Schlie, principal at the International Christian School in Seoul, Korea. "If you don't deem a lesson important, why should they?"

Bonita Henderson, assistant principal at Central Fairmount School in Cincinnati, looks first for signs of rapport between the teacher and the student. "The trust factor must be evident," she said. "I don't want the teacher to give me what they think I want to see. I want to see the natural interaction between a teacher and students. I want to see a classroom where the teacher and all the students are learning from one another."

"If there is a good rapport between a teacher and students, learning will happen," added Karen Mink.

MORE "LOOK-FORS"

Principal Michael Miller always holds a pre-conference with teachers before doing an observation at Saturn Elementary School in Cocoa, Florida. They discuss the lesson that Miller will observe. Each year, Miller also includes a special "look-for" in his observation. This year's special emphasis relates to the LCD projectors that were installed in all classrooms. "I've asked all teachers to incorporate our new LCD projectors into their lessons," said Miller. "That way, I get to ensure teachers are using our new technology to aid in their teaching."

Aurelie Bush, assistant principal at Lisbon (Maine) Community School looks for teachers who have been able to grow in their efforts to provide an environment where students are involved in their own learning. Some of the things she hopes to see include

Teachers who
--- develop lessons tied to state standards.
--- elicit participation among their students.
--- respond positively to appropriate student responses.
--- give students the opportunity to reflect on what is being taught.
--- are passionate about teaching.

Students who are
--- aware of what the learning goals are and what is expected of them.
--- motivated and challenged at their individual levels.
--- working hard in a classroom that has an upbeat and positive feel.
--- enthusiastically engaged in a discussion or group investigation.
--- able to evaluate their own and each other's work in a positive and respectful manner.

At Edenrose Public School in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada), principal Deepi Kang-Weiscz focuses her observations on the affective domain. "Since the affective domain sets the tone for teaching and learning, I first look for evidence of a positive classroom environment; strong teacher rapport with students -- all students, including the challenging ones; student engagement; the appropriate cognitive level of the lesson; and evidence of differentiation of instruction."

When he is doing an observation, principal Larry Davis of Doctors Inlet Elementary School in Middleburg, Florida, makes a special point to look around the classroom. He looks to see that teachers have posted the classroom rules, discipline plan, and emergency routes. He looks to be sure there are plenty of signs of a literature-rich environment and clear evidences of the school-wide emphasis on reading instruction. He looks for word walls and student portfolios too. He also looks for evidence of a good classroom management plan, but he admits that most of his visits are announced and that "the teachers will usually bribe the students to behave when Mr. D comes to watch the class."

"I look around the classroom environment for signs of a teacher's creativity," said Gwendolyn McClinton. "Is the classroom inviting? Are learning centers set up around the classroom? Is the classroom set up so that students can work in small groups? Is there dialogue going on between students as they help each other? Does the teacher seem to have control of the classroom? Is there a fair amount of student work posted?"

Bonita Henderson looks closely at student work that is displayed too. "I want to see that because, to me, it shows that the teacher values students' work."

Every classroom teacher knows that lessons -- even great lessons -- don't always go according to plan. When Phil Shaman observes the teachers at Canada's Neepawa (Manitoba) Area Collegiate School, one of the things he looks for is a teacher's ability to shift gears when things are not going according to plan. "If a teacher is struggling with a lesson," Shaman said, "I want to see if he continues to go with the planned lesson or if he is able to shift gears midway thru and try something different."

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education WorldÂ® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright Â© 2006 Education World

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Excellent Evaluations: Practical Tips for Improving Principals' Observation, Teacher Evaluation Skills | Education World

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Some principals are fixtures in classrooms; they get into every teacher's classroom at least a couple times a month -- even if only for a quick walk-through observation and follow-up.

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The FFT provides a foundation for instructional practice, as well as a philosophical approach to understanding and promoting great teaching and learning. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter to receive the latest updates and resources that will help you put the Framework to work.

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The FFT provides a foundation for instructional practice, as well as a philosophical approach to understanding and promoting great teaching and learning. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter to receive the latest updates and resources that will help you put the Framework to work.

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Preparing for Classroom Observations and Evaluations.docx

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Roundtable 3 July 25th Brainstorming with Teacher cadets

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By Irma Chavez de Romero, NBCT

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What one teacher did

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St. Paul, MN 4th grade teacher, Mr. Abenth, makes a deal with his students: "If you can master your multiplication facts by Spring Break...I'll shave my head!"

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Watch Saturday Night Live highlight 'World War II 101' on NBC.com

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Examining National Boards 5 Core proposition in your current practice with Violeta Djordjevic, djordjevic@aps.edu.

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Providing evidence for Domain 4

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Google Slides - create and edit presentations online, for free.

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Create a new presentation and edit with others at the same time. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Slides to edit PowerPoint files. Free from Google.

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At its best the evaluation process between teachers and administrators should be about professional growth for the teacher, and a quality learning environment for the students. In order to accomplish these lofty goals, many schools are striving to include the necessary pieces of a quality feedback loop: pre-conferences, observations, incremental walkthroughs, and post conferences. When the observation process is completed in a trusted and supportive manner the entire progression becomes a foundational place for understanding, sharing, and growth for all involved.

Here are some tips on getting the most from your pre and post conference.

Tips for a Successful Pre-Conference

1. Have a prepared list of questions for the observee to complete before the conference.

2. Be sure to ask what the teacher would like help/support with, even if the question is written down.

3. Look at the stated objectives and ensure that is what the instructional plan is actually focused on throughout the lesson. If not, revise the objectives together.

4. Be sure the observers have the complete context of the lesson. Talk about what came before, what is coming next.

5. If possible, hold the conference in the classroom where the instruction will take place. It will allow both parties to feel more comfortable when it comes time for the lesson.

6. If this is not the first observation this year there should be a reflection back to the previous observation and any suggestions that may have been made.

A good pre-conference should be about dialogue and understanding. So, every effort to make it as conversational as possible with a good dialogue about the expectations about for the teaching and learning for the lesson will help tremendously.

Tips for a Successful Post-Conference

1. Prepare questions for a reflection. Have this teacher fill it out. The administrator should also look at those questions so they know what the teachers have been asked to reflect on. This can serve as the foundational basis for the conversation.

2. To ensure the success of the post conference and to help build an atmosphere of trust the administrator should begin and complete post conference with an affirming statement about the teacher and/or the lesson.

3. Hold the post conference as quickly as you can but never the same day. Having a night to reflect on things will benefit both parties. Try not to let more than 2 days pass, if possible, so that everything is still fresh in the participant's head.

4. The observer should provide evidence, both good and bad, and it should be as specific as possible, tagging evidence to domains, or indicators when possible.

5. Discuss, and embrace, what went well and why you think it went well. There is much to be learned from success.

6. Don't evaluate the class, the observation is a chance to talk about the teaching and learning. Rather, describe situations or talk about choices made throughout the lesson. Save any discussion about the class and the students for another time.

7. If there is something that needs to be improved, the administrator should point it out specifically. The observers should be prepared to offer suggestions and resources that will help. However, once the area for improvement is noted there should be a dialogue about how to improve it. Don't be afraid to brainstorm together. The best ideas come from good communication.

State and local mandates on the length and frequency of observations may change over time but what does not change is that good teaching is difficult.

To learn how OnCourse Evaluate facilitates a healthy staff evaluation environment that supports all of the tips and tricks in this blog, download the free video below!

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Pre & Post Conference Tips from a Former Principal

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At its best the evaluation process between teachers and administrators should be about professional growth for the teacher, and a quality learning environment for the students. In order to accomplish these lofty goals, many schools are striving to include the necessary pieces of a quality feedback loop: pre-conferences, observations, incremental walkthroughs, and post conferences.

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Use this Google doc. to provide evidence for Domain 4

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New Teacher Academy Domain 4 Evidence (2) 

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Google Slides - create and edit presentations online, for free.

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Create a new presentation and edit with others at the same time. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Slides to edit PowerPoint files. Free from Google.

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Ree Chacon

chacon_am@aps.edu

Irma  DeRomero

romero_i@aps.edu

Aleli Colon

colon@aps.edu

Violeta Djordjevic

djordjevic@aps.edu

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Instructions for log in and upload

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Planning and Preparation

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Possible artifacts Domain 1 and Domain 4

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Possible artifacts for Domain 1 and Domain 4

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Create a SMART goal for our next meeting in April

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Planning and Preparation

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Blank templates and samples

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Possible artifacts for Domain 2

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Possible artifacts for Domain 3

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17 Books for Teachers' Summer Reading List

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17 Books for Teachers' Summer Reading List

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A Dozen Fun Ways to Wrap Up the School Year

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A Dozen Fun Ways to Wrap Up the School Year

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End of the Year Activities

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Join Laura Candler for a monthly live webinar focused on implementing the Reading Workshop approach.

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Earth science enthusiasts learn the names of soil layers in this geology worksheet. Students use a word bank to correctly label the five layers of the Earth's soil: humus, topsoil, subsoil, parent material, and bedrock. This worksheet makes a great addition to a second grade unit on geology.

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Earth science enthusiasts learn the names of soil layers in this geology worksheet. Students use a word bank to correctly label the five layers of the Earth's soil: humus, topsoil, subsoil, parent material, and bedrock. This worksheet makes a great addition to a second grade unit on geology.

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Soil Layers