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Use this strategy to manage cell phones in classrooms

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Pocket Points: Mobile app that rewards you for staying off your phone

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Pocket Points is a mobile app that rewards students to not use their phones during class.

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Resources related to Striving Readers Grant

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Rewordify.com | Understand what you read

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Rewordify.com helps you read more, understand better, learn new words, and teach more effectively.

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WCHS Interventions '19-20 - Intervention Grid

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Failure Reduction- Ways to reduce failures in your classroom: 1) Contact parents and document, 2) No phone privileges for students failing your class or with missing assignments, 3) chunk assignments and set timers, 4) create and maintain a seating chart, 5) encourage students to stay for ESS, 6) create a student centered classroom in which students are doing the majority of talking, 7) know where your students are (lexiles, previous test score data), 8) provide PSP and IEP accommodations and reach out to case managers

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Simplified Definitions/ Visuals

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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE

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Longman English Dictionary - the leading dictionary for learners of English of all levels: definitions, idioms, examples and more.

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Reinforce Tier 2 Vocabulary whenever possible

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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.

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Helps manage student expectations

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The professional timer app.

Timer is a complete and professional stopwatch, alarm clock, timer and clock utility for Mac. It has an easy-to-use and very intuitive interface with clear tab-based browsing thru stopwatch, timer, alarm clock and clock areas. Timer is free to download and you can freely use it as long as you wish. There is also a Pro version which includes some additional features as Full-Screen Mode, Iconized Windows, Run AppleScript Files, Launch Web Addresses, Send Email, Sleep Computer and other programmable actions.

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The professional timer app. Timer is a complete and professional stopwatch, alarm clock, timer and clock utility for Mac. It has an easy-to-use and very intuitive interface with clear tab-based browsing thru stopwatch, timer, alarm clock and clock areas. Timer is free to download and you can freely use it as long as you wish.

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Great for visual learners

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by Terry Heick
For in-person professional development from TeachThought on how to create an effective learning environment in your classroom or school, contact us today.
Wherever we are, we'd all like to think our classrooms are 'intellectually active' places. Progressive learning(like our 21st Century Model, for example) environments. Highly-effective and conducive to student-centered learning.

But what does that mean?

The reality is, there is no single answer because teaching and learning are awkward to consider as single events or individual 'things.' This is all a bunch of rhetoric until we put on our white coats and study it under a microscope, at which point abstractions like curiosity, authenticity, self-knowledge, and affection will be hard to pin down.

So we put together one take on the characteristics of a highly effective classroom. They can act as a kind of criteria to measure your own against-see if you notice a pattern.

10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment
1. The students ask the questions-good questions
This is not a feel-good implication, but really crucial for the whole learning process to work.

The role of curiosity has been studied (and perhaps under-studied and under-appreciated), but suffice to say that if a learner enters any learning activity with little to no natural curiosity, prospects for meaningful interaction with texts, media, and specific tasks are bleak. (Interested in how to kill learner curiosity in 12 easy steps?)
2. Questions are valued over answers 3. Ideas come from a divergent sources
Many teachers force students to ask questions at the outset of units or lessons, often to no avail. Cliché questions that reflect little understanding of the content can discourage teachers from 'allowing' them. But the fact remains-if students can't ask great questions-even as young as elementary school-something, somewhere is unplugged.
4. A variety of learning models are used 5. Classroom learning 'empties' into a connected community
Questions are more important than answers. So it makes sense that if good questions should lead the learning, there would be value placed on these questions. And that means adding currency whenever possible-grades (questions as assessment!), credit (give them points-they love points), creative curation (writing as a kind of graffiti on large post-it pages on the classroom walls), or simply praise and honest respect. See if you don't notice a change.

Ideas for lessons, reading, tests, and projects-the fiber of formal learning-should come from a variety of sources. If they all come from narrow slivers of resources, you're at risk of being pulled way off in one direction (that may or may not be good). An alternative? Consider sources like professional and cultural mentors, the community, content experts outside of education, and even the students themselves. Huge shift in credibility.
6. Learning is personalized by a variety of criteria
And when these sources disagree with one another, use that as an endlessly 'teachable moment,' because that's what the real world is like.
7. Assessment is persistent, authentic, transparent, and never punitive
Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, direct instruction, peer-to-peer learning, school-to-school, eLearning, Mobile learning, the flipped classroom, and on and on-the possibilities are endless. Chances are, none are incredible enough to suit every bit of content, curriculum, and learner diversity in your classroom. A characteristic of a highly-effective classroom, then, is diversity here, which also has the side-effect of improving your long-term capacity as an educator.
8. Criteria for success is balanced and transparent. 9. Learning habits are constantly modeled
In a highly-effective learning environment, learning doesn't need to be radically repackaged to make sense in the 'real world,' but starts and ends there.
10. There are constant opportunities for practice
As great as it sounds for learners to reflect on Shakespeare to better understand their Uncle Eddie-and they might-depending on that kind of radical transfer to happen entirely in the minds of the learners by design may not be the best idea. Plan on this kind of transfer from the beginning.
10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment
It has to leave the classroom because they do.

Personalized learning is likely the future, but for now, the onus for routing students is almost entirely on the shoulders of the classroom teacher. This makes personalization-and even consistent differentiation-a challenge. One response is to personalize learning-to whatever extent you plan for-by a variety of criteria-not just assessment results or reading level, but interest, readiness-for-content, and others as well.

Then, as you adjust pace, entry points, and rigor accordingly, you'll have a better chance of having uncovered what the learners truly 'need.'

Assessment is just an (often ham-fisted) attempt to get at what a learner understands. The more infrequent, clinical, murky, or threatening it is, the more you're going to separate the 'good students' from the 'good thinkers.' And the 'clinical' idea has less to do with the format of the test, and more to do with the tone and emotion of the classroom in general. Why are students being tested? What's in it for them, and their future opportunities to improve?

And feedback is quick even when the 'grading' may not be.

Students should not have to guess what 'success' in a highly-effective classroom looks like. It should also not be entirely weighted on 'participation,' assessment results, attitude, or other individual factors, but rather meaningfully melted into a cohesive framework that makes sense-not to you, your colleagues, or the expert book on your shelf, but the students themselves.

Cognitive, meta-cognitive, and behavioral 'good stuff' is constantly modeled. Curiosity, persistence, flexibility, priority, creativity, collaboration, revision, and even the classic Habits of Mind are all great places to start. So often what students learn from those around them is less directly didactic, and more indirect and observational.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Old thinking is revisited. Old errors are reflected on. Complex ideas are re-approached from new angles. Divergent concepts are contrasted. Bloom's taxonomy is constantly traveled up and down, from the simple to the complex in an effort to maximize a student's opportunities to learn-and demonstrate understanding-of content.

For professional development around this or related ideas in education, contact us.

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The Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment

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by Terry Heick For in-person professional development from TeachThought on how to create an effective learning environment in your classroom or school, contact us today. Wherever we are, we'd all like to think our classrooms are 'intellectually active' places. Progressive learning(like our 21st Century Model , for example) environments.

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It is harder now for high school students to focus on and make sense of long, complex texts, particularly the underserved students who were already struggling with reading.

The 24-hour news and entertainment cycle, cellphones, work schedules and family problems are just a few of the pressures competing for teens' attention. That means when teachers assign the reading of literature for homework and use class time for lectures and quizzes, they may not be providing the engagement necessary to compete with such distractions.

One strong solution is to have teachers read aloud to their classes, then move into leading inquiry-based discussions about texts.

In this shared-experience vision of reading aloud, students are following along, taking notes with old-school technology: a pencil.
Related: Students can't learn if they don't show up at school
The benefits of reading aloud to students have been known for decades. A landmark report called " Becoming a Nation of Readers " identified listening as "the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading." This report by the National Academy of Education, the National Institute of Education, and the Center for the Study of Reading may have been published more than 30 years ago, but that truth is timeless.

"In this shared-experience vision of reading aloud, students are following along, taking notes with old-school technology: a pencil."

More recent research indicates that for students - even those in high school - hearing literature aloud helps model fluency in diction and tone, build background knowledge, and develop language acquisition skills. So, for better literature comprehension and appreciation from their high school students, teachers should continue to read aloud to their classes.

Here are five reasons why:

1) Even if a text is above a student's reading level, that doesn't mean it's above their comprehension level. Some students are able to listen to high-level texts that they could not read on their own. In turn, the students push their own complex ideas further when they're read to aloud. Listening to a piece read at someone else's pace allows high school students the freedom to follow their own curiosity as they absorb a text. Their attention is no longer split between decoding and critical thinking. To further support their lines of thought, teachers can encourage students to mark their texts as they listen, which can help teachers know what questions students have and maximize their engagement with a text.

2) Teachers can access a wide range of reading levels within one classroom. The opportunity to listen to a text - instead of reading it independently - makes literature accessible to students who struggle to read on their own. If learners follow along with a text as they listen, it will allow them to gain a better understanding of unfamiliar words and the language as a whole. Reading aloud is also a tool to support, rather than call out or section off, those who read independently at a slower pace or are still emerging fluent readers.

3) Reading aloud is an effective replacement for both "popcorn" and "round-robin" reading. Though the merits of these approaches have been argued for many years, both approaches require focus on decoding a text rather than thinking about the narrative itself. Therefore, a reader's ability to discuss thoroughly is diminished. Further, if students are anticipating, or even dreading, their turns to read, they're not truly comprehending the words on the page. And constantly changing voices, speeds and tones is not a natural way to hear a story.

4) Hearing a text read aloud also supports students' ability to remember key information. This enables them to think critically about the text, and formulate and express their own reflections, which allows the students the ability to share their thoughts in writing or discussion.

5) Listening to a story can be more relaxing for busy high school students, and can lead to a lifelong appreciation for storytelling and literature. As everyone listens silently to the same story at once, it's a fun, communal experience. For many high school students, reading a book they're not interested in for class becomes an aversive experience reinforced by similar ways of approaching a text. All too often, this can lead to a disdain for reading later in life.
Related: A school once known for gang activity is now sending kids to college
A talented, expressive teacher can bring a poem, story or other written work to life and allow listeners to experience things they may not have noticed had they simply read the piece to themselves.
Macbeth: But what if we fail - Lady Macbeth: We, fail?
That makes it easier to understand a story and empathize with characters, thus boosting appreciation for the story as well as comprehension of it.

A teacher can also model multiple interpretations of a text by reading aloud. For example, consider these lines from Macbeth, Act I, Scene 7:

Lady Macbeth's interruption can be understood in many ways. One interpretation could be "There is no we - only you," to Macbeth. In other words, she is telling Macbeth before the journey begins that if the overthrow is a failure, he will die alone. Another way to read the line could be a foolhardy and resounding, "We won't fail, you dolt. I, unlike you, have thought this out. We're going to end up ruling." Finally, a potentially less confident Lady Macbeth could respond with a cracked, high alto of "Why would you say that to me when I'm already nervous enough?"

By reading these lines aloud to a classroom, teachers can illustrate the possibilities of this response so students can choose the lens through which they'll interpret a text, putting students back in charge of their own minds and building upon the engaging experience of hearing a story aloud.

However, simply listening to an audiobook isn't enough. It's also crucial for students to interact and follow along with the words on the page as they listen.
This story was produced by Danielle Martin, an education consultant with the Great Books Foundation, has more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. She began her work as a teaching artist in Philadelphia, winning a Barrymore Award for her ability to create inclusive learning environments. The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our newsletter.
Students should participate in critical, inquiry-based classroom discussions led by their teacher to further comprehend and appreciate works of fiction and non-fiction.

The discussions encourage students to slow down, pick up a book and relax with a great story, regardless of what else might be going on in their lives. This fosters an interest and engagement in literature that is exciting for all students.

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OPINION: Here's a way teachers can help break down equity barriers in high school: reading aloud to students - The Hechinger Report

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It is harder now for high school students to focus on and make sense of long, complex texts, particularly the underserved students who were already struggling with reading. The 24-hour news and entertainment cycle, cellphones, work schedules and family problems are just a few of the pressures competing for teens' attention.

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

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FlipgridAR is now available to any educator that uses Flipgrid! Transform family nights, homework, school events, book reviews, Science Fairs, student art galleries, language classrooms, the entire school, ANYWHERE by "sticking" student voice EVERYWHERE with FlipgridAR codes.
What is FlipgridAR?
AR stands for augmented reality, or the ability to "place" virtual elements in the physical world. With FlipgridAR, you can "stick" any Flipgrid video wherever you want by printing the video's QR code and then scanning the QR code with the Flipgrid mobile app.

Here are three ways you can use FlipgridAR today, including step by step instructions.

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FlipgridAR is now available to any educator that uses Flipgrid! Transform family nights, homework, school events, book reviews, Science Fairs, student art galleries, language classrooms, the entire school, ANYWHERE by "sticking" student voice EVERYWHERE with FlipgridAR codes. What is FlipgridAR? AR stands for augmented reality, or the ability to "place" virtual elements in the physical world.

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Article

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Listen to my interview with Pooja Agarwal ( transcript):

Sponsored by Raymond Geddes and Kids Discover

We've talked about retrieval practice two other times on this site: First in 2015, when we read the book Make it Stick. Then in 2016, I interviewed cognitive psychologists Megan Smith and Yana Weinstein about the Six Powerful Learning Strategies You Must Share with Students.

In both cases, I noticed that although we were discussing collections of techniques, retrieval practice was at the core of both groups. Because it's such a powerful technique, I would think that by now it would have really taken off, that I'd hear teachers talking about it and see the term crop up in lots of education spaces, but I don't see that happening.

So I wanted to give it one more push by carving out a designated spot for it here. My goal is to help retrieval practice become a regular part of classroom practice and part of our common vocabulary as teachers. To help with this cause, I interviewed Pooja Agarwal, Ph.D., cognitive scientist and founder of RetrievalPractice.org.

What is Retrieval Practice?

Retrieval practice is the act of trying to recall information without having it in front of you. Suppose you're studying the systems of the human body-skeletal, muscular, circulatory, and so on. You could do retrieval practice by attempting to name those systems without looking at the list. Once you've listed all you can remember, you'd open up your book or notes and check to see if you got them right.

You might be thinking, This is nothing new. The whole concept of flashcards is built on retrieval practice, and flashcards have been around forever, right?

What's new is the research: In recent years, cognitive psychologists have been comparing retrieval practice with other methods of studying-strategies like review lectures, study guides, and re-reading texts. And what they're finding is that nothing cements long-term learning as powerfully as retrieval practice.

The Research

Agarwal and her colleagues studied the effects of retrieval practice with students in a middle school social studies course (McDaniel, Agarwal, Huelser, McDermott, & Roediger, 2011). Over the course of a year and a half, while the teacher continued teaching as normal, students were regularly quizzed on the material with no-stakes quizzes, meaning they wouldn't count against their grades. These quizzes only covered about one-third of what was being taught. The teacher left the room for every quiz, so she had no knowledge of what was included in the quizzes.

On end-of-unit exams, students scored a full grade level higher on the material from the quizzes than on any of the other material. The other concepts had been taught and reviewed by the teacher as they normally would; the only difference was that some things also appeared on the no-stakes quizzes, and those were the concepts students retained more fully when tested on the exam.

The very act of being quizzed actually helped students learn better.

Here's what this means for teachers: When we teach something once, then want to do something else to help students learn it better, instead of just reviewing the content, we're much better off giving something like a quiz instead. In other words, if we do more asking students to pull concepts out of their brains, rather than continually trying to put concepts in, students will actually learn those concepts better.

To read about other studies on retrieval practice, click here. For now, let's look at some ways you can incorporate retrieval practice into your instruction.

Ways to Use Retrieval Practice in the Classroom

Think-Pair-Share
This quick, low-maintenance strategy can be used at any time to have students recall information, then share it with a partner. You can use think-pair-shares with single-answer questions, or make them more open-ended, like "Think of one thing you learned yesterday about cells." Be sure to have students think on their own before turning to a partner. "It's important for students to retrieve individually as much as possible," Agarwal advises. "If you jump right into pairs, then we all know as educators that some students are retrieving and some may not be." One way to make sure all students retrieve is to have them jot responses down on paper before sharing them with a partner.

Low-Stakes Quizzes
These can be given on paper, in a Google Form, with an individual response system like clickers, Plickers, or Poll Everywhere; or by using a game like Kahoot or Quizziz. It's important to note that these quizzes are a learning strategy: Ideally, students wouldn't get scores on them at all, but if you must give some points, make them an almost negligible part of students' overall class grade.

Brain Dumps
Have students get out a sheet of paper and, within a certain length of time, write down everything they know about a topic of study. This can be done at the beginning of a unit (similar to how you'd use a K-W-L Chart), partway through as a way to reinforce learning, or near the end of a unit. Once students have completed theirs, they can exchange them in a think-pair-share or use them to compile a whole-class brain dump. Then they can return to their texts to see what they missed or what needs correction.

Flashcards
These can be a powerful retrieval tool in class or at home, but students need to be taught to use them correctly:

Once a card has been mastered, keep it in the deck a while.
Research has shown that students tend to "drop" cards out of their decks too soon after they have mastered them (Karpicke, 2009). Ideally, a fact should be successfully retrieved three times before a student moves on from it.

Actually retrieve.
Karpicke's research also found that when students see a familiar prompt on a flashcard, they have a tendency to tell themselves they know it, then flip it over to see the answer, rather than taking a few extra seconds to actually recall the answer-and ideally, say it out loud-before flipping the card over. The difference in timing is subtle, but important: Students will not get the same benefits from flashcards unless they actually retrieve the answer before seeing it.

Shuffle the deck.
Keeping the cards in the same order makes them predictable. Once a deck has been gone through a few times, it should be shuffled to make it more challenging.

For more tips, take a look at College Info Geek's excellent post on effectively using flashcards.

Tips and Cautions

Retrieval practice is not the same thing as assessment.
Although some retrieval activities might allow you to formatively assess student understanding, remember that retrieval practice is a learning activity. Again, if you must assign points for practices, make sure they will have a very low impact on student grades.

Space your practice.
Retrieval practice is even more effective if it's done in short bursts over time, rather than in a single long session. This spacing causes students to forget some of the material, and the struggle involved in trying to recall it strengthens their long-term learning.

Include feedback.
If students retrieve the wrong information, the practice won't be much good unless they find out the right information, so be sure to give them feedback as they go. This can be as simple as providing the correct answer or letting students check their texts after they have attempted to retrieve. "Part of that isn't just so students know if they got their answer correct or incorrect," Agarwal says, "but it adjusts students' metacognition," helping them get "better at estimating or judging what they know and what they don't know."

Match your practice to your assessment.
If your summative assessment for a chunk of content will be basic recall of facts, then the retrieval practice can be that simple. But it you're going to include some higher-order questions as well, then be sure to ask those same types of questions in retrieval practice.

Does it Fit with Inquiry Learning?

If your classroom is built around more hands-on, inquiry-driven approaches to learning that don't prioritize retaining specific content-structures like Genius Hour and project-based learning -you might wonder whether retrieval practice is relevant to your teaching.

Consider this: Within any of those frameworks, students still have to learn and retain discrete information. Take, for example, a student who has decided to learn Arabic as his focus for Genius Hour, or students who are studying soil pH as part of a gardening project. Both students will need to study and remember concrete information in order to make progress, so even if your instruction isn't set up in a traditional way, understanding how retrieval practice works can help you help your students learn better.

A Little Goes a Long Way

Agarwal's final piece of advice is to start small. "If a student just writes down two things or one thing they learned, and then you move on, that's okay," she says. "You'll still get benefits of retrieval without spending five minutes in a classroom discussion."

It can be a bell-ringer. An exit slip. A sponge activity. Something you do while students stand in line for lunch. Don't overthink it. Agarwal advises teachers to ask themselves this: "What is one way we can flip from reviewing information to students retrieving information? What can we do tomorrow?"

What will you do tomorrow? ♦

Learn More

Dr. Agarwal and her colleagues have put together this comprehensive guide to using retrieval practice. Visit RetrievalPractice.org/download to get a free copy for yourself. And be sure to follow Retrieval Practice on Twitter at @RetrieveLearn.
References:
Karpicke, J. D. (2009). Metacognitive control and strategy selection: deciding to practice retrieval during learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138(4), 469.

McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger III, H. L. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in a middle school science classroom: The effects of quiz frequency and placement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 399.

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Come on in!!

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Retrieval Practice: The Most Powerful Learning Strategy You're Not Using

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Nothing cements long-term learning as powerfully as retrieval practice. Learn how to incorporate it into your classroom.

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Welcome to Vocabulary.com | Vocabulary.com

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contributed by Lisa Chesser

Using the right questions creates powerful, sometimes multiple answers and discussions. Aristotle said that he asked questions in response to other people's views, while Socrates focused on disciplined questioning to get to the truth of the matter.

Ultimately questions spark imagination, conjure emotions, and create more questions. The questions asked by a teacher or professor are sometimes more glaringly valuable than the information transferred to the students. Those questions spark a thought, which leads to a fiercely independent search for information.

If students are the ones gathering that information then they're the ones learning it and student-driven learning cements lessons into the students' mind making any lesson more powerful with this strategy. Even though the following list of questions are broken into Mathematics, Literature and Science and Social Science, it's really just a set of philosophically challenging questions that should be applied to any learning environment.

The questions are unrestricted and open the mind up to unfettered thought, perfect for innovation and understanding. The sections begin with Mathematical Questions because for the purpose of this list they're the most general and therefore the most useful.
Logical Questions
Within the realm of mathematics, there are certain types of questions that build up to those aha moments or topple barriers. Those are the questions that change a learner forever. They change a person because finally, the answers can only be found within.

The addition of philosophical questioning to mathematics enhances critical thinking in every learner. Basic principles of understanding help create solid ground, but questions build powerful architecture with which structures tower over one another.
Reflection & Collaboration
1. What do you think about what was said?

2. How would you agree or disagree with this?

3. Are there any other similar answers you can think of with alternative routes?

4. Does anyone in this class want to add something to the solution?

5. How might you convince us that your way is the best way?
Self-Reflection
6. How did you determine this to be true?

7. Why didn't you consider a different route to the problem?

8. Why does that answer make sense to you?

9. (in response to an answer):...what if I said that's not true?

10. Is there any way to show exactly what you mean by that?

Reasoning

11. Why do you think this works? Does it always? why?

12. How do you think this is true?

13. Show how you might prove that?

14. Why assume this?

15. How might you argue against this?

Analysis

16. How might you show the differences and similarities?

17. What patterns might lead you to an alternative answer?

18. How many possibilities can you think of and why?

19. Predict any number of results?

Connections

20. How does this relate daily occurrences?

21. Which ideas make the most sense and why?

22. Which problems feel familiar? Why?

23. How does this relate to current events?

24. What kinds of examples make this problem workable?

25. What other problems fit this style or example?
Literary Questions
Buried in every story lives a student's own life. Anyone can relate to at least one character or dive into at least one plot twist. But, the more foreign a story, the more important the questions should be.

Students may resist the idea that they can relate to certain characters depending on their ethnicity or economic background, but deep, concentrated questions show students the story really isn't that foreign at all and also guide students to deeper meanings.

The following questions could be applied to any story, no matter how long or short, difficult or easy. Vary them and add to them depending on how the discussion flows.

26. How did any of the characters or events remind you of yourself? Why?

27. How did the character's actions affect you? Explain.

28. If you were this character, how would the story change?

29. What surprised or confused you about the characters or events? Explain.

30. Why do you think the author wrote from this character's view?

31. What do you think the author is trying to accomplish?

32. How is the author thinking about the world?

33. How would the story change from another character's view?

34. Why do you think this story could actually happen, or not?

35. How can this story teach us something about our lives?

36. How do you think the characters resolved the major conflict in the story?

37. How would you have resolved it?

38. How would you change the end of the story and why?

Science and Social Questions

Within the idea of the Scientific Method, the hypothesis stands as the ultimate question. But, there are so many more questions a scientist must ask in order to answer that one question.

The challenging questions, however, make this a universal process streaming into other subject matter and delving into deeper waters. Here are some questions to sink into and use across curriculum as well as within science itself.

39. What's the purpose for this experiment or argument?

40. Would you elaborate on the purpose of this?

41. What issues or problems do you see here?

42. What evidence or data are given that help make this worthwhile?

43. What are some of the complexities we should consider?

44. What concepts help organize this data, these experiences?

45. How can you justify this information?

46. How can we verify or test that data?

47. What details can you add to make this information feel more complete?

48. Which set of data or information is most relevant or important?

49. How is all of this consistent or inconsistent?

50. How am I seeing or viewing this information? Objectively or subjectively? Should I then change my view?
A former Publications Specialist at Florida International University where she also received a bachelor's degree in English, Lisa Chesser left the publishing field to pursue a career in education. In her first three years of teaching Language Arts, she won an Excellence in Teaching Award for helping students achieve 50 percent learning gains. Because she's also a writer, an editor, and an artist by trade, students often take more interest in their learning environment because she teaches them the value of it in the workplace; metacognition This post was first published on openncolleges.edu.au; image attribution flickr user nationalassemblyforwales; 50 Questions To Help Students Think About What They Think
Middle & High School New Teacher Questioning

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50 Questions To Promote Metacognition In Students

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contributed by Lisa Chesser Using the right questions creates powerful, sometimes multiple answers and discussions. Aristotle said that he asked questions in response to other people's views, while Socrates focused on disciplined questioning to get to the truth of the matter. Ultimately questions spark imagination, conjure emotions, and create more questions.

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High Level Discussions

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by Terry Heick

Note: You can purchase a similar, classroom-ready version of these stems on printable cards, if you find that useful.

Meaningful conversation can make learning more personal, immediate, and emotional.

During meaningful conversations, students are forced to be accountable for their positions, to listen, to analyze opposing perspectives, and to adapt their thinking on the fly.

There are many popular strategies for these kinds of conversations, each with slightly unique rules and applications. Among them are Socrative Discussions, Accountable Talks, Debate, and Literature Circles. Whichever strategy you employ, students need support.

It is sometimes argued that these kinds of conversations favor students that are confident expressing themselves verbally, and that's hard to argue. But consider that academic writing favors gifted writers, traditional tests favor those comfortable with proving what they know, learning through technology favors students with a more diverse history of using technology, and so on.

And all can benefit from scaffolding so that students are given different levels of support-maybe unique tiers of index cards with easier to use or more natural stems-so that they can be successful on some level.

If you have any useful conversation stems, let us know in the comments so we can update the list!
26 Sentence Stems For Meaningful Conversation In The Classroom Clarifying
Could you give me your thesis in one sentence?

Is it your position that...

To be clear, you're saying that...

I'm confused when you say Z, Can you elaborate?
Paraphrasing
Put another way, you're saying...

So you're saying that...

Is it fair to say that you believe...

I hear you saying that...
Agreeing
I agree with Y because...

Z's point about X was important because...

The evidence for Z is overwhelming when you consider that...

X and I are coming from the same position.

Despite disagreeing about Y, I agree with Z that...
Disagreeing
I see it differently because...

The evidence I've seen suggests something different.

Some of that is fact, but some of it is opinion as well.

I agree that Y, but we also have to consider that...

We see Z differently.
Building On
Y mentioned that...

Yes-and furthermore...

The author's claim that Z is interesting because...

Adding to what X said,...

If we change Xs position just a little, we can see that...
Summarizing
Overall, what I'm trying to say is...

My whole point in one sentence is...

More than anything else, I believe that...
26 Sentence Stems For Higher-Level Discussion In The Classroom

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26 Sentence Stems For Higher-Level Conversation In The Classroom

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During meaningful conversations, students are forced to be accountable for positions, to listen, and to analyze opposing perspectives & ideas.

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8 Strategies To Make Learning Visual In Your Classroom -

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8 Strategies To Make Learning Visual In Your Classroom by TeachThought Staff & Jackie Gerstein, TeachThought PD Facilitator How about some strategies for visual learning? Though the idea of 'learning styles' has fallen out of favor in education, the idea that there are different methods of 'ingesting' information and that differences between and across these methods ...

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10 Tips For Creating More Effective Multiple-Choice Questions
contributed by Dr. Stephen Murphy, Measured Progress

One of the critical elements to understanding what students know and are able to do is using spot-on assessment items that provide fair and valid data.

Good data helps teachers make instructional decisions, informing student groupings and identifying needs for additional instruction or stretch strategies for continued learning and growth. To better understand what goes into developing great assessment items, I've developed a guide that introduces the basic steps of the process. Here are nine steps, in the order they occur from creation to presentation to the student.
Assessment Quality? 9 Steps To Creating Effective Multiple-Choice Questions 1. Pinpoint the Purpose for Developing the Item
In other words, begin with the end in mind. What new information do I want about the student? What data do I want to collect? What information might I want to report-to the student or parent?

For example, if the goal is to assess grade 3 students' knowledge of using "multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems," the item must be developed and structured to generate specific data about students' grasp of this content.
2. Determine the Standard(s) to Which the Item Should Align
The purpose of writing an item should be clear; that is, every item should be written to a specific standard that you are interested in assessing. If an educator is interested in knowing whether a student has retained the desired understanding of a specific series of lessons, each item could be written to address one standard from this sequence of instruction.

It's important for the item author to have clear expectations of the knowledge, skills, and abilities a student must have to demonstrate success with a particular standard.
3. Identify the Appropriate Structure for the Item
The most common structure for items is multiple-choice (MC), consisting of an item 'stem' that provides the information necessary to elicit a response, and a number of response options from which the student selects. Typical items for grades 3 through 8 have four response options and a single 'key,' or correct response.

In some instances, the content standards require more complex item types such as constructed-response or technology-enhanced items, or direct writing prompts. In choosing the item type, you need to identify the type of response that will allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the content, and determine the resulting scoring rules.
4. Target the item to your state's Achievement Level Descriptors
Achievement Level Descriptors (ALDs, also called Performance Level Descriptors or Proficiency Level Descriptors) describe what students should know and be able to accomplish to be classified into a meaningful level of achievement. Targeting your items to ALDs can help you address a range of difficulty and give you an idea of what level your students might achieve.

For example, eMPower Assessments™ by Measured Progress have four achievement levels: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. An item aligned to Proficient would be one that students in Proficient and Advanced should get correct, but not students who have only a basic or below basic understanding of the content.

In general, the verbs we use suggest the level of complexity of an item. For example, items that target advanced skills might ask students to analyze, construct, or interpret. To target proficiency, items might ask students to describe or represent.

At the basic level, students recall and compute. In eMPower, a college and career readiness assessment, students who are proficient in mathematics by the end of grade 4 can "solve multi-step mathematical problems ... represent and compare fractions ... identify and describe geometric properties ... [and] use models to represent and solve nonstandard problems..."
5. Create Strategic Multiple-Choice Items
MC items may seem simple but they need careful development and can provide significant insight if the distractors are strong. Good distractors are response options that reflect common errors in student thinking and therefore are plausible options for students to select if they don't understand the content being assessed.

Effective distractors help detect students' specific knowledge gaps. Used in formative practices, these items can help teachers focus instruction and bridge gaps. One approach to creating good distractors is to start with common misconceptions and create options that represent them. Finally, make sure that the wording of the item and distractors doesn't create a second plausible correct answer.
6. Eliminate Barriers for Students
To provide all students with the best opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the content standard being assessed, items must be free of bias or sensitive issues that might detract from a student's ability to engage in the item.

In addition, the item must be written to the specific targeted grade and vocabulary level and be clear and concise, avoiding unnecessary reading burden where reading is not being assessed.
7. Include all Necessary Supports for Generating a Response
While this might seem obvious, it's important to include all the tools and information that a student needs to interpret and respond to an item. This applies to all item types. Here are some examples.

Does the item require a stimulus, a passage, or a graphic? If so, is all the necessary information provided, and is it appropriate and accessible to the student? Passages should reflect appropriate vocabulary and text complexity. Graphics need to be clear and should not include extraneous information.

If the mathematic content standard allows a student to use a calculator, that must be evident, and the appropriate tool must be available to the student.
8. Use Engaging Material
Students are more motivated to respond carefully if the items are based on contexts students are likely to encounter in their day-to-day lives. If using graphics or illustrations make sure they are appropriate for the grade level and familiar to students from the world around them.

The contexts should be authentic-not far-fetched or unlikely.
9. Make Sure the Students' Responses will Provide the Right Kind of Information
Time is a precious commodity for educators, so it is important to start this checklist (and now conclude it) with the end in mind. As you plan and write items, continue to reference them against the kinds of information you need. Especially for formative assessment practices, focus on identifying students' strengths and needs, and on using the items to help you adjust instruction.
BONUS STEP: Implement Quality Review. Once the items are written, undertake these quality checks.
1. Have another grade/content expert confirm that the content (and the identification of a single correct option for MC items) is correct. This reviewer can solve each problem and identify any gaps or errors.

2. Have someone you trust as an editor make sure that the grammar is correct and the wording is appropriate.

3. Finally, conduct a review of each item in its final published form to verify that it has all come together correctly and is something a student can indeed respond to.
Dr. Stephen Murphy is Vice President, Measurement Services, at Measured Progress. He leads the groups responsible for all aspects of assessment design and development, including psychometrics, content development, publishing, and content management. Assessment Quality? 9 Steps To Creating Effective Multiple-Choice Questions

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9 Easy Steps To Create Effective Multiple-Choice Questions - TeachThought

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10 Tips For Creating More Effective Multiple-Choice Questions contributed by Dr. Stephen Murphy, Measured Progress One of the critical elements to understanding what students know and are able to do is using spot-on assessment items that provide fair and valid data.

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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.

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Maps

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Coggle is online software for creating and sharing mindmaps and flowcharts. It works online in your browser: there's nothing to download or install. Log in to start diagramming!

Whether you're taking notes, brainstorming, planning, or doing something awesomely creative, it is super simple to visualise your ideas with Coggle. Share with as many friends or colleagues as you like. Changes you make will show up instantly in their browser, wherever they are in the world

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The clear way to share complex information. Coggle is a collaborative mind-mapping tool that helps you make sense of complex things. Create unlimited mind maps and easily share them with friends and colleagues.

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Productive Struggle Is a Learner's Sweet Spot

Barbara R. Blackburn

Rigor is a buzzword in today's educational circles, but there are many misunderstandings about the concept. Although rigor means having high expectations for all students, those expectations must be accompanied by appropriate support. Student success occurs when you create an instructional environment that sets high expectations for each student and provides scaffolding without offering excessive help. The key is to incorporate productive struggle.

Productive struggle is what I call the "sweet spot" in between scaffolding and support. Rather than immediately helping students at the first sign of trouble, we should allow them to work through struggles independently before we offer assistance. That may sound counterintuitive, since many of us assume that helping students learn means protecting them from negative feelings of frustration. But for students to become independent learners, they must learn to persist in the face of challenge.

This does not mean you teach a standard lesson and allow students to struggle throughout. I recommend providing specific opportunities for productive struggle as students build their skills. For a struggle to qualify as productive, it should:

1. Challenge the specific weaknesses of the student or small group rather than overwhelm them.

2. Occur within challenging activities and assignments.

3. Be productive rather than frustrating. For example, if you want to learn to play tennis, you will struggle appropriately playing a slightly superior coach who challenges you rather than playing someone completely out of your league.

4. Let students use metacognitive reflections to process their thinking. With metacognitive reflections, students think about how they learn in addition to what they learn.

Productive struggle means more than simply giving a student "hard work" and leaving them alone to struggle. It is a learning opportunity that requires a teacher to create, facilitate, and monitor the process, especially as students are learning how to struggle productively. Let's look at practical ways you can incorporate productive struggle in your classroom.

Productive Struggle in Action

Assume that you have a small number of students who cannot read part of your lesson's challenging text. Based on your observations, as well as the students' previous work, you are aware that they struggle with vocabulary and background knowledge. A standard way to respond is to teach the students separately from the whole class, with a focus on teacher-directed information at a lower level. This does not allow students to struggle productively, however, nor does it provide an opportunity for them to work at challenging levels.

One opportunity for productive struggle is to "layer meaning"-an alternative reading strategy that allows students to work at challenging levels in positive ways.
Step One
Use an interactive approach that shifts ownership to the students. First, have students read and process an easier text on the same topic using what I call "A Bump in the Road" metacognitive guide to determine their needed level of assistance. Using this approach, students will identify two to four points in the text where they hit bumps in the road. Then, they will partner with another student to see if they can work their way through their struggle.

If students are unable to overcome their struggles alone or with a partner, then you step in. Although you can provide some guidance, you should not direct instruction in a strict manner or "rescue" students at the first sign of trouble. With my students, I am intentional about using facilitating questions for guidance, such as "Is there something in the previous paragraph that can help you understand this better?" or "We worked through similar problems yesterday. Think about what you did then and see if it will help you solve today's problem." You should only provide teacher assistance when the struggle becomes unproductive.

When engaging in productive struggle, students may make multiple attempts, take more time than usual, ask for help from other students or the teacher, or seek out other resources. When you notice a student is completely overwhelmed and frustrated-when they can't answer a question even after multiple attempts and guidance-you may need to adjust your instruction.

The less challenging text allows students to build their vocabulary skills and background knowledge so that they can become more successful with the challenging text. While they may still struggle, the information from the first text provides additional scaffolding.
Step Two
Students may still need support to understand the challenging text. If you have used it before with your students, you can once again use "A Bump in the Road" or employ another metacognitive guide to help. In the first open-ended and student-directed guide pictured below, students work with an assigned text. Based on the teacher-assigned topic or key point, students write down thoughts and predictions about the text either alone or with a partner. Next, they read the text, looking for the author's points to match any of their ideas. Then, they write the page number or their evidence to support how the author's points match or differ from theirs.
Metacognitive Guide for Moving to More Challenging Text
The next guide below provides various statements about the text to give struggling students more structure. Students check whether they agree or disagree with the statement and then read the text to locate the information. You can also facilitate a small group or whole group discussion to compare students' original opinions with the text's information.
Metacognitive Guide with Additional Structure for Moving to More Challenging Text
The "layering meaning" strategy uses metacognitive guides and delayed teacher support to cement a process that allows for challenging work and productive scaffolding that builds student independence and grit. It also provides structure so that students learn how to struggle appropriately and productively, which serves as a building block for future learning struggles. I've seen students who were passive learners move beyond those behaviors to engage in and learn from productive struggles.

Barbara R. Blackburn is an international speaker and consultant. She has authored 21 books, including Rigor Is NOT a Four-Letter Word (Eye on Education, 2013) and Increasing Rigor in the Classroom (ASCD Quick Reference Guide, 2018). Visit her website and follow her in Twitter.

ASCD Express, Vol. 14, No. 11. Copyright 2018 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.

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Productive Struggle Is a Learner's Sweet Spot

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Productive Struggle Is a Learner's Sweet Spot Barbara R. Blackburn Rigor is a buzzword in today's educational circles, but there are many misunderstandings about the concept. Although rigor means having high expectations for all students, those expectations must be accompanied by appropriate support.

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The Neuroscience Behind Productive Struggle

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Challenging tasks spur the production of myelin, a substance that increases the strength of brain signals. Here are four strategies to incorporate productive struggle into your lessons.

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chrome extension

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Insert instructional content into any web page

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I signed up for Sketchnoting in the Classroom a few years ago. Each year, I teach the different strategies to my students. It really helps them with jotting down notes in their own 'words.' Many of my students will use pictures in their notes. It is extremely effective. I also use it with my notes when taking PD or notes during meetings.

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Sketchnoting In The Classroom - Verbal To Visual

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I signed up for Sketchnoting in the Classroom a few years ago. Each year, I teach the different strategies to my students. It really helps them with jotting down notes in their own 'words.' Many of my students will use pictures in their notes. It is extremely effective.