Advance Organizers to Preview New Material

P1 – Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction.

Advance Organizers provide an opportunity for intentional inquiry and planning for instruction while giving students a preview of what is going to come (Dean et al. p. 62). They allow educators to lie out specific learning goals and give an overview of the upcoming unit. Advance organizers serve as a road map and offer inclusion of students in the learning process by allowing them to see ahead of time what they are supposed to learn. In order to be the most effective, advance organizers should be specific to the upcoming unit and present clear expectations rather than trying to be mysterious about learning goals. I think the best way to be specific and clear with advance organizers is to pull information straight from state or national learning requirements. This will give students insight to the learning requirements provided from teacher supervisors. Information of this nature may harness student “buy-in” as if they were being given secret access to certain information.

Along with specific learning goals and concise language to present these goals, an example of the skill would be a strong use of an advance organizer. Students like to see why what they are learning is important and applicable to the world around them and advance organizers can provide this opportunity. Specifically, in a higher-level math class, many students do not see the applicability in some of the material. Presenting real world uses for the math can show students that their 9th grade geometry class may in fact be useful later in life.

Below is the Common Core State Standard for high school geometry regarding Modeling with Geometry. Providing this specific language to students and a real-world example would be a sufficient advance organizer. With regard to using volume in real life situations, I could walk my students through an example comparing two objects, a cup and a pole, and finding their geometric similarities. After coming up with a few ideas, we can conclude that both objects are cylinders. From there I can provide how to find certain properties of cylinders such as volume and surface area and use these to solve a problem about how much coffee could fit in various size cups.

 

Common Core State Standards: Mathematics. (2010, January 1). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from https://www.k12.wa.us/CoreStandards/Mathematics/pubdocs/CCSSI_MathStandards.pdf

Dean, Ceri, et. al. Classroom Instruction that Works. ASCD: 2012.

 

Charlotte Mason’s Model vs WA State EALRs

H5- Honor student potential for roles in the greater society.

While reading through Macauley’s paper on Charlotte Mason’s model and educational philosophy, the ideas presented appeared to be applicable to all educational subjects. Similarly, the state of Washington has four foundational learning goals to accompany its  education standards, which also cover all areas of instruction. The parallels between the two demonstrate that Mason’s model supports the state’s current learning requirements (EALRs) and fostering these learning goals will create more efficient and competent members of society.

Mason mentions that “helping kids become critical, creative, curious thinkers” is highly important when it comes to child education and teaching solely for high test scores is a waste of time (Macauley, 2004). This corresponds with the Washington state learning goal, which states that students should be able to “think analytically, logically, and creatively” (OSPI EALRs). While the clear similarity is to allow students to think freely and creatively, it is also important that students can analyze and criticize what they are learning as this is a critical skill to possess later in life. In math for example, creative thinking would take the form of exploring different shapes and having the students, on their own, discover patterns between formulas for each shape’s properties. From here, students can extrapolate their findings into broader concepts. This type of activity allows students to think freely and analytically with teacher assistance rather than the teacher dumping the information in lecture form. When students are allowed to uncover information on their own, they are more inspired to keep learning and investigating new topics and information (Macauley, 2004). Students will develop a sense of ownership over their education and when ownership is present, learning becomes more personal and valuable to students. Fostering independent thinking will improve a student’s confidence and encourage them to keep thinking in this manner. This kind of instruction will challenge students to think in ways they are not used to in order to stretch their capabilities and prepare them for future problem solving endeavors.

Overall, Macauley’s take on Mason’s model clearly supports Washington’s goals regarding how to educate students. Creating a sense of freedom and responsibility for one’s education can inspire students to love learning. Rather than feeding information to students, allowing for self-discovery and creativity will provide a more comprehensive and effective education.

Macauley, S. (2004). When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy for Today.

Washington State K-12 Learning Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved January 11, 2015, from https://www.k12.wa.us/CurriculumInstruct/learningstandards.aspx