Curriuclum - Quick Reference Guide

Formative: Assessment FOR learning – Ongoing & self-referencing. Student knows where she/he is, where she/he wants to be, and how to "fill the gap". Involves teacher & pupil - continual reflection & review about progress. Teachers & peers provide quality feedback, empowering student to take appropriate action

Summative: Assessment OF Learning - end of a unit, year or key stage - judgment about pupils' performance in relation to standards. Can be level descriptions or numerical value. Data held and used for management purposes.

• Informal checks – observations, discussions, hand signals, summaries, questions, misconception checks,
• Formal – tests, quizzes, essays, written products, academic prompts
• Performance tasks, projects
• PBLs
• Research; I-search
• Rubrics
• Student self-assessment

Penn Literacy Network

4 Lenses of Learning

Social – work together; make meaning together
Language-based – read, write, talk about subject
Meaning-centered – relate new to known; direct applicability to help read and comprehend better
Human – each person responds to learning in a way that is unique; belief system

5 Critical Experiences

Transacting with text
Composing text
Extending reading & writing
Investigating language
Learning to learn

Before – connecting new to known; activation of prior knowledge and schema

During – reading, writing, thinking as interactive process

After – extend, reflect, personalize, apply

Nine Principles of Learning

L. Resnick

Accountable Talk puts forth and demands knowledge that is accurate and relevant to the issue under discussion.

Clear Expectations explicit definitions of what students are expected to learn; visible accomplishment targets during each stage of learning.

Fair & Credible Evaluations that students can prepare for; grading against absolute standards, not on a curve.

Learning as Apprenticeship by modeling and analyzing complex thinking; mentoring and coaching student projects and presentations.

Organizing for Effort by operating from the premise that sustained and directed effort can yield high achievement for all students; everything is organized to evoke and support this effort.

Recognition of Accomplishment at regular progress points by celebrating work that meets standards.

Socializing Intelligence is “teaching” intelligence by calling on students to use problem solving and reasoning capabilities along with habits of mind.

Self-Management of Learning is helping students to develop and regularly use an array of self-monitoring and metacognitive skills.

Academic Rigor in a Thinking Curriculum engages students in active reasoning by intimately joining knowledge and thinking; commitment to a knowledge core, high thinking demand, and active use of knowledge.

Verbs from Standards – Objectives should utilize verbs from the NJ CCCS. Here are some from various content areas:

Activate prior knowledge, Adapt, Adjust,

Answer, Anticipate, Analyze, Apply, Ask,

Build, Calculate, Choose, Cite evidence,

Classify, Collect, Communicate, Compare,

Compose, Comprehend, Conclude, Contrast,

Create, Critique, Decode, Demonstrate,

Describe, Design, Develop, Differentiate,

Discuss, Distinguish, Draft, Edit, Employ,

Establish, Estimate, Evaluate, Explain, Explore,

Express, Find, Generate, Identify, Interpret,

Infer, Investigate, Judge, Listen, Locate,

Match, Modify, Monitor, Observe, Organize,

Participate, Perform, Practice, Predict,

Present, Produce, Question, Read, Reason ,

Recognize, Reflect, Reinforce, Respond,

Set purpose, Self monitor, Self-select,

Show, Solve, State, Study, Summarize,

Survey,Take a position, Use, Write

Habits of Mind
One’s intelligence is the sum of one’s
habits of mind.”
Lauren B. Resnick, 2001

• Persistence – persevering in task to completion; remaining focused

• Managing impulsivity – thinking before acting; remaining calm, thoughtful, deliberative

• Listening with empathy and understanding – holding one’s own thoughts in abeyance in order to perceive another’s point of view and emotions

• Thinking flexibly – being able to change perspectives, generate alternatives, consider options

• Thinking about thinking – metacognition – being aware of one’s own thoughts, strategies, feelings, and actions and their effect on others

• Striving for accuracy and precision – desire for exactness, fidelity, and craftsmanship

• Questioning and problem posing – having a questioning attitude; knowing what data are needed and developing questioning strategies to find relevant data

• Applying past knowledge to new and novel situations – access prior knowledge and transferring knowledge beyond situation in which it was learned

• Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision – striving for accuracy in written and oral form; avoiding overgeneralization, distortion, deletion

• Gathering data through all senses – gustatory, olfactory, kinesthetic, auditory, visual

• Creating, imagining, innovating – generating new and novel ideas; fluency, originality

• Responding with wonderment and awe – finding the world mysterious; being intrigued with phenomena and beauty

• Taking responsible risks – being adventuresome, living on the edge of one’s competence

• Finding humor – finding the whimsical, incongruous, and unexpected; being able to laugh at oneself

• Thinking interdependently – working in and learning from others in reciprocal situations

• Remaining open to continuous learning – learning from experience; resisting complacency

Questioning

Levels:

• Literal – Information directly stated in text
• Inferential – Reader must use background knowledge and read between the lines
• Evaluative – Reader makes critical judgments about text according to his/her values & experiences

Signal Words:

• Knowledge – define, recall, recognize, remember, who, what, where, when?
• Comprehension: describe, compare, contrast, rephrase, put in your own words, explain the main idea.
• Application - apply, classify, use, choose, employ, write and example, solve, how many, which, what is.
• Analysis – identify motives/causes, draw conclusions, determine evidence, support, analyze, why?
• Synthesis - imagine, suppose, predict, produce, write, design, develop, synthesize, construct, how can we improve, what would happen if, can you devise, how can we solve?
• Evaluative – defend, judge, justify, what do you think?

Types of Writing

Type One - Capture ideas; No correct answer – One draft
Type Two - Respond correctly; Writing that makes a point, has correct answer or content - One draft
Type Three - Edit for FCAs; Read out loud, reviewed by author; Writer asks: Does it complete assignment? Is it easy to read? Does it fulfill the focus correction areas? One draft
Type Four – Peer edit for FCAs; Type Three that has been read aloud and critiqued by another – Two drafts
Type Five – Publish; Writing that can go outside the classroom without explanation or qualification – Multiple drafts

Nine Strategies for Thoughtful Reading

1. Activate Prior Knowledge – the learner brings a unique set of experiences and knowledge to reading (schemata).

2. Decide What’s Important in Text – set purposes for reading; use goals and prior knowledge to separate unimportant info from key points.

3. Synthesize Information – silently summarize key points related to purpose; set aside irrelevant and repetitive information; search for topic sentences within text.

4. Draw Inferences During and After Reading – read between the lines, search for the unstated, implied meanings.

5. Self-Monitor Comprehension – identify confusing or tough passages or unfamiliar words; use fix-it strategies to work it through to extract meaning.

6. Repair Faulty Comprehension – reread, use context clues.
7. Ask Questions – pose questions before, during, and after reading.

8. Build Vocabulary – Pre and post teach challenging and new vocabulary; study prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Latin roots.

9. Read Fluently – offer books at students’ comfort level so they don’t have to read in halting, word-by-word manner; encourage repeated readings.

Strategies to Use Before, During, and After Reading

Before

Brainstorm/Categorize
Predict/Support
Skim/Preview
Pose Questions
Fast-Write
Preteach Vocabulary
What Do I Know?
What’s New?
Visualize/Recall
Other Sensory Experiences

During

Make Personal Connections
Use Prior Knowledge
Predict/Support/Adjust/Confirm
Pose Questions
Identify Confusing Parts
Visualize
Self-Monitor for Understanding
Summarize
Synthesize
Reread
Use Context Clues
Infer

After

Skim
Reread
Question
Visualize
Evaluate and Adjust Predictions
Reflect Through Writing, Talking, Drawing
Infer; Compare/Contrast; Cause/Effect; Concluding; Thesis/Proof
Take Notes
Summarize
Synthesize

Five Research Based Principles

1. Scaffold learning on prior knowledge

2. Present organizing schemas and frameworks

3. Make key connections – don’t assume that students will discover them on their own

4. Apply concepts in multiple ways and varied contexts to increase the number of possible connections

5. Teach students how to think and learn.

Ron Ferguson, Tripod Project - Harvard University

Framing the Learning for Students

1. Provide itineraries for the year, unit, day.
2. State the standards, process and assessment.
• Explain what students need to know and be able to do, and why it’s important.
• Spell out the activities and assessment that the students will participate in.
• Describe how students will demonstrate their learning.
• Share criteria, rubrics, exemplars.
• Create a “No Secrets” classroom.
3. Make connections to prior knowledge and future learning.
4. Have students cement their learning with summarizing strategies.
Fran Prolman, Learning Consultant

Why is Writing So Important?

• Writing is the primary basis upon which one’s work, one’s learning, and one’s intellect will be judged in college, the workplace, and the community.
• Writing expresses who one is as a person.
• Writing is portable and permanent. It makes thinking visible.
• Writing helps one move easily among facts, inferences, and opinions without getting confused--and without confusing the reader.
• Writing promotes the ability to pose worthwhile questions.
• Writing fosters the ability to explain a complex position to readers, and to oneself.
• Writing helps others give feedback.
• Writing helps one refine one’s ideas while giving others feedback.
• Writing requires that one anticipate the readers' needs. The ability to do so demonstrates intellectual flexibility and maturity.
• Writing ideas down preserves them so that one can reflect upon them later.
• Writing out one’s ideas permits one to evaluate the adequacy of an argument.
• Writing stimulates one to extend a line of thought beyond first impressions or gut responses.
• Writing helps one understand how truth is established in a given discipline.
• Writing equips one with the communication and thinking skills needed to participate effectively in democracy.
• Writing is an essential job skill.
Adapted from brochures at Brown University and the University of Missouri

Up Dated 1/25/2007
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