For 6-12 Social Studies

Classroom Instruction That Works 6-12 Social Studies

Research-Based Instructional Strategies

Strategy Avg. Effect Size

Percentile Gain

1. Identifying Similarities and Differences 1.61 45

2. Summarizing and Note Taking 1.00 34

3. Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition .80 29

4. Homework and Practice .77 28

5. Nonlinguistic Representation .75 27

6. Cooperative Learning .73 27

7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback .61 23

8. Generating and Testing Hypotheses .61 23

9. Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers .59 22

Setting Objectives

Established Goals – based directly on benchmarks

Unpacking Goals - Understandings Tips on Framing Understandings

Frame the desired understanding as a full-sentence generalization in response to the phrase, “Students will understand that…”

State specifically what about the topic students are expected to grasp – topics are not objectives

Think about an objective as the “moral of the story”

Setting Objectives

Prioritizing Content Objectives – Student Friendly? Personalizing Objectives – “I can” Communicating Objectives

Besides writing it on the board, how do you communicate learning goals to students and parents?

Providing Feedback

What is the purpose?Student learning improves based on the

type of feedback that is provided by the teacher and/or student.

Students know how well they are performing on a specific task.

Students know what they can do to improve their performance.

According to research, feedback is regarded as the most powerful thing teachers can use to enhance student learning.

Providing FeedbackFeedback should be: Timely

Knowledge is familiar and “fresh” Positive

Serves as a motivator to improve Adequate/Sufficient

Provides the correct amount of information needed to improve

Specific Avoids making assumptions/removes the

“guessing”; what was correct/incorrect Guided

Shows the next steps to reaching the proficient level or above

Providing Feedback

GENERAL GREAT!

WOW!

GOOD JOB!

OUTSTANDING!

FANTASTIC!

VERY NEAT PENMANSHIP!

WHAT AN INTERESTING STORY!

WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

SPECIFIC GOOD JOB DESCRIBING THE

EVENTS!

YOUR JUSTIFICATION IS RIGHT ON POINT!

THE DETAILS IN YOUR SUMMARY SUPPORT THE MAIN IDEA!

THE STEPS IN THIS PROCESS ARE PRESENTED CORRECTLY!

YOUR INFORMATION IS ORGANIZED CORRECTLY!

Providing Feedback: Rubrics “An assessment tool that verbally describes and

scales levels of student achievement on performance tasks.” –Solomon (1998)

Define the expectations for a learning task and assign values to each level of quality- usually ranging from a low score of “1” to a high score of “4.” – Burke (2006)

Effective analytical rubrics provide specific feedback to improve the quality of a student’s work. – Burke (2006)

Help provide specific feedback because they describe what the student needs to do to move from a score of “2” to a score of “3” in order to improve to meet the standard. – Burke (2006)

Represent a clear and easy way to communicate not only the “what” of a learning task, but also the “how” and “how well.” –Nelson and Lindley (2004)

Vocabulary Development

Marzano’s Steps1. Provide a description, explanation, or example of

the new term2. Ask students to restate the description,

explanation, or example in their own words.3. Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or

graphic representing the term or phrase4. Engage students in activities that help them add

to their knowledge of the terms 5. Have students discuss the terms with one

another6. Involve students in games that involve the words

Vocabulary Development

Word Maps/Concept mapsDeciding which organizer to useChoose a term below and choose a

word map organizer:• Treaty• Tariff• Manifest Destiny• Secession• Cold War

Vocabulary Development

Word Sort ActivityPair-upEach person chooses a word – think

of a description of the wordShare the description with your

partnerRepeat for remaining three cardsHow are all these terms related to one

another?

Vocabulary Development

Dice RollCount off by 4s at your tableWhen the word is shown, roll the dice.

• Speak it instead of writing it Word Walls

Find a word from the wall… Password Pyramid

Vocabulary Development

Pictowords - symbolic representation of a word or phrase that shows its meaning.

Vocabulary Development: Pictowords

Non-Linguistic Representation Students receive new knowledge usually

by:A. Reading from the textbookorB. A lecture from the classroom teacher

Student learning of new knowledge is enhanced by using:

Graphic Organizers Pictograph Representations Mental Images Physical Models Kinesthetic Representations

Non-Linguistic RepresentationGRAPHIC ORGANIZERS Organizes declarative knowledge, or

information, into patterns to help students make connections and relationships.

Non-Linguistic Representation Six Common Patterns:1. Descriptive- represents facts about specific

persons, places, things and events2. Time Sequence- places events in chronological

order3. Process/Cause-Effect Relationships- steps or a

network leading to a specific outcome or product

4. Episodes- specific information about an specific event (setting, people, duration, sequence of event, cause and effect)

5. Generalizations/Principles- general statements with supporting examples

6. Concepts- information around a word or phrase for a group, class, or category

Non-Linguistic Representation Drawings or symbols (also key words)

to represent information.Example:

Nonlinguistic RepresentationMENTAL IMAGES Images of the information or

knowledge being learned.Example:

Nonlinguistic Representation

PHYSICAL REPRESENTATIONS Models or concrete representations of

knowledge.

Examples:

Nonlinguistic Representation

KINESTHETIC REPRESENTATIONS Demonstrating or associating knowledge

through physical movement.

Examples:

3-2-1 Check for Understanding

3 things you learned about Classroom Instruction that Works

2 strategies/ideas you will use 1 question you still have

Vocabulary Resources

Building Academic Vocabulary – Marzano http://jcschools.net/tutorials/vocab/TN.html

Summarizing and Note Taking Requires substituting, deleting –

getting at the essential ideas SQ3R

SurveyQuestion ReadReciteReview

Summarizing and Note Taking: SQ3R Survey

Title Preview or introduction Headings or subheadings Visuals Summary Questions

Question Turn headings into questions Use goals/objectives to establish questions –

how and why are generally best

Summarizing and Note Taking: SQ3R Read

Look for answers to questions Put it in your own words

Recite Write a summary Create 3x5 cards

Review Review questions, answers, summary, note

cards Study guides for tests

Summarizing and Note Taking: History Frames

Somebody Wanted But So In the End

Similarities and Differences

Identifies how things are alike and different based on characteristics.

Requires guidance and explicit structure when teaching students how to use the processes

Allows the opportunity for students to use nonlinguistic representation while using the four processes.

Similarities and Differences

Four process or activities:

1. Comparing

2. Classifying

3. Metaphors

4. Analogies

Similarities and Differences

COMPARING An effective comparison is the identification

of important characteristics and is beyond the usual comparison students use everyday…is should be RIGOROUS

Important characteristics are used as the basis for which similarities and differences are identified

Examples: Venn Diagram, Comparison Matrix

Similarities and Differences

CLASSIFYING Organizing elements into groups

based on similarities Identifying the rules that govern class

or category membership Examples: Venn Diagram, Boxed

Chart, Bubble Chart

Similarities and Differences

ANALOGIES Helpful in explaining an unfamiliar concept

by making a comparison to something familiar

Similar to metaphors, but identifying connections between dissimilar relationships

Example: __ is to __ as __ is to __Relationship:

Similarities and Differences

METAPHORS Identifying a general pattern for two

dissimilar items, then making an abstract or nonliteral connection

Always address the abstract relationshipExample:

Element Literal Pattern Abstract Literal Pattern Element

Relationship

Working Session

As a grade level team, select a topic/ benchmark from the upcoming content. What will be the goals of this lesson? How will students learn the key vocabulary? How will non-linguistic representations be

used? What strategies will be used for summarizing

and note taking? What will students do to identify similarities

and differences? What tools do you need to carry out this

lesson in your classroom?