Engaging Schools Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3. Teaching and Learning
3. Teaching and Learning
Pages 60-96
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From page 60... ...
In this chapter we discuss what is known about engaging teaching, with special attention to the needs of students in economically disadvantaged urban settings. Teaching at the high school level is challenging in part because students are expected to master discipline-specific knowledge that does not have obvious relevance to real-life settings.
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From page 61... ...
LITERACY The teaching of reading, writing, and speaking at the high school level ideally takes place in every subject matter. Students are expected to read literature and write essays and creative pieces in English-language arts, and to read textbooks and occasionally primary source documents in history, social studies, and science.
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From page 62... ...
The structure of expository texts may be extended definition, comparison-contrast, or problem-solution. Consideration of these kinds of prior knowledge that students bring from their lives inside and outside of school is crucial to teaching reading comprehension.
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From page 63... ...
These forms of critical evaluation, reasoning, and making sense of different kinds of texts in different subject matters should be the object of literacy study at the high school level. But most secondary teachers, regardless of subject matter, have little formal training in the teaching of reading, nor specifically in the problems of reading in the subject matters they teach (Anders, Hoffman, and Duffy, 20001.
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From page 64... ...
In a similar vein, eighth-gracle eclucational expectations preclicteci resilience 4 years later, in conjunction with taking rigorous acac emlc courses. In the next section, we will describe the features of literacy instruction that appear to promote learning.
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Although more innovative instructional practices and uses of technology are being implemented in many schools, they are less common in urban high schools serving low-income students and students of color (Irvine, 1990; McDermott, 1987; Pillar, 1992~. Based on the accumulated research findings regarding the teaching of reading comprehension (Education Trust, 1999; Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw, and Rycik, 1999; National Reading Panel, 2000; Pressley, 2000; Roehier and Duffy, 1991; Snow, 2002)
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From page 66... ...
She designed a framework for culturally responsive curriculum and instruction related to literature, although the framework is applicable to other reading and problem solving in other subject matters. Lee's Cultural Modeling Framework for teaching literature identifies categories of problems in the high school literature curriculum that are considered generative.
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From page 67... ...
The value of allowing students to use multiple resources or sources of help to gain mastery was discussed recently by Gutierrez, Baquedano-Lopez, and Tejada (1999) and is supported by an abundance of research on learning (see National Research Council, 19991.
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~? ~m (across subject matters, not just the English-language arts)
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From page 69... ...
Strategies for teaching both reading comprehension and composing need to be different at the high school level from what is effective at the elementary level. In addition to generic reading, high school students need to know discipline-specific strategies for asking questions, making and testing predictions, summarizing, drawing inferences, using prior knowledge, and self-monitoring (Beck, McKeown, and Gromoll, 1989; Dole, Duffy, Roehier, and Pearson, 1991; Lemke, 1998; Rabinowitz, 1987; Wineburg, 1991; Wineburg and Wilson, 19911.
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We turn now to four studies of literacy instruction at the middle and high school levels to illustrate the implementation of these features of effective literacy pedagogies. The studies were conducted in urban communities where students had very low skills when they entered high school.
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From page 71... ...
typical teachers in typically performing schools. Langer and her colleagues found common features in the instructional practices of exemplary teachers in both exemplary and typical schools that are similar to those we have described.
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Although some of the instructional practices we have described were found in lower achieving schools, their presence was intermittent. This study shows that individual exemplary teachers can make a difference, even in schools that do not support schoolwide productive practices and professional development.
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Personalized relationships were achieved by reducing teaching loads for teachers and creating longer instructional blocks of time. Intellectual rigor was achieved by encouraging complex reasoning across subject matters.
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From page 74... ...
with a home base at the West Ed Lab (Greenicaf, Schoenbach, Cziko, and Mueller, 2001; Schoenbach, Greenicaf, Cziko, and Hurwitz, 19991. The Strategic Literacy Project takes on the challenge of teaching reading at the middle and high school levels.
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From page 75... ...
Data-driven decisions about reteaching, regrouping, and retesting are made by teachers across the school year. Designing literacy instruction to be culturally responsive to students' prior knowledge and experiences is also central to SAS routines.
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. The gap between students of color, who are disproportionately in urban schools serving low-income youth, and white students remains substantial.
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From page 77... ...
The lack of a strong mathematics background, common among teachers in urban schools, may thus contribute to the frequent use of textbooks, worksheets, urilis, and teaching that emphasizes disconnected rules as opposed to a web of interrelated concepts (National Research Council, 20011. What Mathematics Involves Most people think of mathematics as procedures that children need to develop fluency in applying.
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From page 78... ...
With the help of lava applets, students have the ability to change two variables at the same time and watch how they affect the shape and other properties of the function. Features of Effective Pedagogy NCTM has grappled with the task of defining strategies for making mathematics instruction engaging to students.
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From page 79... ...
The three indicators are interrelated. For example, both the number of courses taken in high school mathematics and participation in advanced levels of mathematics are associated with higher achievement scores (Lee, Croninger, and Smith, 1997; National Center for Education Statistics, 2001a; Rock and Pollack, 1995~.
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From page 80... ...
c .lscusslons feedback · Peer collaboration · Rigorous and challenging instruction with frequent assessment and · Access to technology The value of making mathematics personally relevant is suggested by a stucly of nine high school mathematics departments (Gutierrez, 2000b)
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As has been found in research on literacy teaching at the high school level, studies have demonstrated the value of giving students access to their native language in mathematics courses. Mathematics is a language unto itself.
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Treisman (1990) found that when African-American and Latino students were taught to work with others to
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From page 83... ...
, with students having little access to calculus, which is an important gate to college majors in mathematics and science (Mullis, Jenkins, and Johnson, 1994; Oakes, 19901. Further evidence that students in urban schools often get less than rigorous instruction comes from a study of urban schools in California and New York conducted by Gamoran, Porter, Smithson, and White (19971.
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But studies of the use of technology suggest that this is not how technology is typically used in urban schools. A recent report indicated that although approximately the same proportion of white students reported using computers primarily for simulations and applications (31 percent)
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From page 85... ...
They are based on the belief that learning is maximized when it involves meaningful relationships with caring adults who have high expectations, where students work with others, where the focus is clearly on mathematics, and where connections are made to adolescents' knowledge and personal experiences. The Algebra Project In 1982 Robert Moses developed The Algebra Project to engage African-American inner-city and rural youth in mathematics (Checkley, 2001; Moses, Kamii, Swap, and Howard, 1989; Moses and Cobb, 20011.
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From page 86... ...
The program is outside of the students' regular school curriculum, but nevertheless provides evidence of the value of particular approaches to engaging urban youth in mathematics. Students sign up for the program if they are enrolled in or willing to take algebra in 9th grade, and they continue to take rigorous mathematics courses throughout
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The QUASAR Project The Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) Project is designed for middle school students.
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In schools across the nation, the QUASAR Project has seen significant gains in student engagement in classroom discussions and in standardized achievement scores (tests of basic skills as well as conceptual understanding; Silver and Lane, 19951. As was found for literacy, a fair amount is known about the qualities of instruction that engage high school students, and evidence from a few programs suggests that these strategies might be applied effectively in urban schools.
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From page 89... ...
curriculum supplemented with units on social justice, Gutstein (in press) found that 18 of his 24 7th-grade Latino urban students passed city entrance exams for competitive magnet schools and all went on to take algebra in 9th grade.
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(See also Chapter 5.) In summary, it is important to acknowledge that teaching in economically disadvantaged urban schools involves special challenges; it is equally important not to fall into a trap of low expectations, which often breed formulaic teaching and restricted conceptions of subject matter (Boater, 2002b)
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From page 91... ...
The approach has been introduced in some U.S. elementary and middle schools, and might be adapted to be useful at the high school level as well.
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From page 92... ...
She found that mathematics departments whose teachers did not view mathematics as a static subject, used a rigorous mathematics curriculum, discussed lesson plans and students, rotated course assignments, had a commitment to equity, and observed each other teaching tended to have students who were actively engaged in the mathematics curriculum and scored well on standardized tests. Although they do not report data on student outcomes, Stodolsky and Grossman (2000)
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From page 93... ...
Answer the red square questions. And pretty much it's been like that since I got to middle school...." Urban schools serving low-income students are capable of much more, as is illustrated in a real instructional dialogue that reflected disciplined norms for reasoning in response to literature (see Box 3-4~.
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From page 94... ...
It needs to be relevant to and build on students' cultural backgrounds and personal experiences, and provide opportunities for students to engage in authentic tasks that have meaning in the world outside of school. Engaging instruction gives students multiple learning
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From page 95... ...
In addition, teachers need opportunities to collaborate with colleagues, and access to ongoing, expert guidance to advance their own knowledge and skills. Effective pedagogy also needs to be supported by a coherent school curriculum and school norms
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We are confident, however, that if schools offer rigor and explicit supports for learning that are responsive to the developmental needs and cultural backgrounds of students, the majority of students will enter the academic game.
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