University of Missouri ethemes

•   Identifying Similarities and Differences - Learning to classify and discern differences and similarities prepares students for employing metaphor, analogy, and higher-order thinking skills.

•  Summarizing and Note Taking - Effective summarizing requires analysis that leads to deeper understanding.  Students benefit from taking notes in both linguistic and visual forms.

•  Reinforcing Effort - Student attitudes and beliefs have a significant effect on success in school.  Achievement can increase when teachers show the connection between effort and success.
•  Homework and Practice - Homework can increase student understanding when assignments provide the opportunities needed to practice and apply new learning.

• Nonlinguistic Representation - We store knowledge in two forms: linguistic and nonlinguistic.  The more students use both systems, the better they are able to think about and recall knowledge.

• Cooperative Grouping - Grouping can promote student learning and build interpersonal skills when done wisely and support structures are in place.

• Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback - Teachers communicate learning goals to students every day.  Focus students on meeting those goals and greatly improve their chances of success.

• Providing Feedback - Criteria for success and specific, timely feedback can help increase students understanding and improve learning.
•  Generating and Testing Hypothesis - generating hypotheses and applying knowledge when testing requires careful orchestration of experience.  Technology tools add authenticity to the learning experience.
•  Cues, Questions and Advanced Organizers – Increase students’ readiness for learning with cues and questions that connect new ideas to existing knowledge. 
  •   Identifying Similarities and Differences - Learning to classify and discern differences and similarities prepares students for employing metaphor, analogy, and higher-order thinking skills.
  •  Summarizing and Note Taking - Effective summarizing requires analysis that leads to deeper understanding.  Students benefit from taking notes in both linguistic and visual forms.
  •  Reinforcing Effort - Student attitudes and beliefs have a significant effect on success in school.  Achievement can increase when teachers show the connection between effort and success.
  •  Homework and Practice - Homework can increase student understanding when assignments provide the opportunities needed to practice and apply new learning.
  • Nonlinguistic Representation - We store knowledge in two forms: linguistic and nonlinguistic.  The more students use both systems, the better they are able to think about and recall knowledge.
  • Cooperative Grouping - Grouping can promote student learning and build interpersonal skills when done wisely and support structures are in place.
  • Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback - Teachers communicate learning goals to students every day.  Focus students on meeting those goals and greatly improve their chances of success.
  • Providing Feedback - Criteria for success and specific, timely feedback can help increase students understanding and improve learning.
  •  Generating and Testing Hypothesis - generating hypotheses and applying knowledge when testing requires careful orchestration of experience.  Technology tools add authenticity to the learning experience.
  •  Cues, Questions and Advanced Organizers – Increase students’ readiness for learning with cues and questions that connect new ideas to existing knowledge. 

University of Missouri ethemes

Thoughtful Education is well-known for taking the best research on learning and translating it into powerful teaching practice.

Thoughtful Education Resources

Ellen Keene's Mosaic of Thought:  Email Group

The authors of Mosaic of Thought, Strategies That Work, I Read It But I Don't Get It, Reading With Meaning, Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, and Learning Along the Way have taught us how to model and explicitly teach the strategies students need to become more proficient readers.

The idea for this group was born out of the teachers taking the journey through this instructional paradigm. Wanting to jump right in and get started, but often feeling unsure and alone, the forum is a place to share questions, joys, successes, and frustrations.

Ellen Keene's Mosaic of Thought:  Teaching Tools

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Dr. Marcia Tate's Twenty Instructional Strategies from Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites 

A brief intro to this online resource that helps education leaders implement 21st century teaching and learning. In short, Route 21 (www.p21.org/route21) is a one-stop shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources and community tools.

LOTI

The Levels of Teaching Innovation (LoTi) Framework was first conceptualized by Dr. Chris Moersch in 1994 as a research tool to assess authentic classroom technology use. Several iterations later, the original LoTi Framework has transformed into a conceptual model to measure classroom teachers implementation of the tenets of digital-age literacy as manifested in the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). The LoTi Framework focuses on the delicate balance between instruction, assessment, and the effective use of digital tools and resources to promote higher order thinking, engaged student learning, and authentic assessment practices in the classroom--all vital characteristics of 21st Century teaching and learning.

Digital Storytelling

Jason Ohler Resources for Digital Storytelling

Center for Digital Storytelling

Bernajean Porter - Digitales

GRREC Digital Storytelling Workshop Resources

Resources Coming Soon!

Focus on Effectiveness builds on the landmark work of educational researchers Robert J. Marzano, Debra Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock, authors of Classroom Instruction that Works. Their meta-analyses and research shed light on effective strategies for improving teaching and learning. Their work can be found at the Mid-continent Research on Education and Learning (McREL). http://www.mcrel.org

Classroom Instruction That Works http://shop.ascd.org/ProductDisplay.cfm?ProductID=101010

Bank Street College has identified six domains to describe fundamental aspects of teaching practice and provide a framework for analyzing teaching, called Action-Oriented Inquiry. http://www.bankstreet.edu/tne/domains.html

Susan Kovalik has developed the Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) model for teaching with themes. She also shares research in this area.   http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/vogt.html

The Private Eye is a resource for teaching students how to use metaphor, and compare and contrast, through the use of jeweler's loupes and focused questioning. http://www.the-private-eye.com

The Sourcebook for Teaching Science provides an online guide for how to teach science through the use of analogies. http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/ref/analogy/analogy.htm

Teaching Science Concepts to Children: The Role of Analogies is a Web site dedicated to improving science education provided by the College of Education, University of Georgia. http://www.coe.uga.edu/edpsych/faculty/glynn/twa.html

The Virginia Tech Division of Student Affairs provides a list of note-taking skills. http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/notetake.html

The Academic Resource Center at Sweet Briar College also provides note-taking suggestions. http://www.arc.sbc.edu/notes.html

Dr. Mel Levine publishes All Kinds of Minds - A Web site resource for educators. He shares ideas for recognizing effort of students, and how to support learning differences. http://www.allkindsofminds.org/activity.aspx?id=12

The Council for Exceptional Children provides a bibliography and resources about graphic organizers. http://www.ericec.org/minibibs/eb21.html'>='http://www.ericec.org/minibibs/eb21.html'>http://www.ericec.org/minibibs/eb21.html

Carleton College publishes a Web site about teaching with visualization. http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/index.html

ESRI maintains a variety of Web resources to support the use of global information systems (GIS) in the K-12 classroom, including case studies about schools that have used mapping software to support student learning. http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/

The Cooperative Learning Center is a Research and Training Center housed at the University of Minnesota focusing on how students should interact with each other effectively. There you'll find articles, research, a newsletter, and other resources. The research team of Roger T. Johnson and David W. Johnson will even answer questions sent by teachers on cooperative learning, and past answers can be found in their Q & A section. http://www.co-operation.org/

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory publishes an online resource entitled Pathways to School Improvement. Pathways synthesizes research, policy, and best practice on issues critical to educators engaged in school improvement. See Critical Issues: Working Toward Student Self-Direction and Personal Efficacy as Educational Goals. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm

RubiStar is a free online tool that teachers can use to make and save rubrics. Developed by the High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium, RubiStar includes a tutorial for new users and a feature that enables teachers to analyze student data and identify areas for focusing additional instruction. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

The National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning has published an article called The Instructional Conversation: Teaching and Learning in Social Activity. The authors discuss the use of modeling, providing feedback, contingency management, directing, questioning, explaining, and task structuring in classroom activity settings. http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/ncrcdsll/rr2.htm

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's enGauge resources include a publication focused on inquiry in high school mathematics instruction entitled Teaching and Learning High School Mathematics Through Inquiry: Program Review and Recommendations. http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/resource/hs.htm

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory provides a Web resource on the Science Inquiry Model. http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/

The Northeast Texas Consortium provides a resource for developing advance organizers, especially for distance learning. http://www.netnet.org/instructors/design/goalsobjectives/advance.htm

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory publishes Pathways to School Improvement which include Critical Issues. Building on Prior Knowledge and Meaningful Student Contexts/Cultures is a resource discussing the use of advance organizers. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr100.htm