Please sit with your grade level PLC. Thanks!

Success Starters: Sparking Student Success Right Away

Pick a kid you want to pretend to be O A student who is homeless O A popular student—boy or girl O A refugee O A student with a learning disability O A really really shy student with anxiety O A really really outgoing student who talks a lot

Next: O Write down 8-10 things going through your mind (as the student you are pretending to be). O If you are stuck, just write down 8-10 things that are on your mind.

Finally… O We are all going to read them at once….. O GO!

Thank you.

What are success starters? O High interest, relevant activities that spark high level thinking O Attention getters tied to standards O Taught at beginning of class

Timing is everything O “The opening minutes of class are the most fertile time for learning.” (p.39)

Make a list O With your PLC, make a list of some of the high interest activities you already do with your classes O There are no wrong answers! Think of the activities and assignments you love to teach and kids love to do! Feel free to include specific info—like what the lesson is about O Hint: gallery walks, ABC brainstorms, whiteboard work….

Two questions: (students might be thinking at the beginning of a lesson) O What does this have to do with me? O Will I have a good chance at being successful? O “Is the water safe for jumping in?"

We want students to think: O This is interesting O This matters to me O I CAN DO THIS O We started this in Chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 1 Acceleration 1. Success Starter—generate thinking, purpose, relevance, and creativity 2. Clearly articulate learning goal and expectations 3. Scaffold essential prerequisite skills 4. Vocabulary: introduce and review 5. Introduce new concept 6. Conduct formative assessments frequently

Chapter 2 Standards walls 1. Concept map 2. TIP chart 3. Student work

The main idea O “The opening minutes of a lesson hold tremendous potential for all learners…” O It’s a time when their brains are deciding if it is worth it or not

Let’s Share

The good news is we already do all these things: O Role playing—social studies and social roles O Survey—science and genetic traits O Prediction---integer sort/ fact opinion sort O Questioning—question sun about a concept O Brainstorming—ABC sort O Concrete representations--pictures

We also know why it works: O Connect to prior knowledge O Hold high interest/ real world relevance O Explicitly tied to standards being taught O Engage every learner O Answer: “What’s this got to do with me?” O Be fast-paced and time conscious O Set up the lesson O Employ concrete representations before abstract concepts

Chat and plan O What do you think about this? O Do you already do it? O If not, how would it impact the beginning of your class? O What is one you could use in the next couple of week?

Re-cap O Student brains are deciding during the opening minutes if the lesson is interesting to them O Kinda like “flipping through the channels”

So what do we need to do? O Make sure our opening minutes will: O Grasp student curiosity O Make real-world connections O Foster higher-level thinking O Enable success for ALL students O Be tightly tied to lesson’s learning goals

Thank you.