for summarizing, many leave that section of their notes blank.
• Developing (2): A teacher teaches her class a mnemonic for remembering different units of measurement. She uses the mnemonic effectively throughout the unit, but she doesn’t try to determine if it enhanced their recall of the content.
• Applying (3): A teacher has his class use academic notebooks to record information, ideas, and reflections. He encourages students to write notes and record their ideas as diagrams or drawings. At the end of every unit, the teacher asks students to go back through their notes to amend any misunderstandings and respond to hypotheses made earlier in the unit. He then collects the academic notebooks and reviews them to see how the students’ entries compare to their assessment answers and scores.
• Innovating (4): A teacher asks her class to use graphic organizers to record and represent critical content. First, she provides students with several templates they can use to record their notes and explains each purpose. She then puts students into small groups to complete their graphic organizers. As they complete their graphic organizers, she walks around the room, checking in with specific students who she knows have been having difficulty with the content. At the end of the lesson, she asks each group to explain why students chose their graphic organizer and what it helped them understand about the content.
Action Steps
Use the “Tracking Teacher Actions” reproducibles that follow (pages 62–64) to monitor your implementation of each element in this chapter.
Additionally, visit the appendix (page 329) for the reproducible “Tracking Progress Over Time” (page 330), which helps teachers set goals related to their proficiency with each element and track their progress toward these goals over the course of a unit, semester, or year. Also, the “Strategy Reflection Log” (page 331) in the appendix provides a space to write down your thoughts and reflect on the implementation process for specific strategies related to each element. Finally, visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for both student surveys and teacher surveys, the results of which provide feedback about your proficiency with each element.
Tracking Teacher Actions: Chunking Content
The teacher can use this form to plan his or her usage of strategies related to the element of chunking content.
Source: Adapted from Marzano Research. (2016). Marzano compendium of instructional strategies. Centennial, CO: Author.
The Handbook for the New Art and Science of Teaching © 2019 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download this free reproducible.
Tracking Teacher Actions: Processing Content
The teacher can use this form to plan his or her usage of strategies related to the element of processing content.
Source: Adapted from Marzano Research. (2016). Marzano compendium of instructional strategies. Centennial, CO: Author.
The Handbook for the New Art and Science of Teaching © 2019 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download this free reproducible.
Tracking Teacher Actions: Recording and Representing Content
The teacher can use this form to plan his or her usage of strategies related to the element of recording and representing content.
Source: Adapted from Marzano Research. (2016). Marzano compendium of instructional strategies. Centennial, CO: Author.
The Handbook for the New Art and Science of Teaching © 2019 Solution Tree Press • SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction to download this free reproducible.
CHAPTER 4
Conducting Practicing and Deepening Lessons
Once teachers introduce content through direct instruction, they must further develop student knowledge. Practicing and deepening lessons encourage students to investigate a topic more rigorously. During these lessons, students begin developing the ability to employ skills, strategies, and processes fluently and accurately. Teachers can utilize these lessons to assist students in connecting their understanding of the topic with previously learned content and to facilitate the practice of essential skills.
The goal of this design area is for students to deepen their understanding and develop fluency in skills and processes after teachers present new content. Teachers are able to meet that goal by answering the question, After presenting content, how will I design and deliver lessons that help students deepen their understanding and develop fluency in skills and processes? The three elements and associated strategies in this chapter help the teacher do just that.
Element 9: Using Structured Practice Sessions
When the content involves a skill, strategy, or process, an effective teacher engages students in practice activities that help them develop fluency. Research has shown that practicing skills, strategies, or processes increases student achievement (Bloom, 1976; Feltz & Landers, 1983; Kumar, 1991; Ross, 1988). Effective practice is more than repetition; it involves students gradually learning and then shaping the steps of a process. Teachers should thoughtfully design and guide this process (Anderson, 1982, 1995; Fitts & Posner, 1967).
There are eight strategies within this element.
1. Modeling
2. Guided practice
3. Close monitoring
4. Frequent structured practice
5. Varied practice
6. Fluency practice
7. Worked examples
8. Practice sessions prior to testing
The following sections will explore each strategy to provide you with guidelines to effectively implement this element. Read through each before creating a plan for your classroom. Teachers may use the strategies individually or in combination. Remember, these are not merely activities to be checked off; they are methods of creating a practice that combines your art with the science of using structured practice
