Why Didn't I Learn This in College? Third Edition

By PAULA RUTHERFORD

From the beginning, Why Didn't I Learn This in College? has been designed to pull together in one place, in a user-friendly format, much of what many teacher candidates are introduced to in college. The ti

• Language: English
• Publisher: Just ASK Publications & Professional Developm
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780998699424

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title

Why Didn’t I Learn This in College?

Third Edition

Published by Just ASK Publications & Professional Development

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Copyright © 2020 by Just ASK Publications

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No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, translated, or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or any information storage system and retrieval system now known or to be developed.

To access online tools and templates featured in Why Didn’t I Learn This in College? Third Edition, go to www.justaskpublications.com/whytemplates. The online tools and templates are copyright free. Thumbnails of these tools are available on pages 273-293 of this book.

All web links in this book were correct as of the publication date but may become inactive or be changed. The publisher will check the accuracy of links at the time of each subsequent printing. Should you find a link that is changed or no longer available, please send an email to [e-mail] with updated information. Please include the link, the book title, and the page number. Thanks for your help.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-0-9986994-9-3

Library of Congress Control Number 2020907570

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What’s This Book All About?

From the beginning, Why Didn’t I Learn This in College? has been designed to pull together in one place, in a user-friendly format, much of what many teacher candidates are introduced to in college. The title is not meant to suggest that most of the constructs are not covered in teacher preparation programs. The intent is to say truthfully that we did not always internalize all that was introduced, we completed different courses, or, perhaps, we took an alternative approach to entering the profession.

The first two editions are in the hands of hundreds of thousands of new teachers and their mentors. Veteran teachers also find the text useful as a reminder of strategies they used in the past and as a source of newer constructs and approaches to use with the ever-changing demographics of our students. This text is not meant to sit on a shelf but to be used as a resource on a weekly or daily basis. To that end, it is written in a teacher-friendly format, presented in an easy-on- the-eyes font size, and bound so that it lays open on desks. Dog-earred and flagged copies are open on teachers’ desks around the world.

How Is the 3rd Edition the Same as Earlier Editions?

Holds student learning as the central goal of our work

Addresses teachers as leaders of learning and change rather than managers of the status quo

Based on the premise that the best management program is a strong instructional program

Features K-12 practitioner examples on Through the Voice Of... pages

Includes practical applications of evidence-based practices

Dedicated to equitable, engaging, and empowering learning for our diverse learners

What Is New in the 3rd Edition?

Updates in every chapter

Chapter III is revised/updated and is now titled: Building in Rigor and Relevance

Chapter V is revised/updated and is now titled: Incorporating 21st Century Literacies (Textual, Visual, Digital, and More)

Brief snippets on 21st century educational hot topics

Full pages of totally reviewed and updated Resource Recommendations (print, digital, and visual) in Chapters II through X

Multiple QR Codes that facilitate quick access to selected Just ASK online resources aligned with the focus questions addressed in this book

Links to an amazing array of up-to-date web resources embedded throughout each chapter

Table of Contents

I. Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

What New Teachers Need to Know, Just ASK Framework for the Study of Teaching and Learning, Top Ten Tips for Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century, Education Hot Topics

II. Creating a Positive Learning Environment

Points to Ponder: The First Day and Every Day, Learner-Centered Classrooms, Getting to Know You, Setting Students Up for Success Dealing with Unmet Expectations, What to Try with Struggling Learners, How Am I Doing?

III. Building in Rigor and Relevance

Points to Ponder: Through the Ages, Framing the Learning, Bloom's Taxonomy, Webb's Depth of Knowledge(DOK), Daggett's Rigor/Relevance Framework, Questioning, 21st Century Thinking Skills, How Am I Doing?

IV. Making Learning Active

Points to Ponder: Beyond Who Can Tell Me? If You Want to... 30 strategies to use to access prior knowledge, promote creativity and critical thinking, integrate technology, gather pre-assessment data, check for understanding, have students summarize their learning, work in groups, or set purpose for reading and viewing, and more, How Am I Doing?

V. Incorporating 21st Century Literacies

Points to Ponder; What Does It Mean to Be Literate in the 21st Century? Creating 21st Century Literate Learners, Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening Across the Curriculum, Reading to Learn, Unsuccessful Readers, English Language Learners, Maximizing Digital Tools, How Am I Doing?

VI. Making Assessment a Learning Experience

Points to Ponder: If It Hasn't Been Caught, It Hasn't Been Taught! An Assessment Continuum, Pre-assessment, Checking for Understanding, Homework, Self-Assessment, Classroom Test Design with some surprises, Performance Assessment, Assessment Criteria, How Am I Doing?

VII. Planning for Lessons, Units, and the Year

Points to Ponder: Positive Planning Practices and Potential Pitfalls, Planning in a Standards-Based Environment, SBE Planning Process, Planning Instruction for the Year, Essential Understandings, Unit Design, Top Ten Questions for Lesson Design, Task Analysis, Differentiation, Planning the First Days of School, How Am I Doing?

VIII. Setting Yourself Up for Success

Points to Ponder: Systems Design; In the Beginning; Culture, Collaboration, and Communication; Dealing with the Paper Work, Technology as an Professional and Organizational Tool, Substitute Essentials, How Am I Doing?

IX. Organizing the Classroom for Learning

Points to Ponder: Procedures and Routines or Dreams, The Paper Flow, Avoid Mayhem! Getting Their Attention and Keeping It, Giving Directions, Time Templates, Transitions, Procedure Potpourri, Classroom Interior Design, Structuring Small Group Work, How Am I Doing?

X. Working with Parents as Partners

Points to Ponder: Parents are People, People with Children; Communication Systems, Parent Conferences, Back-to-School/Open House, When There Is a Problem, How Am I Doing?

Thumbnails of Online Tools and Templates

Resources and References

Index

Why Didn’t I Learn This in College?

Access More Resources via QR Codes

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See the next page for details about the resources you will be able to access when you use these QR Codes.

What You Will Find When You Use the QR Codes

Online Tools and Templates for Why Didn’t I Learn This in College?

There are over 70 tools and templates in PDF format that support approaches discussed throughout this book. Not only is the availability of specific tools or templates noted on the corresponding page, there is a small QR Code linked to the online tools library in an upper corner of the page.

Thumbnails of the tools and templates are available on pages 273-294.

Just ASK Mentoring Resource Collection

An ever-changing array of resources is available in the collection. Included are multi-page packets, PowerPoints, short video clips, archives of the Mentoring in the 21st Century e-newsletter, and monthly mentoring memos and checklists. If you have a mentor, share it with them; if you do not have a mentor, take a look at the resources we suggest they share with you.

Just for the ASKing! (JFTA!) e-Newsletter Library

JFTA! is written by Bruce Oliver, Just ASK senior consultant and author and former middle school teacher and principal. During his sixteen years as principal he wrote a weekly staewsletter and continues that practice today with over 150 issues of JFTA! organized into six categories available online.

The three categories referenced in Why Didn’t I Learn This in College? are: Best Practice in Teaching and Learning, Meeting the Needs of Our Diverse Learners, and Making Assessment a Learning Experience. These 80 issues are, quite frankly. equivalent to another book that is yours at NO cost just for the clicking.

Making the Standards Come Alive! (MSCA!) e-Newsletter Library

Written by Heather Clayton, Just Ask consultant and author and practicing elementary principal, MSCA! is replete with well-written (and practiced on a daily basis) guidance about building community, mindfulness, and instructional approaches she has used herself and challenges all around her to use as well. Do not miss these pearls of wisdom. This educational leader walks the talk!

Just ASK Resource Center: Best Practice in Teaching and Learning

Resources here include not only tools developed by the Just ASK team; you will also find tools. templates, and exemplars of unit plans and fully developed units from practitioners across the country. We do special shout outs to Edutopia as an exceptional resource of easy-to-read sound ideas about issues facing educators today and the Colorado Department of Education for an incredible collection of fully developed units you can use across the K-12 curriculum.

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My Own Top Ten List

What I Want to Remember and Accomplish This Year

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What New Teachers Need to Know

Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

As a result of over thirty years of teaching, leading, and learning from children and adults, it is clear to me that while beginning teachers may have been told and may believe that they need classroom management skills, what they really need to know is how to set up classroom conditions where high level engagement and learning can occur. It is easier to say that new teachers need classroom management skills than it is to say that they need to develop strong instructional programs. The dilemma with focusing on management is that the end we have in mind for our learners is not that they be well-managed, but that they be well-educated. This book is based on the tenet that the best management system is a strong instructional program.

When we focus on well-educated as opposed to well-managed, we must communicate that we not only believe in the capacity of our students to achieve at high levels but that we have a sense of our own self-efficacy. We can do this many ways. We need to let students know is that we know (or want to know) who they are, that we know what we are talking about, and that we are well prepared. To do that, we need knowledge of content and content standards, as well as a repertoire and skills for designing learning experiences in ways that make learning accessible to all learners, and, last but not least, we need incredible organizational skills for setting up and leading a micro-society.

The term leadership is preferable to the term management because to manage means to maintain the status quo while to lead means to take to a new place and, therefore, implies that change and growth are expected. Entries defining manage in Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary include to handle or direct with a degree of skill, to make and keep submissive, to alter by manipulation. Entries describing lead in the same dictionary include to guide on a way especially by going in advance, to tend toward or have a result, to direct on a course or in a direction. The desired outcome in our classrooms is clearly the latter.

The questions that are the focus of this book are based on the belief that leading the learning is preferable to managing the learning. Teachers must see themselves as leaders and agents of change capable of not only leading students in their content learning but in learning how to learn and in developing their own sense of self-efficacy and empathy. This is true not only for teachers new to the profession but also for all us who see ourselves as life-long learners.

The ASK Framework

Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

Just ASK's essential question is: What do districts, schools, and classrooms look like when they are organized around a commitment to high levels of learning by and the well being of all students.

The three questions for new 21st century teachers that are addressed in this text are:

What is a learning-centered classroom and what do I need to do to create and lead in such a learning environment?

How do I translate a laser-like focus on student learning and the need to begin with the end in mind into planning and pacing for the year, the unit, and the lesson?

What systems, procedures, and routines for organizing my professional and instructional materials, the learners, and classroom learning environment should I contemplate and how might I implement them?

The ASK Framework is an incredibly complex listing of knowledge and skills we all need. They are organized in the six arenas frequently identified as key areas of professional practice for educators. While no one ever masters all of them, it is important for all educators, even novices, to have a complete picture of the complexity of the job so that we can target potential areas for professional development throughout our careers. All of us need to be committed to the success not only our students, but also to the success of our colleagues. That means that we have to collaboratively figure out what knowledge and which skill sets can have the greatest impact on student and teacher success.

The Just ASK team believes that we can better address the essential question of our work when all stakeholders use the same language and concept system. This text and our other primary texts do just that.

Clearly, not all components of the ASK Framework are addressed in this book. Areas not explored in depth here are discussed in Instruction for All Students, Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners, Active Learning and Engagement Strategies, and Creating a Culture for Learning: A Focus on PLCs and More. Some points are so essential that they appear in multiple books.

Leading the Learning, our text for supervisors and evaluators, and The 21st Century Mentor's Handbook, our text for mentors, are cross-referenced to the books like this one that are focused on instructional and collaborative practice. Our workshops and coaching work also address the components of the ASK Framework described on the next two pages.

The ASK Framework

for the Study of Teaching and Learning

The ASK Framework is based on an analysis of areas of performance, standards, or domains developed by organizations, states, and school systems. The categories used in a given district may vary slightly from the six presented here; the components, however, are almost universal.

Planning Instruction

Use rigorous state standards and principles of standards-based teaching, learning, and assessment in lesson, unit, and course design

Keep essential understandings, key concepts, and big ideas front and center

Check alignment of all tasks (Make sure the task is worth doing.)

Ensure that 21st century skills are woven into learning experiences

Consider how best to use technology as one of the wide array of learning tools

Recognize, respect, and respond to the diversity of students by planning how to scaffold and extend learning

Design learning experience that are active, engaging, and empower students

Consider how to connect learning to local and global life beyond the classroom

Promote college and career readiness

Incorporate 21st century literacies (textual, visual, digital, and more) across the curriculum

Use all available data (formative and summative) to inform instructional decisions

Implementing Instruction

Frame the learning and build in rigor and relevance

Clearly communicate purposes, expectations, and directions

Surface and deal with naive understandings and misconceptions

Continuously check for understanding; ask questions that require students to make connections and demonstrate meaning making (Go beyond fact-based answers.)

Encourage and respond to student questions

Pause for processing

Provide a balance of individual, small group, and large group interactions on a daily basis

Build in reflection and metacognition

13a

Assessing Learning and the Instructional Program

Include all components of the Assessment Continuum (See Chapter VI.)

Use formative assessment to inform teaching decisions and promote student responsibility

Make assessment a learning experience

Design or select and assess appropriate paper and pencil assessments

Design or select, and implement performance tasks/assessments (performances, presentations, projects ala project-based learning, etc.)

Design (or have students design) and use rubrics

Use data beyond tests to assess student learning and program design

Orchestrating a Positive Learning Environment

Build a community of learners that respects and responds to diversity

Have and communicate high expectations to all students

Use Attribution Theory to re-frame belief systems

Build student capacity through learning how to learn strategies

Use errors, error analysis, and/or lack of background knowledge and skills as learning opportunities

Develop thinking skills for the 21st century

Build appropriate and positive personal relationships with each student

Organizing and Leading a Productive Learning-Centered Environment

Create or poach, and use productive organizational systems for professional and instructional materials

Develop (with students when possible), implement, and teach organizational systems for learners and the classroom; problem-solve with students when systems are not working

Professionalism and Collegial Collaboration

Seek opportunities for collaboration; participate as a member/leader of collaborative teams

Become a teacher leader

Collaboratively gather, analyze, and use data

Observe and be observed by peers

Value mentoring (ask for and provide assistance)

Engage in co-teaching

Be mindful of professional responsibilities

Work with parents as partners

14a

Top Ten Tips

for Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century

1.  Begin with the end in mind... the end of the year, the end of the unit of study, the end of the lesson. Always ask myself what students are supposed to know as a result of the units and lessons I plan.

2.  Make the use of 10:2 Theory and Wait Time as much a part of my professional practice as brushing my teeth is of my personal life!

3.  Help students access and use prior knowledge at the beginning of each new unit of study. Don't ever skip this step!

4.  Have students process and summarize their learning inside and outside of class. Use homework as formative assessment data rather than as a management tool. Include technology as a learning tool when available and appropriate.

5.  Use a wide range of assessment strategies including pre-assessment. Help students develop strong self-assessment habits and goal setting skills.

6.  Use the research on differences in learners (learning styles, multiple intelligences, modality preferences, language acquisition, cultural differences, special needs, etc.) as a check and balance system on my instructional decisions.

7.  Make learning active and relevant! Be sure that my students are the workers not spectators watching me work. Help them make real-world connections.

8.  Analyze the levels/kinds of thinking required in the learning standards and make sure the questions, learning experiences, assignments, and assessments I design are rigorous, feature 21st century skills and tools, and are aligned with the thinking required by the standards. Remember to go beyond fact-based teaching.

9.  Work collaboratively to use student work and classroom assessment data in combination with standardized achievement results to inform my instructional decisions.

10.  Always remember: Kids are people and deserve to be treated accordingly. When setting up routines and procedures, focus on learning rather than compliance and control.

See the next page for Why Didn't I Learn This in College? page references for each of these tips.

Quick Guide to Page References

Top Ten Tips

1.  Begin with the end in mind... the end of the year, the end of the unit of study, the end of the lesson. See pages 169-192.

2.  Use 10:2 Theory and Wait Time every day. See pages 82, 230, and 234.

3.  Help students access and use prior knowledge at the beginning of each new unit of study. See pages 49-50, 66, 69, 77, 79, 81-82, 88, 89, 96, 98, and 100

4.  Have students process and summarize their learning both inside and outside of class. See pages 66-107.

5.  Use a wide range of assessment strategies including pre-assessment. Help students develop strong self-assessment habits and goal setting skills. See pages 137-167.

6.  Use the research on differences in learners (modality preferences, language acquisition, cultural differences, exceptionalities, etc.) as a check and balance system on my instructional decisions. See 39-42, 115-116, and 184-187.

7.  Make learning active and relevant! Be sure that my students are the workers not spectators watching me work. Help them make real-world connections. See pages 66-107.

8.  Analyze the levels/kinds of thinking required in the learning standards and make sure the questions, learning experiences, assignments, and assessments I design are rigorous, feature 21st century skills and tools, and are aligned with the thinking required by the standards. Remember to go beyond fact-based teaching. See pages 52-60, 81-84, 118-121, and 176-179.

9.  Use student work and classroom assessment data in combination with standardized achievement results to inform my instructional decisions. See pages 172-174, 182, and 185.

10.  When setting up routines and procedures, focus on learning rather than compliance and control. See pages 7-44 and 221-258.

Don't miss pages 66-68!

21st Century Education Hot Topics

A Brief Take on What You Need to Know About Each

Every profession has its own unique vocabulary and displays a tendency to coin new phrases and give new life/meanings to old ones on a regular basis. This short list is provided to help teachers new to a school or a district better understand the terms being used by those who have been there a while.

The Cs: Are there 4 or 5 or more skills? The Partnership for 21st Century Skills working with the National Education Association (NEA) named four: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. Others, including Just ASK and most likely your school district. have added one or two more. We include Cultural Responsiveness.

Choice: William Glasser wrote about the power of choice in the classroom in Choice Theory in the Classroom over three decades ago.To see what is being said about choice today, view the clip at www.kqed.org/mindshift 52421/what-students-choice-looks-like-in-the-classroom. If you want an easy-to-read and brief review of the current research, see www.kqed.org/mindshift/52424/why-choice-matters-in student-learning. (KQED is affiliated with NPR/PBS.)

College and Career Readiness: There are as many definitions as there are states. Google college and career readiness with your state's name to access local approach. The commonalities across states are readiness to be successful in college level courses without remediation and problem solving/critical thinking appropriate for college or work.

Cultural Responsiveness: A culturally responsive teacher is one who recognizes, respects, and responds to differences in life experiences, cultural norms, religions, etc. or students. See www.teachaway.com/blog/5-steps-becoming-culturally-responsive-teacher.

Deeper Learning: The contributors to Wikipedia do a great job with this one. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeper_learning. Deeper learning "enables students to develop skills that empower them to apply learning and to adapt and thrive in postsecondary education as well as career and life... Is based on the premise that the nature of work, civic, and everyday life is changing and... requires that formal education provides young people with mastery of skills like analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, and teamwork.

Differentiation: When we differentiate we make sure that instruction meets the needs of diverse learners, We can differentiate sources, learning experiences, products, or the learning environment. When we differentiate we use ongoing informative assessment and flexible grouping to help us recognize, respect, and respond to differences in learners.

Empathy: Empathy involves understanding another's feelings and perspectives; it sets students up to deepen relationships with their current classmates and people that they know outside of school. See Heather Clayton's Let's Hear It for Empathy at https://justaskpublications.com/just-ask-resource-center/e-newsletters/msca/empathy.

Empowerment: There is a continuum from compliance to engagement to empowerment where student voice and choice and their questions and interests are expected and honored on a regular basis. We help them believe in themselves and what they can accomplish or influence.

Engagement: Engagement is not the same as entertainment. Amusing graphics and videos can certainly add ta fun element, but they may have no real impact on engagement. By contrast, learners who are truly engaged enjoy these fun features, but also are committed to and intrigued by acquiring and using new knowledge and skills.

Equity: Equity means you get what you need when you need it while equality means that everyone gets the same thing at the same time. Equity in education is a measure of achievement, fairness, and opportunity. Inequity in education, due to socioeconomic standing, race, gender, or disability, is a daunting and challenging problem. We must work harder and smarter!

Evidence-Based Practices/Interventions: According to the American Institutes for Research, "Evidence-based practices are commonly understood as those practices informed by research that lead to improved educational outcomes. This concept is incorporated throughout the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which requires education leaders to use such practices in improvement plans for low-performing schools."

Flipped Cassrooms: According to Education World, flipping the classroom means using digital approaches to deliver information so that teachers can spend class time interacting with students. This usually involves students watching instructional videos outside of class and spending class time problem-solving and collaborating with classmates. Needless to say, preparing or finding instructional videos and other appropriate digital resources can be a daunting task.

Formative Assessment: When data and information are used to inform instructional decisions and learner self-assessment it is informative about how the learning journey is progressing. It can be quantitative or qualitative data and is not be to used in determining grades which are to be based on summative assessments (evidence of mastery).

Gamification: According to Wikipedia, gamification means that some elements of games are used to motivate learners and facilitate learning. Possibilities are points or badges, narrative and characters, player control, immediate feedback, opportunities for collaborative problem solving, scaffolded learning with increasing challenges, and opportunities for mastery and leveling up.

Genius Hour: (Also called Passion Projects) Students follow their interest and passions to investigate and create a product/project that has learning standards embedded. It allows them to be creative thinkers, collaborative classmates, ambitious dreamers, and confident learners. (Andi McNair), This construct is based on Google's 20% time project which led to gmail and more.

Growth-Mindset: Carol Dweck defines growth mindset in this way: "In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - brains and talent are just the starting point.