The Art and Science of Teaching by Robert J. Marzano (blog post by Caroline, Erin and Heather P)

Introduction: A Question Answered

Marzano’s introduction starts off with a very interesting fact: “Strange as it may sound to modern-day educators, there was a time in the not too distant past when people questioned the importance of schools and teachers.” He refers to a report from 1966 entitled Equality in Educational Opportunity, also known as the Coleman report after its senior author. The basic findings of the report were that schools and teachers “make little academic difference in the lives of students.” Fortunately, there have been several studies that have refuted these findings. Curriculum, safety and sense of security and, most importantly, the individual teachers in a school are all factors that have surfaced as key components of student academic success.

Marzano outlines three general characteristics of effective teachers within effective schools:

• Use of effective instructional strategies
• Use of effective classroom management strategies
• Effective classroom curriculum design

He also outlines three general characteristics of effective classroom pedagogy:

• Use of effective instructional strategies
• Use of effective management strategies
• Use of effective classroom curriculum design strategies

Marzano notes that it is important to recognize that no one article, book or research study will provide a school or school system with all of the answers to its educational dilemmas. All of these types of resources provide schools and school systems guidance in their quests for change, but it is best for each school or school system to design an individual model of change based upon what is best for it at the time. He ends the introduction with the following ten questions, which are the detailed in the chapters of the book:

• What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?
• What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?
• What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?
• What will I do to help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?
• What will I do to engage students?
• What will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?
• What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?
• What will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?
• What will I do to communicate high expectations for all students?
• What will I do to develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit?

Chapter One: What Will I Do to Establish and Communicate Learning Goals, Track Student Progress, and Celebrate Success?

When considering the first instructional design question—What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?—teachers should think about three basic elements. First, establishing and communicating learning goals involves distinguishing between learning goals and learning activities and then writing learning goals in a suitable format. Second, tracking student progress involves using formative assessments and a scale designed specifically for formative assessments. It also involves charting student progress on individual learning goals. Third, celebrating success involves recognizing and acknowledging students’ knowledge gains.

Establishing the questions:

1. What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals?

The most basic issue a teacher can consider is what he/she will be doing to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success.

For learning to be effective, clear targets in terms of information and skill must be established. This assessment does not occur at the end of a unit only but throughout the unit. Given that each student has made progress in one or more learning goals, the teacher and students can celebrate those successes.

A classroom scenario:

Goal 1: Students will understand the major events leading up to the development of …

Goal 2: Students will understand the major factors involved …

Goal 3: Students will understand the effects …

As goals are established by the teacher, the students then record their own goal for the unit.

For each learning goal, a rubric is created that spells out specific levels of understanding.

As formative information is collected regarding student progress on these goals, students chart their own progress using graphs.

By the end of the unit virtually all students have demonstrated that they have learned, even though everyone does not end up with the same final score. Virtually every student in class has a sense of accomplishment by the unit’s end.

(Figures and charts were represented as summaries in the findings of research.)

Formative assessment is another line of research related to the research on feedback. Teachers administer formative assessments while students are learning new information or new skills. Major reviews of research on the effects of formative assessment indicate that it might be one of the more powerful weapons in a teacher’s arsenal.

Finally, the critical component of this question is the area of research on reinforcing effort and providing recognition for accomplishments. Reinforcing means that students see a direct link in how hard they try and their success at a particular task. Reinforcing effort means that a direct relationship occurs between how hard students work and how much they learn.

2: Tracking Student Progress: What are the Action Steps?

1. Make a distinction between learning goals and learning activities and assignments.
2. Write a rubric or scale for each learning goal.
3. Have students identify their own learning.
4. Assess students using a formative approach.
5. Have students chart their progress on each learning goal.
6. Recognize and celebrate growth.

3. Celebrating Success: How do I know if students have achieved a learning goal?

The question to this is simple. If they have progressed at all in any area, whether by points or understanding, they have learned and succeeded. There is a fine line between celebrating success and rewarding students with awards. Knowing when to use both is appropriate for each goal achievement.

Ultimately, students will learn if they are given a chance. All student learning levels can achieve success if given the opportunity to prove to themselves they can learn.

Chapter Three: What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?

The basis for this chapter is that students might initially understand an idea or concept, but they must put that knowledge into practice to prevent them from forgetting that newly-acquired information. There are four areas that relate to the notion of practicing and deepening knowledge. Those areas include the following: schema development, development of procedural knowledge, development of declarative knowledge, and homework.

Schema development deals with gradually collecting, sharing, and reconstructing knowledge. Procedural knowledge deals primarily with processes, steps, skills, and routines. Procedural knowledge can change and alter as the learner grows older and it can be put into practice quite often. An example may be how we are taught to do simple math as a child. When we are an adult, we don’t necessarily need to remember the full process, because we have practiced it enough to cut corners. Declarative knowledge deal with more fact-based information that may need to be revised and evaluated as time goes on. Homework is the last area that relates to practicing and deepening knowledge. Students are generally given homework to practice what they learned in class. In most schools today, students of all ages are given homework. The chapter suggests (based on a study) that homework for the lower elementary school students do not necessarily illustrate gains in knowledge. The study also said that having secondary students complete anywhere from 7 to 12 hours of homework each week produced a greater positive effect on their learning.

*It is clear that students should be practicing skills they acquire in class through homework. But what amount of homework is too much or too little? Does it depend on the class? Do we set students up for failure when we assign too much homework?

The following link is to a news article in which a school board in Florida approved measures in controlling that amount of homework provided to students. I thought it went well with this chapter: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014157997

The chapter made its own conclusions about homework, stating that homework should be created so as to ensure that many students are able to complete it. It also recommended that the younger a student is, the less homework he or she has. Homework should have a clear purpose and should be closely related to learning goals. The students should also be able to complete the homework on their own.

There are many steps that can be taken in order to help deepen students’ knowledge. Here are some recommendations:

-Provide students with tasks that ask them to identify similarities and differences, such as comparing, classifying, creating metaphors, and creating analogies.

-Help students understand when knowledge they receive may be false or incorrect. Examples include faulty logic, attacks, weak references, and misinformation.

-Be sure to give students a chance to practice skills, processes, and strategies.

-Implement cooperative groups, if the task and skills are able to be applied in such settings.

-Provide homework assignments that help students practice what they’ve learned, as well as question faulty information and acquire new knowledge.

-Lastly, students should always review and revise old information. If they have learned a better way to go about something, they should look at their old notes (the chapter suggests an academic notebook) and make corrections there.

Questions to consider:

How do you establish and communicate learning goals?

How do you track student progress?

Do your students track their own progress?

What could you do to help students see the big picture of success?

How do you know if a student has achieved a particular learning goal?

How do you know they “get it?”