Power of Choice Literacies for All Summer Institute June Preszler Education Specialist, TIE July 14, 2007

The Plan Define choice Review choice Experience choice

The Job of School What does it mean to be a student? Consider the student’s day… How much choice is involved in the student’s work day (NOT the social day)?

OWNERSHIP! The biggest advantage to offering choice is ownership. When students feel as if they “own” their learning, they are more likely to strive for success. D.J. Stepik, Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice

Habits to Develop Thinking, Language and Content Move from standards—assessment--instruction Offer some choice to students Connect new to existing Model Scaffold language and content learning Give minilessons on academic thinking Use appropriate language Sharpen lesson transitions Put more group work, visuals, movement, manipulatives, and music into lessons Monitor and take note of evolving best practices Jeff Zwiers, Developing Academic Thinking Skills in Grades 6-13

Change in the Air From elementary to middle school More high school English teachers offering literature circles More high school science teachers offering choice in final projects

My Way Not the Only Way The first step in embracing choice is to understand and embrace the idea that there is more than one way to accomplish learning the standards.

Appearance of Choice classchaosroom

First Things First Before you can provide choice you must know what you want your students to Know, Understand, Do. You must know what goals and objectives you want students to meet. You must know which standards ALL students need to meet.

Destroyer Generalized options that lack meaning to students Options that are product descriptors lacking process explanations What not how or why

(Mostly) Simple Beginnings Choice Charts Compacting/Projects Anchors Tiering Layered Curriculum Menu Cubes/ThinkDots Tic Tac Toe (Think Tac Toe) Choice Boards Window Panes RAFT

Choice Charts Write multiple options for learning the unit’s goals Students choose the options

Choice Chart: Industrial Rev. Compare Contrast Categorize Classify PersuadeEvaluate Poster Create a poster that categorizes living conditions of 3 groups Design poster that evaluates impact of industory on history Letter Compare rural life with city life Webpage Create webpage that cateogrizes living conditions of 3 groups Build webpage that evaluates benefits of industry Essay Diane Heacox, 2001 Create essay persuading people to fight status quo

Is Compacting Needed? Consistently finishes tasks early Work is usually well done and correct Seems to have some advanced familiarity with the material Expresses interest in pursuing alternate or advanced topics Consistent high performance or motivation Creates own puzzles, games, or other diversions in class

Rapid Robin “THE DREADED EARLY FINISHER”

he d Fre ddi e “It takes him an hour- and-a-half to watch Sixty Minutes.” Slow Mo Jo

Cuiculum Compacting 1)What’s important? 2) What can be skipped or eliminated? 3) What do students already know or are able to do? 4) What will they grasp easily? 5) What can be accomplished quickly?

CURRICULUM COMPACTING It’s about finding the time for students to pursue in-depth learning.

A teaching strategy that “buys time” for acceleration and/or enrichment. The goal is to modify or “streamline” curriculum to allow students to move at a quicker pace and then have time to pursue an alternate topic or go into greater depth in an area of study.

“This is Boring!” These words do not bring happiness to the hearts of teachers. Boring A Situations: “I already know that; could you give me an opportunity to show you?” Boring B Situations: “At the present time I do not know enough about the topic to be interested in it.”

GOALS OF COMPACTING Create a challenging learning environment Guarantee proficiency in basic curriculum Buy time for enrichment and acceleration

Areas of Strength Documenting Mastery Alternate Activities Student Name: Annette ______ Math --- Decimal Fractions Score of 85 percent or higher on the pretest Will work with class on days they learn concepts she has not mastered. Will work on alternate math enrichment activities on other days. The Compactor

Areas of Strength Documenting Mastery Alternate Activities Students Name: Jose, Joanne, Sam, and Linda_____ Social Studies--- Colonial Living Unit High Interest Strong Readers--- - Will read and pick up concepts quickly Read chapters 5 & 6 in text at own pace Do chapter exercises 3, 7, & 9 Take unit test when ready Students will select a topic of interest from a list of alternate activities related to an aspect of colonial living for an independent study.

Areas of Strength Documenting Mastery Alternate Activities Student’s Name: ____William________________________ Map Skills Achieved an “A” on the pretest Will read to gather research for his book about castles Will write book about castles INSTEAD of doing map activities

Areas of Strength Documenting Mastery Alternate Activities The Compactor Student Name: ___________________________________

Anchors Activities or tasks students automatically move to after they have completed an assignment or in- class task Promote the habit of using time wisely eriver- es/ewilliams/anchoractivities.htm

“Brain Busters” Learning Packets Activity Box Learning/Interest Centers Vocabulary Work Accelerated Reader Investigations Magazine Articles with Generic Questions or Activities Listening Stations Research Questions or Projects Commercial Kits and Materials Journals or Learning Logs Some Anchor Activites

Tiered Instruction Make slight adjustments within same lesson to meet individual needs. Students learn same skills and concepts but through varying modes and activities. Appropriately challenges ability levels

Steps in Tiering Identify key concepts and understandings Pre-assess based on readiness, interests or learning profiles Identify how you will cluster groups/activities Select elements to tier (content, process, product) Create variations for each group The Equalizer

Teacher’s Challenge Develop Respectful Activities Interesting Engaging Challenging Montgomery County, MD

What Can Be Tiered? Assignments Homework Assessments Writing prompts, projects Learning centers Dang near anything…

Tiered Assignments Multiple versions that allow students to build on their prior knowledge and that prompt their continued learning. Traditionally readiness (content) based Can easily be product based

Layered Curriculum Kathy Nunley Levels or layers of learning The 3-layer model requires more complex thinking to earn a higher letter grade. Focus on quality of learning and thinking rather than quantity of time and activities for higher grades

The Levels A: Critical Thinking B: Application C: Basic Learning and Skills C Level reflects what EVERY student must be able to KNOW, UNDERSTAND and DO.

Menu Approach Main dish: Everyone Side dish: Pick and choose Dessert: Optional but irresistible

Cubes Looks at topics from different angles Eliminates flat thinking Includes six commands and a prompt

ThinkDots Strategy used to review, demonstrate, and extend thinking Can be developed to respond to learner readiness, learning profiles, student choice Variation of cubes; works well with older students

Think Tac Toe Incorporates learning preferences Takes readiness into account (basic and advanced) Provides framework

Choice Chart Compare Contrast Categorize Classify Persuad e Evaluate Poster Letter Webpage Essay Diane Heacox, 2001