Introduction, Chapters I & III
his introduction Marzano refutes the Coleman report(1966) which stipulates that schools have virtually no impact on a child's achievement that is independent of the student's background and his general social context.
He states that several studies since then have opposed that view and that the most important factor contributing to a student's achievement, next to a good curriculum and a safe environment, is the individual teacher.
He refers to a study by Nye and colleagues that those students who had teachers who had higher pedagogical competence had greater achievement gains than those students who had teachers with little pedagogical competence. He does admit that no matter how much research is done, there really is no perfect model or formula for effective instruction that will work each and every time. The research gives us strategies we can use but it is up to us to interpret which strategies will work for the right students at the right time. He stipulates, referring to one of his previous works (What Works in Schools,Marzano,2003b), that there are three general characteristics of effective teaching which are interdependable :
1) use of effective instructional strategies
2) use of effective classroom management strategies
3) effective classroom design.
He suggests that schools and classrooms develop their own model based on the one he proposes. His books centers on 10 instructional design questions. They are:
1. What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress and celebrate success?
2. What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
3.What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
4.Waht will I do to help students generate and test hypothesis about new knowledge?
5.What will I do to engage students?
6.What will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
7. What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?
8. What will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
9. What will I do to communicate high expectations for all students?
10. What will I do to develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit.
As you can see, Marzano touched on virtually every aspect of the classroom which we have read about in previous articles. I did want to give you all the title of all 10 chapters even though we will only be discussing questions I and III, because all 10 need to be addressed in order to be an effective teacher.
Chapter 1: What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals ,track student progress and celebrate success?
The first thing an effective teacher needs to do is establish and communicate learning goals. Once that is done then you need to track the progress of the students. He refers to three different studies that endorse the fact that when learning goals are set, students have greater academic gain. He does caution that goal setting has a general tendency to enhance learning but that it must be done well
I think a lot of times we have such little time to teach our subject and we forget to clearly formulate goals.
Do you think it is a good idea to let students set goals for themselves? How can you help them formulate those goals and how would you track their progress?
This brings me to Marzano's next point which tracking student progress. He states it should be done all through the year and not just at the end. He again cites research showing that if students are tested often , they will have higher gain.
How do you feel about testing students frequently? I believe too much testing is wrong. There is no time left for teaching. I taught ENL to a group of first graders this past year. When I asked them : "What did you learn in first grade this year?", 16 out of the 40 answered: "TEST". What a sad testimony!
This brings me to his next point: Providing recognition or praise for achievement so that students see that hard work relates directly to their success. How do you feel about praise? Should students who advance and do well be rewarded or should they be intrinsically motivated and reap contentment from their success? Would you use a reward system in your classroom and what should it look like?
Marzano concludes that the studies on rewards and praise are somewhat contradictory but that it is safe to say that verbal and maybe tangible rewards can affect student achievement.
Marzano offers 6 Action Steps to accomplish these learning goals.
Action Step 1 requires the teacher to make the distinction between Learning Goals and Learning Activities. A learning goal states what students will be able to do. He gives examples of learning goals and then the activities that can be paired with them.
What would be one of your learning goals and which activities would you use to support that goal?
Action Step 2 requires the teacher to lay out a rubric, Marzano prefers to use the word scale. He goes on in detail about a scale from 0.0 to 4.0 with an explanation of what the scores mean; he suggest adding half-point scores for partial credit to be assigned to items. I had a student from Norway who was in a system that did not assign grades, he also did not have textbooks, yet he was a bright child who was right up there with his American counterparts.
How necessary do you feel it is to grade and what grading system would you use?
Action Step 3: Have students identify their own learning goals. I imagine some students might have difficulty formulating their own goals.
How would you help them without doing it for them?
Action Step 4: Assess Students Using a Formative Approach
Marzano suggests using formative assessments while the students are learning new content. He suggests formative assessments that contain tasks that apply to a level 2.0.3.0 and 4.0 score. Students at first might obtain a low score but hopefully will show growth as the end of the unit nears.
Do you use assessment as a means of guiding your instruction?
Action Step 5: Have the Students chart their Progress on each Learning Goal
While I think this is quite valuable I imagine it would take quite a bit of organization on both the teacher and the student's part.
Have you ever let the student use his own tracking system and do you find it benefited him/her?
Action Step 6: Recognize and Celebrate Growth
Marzano suggest using a chart with a point system for making progress. When a student makes progress the class could applaud and recognize this student for his /her achievement. In elementary school students have a treasure chest or bring in ice cream for instance to celebrate a student or class' success. This is not as easily accomplished in secondary education. I do believe that charts are good especially if they chart progress towards individual goals. It would be wrong to put up classroom goals which maybe some of the special education students might never achieve.
Would you use a chart ? Would you post classroom goals or individual goals and how would you reward or praise those students?
Chapter 3: What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
In this chapter ,Marzano stresses the importance of opportunities for the students to practice new skills and deepen their understanding of new information so that they may retain the information that was taught. He states that research has shown that you can only gain new awareness if you are repeatedly exposed to het new material. Marzano suggests four different areas: schema development, development of procedural knowledge, development of declarative knowledge, and homework as means to "dig in" to the new information learned.
Schema development has its roots in Piaget's theory that there are two types of knowledge development: assimilation and accommodation. Marzano adds that three types of schema development are typically identified: Accretion, Tuning and Restructuring with accretion and tuning referring to the gradual addition of knowledge over time (similar to Piaget's assimilation). Restructuring is the reorganization of the knowledge (similar to Piaget's accommodation).
How could you make sure in your teaching that the students are not forgetting newly acquired information? How do you link it with information preciously taught ?
A second area is developing procedural knowledge which is knowledge that is centered on skills, strategies or processes. Marzano gives some examples such as performing long division, or sounding out an unknown word while reading.
Marzano makes the distinction between declarative knowledge which is pure information such as the characteristics of a cell for instance and procedural knowledge. Marzano believes that procedural knowledge is shaped by the learner and can be practiced. It involves several steps which help the student figure out a problem or as mentioned earlier a word he might not know.
In your field, what would be an example of procedural knowledge? How could you guide your student to acquire knowledge by "digesting" or "processing" new information?
The third area Marzano discusses in this chapter is developing declarative knowledge. Basically the students review and revise the material they have learned as in an essay for instance. It is important for the students to add the new information they have acquired while revising and at the same time correcting errors. Marzano goes on to say that there are different types of errors such as faulty logic(assuming that things will always happen the same way),attack(trying to disprove a point by discrediting the person making the point) ,weak references(sources with no credibility) and misinformation(confusing the facts). Marzano suggest using an activity in which students identify similarities and differences as a great method to develop knowledge.
Have you used this activity before or do you plan to? Do you agree that it is a great way to develop knowledge?
A final area, maybe not so popular with students, is homework. There have been several trends in how homework was viewed :from a belief that it created a disciplined mind(before the 20th century),to(after 1940) that it got in the way of home activities ,to that there wasn't enough homework only to change again by 1970 that it could be bad for the student's mental health. Marzano quotes some studies that show that homework has a positive influence on student achievement and it instills in the students good study habits.
There is more disagreement about the time spent on homework .He quotes a study that between 7 and 12 hours of homework has positive effects but after that the benefits would decrease.
Do you or will you give homework? Do you give much homework and what type of homework do you give?
Marzano again identifies 6 action steps a teacher can undertake :
Action Step 1: Provide students with tasks that require them to examine similarities and differences (see above). I myself like to use a Venn Diagram.
Do you have a special method you use to identify similarities and differences?
Action step 2:Help Students identify Errors in Thinking.
Marzano states that the students should be taught the different types of errors so that armed with this knowledge they can identify and correct possible errors.
My students while learning English make so many errors that I sometimes don't want to correct them out right. I just rephrase what they have said and have them repeat it .In this way they have learned they did make an error and will hopefully not make it again next time.
Action Step 3: Provide Opportunities for Students to Practice Skills, Strategies and Processes.
Marzano suggests practice sessions that are spaced closed together (always provide a model),followed by practice sessions that are gradually less structured and more varied. If fluency in a skill is necessary, then practice sessions should be provided if the students need the skills for later success.
Do you feel teachers have enough time to provide practice sessions?
Action Step 4 : Determine the Extent to which Cooperative Groups will be used.
How vital is group work for the students' success? How do you keep the groups on task?
Action Step 5: Assign Purposeful Homework That Involves Appropriate Participation from the Home.
According to Marzano homework must help the students deepen their knowledge and it must enable the students to develop fluency for procedural knowledge. He also suggests giving homework that contains new content.
How do you feel about giving homework with new content? Will it scare some students off and have them give up?
Action Step 6: Have students Systematically Revise and Make Corrections in Their Academic Notebooks.
Marzano suggest keeping the notebooks in class so students always have access to them and so they don't get lost.
Do you have an efficient system for the students' notebooks?
In summary, I thought Marzano gave some very useful techniques with most of them definitely geared towards secondary education. He does cite a lot of research but it is important to remember as he stated in his introduction that not all of these techniques work with all students all the time. It is up to the teacher to choose which technique to use with a particular student at a particular time.
I feel that setting goals are very important. You give the student something to shoot for. I feel that in order to be successful, you must continue to review set new ones frequently (every month). This allows you set new goals if students achieve their first one or set a lower goal if they have not. This keeps the students motivated all school year.
ReplyDeleteI think you can do more then just testing to get a feel for each students’ progress. You can do multiple assessments that include homework, quizzes over small areas, projects or papers as well. All these can give you feedback on the students’ progress and understanding of the material. Then, I would give a test every chapter and a bigger one for every unit (multiple chapters) and semester finals. I do feel that some students don’t test well and you have to do other things to get a feel for the understanding of the subject. Finally, I would allow different things on test. Sometimes the test will be open book, sometimes open notes, and finally allow them to use a 1 page “cheat sheet”/notes for them to use. This forces them to use different methods to prepare and understand the material.
ReplyDeleteI feel that giving them learning goals for each chapter is very important and vital when you have a subject that will continue to expand these techniques. If I am teaching accounting, one of the learning goals would be to figure out the Net Income/Loss of a company. You can give them a worksheet with Revenue, Expenses, Accumulated Depreciation that will help them figure this out.
Don’t know what grading system I will use. This is a very good answer. I would like to use something that involves giving partial credit for things. With accounting related classes, you may not get the end answer correct because you messed up on 1 step. I want to be able to evaluate them on all their work, not just the final answer. Something with percentages or even the 0 to 4 scale where you can get them half and even quarter point credits as well. I would grade most of the test and homework. I feel this allows them to get feedback on how they are progressing/understanding the material.
Using assessment grades are important. I would also allow those students that do better later in the section to achieve a higher grade. It shows them that they got better in their understanding of the material. Also, I don’t want to hinder those who didn’t have the knowledge at the start to hurt them.
I have never allowed a student to use their own tracking system. However, I feel that it can be beneficial. I feel that having something that they can go over and see how they are doing is very important. Whether in their notebooks, on the computer or something private.
hAs long as the chart is private, I don’t think I have a problem with this. I don’t want to use this to embarrass a student in front of other students. One thing I would do is try to post students’ goals. It allows them to pick something that they want to do. I would try to set up some rewards that pick people that have struggled early and give me a chance to praise them in front of their classmates. I would do this randomly at the start so I would not expose those who did not achieve their goals and embarrass them.
One way to make sure that they remember information that was taught is to use different learning tools to reinforce this information. This can be homework/worksheets, class discussions/projects, quizzes and review. I would try to bring back information that we taught recently to keep that in their minds.
In a marketing class, I would group them up and have them develop different marketing slogans for different companies/items. This allows them to put the material in action. I would ask them to think of the market they want to target and how they would get their attention. In addition to help them with this, I would show them different marketing slogans/campaign and explain all the major detail that the company was trying to do.
I can use this project. One thing I could do in a business class and for them to evaluate the Congress bailout of GM as a positive or negative. What good it can do and why it could back fire both for GM and the US as a whole.
Yes, I would give homework. Especially in a math class or accounting and typing classes, they need to work on certain skills to perfect them. They need to do problems that help them put the information into use. I would try to give them homework, either in class or out of class, at least a couple times a week. These homework could be problems from the book, projects that they can do on the computer.
ReplyDeleteI can talk about the different types of companies in my Intro to Business class. I can compare a Corporation with a Partnership, etc. What they have in common and what they don’t.
Sometimes the teacher doesn’t have enough time for practice sessions. This is something that they need to plan in their lessons. This can be incorporated in their homework.
Group work in business is very important. In the real business world, you have to learn to work with others. There are a lot of things that you can do with group work. I can use it with my Intro to Business and Marketing classes very well. They learn how to give responsibilities as well. To keep the groups on task, set goals each day for them to accomplish, get done.
I think giving homework with new content is important. As a teacher you can use this for grading a couple of ways. If you don’t feel that students understand this, you don’t have to count it as a grade. For those who do, use it as a makeup for homework/quizzes they did poorly. It helps you get a feel for how they understand the material and what you need to focus on in the upcoming classes.
I think having something where students can go to review material whether it’s a notebook they keep in class, they have on their own or one that you have that all students can use is important. This gives them a resource they can use throughout the class.
I think you can do more then just testing to get a feel for each students’ progress. You can do multiple assessments that include homework, quizzes over small areas, projects or papers as well. All these can give you feedback on the students’ progress and understanding of the material. Then, I would give a test every chapter and a bigger one for every unit (multiple chapters) and semester finals. I do feel that some students don’t test well and you have to do other things to get a feel for the understanding of the subject. Finally, I would allow different things on test. Sometimes the test will be open book, sometimes open notes, and finally allow them to use a 1 page “cheat sheet”/notes for them to use. This forces them to use different methods to prepare and understand the material.
I feel that giving them learning goals for each chapter is very important and vital when you have a subject that will continue to expand these techniques. If I am teaching accounting, one of the learning goals would be to figure out the Net Income/Loss of a company. You can give them a worksheet with Revenue, Expenses, Accumulated Depreciation that will help them figure this out.
Don’t know what grading system I will use. This is a very good answer. I would like to use something that involves giving partial credit for things. With accounting related classes, you may not get the end answer correct because you messed up on 1 step. I want to be able to evaluate them on all their work, not just the final answer. Something with percentages or even the 0 to 4 scale where you can get them half and even quarter point credits as well. I would grade most of the test and homework. I feel this allows them to get feedback on how they are progressing/understanding the material.
major detail that the company was trying to do.
I have never allowed a student to use their own tracking system. However, I feel that it can be beneficial. I feel that having something that they can go over and see how they are doing is very important. Whether in their notebooks, on the computer or something private.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the chart is private, I don’t think I have a problem with this. I don’t want to use this to embarrass a student in front of other students. One thing I would do is try to post students’ goals. It allows them to pick something that they want to do. I would try to set up some rewards that pick people that have struggled early and give me a chance to praise them in front of their classmates. I would do this randomly at the start so I would not expose those who did not achieve their goals and embarrass them.
One way to make sure that they remember information that was taught is to use different learning tools to reinforce this information. This can be homework/worksheets, class discussions/projects, quizzes and review. I would try to bring back information that we taught recently to keep that in their minds.
In a marketing class, I would group them up and have them develop different marketing slogans for different companies/items. This allows them to put the material in action. I would ask them to think of the market they want to target and how they would get their attention. In addition to help them with this, I would show them different marketing slogans/campaign and explain all the major detail that the company was trying to do.
I can use this project. One thing I could do in a business class and for them to evaluate the Congress bailout of GM as a positive or negative. What good it can do and why it could back fire both for GM and the US as a whole.
ReplyDeleteYes, I would give homework. Especially in a math class or accounting and typing classes, they need to work on certain skills to perfect them. They need to do problems that help them put the information into use. I would try to give them homework, either in class or out of class, at least a couple times a week. These homework could be problems from the book, projects that they can do on the computer.
I can talk about the different types of companies in my Intro to Business class. I can compare a Corporation with a Partnership, etc. What they have in common and what they don’t.
Sometimes the teacher doesn’t have enough time for practice sessions. This is something that they need to plan in their lessons. This can be incorporated in their homework.
Group work in business is very important. In the real business world, you have to learn to work with others. There are a lot of things that you can do with group work. I can use it with my Intro to Business and Marketing classes very well. They learn how to give responsibilities as well. To keep the groups on task, set goals each day for them to accomplish, get done.
I think giving homework with new content is important. As a teacher you can use this for grading a couple of ways. If you don’t feel that students understand this, you don’t have to count it as a grade. For those who do, use it as a makeup for homework/quizzes they did poorly. It helps you get a feel for how they understand the material and what you need to focus on in the upcoming classes.
I think having something where students can go to review material whether it’s a notebook they keep in class, they have on their own or one that you have that all students can use is important. This gives them a resource they can use throughout the class.
Nice book report Mieke!
ReplyDeleteYou’ve generated many though provoking questions.
The Idea of having the student help to formulate the goals and track progress is a very smart. If done properly their can be no arguments of fairness or any claim to unawareness.
Testing is a must to assess and track progress. I do believe it is important and should be an ongoing process. But strive to make it positive and fun. Do pre-testing to assess students going into a lesson is a nice idea. The results of the assessments should have a bearing on your lesson plan and the guidance of the class.
The use of homework seems to be a science all its own. I believe in homework, but the circumstance of the whole student and the parent if possible must be factored into its use. I do believe that you start out a class with it ant reduce/tailor based of what you learn from the student.
The idea of using groups within a classroom is important and positive. While it brings some special challenges in discipline and keeping them focused on the task.
Thanks Bill.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to hear an author recognize that there is no magic formula that works for all learners at all times. The quote stating, "No matter how much research is done, there really is no perfect model or formula for effective instruction that will work each and every time," makes a lot of sense. I do agree that as educators, we must have a huge arsenal of strategies to choose from as we attempt to reach each and every student that comes through our doors. Knowing that we will have to be flexible and make modifications continually in our instruction will help keep us from being blind-sided when we do something that has always worked before that suddenly is ineffective for a student.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was an interesting question relating to rewards: extrinsic versus intrinsic. I think we all wish that ALL students would be intrinsically motivated to do well, but unfortunately that is not a reality. Yet, at the secondary level, I'm wondering if overt public praise cannot have a negative side-effect due to peer relations. I have found that making opportunities for praise that are not necessarily observed by the entire class seems to work well. I believe we all like to be recognized for our work, but doing so in a very public manner can be very uncomfortable for some.
Another concept that I will need to deal with effectively in my field is the issue of assessment. As I teach technology education, I often find that I have students who are very gifted in some of those areas, yet struggle significantly with other academic areas. I have to be careful to make sure that my assessments, especially written assessments, are truly measuring their knowledge and success regarding what they have learn about technology and not assessing their abilities (or lack thereof) in reading, writing, etc.
Instructional design questions:
ReplyDeleteI will have a word chart to use visually, have interactive games to practice and homework to apply new knowledge. In order to help students generate and test hypothesis, I give quizzes, and chapter assessments. To establish and to maintain classroom rules and procedures I display and review rules and remind them of the consequences.The next point about whether giving recognition or praise, well this year I recognized my top three students for outstanding grades and behavior. As far for having the students setting their own goals, the students can use their handouts to complete before beginning of a chapter and keep track of their learning goals. Regarding homework, I seldom gave homewok, this year will be different.
1. I think it's an awesome idea to let students set goals for themselves. It will inspire self-motivation. Maybe a good way to help the students formulate their own goals is to first, as a group, formulate goals for the entire class. This way they will learn the process of formulation before trying it out themselves. As far as helping them track their goals, it might be a good idea to install a portfolio type of tracking system that could actually show students what they plan to achieve.
ReplyDelete2. TOO MUCH TESTING IS WRONG!!! I always always always hated tests with a passion. I still hate them with a passion. I used to memorize certain words/formulas right before the exam and write them on the top so I could forget them and concentrate on how to use them. Using tests is good - abusing them is bad.
3. I 100% believe in positive reinforcement and praise, but not only for a right answer or achievement. In my classroom, we will value taking risks and exploration just as much as we value getting the exact right answer. Stepping outside of oneself should earn just as much praise as a right answer.
As far as assessment and grading goes, I don't have a clearly defined system yet. I know I want to rely heavily on participation and effort, and I also know that I want to integrate homework, tests, and papers. As of right now, I plan to make my students' final grades a true reflection of their entire time in the class.
Fred,
ReplyDeleteI like what you have to say about using different types of assesments. I know as a student, I get bored writing the same papers or doing the same kinds of tests and I think mixing it up is a good way to gauge everyone's level of learning and to keep things interesting in the classroom.
I think that grades are important to let the students and parents know where they stand in the classroom. It enables students to plan out how much work they are going to need to get their desired grade for the class, this allows them to manage more effectively the time they use and also the amount of effort to succeed in the class. I would help my students in a “passive” way to ensure that their work is not being done for them. This can be done by providing feedback that gives them enough direction in their thought process to get their work done correctly. I want my students to use my feedback as a stepping stone that will propel them to think in a new direction about the assignment in question. I think that my assessment will surely guide the instruction of the class. If a large number of the class is missing a concept then I can tailor the instruction to get the group to understand all at once through questions and subsequent elaboration by other students whom understand the problem in question. As for classroom and individual goals I am unsure how I would go about this at the moment. Maybe having students fill out a note card displaying their goals at the start of the class (just a thought…).
ReplyDeleteTo ensure students that they are absorbing the information in the class, I think a sound method would be the good old fashioned pop quiz. When students realize that a quiz can be given at any moment encourages them to review material and to make sure they have an understanding of said material. To link new information with previously taught material, I will tailor questions that build from pre existing knowledge or even bringing up old material up on the pop quizzes or exams.
An example of procedural knowledge would be learning new scientific words. Scientific literature is very complicated at first and students need to understand how to break words down to understand their Latin origins. As for guidance in acquiring new knowledge, I think that it is important for students to ask questions about the material so that I can provide maybe a more “real world” example to them that makes the scientific material easier to understand.
I think that new material should always be on homework. It allows the student to think about the new material and question its place in the curriculum. I want my students to keep up to date with what we are doing in the class via their assignments. It gives them time to study and digest the new material’s understanding.