Week 9 Term 2: Preparing to Learn

A clear, concise, well-presented powerpoint or a carefully chosen, compelling and informative text, or an exciting, attention-grabbing demonstration -  the amount of actual learning the student takes away from any of these depends quintessentially on what happens BEFORE the lesson is delivered.

Students who have activated their prior knowledge learn much more effectively from new experiences, yet this area of lesson planning is often neglected.

In this week's post you will find:

The Importance of Prior Knowledge:
A Visual Summary of Constructivist Theory (Piaget):  New knowledge is constructed out of previous  knowledge.  New Experiences are viewed through the filter of previous knowledge and either assimilated or accommodated into the existing knowledge framework.

Reading for the Rest of Us Part 3:  Preparing to Read 

While this is about reading texts the principles and strategies apply equally to watching lecture-style lessons or any other form of information transfer.

Misconceptions lead to mis-perceptions:  

Surprising findings from physics education that pre-existing misconceptions actually change what students see/hear/observe and what that means for wider education.  And in a surprising twist  - true gains in learning are often accompanied by feelings of confusion rather than clarity - this has some serious implications as we head towards performance pay based, at least in-part, on student evaluations.

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The Importance of Prior Knowledge:

"Educators often focus on the ideas that they want their audience to have. But research has shown that a learner's prior knowledge often confounds an educator's best efforts to deliver ideas accurately. A large body of findings shows that learning proceeds primarily from prior knowledge, and only secondarily from the presented materials. Prior knowledge can be at odds with the presented material, and consequently, learners will distort presented material. Neglect of prior knowledge can result in the audience learning something opposed to the educator's intentions, no matter how well those intentions are executed in an exhibit, book, or lecture."     from: http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/museumeducation/priorknowledge.html

Fisher and Frey's article "Building and Activating Background Knowledge" in Principal Leadership highlights the importance of activating prior knowledge in learning quite nicely.

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READING FOR THE REST OF US PART 3 : PREPARING TO READ

Preparing to Read Involves:

1. Activating Prior Knowledge is essential for effective learning as it provides knowledge "hooks" to attach new knowledge on to as it arrives.  Misconceptions must be identified and challenged appropriately before new knowledge is presented or risk misinterpretation that actually reinforces the misconceptions rather than the intended learning.

   - Tapping Into Students Prior Knowledge

   - Activities That Help Students Activate Prior Knowledge
   - More Activities to Activate Prior Knowledge

2. Establishing a Purpose for Reading provides motivation to read and focusses attention.  Purpose enables readers to discern relevant from irrelevant information more effectively.
    - Activities That Help Students Set a Purpose for Reading

3.  Previewing & Predicting has been shown to foster motivation, attention, retention and comprehension.  Previewing prepares the learner for what to expect in the reading, providing an overview to organise the information and uncover connections.  Predicting engages the interest and generates an desire to find out.
   - Skimming and Scanning
   - The Directed Listening and Thinking Activity Process
   - Teaching and Using Text Structures
   - Activities That Support Predicting 

FURTHER READING:
- ThinkLiteracy Cross Curricular Reading Guide
- Adolescent Literacy Resources Website

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Misconceptions lead to mis-perceptions:  

Physics is hard.

So difficult in fact, that a flood of carefully designed, well explained, highly visual and interactive educational resources have come into existence - truly remarkable resources.

And the result?

Physics is still hard.

Why?  Why do our exceptionally clear explanations seem to have no impact?

The answer is truly surprising:   Students actually "see" it wrong.

The problem with clear explanations or demonstrations is that many students don't actually see what we are showing them. Their observations are filtered through pre-existing misconceptions and altered into what they think they should be seeing.  Showing demonstrations, even ones that clearly contradict their preconceptions, simply reaffirm their false understanding.

Famed Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur recently investigated this effect, adding to 20 years of research from the Mazur Group at Harvard into the Peer Instruction model of teaching.  Derek Muller recently finished his PhD on the subject that confirms Mazur's conclusion and provides more evidence on the a way forward for Physics Education -> Confront the misconceptions first, then teach.

This has spurred a whole movement of educators to raise awareness and fight against the pervasive "pseudoteaching" in our education systems. Teaching that looks and feels like teaching, but actually teaches very little.

Additionally, this research has uncovered another startling conclusion - one with implications for use student evaluations as part of teacher appraisal systems:  students rate teachers poorly when they are learning more and highly when they a learning next to nothing.

Social scientists figured out a while ago that ignorance begets confidence -  it's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect and it is also closely related to Confirmation Bias.

Derek Muller's TED talk:

MUST-VIEW RESOURCES:

1.  Derek Muller's 8 min summary of his PhD paper.  A slow start (since he's poking a little fun at Sal Khan) but stick with it - his findings are quite important.

2. "What is psuedoteaching?" from Frank Noschese's blog "Action-Reaction"

3.  Dan Meyer's TED talk on Math and Psuedocontexts 

4. "Don't Lecture Me" a NPR radio podcast or transcript - Featuring Eric Mazur and others

FURTHER READING/VIEWING RESOURCES:

1.  Eric Mazur's Lecture: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer. 1hour, 26 mins

2.  Veritasium Derek Muller's YouTube Channel  ** turn down you sound **

3.  The Mazur Group - Harvard Physics Education Research Group Website

4. "Science Education in the 21 Century" 83 mins.  Nobel Physicist Carl Wiemann's research confirming and extending Mazur's work.

5.  The Dunning-Kruger Effect: YouTube blog  7 mins

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Week 5 Term 2: Vocabulary for the Rest of Us

In this week's post you will find:
- Reading for the Rest of Us Part 2: Vocabulary (A non-expert guide for other non-experts)
- Learning Styles Revisited: The Baby in the Bath-water
- Some Tips on Behaviour Management
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VOCABULARY FOR THE REST OF US:

While the idea that ALL teachers are teachers of reading - not just those in English and Social Studies faculties - had some lively and humorous debate this week, I suspect that few will argue about the use of specialised language in their subject area.

So we really are ALL teachers of vocabulary.

Vocabulary is one of the four essential components to reading effectively for meaning as unknown words provide stumbling blocks that interrupt, or even derail, a reader's comprehension.

Teaching vocabulary involves 4 aspects:
- introducing and familiarising new words
- inferring meaning for unknown words
- gaining deeper understanding of words
- practising the use of new words correctly

INTRODUCING AND FAMILIARISING NEW WORDS:

How can we make unfamiliar words familiar?  At the beginning of a unit - or even BEFORE a unit starts - we can start introducing the new terms to our learners.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/
studentsuccessthinkliteracy/gallery.html

* Word Walls - Word Wall examples - put up the next units words on cards in large letters in your classroom(s). Add definitions as you learn them or simply have 2 areas for New Words and Known Words  and move the labels as you progress through the unit

* Clustering -  Clustering instructions - put all the key words onto cards and ask the students to group them into four categories based on what they think the words mean.  Discuss the different methods that students/team used as groups.

* Before and After Grids Before and After grid example - students make a chart with 5 or 6 key words in the first column and two more columns beside the first for "What I think the word means" and "After Reading/listening/viewing".
* Flash Cards and Class Building Games - write out flashcards with the word on the front and the definition on the back.  Then use these flash cards as you play class building games with your students such as quiz-quiz-trade (Kagan Structure).

INFERRING THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS:

* Using Context Clues:
    - investigating how we infer meaning from contexts
    - using cloze activities to practice inferring

* Word-Attack Strategies for decoding unfamiliar words


GAINING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WORDS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/talus/
4291436915/in/photostream/

*Vocab Squares - Use of four square grid to add/collect more information on the term.  What the four square categories are can change to better suit the nature of the words.  In physics, I often put the word in the centre and then make the four squares: defintion, diagram, related formula, examples.  See other examples below.

* Clines - students place words on to a diagonal line to order of their severity or strength of meaning.  For instance, you might ask students to put the words  whisper speak call shout scream on a cline, or hypothesis, model, theory, law.

* Hyerle Thinking Maps - particularly the brace, tree, and bridge
map can challenge students to look more deeply at connections and relationships between words.

Examples from: www.edu.gov.on.ca/en/studentssuccess/thinkliteracy/

PRACTISING USING WORDS CORRECTLY:

* Barrier Activities - Set up a grid of 16 - 20 squares on two sides of a "barrier" (three pieces of cards taped into a triangular sign-card)  Have a mixture of definitions and terms in the squares on one side of the barrier and the corresponding defintions and terms in corresponding squares on the other side.  Students take turns guessing the words and definitions whilst the team mate verifies their answer.

* Timed - paired - talks - have students lined up either in two rows or in an inner circle/outter circle such that each person is face-to-face with a partner.  Have the students on one side of the row talk about the term an definition for one minute - then reverese - but nothing can be repeated!  Then shift one side of the rows down or rotate one of the circles - so everyone has  new partner to share their ideas.

* Quiz-Quiz-Trade and Mix-pair-share (Kagan Structures) are simultaneously good class building and vocabulary building activities.  Find-some-one-who / people bingo that you might use at the beginning of the year as an ice breaker can be adapted to have vocab terms and/or definitions that the students have to mingle around the room to find the ones that they don't know themselves.

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LEARNING STYLES RE-VISITED: THE BABY IN THE BATH-WATER

In a recent post, I labelled the Theory of Learning Styles as an "enduring myth" and I stand by that label still (and so does this man).  It was one of the more popular PD movements that did not survive the scrutiny of evidence-based-teaching.

Matching the method of teaching to the learner's preferences has a negligible effect size.

So is that it then?
Has the past 30 years of PD promoting visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic activities in the classroom been a colossal waste of time?

No, not entirely.

Consider what Differentiation Guru Carol Ann Tomlinson has to say about Learning Styles [Link].
(Here's some of the discrediting Carol is refering to: UK report on Learning Styles

The Dunns' study showed, indisputably, that students have preferences for different methods of learning.  Students do have strengths, weaknesses, and preferences in their learning.

So teachers who have applied the Learning Styles Theory to their classrooms have exposed students to a variety of new study strategies.  Grouped to their preferences or not,  this is a good thing.

It is still valid, worthwhile even, to cater to the different styles in your lessons. Adding variety and approaching material through different modalities with improve student interest, engagement and therefore understanding.

Implementation of the learning styles theory - whilst not perhaps not all we had imagined pedagogically - has still improved practice in many classroom environments.

What is now, arguably of course, invalid is the surveying and matching of student learning styles to teaching methods. There is no conclusive evidence that this has any effect on student achievement.
In terms of teaching, the implementation of new lesson planning strategies necessitates greater attention and energy be placed into the planning. This, along with the heightened confidence and energising effect well-planned lessons have on the teacher - this can hardly be seen as a waste of time!

So don't pull the plug on your VAK lesson strategies just yet!

An other good resource for understanding what is and isn't based in sound research about Learning Styles and how to best use them in the classroom is:
 What the research says and how to use it to design e-learning. - Les Howes, University of Wisconson

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SOME TIPS ON BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

I recently went to a fantastic workshop run by Joseph Driessen on Behaviour Management that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone in teaching - PRT or seasoned veteran alike!

It made me reflect quite deeply about my own practice. 
Joseph points out that students need consistency in their teachers.  Knowing what to expect gives them a sense of safety and security.  The key to handling difficult situations with difficult students is to maintian non-emotional, matter-of-fact and supportive reponses.  I liked Joseph's repeated phrase, "it's just another day at the office for me - it isn't personal".

In this post from the ASCD's inservice blog, Pete Hall reflects the same idea in his resolution to "Be The Duck".

A couple of quick pointers to help remain calm is offered in the article: Calm is strength; Upset is Weakness

And a thorough HOW TO from wikihow on: Staying Clam in Stressful Situations

Most importantly, I see that when I am tired and moody it has an impact on my students.  So it is essential, as I have mentioned before, to take good care of myself - rest, relaxation, exercise, and good food!

Week 3 Term 2: Reading For The Rest Of Us

In this post you will find ....

• Reading for the Rest of Us: A non-expert guide to reading for other non-experts (part one)
• What's in the May edition of EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP: Supporting New Teachers

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READING FOR THE REST OF US: 
A non-expert guide to reading skills for other non-experts
Part One

For years, teachers of language-rich subjects have been deliberately teaching literacy strategies and strengthening reading comprehension, but in other subjects many of us take reading for granted (often falsely) in our students and the thought of teaching skills for reading leaves us mystified.

From a quick tour through the Ministry of Education's publication "Effective Literacy Strategies in Years 9 to 13" it seems effective reading has at least four stages - three of which I personally haven't been giving adequate attention.

How many others out there are simply assigning a reading, sometimes with a few questions, and then hoping for the best?

This week's post is an overview of the four stages. More detailed explorations of each stage with lesson activities and references for further reading will follow in subsequent posts- hope it's useful!

Effective Reading - Four Stages:
• mastering vocabulary
• preparing for reading
• actively reading
• information processing

MASTERING VOCABULARY:

Unless the purpose of the reading is to introduce vocabulary, the vocabulary should be firmly in place before jumping into a reading. When students come across unknown words it interrupts and conflicts with reading for meaning. Secondly, if cognitive load theory is correct then each new vocabulary word requires a "chunk" of cognitive capacity thus reducing the number of "chunks" available for creating meaning out of the text.

Students need to be deliberately taught both:
• Specialised academic vocabulary - the jargon of your subject.
And also
• General academic vocabulary - words like "define", "evaluate", "function" etc that are used on assignments and assessments.

Particularly troublesome for students are words that have a specific meaning in academic or subject-specific language but have a different "everyday" meaning.

Students need to be introduced to new vocabulary, have time to explore meanings, and be given ample opportunities to practice using the newly acquired vocabulary.
(Strategies for Vocabulary Building will be coming next post in part 2).

PREPARING FOR READING:

This crucial stage often gets missed but has significant impact when included.

Preparing to read a text involves:
• activating prior knowledge
• establishing a purpose
• identifying type, structure and features
• pre-reading and predicting

Exploring prior knowledge helps teachers assess student interest, readiness and uncover pre-conceptions, but it also clarifies for the students what they know and don't know. Reminding students of their previous learning provides important mental "hooks" to "hang" new relevant knowledge.

A clear purpose for reading motivates and focusses the reader. It changes how the reader interacts with the text, prompting the reader to look for particular information and structures. Without a clear purpose, it becomes difficult to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information in the text.

The type of text and the associated features and structures vary widely from subject to subject. Each learning area must recognise and teach the particular text types and structures used widely in their field. With our high levels of experience, teachers switch from type to type almost subconsciously, but for less-experienced readers the differences between types are not obvious and research confirms that students benefit from learning to notice and distinguish text types.

Pre-reading and predicting can help students frame what they are about to read, activate their prior learning, establish a purpose for reading the text, and identify what structures will be most helpful when searching for information. Once the students have a clear idea of what they want to find and where it is most likely to be, they will be able to read for deeper understanding.

ACTIVELY READING:

The four strategies used to read for deeper understanding:
• predicting
• asking questions
• clarifying
• summarizing
have been built into the highly successful "Reciprocal Teaching" approach developed by Palincsar and Brown in 1984.

In this model, the teacher leads students through a reading and discussion while "thinking aloud" to model the four strategies in a structured way. Then students work in groups reading and discussing similar texts, each taking turns leading the discussion and internalizing the four strategies with the support of their peers. Finally, students practice using the strategies independently with feedback and guidance offered by the teacher.

More recently, Pressley (1998, 2001) added "imaging" to the list of strategies finding success with the construction of mental images, similes and metaphors to represent the concepts of a text.

Identifying the key aspects of a reading and summarizing effectively are skills that students struggle with and need to be deliberately modeled and practised.

PROCESSING THE INFORMATION:

So what was the reading for? What purpose did it serve? Has that purpose been fulfilled? How can the information extracted from the reading be organized and recorded?

Hyerle's thinking maps, Graphic organizers, note-taking formats are all useful strategies to help students monitor the understanding they have gained from the text. Students must process, organise, summarise, and condense the information as they complete these activities, clarifying relationships between concepts as they go.

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PROFESSIONAL READING:

This Month's edition of Educational Leadership has not yet arrived - but here's what we can expect to find inside. (Remember if any article sounds particularly interesting, flick me an email and I'll pop a copy into your pigeon-hole. Fresh articles will be entering the staff room green folders too!)

May 2012 | Volume 69 | Number 8

Supporting Beginning Teachers 

Feature Articles

Perspectives / Rewriting Survivor

Marge Scherer

Beyond Solo Teaching

Collaboration is the key variable in shaping what teachers do and learn.

Sharon Feiman-Nemser

The Challenges of Supporting New Teachers

A Conversation with Linda Darling-HammondLinda Darling-Hammond reflects on the promising practices and the significant obstacles that face beginning teachers.

Marge Scherer

Now That I Know What I Know

What one teacher learned from his power struggle with a student.

Dan Brown

Retaining Teachers
How Preparation Matters: A research study shows that science and math teachers who receive more pedagogical training are far more likely to stay in teaching.

Richard Ingersoll, Lisa Merrill and Henry May

Preparing Teachers for the Early Grades

Disparate preparation of early grade teachers often means that a given candidate has either content knowledge or skills to engage young children, but not both.

Laura Bornfreund

What's Missing from Teacher Prep

Teachers critique their university prep programs and list improvements needed.

Gary M. Chesley and Janice Jordan

What New Teachers Want from Colleagues

Five teachers share how their more seasoned coworkers might have helped them.

Deborah Bieler

The Don'ts and Don'ts of Teaching  

Rookie teachers, here's a clear list of behaviors to actively avoid.

Gary Rubinstein

Mentoring That Fits

How to make sure that supports suit needs.

Pam Grossman and Emily Davis

Teach for America: Leading for Change

TFA graduates strive to make an immediate, positive impact on students' lives.

Heather Harding

Teach for America: It's More About Leading Than Teaching

This fast-track solution has some drawbacks, according to some TFA corp members.

Barbara Torre Veltri

What All Novices Need

Alternatively trained teachers describe what kinds of support would have benefited them.

Jennifer Locraft Cuddapah and Anika Spratley Burtin

Which Is Better? Alternative or Traditional

A teacher who tried two prep programs weighs their merits.

Genie Albina

A New Teacher's Plea

"Teach with me and let me teach with you."

Brian K. Jones

Special Topic / Strengthening Teacher Evaluation: What District Leaders Can Do

Effective performance review can no longer be a fringe activity.

Morgaen L. Donaldson and Gordon A. Donaldson Jr.

Columns / Departments

Research Says / New Teachers Face Three Common Challenges

Classroom management, curricular freedom, and lack of support are hurdles that confront beginners.

Bryan Goodwin

Art & Science of Teaching / Teaching Self-Efficacy with Personal Projects

How to use projects related to students' interests to teach planning and reflection.

Robert J. Marzano

Principal Connection / When Is Comfortable Too Comfortable?

What will you do this summer?

Thomas R. Hoerr

One to Grow On / Three Wishes for New Teachers

Every new teacher needs a little help from a friend.

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Double Take

Reviews, research, and relevant reads.

Tell Me About … / The First Time You Felt Like a Real Teacher

Read stories from ASCD's Outstanding Young Educator finalists here and online.

Online Only

Stop the Exodus

Ideas for encouraging talented educators to stay.

Katy Farber

How to Think Like a Master Teacher

Tips on making your first year on the job less frustrating.

Robyn R. Jackson

Preparing Technology-Connected Teachers

Why the 21st century teacher needs a personal learning network.

Shelly Blake-Plock

New Teachers in CyprusStelios Orphanos and Marios Panteli

The authors identify the need for more support for beginners in Cyprus's many small rural schools.

Week 1 Term 2: Time & Workload Management

Term 2 is already underway with junior report writing, parent interviews and mid-term exams looming in the not-to-distance future.  With this in mind, I thought a few ideas on Time Management might be... well.... timely.  

In this post you'll find:

• Tips on managing time and workloads

• Suggestions to reduce your internet time by using RSS, Ted/Ed, YouTube for Teachers, and Google for Teachers

• What's in the latest 2 editions of Education Leadership Magazine - available now in our library.   

[Please note that PD bites will be bi-weekly for the duration of the year, appearing sometime between Friday morning and Sunday night]

TIME AND WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT:

Here are my favourite 4 tips:

• Plan lessons in "chunks" of 2- 3 periods rather than period-by-period. Planning a short series of lessons takes less time and provides a more organised flow than planning them one-by-one.  Things won't always go according to plan but if you've got a clear idea of what's coming next it's easier to adjust on-the-fly and you'll be better prepared to take advantage of any "teachable moments" that develop along the way.  Additionally, I find myself feeling more in control of, rather than controlled by, my workload - that positive mental boost does wonders for my motivation and ability to focus.

• Good Enough is Enough.  I confess to trolling for the perfect image for almost an hour when one that I found in the first minute would have done the job just fine.  This is what I call "advanced procrastination" because it LOOKS and FEELS like I'm working.  Borrowing from Pareto and Juran,  80% of the preparation time for a new resource can be spent "tweaking" in what amounts to only about a 20% improvement.   Combat perfectionism by recognising your motivation. Are you continuing towards perfection to improve student learning, to avoid other commitments, or to satisfy a psychological need of your own?    Here's a link to a good, short read on the underlying reasons for procrastination and how to over come them. 

• Enough is Enough.  The more time we have to create a lesson resource, the more time we take to create it. Many of us could work less and still get roughly the same amount done (although it might be about 20% less perfect)  "Ease The Load", a Teachers.tv series about life-coaching teachers, had an unbelievable tool for managing workload: a timer.  Teachers' were instructed to set a timer and work for a set amount of time at home - and then stop.  Just stop.  None of the teachers thought that it was possible because so much just MUST get done, but the transformations were amazing. The amount of work accomplished was reduced by very little and the teachers became much happier and healthier - which of course leads to better teaching.  

• Walk and Talk . Need to discuss a simple issue with a teacher or student? Have them join you during your morning tea/lunch duties while you are walking around. Always carry a pen so you can deal with messages, notices, signup sheets immediately as they are presented to you - don't carry them back to your desk where they just become part of the larger pile (I've heard this concept called the "touch paper once rule").  Want to keep a conversation "contained" to a limited time? - have the conversation ask you walk with the student or colleague from your/their classroom to the staff room or the student's next class - reaching  the destination provides a clear "end point" to wrap up any discussion and thank them for their time and attention.

Some Tips from the Experts:

• A video of Tips: (14 minutes)  "The Secondary ABCs of  Time Management" TeachersTV video of Time Management Tips:Covers: Displacement Activities, Marking, Know your best times
• A comprehensive list of tips from Education Oasis (recruitment agents)

REDUCING INTERNET TIME:

YouTube.  Most of us have spent hours sifting through quite terrible videos in search of a high quality one.  YouTube has an answer for this:  Check out:

YouTube for Teachers  : A collection of playlists of videos that align with common educational standards, organized by subject and grade. These playlists were created by teachers for teachers so you can spend more time teaching and less time searching.

 and    

YouTube Education : An area within the larger YouTube site that restricts access to only videos from well-known organizations like Stanford, PBS and TED as well as from up-and-coming YouTube partners with millions of views, like Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science and Numberphile.  No pop-ups.  All comments and related videos are disabled.

Google also has a Google For Teachers' Section with advice on how to search more effectively with Google.  

The site offers quick access to resources for:

-Using the Google Apps 

-Creating and using YouTube videos in your classroom

They are just getting started with a  Lesson Plan Search Engine but it needs a bit more development before it will be particularly useful.

TED - Ed : Lessons Worth Sharing site has the same overall theme as the TED conferences but are videos geared specifically for use in classrooms.  

RSS & Aggregators - Have your favourite websites come to you. 

Most browsers have built-in RSS readers which will send new material from your favourite websites to you whenever they are updated - so you don't have to repeatedly visit the website to check. Here are some good explanations:

Video: RSS in Plain English

What is RSS? RSS Explained

How to set up your RSS feeds

Would RSS be useful for you? Maybe; Maybe Not

For the iphone/ipad users out there - my favorite aggregator is Flipboard. 

Flipboard aggregates feeds from facebook, Twitter, various news agents, and my favourite education blog: MindShift. It is limited though to which feeds you can select.  

If you're not onto Twitter yet - it is a treasure trove for teachers - but I'll save that for another post!

PROFESSIONAL READING:

Two more editions of Educational Leadership Magazine are about to arrive in our library.  

March's edition is entitled: Reading: The Core Skill and is packed full of great stuff (see below)!

Here's what's inside:

April 2012 | Volume 69 | Number 7

College, Careers, Citizenship 

Feature Articles

Perspectives / What's Next? Are We Ready?

Deborah Perkins-Gough

A Common Core of Readiness

Robert Rothman

The common core state standards offer schools an opportunity to advance equity and excellence.

One Degree of Separation

Jean Johnson

Former students tell why a college diploma is beyond their reach.

Failing Liberty 101

William Damon

How do we teach students to care deeply about their country?

College and Career Readiness: Same or Different?

David T. Conley and Charis McGaughy

The debate about whether high school is for job training or college prep is over.

Pathways to Prosperity

William C. Symonds

Why we need more and better career education and counseling.

Ready, Willing, and Able

Suzanne M. Bouffard and Mandy Savitz-Romer

Motivating students to aspire to college and career requires a developmental approach.

How to Talk About Religion

Robert Kunzman

If students are to navigate public life, they must know how to talk about their religious differences.

iCivics

Rick Wormeli

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor makes the case for rebuilding civics education.

Finding Pivotal Moments

Roberta Espinoza

At crucial times, educators have the capacity to change students' lives.

Gateways, Not Gatekeepers

Linda Murray

What schools can do to address barriers to college readiness for all.

Calling All Innovators

Tony Wagner

How some (but too few) schools are encouraging young people to transform their world.

Groomed for Citizenship

Web Hutchins

High school students are lobbying leaders to give all students a civics-rich classroom experience like their own.

On Track to Their Dreams

Jennifer Glenn Morrow and Alex Torrez

An early college experience creates expectations for success.

The Real World Starts Here

Kimberly A. Hill

A high school offers engineering, cosmetology, and auto tech, to name a few ways it combines college prep with career readiness.

Commentary / Where's Literature in the the Common Core?

Barbara Bartholomew

The emphasis on utilitarian text will derail the literary arts if next steps are not planned carefully.

Columns / Departments

Art & Science of Teaching / A Moving Proposal

Robert J. Marzano

Getting students moving is an effective learning strategy.

Principal Connection / Talking to the Reverend

Thomas R. Hoerr

Look around the corner for an expert on building community.

One to Grow On / Watching Us Work

Carol Ann Tomlinson

What kids learn from observing their teachers on the job.

March 2012 | Volume 69 | Number 6

Reading: The Core Skill

Feature Articles

Perspectives / Turning the Page on Reading

Marge Scherer

Every Child, Every Day

Richard L. Allington and Rachael E. Gabriel

A powerful reading prescription for all students.

Taming the Wild Text

Pam Allyn

Give struggling readers the tools to triumph over their fears.

Adolescent Literacy: More Than Remediation

Gina Biancarosa

How to take adolescents who haven't mastered the basics to higher-level literacy.

How We Really Comprehend Nonfiction

Thomas Newkirk

We never stop looking for the storyline, the author contends. Plot is at the heart of all good writing.

Teaching Genre with Purpose

Nell K. Duke, Samantha Caughlan, Mary M. Juzwik and Nicole M. Martin

Is the genre dramatic, persuasive, informational? Real-world uses matter.

Opening the Literature Window

Carol Jago

A call for a reading renaissance.

Get Organized Around Assets

Larry Ferlazzo

The community organizer's guide to teaching reading.

Teaching for Historical Literacy

Anne Goudvis and Stephanie Harvey

Social studies need not require a passive slog through textbooks.

The Challenge of Challenging Text

Timothy Shanahan, Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey

Equipping students to deal with text complexity.

Making Textbook Reading Meaningful

John T. Guthrie and Susan Lutz Klauda

Five crucial practices to motivate adolescents to read informational texts.

True—or Not?

Debbie Abilock

In the dizzying world of click-and-go information, how to judge credibility?

Reading Remixed

Joyce Kasman Valenza and Wendy Stephens

E-books and social media have expanded the definition of the word "book."

Columns / Departments

Research Says / Address Reading Problems Early

Bryan Goodwin

With early intervention, we can get students back on track.

Art and Science of Teaching / An Easier Way to Score Tests

Robert J. Marzano

Proficiency scoring is more precise than assigning points to test items.

Principal Connection / Got Grit?

Thomas R. Hoerr

Helping kids learn to respond to failure is part of the job.

One to Grow On / Creating Flashlight Readers

Carol Ann Tomlinson

How to tap into the (sometimes buried) intrinsic desire to read.

Tell Me About … / What You've Learned About Teaching Reading

Read readers' stories here and online, and contribute your own response to an upcoming question.

Talking Back / On Privatization

Gary Houchens

Gary Houchens and James Harvey debate school choice.

Response

James Harvey

Gary Houchens and James Harvey debate school choice.