Ending with the Beginning in Mind

     And, just like that, Burke shocks, disappoints, and yet inspires with the end of his "big ideas. . ."

"So far you have read about how I apply the instructional principles in my classes; now it is time to apply these ideas to your classes. Such units are best created through collaboration. . ."

Initially, as I read this, the thought of collaboration scared me. Not only am I an introverted individual, but I fear the possibility that no one will want to collaborate. ". . . it helps to collaborate, though this is not always possible." However weird that might sound, Burke eased my thoughts sentences later when he explained that through online communities, as one example, teachers can meet other teachers, get feedback on assignments, share ideas, and even gain other classroom ideas and advice. Even if there isn't such a network in my future school, it's nice to know that there are avenues to turn - collaboration is only a click away!

     Toward the end of the final chapter, Burke finally said what I had been hoping to hear for years and knew must be possible!

"The current emphasis on testing and measurement, accountability, and Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) threatens to reduce education and our work to a list of skills to be taught without any regard for the deeper, more meaningful content of the curriculum we came to teach. Yet I have not experienced "standards-based instruction" as an obstacle to creating engaging lessons that provide the skills and knowledge students need while also ensuring that they have the experiences we would want our own children to have in school."

I could go on for words and words about that, but I think it's pretty self-explanatory. I've always thought that it was weird when teachers would blame the shortcomings in their classrooms on standards and state mandates - I would think: "Isn't the classroom what you make it?" The overly-stringent standards and less-than-adequate levels of measurement on our students may be a nuisance, unfair at times, and get in the way of what really matters, but, as teachers, we don't have to let those inconveniences (which is just what they are) become our scapegoat and bring us down. After all, isn't that quality what separates us from just any Joe or Sally teaching in a classroom? I'm glad he made this point - I always knew it to be true. . .

     He wraps up his final thoughts with the thoughts of Linda Darling-Hammond, writer of Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching for Understanding (2008). She, to begin with, points out "three fundamental and well-established principles of learning that are particularly important for teaching":

1.) "Students come to the classroom with prior knowledge that must be addressed if teaching is to be effective. If what they know and believe is not engaged, learners may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or may learn them for purposes of a test but not be able to apply them elsewhere, reverting to their own preconceptions."
2.) "Students need to organize and use knowledge conceptually if they are to apply it beyond the classroom. To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must not only acquire a deep foundation of factual knowledge, but also understand the facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application."
3.) "Students learn more effectively if they understand how they learn and how to manage their own learning. A "metacognitive" approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by having  a set of learning strategies, defining their own learning goals, and monitoring their progress in achieving them."

She "adds that studies consistently find that highly effective teachers support the process of meaningful learning by":

- "Creating ambitious and meaningful tasks that reflect how knowledge is used in the field"
- "Engaging students in active learning so that they apply and test what they know"
- "Drawing connections to students' prior knowledge and experiences"
- Diagnosing student understanding in order to scaffold the learning process step by step"
- Assessing student learning continuously and adapting teaching to student needs"
- Providing clear standards, constant feedback, and opportunities for work"
- "Encouraging strategic and metacognitive thinking so that students can learn to evaluate and guide their own learning"

Trust me - Burke wouldn't have quoted Darling-Hammond and I wouldn't have, in turn, "re-quoted" this information unless it was absolutely and very much crucial and essential. Now, all that is left is for review of Burke's units and the creation(s) of our own! I have scanned some of his unit planning sheets and supporting documents and attached them below. I hope they help guide you in your unit-planning, as well! And, if you haven't already, somehow try and commandeer this text - and pass it on! You won't regret it!

Happy Trails!


:)

E pluribus unum (Out of many, one)

     This particular chapter was entitled “Meaningful Conversations,” and emphasized important and useful activities and questions to have, well, good conversations; ones that are personal to them, relevant to the lives they lead, and that will motivate them to continue to think and stay engaged throughout the unit. Burke has some pretty “big ideas” himself for these chat-sessions. He begins the chapter with a confession but also an important reminder and refresher for the teacher-audience:

“As I did in the senior unit, I want to walk through a complete unit organized around a big idea – a question we need a good chunk of time to answer or at least examine. Thus, it is important when teaching big ideas to begin with the end in mind, choosing not only a question that can sustain prolonged inquiry but also the texts, assignments, and assessments that will ensure that students learn the many different skills and gain the breadth of knowledge we expect of them during their time in our class.”

     Burke uses the classic, state-mandated novel Of Mice and Men – which I just bought from Goodwill to read next! – as an anchor book to begin this talking-emphasized unit. The running question, theme, and BIG idea of the unit is: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The students begin with a simple free-write of the question; pick one line from their responses that they feel best sums up their opinions/thoughts; and – you guessed it! – begin the discussion by sharing their “lines” with the class. Burke continues the chapter with the various ways in which he builds up the question, amps up the activities, and conducts conversation.

Ways to help build background knowledge and establish the setting of the novel

-          Show video clips and background readings

-          Explore the title itself

-          Use programs such as Google Earth

-          Incorporate works of art by a relevant artist 

-          Have students record their thoughts and questions while looking at photos or videos

-          Conduct yet another class discussion on these findings and questions

Scaffolding (and state-aligning) thinking through questioning

-  Create “reading guides” (shown below, Figure 4.5), using leading verbs to focus the question, elicit meaningful responses, and asses one’s own teaching objectives

-  Have students write different types of questions (i.e., factual, predictive, etc.) to help practice and develop “test smarts”

-  Make sure assignments/guides elicit, invite, and prepare students for substantial discussions in the next or later class meetings – don’t let them, as Burke puts it, “run the risk of becoming ‘just homework’ and having no actual place in the daily discourse of the class about the book itself.”

-   Help students use the same skills they would use to “read” photos, art, film, etc. and apply them to textual reading; play these various forms of art off of one another to help with the “analytics” of reading (and subsequent discussion)

Using supplemental texts to extend the conversation and inquiry

-  Incorporate other texts that allow the class to consider the big question from other perspectives, and connect it back to the anchor novel

-  Use advertisements, speeches, short stories, memoirs, etc. to reinforce and also challenge the big question – the sky’s the limit!

-  Talk about it, and then write about it – allow them to connect these supplemental readings and textual connections to their own lives

Assessing and reflecting

     “The trick is to come up with some culminating work that everything prior has prepared the students to do but that is not redundant . . . At the end of a book, we all feel some need to bring it all together – assess their understanding and, in my case, reflect on the Big Question one last time.”

     Although there are a number of ways to go about this, Burke used a blog to assess what the students learned in a culminating fashion; he had them read an excerpt of a speech by President Obama, respond to it, and connect it to Of Mice and Men AND their essential, big question. He concluded the unit with feedback from the students, in which they answered several questions assessing the value of the blog assignment. Some of the blog responses, and a piece of feedback, is shown below.

:)