Strategy of the Week #6: Wait Time

From Your Instructional Coach….

Strategy of the Week #6: Wait Time

Wait Time:  The pause between asking the question and soliciting a response.

Why is wait time important?

• Information processing involves multiple cognitive tasks that take time.
• Students must have uninterrupted periods of time to process information, reflect on what is said or observed, and consider what their response will be.
• Increased wait time results in longer student responses, more student questions and higher order responses.
• Increased wait time is especially beneficial for English language learners.
• In a typical classroom, average wait time is 1.5 seconds.  Increasing wait time to 3 or more seconds increasing correct answers, decreases “I don’t know”, increases the number of students willingly volunteering an answer.

When to use Wait time:

• Before calling on a student
• Gives the teacher an opportunity to count the students who have been answering questions, and which students have not.
• Gives the teacher time to assess which students might answer a question correctly.
• After calling on a student
• Gives the student time to frame an answer.
• Gives the teacher time to think of what a comprehensive answer could be.
• After a student answers
• Gives the student time to elaborate or complete an answer.
• Gives the teacher time to think about whether the answer is correct, partially correct, or incorrect.
• Provides time for the teacher to frame a response.

If you are interested in tracking the use of wait time in your classroom, be sure to fill out the Partnership Interest Form below.  I would love to support you!

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Strategy of the Week #5: Total Participation Techniques

From Your Instructional Coach….

Strategy of the Week #5: Total Participation Techniques

(Adapted from Persida Himmele & William Himmele)

Total Participation Techniques (TPTs):  Teaching techniques that allow for every student to demonstrate, at the same time, active participation and cognitive engagement in the topic being studied.

Why are TPT’s important?

• Using TPTs provides evidence of active participation.
• Using TPTs provides evidence of cognitive engagement.
• All students demonstrate that they are learning and interacting.
• Deep cognitive engagement does not come from being talked at, it comes from opportunities to process, reflect, question and interact with each other.
• Students develop higher-order thinking skills.

TPT’s to try:

• Hold-ups: Each student thinks about and discusses their responses to a set of prepared questions.  Students should choose a response, discuss with a partner or group, and on cue, “hold-up” their response card.  
• Selected response hold-up:  Students choose a specific word to write on a card (Aquatic or terrestrial, fact or opinion)
• Number card hold-ups:  This might be used in math, with questions “Which of the two numbers is greater?”  “What is the sum of 23 + 42
• True/Not True hold ups:  Teacher would provide a statement and students vote if it is a true statement, or a false statement.  This might be used in content.
• Multiple choice (A,B,C,D):  Students are selecting a choice from multiple possibilities provided by the teacher.

• Movement TPTs: Students are manipulating objects or are out of their seats, interacting a processing learning together.
• Line-Ups:  Students stand in two parallel lines, facing a partner.  The partners are discussing a question or problem.  One line shifts, so the pairs change, and students discuss with a new partner.
• Inside-Outside Circle:  This is a similar activity to line-up.  Half of the students form an inside circle facing outward.  The other half of the students make an outside circle, facing the inside circle.  Students are discussing in pairs.  One line shifts, creating new partners.
• Bounce cards:  This is a structured brainstorm.  Students are in pairs and one student starts with an idea, “Butterflies go through distinct changes.”  The partner then “bounces” ideas from the original, using sentence starters, “That reminds me of…”, “I agree because…”, “True.  Another example is when…”, “That’s a great point…”
• Appointment cards:  This works to get students interacting with different peers.  Each student is given an appointment sheet with time slots.  They ask peers to sign up for a time on their sheet, and they sign up for the same time on the partner’s sheet.  The teacher then says “Meet with your 10:00 appointment.”  The 10:00 partners find each other, and talk about the topic.

• Guided Note taking: These TPT help students to identify important information to write down, when direct instruction occurs,  and how to organize it correctly.
• Graphic organizers:  Graphic organizers help students record information in a way that visually supports their understanding.
• Anticipatory guides:  These help promote thinking and background building prior to instruction.  They can be true/false statements, and students need to discuss and justify their choices with a partner.  The goal is for students to make connections.
• Picture notes:  These are meant to go with written notes to help students process what they have learned.  The teacher selects pause points, and students stop, process what they have learned, and draw a picture to illustrate the concept.
• A-Z sentence summaries:  At the end of a lesson or unit, each student is given a letter from the alphabet.  They must write a sentence about the topic, beginning with that letter.  For example, in a unit on life cycles, a student given the letter R, might write “Resembles parents from the time the animal is born, until it is an adult.”

If you are interested in incorporating Total Participation techniques in your classroom, be sure to fill out the Partnership Interest Form below.  I would love to support you!

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Strategy of the Week #4: Using Manipulatives in Math

Strategy of the Week #4: Using Manipulatives in Math

(Adapted from Dr. Jean Shaw, Donna McKenzie, Lorraine Walker)

Manipulatives:  Three-dimensional teaching aids and visuals that teachers use to help students with math concepts. Typical tools include counting beads or bars, unifix cubes, base ten blocks, shapes, fraction parts, and rulers.

Why are manipulatives important in math?

• Manipulatives help students develop conceptual knowledge.
• Manipulatives represent the mathematical ideas in multiple ways.
• Manipulatives help students to “see” and build mental images of mathematical ideas.
• Manipulatives engage students in the language and communication of mathematical ideas.
• Manipulative actively engage the sense of touch.
• A physical representation of a mathematical idea or solution provides a student with greater confidence in his/her solution.
• Manipulatives enhance the abilities of students at all levels to reason and communicate.

When to use manipulatives:

• When you are modeling a mathematical concept with your students.
• When children are exploring a new concept, practicing a familiar concept, or working with other students.
• When you are informally assessing students, or when students are asked to solve problems independently.
• When students are communicating mathematical ideas to their peers.

Suggestions for successful use of manipulatives:

• Management: Develop a routine/procedure for the way students get and use the manipulatives.  Manipulatives should be close at hand and easily accessible.
• Tools not toys:  Teach the students that manipulatives are tools, not toys.  The more the students use the manipulatives, the less likely they will be to be playing with them in ways other than to think mathematically.
• Never take them away!  Allow students to use the manipulatives until they decide they no longer need them and are able to problem solve successfully without them.
• Show them the way:  As students use manipulatives, model for students how they could represent the math using a pictorial representation and encourage students to use both.  This will help bridge the transition from concrete to pictorial representation.

If you are interested in planning how to manage and use manipulatives in your classroom, be sure to fill out the Partnership Interest Form below.  I would love to support you!

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Strategy of the Week #3 Collaborative Planning

Strategy of the Week #3 Collaborative Planning

(adapted from Jim Knight and Richard Dufour)

Collaboration: People working together as partners, reflecting, and co-creating together.

Why is collaboration  important?

• Collaboration makes it possible for teachers to engage in reflective dialogue.
• Collaboration provides a give and take dialogue, where people share so freely it is difficult to identify where an idea originated.
• Collaboration keeps an emphasis on student learning.
• Collaboration focuses on the relevant question “How can we best get results?”
• Collaboration results in a “we” mentality.
• Collaboration allows sharing of research-based practice and helps teachers to continue with professional growth.

Successful collaboration looks like...

• Members of the team are prepared with curriculum frameworks, pacing guides, ideas.
• Members have a working knowledge of the curriculum or SOLs.
• Teams speak a common language.
• Participation is equal among members.  There is no one person who is the expert.
• Teams are planning forward.  While past plans may be referenced, team members understand that effective planning focuses on the present students, environments, and challenges.
• Teams identify a clear learning objective to drive the planning.
• Members are committed to the process.
• Members ask the hard questions “Did our lesson work?”  “Did the students demonstrate their learning?”  “How do we know the students know?”

Steps to Setting up for Collaboration

• Identify the times and places that you will meet for planning.
• Establish your norms and procedures
• How each other accountable.  Everyone’s time is equally valued.
• Focus on the objective.  Instruction should match the objective.
• Share responsibilities among the team members.

If you are interested in discussing collaboration, be sure to fill out the Partnership Interest Form below.  I would love to support you! Partnership Interest Form