FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOLJANUARY 2010
Instructional Strategies that Enhance Student Learning in
Block Schedules
Bell-work
1. What components do you consciously include when designing an effective lesson plan?
2. List some instructional strategies that you frequently find successful.
3. How do you go about deciding (a) what to teach and (b) how to teach it?
Agenda •Bell-work
•Targets
•Importance of planning
•Block with the Brain in Mind
•5-step lesson plan template
TargetsFaculty will understand the
important relationship between brain based learning and effective instructional approaches in a block setting
Faculty will be able to identify and apply a 5-step process to lesson planning to enhance student attention, engagement and learning
Bell-work
1. What components do you consciously include when designing an effective lesson plan?
2. List some instructional strategies that you frequently find successful.
3. How do you go about deciding (a) what to teach and (b) how to teach it?
What purposes do bell-work or sponge activities serve?
Consciously plan to teach for depth on “Big Ideas” of your subject area
Click icon to add picture“You can teach more faster, but students will simply forget more faster. In-depth (as opposed to superficial) learning requires time for organizing, integrating, and storing new information.”
Learning – 2 categories
Explicit Learning: Consists of what we
commonly read, write, and talk about
Conveyed via such means as textbooks, lectures, pictures and videos
Implicit LearningConsists of things we
learn through life experience, habit, games, experiential learning, and other “hands-on” activities
(Jensen, E. Teaching With the Brain in Mind)
Complex Learning – 7 Critical Factors
Engagement (goal oriented attention and action)
Repetition (priming, reviewing, and revising)
Input quantity (capacity, flow, chunk size) Coherence (models, relevance, prior
knowledge) Timing (time of day, interval learning) Error correction (mistakes, feedback,
support) Emotional states (safety, state of
dependency)
(Jensen, E. Teaching With the Brain in Mind)
Paying attention
“Attention is ‘payment’ of the brain’s precious resources. It requires that we orient, engage,
and maintain each appropriate neural network. In addition, we must exclude or
suppress external and internal distracters…In short, paying attention is not easy to do
consciously.”
-Eric Jensen
Practical Suggestions
Brevity – cut the length of focused attention – the human brain is poor at nonstop attention. It needs time for processing and rest after learning.
Compelling & Relevant Tasks – meaning building tasks such as grouping & regrouping material, critiquing and analyzing it, resequencing content, using graphic organizers, summarizing
Movement – raises amine levels in the brain and elicits a state of aroused attention
Attention Spans – Guidelines for Direct Instruction of New Content
Grade Level Appropriate Amount of Direct Instruction
K-2 5-8 minutesGrades 3-5 8-12 minutesGrades 6-8 12-15 minutesGrades 9-12 12-15 minutesAdult Learners 15-18 minutes
MovementKids need to be active and move during a block lesson.
How might you incorporate movement in a meaningful way in your lessons?
The Five Step Lesson Plan
1. Introduction Refer to previous lessons/units Point to what’s coming Whet the students’ appetites Assess students abilities/past performances
2. Direct Instruction Direct the learning Facilitate, without necessarily lecturing Assess students
3. Guided Practice Provide opportunities for students to work with new material Guide students through the process Assess students
The Five Step Lesson Plan
4. Independent practice Encourage student autonomy Recognize the benefits to long-term memory
development Choose appropriate homework, a prime example of
independent practice Assess students
5. Closure Review what has happened Emphasize key points Point to what will happen next Assess students
Getting Started
“It is critical to provide activities for students that will immediately engage them as they
walk in the door. Activities that are meaningful to students provide an “emotional
hook” that in turn fosters attention and learning.”
-Dr. Pam Robbins, Learning Beyond Boundaries
Starting the lesson
“How a lesson starts goes a long way in determining how smoothly the class runs and how much the kids learn.” – Rick Smith
Strategy – Sponges or Bell-WorkAnything we normally have students do, as
long as they can do it silently and without having to ask for directions or clarifications
Assign several activities to keep all engaged – start class when everyone has the first task or item complete
The Lesson Itself
Strategy – VarietyPlan at-least 3 to 4 activities per lesson with a
minimum of one in which the teacher is off the stage
Employ shifts in focus and energy at least every ten to twelve minutes
Plan in movement breaks several times in a period (transitions between activities are good opportunities)
The brain loves to talk so provide opportunities for students to work together
Pacing, feedback & participation
Build in opportunities for independent practice so you can assess and provide additional help to your slower processors
Increase wait time during discussion – wait for 6 hands to be raised before calling on a student – and say “thank you” instead of “right”
Class choral recital – every once in awhile ask all students to say an answer out loud together
Practice effective chunking – don’t try and deliver too much content at one time
Movement breaks
StrategiesFind a partner in a different part of the roomTransitions between activitiesEveryone who hears my voice clap twice (when transitioning
back from small group to full group)Breathing – ask students to take a deep breath and exhale
togetherStretching – can be done in seats or standing up. Schedule in
a “7th inning stretch”Give yourself a pat on the back on opposite sides – gets the
blood flowing and activates both the right and left hemispheresAction Thermometer (Four Corners) strategy – have students
physically move to a place to represent a point of viewBall or frisbee toss discussions
Closure
What do students remember most from your lesson? The first and last thing they hear!
The last three-minutes can be the most significant of any lesson as they can markedly increase student retention by allowing them to reflect on their learning. This enhances the potential of the material moving from the short-term to long-term memory. Whenever possible have the students actively involved during closure.
Strategies – Reciprocal Teaching (students pair off and take turns summarizing), Highlights (students come up with one or more key ideas from the lesson), Exit slips, Provide a unifying metaphor or simple analogy
Use the Block as it is intended!
“The major power of longer teaching periods is that such periods make the attention to brain
compatible teaching practices far more feasible.”
(Fitzgerald, 1996)
Highlights
Identify some key take aways for today’s presentation
Identify some examples of instructional strategies used during this presentation
Manage pacing by focusing on big ideas and depth of learning
Always consider how the brain works when designing learning activities
Repetition, movement & pacing are important considerations in extended periods