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Benefits of Instructional Coaching Video

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Benefits of Instructional Coaching Video

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Social Contracts Foster Community in the Classroom

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When students and teachers collaborate to create shared behavior expectations, the whole class is invested in the norms.

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HOW TO PRAISE A PARTNER IN THE CLASSROOM

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HOW TO PRAISE A PARTNER IN THE CLASSROOM

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Do your students know how to praise a partner?

When using cooperative learning strategies or working in collaborative groups we often ask students to praise a partner, but do we ever teach them how? This blog post is full of tips and techniques for keeping things positive and keeping the classroom community strong.

Often the last step of a cooperative learning structure is to praise your partner when they answer a question. While we tend to spend a lot of time modeling the actual cooperative learning strategies we don't explicitly show students what it looks like and sounds like to praise a partner.

This crucial step is often what makes the difference between meaningful connections between students through praise and just following the steps of the process. There are a few elements of praise that differentiate flippant comments from actual praise and these are the elements we much teach our students.

In this post, I will be discussing the elements that make praising a partner effective and giving examples of how to help students master them.

I would not recommend going through all three of these elements of praise on the same day, but instead over several days so you can spend some time reviewing and practicing each element together with your students.

Praise a Partner with Specific Phrases

So many times when praising a partner we throw out a quick, "Great job."

While this is better than nothing it doesn't do a lot to boost student confidence or build relationships.

Instead, show students how to be more specific in their feedback.

For example, use specific phrases like, "I like the way you thought about that problem and talked it out until you got it," or "You worked really hard on that, way to go!" Both of these phrases are specific and recognize a student's work or effort.

A great way to get students to give more specific feedback is by providing them with sentence stems to start with.

Some sentence stems to start with:

I like the way you...

When you ____ it really showed how hard you are working.

You impressed me when...

It was really exciting to see you...

I was inspired to see...

Work together to come up with examples of how to finish the sentence stems and create a list of specific feedback students can use if they get stuck. Then, ask students if they have any other examples or sentence stems they think should be added to the list.

Praising a Partner Should be Genuine

This element is probably the toughest because it has a lot to do with tone and timing. These are hard concepts for adults, much less kids.

First, we define what being genuine is together. We work as a class to come up with our own definition. It usually works out to be something along the lines of meaning what you say.

When we talk about being genuine in praising our partners we are talking about delivering praise with fidelity. This can be as simple as making eye contact, using a kind tone, and not rushing the praise.

Modeling examples and non-examples is the best way I have found to achieve this. We partner up and use the list of sentence stems and praise examples we already came up with to practice what being genuine in giving praise does and does not look like. After practicing with partners, we come back together to talk about what students noticed to feel genuine and what didn't and make an anchor chart.

Special note:
One of the items I mentioned was making contact, but some students are made uncomfortable or feel unsafe making eye contact. This is NOT something that should be forced. Instead, encourage students to do what they feel safe doing. This may include, but is not limited to, looking at someone's forehead or looking over their shoulder.

When You Praise a Partner It Should Feel Good

This may seem like an obvious one, but for some learners, it needs to be made explicit. The entire goal of praising our partners is to make them feel good about themselves and their work. We are building up self-worth here, and praise is an important element of it.

We start by making a list of items that make students feel good. Then, we compare this list to the list of sentence stems we created earlier. We notice any similarities as well as items that might be missing and add them to the sentence stems.

Another thing to consider here is whether you would like your students to also perform some sort of physical interaction during praise. This might include motions such as a high five, fist bump, or handshake. All of these actions can aid in making an individual feel good. They also assert a sense of belonging and signify they are part of the community.

Want to Know More?

Praising a partner is just part of the process of cooperative learning.

Check out this post for tips on how to help students become peer coaches during cooperative learning.

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How to Praise a Partner in the Classroom - Teaching in the Fast Lane

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Do your students know how to praise a partner? When using cooperative learning strategies or working in collaborative groups we often ask students to praise a partner, but do we ever teach them how? This blog post is full of tips and techniques for keeping things positive and keeping the classroom community strong.

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Fundamentals of Restorative Practices - Day 1 Slide Deck

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Fundamentals of Restorative Practices - Day 1 Slide Deck

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Fundamentals of Restorative Practices - IIRP Booklet

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Fundamentals of Restorative Practices - IIRP Booklet

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KPS: Productive Group work Structures/Slides for Students

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KPS: Productive Group work Structures/Slides for Students

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Fall PD '22-Productive Group Work/ Cooperative Learning Strategies Resource Doc (Draft)

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Equity, Diversity and School Climate Through CHAMPS

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Equity, Diversity and School Climate Through CHAMPS

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Diversity & School Climate / CHAMPs Classroom & Behavior Management

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Welcome to Broward County Public Schools Diversity, Prevention & Intervention Department (DP&I). Our goal is to plant the seeds for a drug and violence free tomorrow.

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According to the dictionary, a standard is “something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison”. Today’s world is replete with standards documents such as standards of care, standards of quality, and even standard operating procedures. These various sets of standards serve to outline agreed-upon expectations, rules, or actions which guide practice and provide a platform for evaluating or comparing these practices.

The State academic standards posted here serve to outline learning expectations for Michigan’s students and are intended to guide local curriculum development. They should be used as a framework by schools for curriculum development with the curriculum itself prescribing instructional resources, methods, progressions, and additional knowledge valued by the local community. Furthermore, these standards provide a platform for State assessments, which are used to measure how well schools are providing opportunities for all students to learn the content outlined by the standards.

On this page, you will also find the course/credit descriptions and guidelines for implementing the Michigan Merit Curriculum for each subject area. For questions related to Academic Standards, please call the Office of Educational Supports Educational Experiences Unit at 517-241-2219.

Please note: Alternate Content Expectations are intended ONLY for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE), in partnership with The Comprehensive Center Network Region 8, is providing the following report: Tools and Guidance for Evaluating Bias in Instructional Materials. Districts may use this report to identify tools and rubrics that will assess bias in local standards and curricular materials.

Arts

Visual, Performing and Applied Arts Course/Credit Requirements

Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs) for Visual Arts, Music, Dance, and Theatre

Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Project (MAEIA)

Career and College Ready Skills

Career and Technical Education (CTE) National Career Ready Practices

CTE National Standards by Career Cluster and Career Pathways

CTE Standards by Program Area

Computer Science

Michigan K-12 Computer Science Standards

English Language Arts (ELA)

ELA Course/Credit Requirements

Michigan K-12 ELA Standards

ELA Alternate Content Expectations

ELA Crosswalks: Claims, Targets, and Standards

English Language Development Standards

World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) English Language Development (ELD) Standards

Health

Michigan High School Health Credit Guidelines

Michigan High School Health Standards

K-8 GLCEs for Health Education

Mathematics

Mathematics Course/Credit Requirements

Michigan K-12 Mathematics Standards

Mathematics Alternate Content Expectations

Mathematics Crosswalks: Claims, Targets, and Standards

Personal Finance

Physical Education

Physical Education Homepage

Science

Science Course/Credit Requirements

Michigan K-12 Science Standards

Michigan Science Standards: An Overview for Principals

Model Course Mapping Resource

Social Studies

Social Studies Course/Credit Requirements

Michigan K-12 Social Studies Standards   (June 2019)

Personal Finance

Technology

Michigan K-12 Computer Science Standards

Michigan Integrated Educational Technology Competencies for Students (MITECS)

World Languages

Michigan Seal of Biliteracy

World Languages Standards and Benchmarks

World Languages Guidelines   (Updated September 2014)

World Languages Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)   (Updated October 2014)

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CHAMPS: A Proactive & Positive Approach to Classroom Management

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CHAMPS: A Proactive & Positive Approach to Classroom Management

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CHAMPS_ A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management.pdf

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August 2022 PD: Productive Group Work Slides

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August 2022 PD: Productive Group Work Slides

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MTSS Dashboard-Examples of Circle Questions

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MTSS Dashboard-Examples of Circle Questions

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KPS MTSS Dashboard - Examples of Circle Questions

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Community Building Circle Questions Community Building Questions

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OpenSciEd's use of a Driving Question Board draws from work on project-based science learning, e.g., Singer, Marx, Krajcik, & Chambers (2000), Weizman, Shwartz, & Fortus (2010), and Nordine & Torres (2013).

Portions of the above were adapted from tools and processes developed by NextGen Science Storylines at Northwestern University and from the work of the Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology Project at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Michigan State University.

Nordine, J., & Torres, R. (2013). Enhancing science kits with the driving question board. Science and Children , 50(8), 57-61.

Singer, J., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J., & Chambers, J. C. (2000). Constructing extended inquiry projects: Curriculum materials for science education reform. Educational Psychologist , , 165-178.

Weizman, A., Shwartz, Y., & Fortus, D. (2010). Developing students' sense of purpose with a driving question board. In R. E. Yager (Ed.), Exemplary science for resolving societal challenges (pp. 110-130). Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.

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The Driving Question Board (DQB) is a tool used throughout the OpenSciEd units as a way to generate, keep track of, and revisit student questions related to the anchoring phenomenon and related phenomena.

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. What makes the 1-3-6 process successful?

2. Why is it valuable to have students work individually before forming groups?

3. How does working in groups of three prepare students for working in groups of six?

School Details

Alief Early College High School
2811 Hayes Road
Houston TX 77082

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Collaborative Group Work with the 1-3-6 Protocol

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Students in Kevin Sevin's AVID class work individually, in groups of three, and finally in groups of six. By working individually, students have a chance to dive into the assignment before collaborating with others. In groups of three, students hear each others' thoughts and then pair up with another group to form groups of six.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.