Effective Instruction RESEARCH-BASED STRATEGIES TO USE WITH THIRD GRADE STUDENTS TO IMPROVE ACADEMIC SUCCESS By: Kristin Adams

What makes a highly effective classroom?  Brainstorm your answer to this question with your neighbor.

What makes a highly effective classroom?  What are some of the characteristics that you discussed?

Characteristics of a highly effective classroom  Dr. Strong notes that a highly effective classroom is:  A place where students learn thoughtfully  Thoughtful teaching occurs  Thoughtful leadership throughout the school and district (Educational Impact, n.d.)

Teacher-Student Relationship  Quality of the teacher & his/her expertise make a significant impact on student achievement (Educational Impact, n.d.).  “Teachers who have good relationships with students care about students as people and learners” (Dean, Hubbell, & Pitler, 2012, p. xx).  Hold high expectations  Convey clear expectations  Help students meet expectations  Create and maintain an environment conducive for learning

Learning Environment  Integral to creating a classroom that is conducive to learning  Motivate and focus student learning  All students can succeed!  Clear learning goals and objectives (in student-friendly language)  Established rules, routines, procedures  Timely & regular feedback  Reinforcement  Collaboration among students (Dean et al., 2012)

Learning Scale example  Third-grade language  Understand & Do  Feedback given daily

Tenets of Effective Instruction for 3 rd grade students  Key components of effective teaching methods outlined by Dean et al. (2012) and Marzano (Educational Impact, n.d.)  Promote higher order thinking skills  12 “Hidden Skills” (Educational Impact, n.d.)  Direct instruction  4 Core areas: Reading/ Study Skills, Critical Thinking Skills, Reflection Skills, Communication Skills  Focus: Reading/Study Skills & Critical Thinking Skills  Goal of these skills: To enable third grade students, through direct instruction, to develop positive academic behaviors to increase achievement

Reading & Study Skills  Cues, Questions, & Advance Organizers  Nonlinguistic Representations  Summarizing and Note Taking  Homework & Practice (Dean et al., 2012) What do these look like in a third grade classroom?

 Brainstorm what these skills look like in a third grade classroom.  Cues, Questions, & Advance Organizers  Nonlinguistic Representations  Summarizing and Note Taking  Homework & Practice Reading & Study Skills

Reading & Study Skills: Cues, Questions, & Advance Organizers  What are they?  Cues: hints about content of upcoming lesson & reinforce information already learned (Dean et al., 2012)  Questions: access prior knowledge on a topic & assess the unknown (Dean et al., 2012)  Advance Organizers: pictures, stories, a ‘hook’ to draw attention to important information to be learned (Dean et al., 2012)

 Example: Introductory lesson on division (relate to theme park experience)  Relate to prior knowledge: multiplication & equal groups  Ask inferential & analytical questions:  How are you normally grouped on rollercoaster rides?  What happens if you do not have an equal number of friends to ride?  In what other situations/experiences can you use division? Reading & Study Skills: Cues & Questions

 Four formats  Expository: Anticipation guide (Agree vs. Disagree)  Narrative: Read story “Divide and Ride”; video clip  Skimming: Flip through math textbook  Graphic: Math foldable showing all division strategies Reading & Study Skills: Advance Organizers

Reading & Study Skills: Nonlinguistic representation  What are they?  Help students use imagery to represent knowledge  Tools that encourage students to manipulate, store, & create information  Mentally  Concrete tools/representations (Dean et al., 2012)

 What do these strategies look like in a third grade classroom? Reading & Study Skills: Nonlinguistic representation

 Graphic Organizers  Used to help students organize thoughts, events, cause/effect (often used in Social Studies or Reading lessons)  Physical models or manipulatives  Fraction tiles for a fraction lesson or tossing an apple to illustrate gravity during a Science lesson  Imagery  Creating mental pictures as they read a math word problem to help solving the problem  Pictures, illustrations, pictographs  Toontastic  Kinesthetic activities  Students ‘acting out’ sharing brownies equally (fractions) Reading & Study Skills: Nonlinguistic representation

Reading & Study Skills: Summarizing and note taking  What are they?  Deepen understanding of information because they involve higher-order thinking skills (Dean et al., 2012)  Can these really be implemented with 3 rd grade students?  Yes!

 Both must be taught through direct-instruction  3 rd grade students must be guided through the process  Summarizing: reciprocal teaching is often used to help 3 rd grade students with initial process of summarizing (Dean et al., 2012)  Note-taking  Teacher-prepared notes  Interactive Math or Science Journals  Reading Response activities Reading & Study Skills: Summarizing and note taking

Reading & Study Skills: Homework and Practice  Must be implemented with intentionality  Relevant to current content  Students must be able to complete independently

DISCUSS:  How do you currently implement these strategies in your classroom?  Cues, Questions, & Advance Organizers  Nonlinguistic Representations  Summarizing and Note Taking  Homework & Practice  How would you modify your current practice to improve instruction? Reading & Study Skills

Critical Thinking Skills  What are they?  Strategies to promote higher-order thinking skills  Connect real-life purposes to content and skills  Identifying Similarities & Differences  Comparing & Classifying (Dean et al., 2012)  Generating & Testing Hypotheses  Problem Solving, Experimental Inquiry, Investigation

Critical Thinking Skills  What do these strategies look like in a third grade classroom?

Critical Thinking Skills: Identifying Similarities & Differences  Comparing  Venn Diagram to compare/contrast characters  Classifying  Provide categories for Science lesson on classifying animals  Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians

Critical Thinking Skills: Generating & Testing Hypotheses  Problem solving  Math: Number Talk  Science: Environmental Overconsumption  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss  Experimental Inquiry  Science Experiments  Investigation  Exploring various cultural viewpoints in Social Studies

DISCUSS:  How do you currently implement these strategies in your classroom?  Identifying Similarities & Differences  Generating & Testing Hypotheses  How would you modify your current practice to improve instruction? Critical Thinking Skills

Maintaining long-term effectiveness  Participate in Learning Communities!  Share best practices  Learn from one another  Monitor instruction for its effectiveness (Educational Impact, n.d.)

References  Dean, C. B., Hubbell, E. R., Pitler, H., & Stone, B. J. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement (2 nd ed.). Denver, CO: McREL.  Educational Impact. (n.d.). The 5 practices of highly effective classrooms [Video File]. Available from: showactivities/9/