Under and Over-Scaffolding Complex Texts

No More "Baby Stuff"
February 9, 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 11
Table of Contents

The Differentiation Equation: A Tool to Develop Independent Readers
Marie Aurea Garrido

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Scaffolding Complex Texts

The examples below come from the article written by Marie Aurea Garrido about two different teachers and how they differentiated for all levels of readers.

Classroom 1: The 8th graders in Ms. Jeffries's class are quietly reading the poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and answering a set of questions that come from the textbook. The students, a mix of on-level and struggling readers, are having difficulty with the vocabulary and meaning behind the poem. Despite that, Ms. Jeffries is satisfied that 80 percent of the class has earned a 60 percent or higher score on the assignment.

Classroom 1 is a prime example of "under-scaffolding" complex texts for any level of reader. This teacher could benefit from the following strategies:

• Word Wall- key vocabulary posted around the room.

• Previewing the Text- having students skim and scan the text looking for words or ideas that they do not understand.

• Marking the text- annotating the text to help with vocabulary and comprehension of the text.

• Formative assessment data: this would help her understand who needed additional scaffolding. 

Classroom 2: Ms. Andrews's 7th grade class of struggling students are in a circle, listening intently as she reads aloud an editorial about smartphone privacy issues that relates to the unit on privacy versus security and the U.S. Bill of Rights. The students follow along and listen as the teacher connects the concepts to the unit and defines key words for them. The exit slip at the end of class shows that all of the students can explain that day's class content.

Classroom 2 is an example of "over-scaffolding" complex texts for students. This teacher could benefit from the following strategies:

• I do, We do, You do: Students should be allowed the time to show what they can do based on what they have learned from the teacher. This is the idea of gradual release of responsibility. 

• Think, Pair, Share: Allowing students to have some partner time to work through tough texts. The students can talk through their struggles with a partner before sharing with the larger group

• Formative Assessment data: Again, having an understanding of what kids can do before you begin will allow you to purposely plan your differentiation of reading complex texts. 

Lesson Closure - Student Self-Evaluation

Lesson closure continues as a theme this week, since it is the focus in many of our buildings. In a nutshell, a strong lesson closure includes three parts:

•  a formative assessment aligned with the learning target and success criteria. This could be formal or informal.
•  a student evaluation/reflection aligned with the learning target and success criteria
•  a feeling of wrap-up and a transition to the next learning target or lesson

As instructional coaches, we almost always see formative assessment, but frequently teachers struggle to include student self-evaluation, even though it ranks at the top of John Hattie’s list of strategies with the highest impact on student achievement. 

Here are some quick and easy ways to help student self-evaluate their process. 

•  Rating form (electronic or hard copy). However, a simple 1-2-3-4 is far less helpful than requiring students with a 1-2-3 to identify their area of struggle 
•  Fist or five (students hold up 0-5 fingers to demonstrate level of understanding). Teacher may record students names/self-assessment number
•   Exit slip asking for answers to reflective questions about mastery of learning target. Teachers skims to determine level of understanding or can sort for students needing intervention
•  Rubric that students mark, using pencil, at the end of each work period, and then set a written goal for improvement
•  Co-created rubric (teacher and students) that the students complete at the end of the lesson
•   Post-its on which students write a question they have. These are left on the white board or door
•  Continuum—students place a Post-it with their name along a continuum toward mastery so that teacher can individually assess student proficiency
•  Students talk to a partner about their mastery of the learning target/success criteria. Teacher walks around, taking notes on student conversations
•  Forced choice—vote  with your feet—students stand in the part of the room that describes their progress toward the learning target (“I could teach it,” “I mostly get it,” “I am a little lost,” “ I am completely lost"). Teacher records those needing help and may match strong students with struggling students
•  Student compares his/her work with a model, identifying where he/she needs to improve

What’s a Gamer Brain and How Can We Harness It in Class?

What’s a Gamer Brain and How Can We Harness It in Class?
Leverage your students’ favorite video and board games to unlock what engages them.
By Andrew Miller
February 7, 2017

In the past, I’ve written on ideas for gamification—using games in the classroom—but lately I’ve been reflecting on some of the bigger ideas that games open up in terms of pedagogy and the classroom experience. While we can use games as tools and perhaps build units that are gamified, we might also adopt some basic ideas from the experience of playing games.

 Here are four takeaways from games that we can instill in our classrooms.

1. Leverage the Gamer Brain
People like different kinds of games. You may love a game that your friends don’t like. This is only natural, as different games have different motivations, mechanics, and other design elements. However, these games access different parts of the “gamer brain,” a concept developed by Rob Beeson, a game marketer and producer. Perhaps you’re a Socializer who likes to talk and support other people while you game. People play World of Warcraft for this reason. Or maybe you’re an Achiever who enjoys the process of collecting objects and completing every available goal. Obviously, Pokémon—the card game and the mobile app—aligns well here. Games may leverage one or more gamer types in their design, and our lessons can too.

How can you use this in your classroom?
- Have students self-assess what type of gamer brain they might be.
- Have students discuss their favorite games to uncover how they like to engage in their gaming time.
- Playing games with students and have them reflect on why they like the games. Use that information as feedback for lesson and unit design.
- Create a lesson with different types of activities for different gamer types to pick from—perhaps a collection-based activity or a more social one, for example.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 3.3: Strategies that capitalize on learning needs of students; 3.4: Differentiated Instruction


2. Embrace Failure

This is not a new idea, but it’s still an important one. Games can be played over and over, and we can fail and make mistakes and try again. Can you imagine what it would be like to play a game like Super Mario Brothers and only have one shot to get it right? Crazy! Unfortunately, much of the school system and our classroom structures are set up that way. While it is challenging, we need to find ways to allow students to redo work and try again. Games give the just-in-time feedback that shows us what we need to do better, and we teachers can do the same to make failure simply part of the process, not an end. Watch Edutopia’s “5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward” for more inspiration.

How can you use this in your classroom?- Assess your grading practices to ensure they allow for multiple tries and redos.
- Don’t grade practice—grade students at their best.
- Embed reflection throughout your lessons to help students learn from their failures and mistakes.
- Share famous failures and inspirational quotes to help reframe failure into a more positive experience.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 2.2: Expectation, support and opportunity for participation and meaning making; 5.3: Use of learning time; 6.2: Demonstration of Learning; 

3. Celebrate Epic Wins
Have you played a game and had a moment when you won and were so excited that you blurted out “Yes!” in celebration? That’s the epic win or “fiero,” as Jane McGonigal explains in her book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World: “Fiero is what we feel after we triumph over adversity. You know it when you feel it—and when you see it. That’s because we almost all express fiero in exactly the same way: We throw our arms over our head and yell.” To me, this means that learning should be challenging, but appropriately so. We should create challenging learning experiences so that students are given enough support to triumph and feel the epic win. We should also celebrate ourselves and each other when we get those wins in the classroom.

How can you use this in your classroom?
- Have students celebrate everyday wins regularly as a discussion or journal activity.
- Record reactions of students being successful and share them with the class.
- Share your successes and wins as a teacher with your colleagues.

TPEP Criteria Connections: 3.1: Teaching point(s) are based on students' learning needs; 3.2: Ownership of Learning

4. Foster Voluntary Learning
We don’t—or at least we shouldn’t—play games because we have to. We do it because we choose to. When we pick up a controller or a chess piece, we’re volunteering into that experience. Games would not be as powerful if we had to play. We can stop when we want, which creates a feeling of safety. When we step into a game, we accept “the goals, the rules, and the feedback” of the game. This is probably the hardest aspect of games to instill in education. Students are required to go to school, and what they learn is mandated. However, we can do our best to create invitations to learn and to create spaces where students volunteer to learn.

How can you use this in your classroom?- Focus on engaging strategies like project-based learning to open the door to learning, instead of forcing students through it.
-- Provide as much choice as possible for students, from grouping to product and topics.
- Give a student a pass if they don’t want to engage, and seek to understand why that is. Then follow up and invite them back to the task.
- Ask students what they want to learn about, and do your best to leverage this in lesson and unit design.

TPEP Criteria Connection: 2.5: Gradual release of responsibility; 3.2: Ownership of learning.

Lesson Closure--an Exemplar

Lesson closures are an instructional emphasis this year, with the expectation that they be a daily practice--including work days, test days, review days, and  new learning days. A successful lesson closure requires that both teacher (through formative assessment) and student (through self-evaluation) know how the student is progressing toward meeting the learning target and fulfilling the success criteria. But, sometimes it’s hard to come up with new ideas/strategies so that closures don’t become just a rote routine.

Last week  I had the pleasure  of observing Alyssa Hurt’s Strength and Conditioning class, and was blown away by her high-quality closure, the seriousness  with which her students participated, and the seven (!!)  TPEP criteria she incorporated into 5-minute closure. Below is Alyssa's closure, with new questions you can ask and strategies you can use.

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Prep time for teacher: None, assuming that teacher had questions in mind. 5-10 minutes if teacher needed to develop questions

Class time for lesson closure: 5-7 minutes

Outcome:  Students had received feedback from teacher and peers, had reflected on their performance, had evaluated using a rubric, and had set goals for next lesson.  Students are much more likely to remember and apply their learning next class than they would be without a closure; thus, Alyssa can spend less time to bring students back to the goals and learning of the previous class.

Lesson  Closure Procedure (instructional practice or TPEP Criteria identified in red):

Alyssa’s learning targets were:

• ·         I can identify the different levels on the five-point rubric (see rubric at bottom of page).
• ·         I can evaluate my performance  based on the  five-point rubric (see rubric at bottom of page).

(Note:  Success criteria, (in the form of a rubric) are listed at the bottom of the page).

After students had finished their lifting and clean-up, she gathered them together in front of the posted learning targets.  Alyssa pointed to the goals for the day, and asked, “What happened to your performance as we progressed to this point?” Students said that they got tired and started “cheating.” Alyssa said that she had noticed this as she walked around checking student performance (teacher feedback/formative assessment).

Discussion Questions/Directives to Students:

·         How did you challenge yourselves today? (asking for self-reflection, criteria 6.1)

·         What is the biggest error that most of us make when we lift? (asking for self-reflection, criteria 6.1)

·         Turn to a shoulder buddy, and identify the characteristics you used. Rate yourself on a 0-5 scale using the rubric. (self-evaluation aligned with learning target and success criteria, criteria 6.1)

·         Hold up fingers with your self-score, stand up, and find a partner holding up the same number of fingers. (student talk as they share self-evaluation, criteria 2.3)

·         What was the specific characteristic for your level? (using the rubric and criteria for self-evaluation criteria 6.1)

·         What can you improve on or do differently to improve next time? (student use of assessment data, criteria 6.5, and ownership of learning, criteria 3.2)

·         Did anyone score a 0? 1? 2? 3?  Okay, so most of you were 3s, 4s, or 5s. What is one characteristic that you would like to do differently next time? Why did you give yourself a 3 instead of a 4? (formative assessment aligned with learning target/success criteria, criteria 6.3; ownership of learning, criteria 3.2)

·         What is the difference between a 3 and a 4? (revisiting success criteria for greater student understanding, criteria 1.3)

·         What about a 5? What could you do differently to reach or maintain a 5? (ownership of learning, criteria 3.2, and connection to future lessons, criteria 4.1)

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Tahoma Health and Fitness: Five Point Grading System

Level 5:  Students operating at a level 5 will consistently demonstrate good decision making skills.  They show outstanding effort regardless of their ability, and will seek extra help from the teacher when needed.  These students will be mentally and physically prepared for the days activities by cooperating, giving support, being good listeners, and showing concern for others.

Level 4:  Students demonstrate consistent participation throughout the curricular day.  They are self-directed, make good decisions and take responsibility for their choices and actions.  These students are able to work without direct supervision.

Level 3:  Students decide to participate in the activity, but not to the fullest extent of their ability.  They are involved with the activity but not for the purpose of self improvement or improvement of the team.

Level 2:  Students do not fully participate in the days activities.  They do not show much effort to master the skill or show improvement.  They are able to control their behavior so that they do not interfere with another student’s right to learn or the teacher’s right to teach.

Level 1:  Students decide not to participate consistently throughout the day.  Students are unable to control their behavior and interfere with another student’s right to learn or the teachers’ right to teach.  Student’s behavior creates an unsafe environment for themselves or others.

Level 0:  Students decide to be unmotivated, unprepared, or undisciplined.  Their behavior includes discrediting or making fun of other students or teachers.  The student makes a conscious decision to interrupt the learning process, intentionally misuses equipment, or behaves in an unsafe manner and annoys Mrs. Hurt.