teaching middle and high school students to read and write well

Teaching Middleand High SchoolStudents to Read

and Write WellSix Features of Effective Instruction

G U I D E L I N E S F O R

Judith A. Langerwith Elizabeth Close, Janet Angelis, and Paula Preller

NATIONAL

RESEARCH

CENTER ON

ENGLISH

LEARNING &ACHIEVEMENT

MOST

CLASSROOM

TEACHERS WORK

HARD PLANNING

LESSONS,CHOOSING

MATERIALS,TEACHING

CLASSES,INTERACTING

WITH INDIVIDUAL

STUDENTS, AND

ASSESSING

STUDENT

PROGRESS.YET SOME

SCHOOLS AND

TEACHERS SEEM

TO BE MORE

SUCCESSFUL

THAN OTHERS.

Langer’s research reports, a set of case studies, and newsletter articles are available at

http://cela.albany.edu

THE GUIDELINES INCLUDED IN THISbooklet draw from a five-year study beingconducted by Dr. Judith A. Langer,director of the National Research Centeron English Learning & Achievement. Sheand a team of researchers have beeninvestigating English programs in 44classrooms in 25 schools in 4 states.By comparing typical programs with thosethat get outstanding results, Langer andcolleagues have been able to identify thefeatures of the more effective programs.

The results of this research are reportedin a set of research reports and casestudies including, Beating the Odds:Teaching Middle and High School Stu-dents to Read and Write Well, whichdetails the features of effective instruc-tion that are the subject of this booklet.Excellence in English in Middle and HighSchool: How Teachers’ Professional LivesSupport Student Achievement examinesthe professional contextsthat contribute to teach-ers’ success. Thesereports, the casestudies, and relatedarticles can befound on CELA’s website (http://cela.albany.edu) or bycontacting theCenter (seepage 16).

WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE?

P A G E 3

students “beat the odds” andoutperform their peers on highstakes, standardized tests of En-glish skills and read and writeat high levels of proficiency. Inthe other set of schools, studentsperform more typically. Most ofthe schools in the study servestudents from high poverty, bigcity neighborhoods. By compar-ing these two sets of classrooms,we have been able to identifyand validate six features of in-struction that make a differencein student performance.

It is important to understandthat the six features identified inthis research are interrelated andsupportive of one another. Thehigher performing schools ex-hibit all six characteristics. Asyou read the classroom ex-amples, you will see that ele-ments of all features can befound in each. Although ad-dressing one feature may bringabout improved student perfor-mance, it is the integration of allthe features that will effect themost improvement.

Teaching Middleand High SchoolStudents to Readand Write Well

Students learnskills and

knowledgein multiple

lesson types

Teachersintegrate test

preparationinto instruction

Teachers makeconnections across

instruction,curriculum,

and life

Students learnstrategies for

doing the work

Students areexpected to be

generative thinkers

Classrooms fostercognitive

collaboration

IT ISIMPORTANT

TO UNDER-STAND THAT

THE SIX

FEATURES

IDENTIFIED

IN THIS

RESEARCH

ARE INTER-RELATED

AND

SUPPORTIVE

OF ONE

ANOTHER.

THIS BOOKLET IS DESIGNEDfor middle and high school per-sonnel, especially teachers, whowish to improve their English pro-grams. To produce this booklet,we have drawn from Langer’s re-search report, Beating the Odds:Teaching Middle and High SchoolStudents to Read and Write Well(see page 16).

M ost classroom teach-ers work hard plan-ning lessons, choos-

ing materials, teaching classes,working with individual stu-dents, and assessing studentprogress. Yet some schools andteachers seem to be more suc-cessful than others. What makesthe difference? Researchers at theNational Research Center onEnglish Learning & Achieve-ment (CELA) are answering thisquestion through a set of stud-ies that examine studentachievement in reading, writing,and other important literacyskills in classrooms across thecountry. These studies includeexaminations of student workand test scores, classroom obser-vations, and interviews of stu-dents, teachers, and administra-tors in a variety of sites that rep-resent the nation’s diversity.

One of the studies has beenexamining English programs intwo sets of middle and highschools with similar studentpopulations. In one set of schools,

Six Features of Effective Instruction

G U I D E L I N E S F O R

▼

Judith A. Langerwith Elizabeth Close, Janet Angelis, and Paula Preller

Teaching Middle and High School Students to ReadP A G E 4

Teachers in the more effective programs usea variety of different teaching approaches

based on student need. For example, if studentsneed to learn a particular skill, item, or rule, theteacher might choose a separated activity to high-light it. Students would study the informationas an independent lesson, exercise or drill with-out considering its larger meaning or use (e.g.,they might be asked to copy definitions of liter-ary terms into their notebooks and to memorizethem).

To give students practice, teachers prepareor find simulated activities that ask students toapply concepts and rules within a targeted unitof reading, writing, or oral language. Studentsare expected to read or write short units of textwith the primary purpose of practicing the skillor concept. Often students are asked to find ex-amples of that skill in use in their literature andwriting books, as well as in out-of-school activi-ties. (For example, a teacher might ask studentsto identify examples of literary devices within aparticular selection, or to write their own ex-amples of these devices.)

To help students bring together their skillsand knowledge within the context of a purpose-

F I N D I N G 1

Students learn skills andknowledge in multiplelesson types

n schools thatbeat the odds,effective learningof and instructionin the knowledgeand conventionsof English andhigh literacy takeplace as sepa-rated and simu-lated, as well asintegrated experi-ences.

In contrast, inmore typicallyperformingschools, althougheach approachmight be used atsome point, oneor another instruc-tional approachdominates.

ful activity, teachers use integrated activities.These require students to use their skills orknowledge to complete a task or project that hasmeaning for them. (For example, in discussinga work or works of literature, students might beasked to consider how a writer’s use of literarydevices affects a reader’s response to the piece.)

Teachers of the higher performing studentsuse all three of these approaches. They don’t usethem in any linear sequence or in equal amount,but they use them as they are needed to helpstudents become aware of and learn to use par-ticular skills and knowledge. It is the combina-tion of all three approaches, based on what thestudents need, that appears to make the differ-ence. Separated and simulated activities provideways for teachers to “mark” a skill or item ofinformation for future use. Integrated activitiesprovide ways for students to put their under-standings to use in the context of larger and moremeaningful activities.

In more typically performing schools, teach-ers often rely on one strategy, missing opportu-nities to strengthen instruction and to integrateit across lessons and throughout the year.

I What does this mean?

and Write Well: Six Features of Effective Instruction P A G E 5

Whatis

CELA?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE

SIX FEATURES IDENTIFIED

IN THIS RESEARCH

ARE INTERRELATED AND

SUPPORTIVE OF ONE ANOTHER.

Classroom exampleAt Reuben Dario Middle School in Florida, Gail Slatko uses all three approachesto empower her students to be better readers, writers, and editors. For ex-ample, she often teaches vocabulary skills within the context of literature andwriting, but she also asks students to complete practice workbook exercisesdesigned to increase their vocabularies. And they create “living dictionaries” bycollecting new words as they come across them in books, magazines, andnewspapers. To provide practice with analogies, Gail goes beyond merely pro-viding examples: she requires that students discuss their responses and ex-plain the rationales for their answers. Later, students design vocabulary mo-biles that she displays in the classroom. Gail uses the same approach whenshe targets literary concepts, conventions, and language. Students integrateliterary and vocabulary learning when they create children’s books. Thesebooks incorporate vocabulary, alliteration, and story telling through words andpictures. During one recent school year, five books were entered in the countyfair competition, and one of them was awarded first prize. Gail’s lessons aremodels for her students to use in their own reading and writing as well as whenthey are editing and responding to the writing of their classmates.



lesson types





and life


doing the work


generative thinkers


collaboration

Some activities that work• Offering separated and simulated ac-

tivities to individuals, groups, or theentire class as needed

• Providing overt, targeted instructionand review as models for peer andself-evaluation

• Teaching skills, mechanics, or vo-cabulary that can be used duringintegrated activities such as literaturediscussions

• Using all three kinds of instruction toscaffold ways to think and discuss(e.g., summarizing, justifying an-swers, and making connections)

What doesn’t work• Reliance upon any one approach to

the exclusion of the other two• Focus on separated and/or simulated

activities with no integration withthe larger goals of the curriculum


In higher performing schools, the knowledgeand skills for performing well on high stakes

tests are made overt to both teachers and stu-dents. Teachers, principals and district-level co-ordinators often create working groups of pro-fessionals who collaboratively study the de-mands of the high stakes tests their students willtake. They even take the tests themselves to iden-tify the skills and knowledge required to do well.They discuss how these demands relate to dis-trict and state standards and expectations as wellas to their curriculum, and then they discussways to integrate these skills into the curricu-lum. This reflection helps teachers understandthe demands of the test, consider how these de-mands relate to their current practice, and planways to integrate the necessary skills and knowl-edge into the curriculum, across grades andschool years. This process helps them move thefocus of test preparation from practice on the sur-face features of the test itself to the knowledgethat underlies successful learning and achieve-ment in literacy and English.

In addition, students learn to become reflec-tive about their own reading and writing per-

F I N D I N G 2

Teachers integrate testpreparation intoinstruction

n schools thatbeat the odds,test preparationhas been inte-grated into theclass time, aspart of theongoing Englishlanguage artslearning goals.

In contrast, in themore typicallyperformingschools, test prepis allocated to itsown space inclass time, oftenbefore testingbegins, apart fromthe rest of theyear’s work andgoals.

formance. Teachers provide students with waysto read, understand, and write in order to gainthe abilities that are necessary for being highlyliterate for life, not merely for passing a test. Bothstudents and teachers internalize the criteria forgood performance, and students understand thepurposes for and the requirements of the tests.

In more typically performing schools, teach-ers rely on more traditional approaches to testpreparation. If preparation is done at all, it isinserted as a separate activity rather than inte-grated into the ongoing curriculum. The focustends to be on how to take the test rather thanon the underlying knowledge and skills neces-sary for success. Teachers give students old edi-tions of the test, make their own practice testsusing activities that mirror the test-at-hand, andsometimes use commercial materials with simi-lar formats and questions. Preparation is oftendone one or two weeks (or more) before theexam, or the preparation is sporadic and uncon-nected across long periods of time. Studentsoften do not understand the purpose of thetest, nor what they can do to improve theirperformance.



IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE


IN THIS RESEARCH



When the Florida Writes! test was instituted,the Dade County English Language Artscentral office staff and some teachers metto study and understand the exam and thekinds of demands it would make on stu-dents. They saw where the skills and knowl-edge required by the test related to stateand district standards and their existing cur-riculum, and they identified areas thatneeded to be systematically addressed.Together, they developed curriculum guidesthat would create year-long experiences indifferent types of writing, including thekinds of organization, elaboration, and pol-ishing required for each. This coordinationbegan some years before our study of theprograms in Dade County, and the instruc-tional changes that had led to greater co-herence were very evident in the classroomswe studied.

Today classes across the county are repletewith rich and demanding writing experiences.

Classroom exampleFor example, Karis MacDonnell at ReubenDario Middle School has her students thinkabout writing prompts throughout the year.She wants them to understand how promptsare developed and how to best respond tothem. In one lesson she has students studya prompt and identify its parts. The studentsidentify the topic, the question, and the task(e.g., explanation, description).

Next she asks them to develop their ownprompts for an essay about a book they haveread. Before setting the students to work,Karis provides models she has created. Asstudents complete their prompts in class,they bring them to her, and she reviews themto be sure that they contain the requiredparts and that they will help students tofocus their ideas. Students then write es-says based on these prompts. Thus shehelps students gain not only skills neces-sary for the Florida Writes! test, but alsoskills that will support all of their writing.



lesson types





and life


doing the work


generative thinkers


collaborationSome activities that workUsing district and state standards andgoals, teachers and administrators worktogether to• analyze the demands of a test• identify connections to the standards

and goals• design and align curriculum to meet

the demands of the test• develop instructional strategies that

enable students to build necessaryskills

• ensure that skills are learned acrossthe year and across grades

• make overt connections between andamong instructional strategies, tests,and current learning

• develop and implement model les-sons that integrate test preparationinto the curriculum

What doesn’t work• Short-term test preparation• Test preparation that focuses on how

to take the test• Separate rather than integrate test

preparation experiences


I n the higher performing schools, teacherswork consciously to weave a web of connec-

tions within lessons, across lessons, and to stu-dents’ lives in and out of school. They make con-nections throughout each day, week, and year.And they point out these connections so that stu-dents can see how the skills and knowledge theyare gaining can be used productively in a rangeof situations. In these schools, teachers also worktogether to redevelop and redesign curriculum.They share ideas and reflect upon their work.

In the more typical schools, even when les-sons are integrated within a unit, students ex-perience little interweaving across lessons; fewovert connections are made among the content,knowledge, and skills being taught. Class les-sons are often treated as separate wholes — witha particular focus introduced, practiced, dis-cussed, and then put aside. Some teachers en-courage students to make connections, but whenclassroom discussions are carefully controlled,the teacher predetermines the associations thestudents will make. Rather than encouragingstudents to find their own connections — orshowing them how to do so — teachers guidethem to guess the connections the teacher has

F I N D I N G 3

Teachers makeconnections acrossinstruction, curriculum,and life

n the Englishprograms ofschools that beatthe odds, overtconnections areconstantly madeamong knowledge,skills, and ideasand acrosslessons, classes,and grades aswell as acrossin-school andout-of-schoolapplications.

In contrast, inthe more typicallyperformingschools, connec-tions are moreoften unspokenor implicit, if theyoccur at all. Moreoften the lessons,units, and cur-ricula are treatedas disconnectedentities.

already made. In addition, teachers tend to workas individuals rather than as cooperative col-leagues; an overall plan linking the various partsof the curriculum is often absent.

In the higher performing schools and dis-tricts, decisions concerning professional devel-opment are also based upon their relationshipto the whole program and their connections tostudent needs and curricular goals establishedby teachers and administrators. Teachers oftenhave a voice in planning and implementing pro-fessional development activities, and, becausethese activities relate to the program and teach-ers can see how they relate, new ideas and con-cepts presented through them are often inte-grated into curriculum and instruction.

In more typical schools and districts, whenprofessional development materials and work-shops are selected, teachers are rarely consulted,and there may be no attempt to integrate theactivities into ongoing aspects of the existingprogram. Often, when educators gain informa-tion and ideas from such experiences, they donot use them fully; they select some parts andignore other, necessary elements, thus diminish-ing their effectiveness.



Whatis

CELA?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE


IN THIS RESEARCH



When Shawn DeNight at Miami EdisonHigh School learned about an unantici-pated grade-wide field trip to a seniorcitizen center, he turned it into an ad-vantage rather than an interruption toinstruction. He used the trip to con-nect to and further one of his instruc-tional goals. He had intended to havehis students write a character analysisbased on class literature readings. In-stead, he used the trip as a basis for aresearch project in which each studentmet and interviewed a senior citizen andthen used this information to developa persuasive essay. He titled the visit“An Intergenerational Forum: SeniorCitizens and Teens Discuss What ItMeans to Be a Liberal or Conservative.”In preparation for the interview, stu-dents developed questions that wouldget at the person’s thoughts and be-liefs (e.g., Do you think men and womenshould have the same privileges?).Each student interviewed one person,collected responses to the questions,and then planned and wrote the essay,drawing on the interview for evidencethat a person was liberal, conservative,or moderate. This activity then becamepractice for future character analysiswhile reading Romeo and Juliet.

Classroom example



lesson types





and life


doing the work


generative thinkers


collaboration

Some activities that work• Making overt connections between

and across the curriculum, students’lives, literature, and literacy

• Planning lessons that connect witheach other, with test demands, andwith students’ growing knowledgeand skills

• Developing goals and strategies thatmeet students’ needs and areintrinsically connected to the largercurriculum

• Weaving even unexpected intrusionsinto integrated experiences for students

• Selecting professional developmentactivities that are related to the school’sstandards and curriculum framework

What doesn’t work• Isolated lessons• Lessons that leave connections implicit• Lack of follow-through on curricular

goals by teachers and/oradministrators

• Selection of materials notconnected to curricular goals

• Professional development activitiesunrelated to goals or curriculum

• Separated and isolated rather thanintegrated use of materials

Teaching Middle and High School Students to ReadP A G E 1 0

It is important for students to learn not onlysubject matter content, but also how to think

about, approach, and do their work in each sub-ject. In higher performing schools, teachers di-vide new or difficult tasks into segments andprovide their students with guides for accom-plishing them. However, the help they offer isnot merely procedural: They guide studentsthrough the process and overtly teach the stepsnecessary to do well. They provide strategies notonly for how to do the task but also how to thinkabout it. These strategies are discussed andmodeled, and teachers develop reminder sheetsfor student to use. In this way, students learnthe process for completing an assignment suc-cessfully.

Most of the teachers in the higher perform-ing schools share and discuss rubrics for evalu-ating performance with their students. They alsoincorporate rubrics into their ongoing instruc-tion as a way to help students develop an un-derstanding of the components that contributeto a higher score. Discussion of the rubric ex-pectations enables students to develop morecomplete, more elaborate, and more highly or-ganized responses to an assignment. Sometimes

F I N D I N G 4

Students learn strategiesfor doing the work

n schools thatbeat the odds, inEnglish languagearts classesstudents areovertly taughtstrategies forthinking as wellas doing.

In contrast, inmore typicallyperformingschools, thefocus is on thecontent or skill,without overtlyteaching theoverarchingstrategies forplanning, organiz-ing, completing,or reflectingon the contentor activity.

students design a rubric with their teacher sothat they clearly understand what is expectedof them.

In higher performing schools, students learnand internalize ways to work through a task,and to understand and meet its demands.Through these experiences, they not only be-come familiar with strategies they can use toapproach other tasks, including high stakes tests,but they also develop ways to think and workwithin a specific field. Teachers scaffold stu-dents’ thinking by developing complex activi-ties and by asking questions that make the stu-dents look more deeply and more critically atthe content of lessons.

In more typical schools, instruction focuseson content or skills rather than on the process oflearning. Students do not develop the proce-dural and/or metacognitive strategies necessaryto complete tasks independently. Teachers con-centrate on covering the required information,focusing on the answer rather than on how toget to the answer. Students are not helped tointernalize the methods and strategies for ac-complishing tasks.


Some activities that work• Providing rubrics that students review, use,

and even develop• Designing models and guides that lead

students to understand how to approacheach task

• Supplying prompts that support thinking

What doesn’t work• Focus on skills and content• Instructions that lack procedural

strategies to support and extend thinking

and Write Well: Six Features of Effective Instruction P A G E 1 1

Whatis

CELA?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE


IN THIS RESEARCH



Kate McFadden-Midby at Foshay Learn-ing Center in California provides herstudents with strategies for completingany task that she thinks is going to benew or challenging for them. For ex-ample, early in the year she providesstrategies for group participation. Sheassigns specific roles that help stu-dents include important concepts andencourage participation of all members.The roles rotate, and students becomecomfortable filling all of them.

Many subsequent assignments requirethe application of these collaborativestrategies. For example, when her stu-dents are learning character analyses,Kate asks them to begin by developingcritical thinking questions. She tellsthem that the questions must be onesthat anyone could discuss, even some-one who has not read the book (e.g.,one student asked, “Why are somepeople so cruel when it comes to re-venge?”).

Before students meet with their groups,she provides these directions:

share your critical thinking questionwith your group;tell your group partners why youchose that particular question and

what situation in the book made youthink about it.

Next, she asks the students to choosetwo characters from the book (or books)they have read, in order to compare thecharacters’ viewpoints on that question.The students engage in deep and sub-stantive discussion about their class-mates’ questions, and in so doing gainclarity on the goals and process of the

Classroom example

12

task. As students work to develop theirquestions, they are applying their groupstrategies as well as developing waysto analyze characters.

These group discussions are followedby a pre-writing activity in preparationfor writing a description of the charac-ters they choose. Kate instructs themon how to develop a T- Chart. Onecharacter’s name is placed at the topof one column of the T, and the othercharacter’s name at the top of the other.She asks them to list characteristics:what their characters were like, experi-ences they had, opinions, etc. By usingthis chart, Kate provides the studentswith a way to identify characteristics andthen ways to compare them acrosscharacters.

Students again meet with their groupsand present their characters. Kate scaf-folds the students’ thinking by askingquestions about the characters: Whatkind of person was the mother? Whatare some adjectives that might describeher? How do you think those thingscould influence how she feels?

Over time, they will use the T-Chart asan organizational strategy in severalwriting assignments, and Kate will in-troduce them to a variety of other sup-portive strategies. Although her assign-ments are complex, her students canbe successful because Kate provideshelpful strategies along the way. Theygain insight not merely into specificcontent (e.g., the characters of the les-sons above), but also into how to do theassigned work and how they can applythese tools in other learning situations.



lesson types

Teachersintegrate test prepa-

rationinto instruction

Teachers make con-nections across


and life


doing the work


generative thinkers


collaboration


All of the teachers in the higher performingschools take a generative approach to stu-

dent learning. They go beyond students’ acqui-sition of skills or knowledge to engage studentsin creative and critical uses of their knowledgeand skills. Teachers provide a variety of activi-ties from which students will generate deeperunderstandings. For example, when studying lit-erature, after the more obvious themes in a textare discussed, teachers and students togetherexplore the text from many points of view, bothfrom within the literary work and from life. Stu-dents may be asked to research the time period,to consider how issues in the piece relate to cur-rent issues, or to compare the treatment of is-sues in this literary work with the treatment ofthe same issues in other pieces they have read.Teachers are attuned to questions raised by the

F I N D I N G 5

Students are expectedto be generative thinkers

n schools thatbeat the odds, thetenor is such thateven after studentachievement goalsare met, Englishlanguage artsteachers movebeyond immediategoals towarddeeper under-standings andgenerativity ofideas.

In contrast, in themore typicallyperformingschools, oncestudents exhibituse of the immedi-ate understand-ings or skills atfocus, teachersmove on toanother lesson.

students and use the students’ concerns as op-portunities to further elaborate and generatemeaning. Once students arrive at a level of ex-pertise, teachers continue to provide an array ofactivities that provoke them to use what theyhave learned to think and learn more.

In contrast, in the more typical schools, thelearning activity and the thinking about it seemto stop when the desired response is given orwhen the assigned task is completed. When stu-dents appear confused or uncertain, teacherswill often give them the “right” answer andmove on to the next activity rather than capital-ize on the opportunity to provoke further studyand probing of the issue. The learning consistsmore of a superficial recall of names, definitions,and facts than a deeper and more highly con-ceptualized learning.


Some activities that work• Exploring texts from many points of view (e.g., social, historical, ethical,

political, personal)• Extending literary understanding beyond initial interpretations• Researching and discussing issues generated by literary texts and

by student concerns• Extending research questions beyond their original focus• Developing ideas in writing that go beyond the superficial• Writing from different points of view• Designing follow-up lessons that cause students to move beyond their

initial thinking

What doesn’t work• Stopping once students have demonstrated understanding• Asking questions with predetermined answers that require little or no

discussion or thought• Covering content rather than addressing the complexities of understanding


Whatis

CELA?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE


IN THIS RESEARCH



Gloria Rosso* at Hudson Middle Schoolteaches research skills using the WorldWide Web, hard copy material, and in-terviews as sources of information, butshe wants her students to go beyondtheir initial research questions and todiscover new areas of inquiry. To do this,she engages her students in a genera-tive activity that extends the learningof content as well as of the researchprocess.

She begins with what she calls a mini-unit on the students’ surnames — whatthey mean and their histories. Sheteaches students to create good ques-tions and has them interview their par-ents about family history. As the stu-dents talk at home, they identify addi-tional questions about their families,culture, and history that they wish topursue. Gloria teaches the studentshow to access information on the Weband in the school library to search foranswers to their questions, and she en-courages them to continue to redefineand build upon their initial questions asthey find more information.

Classroom exampleAs students work, Gloria invites themto explore the use of symbols as a back-ground to devising their own coats ofarms. This activity encourages studentsto move beyond factual interpretationof information to a more symbolic orconceptual level.

While Gloria helps with research skills,the students discuss what they arelearning with one another and share theways in which the research about theirnames provide a living trail of history.These discussions move students torethink their own research efforts andto consider other ways of extending theirknowledge. At the end of this unit, stu-dents write essays about their experi-ences, including what they have learnedabout themselves and their families.But the learning does not stop here.With these goals met, Gloria expectsthe students to move beyond what theyhave learned as they research andstudy African American culture and ex-periences in language arts class, andas they complete related research ac-tivities in science, social studies, andhealth classes.



lesson types





and life

Students learnstrategies for doing

the work


generative thinkers


collaboration

* This name is a pseudonym.


In higher performing schools, students workin communicative groups, and teachers help

students participate in thoughtful dialogue. Stu-dents engage in the kind of teamwork that is nowso highly prized in business and industry. Theybring their personal, cultural, and academicknowledge to these interactions, in which theyplay the multiple roles of learners, teachers, andinquirers and have opportunities to consider is-sues from multiple perspectives. Minds bumpagainst minds as students interact as both prob-lem-generators and problem-solvers. Teachersexpect students not merely to work together, butalso to sharpen their understandings with,against, and from one another. In the higher per-forming schools, even whole class activities,particularly discussions, foster similar cognitivecollaborations. Students learn to work together,listening to and interacting with one anotherabout the ideas at hand. Teachers understandthe importance of treating students as membersof dynamic communities that rely on social andcognitive interactions to support learning.

Teachers in more typical schools and classesfocus on individual thinking rather than on col-

F I N D I N G 6

Classrooms fostercognitive collaboration

n schools thatbeat the odds,English learningand high literacy(the content aswell as the skills)are treated associal activity,with depth andcomplexity ofunderstandingand proficiencywith conversationsgrowing frominteraction withpresent andimagined others.

In contrast, in themore typicallyperformingschools, studentstend to work aloneor together onansweringsuperficialquestions ratherthan engagingin substantivediscussion frommultiple perspec-tives.

laborative work. Even when students work to-gether, they think in parallel rather than engag-ing in thoughtful, interactive conversation. Cog-nitive interactions about ideas are minimal andtheir focus is on completing tasks on their own.Students may cooperate in completing tasks, butthey don’t work their conceptualizationsthrough with each other. Often individual stu-dents in a group will each complete parts of aworksheet and then exchange answers ratherthan working and thinking together as a collabo-rative group.

Teachers in more typical schools often ex-press concerns about managing collaborativegroups. They worry that students will becomeunruly, distracted, or off task when working to-gether. As a result of these concerns, teacherstend to treat each learner as an individual. Theyassume that group interaction will either dimin-ish the thinking of the students or disrupt thediscipline of the class. Rather than teaching thestudents to take their group work seriously andtrusting them to do so, they develop activitiesthat ensure that students will work indepen-dently and quietly.


Some activities that workStudents working in small and large groups to• share their ideas and responses to literary texts, questions, etc.• question and challenge each others’ ideas and responses• create new responses

Teachers providing support during discussions and group work by• moving from group to group• modeling questions and comments that will cause deeper discussion and analysis• encouraging questions and challenges that cause students to think more deeply


Whatis

CELA?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO

UNDERSTAND THAT THE


IN THIS RESEARCH



Cathy Starr*, at Hudson Middle School,uses both whole class and small classactivities to foster cognitive collabora-tion. These activities weave into oneanother and together support students’developing thinking. For example, inresponse to reading assignments, sheasks each student to bring threethought-provoking questions to class asa stimulus for discussion. Studentsmeet in small groups to discuss thesequestions and come up with one or two“big” questions for the entire class.Cathy moves from group to group, mod-eling questions and comments, andprovoking deeper discussion and analy-sis by the students. The small groupsbring their selected question(s) to theentire class, and the class uses these

Classroom exampleas the focus for the larger discussion.After the whole class discussion, Cathylists items on which the students agreeas well as issues that still need to beresolved in further discussions. Stu-dents use these lists as the startingpoint for further small group discus-sions.

Whether participating in small groupsor in whole class discussions, the stu-dents are required to interact in thought-ful ways. They listen to and weigh theresponses of other students againsttheir own understandings. They ask forclarification and express their differ-ences. This social activity is critical tomoving their understandings forward.



lesson types





and life

Students learnstrategies for doing

the work


generative thinkers


collaboration

* This name is a pseudonym.

What doesn’t workStudents working• alone without time to discuss, question, or share ideas• together but not engaged in discussions or assignments that

require them to grapple with ideas together

Teachers assigning• tasks that encourage independent work rather than group

interaction• questions that have predetermined answers

For more information, visit or contact:

National Research Center on English Learning & AchievementUniversity at Albany, ED-B9State University of New York1400 Washington AvenueAlbany, NY 12222Phone: (518) 442-5026Fax: (518) 442-5933Email: [email protected]

For moreinformation

The Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA) is supported by the Office ofEducational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (awardnumber R305A60005). The contents of this document do not necessarily represent thepositions of OERI, the department, or any agency of the U.S. Government.

CELA IS THE ONLY NATIONAL

center funded by the U.S. Depart-

ment of Education to conduct

research dedicated to improving

the teaching and learning of

English language and literacy,

grades K-12. CELA’s mission is

to identify the best ways to

strengthen English and language

arts programs, practices, and

policies. We focus on the knowl-

edge and skills students need to

effectively read, write, and commu-

nicate throughout their lives.

May 2000

teaching middle and high school students to read and write well

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