COVER STORY
No matter how many hundred of millions of dollars are spent, school reform initiatives will continue to produce unsatisfying results until we unflinchingly address the critical problem of teacher quality. We're Still Leaving the Teachers Behind...
About Ginny Hoover...
Ginny Hoover took an early retirement after 31 years of teaching in Kansas public schools. Her experience spans the 5th through 8th grades. During the last ten years she has functioned as a trainer of teachers in a variety of areas in her district, surrounding districts, professional organizations, and teacher service centers. At the state level Ginny is a state trainer for the KS State Writing Assessment (based on the Six Traits Writing Model), a member of the Kansas Social Studies Committee for writing the social studies standards, benchmarks, and indicators, and the lead trainer for the state in government and civics.
Recently, Teacher TimeSavers published a variety teaching units and tutoring hookups that Ginny wrote and designed. These include a Six Traits materials, literary unit for Taming the Star Runner, Hookups for Language Arts, Transcripts of Trials for Goldilocks, The Wolf, and Mr. Dad, and Tactile/Kinesthetic Activity Patterns.
The Gifts of Children by Hoover and Carroll Killingsworth, a book about recognizing, acknowledging, and refining the gifts of children, is scheduled to be published some time this year. Visit Teachers Helping Children--The Gifts Project for additional information.
Joyce McLeod, Jan Fisher, and Ginny will soon have a classroom management book to be published by ASCD. It will cover managing time and space, managing the classroom, and managing instructional strategies.
The Gifts of All Children
by Carroll Killingsworth and Ginny Hoover
The Eclectic Teacher
by Ginny HooverTwo Lists of Ten -
Giving Directions for Lengthy Assignments
and Preparing for Everyday Instruction
Giving Directions for Lengthy Assignments
Getting students ready to do a lengthy project/assignment can be a challenge. The following are guidelines that may prove helpful.
Create a checklist of tasks/steps to be completed.
Carefully define each task/step.
Consider due dates (timeline) on tasks/steps to keep the process moving at an appropriate rate.
Take steps to gain student attention before starting any lengthy directions.
Provide quality, well-planned oral directions supplemented by written support (i.e., checklist).
Encourage students to take notes on the checklist.
Provide rubrics that help clarify how a successful end product should appear.
Provide opportunity for questions to clarify. Address issues to the whole class or address the issues individually---whichever is more appropriate.
Make notes on how to improve directions when weaknesses are identified in the plan.
Instruct students to reference the checklist as they move through the project/assignment and self-assess (using rubrics).
Preparing for Everyday Instruction
Know your curriculum and know it well (content and level of mastery).
Understand how the mandated assessments are administered and how the information is applied.
Know the abilities and skill levels of your students.
Assess levels of prior knowledge before you teach the lesson.
Consider learning styles and multiple intelligence surveys to provide information for selecting the best teaching strategies for your students.
Refine your "directions" skills. Think about including specific checklists along with rubric or a scoring guide.
Monitor and adjust your instructional strategies according to data revealed through assessments (may be very informal assessments).
Seek student input. "What don't you understand?" "Where do you need help?" "Why do you feel this assignment has been problematic for you?"
Remember, the question is not whether you taught the curriculum, but instead…what did the students learn.
So, allow assessment to DRIVE your instruction. Teach until they learn. Finally, if one approach does not work, have backup strategies to help them learn.
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The Eclectic Teacher
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