Improving Instructional Quality in Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

76). Teachers who employ instructional strategies that increasetime-on-task are more effective than those who do not.Research verifies that teachers who engage learners invite allstudents to actively participate in the lesson, use more positivereinforcement strategies including rewarding on-task behavior,make their lessons appealing, vary the types of questions theypose, distribute their questions to many students, tend toprovide step-by-step directions to students, and come to classwell prepared.4. Academic Success Time (AST) is the percent of academicengaged time during which the student experiences high andmedium levels of successful learning (Berliner, 1990). This isthe most essential factor for promoting academic achievement.Teachers can allocate time, provide instructional time, ensureon-task behavior, but what does the extant research say abouthow can they ensure that students are successful? First ateacher needs to know if students are learning successfully.This can be done by frequently checking for understanding bycirculating around the room during student independent workand providing situational assistance; calling on non-volunteersto ascertain attention and comprehension and at timesadministering a verbal or written quiz. Help can be providedfor those students who are experiencing difficulties by usingcooperative learning grouping and grouping students who havespecific problems in a content area. Utilizing differentiatedinstruction in order to meet the needs of all students andprovide equal attention to all greatly impacts on studentsuccess.Best Practice #2: Using Wait TimeResearch indicates that effective use of wait time is among themajor factors in promoting student learning. Wait time is aninstructional strategy that refers to the amount of time students haveto think during questioning. Research indicates that providingbetween 7 and 10 seconds for students to think before the instructoranswers a question or calls on someone else improves student accurate50
participation. Teacher focused instruction decreases and studentfailure to respond is reduced.Benefits include increases in (see http://med.fsu.edu/education/FacultyDevelopment/notesbackofroom.asp):1. the length of student responses2. student initiated and appropriate responses3. the number of students’ responding4. student confidence in responding5. student speculative responses increase6. student to student interactions7. student evidence to support statements8. the number of student questions9. the participation of “slow” students10. the variety of student responsesSuccessful teachers use wait time in various ways. Here’s how oneteacher reported his use of wait time: “I pose a question. I don’t call onanyone before about 7 seconds even if someone raises a handimmediately. I allow think time. What happens if after 7 seconds noone responds? I ask myself, ‘Do I need to rephrase the question?’ If so,I do and start again. If not, I ask them to pair and share thoughts aboutpossible answers. I give them about 60-90 seconds. This techniquealways yields results. Students give their answers. Not always,however, are the answers right, but at least they had time to reflectand respond.”Best Practice #3: Checking for UnderstandingUse of formative assessments has received much attention in theliterature on classroom effectiveness (Brookhart, 2008; Moss &Brookhart, 2009; Popham, 2008a). Here are a few techniques culledfrom this literature:1. Use pair and share – Upon teacher prompt, one student turns toanother to repeat or explain the concept just reviewed by theteacher.2. The Minute Paper (Angelo & Cross, 1993) – The teacher takesthe last minutes of class and asks the student to write down51
Page 1 and 2:
Improving InstructionalQuality in J
Page 4 and 5:
Appendix C: Assessing Your Role as
Page 6 and 7: others, involved in a cognate enter
Page 8 and 9: Weissberg, Walberg, & Wang., 2004).
Page 10 and 11: all. “We are never asked for what
Page 12 and 13: administrator. He was well-organize
Page 14 and 15: Sartoris, DiPrima Bickel, & Garnier
Page 16 and 17: grade conferences, etc., effective
Page 18 and 19: school’s teaching practices, the
Page 20 and 21: een made in the areas of science an
Page 22 and 23: learning is more likely to occur th
Page 24 and 25: content, and the need to ensure tha
Page 26 and 27: pattern.] I didn’t really realize
Page 28 and 29: constraints, increase in administra
Page 30 and 31: The Transformational Change Project
Page 32 and 33: that are not strategic, but episodi
Page 34 and 35: my personal involvement in work wit
Page 36 and 37: schools to even greater levels of s
Page 38 and 39: was: “Well, you know, finding tim
Page 40 and 41: called direct teaching), although e
Page 42 and 43: surprised when no one can answer
Page 44 and 45: RecommendationsI. Teaching1. Teache
Page 46 and 47: standards,” a significant opportu
Page 48 and 49: decide on an area or theme they’d
Page 50 and 51: • Reflective journaling - Another
Page 52 and 53: 3. Deep instructional improvement v
Page 54 and 55: Instructional leadership is about e
Page 58 and 59: short answers to two questions. The
Page 60 and 61: may become involved in cooperative
Page 62 and 63: utilized within a differentiated le
Page 64 and 65: Research-Based Teaching Practices i
Page 66 and 67: curriculum? Schools, in my view, to
Page 68 and 69: learning objectives have been ident
Page 70 and 71: Developing curriculum at the planni
Page 72 and 73: 4) Emphasize both the academic and
Page 74 and 75: An Overview of Best Practices in Su
Page 76 and 77: with practices best suited to promo
Page 78 and 79: dialogue and meaningful supervision
Page 80 and 81: • Ongoing - Too much of professio
Page 82 and 83: to do so. In fact, utilizing in-sch
Page 84 and 85: greatly to meaningful supervision a
Page 86 and 87: and amplified by James MacGregor Bu
Page 88 and 89: Leadership is predicated on the fou
Page 90 and 91: Citing Jim Collins (2002 cited by F
Page 92 and 93: Notes1. Before continuing, I sugges
Page 94 and 95: ubric of “professional developmen
Page 96 and 97: throughs, explains that according t
Page 98 and 99: members are not fully cognizant or
Page 100 and 101: AcknowledgementsI thank all the ind
Page 102 and 103: Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and
Page 104 and 105: Burke, P. J., & Krey, R. D. (2005).
Page 106 and 107:
Downey, C. J., Steffy, B. E., Posto
Page 108 and 109:
Fullan, M. (2005). Leadership and s
Page 110 and 111:
Good, T., & Brophy, J. E. (2007). L
Page 112 and 113:
Johnson, C. C., & Fargo, J. D. (201
Page 114 and 115:
Marzano, R. J., & Brown, J. L. (200
Page 116 and 117:
Popham, W. J. (2008a). Classroom as
Page 118 and 119:
Shapira-Lishchinsky, O. (2009). Isr
Page 120 and 121:
Tschannen-Moran, M., & McMaster, P.
Page 122 and 123:
Annotated Works on Instructional Le
Page 124 and 125:
This volume is an inspiring introdu
Page 126 and 127:
you want to learn how to teach stud
Page 128 and 129:
AppendicesAppendix A: Instructional
Page 130 and 131:
Suggested responses:1. To be effect
Page 132 and 133:
Appendix C: Assessing Your Role as
Page 134 and 135:
SA A D SD 3. My spoken language as
Page 136 and 137:
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment
Page 138 and 139:
SA A D SD 13. I have a well-defined
Page 140 and 141:
SA A D SD 13. I rarely desire to se
Page 142 and 143:
20. This is a well managed school.
Page 144 and 145:
Appendix F: Teacher Attitude Questi
Page 146:
41. My colleagues and I usually dis
show all

Improving Instructional Quality in Jewish Day Schools and Yeshivot ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?