Principal Tip #35: Targeted Academic Nouns

From Standard to Response: How Listening For Nouns During Site Walks Will Open Your Eyes to What Students Need for State and National Tests

Welcome back!  Last week, we discussed how a quick walk around your campus could give you tremendous insight into the type of language students are asked to produce during lessons and its correlation to current testing requirements.
 
We received many emails and comments from site principals who found that by following the simple analysis and teacher tips associated with the data collection, they were able to see immediate increases in academic language use by students.

This week, we are going to show how looking for and listening for something as simple as nouns will provide your teachers with key information about the connection between their posted objectives, their actual instruction, and student test performance.  

Background

For years, teachers have been required to post objectives that guide the focus of classroom instruction.  Frequently based on state standards, these objectives also provide a huge clue to how students will be assessed, especially when we look at the language structures used. 

Every objective contains targeted academic nouns. These are specific words for concepts and ideas that are not typically used by students in regular conversation.  These words represent one of the simplest, yet most vital, connections that must be made by teachers in order for students to understand and properly respond to test prompts.

The diagram illustrates this critical nexus. 

So what is the problem with this interchange and how does it not prepare students to successfully address the types of questions they will see on state and national tests?

Let’s look back at the targeted academic nouns in the lesson objective. These nouns represent the core of the standard and should therefore be able to be tracked through each link in the chain.

Much like a baton in relay racing, the nouns in the objective should be used at each stage of the instructional cycle: objective, teacher questions, student answers. 

In the example above, we can see that this sequence broke down early. What started as a well-planned lesson unintentionally digressed into an activity that bears little to no relation to the skills students will be required to demonstrate on state and national assessments.

By listening for these nouns, which often represent the targeted academic terminology that will show up on state and federal tests, you can easily and quickly see if students are being asked to utilize language skills that will directly impact their achievement.

Write it the Way we Would Say it! The Power of Complete Sentences

Today's assessments do little to distinguish between testing a student's language skills and learned content knowledge. 

Observation Feedback Teachers can use to Self-Monitor

High-Impact Tip for Principals

How changing what we look for in classrooms can improve teacher skills and increase achievement.

Think about your last few classroom walkthroughs. Observations were made, feedback was provided. What was the response to the feedback?

During the next set of walks, was there drastic change or did you receive justification or rationalization in the places with the most need?

Maybe it is because you are observing the wrong thing for all the right reasons.

The value of a posted objective or academic rigor notwithstanding, the typically qualitative approach to observing these classroom structures and practices leaves teachers waiting to find out whether what they are doing is “good” or if they have “gotten dinged” for something happening in their classroom.

The left, offers an evaluative assessment of skill but provides little in the way of benchmarking performance or evidence of improvement. Teachers are also left frustrated as this feedback often differs from observer to observer.

The right, gives a clear benchmark of current performance. Future data points provide a clear indicator of improvement. Teachers can also self-monitor their own performance indicators and continue to focus on goals between observations.

Remember: The type of data we observe and feedback we provide can either empower a teacher to self-monitor or leave them frustrated while waiting for their next observation.

Testing Tip #5: Count Words to Determine if Instructional Language Parallels Test Language

Using Your Eyes and Ears to Determine if Instructional Language Parallels Test Language

This week’s tip is part one of a two-part series that uses the objective metric of word count as a gauge for determining if current classroom language use prepares students for the language of testing. 

Instructional materials from each grade level utilize sentences that fall into very specific categories based on two features:  the number of words in sentences, and the grammar constructions used in those sentences.  As we move up the grade levels, instructional materials feature sentences of more words and of greater complexity.  

Look for This in Your Classrooms

Visit at least six classrooms on your campus.  Start with a low grade and move upward.  For secondary observations, pick six different core subject area classes across different grade levels.  For each room you visit, you will collect two pieces of information that should transform how you think about the relationship between academic text language and your students’ academic language use.  

Bring a sheet of paper for your notes.  Here are your two tasks:

1.       Pick up a couple of core curriculum books in each classroom you visit.  They could be math, social science or any subject area.  Open to a random page and count the number of words in five or six of the sentences you read.  Determine a general average number of words per sentence.  Write this number on your note sheet. 

2.       Now, sit down and scribe at least five teacher question- student answer sequences from each classroom you visit.  In other words, write the teacher’s question as verbatim as you can, followed by a verbatim transcription of the student response.  Compute two averages from this data:  average number of words per teacher question, and average number of words per student answer.    

By comparing these two transcriptions, we can see how and why the language used by teachers and students during daily instruction is foundational for preparing students for assessments that require high levels of language sophistication.

When you are done collecting classroom data, complete the following analyses:

1. For each grade level, compare the length of the teacher’s questions to the length of the students’ answers.  In what grades/classes was this difference the lowest and the highest?    

If students’ answers feature fewer words than the teacher’s questions, we have a problem.    

2. What is the average number of words per sentence from the academic texts you surveyed?  Now, subtract the average number of words in students’ oral responses from the text average.    

If students’ oral answers have fewer words than the average book sentence length, we have another problem. 

Here is What You Likely Found

Sample 1

This is representative of what we typically find in classrooms where teachers have not been trained or coached in how to deliberately structure their classroom language to prepare students for testing. 

Teacher Question: What was the author’s viewpoint regarding George Washington Carver?  (nine words)

Student Answer: The author respected him.  (four words – far below grade-level target for number of words and complexity)

Sample 2

Here is an example from a teacher trained and coached in this area of language development.

Teacher Question: What was the author’s viewpoint regarding George Washington Carver?  (nine words)

Student Answer: The author considered George Washington Carver to be an innovator whose discoveries made lasting impacts on our society.  (18 words – met grade-level target for number of words and complexity)

Here are some examples of kinder, second and eighth grade academic text.

Our Research Findings

Based on our work with thousands of teachers in classrooms, here is what we find:

·         The number of words in sentences in academic texts is usually startling.  Even in first grade, most books use sentences of at least 15 words, with double that amount being common.  By fifth grade, and certainly at the secondary level, sentences usually average more than 20 words.  It is common to have sentences of more than 4o to 50 words.

·         Our analyses of the grammar components of academic sentences is sobering:  they are not at all similar to the way most students speak in class.  Academic speech and writing features more than simple nouns and verbs, staples for many students’ spoken and written work.

·         Most teachers are unaware of the relationship between academic text sentences and students’ oral answers to questions.  The result is that students practice language that hurts them during testing situations.  .

·         When neither teachers nor students have a “target” for the number of words and the grammatical sophistication of their responses, the default is usually a short, non-academic sounding sentence.

·         Teachers frequently state in interviews that they are more concerned that students get the “right” answer rather than that they convey information in grade-appropriate sentence length and sophistication.  State and federal assessments do not make this distinction.

These findings from our own extensive research in this area have a silver lining.  When teachers come to see that sentence length and complexity can be put in numerical terms, and that both increase as students move up the grades, they have a catalyst to change their instruction.   

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Next Steps

After you have shared your classroom findings with teachers, implement the following:

1. Lead your teachers through the task you did at the beginning: have them bring their texts and compute the number of words per sentence.  Probably like when you did this, teachers will be both surprised and excited.  Post the average number of words per sentence on a chart by grade level.  Discuss the implications for instruction and test success.  

2. Have teachers set word count requirements for responses based on the words-per-sentence targets identified from the step above.  Have them post this number visibly in their classrooms and stick to this requirement.  It may be a challenge at first, but after even a week the difference in student responses will be startling. 

3. Have teachers start introducing and requiring students to use subordinating conjunctions in their oral answers.  Though these sound complicated, subordinating conjunctions can be learned even by students in kindergarten with a little practice.  This part of speech is prevalent in academic texts and stories at all grade levels.  There are about 25 subordinating conjunctions that show up frequently in academic texts, but have teachers start with these:  although, even though, since, unless and while.  Prepare to be amazed when students start using these with fluency in their oral and written answers.

Sentence length and grammar sophistication are the two defining elements of academic language.  Once teachers and students know, understand and implement these two ideas, the stage is set for providing students with the critical tools they need for academic success and higher test performance.

DROP US A QUICK MESSAGE TO SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES WITH THIS TIP FOR HELPING STUDENTS DO BETTER ON STATE AND NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS.  WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU.

It’s not too late!  Getting teachers to focus on the behaviors we present in these test-preparation tips have shown to make immediate improvements in student outcome data.  Contact us today to discuss how our comprehensive teacher training and in-class coaching programs can enhance your students’ language and literacy skills.   

If you want new results, teachers need new skills.  The time is now! 

Testing Tip #5: Pack Up the Pronouns

Site Observation Tip #5:  
Students May Prefer Pronouns but Academic Nouns Are the Key to Achievement

Welcome back!  So far, we have covered four important aspects of the language hurdles students frequently face when confronted with state and national assessments.  Most of those hurdles can be overcome when teachers understand how to make “test language” a regular part of their daily instruction all year long.  By doing so, students are prepared for the academic language demands common to state and national assessments. 

In our everyday speech, we throw pronouns around like popcorn.  But it rarely matters because we’re usually talking about simple things.  We can easily make sense of what “it” refers to, or who “she” is because we’re familiar with the content, and we’re talking face to face. 

In testing situations, it’s just the opposite.  The material is new and possibly complex, and we are not talking face to face.  Accuracy and specificity are critical.'

But what frequently happens in classrooms creates a slippery slope on test day.  Look at the first classroom transcription below and see how pronouns are substituted for the accurate use of academic nouns.  When students write this way on tests, it results in a poor score.

You can see in this first example that pronouns are bandied about freely by both teacher and students.  In their answers, students get a pass on having to use correctly the more accurate and grade-appropriate nouns (quadrilateral, polygon, sides).  Now read the second example, which is the same teacher (two class periods later) who now understands why pronouns are one of the enemies of specificity and academic language use by students.  

By comparing these two transcriptions, we can see how and why the language used by teachers and students during daily instruction is foundational for preparing students for assessments that require high levels of language sophistication.

Testing Tip #4: From Questions to Directives

Site Observation Tip #4:  
Teachers' Questions Don't Prepare Students For State Testing Requirements and How to Fix It!

Welcome back!  Last week, we discussed how teachers can adopt two key classroom behaviors to improve how their students use academic adjectives in sentences.  New testing designs require that students be able to accurately describe and compare ideas, concepts and people. 

This week, we are going to learn why most teacher questioning during classroom instruction is not that helpful for preparing students for testing.  Here is why:   

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The effective and grade-appropriate use of directives instead of leading questions is one key way students can meet the demands of today’s tests.  Let’s first see how teachers at your school are requiring students to use adjectives effectively in their oral and written answers.

Testing Tip #3: Choosing Precise Adjectives

Instantly Increase the Precision and Sophistication of Student Responses by Changing the Way Teachers Use Adjectives

Hello again and happy Wednesday!  Last week, we saw how asking students to use targeted academic nouns better prepares them for upcoming state and national testing requirements. 

Thank you to all of the principals who sent in comments and questions regarding their own site observations. We really enjoy hearing from you and it is exciting to hear how so many sites were able to see immediate improvements in students’ use of academic, test-sounding language.

For this week, we are going to go beyond requiring students to formulate a complete sentence free of any requirements.  This tip shows teachers how to increase students’ sentence complexity by specifying that a certain language structure be used: academic adjectives.

Remember, these tips focus on one of the most neglected elements about the “new” form of state and national tests.  Here it is:

Here’s an example of the change. 

Ten years ago, the test question sounded like this:

Today, that question looks very different.    

Foundational to answering this question correctly is the student’s ability to choose specific and effective adjectives as well as write in academic-sounding complete sentences. For these reasons, it is not enough for teachers to simply tell students to “describe” the character as they see him or her in their mind.   And tests no longer simply ask students to select words from a list of choices.

The effective and grade-appropriate use of adjectives is one key way students can meet the demands of today’s tests.  Let’s first see how teachers at your school are requiring students to use adjectives effectively in their oral and written answers.

An Artist Needs Inspiration but An Expert Needs Coaching

Why Teaching has More in Common with Surgery and Sport than Composing or Painting

The Skilled Teacher and The Classroom Equity No One is Talking About

A Call to Action for The American Education System

Terrible Trope Tuesday #9: Staff Data Meetings

Welcome Back to Terrible Trope Tuesday!

Where we breakdown longstanding norms of teacher professional development sessions to get better results.

Don’t worry! We aren’t going to dispute the importance of data as it relates to the planning and implementation of instruction. However, the way by which most schools and districts discuss data and practice with teachers does little to change the way teachers deliver instruction. The good news is that a few simple shifts can supercharge the effectiveness of your next data and planning meeting. Read on to find out how.

This week, Terrible Trope: Data Meetings

Lets take a walk together through the classroom observation, team planning meeting and following implementation of new instruction to identify a better way to both support and motivate teachers to try new things to improve student outcomes.

Terrible Trope Tuesday #8: Professional Development Surveys

Welcome Back to Terrible Trope Tuesday!

Where we breakdown longstanding norms of teacher professional development sessions to get better results.

As well intentioned as a post-training survey may be to elicit feedback from teachers regarding the quality and applicability of a training session, it ultimately fails  to provide any information that could possibly be valuable toward the actual goals of any professional development initiative.

This week, we tackle: Teacher Professional Development Surveys

To better understand this premise, we must first define the purpose of any professional training session whether it be a two-hour after school inservice, a 45-minute data and planning meeting or a full day seminar.

What is the purpose of professional development or teacher training?

Is the purpose to provide information and an opportunity for discussion regarding a given concept or practice, or is the purpose to improve teacher effectiveness and thereby increase student outcomes?

You may be tempted to say both, but that is again a fallacy. If you were to go to a nutritionist, would the purpose be to learn about and discuss your personal nutrition needs, or would the purpose be to lower your blood pressure, decrease your weight  and increase your lifespan? One of these choices focuses on process while the other focuses on product.

Terrible Trope Tuesday #7: Planning Teacher Questions

Welcome to Terrible Trope Tuesday Everybody!

Where we breakdown longstanding norms of teacher professional development sessions to get better results.

We don’t know about you but we are tired of having the same conversations in data and planning meetings that usually yield the same results. The teachers who would have likely performed well without the meeting perform as expected and the teachers who typically struggle to get the same results continue to get lackluster results.

This week, we tackle: Planning Teacher Questions

For years, building administrators and site instructional coaches have tried to increase the sophistication and complexity of the questions teachers ask during instruction. This has had many names over the years. It has been called increasing rigor, lesson differentiation, higher level questioning, depth of knowledge and even backward by design.

All of these systems have run on a simple premise. If teachers look to a set of standards, or an assessment and plan out what questions they want to ask, they will be more likely to ask those questions during a lesson. Thousands of PD’s have involved categorizing and classifying, sorting and resorting banks of sample questions and other questions stems that teachers could choose from in order to make their instruction more effective.

And in some classrooms, for some teachers, it worked. But for many other teachers who prepared and utilized the same planning and resources, outcomes have continued to fall short.

Looking at the Wrong Thing for All the Right Reasons #41

Looking at the Wrong Thing for all the Right Reasons

HOW A SIMPLE COUNT CAN PROVIDE VITAL DATA FOR TEACHERS AND INCREASE ACHIEVEMENT.

Think about the last time you walked by a board covered in student writing. You stopped to look and read a few sentences. What data were you able to pull from this school-wide staple?
Were you able to provide a clear, quantitative analysis about how well the students were progressing toward meeting grade-level writing expectations?
 

MAYBE IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE OBSERVING THE WRONG THING FOR ALL THE RIGHT REASONS.

The value of posted student work to show value for completed work and build pride for student accomplishment notwithstanding, most principals walk right past these boards completely missing one of the simplest yet most important formative data measures available to track student writing progress. 

The best part, you don’t have to be a writing expert to know how to analyze it! 

All you need to be able to do is count.

The Logic: Students writing should parallel in complexity and sophistication to the expectation of student reading comprehension.

In short: If we expect them to read it, we should them to write it.  

The steps are simple.
1.    Look for posted student writing around your campus. 
2.    Choose one to three samples at random. 
3.    Count the total number of words in the sample.
4.    Count the total number of sentences.
5.    Divide the number of words by the number of sentences to find the average number of words per sentence. 

Do the sentences increase in average length as students’ progress through the grades on your campus? 

Are your fifth-grade classes writing shorter sentences than your third-grade classes? 

Do the writing samples from one 4th grade class differ in average number of words per sentence from the other 4th grade teachers?

Most importantly, how do the average lengths of student sentences correlate with grade-level writing expectations for state and national testing?

Let’s take a look! The chart below lists the average number of words per sentence across academically Lexiled reading texts for each grade band. 

Here are some examples:

Don’t expect these numbers to match up on the first week of school. Use these averages to look for trends over time. Are the average lengths of sentences increasing toward the academic average for each grade level throughout the year or are they remaining stagnant?

There are many subjective factors that are also incredibly valuable when analyzing and judging student writing progress. However, as a principal, a quick quantitative measure that you can use to make sure students are making progress in their ability to academically express their thoughts is a vital tool.

This is even an observation protocol that can be done outside of the school day.

Use this data in conversations about writing instruction with your teachers.

REMEMBER: THE TYPE OF DATA WE OBSERVE AND FEEDBACK WE PROVIDE CAN EITHER EMPOWER A TEACHER TO SELF-MONITOR OR LEAVE THEM FRUSTRATED WHILE WAITING FOR THEIR NEXT OBSERVATION.

The Overlooked Power of Complete Sentences

High-Impact Tip #40

The Overlooked Power of Complete Sentences

Make a claim… State an observation… Ask a question… Construct an argument… Cite evidence…

What do all these Common Core Standards have in common? 
They can only be answered in a complete sentence!

State and national standards have fundamentally increased the sophistication and complexity of language required of students on their yearly assessments. 

Most districts have adopted new curriculum to address the changes in content, but have made few if any changes to how students use language to articulate their knowledge of the content. 

It is vital for students to consistently communicate their thinking in complete sentences, just like they will need to on their yearly achievement tests.

Principals

Walk around your campus and listen. Do the teachers ask students to answer in complete sentences? 

Sit in each classroom for three to five minutes. Draw a simple t-chart on an index card and tally the number of complete sentences v. incomplete sentences you hear. How much of the discourse happening across your campus matches the requirements of assessment? 

Coaches

Teachers are keenly attuned to listening for accuracy. Most are not actively listening for complete sentences.

Sit in each classroom for five to 10 minutes. Choose a place near the teacher where you can be easily seen. Choose a signal that represents an incomplete sentence. Each time a student responds using an incomplete sentence, signal the teacher to go back and require a complete sentence. 

Teachers

Make complete sentences one of your classroom expectations.

When students do not respond in a complete sentence, use a non-verbal cue and have students rephrase their response in the form of a sentence. You will be amazed how quickly this new normal accelerates a student’s ability to formulate their thoughts in the form of sentences. 

Check back next week as we discuss how the average number of words in a student response can predict their overall scores on student achievement tests. 

Pillars of Urgency - Pillar #4

Pillar #4: It's not a checklist. It is a
statement. Put the pieces together.

HOW TO BUILD URGENCY AND JUMPSTART CHANGE

Have you ever known that a change on your campus was needed but struggled with how to put that need into words?

Do you find that when addressing the need for change, the people on your campus focus more on why the problem exists and less on what they need to do to fix it?

During the last three weeks of this series, we built and clearly articulated a real-life Urgency Message about a desired change. By succinctly linking these three components, your message will have the power needed to jumpstart change.
 
Welcome to the last of this series titled, Four Pillars of Urgency.

4. It's not a checklist.

It is a statement.

Put the pieces together.

Let’s see how the first three components work together in action.  Again, we look at two possible principal meeting introductions at the start of a teacher development session.

How are these two messages different?

More importantly, how would the differences in these two messages change the urgency your teachers feel about a new initiative?

Creating a clear and compelling Urgency Message for organizational change that motivate people to see and want a different future are not the norm in most schools and districts.  Instead, we buy new materials, get tempted by a seemingly easy innovation, or copy something we heard about at a meeting.  Then we tell teachers to just go do it.
Not surprisingly, things easily acquired are easily discarded, and the initiative goes nowhere.

The science and practice of creating an Urgency Message that accurately describes why the status quo is unacceptable, why changing it is worth our time, and what could be the result if we all did something new or different is the subject of hundreds of books and articles.  It works.  It’s based on  decades of psychological research and application.  Give it a try!

Look here next week as we begin a new series to teach you powerful and practical ways to see if your students are using language during instruction that is similar or not similar to state and national tests.  You may be quite surprised by what you learn.  

Pillars of Urgency - Pillar #3

Pillar #3: Paint a picture of what the future condition would look like when the problem is solved

HOW TO BUILD URGENCY AND JUMPSTART CHANGE

Are you leading a change initiative that has stalled because it has reached a mechanical level of implementation?

Are the people  you have asked to change only implementing their new skills a couple of times before going back to their old behaviors?

Last week we learned to convincingly articulate the value of a proposed change, but without clearly defining the desired outcome of the change, your Urgency Message won't last long enough to see results.

Welcome to the third of this series titled, Four Pillars of Urgency.

3. Paint a picture of what the future condition would look like when the problem is solved

• Why should teachers spend extra energy and effort on changing their current practice?

• If people can’t see a clear and rewarding return on the investment of their time, most won’t invest.

• Organizational leaders need to paint a picture – in words, with stories and illustrations – of what will look better as a result of the change. If they fail to do this, the end goal remains a mystery.

Let’s look at this pillar in action through two very different ways a principal could open an after-school  professional development session.

Notice the shift in urgency regarding the content that is going to be covered. In the first statement, success is achieved when the new techniques are tried and observed. In the second statement, success is achieved when teacher behaviors change, which in turn improve student outcomes.

Give this a try at your next meeting and watch your teachers’ ears perk up and their focus sharpen instantly.  Come back next week as we address the second tip in our series, The Four Pillars of Urgency.

Pillars of Urgency - Pillar #2:

Pillar #2: Overtly State Why You Believe the Problem is Worth Solving.

How to Build Urgency and Jumpstart Change

Have you discussed countless graphs and data sheets that clearly show a problem, yet your teachers seem paralyzed when it comes to changing their instructional practices?

Have multiple and repeated calls for change left your staff de-energized and with little confidence things will really get better?

Last week we learned to attack the problem directly by succinctly stating the problem.  But without a powerfully associated belief statement, your Urgency Message won't motivate a change.  Instead, it will be heard as a statement of blame.   
  
Welcome to the second of this series titled, Four Pillars of Urgency.

2. Overtly state why you believe the problem is worth solving.

• How will changing our current practice yield a positive result?

• If no one can convincingly articulate the value of solving the problem, few will contribute to the effort.

• If the organization’s leaders take a passive role in helping people to see the value, you’re sunk.

Let’s look at this pillar in action through two very different approaches by a principal.

Notice the shift in urgency regarding the content that is going to be covered. In the first statement, the principal passively notes that new ideas are possible. In the second introduction, the belief that better academic questioning techniques are needed to address students’ needs is crystal clear.

Give this a try at your next meeting and watch your teachers’ ears perk up and their focus sharpen instantly. Then come back next week as we address the third tip in our series, The Four Pillars of Urgency.

Pillars of Urgency - Pillar #1: Attack

Pillar #1: Attack the Issue at Hand Directly

How to Build Urgency and Jumpstart Change

Are you tired of meetings where change is the topic but afterward all you observe is the status quo? 

Have you tried to lead change after change that fails to motivate your teachers to really do things differently that would benefit students? 

Without a clearly articulated Urgency Message about a desired change, you’re just asking for volunteers to try something new.       

Welcome to the first of this series titled, Four Pillars of Urgency.

1. Attack the issue at hand directly

• What current practice is unacceptable, inefficient, or ineffective?

• If you do not clearly articulate the answer to this question, your meeting is over before it has begun.

• If your process for this ignores big elephants in the room, you won’t get any further.

Let’s look at this pillar in action through two very different approaches by a principal.

Notice the shift in urgency regarding the content that is going to be covered.  In the first introduction, teachers have no reason to learn something new beyond the recommendation of the principal.  In the second introduction, a need has been overtly addressed.

Give this a try at your next meeting and watch your teachers’ ears perk up and their focus sharpen instantly.  Come back next week as we address the second tip in our series, The Four Pillars of Urgency.