Effective Teaching...
by Harry and Rosemary Wong

April 2006

They're Eager to Do the Assignments

Julie Johnson has been teaching for over fifteen years and she’s never had problems getting her students to do their assignments.  How does she do it?

When we met Julie fifteen years ago as a kindergarten teacher she said, "When I begin each new lesson, I decide exactly what it is I want my students to know or be able to do.  Then I tell my students what they will be learning and how they will show me they have learned it.

“Next I show them how to do it.  We practice together (guided practice).  Then they practice on their own (independent practice).

“And then I test them the same way we practice.  In other words, how they will be tested.  This way we all know exactly what we are learning and how we will know when and if we have learned it.

“In my class, test is not a bad word.  It is something my students look forward to.  It is their chance to show me what they have learned.  They can't wait for their turn to be tested because after all the instruction and practice, the test is the easiest part, at least that's what my students tell me.

“They beg me to test them.  They even stand in line waiting for their turn to show me what they have learned.”

What is Julie Johnson doing to cause her students to beg her to show her what they have learned?

1. She decides what she wants her students to learn.
2. She shows them what they are to learn.
3. They practice or do the assignment on what they are to learn.
4. They are tested on what they know they are to learn.

As Julie says, “There are no secrets as to what is expected of them.  When I do this they all succeed.”

If students know what they are to learn,
you increase the chances that the
students will learn.

It’s like flying into a strange city, renting a car, and driving to your destination without a map.  How do you know when you’ve arrived?  Wouldn’t you have felt more confident in your journey knowing the address, having a MapQuest® map in your hand, or renting a car with navigation system so a voice is coaching you along the way to your destination?  Please review Chapter 22 in The First Days of School so we can guide you through the process of helping students to learn.

Boredom Is a Good Sign

“I’m bored.”

A student who is bored is not a bad or lazy student.  Rather, consider it a sign that the student wants to do something stimulating, exciting, and challenging.

It’s no different with an adult who says the program on television is boring, the food is boring, or the relationship is boring.  Adults are always looking for a better program, better restaurant, and better relationship.

All students know why they are in school.  They come to school to learn.  They know there will be assignments.  And learning and assignments take work.  The reason many students do not do their work or their assignments is not because they are unwilling or lazy but because they have no idea what the assignment is.  For instance, the ineffective teacher will say:

I have them read Chapter seven.
I have them do questions five to eleven.
I have them watch this video.
I tell them to write this paper.
I give them this worksheet to complete.

These are all meaningless assignments.  The students see no purpose, no meaning, and no value to what they are to do.  What does “read Chapter seven” mean?  What’s the purpose of “watching the video”?  So, why do it!  Thus, they have every right to say, “I’m bored!”

Also, notice how the teacher keeps saying, “I, I, and I.” The teacher orders the students to do things— meaningless things.  People of all ages rebel against doing things that are meaningless.

Since the students can’t rebel against this kind of clueless teaching or they will be sent to the office for insubordination, it’s simpler for them to say, “I’m bored.” “Bored” is a safe word to use.  People can hide behind the word.  It’s a socially accepted part of today’s jargon.

Do not take the word “bored” as an effrontery.  Rather, understand that the students want to work.  They just want to know the meaning or the purpose of the work.  That’s what is meant by “I’m bored.”

People get more things done when
they see where they are going
and what they are doing.

Take a look again at what Julie Johnson was doing. Julie’s key sentence is, “This way we all know exactly what we are learning and how we will know when and if we have learned it.”

The teacher knows what she is teaching.
The students know what they are learning.

Both the teacher and the students are moving towards the same goal.  That’s when you get learning.

Teach With the End in Mind

Julie Johnson teaches with the end in mind.  She said, “When I begin each new lesson, I decide exactly what it is I want my students to know or be able to do.”

Effective teachers keep asking the same basic question, “What do I want them to achieve?”

Everyone needs to have a common understanding of what skill or knowledge the students is to master.

The role of a teacher is not to cover.  Covering a chapter or a topic is meaningless.  Worse yet, the teacher does not even know what skill or knowledge student is to master.

Therefore, stop asking the following dead end questions:
       What am I going to cover tomorrow?
       What video am I going to show?
       What worksheet am I going to give them?
       What activity am I going to do?

The teacher who “covers” only thinks about getting across the lesson, not how best the student can learn the lesson.  They look for activities that are “fun,” “cute,” or will “bring the class alive.” They do not consider that these activities do not teach to any objective or standard.  They are preoccupied with what activities students will get through.

The danger is in the word “I.” The teacher is doing all the work.  The students are not responsible; they just come to school wondering what the teacher will do next.  They have no idea what they are to learn.  The teacher just covers.

The role of a teacher is to uncover.  The effective teacher uncovers the lesson by telling the students up front what the students are to accomplish.  Julie says, “Then I tell my students what they will be learning and how they will show me that they have learned it.  Next I show them how to do it.  We practice together.  Then they practice on their own.”

Start asking the following destination oriented question:
        What is it the students are to learn, achieve, or accomplish?

You can assess or evaluate effectively what the students have done when both parties know what the students are responsible for performing or learning.

Instead of thinking of what the teacher will go over,
focus on what the students will be able to do as a result of the lesson.

To do this, tell the students at the beginning of the assignment what they are responsible for learning, achieving, or performing.

The role of a teacher is not to cover. The role of a teacher is to uncover!

Teaching to Standards

Julie Johnson is teaching third grade now, but is using the same effective strategies to deliver the instruction and get the same student achievement results.  This is because she focuses on teaching for learning and mastery.

To do this she begins with the state standards.

Do not be alarmed by standards, because standards do not deprive you of creativity.  For instance, all cities have standards for construction.  When buying a home you would want to know that your home was built to code, which means that the standards for construction have been met.  However, builders and homeowners can creatively build the home in any fashion, provided it meets specified standards.  Likewise, in the classroom, teachers can creatively construct their lessons, provided the lessons’ objectives are in line with the state standards.  That’s common sense.

Using the Minnesota State Standards in Math, Julie aligned the standards with her district’s adopted Math textbook.

This gave her the ability to decide which math concepts needed to be taught first and which concepts not to teach at all.  She determined which chapters she would use and not use.  That is, the textbook was not the curriculum, the concepts that she aligned to the state standards were her curriculum.

She didn’t “cover” the textbook.  She taught to a curriculum, a curriculum focused on student learning.

Mastery of each concept is expected but the document does not identify when those concepts are introduced and reinforced.

Standards are good because they give you a base point from which to start your class lessons.  You have to begin somewhere, so what better place to start than to use the state standards.  And, you must use the state standards.  You are not in private business; you are an employee of the school district (see page 22 in The First Days of School).

Julie began by designing the layout of the whole school year.  She decided which standards needed to be taught all year long, such as Mathematical Reasoning.

With each concept she teaches, her students need to learn how to communicate and how to evaluate and express how they are thinking when solving a problem.  On almost every worksheet accompanying her math textbook, the students are asked to explain their answers in words.

Since the Minnesota Comprehensive Test is mainly multiple choice, the students must be able to READ the questions by themselves.  Thus, being able to READ the vocabulary and understand it becomes important to teach, along with the math.

There are also four writing questions where the students have to draw a graph or chart, or express their thinking using words.  These skills must also be taught and practiced as each concept is taught.  Students do not automatically know how to do this.

To assist with the reading and writing, Julie has her students bring a notebook at the beginning of each school year to use as their Math Journal.  In the back of their Math Journals, the students write down all of the vocabulary words that are taught with each concept.

They review these words every day.

In the front of their Math Journals, the students write numbers in order.  She has them organize each page into four rows of 25, so that each page has 100 numbers.  As they complete each page, they show it to her and she puts a small star at the bottom when it has been done correctly.

Julie says she is amazed at how many children have difficulty with numbering, but this activity helps her identify those students who need help understanding number sense.

The students work in their journals at the beginning of each math lesson.  Some students enjoy it so much they even take their journals home to work on.  One student filled two or three notebooks and was up to 20,000, but most are lucky if they reach 5,000 by the end of the school year.

Julie gives the students vocabulary cards with all of the words to label the different shapes and other vocabulary words that relate to geometry.  These cut out cards are kept in an envelope in their “stay-at-school-folders.” At the beginning of each math lesson, the students set the cards out on their desks.

This procedure minimizes transition time and helps everyone, teacher and students, start the lesson right away.

As we use these cards, we also discuss the number of sides, faces, angles, etc.  I work on things like flips, turns, slides, congruency, lines of symmetry, parallel lines, and angles (right, greater than, or lesser than).

Julie continually assesses her students using the book’s quizzes and tests, which work well for her because they best match how the students will be assessed on the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments.

The Future of Standards

We have just returned from a technology conference and witnessed how technology is used to access and track the progress of students as they master district and state standards.  This practice isn’t just happening in one district, it is becoming norm as exit testing is required for students to progress from grade level to the next or receive a diploma.

At the click of a button (or two!) a student’s level of mastery of standards can be revealed.  Students can be identified and helped before they fall through the cracks and are lost forever.

While many claim that teaching has been reduced to teaching to the test, we contend that that is not the case.  This is teaching to an objective.

The tests are used to assess for attainment of the objectives or concepts.  Teaching is the HOW you transmit and relate that information to your students so they CAN succeed on the test.

The HOW is boiled down to what steps are you the teacher going to take to make sure the students all achieve or master the objective.

A good teacher does items 1 and 2 to “teach” the concept, a better teacher includes questions 3 and 4 in the lesson plans, and the exceptional teacher teaches to all 6 questions so the students have a rich experience while learning the concept.

District and State Standards guide the development of information for students.  They don’t dictate how you are to teach.  That is your mission, your quest—to unlock the potential for learning in each student and uncover the promise of achievement for all.

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