Pop Quiz: Rank these according to Hattie Research?

Below, the morning sun is trying to shine its light through the distractions of the trees and branches.  Sort of like our best practices try and rise to the surface to displace less effective teaching actions.  The light overcomes the darkness.

Sunrise, July 16th, 2013

For instance, lets take a look at this Pop Quiz:   Rank these following terms from greatest impact on student learning to least:

a.       Summer School

b.      Peer influences

c.       Classroom Behavior

d.      Socio-Economic Status

 

A. Here we have an instance where we can probably eliminate the lowest one.  Summer School is scored with 0.23.  This implies the effect is slight.  Those activities scoring below a 0.2 have little effect and too low (below 0.0) actually have negative effect.

 

The typical or regular classroom, if there is such a thing, scores at about a 0.4.  This implies activities above that score are better than average.  The other three choices in our Pop Quiz all fair better than the 0.4 cutoff.

 

B. Peer influence submits a score of 0.53, implying a pretty good positive effect on students achievement levels.

There were 138 parameters in this 15 year long study.  Over 200 million students were assessed in over 50,000 different studies regarding impact and effect of these various parameters.  Our Pop Quiz only address four.

 

D. Closely scored at 0.57 is Socio-economic status.  Yes poverty does have an impact on students success, but with proper PD, faculties are able to adjust and compensate for these challenges.

With all these variables addressed, we would be poor stewards indeed if we failed to examine the implications on teaching, classrooms and true "best-practices."

 

C.  Finally,  of these four characteristic and parameters, the one with the greatest impact on student learning is actually classroom behavior.  It seems a secure environment where there are boundaries, limits and a sense of connection actually encourages students to take educational risks and try.  This seems especially true when considering the converse:  In a chaotic environment, students may not want to risk failure.

 

The ranking according to Hattie, from most impact to least,   C, D, B and A.  Well done to those who figured it out!

What does this mean for us?  Maybe we should invest more time in working at effective practices and less time in easy or practices that have less impact!

Credit to:

 @visiblelearning
John Hattie:   http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/
Summer School, Peer Influence, Classroom Behavior, Socio-Economic Status

Q: What are the most important things to do in a classroom?

This sunset pic was taken at Tan-Tara, Lake Ozark Missouri.

 A:  Ask John Hattie

What were we doing at Lake Ozark?  Training, of course!

 

All these meetings and training?  Do they really impact student learning?*  Do our efforts as educators actually impact student learning?  If so, can we determine how effective or measure the impact of what we do?  What about the effect of teaching activities on the students in our classes?  What about home life, poverty or even summer vacation?  Do these impact learning? (It sure seems like a lot of questions but hopefully, they are worth asking.)

 

IS ONE PRACTICE BETTER THAN ANOTHER?

Can we isolate the most effective things to do in the classroom as well as the least effective things?  John Hattie says we can!  He measures and quantifies many school functions, rating and assigning a score to each. This 15 year study was completed a published in 2009

 

For instance, how does cooperative learning compare to inquiry based teaching?  He scores cooperative learning a 0.41 yet inquiry based teaching at 0.31.  Many parameters (138 total) of our favorites are scored and sorted and the results are surprising!  Especially the summary impact to describe what and how we should make adjustments.

THE SCALE:

Ranking above a 0.4  Better than average

Ranking below a 0.4  Mediocre at best

Rankings below a 0.2  Little to negative effect on students achievement

 

Consider what this means.  A few minor adjustments and a teacher's influence can climb from a mediocre 0.17 to an influential 0.60.  Jump to here for a good review an application for teachers.  Don't take their word for it and run a google search and see all the results.

 

Any thoughts or feedback?  Does it align?  Does it make sense?  How close are we to being effective or just coasting or getting by?  What adjustments can we make directly?  How do these things effect our students?  Is it worth the investment to consider the data?

 

 

 

*Professional Development for Teachers  (Hattie Score: PD = 0.62, putting it in the top 20 of 138)

 

John Hattie http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-effect-sizes-learning-achievement/

Visible Learning Laboratories

University of Auckland 

Visible Learning  on Twitter @VisibleLearning

 

 

 

 



What to do at the beginning of school year?

They say "rules are meant to be broken..."

When riding a bike we learn a few things. First, we learn how to ride. Then, we learn where to ride!

Education is to "make men both smart and good." Aristotle 

    It is far too dangerous to learn to ride a bike on a busy street.  Many of us learned to ride on an empty parking lot, up at a school parking lot or a quiet cul-de-sac.  After we had the basics down, we were ready to learn the "rules of the road."  It was the procedure of riding a bike that we learned first. Then we learned how to ride on the street.  Watch out for cars was something we did normally but riding in traffic took attention to detail.  We learned both the procedures and rules together.

     Similarly at school, there are things in class that we must do to successfully operate like procedures and routines in classroom.  There are also expectations and rules that we choose to abide by to ensure success and civility. Foundational to success are clearly establishing these components together as a group or class.  Stories that illustrate their applications are effective at instilling these characteristics for each class.  Addressing these very early in the school year establishes working relationships, connections of trust and a high standards.

     Let me illustrate with a story about us loading up a bunch of high school students, traveling 4 hours on a school day to attend Six Flags over St Louis.  We had to leave at 5am to arrive at the park when it opened at 9am.  This trip was the culmination of a year of struggle and stress through the At-Risk math classes I was teaching. All my students were invited and about half paid the admission fee to attend.  Other colleagues mentioned my trip roster looked like I was taking "ISS on the road!" since most of those students had spent at least a day in In School Suspension. On the big day, I'd show up at 4:50am, asked for a volunteer to help load a few items onto the bus and everyone wanted to participate in loading.  Anyone of those students would do anything in their power to accommodate my request.  Not because I had power over their grade but because I had a relationship with them.  They did not care how much I knew but could see how much I cared and wanted to help.  Interestingly, only my current students were allowed to attend.  Friends of students were not allowed simply because they did not have the connection or trust necessary to work in this type environment where procedures were established and freedoms were imparted with appropriate responsibility.  In class, we had procedures for everything from passing in and passing out papers to speaking.  Of course the students expected procedures from traveling 250 miles across the state!  These trips were always incident free!  These trips were fun but these trips were front loaded and preparations made ahead of time.

Idea/Hint/Optional Suggestion:
     This year consider spending a bit more time on procedures early in the year.  Even if it seems artificial and contrived, students appreciate the attention to the detail.  Work with students to determine the best way to do things in the classroom.  Discuss how you might attend to daily events such as attendance, seating charts, addressing each other and other vital details that establish a safe environment where students feel comfortable taking those educational risks necessary to learn.  Don't forgo content but don't expect to accomplish too much.  A pretest or student data sheet, survey or something to send home and bring back along withe the syllabus may be sufficient the first day.

     The curriculum and rules will always be there.  Scores will always need to go higher!   Expectations will always look about the same.   They will have components of treating self, others and things but often times, the memorable teachers have good procedures.  Everyone knows it is important to talk nice to others, but not everyone knows how to request to use the restroom.  Take a bit more time early and make up plans on how to address the details. Then watch to climate of the classroom shift to tasks, goals and accomplishments.  Students may even surprise us!

Rules are made to be broken...

...but procedures are to be followed!

Special credit and thanks to many professionals like Harry Wong and Hal Urban for articulating similar ideas in their works.

The best teacher is___?

THE BEST TEACHER IS___?

Before

Later 

The best teacher is the best teacher. 

Just like this view changes over time, our students change as well. 

What and how we contribute to their learning defines good teaching.*

The best way to ensure learning is to put the best teacher in the classroom as possible.  The leader of the room that is devolving leaders as not just followers, manages risk, allows failure, prevents sarcasm and inspires others to go father then they expected!

 In a master teacher’s classroom, we find students talking and interacting with each other as well as the material.  This first component of articulation and alliteration ensures the students understand the material thoroughly enough to verbally navigate through the topic, and not just provide a yes or no answer.  (Think DOK 3 or 4)

 Master teachers are not afraid of students moving, activity or even motions.  Kinesthetic learners thrive when a teacher allows them this freedom of expression. Think learning styles, auditory, verbal, written, spoken or kinesthetically.

 Scaffolding, connecting to prior knowledge and building on the familiar is another trait of the best teachers.  Building and developing these connections allows students to relate to the topic.  These teachers know about their students, their needs, wants, fears and aspirations and use each to the student’s advantage.

 The best teachers always have a positive attitude, even if they do not have a positive attitude.  The material is the most important and interesting topic, anywhere!  Regardless!  This passion to teach flows through the topic, to the students.  This positive and contagious attitude is an attribute about ourselves that we choose.  Other characteristics we are born with, but our attitude is under our control.  Think locus of control.

 Finally, the best teachers have a purpose about everything.  Thoughts, actions and activities are all intentional, deliberate and planned, even the “random” ones have an underlying objective.  Nothing is really left to chance.  The topic becomes relevant, the ideas interesting and the activities stimulating. The best teacher does a better job of helping others learn, than any other method available.  Other things teach us lessons, like experience, trial and error or even just guessing and checking?  But the best teachers ensure effective learning every time!  Take the best teacher every time.

 These thoughts, comments and notes were abridged from breakout sessions and inspired by anecdotal evidence provided while observing events and activities demonstrated by our staff at WMS.  The powerful conference provided many “take-always” and are still relevant a year later.  This author receives nothing for this endorsement.

*Effective Schools Conference, Scottsdale AZ, March 7-9, 2012

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