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Virtual Learning Strategy #1: Classroom Discussion

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

How would you combine one high-effect size instructional strategy with a digital tool? If it’s a question you’ve asked yourself before, you’re not alone. Several thousand of the educators who have completed the TCEA Remote Learning Educator course have asked themselves the same question. Let’s take a moment to see what teachers had to say about one of the strategies studied: classroom discussion.

Before we do that, let’s revisit high-effect size instructional strategies.

Revisiting Strategies That Work

“We have no right to teach in a way that leads to students gaining less than d=0.40 within a year,” says John Hattie. He asked the question, “What works best in education?” Then he answered it in his ground-breaking study on visible learning. In his study, he found a way of synthesizing various influences that are connected to learning outcomes. The most effective strategies have high effect sizes. Hattie found that the average effect size of all the interventions he studied was 0.40.

This is even more true now during virtual learning. “Now,  it is all about finding the effective ones for remote learning,” says Aimee Maganda. Knowing how an evidence-backed strategy works with a digital tool saves time and effort. As one educator put it:

First of all, I would like to say that this has been a fascinating new concept for me. I am very familiar with instructional strategies and digital tools. This was the first time I actually evaluated how effective a strategy is. That is, how effective it is  in conjunction with a digital tool.

Now, I plan to refer to the chart and take a look at some of the more effective teaching methods. It will also be interesting to see how much bang for your buck you can get with some of the strategies.

For example, I found it very interesting that a flipped classroom scored a 0.58. It takes so much time to plan versus a classroom discussion that scored a 0.82. Classroom discussion doesn’t take as much physical planning as a flipped classroom.

This could help me maximize my planning time and maximize the impact of my instruction.

There are many strategies teachers referenced. I suggested a few in my chart. What was fun to see were the actual examples teachers offered. A top ten list emerged.

Honorable Mentions

Before we explore the top ten list, here are some of the honorable mentions:

  • Deliberate Practice (0.79) with Gimkit.com 
  • Feedback (0.64) with a learning management system (LMS) such as Canvas or Teams
  • Metacognition Strategies (0.58) with Flipgrid
  • Problem-Solving Teaching (0.68) with Minecraft
  • Spaced vs. Massed Practice (0.65)
  • Success Criteria (0.88) with Google Classroom
  • The Modality Effect (0.55) with Wakelet
  • Vocabulary Program (0.63) with Padlet

Remember, you can explore each of the strategies. To do so, go to the Visible Learning Meta X database. Ready to see the top ten list of strategies? Well, you will have to wait for future blog entries to see the complete list. Let’s start with the number one strategy teachers mentioned.

classroom discussion

Strategy #1: Classroom Discussion

“I use classroom discussion to capture what a student has learned for that lesson.  I can see what they knew or didn’t know,” says one teacher. The most popular strategy, classroom discussion, lends itself to teachers’ imaginations. They are able to combine a wide variety of digital tools with classroom discussion.

Classroom discussions make it possible for students to connect with one another. Use this strategy to activate prior knowledge and explore new topics. Students are able to learn from others and show learning. What’s neat about classroom discussion is that it engages students and gives all students the chance to take part.

Did You Know?

On September 26th, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM (EST), attend a Whiteboard.chat webinar to answer questions and showcase features you need to know about. Sign up via Facebook and register for this learning opportunity. This is a free webinar on how to better use the digital whiteboard for remote teaching effectively.

Some Tips on Making Classroom Discussion Work

Consider these tips on making this strategy work best for your students:

  • Before students respond to questions online, have them discuss with a partner. Use a digital whiteboard where students can discuss. Whiteboard.fi and Jamboard allow collaboration.
  • Ask for student interpretations of questions, then clarify their thinking or redirect.
  • Use students’ individual responses as models. Your use of them can deepen further discussion for the whole class.
  • Be strategic about which student voices you amplify.

Let’s consider how some educators are focusing in on classroom discussion.

Examples of Digital Tools

Some of the notable examples included using these technologies:

  • Breakout Rooms: Depending on your platform of choice, teachers use breakout rooms. The use of breakout rooms to organize classroom discussions was popular. Platforms that support breakout rooms include Canvas, Seesaw, Teams, and Zoom. Each does so with varying degrees of success, of course.
  • Flipgrid: “The students can post a video of themselves answering the discussion question. They can watch/reply to other students’ answers,” says one educator. Students could have a question of the day posted on Tuesday and Thursday. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, they respond to the question. Students also view responses from their peers. Flipgrid enjoys popular support, even among second grade teachers. “The kids love to make videos and I can quickly assess if they are understanding the objective.”
  • Google Jamboard: “Students can read what others are saying. Then they can contribute their own thoughts. They can sort elements into a graphic organizer, help each other spell or count … it’s like a digital center’s group!” Combine Jamboard with Zoom to capture student responses in real time. “It’s been fantastic, my students are always excited to ‘jam with each other’,” says an educator.
  • NearPod: “I have used Nearpod for classroom discussions,” said another teacher. Others have learned to use NearPod to support hybrid learning situations. “With Nearpod, I can assign the same lesson as a live lesson and a student-paced lesson with the click of a button. It ensures I continue reinforcing previous concepts, or even creating new ones! Learn how to do this here.“

New digital tools create more opportunities for interaction. Some of those new tools include Whiteboard.fi, Whiteboard.chat, and Curioasis .

Final Thoughts

Classroom discussion may be one of the most misunderstood high-effect size strategies. For many, creating engaging classroom discussions for students is a critical component of many lessons. While that is a priority, you also have another goal: to use classroom discussions as a source of data. Then you can use that data to adapt your instruction to better meet the needs of students.

In future blog entries, we’ll explore some of the other popular strategies. These are all strategies TCEA Remote Learning Educator course participants report using daily.

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Good TeachingWeb 2.0 Tool

Create Interactive Lessons with Deck•Toys

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Teaching anything online can be a challenge. How to make static resources and texts become interactive, able to be manipulated, and provide hands-on learning is at the heart of the problem. We learn because we interact with life around us. We engage when we touch and partake of the movable feast. How do you do that when so much of what we must learn is static? That’s where tools like Deck•Toys come in.

Before we jump into  Deck•Toys, let’s take a moment to revisit the value of interactivity in learning.

Deck•Toys

Valuing Interactivity

How do we know that interactive learning has value? Consider John Hattie’s assessment of classroom practices:

“There is no fixed recipe for ensuring that teaching has the maximum possible effect on student learning, and no set of principles apply to all learning for all students. But there are practices that we know are effective and many practices that we know are not.”

Hattie concludes that if teachers are using practices that have a less than 0.40 effect, then it “may mean that teachers need to modify or dramatically change their theories of action.” (Source)

New technologies lack the wealth of a long history of research into their effectiveness. For that reason, we must ask what is the cost of innovation? Change that does not speed up student growth is a time waster. Time is one of our most precious resources as teachers and learners.

Deck•Toys

When we seek to value interactive learning lessons, we must ask the question:

Do interactive lessons add value to the learning experience? That is, do they accelerate student growth?

Without direct research on a technology that creates interactivity, we can’t say. What we can do is place strategies that work in new technologies. Think of it as putting jewels into a crown. The jewels are the proven strategies; the crown is the technology. By doing so, we get both innovative value and improved functionality.

For Deck•Toys, one strategy I see that would work well is spaced vs massed practice (effect size of 0.65). Here’s what Visible Learning Meta X database has to say about it:

Students are better able to commit information to memory. This happens when they study that information in spaced (or distributed) intervals. Studying “massed” interval(s) does not work as well as spaced.

You can see the effect of research on simple topics like multiplication and spelling:

To test the hypothesis that expanded practice is superior to massed practice in a classroom situation, a test series with expanded intervals to teach multiplication facts and spelling lists to 44 Grade 3 students, formed into massed and expanded groups based on their spelling and mathematical abilities, was conducted.

Results show that, for multiplication facts, retention in the expanded series condition was almost twice that in the massed series condition; for spelling lists, a significant difference in the same direction was also obtained. These differences were obtained regardless of the level of ability of the Ss.

It is suggested that an expanded test series not only engenders effective retention but also maintains a feeling of success throughout (Source).

Studying information over shorter sessions in a longer period of time yields benefits. How can we structure student learning with a variety of interactive, distributed learning? The answer might be Deck•Toys.

Introducing Deck•Toys

Deck•Toys, which has an active Facebook group, makes it easy to space out learning. What’s more, the availability of structuring tools allows you use existing content. Notice the learning path of this mathematics activity:

Deck•Toys

You can see a variety of activities that can cover the same content, making it more interactive. Students begin with the Lesson and then proceed down a learning path that presents activities such as:

  • Sort Me
  • Match
  • Choose Your Path
  • Lines
  • Word Search
  • Choices
  • Crossword
  • Maze

As an example, under the Sort Me activity, students encounter an activity that requires them to sort 2D and 3D shapes into appropriate boxes. They do this through click-and-drag.

Deck•Toys

After completing the activities, they end up at the Finish line and receive quick feedback on their results. If students drag a 3D shape into a 2D box, Deck•Toys moves it to the correct location. The results screen shows how many they got right or wrong.

Deck•Toys

Deck•Toys works with Google Classroom. Students can login with their Google account or as a guest. It supports tracking of student progress as well.

Deck•Toys

You can see student names in blue next to each activity.

Types of Activities

Wondering what types of activities Deck•Toys enjoys? It has two major sets. The first is Slide Apps. Use it to get real-time responses from students. You can even put your own worksheets into it.

The second type of activity is Study Set Apps.

Again, one of the key ideas is that Deck•Toys makes it easy to take existing information and make it interactive. Now,  Deck•Toys also includes classroom tools, such as the ones shown below. I’ve adapted explanations from the website with a few edits.

  • Report. The Report app is where you can view and grade all student responses in a single view.
  • Lock Features. This includes two types of locks. Activity Lock provides an obstacle or extra challenge for the student to complete. They must do this before moving on to the next activity. The second type of lock is Lock in Slide. The Lock app in Slide App gets student’s answer to more questions in different modes.
  • Treasure Key Lock. Treasure Key lock requires students to collect a Treasure Key with a matching Key ID to unlock the lock. Watch the video tutorial.
  • Team. This allows you to assign students to up to four different colored teams. The goal is to turn your classroom into a positive competitive environment.

Feeling overwhelmed by everything  Deck•Toys can do? Be sure to explore their Knowledge Base and Frequently Asked Questions.

Deck•Toys Examples

There are a lot of examples of how you can use Deck•Toys across different. What are some of the ways you imagine yourself designing interactive learning experiences with your students?

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High-Effect-Size Instructional Strategies and Digital Tools

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Did you see School Library Journals blog entry from February 11, 2020? Titled, 18 Tech Tools for Content Creation, Coding, VR, Audio, and Video, it offers a list of digital tools. While this is, no doubt, a fantastic list, it may send the message that all we’re doing in ed tech is gathering tools. Imagine that neighbor, who when you walk into their garage, has every tool imaginable. Each is shiny, pretty, and seldom used. That sends a message, right?

The message is that collecting digital tools, a dime a dozen now, is our sole purpose in educational technology. We all have digital tools in search of instructional activities. The question is, How could we do this better?

high-effect-size

Did You Know?

Only one of the SLJ’s tools, Microsoft Immersive Reader, has earned a research-based design product certification. The certification is new from ISTE’s EdSurge’s Digital Promise program. How are the digital tools you select for use in the classroom aligned to research?

Lesson Construction

Ready to drop a few digital tools and apps into your lesson and spice things up a bit? Before you do, however, consider whether “sprinkling” tools into popular lessons will actually add value to the learning or distract from our ultimate goal.

How Can You Tell If Digital Tools Add Value?

Does the technology we add to a lesson add value or subtract from it?  One way to focus curriculum and instruction teams as they are planning lessons is to ask some questions:

  1. Are the lesson plan components reflecting high-effect-size (HES)  instructional strategies?
  2. Are you focused on activities that are cool or evidence-based strategies that work?
  3. Do all lesson plans incorporate the teacher clarity goals strategy? How are those communicated to students?
  4. Which specific digital tool is proven to work best with a specific HES instructional strategy?

In my Coaching for Results series, I explore how to better answer these questions using high-effect-size instructional strategies.

Lesson Plan Components

Need an example? Let’s take a look at what is typically found in a lesson plan:

  • Grade
  • Subject
  • Topic
  • Description
  • TEKS
  • Technology TEKS
  • 4Cs
  • Resources (linked in G Suite EDU Drive document)
  • Device Type (e.g. Laptop, Chromebook)
  • Suggested Apps

As you can see from the list, there’s something missing, right? Let’s explore this in the context of a web-based lesson plan example.

high-effect-size

Sample Lesson Plan

Grade Level: 3rd grade

Subject: Language Arts

Topic: Understanding and Analyzing Text

Description: Students will use Google Drawing to create a book snap. Teachers can ask students various questions or use analysis tools in the snap. iPad users can use Book Creator or the simple drawing tool on iPad. They will do that after taking a picture of their book selection.

LA TEK: Figure 19: (A)  establish purposes for reading selected texts based upon own or others’ desired outcome to enhance comprehension; (B)  ask literal, interpretive, and evaluative questions of text; (C)  monitor and adjust comprehension (e.g., using background knowledge, creating sensory images, re-reading a portion aloud, generating questions); (D)  make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding; (E)  summarize information  in text, maintaining meaning and logical order; (F)  make connections (e.g. thematic links, author analysis) between literary and informational texts with similar ideas and provide textual evidence

Technology TEK: (1)Creativity and innovation (A)  create original products using a variety of resources; (B)  analyze trends and forecast possibilities, developing steps for the creation of an innovative process or product; and (C)  use virtual environments to explore systems and issues. (2) Communication and collaboration (A)  draft, edit, and publish products in different media individually and collaboratively; (B)  use font attributes, color, white space, and graphics to ensure that products are appropriate for multiple communication media, including monitor display, web, and print; (C)  collaborate effectively through personal learning communities and social environments; (D)  select and use appropriate collaboration tools; (E)  evaluate the product for relevance to the assignment or task; and (F)  perform basic software application functions, including opening applications and creating, modifying, printing, and saving files.

4Cs: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity

Resources: How to make booksnaps,  Book Creator

Device Type: Laptop, Chromebook, IPAD

Let’s review this lesson in light of the questions asked earlier.

Focus on High-Effect-Size Instructional Strategies

1. Are the lesson plan components reflecting high-effect-size instructional strategies?

In the example, there is no high-effect-size instructional strategy recommended or evident. The purpose of the LA TEKS reference is to enhance comprehension. The suggested activity is a book snap. A book snap allows for a digital representation of text excerpted from a book or text. In other words, it is a way for students to summarize (0.74 effect size) a book. Visible Learning Meta X defines summarizing as relevant to reading comprehension.

Summarization can include any of the following behaviors:

  • Deleting unnecessary material
  • Getting rid of material that is repetitive
  • Substituting a subordinate term for a list of items or actions
  • Selecting a topic sentence
  • Constructing a topic if one is only suggested by the text

In a book snap, you focus on selecting sentences, then you bring the characters alive or share an opinion. Depending on the type of book snap, you can also engage in metacognition (0.58 effect size):

Meta-cognition is thinking about thinking. It includes methods used to help students understand the way they learn.

As you can see, having students make a book snap with Google Drawings implies a lot. But we miss the boat if we don’t address the high-effect-size strategy. Worse, this TA:TEKS connection could be more specific. Reference the TA:TEKS connection, but list the specific actions. That is, inserting images, cropping, using digital camera, font choice, and selecting text.

How could we change the description of this lesson? Change it in a way that better reflects the high-effect size instructional strategies.

A video tutorial of how to create a book snap:

Are you focused on activities that are cool or evidence-based strategies that work?

“Book snaps are cool because they are a way to express creativity through a book. You can share how you think about a character or part of a story,” says one student in this video. (That’s a great video to watch to learn how to make book snaps, by the way.)

How long does it take to make a book snap? Would the Reciprocal Teaching (0.84) strategy work better than summarization with book snaps? If yes, why not use that approach, even if there is no technology involved?

Teacher Clarity and Digital Tools

Do all lesson plans incorporate the teacher clarity goals strategy? How are those communicated to students?

How would you craft the Teacher Clarity learning outcomes? One way is shown below:

  • Today we will select sentences that best summarize a key concept in the text
  • So we can learn to identify important parts of the text and get rid of parts that are extra or repetitive
  • We will know we have it when we are able to briefly explain a text in a few sentences.

You may need to ask whether this lesson is surface, deep, or transfer learning oriented. Summarization and metacognition are surface learning. When you’re putting together a lesson, how could you specify the learning goal? That is, the intended goal of surface, deep, and/or transfer learning?

Which specific digital tool is proven to work best with a HES instructional strategy?

Although the HES instructional strategy is absent, the digital tool is Google Drawing. Google Slides would also work. There are many digital tools possible, but focusing on one is best practice.

The message isn’t to avoid book snaps. It’s to be intentional and up front about strategies that work. That is, explain which high-effect-size instructional strategy you are using and how that digital tool fits in. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap of chasing activities that are fun, cool, and use technology for technology’s sake. Avoid quoting entire swaths of TEKS and TA:TEKS. Instead, explain in brief what you are teaching and students are learning.

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Good TeachingiOS Tips and Tricks

Appifying Repeated Reading Assessments

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

What apps or tools can assist you and your students in tracking how fast you read? In this blog entry, we’ll extend our conversation on the use of repeated reading. In a previous blog entry, I focused on different ways to put in place repeated reading. Instead of the traditional go-in-the-corner-with-a-student, we can use technology.

Technology affords both teachers and students with infinite more opportunities to connect. In this blog entry, we’ll take a look at some ways to assess student fluency. But before we do that, let’s take a moment to review the repeated reading strategy.

Review of Repeated Reading Strategy

The repeated reading strategy, which enjoys an effect size of 0.75, involves:

Repeated reading is an academic practice that aims to increase oral reading fluency. … During repeated reading, a student sits in a quiet location with the teacher. The student then reads a passage (50 to 200 words) aloud at least three times.  The teacher calculates reading fluency. She does so by calculating words correct per minute that the student has read.

If the student misreads a word or hesitates for longer than 5 seconds, the teacher reads the word aloud. Then, the student repeats the word the correct way. If the student requests help with a word, the teacher reads the word aloud or provides the definition. The student rereads the passage until he or she achieves a desired fluency level (source: What Works Clearinghouse).

Now that we’ve reviewed a few aspects of repeated reading, let’s take a look at how you can assess it.

Note: Curious about the norms for repeated reading? Use Hasbrouck and Tindal (2006) Oral Reading Fluency Norms from Grades 1-8. Find them online in this free set of graphs from Jen Strange.

Assessing Repeated Reading

Ready to assess repeated reading? Providing this feedback to students can aid them in improving fluency.

Reading Rockets recommends one of the following approaches:

  • One minute reading. In this approach, the student reads for one minute as the teacher counts the total number of words read in a correct way. Make a note of the Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM).
  • Timed repeated readings. Like the previous approach, the student reads for one minute. He will do so several times (three to five times at least). The teacher counts WCPM for one minute. Graph results with a bar graph.
  • Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM). The teacher chooses a package and then times the student as he reads it. You can find tracking sheets available online at no cost.

Many educators use this approach in the classroom. But they may not realize it’s high-effect size and positive impact on reading fluency.

Appifying Repeated Reading

Would you like to use technology with repeated reading assessments? While not required, it can make the job of tracking WCPM easier. These tools can automate scoring and save teachers time. Let’s explore a few.

App #1: One Minute Reader

First up, let’s take a look at Read Naturally’s One Minute Reader for iOS devices such as the iPad. From their website:

The One Minute Reader reading fluency app for the iPad accelerates reading achievement. It combines the research-proven components of teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring. The reader works at his or her own pace in an appropriate level of material. This motivating app guides the reader through the steps. The reader masters a story by reading along with audio.

Then, the student practices the story until he or she can read it with fluency and comprehension. The program automatically tracks the reader’s progress. The reader can print or email the story, the Story Summary (results from the story), and/or the Book Summary (results from the whole book).

The cost of the app varies. You can start with a free version, then buy more with in-app purchases. In-app purchases will get you eight books of five stories each (40 stories in all). The cost for each set of 40 stories is about $20 each. The books are available for different grade levels. Demonstration videos are available online for you to view. Get the iOS app online via the website.

App #2: MAP Reading Fluency Testing

A second app, the MAP Reading Fluency Testing, enables teachers to efficiently measure oral reading fluency. Learn more about it in Five Things to Know about MAP Reading Fluency. It uses an “online, adaptive assessment via a twenty minute assessment.” You can see what results look like in this blog entry. McKinney ISD (Texas) is featured in a case study. Costs vary.

App #3: K12 Timed Reading and Comprehension Practice

With many features, this $3.99 iOS app offers over two hundred and fifty stories in fiction and non-fiction and includes a fluency timer that calculates word per minute for each reading attempt. You can also see summary charts and graphs.

Bonus Resources

The web is full of resources for teaching reading and assessing fluency. Two more tools you may or may not be familiar with include these, even though they are not apps:

Istation ISIP Oral Reading Fluency

Many educators will be familiar with this final tool. Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP) Oral Reading Fluency tool is a computer-based tool. It records the voices of students for automated scoring. Or the teacher can later listen and score the audio. It requires a headset with a microphone connected to a computer or laptop. Learn more about technical requirements online. Cost varies on several factors, so you will need to contact Istation.

Fluency Practice Passages

Although not an app per se, the Fluency Practice Passages website organizes texts that you can use with your students. Each text comes with a lexile level. Students can read these for one minute each.

Ready to get going with repeated reading in your classroom? In part 1 of this repeated reading series, we discussed various tools you can use. In this second installment, you now have an easy way to use iOS apps to assess fluency.

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Good Teaching

Connect Instructional Strategies with Tech

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Wonder what technologies you can blend into high-effect-size instructional strategies? In this blog entry, I revisit the revised Strategies That Work app that you can use on your mobile device. It also works in your desktop’s or laptop’s web browser. Read the “Coaching for Results” series, yet? If so, you know how to match instructional strategies with technology. You can make those strategies relevant to how children learn today with technology.

Get app online at https://tceastrategies.glideapp.io

Strategies That Work

In the Strategies That Work app, I shared several important instructional strategies. The app makes it easy to find information about each one. A recent update now includes a list of suggested technologies for each strategy. Find it online at https://tceastrategies.glideapp.io

If you’d rather not work with an app on your device, there’s another option.

Access Strategies via a Google Doc

In this Google Doc, you will find a list of strategies that you might want to use in your classroom. Matched to each is the latest description and effect size from the Visible Learning Meta X database. You will also find a column with a list of technologies that teachers and students may use. The purpose of the technology list is to complement and expand what you may know about using them.

Access chart online at http://ly.tcea.org/mst 

Let’s take a quick look at two examples. We’ll explore how a single technology and single instructional strategy work together. The strategies and matching technology are in four categories, including the ones I referenced in my “Coaching for Results” series.

Example #1: Summarization (d=0.74)

Although it lacks the punch of a strategy that accelerates three or more years of student growth, summarization is a critical one to know and use. The Visible Learning MetaX database defines summarization in this way:

The ability to summarize a text is often taken as a marker of reading comprehension. Many scholars have advocated explicit summarization training for students who struggle with comprehension. This can include deleting unnecessary material or materials that is redundant. It can involve substituting a subordinate term for a list of items or actions. Or, the summarizer may select a topic sentence or constructing a topic sentence if one is implicit in the text.

When asking students to summarize, we can have them engage in any one of the following activities:

  • Traditional paper-and-pencil activities
  • Verbal activities as part of reciprocal teaching strategies
  • Recording some form of multimedia

Several technologies lend themselves to the use of summarization. While there are some obvious connection, one key component of summarization involves annotation. Digital annotation of websites and digital documents can prove quite useful.

Some typical tools for annotation appear below:

Each tool has much to offer within its sphere of influence for annotation purposes. Digital documents (e.g. PDFs, Google Docs, Microsoft Word) offer many opportunities for student-led annotations. Even tools like Amazon’s Kindle eReader app have made annotation easy, and exporting those into other documents straightforward.

“Hypothesis is my literary Facebook. When I’m reading I sometimes wonder, does anyone actually understand this? Am I crazy? With this brilliant tool I know I’m not alone,” says Shannon Griffiths, Student, Plymouth State University.

Give Hypothes.is a try with a team of professional learners. You can add it to your Chrome browser since it has an extension.

Example #2:  Mnemonics (d=0.80)

While not my first go-to strategy to use, I can see why mnemonics is an under-estimated teaching technique.  Mnemonic instruction works for students with learning problems, including learning disabilities (LD) or mild intellectual disability (MID) (source). The Visible Learning Meta X database defines mnemonics in this way:

A practice by which students learn a significant amount of information for long-term recall by memory. There are five classes of mnemonics: linguistic, spatial, visual, physical, and verbal.

These five classes may be expanded in the following way, as adapted from Lubin and Polloway (2016):

  • Linguistic: Pegword and keyword methods form this approach. They associate a new idea with familiar words and/or phrases to help remember the item.
  • Spatial: This uses the loci, spatial grouping, and finger methods. Each connects a new concept to a familiar place, pattern, or finger. This aids in memorization of the material.
  • Visual: These rely on pictures or visualizations that create an association to the target concept (e.g., symbolics, pictographics).
  • Physical: This approach makes use of the body parts to aid in remembrance. Do this via movement or physical sensation.
  • Verbal: This method uses meaning and stories to help students remember. Some approaches may rely on grouping, semantic organization, and story-telling or narrative chains.

How do you go about storing information for long-term memory recall? You use a mnemonic. While it’s easy to create a linguistic mnemonic focused on keywords, others may be as much fun.

Image Source: Visual Mnemonic Examples

To make linguistic mnemonic (e.g. keywords) creation easier, consider the use of tools (some may be inappropriate for younger students) such as:

To make pegword mnemonics, you need an app or paint software. This comes standard on many computers, not to mention is available as part of Google and Microsoft Office Suites. One can imagine students creating pegword mnemonics using an iOS app like Doodle Buddy.

Image Source: IRIS | Pegword Method

Connecting Conclusions

As you can see, the more you know about an instructional strategy, the easier it is to use technology as a part of it. Applying them in the classroom will involve drawing a connection. The connection must be made between learning outcomes and how the tech will be used.

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Make It Relevant: The Collaborator ISTE Standard

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In classrooms today, the goal remains learning how to solve problems together. Authentic learning often involves learners in joint problem solving. We work together towards a goal, each of us knowing what part we play to resolve the issue(s). How do you do set educators up for success in this endeavor? In this blog entry, we’ll explore several approaches. Before we do that, let’s step back and ask ourselves, What is authentic learning?

ISTE Standards for Educators: Collaborator

To better understand what authentic learning is, let’s take a look at it through the lens of the ISTE Standards, a way to do three things:

  • Improve practice
  • Discover and share resources and ideas
  • Solve problems

When you look at the four indicators, you realize that the last action is quite important to the standard. Here are the four indicators:

4a: Dedicate planning time to collaborate with colleagues to create authentic learning experiences that leverage technology.

4b: Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.

4c: Use collaborative tools to expand students’ authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.

4d: Demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.

As you can see, two of the indicators refer to “authentic learning experiences.” Each enjoys the benefit of real-world problem-solving. When you unpack the vocabulary, you see that each indicator expands on the other:

  • Authentic learning (4a): Activities based on student’s real world experiences or current issues. These use real data and seek to solve real-life problems.
  • Authentic, real-world learning experiences (4c). This involves solving local and global real world problems. It could involve design thinking as well.

This presents tremendous opportunities for situating student learning in real-world problem-solving scenarios. How do you do that? Let’s review the steps that lead to authentic learning experiences with technology.

Step #1: Engage with a Real-World Problem

“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution,” says Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, X. Many of us know that real-world problems, a la 5E Model’s Engage stage, help to focus learners. The problem engages students when it is relevant to them. Let’s review what a real-world problem should look like:

The PBL challenge is one that captures students’ attention. It stimulates their thinking, and assists them in accessing prior knowledge.  (Source: 5E Model + Technology)

Note the importance of prior knowledge. (We’ll explore prior knowledge in Step #2 due to its importance.) In crafting a real-world problem, I would be quick to rely on relevant life issues and challenges.

A real-world problem must engage students in the inquiry process. You can present news or troubling information from a primary source. Students can derive a problem from that information. Or you as the teacher can craft a problem narrative/engagement scenario. You can show a video, or resource, that engages students. The next step is critical because it engages students in identifying what they don’t know. One way to do this is to rely on a concept map about the following areas:

  • What do I know?
  • What do I need to know?
  • What questions do I have about what I know or don’t know?

This assists students in seeing the bigger picture. It’s not enough to depend on this. You, as the teacher, as well as experts on the problem, must step in.

Step #2: Build Background Knowledge

A fascinating tidbit about problem-based learning (PBL): When you allow students to do all the work of knowledge gathering, it’s not very effective. In fact, Dr. John Hattie reports it has an effect size of 0.35. This is less than the 0.40 hinge point for a normal year’s growth in a classroom. This makes all the work for PBL, “Meh, not worth it.” But wait; before you give up, keep reading.

Note how Quadrant D learning is focused on real-world, unpredictable situations. That is where problem-solving teaching must take students. But they can only go AFTER they have learned content and skills needed to solve it.

You can use several strategies to speed up student growth in a particular area. That is, to build prior knowledge, you can use strategies proven to work. When you do this, and then introduce students, PBL’s effect size increases. I like to think of PBL introduced at surface learning stage as a beginning Pokemon. Use it too soon, students fail. Use it after evolving, you get powerful results.

Image Source: YA Web Design

If you spend some time building knowledge capacity in your students, PBL evolves. It evolves from PBL to a more effective, transfer learning strategy. The evolved PBL strategy is problem-solving teaching. This strategy enjoys a respectable 0.68 effect size.

This evolved PBL appears after you have introduced content (a.k.a. surface learning). It appears after deep learning, when students have gone beyond knowledge conceptualization. It’s only when students are ready to engage in transfer learning that PBL works.

The Visible Learning Meta X database defines it in this way:

Problem-solving involves learning to solve a problem that one does not already know how to solve. It can also involve teaching specific, subject-area focused strategies for attempting to solve such problems.

As you can see, this is like ISTE’s expectation in the Collaboration standard. The focus is on real-world problems, authentic learning, and skill-building.

Mapping Learning Growth via Reflection

You must give students the opportunity to build up background knowledge. How do you do that? Support your students in making their own concept map. They can begin with questions, then track their growing understanding. This means that their concept map will change over time. It’s not a “make one and then forget it” situation.

You might ask students, “What would you add to or how would you change your map?” Ask them to revise their concept map as part of their reflection time. To build background knowledge, rely on one of the surface learning strategies. Need some ideas of how to get started? Check this list.

Step #3: Present the Problem

The key concept behind the problem-solving teaching strategy is that of novelty, presenting students with a problem they have not encountered before. It is novel, requiring them to apply their newfound knowledge and skills. In a skill-building scenario, it could be to use design thinking process. Or encouraging students to apply their knowledge of an engineering design process. Students can begin to explore the problem from various stakeholder roles. One way to focus them on solution development is to ask, “What will success look like?” Have them put the criteria they use for success into a rubric.

As you embark on a PBL unit, align it to the ISTE Standards for Educators’ Collaborator aspect. It will focus your work on authentic learning and real-world problem-solving. What’s more, make sure that you use surface learning strategies first. These will build students’ background knowledge. Then, they can apply their knowledge to a new problem. In this way, you can accelerate student growth.

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Content AreasGood TeachingiOS Tips and TricksSTEM/STEAM

Digital Physics with Physics Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a physics teacher looking for simple tutorials, interactives, or concept builders? Digital physics has never been easier. In this blog, we’ll explore a variety of digital resources you may find useful as a physics teachers.

Introducing Concepts to Students

You may find introducing tough concepts to be difficult. While interactive experiences are foundational, try some proven strategies to introduce students to new learning.

What are some great surface learning strategies? Here’s a quick recap on what surface learning strategies do:

Surface learning strategies introduce students to concepts, skills and/or strategies. These strategies seek to assist students gain requisite, background knowledge. The need this background knowledge before they can move forward to deep learning.

These strategies introduce students to unfamiliar content. You can see the effect size for each strategy in parentheses. Here are some you can use:

1) Jigsaw Method (1.20)

The jigsaw instructional method is a cooperative approach to learning. In this method, a teacher introduces a main topic and several subtopics. Divide students into “home groups.” Assign each member of the home group a subtopic. Students then divide up to study their assigned subtopic and have a discussion. At the end of the jigsaw, students return to their home group where each has a set time to share about their subtopic. Culminate the activity with a reflection component.

Tech Tip: Organize your instructions and sub topic resources topics in a Google Sites or a hyperdoc to structure subtopic explorations.

2) Flipped Classroom (0.58)

This is an approach that involves the teacher pre-recording video or audio presentations. Students can then watch/listen to content at home or in other situations. When students return to the classroom, engage them in hands-on activities that focus the learning. You can use a deep learning strategy like Reciprocal Teaching (0.84) to dig deeper into content in class. Or, use a simulation.

Tech Tip: Try using solutions such as Actively Learn, Edpuzzle, or  Kami. to heighten the interactivity of videos.

See more strategies and technologies you can use online.

Ready to explore the Physics Classroom website? Let’s get started.

The Physics Classroom Topics

This section offers source material (great for jigsaw) you can use. For example, some of the topics include:

In each section, you’ll find a series of lessons. For example, for Reflection and the Ray Model of Light:

The first lesson focuses on reflection and its importance with specific topics:

  1. The Role of Light to Sight
  2. The Line of Sight
  3. The Law of Reflection
  4. Specular vs. Diffuse Reflection

There are more lessons available. Each lesson provides great content students can read.

Physics Interactives

This section focuses on HTML5 interactive pages that work on various devices. This includes devices such as iPads and Chromebooks that no longer work with Adobe Flash.

digital physics

From their website (with slight edits):

Some Interactives are simulations that allow a user to manipulate an environment. They make it easier to observe the effect of changes in variables upon the simulation. Other Interactives are skill building exercises. In these, the user practices a skill that is crucial to learning some aspect of physics. Topics for Interactives match the classroom topics listed above.

Some Interactives provide game-like environments. These need the user to use a physics concept to meet a challenge. These are great for deep learning since they dig deeper into a concept. You can introduce them with direct instruction (.59) strategy. Use them when students are ready to build a deeper conceptual understanding. Strategies you can use include classroom discussion, reciprocal teaching. This involves students grappling with ideas together.

Concept Builders

Physics Classroom’s website offers access to 120 concept builders on 14 different topics. They describe it in this way:

A Concept Builder is an interactive learning activity. It targets student understanding of a discrete concept.  Each Concept Builder presents learners with carefully crafted questions. These target various aspects of the concept. There are many levels of difficulty or activities.

Track learner progress at each level or in each activity. Often, when a student misses a question, they have two opportunities to try again. Once they have done so, they will have exhibited skill.

You can see two screenshots of the concept builder below:

Lots More Resources

There are many more resources at the Physics Classroom. Explore it to see all the amazing content available for physics learners.

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Leadership

Enhance Instructional Leadership with Digital Tools

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

What digital tools are available to help the school principal or administrator be more effective? After decades of research, we know what the principal’s primary role is to practice instructional leadership. That has the greatest effect on student learning. In this blog entry, we’ll explore digital tools that make that job easier.

Before we do that, let’s review some of the research.

What the Research Says: Instructional vs Transformational Leaders

The climate and culture of school mediate the principal’s impact on learning (Source). We know that different kinds of leadership are more effective than others. For example, Hattie’s research points out that transformational leadership differs from instructional leadership.

Reminder: John Hattie says that any instructional strategy has an impact on learning. The average impact on learning of any strategy is 0.40.  Anything greater than a 0.40 effect size accelerates student growth in a calendar year.

What are the effect sizes for these two types of leadership? Transformational leadership has an effect size of 0.11. Instructional leadership has an effect size of 0.42.

Activities associated with instructional leadership had a greater impact than those associated with transformational leadership” (Source).

What activities do researchers associate with instructional leadership?

  • Engaging in classroom observations
  • Interpreting test scores with teachers
  • Focusing on instructional issues
  • Ensuring a coordinated instructional program
  • Being highly visible
  • Communicating high academic standards
  • Ensuring class atmospheres are conducive to learning

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo has some specific suggestions as well in his book, Leverage Leadership. He offers seven levers that allow for consistent growth. We’ll explore some of his points in the next section below.

If a principal can adopt these behaviors that speed student growth, shouldn’t he? Researchers and reformers say, “Yes.” Many principals ask another question:

Are there digital tools that enhance these activities?

The answer to that question is also an affirmative.

Digital Tools Enhance Instructional Leadership

Let’s examine each of the activities. There have been a variety of digital tools shared that make these activities easier. I’m going to adjust Hattie’s wording a little to make it clearer, then share a potential digital tool. If you know of others, please drop them in the comments. That invitation is open to solution providers, as well.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

While some educators are using Google or Microsoft Forms, there are others. Some of the problems with “home-made” solutions may include:

  • Tough to aggregate data across the school with a data dashboard solution (e.g. Domo, Google Data Studio)
  • Hard to get data in and out of the spreadsheet Forms saves data in for feedback purposes
  • Permissions and account management can be a problem when trying to keep data private

To that end, finding a dedicated solution is necessary. Let’s examine three activities of an instructional leader.

Activity #1: Engaging in Classroom Observations

Engaging in classroom observations can be stressful and tough. When done in the wrong way, it can engender resentment among teachers. This is often due to a lack of transparency in communications. There may be  a gap between expectation of what the teacher should do and what they actually do. That can result in stress for both the teacher and principal. While coaching for results can address this, the principal plays a critical role.

The principal can reduce resentment and confusion by conducting regular walkthroughs and adding more communication. (Note that classroom observations are not the same thing as appraisal walkthroughs.)

A few digital tools appear below. These can ease confidential communications while gathering critical data for campus-wide analysis. Two tools include:

  • Bullseye for Schools. This tool works to capture observations aligned to rubrics. It also allows you to capture videos and take notes on what is observed.
  • iWalkthrough Classroom Observation tool. This is a tool that works on your device of choice via a web browser. It allows you to collect three to five minutes of observation data, then analyze it. You can analyze a teacher’s work or aggregate across the campus, district, or nation.

Activity #2: Interpreting Test Scores with Teachers

“Do you have a data wall in your school?” This question is often asked among principals. Data walls in teacher planning areas focus staff on potential growth areas. These days, data walls are often electronic and appear in data dashboards. These dashboards have the potential to identify areas of growth. But, data walls may reflect interim assessments and may have a negative effect on students and staff. In fact, a Harvard study found that teachers often do not understand the underlying problems that block student growth. For example, in response to math problems, teachers “often proposed non-mathematical reasons for students’ failure” (Source). Then, teachers moved on. This suggests that the teachers studied lacked the depth in mathematics to understand collected data.

Focus on patterns in the data that suggest long-term strategy changes. Some tips:

  • Work through data together with a content expert (especially in dense content areas like math, science, reading)
  • Explore what implications it has for instruction
  • Ask what systematic checks for understanding could you put in place to ensure long-term student support
  • What’s the next student outcome you can support students in reaching? The next after that? Plan lessons to support that.

A big part of analysis is crafting a shared system of norms and strategies. You can use coaching and microteaching to encourage reflection needed. In Leverage Leadership, the author suggests the following:

  1. Share video clips of master teachers.
  2.  Have teachers discuss what they have seen in small groups before sharing with whole group.
  3.  Develop a specific set of norms or system that every teacher in every classroom will commit to implementing.
  4.  Teachers rehearse the system in pairs.
  5.  Teachers engage in a dress rehearsal, offering critiques for that work, with teachers acting as students.
  6.  By the time students arrive, every teacher knows exactly where s/he is supposed to be and exactly what he or she is supposed to be doing at all times.

Displaying a data dashboard may be more effective for big picture results. Learn more about data dashboards and warehouses in this blog entry.

Activity #3: Focusing on Instructional Issues

Focusing on instructional issues may best done with coaching tools. One way to focus on instruction in the classroom could involve micro-teaching. Micro-teaching enjoys an effect size of 0.88, making it quite effective. The Visible Learning Meta X database defines it in this way (edited):

A technique in which a teacher delivers a short, video-recorded lesson. The teacher and/or others analyze the lesson for improvement purposes.

There are many digital tools available to record teachers in action. Associating the video with a teacher’s record could involve a specific tool (e.g. Bullseye). To get the full effect Hattie references, you will have to do more than record a classroom. Fisher and Frey (2019) suggest the following:

  • Each video clip must be fuel discussion between a teacher and a colleague (observer).
  • The video must encourage the teacher, not the observer, to notice what they do and how what the teacher does impacts students’ learning.
  • The observer asks reflective question without stating what s/he thinks of the lesson. The observer’s job is to think with the teacher about what is in the video clip.

You can see an example via this link. What I notice is how reflective the teacher is about her teaching and student learning.

The best part of microteaching (see toolkit) involves giving and receiving constructive feedback. Participants do so with an open mind and align their comments to academic goals. Done right, it improves the teacher’s self-confidence in a safe space of mutual respect.

This confidence can inspire students to rely on the teacher more. This student-teacher relationship leads to greater teacher credibility. And, as you may know, teacher credibility has an effect size of 1.09. When all teachers become credible, you achieve collective teacher efficacy (1.39).

Collective Teacher Efficacy (1.39): The shared belief by a group of teachers that they have the skills necessary. And the belief that they can use these skills to have a positive impact on student outcomes.

In this blog entry, we took a look at three activities instructional leaders engage in. I hope each examination of an activity assisted your thinking about what it takes to be a leader who impacts student learning.

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Content AreasGood TeachingWriting

Note-Taking and Outlining: Five Digital Helpers

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Wish you had an easy way to annotate websites or research articles and then share them with others? Do you need to guide high school and/or college students in the area of note-taking? If so, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog entry, I’ll feature a few digital tools that should come in handy for this purpose. At the end, I will share my recommendations.

Before we do that, let’s revisit the importance of note-taking and annotating content.

A Note-Taking Strategy That Works

Many educators are now familiar with the research that the act of handwriting your notes gets you results. Consider this quote from NPR’s interview with research study authors Daniel M. Oppenheimer and Pam A. Mueller. The authors sought to test how handwritten notes affect learning compared to notes taken using a computer or digital device.

“The students who were taking longhand notes in our studies had to be more selective. You can’t write as fast as you can type. And that extra processing of the material that they were doing benefited them.”

The researchers noted the two types of note-taking and defined them in this way:

  • Generative: Summarizing, paraphrasing, concept-mapping characterize this approach.
  • Nongenerative: Verbatim copying describes this approach.

As you might imagine, the generative approach has a greater impact on learning. According to another study, researchers found that handwritten notes also engage your senses. As a result, the act of note-taking makes your brain more active. Learning improves because of your brain’s activity (Source).

Hattie’s Mindset

As you might imagine, John Hattie’s meta-analysis of note-taking research reveals something, too. That is, that note-taking has an effect size of .51, which accelerates student growth in one year. Remember that standard growth has an effect size of .40, so anything greater than .40 is beneficial.

While handwritten notes do much, it is the acts they force us to engage in that actually yield results. Those acts take place during generative note-taking and include:

As you can see, each of these activities has the potential to speed up student growth in one year. Two other strategies are also useful here. The first is outlining and summarizing (effect size of .66). Defined below, this .66 effect size strategy can be quite effective (edited for blog):

Identifying the main ideas and rendering them in one’s own words. The core skill is being able to distinguish between  main ideas and supporting ideas. Or, main ideas and examples

The second is spaced vs mass practice (effect size of .65) . Notes, outlines, and summaries allows us to remember information over time. We can refer to this strategy:

Students are better able to commit information to memory. This happens when they study that information in spaced (or distributed) intervals. Studying “massed” interval(s) does not work as well as spaced.

Studying information over shorter sessions in a longer period of time yields benefits. Given the value of notes, outlines, and summaries, we can revisit content again and again. Providing this information up front to students would help them.

Change That Adds Value

A change that adds value is one definition for “innovation.” In this case, the technology tools shown below are innovations. They not only ease post note-taking, but address the other strategies that work.

Technology enhances outlining and summarizing, making it easy to outline and annotate. The ability to revisit content is helpful here, as is how we interact with that content together.

Let’s explore some digital tools that can provide better support to students’ efforts with strategies that work.

Five Digital Tools

You may be familiar with some of these tools already or be exploring them for the first time. My goal in sharing them is that you do so with the strategies that work in mind. Share these with your students. I address age appropriateness in the descriptions.

outlining

Tool #1: Diigo

Diigo.com is a social bookmarking tool. While the social aspect of learning is important, Diigo does more. It lets you create digital outlines, bookmarks, and highlight websites. You can get a Chrome/Firefox extension, too.

annotating

Diigo makes it easy to annotate and add comments to web pages. You can share your annotations/comments with others and can also do the following:

  • Highlight critical features of text (essential text or text to NOT read)
  • Ask students to define words, terms, or concepts in their own words/language
  • Provide definitions of difficult/new terms
  • Mark up online text with comments, observations, and corrections
  • Add bookmarks for the students to interact with
  • Use the highlighting and sticky notes like a word processor’s Track Changes feature

I first started using Diigo in 2008. There’s a lot to like in Diigo, even if “social bookmarking” has fallen by the wayside. You can see that tools that work, like outlining and summarizing, endure.

Tool #2: Hypothes.is

“Visible, active, and social.” That’s how the no-cost Hypothes.is tool describes itself. Hypothes.is makes it possible for students to “write in the margins” and annotate online text. Even more important, it makes that work social if needed.

Like Diigo, it offers both private and public commenting/annotation options and includes a variety of online resources/videos for those who want to get started:

Are you a Canvas LMS user? How about moodle, Sakai, Schoology, or Blackboard? Or D2L’s Brightspace? If so, you may be happy to learn that Hypothes.is integrates with all of those. You need only add the app to your learning management system (LMS) of choice. There are also resource guides for students and teachers.

Tool #3: Mendeley

Aimed at higher education, Mendeley allows you to annotate what you read. Some of its features include:

  • Add your thoughts on documents in your own library, even from mobile devices
  • Share documents with groups of colleagues and annotate them together
  • Import paper and other documents from your device, existing libraries, or websites
  • Automatic capture of author, title ,and publisher information
  • Have all your annotations and library backed up to the cloud

Mendeley offers “cite as you write” plugins. That means that if you use Microsoft Word or LibreOffice, Mendeley has you covered and supports more than 8,000 citation styles. Although a research tool, you are able to engage in shared annotation like Diigo and Hypothes.is. And, unlike Diigo, but like Hypothes.is, it is no cost.

Tool #4: WeavaTools

WeavaTools has a variety of features at varying costs. It offers some basic citation styles, but nothing like Mendeley. With WeavaTools, you can highlight text, make annotations, clip images, and organize your clips. The free version includes some simple export options like Word, Excel, text, and CSV. The premium version has a monthly cost.

Tool #5: Zotero

Zotero offers collection, organization, citation, and research-sharing options. Although a no-cost service, you can choose to upgrade your storage. This allows you to save everything you have on the computer version of Zotero to the cloud. Zotero works on a variety of platforms. It is more of a citation and research sharing tool. This makes it useful to college students. Some might consider it too complex for high school students, unless advanced.

Using the Five Digital Helpers

If you’re looking for tools to assist you in outlining and summarizing, then these may meet your needs. My recommendation is to take a hard look at Diigo.com and Hypothes.is for use in high school classrooms. Mendeley is great for advanced high school and college students.

Updated 02/09/2021: Added an infographic.

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jigsaw
Good TeachingProfessional Learning

Napkin PD: PBL Your Jigsaw

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

What happens when you combine two instructional strategies like PBL and jigsaw? That’s exactly what I did when developing a new workshop for the TCEA 2020 Convention & Exposition called Coaching for Strategic Technology Integration. My initial results? Positive. In this edition of napkin-PD, I share the results of the new structure of my experimentation.

Session Description: Ready to set your students and teachers up for learning success? You will need be strategic. In this session, learn how to blend four components into one. You will adopt high effect size instructional strategies. Then, use a process for blending technology into learning experience. Finally, reflect on a pupil-focused results coaching tool.

Essential Elements

In each of my napkin-PD sessions, I focus on organizing the entire workshop into three chunks. Those three chunks may vary a bit in title, but generally fall into these areas:

  • Explore. This is where participants learn something new. They are developing background knowledge on a subject.
  • Adapt/Create. This is where they make connections between new information and old.
  • Share. They create something tangible.

For the 50-minute session of this 90-120 minute learning event, I had to truncate some of the activities or drop them altogether. Let’s take a deeper look.

pbl your jigsaw

Revisiting the Objectives

In my session, I wanted to achieve the following objectives. You’ll note that I have attempted to word them as “teacher clarity goals.” The reason why is that the teacher clarity strategy is a high-effect size strategy with an effect size of .76. Here’s a little background on teacher clarity if you are not familiar with it:

Teacher clarity relates to organization, explanation, examples and guided practice, and assessment of student learning. It can involve clearly communicating the intentions of the lessons and the success criteria.

Clear learning intentions describe the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values that the student needs to learn

There are a lot of ways to use technology to support teacher clarity. In this case, I decided to be up front with adult learners and so told them what my goals were at the start of the session:

  • Today we will examine, explore, and reflect how to achieve academic standards. We will do this through the combination of several components. Those components include high-effect size instructional strategies, strategic technology, and pupil-centric coaching efforts.
  • So we can construct learning experiences for students and staff that will lead to accelerated learning and growth.
  • We will know we have it when we reflect on our use of action steps via educational frameworks that provide insight into our work.

To organize this learning adventure, I divided it into three big pieces.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

Chunking Learning into Modules

pbl your jigsawCreating bite-sized chunks can be a lifesaver for learners. It makes the learning manageable, memorable, and improves comprehension (source). For adult learning participants, it gives them autonomy within each chunk. That is, they can explore content as they choose. It also enabled me as the lesson designer to take complex content and make it easier to process in the short time available.

The main pieces, which I further chunked into smaller bites, included:

  • Meet the Problem. “There’s a big school board meeting coming up. Your superintendent needs you at Central Office right away. Drop what you’re working on and head on over there.”
  • Crafting Your Solution. Now’s the time to put your heads together to craft the best presentation you can that combines the four key elements.
  • Reflect. Take a moment to reflect on the process. Explore the gap between where your organization is now and the ideal and then reflect the ideal in your team’s presentation with steps to get there.

Each section involved more work.

pbl your jigsaw

Smaller Bite-Sized Chunks

To get people moving in the right direction, I introduced a problem via role play. This involved casting some audience members (I recruited them as they arrived). The unlucky folks stepped into the role outlined in the problem below. Here’s the call to action, although you can read the whole scene online:

“Our school board president and I have spoken. Our scores say we are treading water, maintaining the status quo. For some districts, that would be enough. But here in our district, we must have a focus on accelerating student growth more than one year.”

“We have agreed that we’re going to put together a plan for moving forward, a plan that accelerates growth for ALL students. For too long, we’ve been working in silos with several initiatives. We will put those together. We will be successful, we will ensure accelerated student growth is our TOP priority.”

“I’m going to ask you to divide up into several teams to deepen your knowledge. You will become an expert in your area, then share it back with your team. Afterwards, you’ll make a first effort at putting together a board meeting presentation.”

“I want you to know that I’m counting on you. The future of our district is in your hands. Ready to begin? If so, I’m going to turn it over to Miguel to get this started.”

If you’re familiar with PBL, you know this is an ill-structured, messy problem. My goal with this problem was to set up (and this is what’s different from other napkin PD) a jigsaw activity.

Revisiting the Jigsaw Method

Wait, wait, why am I using a jigsaw? The goal of this workshop was to introduce participants to some amazing ideas. This made it a surface learning activity, that is, an activity focused on introducing new concepts to students. Why use a jigsaw? The jigsaw method enjoys an effect size of 1.20, which is very high, and is a cooperative approach to learning. You can learn more about it through other blog entries, but here is a quick overview:

Following this method, a teacher introduces a main topic and several subtopics. Jigsaw students divide into “home groups,” and each member of the home group chooses a subtopic.

Then, students form expert groups to study their assigned subtopic. They do this through research and discussion.

After delving into the subtopic, they return to their home group to report on their findings.

At the conclusion, each home group member has learned about each subtopic. They have learned from their own investigation or a member of the relevant expert group.

The other strategy in use is problem-solving teaching (.68 effect size). I regret that in a 50-minute session, there wasn’t time. We couldn’t get to the part that had participants solve a new problem.

pbl your jigsaw

Turning a PBL into a Jigsaw Activity

This is the part I was most excited about. Could I embed a jigsaw activity inside of a PBL? The answer is, “Yes, you can.” Each of the four member teams would join their expert group. Expert groups worked alone at first, then together to explore the project stations. I provided paper copies of a digital organizer. Of course, some chose to use the digital version on their devices.

pbl your jigsaw

Project Stations

pbl your jigsawThe project stations focused on four key areas. Those areas included:

Putting these components together was not obvious to me. In fact, I outlined everything ahead of time because outlining made it a lot easier for me. You can see my first draft outline, although it had a few more revisions. In the end, the organization of each station followed a pattern.

Project Station Organization

  • Picture and overview
  • Contained three parts, in no particular order:
    1. Watch the video. This included a video and a short summary of the content.
    2. More material to explore
    3. Explore
  • An expert discussion question

When I revise each of the project stations in the future, I will be more deliberate about structuring them. That is, I will make each part focus on media type and action desired. For example, here’s a revised outline:

  • Overview with picture
    • 1: Watch the video
    • 2: Explore source material
    • 3: See examples
  • An expert discussion question

Now, if you are familiar with the jigsaw method, you may see that I included an extra piece. That extra piece is the expert group discussion question. I wanted to focus experts’ discussion given the time constraint. This had the desired effect.

pbl your jigsaw

Listening in on Participant Conversations

One of the most rewarding aspects of the jigsaw method is listening to expert groups dig deep. But having them report back to their home groups can be a joy as well. After the time was up, I invited insight sharing from the whole group. What amazed me was the depth of insight. Participants reflected the information provided in the project stations. In a way most curious, they owned the information as they shared it. This was fantastic and I couldn’t have been more delighted with their work.

pbl your jigsaw

Reflection

As time elapsed, I realized that we had spent the entire time on the jigsaw. To have executed this workshop, an entire 90-120 minutes would have been desirable. I am still pleased with the first module work, especially as participants expressed how happy they were with the  juxtaposition of these ideas.

Want to schedule TCEA professional development that focuses on project-based learning? Fill out a TCEA logistics form. We can help you turn your napkin professional development plans into a reality. And be sure to check out other“napkin PD” blogs here.

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