In Building a Curious School, author Bryan Goodwin notes that students have greater well-being, goal orientation, and motivation when they have a passion worthy of pursuit that makes their lives meaningful. However, for many students, telling them to find their life’s passion can feel overwhelming. They may not feel like they know what they’re really passionate about yet.
Few things within a school’s control have as much impact on student success as the curriculum. Studies show, in fact, that the extent to which a school has a well-aligned curriculum and ensures it’s taught in every classroom is one of the most important within-school variable driving school performance (second only to teaching quality). This is the perfect time for school and district leaders to think about the extent to which your curriculum is clearly articulated, well aligned, focused on essential knowledge and skills, and enacted in every classroom
One of the best ways to help all students succeed is by focusing on delivering effective Tier 1 foundational instruction in every classroom, every day, for every student. Like many others, we call this best first instruction, which we define in our Unleashing the Power of Best First Instruction white paper as “the skillful use of proven teaching techniques that are intentionally sequenced to help all students convert new learning into long-term memory.”
One of our primary roles at the Region 11 Comprehensive Center (managed by McREL) is to support statewide education improvement efforts involving partnerships among state departments of education, regional service agencies, local districts, and even individual schools.
As a teacher, you’ve likely been cautioned at some point to steer clear of lecturing, delivering direct instruction, or doing anything that remotely resembles being a “sage on the stage.” Instead, you’ve likely been encouraged to let your students take charge of their own learning, explore their own interests, make their own discoveries, and arrive at their own conclusions.
As someone who has worked extensively with teachers on Classroom Instruction That Works strategies for almost nine years, I understand how a new CITW book with different terms and structures might seem overwhelming. However, at the heart of it, the latest edition sets out to create a bridge, connecting proven teaching strategies with our understanding of how the brain processes and retains new information, known as the science of learning.
Do you plan for teaching or plan for learning? Or asked another way, when you look at your planning document, who do you see? Your students or yourself?
While teaching and learning may seem like two sides of the same coin, when it comes to lesson planning, your intent and focus matters a great deal.
