Closing the Achievement Gap for African American, Latino and EL Students

1. Closing the Achievement Gapfor African American, Latino and EL Students 2010-11 TOT, Session One September 2010 Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD

2. Session Outcomes • Team members will: • Understand about the physiology of the brain as it relates to learning • Understand the influence of teacher expectation on students • Know the definition and characteristics of growth and fixed mindsets • Be able to use language and strategies associated with a growth mindset

3. Group Norms and Individual Agreements

4. Participate to the fullest extent appropriate. Listen to understand the position of those with whom you disagree rather than preparing a defense of your own view. Speak of your own thoughts, feelings, and reactions rather than debating those of others. Seek common ground. Do not divert the issue. Norms for Discussions 4

5. Two TOT Objectives • Building cultural understanding • Understanding how culture works • Learning culture-specific information • Using culturally responsive strategies Thinking/ Feeling Doing

6. How We Learn

7. Daggett’s Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Model Rigor Relevance How am I challenged in this lesson? What support will I receive to achieve success? What is the purpose of this lesson, and why should I learn it? Relationships Does my teacher care about me and respect me?

8. Expectations for Learning “If I believed this student was completely capable of learning this content, what would I be doing right now?” Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162

9. Think · Pair · Share Motivation Think of a time when you were successful in motivating a student. What steps did you take to successfully motivate them? In order to successfully motivate this student, I __________ .

10. What challenges do you encounter when motivating students? What were the common challenges shared? Table Share

11. Defining the Language

12. (and so can our students!) New research tells us that you can grow your intelligence! You Can!

13. The Formula Input + Lifestyle = Brain Growth

14. Physical Model Building • As the presenter narrates the process of growing your brain, construct a physical model of the brain using pipe cleaners.

15. How it works

16. Tag Team Choose a partner. Disassemble ONE of the partner’s pipe cleaner neurons, leaving the other’s intact. The partner with the shorter hair reenacts the first step of the pipe cleaner activity being sure to explain what s/he is creating. Tag…the other partner takes over creating the next step and explaining as s/he builds the neuron. Continue alternating steps until finished.

17. Here’s How

18. Input • Powerful Learning Experiences • Positive emotional connections to learning • Student Engagement • Relevance and Connectedness • Deep Practice • Interacting with new knowledge • Speaking and writing opportunities

19. Life style • Nutrition • Which foods grow your brain? • Nuts • Fish • Protein • Glucose (from whole foods)

20. Life style • Sleep • How does sleep affect learning? • 8-10 hours every night • The brain needs sleep to produce melatonin • Melatonin helps with memory and learning (myelination) • It also helps people sleep deeply

21. The Two Mindsets

22. NOT Are you Fixed Mindset OR Growth Mindset? BUT a continuum X X X X Fixed Growth

23. Easy v. Challenging Learning

24. What IS the optimal response to a challenge? Utilizing opportunities for powerful learning and deep practice Making healthy brain-friendly lifestyle choices Responding to challenges in a “growth-mindset” (Dweck 2007)

25. Think · Pair · Share • Consider a time when you responded to a challenge with a growth mind set • Consider another time when you responded to a challenge with a fixed mindset • Jot down details about each example. Be prepared to share at your table.

26. What messages do we send to students? Don’t worry, this is easy! You’re my little geniuses! You are SO fast! You’re so smart, you should be able to do this.

27. The Research on Expectation and Its Effect on Teacher Behavior Teachers praise low students less frequently than highs for success Teachers seat low students farther away Teachers generally pay less attention to low students and interact with them less frequently Teachers are less friendly with low-achieving students, including smiling less and using fewer friendly, nonverbal behaviors Teachers wait less time for low students to answer questions Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167

28. The Research on Expectation and Its Effect on Teacher Behavior Teachers give low students less eye contact and nonverbal communication such as leaning forward and using positive head nodding Teachers wait less time for low students to answer questions Teachers give low students answers or call on someone else rather than delve into the logic underlying the answers or improve on the answers of low students Teachers generally demand less from low students Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); pp.162-167

29. Article Reading and Whip Around • Read the article Mindsets and Equitable Education and be prepared to share one “a-ha” at your table in a Whip Around.

30. Instead of… Fixed Message You are so smart, why won’t you do this? You are my little geniuses! If you don’t pass the test, your grade is going to suffer. If this part is missing from the assignment, it is a zero. Growth Message Can you tell me what is holding you back? Your hard work and practice are paying off! Tomorrow’s assessment is your chance to show off your learning. Do you need more practice? If you are missing a part, I will give it back to you to fix it.

31. Sort it! Sit with a partner – you’ll share a “sort” Remove paperclip and arrange pieces into two categories: Growth-minded and Fixed-minded. Each partner must have his/her fingers ON the sort pieces!

32. Become More Growth-Minded • In addition to transforming teacher language, teacher classroom practices can also be revised to reflect a more growth-minded mindset.

33. Guiding QuestionsHow do you determine if a practice promotes growth-mindedness? • Does it … • help students focus on effort? • communicate that mistakes are opportunities to learn? • provide interactive situations for deep practice? • foster a student’s desire to take on challenges?

34. Choral Response Read each of the following descriptions of teacher classroom practices. Think about whether it is more indicative of a fixed or a growth mindset practice. When prompted, use choral response to either call out “fixed” or “growth” depending on your identification of practice.

35. Practice 1: A teacher assigns an essay after first providing a rubric. Students turn in the essay and receive comments and a highlighted rubric/grade. They are given the opportunity to rewrite and resubmit up to two more times for an improved grade over the course of the next two weeks.

36. ANSWER: Growth Rationale: Students receive corrective feedback and an opportunity to learn from “mistakes.” Also, this reinforces the connection between effort and growth to an improved grade and learning experience.

37. Practice 2: A teacher spends the majority of class discussion time posing questions and calling on students with raised hands.

38. ANSWER: Fixed Rationale: The teacher demonstrates no expectation that all students will interact with the material. This practice also allow students students to systematically ignore the learning opportunity.

39. Practice 3: When students are asked to turn in a major assignment, the teacher requires that his students submit an “effort evaluation” which is where they self-assess and answer the following questions: What did my effort on this project look and sound like? What are the strengths of my product? What did I learn as a result of my effort? What mistakes might I have made from which I can learn?

40. ANSWER: Growth Rationale: Students are prompted to reflect on learning experiences and articulate what effort looks and sounds like. The last question (“What mistakes might I have made from which I can learn?”) sends the message to students that we should be learning from our mistakes rather than quitting because of them.

41. Practice 4: Each week, a teacher provides students with a new list of 10 vocabulary words on Monday. She tells the students to look up the definitions and be prepared to take a quiz on the definitions on Friday.

42. ANSWER: Fixed Rationale: Students are given no structured way to practice with the material to commit it to long term memory. Students who are typically unsuccessful with school assignments will continue to reinforce an isolated approach to information gathering. Students might be memorizing incorrect information, depending on the definition selected. Finally, there is no opportunity to return to the words to learn them more accurately or more deeply.

43. Practice 5: Students are given an end of chapter math test which has been graded and returned. The teacher directs the students to do an error analysis, something they have practiced, on three of the most commonly missed problems to identify why they got it wrong which the teacher checks for accuracy. Any student successfully completing this task may retake the test after school.

44. ANSWER: Growth Rationale: Students are prompted to reflect on learning experiences and identify WHY they made a mistake with the intent of learning from it. The opportunity to retake the test after the teacher checks to see if the error analysis is correct reinforces continued effort in the learning cycle.

45. Connections to the Classroom As teachers, we can: Self-assess whether we have a tendency toward a growth or fixed mindset. Consciously choose to use language that fosters a growth mindset in students. Review classroom practices to determine whether they foster opportunities for deep practice and learning from mistakes. Explicitly teach students how their brains work and what lifestyle and input choices will positively affect their intelligence.

46. Connections to the Classroom In The Art and Science of Teaching, Robert Marzano poses a great question for us to ask ourselves when examining our expectations about student learning: “If I believed this student was completely capable of learning this content, what would I be doing right now?” Marzano, R.J., The Art and Science of Teaching (2007); p. 162

47. Think-Pair-Share Table Share Physical Model Building Tag Team Whip Around Sort Choral Response Active Participation Strategies

48. Resources Doing What Works website: US Dept of Education http://dww.ed.gov/practice/?T_ID=18&P_ID=34 “Even Geniuses Work Hard” by Dr. Carol Dweck in Educational Leadership “How Not to Talk to Your Kids” by Dr. Carol Dweck in New York Magazine http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/ Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol Dweck www.mindsetonline.com BrainologyTM by Mindset Works www.brainology.us Florin HS wiki space – lessons, book study materials, readings www.florin.pbworks.com/Mindset

49. Closing the Achievement Gapfor African American, Latino and EL Students 2010-11 TOT, Session One September 2010 Curriculum/Professional Learning, Elk Grove USD