Best Practices: Increase and Decrease
- 1. www.cdpheritage.org/educator/Blackboard/documents/bestpr.doc BEST PRACTICE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS* RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING READING INCREASE DECREASE ƒ Reading aloud to students ƒ Time for independent reading ƒ Exclusive emphasis on whole-class or reading-group activities ƒ Student’s choice of their own reading materials ƒ Teacher selection of all reading materials for individuals and groups ƒ Exposing students to a wide and rich range of literature ƒ Relying on selection in basal reader ƒ Teacher modeling and discussing his/her own reading processes ƒ Teacher keeping his/her own reading tastes and habits private ƒ Primary instructional emphasis on comprehension ƒ Primary instructional emphasis on reading subskills such as phonics, word analysis, syllabication ƒ Teaching reading as a process: ƒ Use strategies that activate prior knowledge ƒ Help students make and test predictions ƒ Structure help during reading ƒ Provide after-reading applications ƒ Teaching reading as a single, one-step act ƒ Social, collaborative activities with much discussion and interaction ƒ Solitary seatwork ƒ Grouping by interests or book choices ƒ Grouping by reading level ƒ Silent reading followed by discussion ƒ Round-robin oral reading ƒ Teaching skills in the context of whole and meaningful literature ƒ Teaching isolated skills in phonics workbooks or drills ƒ Writing before and after reading ƒ Little or no chance to write ƒ Encouraging invented spelling in student’s early writings ƒ Punishing preconventional spelling in students’ early writings ƒ Use of reading in the content fields (e.g. historical novels in social studies) ƒ Segregation of reading to reading time ƒ Evaluation that focuses on holistic, higher-order thinking processes ƒ Evaluation focus on individual, low-level subskills ƒ Measuring success of reading program by students’ reading habits, attitudes, and comprehension ƒ Measuring the success of the reading program only by test scores * Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, Arthur Hyde Best Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998).
- 2. BEST PRACTICE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS* RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING WRITING INCREASE DECREASE ƒ Student ownership and responsibility by: ƒ Helping students choose their own topics and goals for improvement ƒ Using brief teacher-student conferences ƒ Teaching students to review their own progress ƒ Teacher control of decision-making by: ƒ Teacher deciding on all writing topics ƒ Suggestions for improvement dictated by teacher ƒ Learning objectives determined by teacher alone ƒ Instruction given as whole-class activity ƒ Class time spent on writing whole, original pieces through: ƒ Establishing real purposes for writing and students’ involvement in the task ƒ Instruction in and support for all stages of writing process ƒ Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing ƒ Time spent on isolated drills on “subskills” of grammar, vocabulary, spelling, paragraphing, penmanship, etc. ƒ Writing assignments given briefly, with no context or purpose, completed in one step ƒ Teacher modeling writing – drafting, revising, sharing – as a fellow author and as demonstration of processes ƒ Teacher talks about writing but never writes or shares own work ƒ Learning of grammar and mechanics in context, at the editing stage, and as items are needed ƒ Isolated grammar lessons, given in order determined by textbook, before writing is begun ƒ Writing for real audiences, publishing for the class and for wider communities ƒ Assignment read only by teacher ƒ Making the classroom a supportive setting for shared learning, using: ƒ Active exchange and valuing of students’ ideas ƒ Collaborative small-group work ƒ Conferences and peer critiquing that give responsibility for improvement to students ƒ Devaluation of students’ ideas through: ƒ Students viewed as lacking knowledge and language abilities ƒ Sense of class as competing individuals ƒ Work with fellow students viewed as cheating, disruptive ƒ Writing across the curriculum as a tool for learning ƒ Writing taught only during “language arts” period – i.e. infrequently ƒ Constructive and efficient evaluation that involves: ƒ Brief informal responses as students work ƒ Thorough grading of just a few of student-selected, polished pieces ƒ Focus on a few errors at a time ƒ Cumulative view of growth and self-evaluation ƒ Encouragement of risk taking and honest expression ƒ Evaluation as negative burden for teacher and student by: ƒ Marking all papers heavily for all errors, making teacher a bottleneck ƒ Teacher editing paper, and only after completed, rather than student making improvements ƒ Grading seen as punitive, focused on errors, not growth * Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, Arthur Hyde Best Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998).
- 3. BEST PRACTICE IN SCIENCE* RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING SCIENCE INCREASE DECREASE ƒ Hands-on activities that include: ƒ Students identifying their own real questions about natural phenomena ƒ Observation activity, often designed by students, aimed at real discovery, employing a wide range of process skills ƒ Students hypothesizing to explain data ƒ Information provided to explain data only after students have engaged in investigation process ƒ Students’ reflection to realize concepts and processes learned ƒ Application, either to social issues or further scientific questions ƒ Instruction based mainly on lecture and information giving ƒ Dependence on textbooks and lockstep patterns of instruction ƒ Cookbook labs in which students follow steps without a purpose or question of their own ƒ Questions, concepts, and answers provided only by the teacher ƒ Students treated as if they have no prior knowledge or investigative abilities ƒ Focus on underlying concepts about how natural phenomena are explained ƒ Memorizing detailed vocabulary, definitions, and explanations without thorough connection to broader ideas ƒ Questioning, thinking, and problem solving, especially: ƒ Being skeptical, willing to question common beliefs ƒ Accepting ambiguity when data aren’t decisive ƒ Willing to modify explanations, open to changing one’s opinion ƒ Using logic, planning inquiry, hypothesizing, inferring ƒ Science approached as a set body of knowledge with all answers and information already known ƒ Attempts to correct student misconceptions by direct instruction ƒ Active application of science learning to contemporary technological issues and social choices ƒ Isolation of science from the rest of students’ lives ƒ In-depth study of a few important thematic topics ƒ Superficial coverage of many topics according to an abstract scope-and-sequence ƒ Curiosity about nature and positive attitudes toward science for all students, including females and members of minority groups ƒ Sense that only a few brilliant “nerds” can enjoy or succeed in science study ƒ Integration of reading, writing, and math in science units ƒ Activity limited to texts, lectures, and multiple choice quizzes ƒ Collaborative small-group work, with training to ensure it is efficient and includes learning for all group members ƒ Students working individually, competitively ƒ Teacher facilitating students’ investigative steps ƒ Teacher only as expert in subject matter ƒ Evaluation that focuses on scientific concepts, processes, and attitudes ƒ Testing focused only on memorization of detail, ignoring thinking skills, process skills, attitudes * Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, Arthur Hyde Best Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998).
- 4. PRACTICE IN TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES* RECOMMENDATIONS ON TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES INCREASE DECREASE ƒ In-depth study of topics in each social studies field, in which students make choices about what to study and discover the complexities of human interaction ƒ Cursory coverage of a lockstep curriculum that includes everything but allows not time for deeper understanding of topics ƒ Emphasis on activities that engage students in inquiry and problem solving about significant human issues ƒ Memorization of isolated facts in textbooks ƒ Student decision making and participation in wider social, political, and economic affairs, so that they share a sense of responsibility for the welfare of their school and community ƒ Isolation from the actual exercise of responsible citizenship; emphasis only on reading about citizenship or future participation in the larger social and political world ƒ Participation in interactive and cooperative classroom study processes that bring together students of all ability levels ƒ Lecture classes in which students sit passively; classes in which students of lower ability levels are deprived of the knowledge and learning opportunities that other students receive ƒ Integration of social studies with other areas of the curriculum ƒ Narrowing social studies activity to include only textbook reading and test taking ƒ Richer content in elementary grades, building on the prior knowledge children bring to social studies topics; this includes study of concepts from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science, as well as history and geography; students of all ages can understand, within their experience, American social institutions, issues for social groups, and problems of everyday living ƒ Assumption that students are ignorant about or uninterested in issues raised in social studies ƒ Postponement of significant curriculum until secondary grades ƒ Students’ valuing and sense of connection with American and global history, the history and culture of diverse social groups, and the environment that surrounds them ƒ Use of curriculum restricted to only one dominant cultural heritage ƒ Students’ inquiry about the cultural groups they belong to, and others represented in their school and community, to promote students’ sense of ownership in the social studies curriculum ƒ Use of curriculum that leaves students disconnected from and unexcited about social studies topics ƒ Use of evaluation that involves further learning and that promotes responsible citizenship and open expression of ideas ƒ Assessments only at the end of a unit or grading period; assessments that test only factual knowledge or memorization of textbook information * Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, Arthur Hyde Best Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998).
- 5. BEST PRACTICE IN TEACHING ART* RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHING ART INCREASE DECREASE ƒ Art making: more doing of art, music, dance, drama ƒ Studying other people’s artworks ƒ Student originality, choice, and responsibility in art making ƒ Art projects that require students to create identical products or closely mimic a model ƒ Stress on the process of creation, the steps and stages of careful craftsmanship ƒ Concern with final products and displays that smothers learning about process ƒ Art as an element of talent development for all students ƒ Art as an arena for competition, screening, awards, and prizes for a few ƒ Exploration of the whole array of art forms, from Western and non-Western sources, different time periods, cultures, and ethnic groups ƒ Exclusive focus on Western, high-culture, elite art forms disconnected from a wide range of art making ƒ Support for every student’s quest to find and develop personal media, style, and tastes ƒ Cursory dabbling in many art forms, without supporting a drive toward mastery in one ƒ Time for art in the school day and curriculum ƒ Once-a-week art classes that lack intensity ƒ Integration of arts across the curriculum ƒ Restricting study to separate arts discipline instruction ƒ Using art as a tool of doing, learning, and thinking ƒ Art as a body of content to be memorized ƒ Reasonable classloads and work assignments for arts-specialist teachers ƒ Overloading arts specialists with excessive classloads ƒ Artists in schools, both as performers and as partners in interdisciplinary work ƒ Art experiences provided only by school arts specialists ƒ Long-term partnerships with artists and arts organizations ƒ One-shot, disconnected appearances by artists ƒ Teacher, principal, and parent involvement in the arts ƒ Art-phobic, non-involved school staff members running arts programs for students * Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, Arthur Hyde Best Practice (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998).