Fast Llama's and SEL part 3

Fast Llamas,

We are back today to speak about Academic Rigor and Social and Emotional Learning.  Remember, I went to an awesome training a couple of weeks ago that was so great in tying these two together.  What spoke to me most (and what I love to hear) is "old school" strategies, those strategies that have been around for my whole teaching career being "leveled up" to address SEL.  We are wrong to throw out learning strategies that are "old" just because they have been around for a long time. If a learning strategy works, they work for a reason, but, we can always improve and tweak our practices.  Innovation, to me is not about bright, shiny new things, but a refinement of our strengths and practices that we have mastered.  

Let's visit Balanced Instruction.  Balanced Instruction is all about the purposeful reflective practice of using a balance between direct instruction and collaborative learning.  There is a place for direct instruction, it actually has a high effect size of .60. (An effect size of .60 means more than one year growth for one year of input.)  A great use of Balance Instruction is using a lesson cycle, where direct instruction is a part of the lesson each day, chunking complex information into pieces that students can handle.  In a Blended Learning Model, small group direct instruction can be used with great success. 

Here is an example of a Lesson Cycle outline:

1.  Setting Goals and Learning Outcomes

2. Direct Instruction/Mini Lesson

3.  Practice - Independent or Group

4.  Conclusion/ Reflection

Within this outline we can dig deeper to provide the Quantum Learning Teaching Cycle:

E - Enroll/Engage - how can I grab the students attention?

E - Experience - is there a common experience that the class can share?

- Enroll/Engage/Experience are often done at the same time - I am giving you choice here to think about.

L - Learn and Label  - direct teaching/direct learning - use teaching strategies such as chunking...

D - Demonstrate - students carry the cognitive workload

R - Reinforce - help students brains encode the learning to long term memory by recapping, reviewing and retrieving the learning

C - Celebrate effort

Intertwined within this cycle is our expectations for our students.  Expectations or having "high expectations" has an effect size of about .49.  You will get one years growth for one years input by having them.  The issue and trap we can fall into is thinking that by being strict, we are having high expectations.  While I will never tell you to not hold kids accountable, I will tell you that having high expectations is more about the perception of our students cognitive abilities rather than their skills at meeting due dates.  This idea is tied with trust and "I know you can do this" attitudes.  So, there is a balance between knowing what our students can do academically and how they will respond when faced with academic challenges.  There is a balance between the pressure to succeed, feel responsible for their academic work and the support we provide students along the journey.  My favorite teachers were the ones whom provided a challenging curriculum, but, were so helpful to me when I asked.  Trust has a very high effect size... so by trusting our student to perform to our expectations, stands a very good chance that they will experience high achievement.  

Have a great week and see you soon!