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?