In the best interest of children- what's wrong with the standards

Kelly Gallagher's book, In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom, takes time to examine the CCSS. He points out both strengths and weaknesses. Below is a chart copied from the book.

Common Core Anchor Reading Standards
Strengths	Shortcomings
1.       Students are asked to read rigorous, high-quality literature and nonfiction. 2.       Students are asked to determine what a test says, what a text does and what a text means. 3.       Close reading of rigorous text is emphasized.	1.       Readers should not be confined to stay “within the four corners of the text.” 2.       Prereading activities are undervalued. 3.       Recreational reading is all but ignored. 4.       There are no reading targets in terms of how much students should read. 5.       The reading standards may be developmentally inappropriate. 6.       There is a misinterpretation regarding the amount of informational reading. 7.       CCSS is driving an overemphasis on the teaching of excerpts. 8.       The exemplars are problematic in terms of relevance and reading levels.

Gallagher 2015, p. 61

I will address some of the shortcomings. First staying with in the walls of the text. This is preposterous. The Gettysburg Address cannot be viewed without the lens of the Civil War. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech without knowing about segregation and prejudice lacks impact. The manual that comes with your dishwasher might be simple enough for novices without dishwasher experience, but the repair manual is not. A jury is given a brief informational blurb every time DNA evidence is provided so that they understand what is going on. If you are in college, the textbook for the 101 course might have the same reading level as the 305 level, but you are going to struggle to read the book for the 305 course if you do not have the background information. Try to understand the young love concept of Romeo and Juliet without knowing about how loving relationships work-- not going to happen. Utilizing prior knowledge is essential for comprehension. For the CCSS authors to promote isolated reading is preposterous.

Recreational Reading is a cornerstone of few programs, but many programs have seen remarkable growth as a result of independent reading. My favorite was that reading three, self-selected, at reading level books is enough to virtually eliminate the summer reading slide, and since that is responsible for a significant portion of the poverty reading gap, reduces the gap between the haves and the have nots. Self-selected reading is responsible for the vast majority of vocabulary growth, especially as kids get older. Further it develops a love of reading. Call it what you will- DEAR, SSR, SSI- it is reading individually chosen books that are accessible to students based on individual reading levels and interests. Going with this is the idea of how much. Donalyn Miller of Book Whisperer fame, suggests 40 books per year. New York state recommends 25. Importantly, this includes required reading books. So if a student reads 4 novels in English class, that is four you can check off the list. Kids need to read extensively to develop reading, vocabulary and writing skills.

Next is the informational reading split. The CCSS authors recommend that by high school 25% of reading be narrative and 75% be informational. I have argued this point since the standards came out. Do students read outside of ELA? I sure hope so. We spend a lot of money on textbooks for history and science as well as other subjects if our kids do not read them. If you have four core classes that means nonfiction rules in the content area (75% of the classes) and fiction can have a large rein in ELA. We have traditionally taught some nonfiction in ELA- when we talk about American Literature, speeches play a large role. Poetry- found in the 811 section of nonfiction- qualifies. We read or are presented with information about time periods and authors before we jump into Twain, Shakespeare or Orwell. This is the nonfiction ELA teachers present. We do not and should not eliminate fiction from the dominant ranks of  ELA class.

Exlemplars are problematic. They are isolated from the rest of the curriculum. In high school we read A Tale of Two Cities in ELA while we studied the French Revolution in history. They support each other. Much literature supports history in this way and many schools utilize this approach. Students who are learning about the American Revolution are primed to read My Brother Sam is Dead and those reading Animal Farm should have background with the Russian Revolution. Just because someone said this is the type of work we expect does not mean that it is appropriate for the students in front of us. Further the standards ignore the fact that many of our students read far below grade level. The NYS modules for eighth grade included the book Unbroken- the tale of survival in Japanese prison camps in WWII. It discusses bullying in, at times a positive light, and talks extensively about torture. It has a 10th grade reading level. Why is it recommended for 8th grade? This is a stretch text for kids reading slightly above grade level. Take a moment to think about those reading below grade level. This is approximately 1/3 of the average class- not to even think about a class from a struggling urban school. Some of them are reading within two years of grade level. They will not read this material. It is not rigorous- it is impossible. All the scaffolding and previewing (that we are supposed to limit) will only make it slightly less inaccessible. We need different strategies for those kids. Just plopping the book, or an excerpt, in front of them will not make them better readers. More often than not, it turns them into nonreaders.

As teachers we need to embrace the strengths of the standards, but then we need to adjust them or adjust the curriculum to meet the needs of the students in front of us. We have the opportunity to create a generation of readers- let's not ruin it.

the Best Interests of Children do not always align with the standards

Kelly Gallagher is one of my favorite ELA writers. His style is easy to read and practical. He gets that good teachers make compromises in the course of their instruction. The premise of In the Best Interest of Students: Staying True to What Works in the ELA Classroom is that those compromises always need to favor what is right for kids. When we put teachers in the middle of the standards movement, they may be confronted with mandates to meet all the standards or teach to the tests in ways that do not promote achievement in literacy- both reading and writing. He cites data that since NCLB our students performance on the SATs has gone down. Students who have been exposed to the testing regime of NCLB performed lower on the verbal section than any other students before them
Now we are changing the SAT, and guess what? The test scores rose. For the average student, the new SAT scores are 40 points higher than the scores they would have received on the old SAT. What this truly showcases is one of his main points in the first chapter, that standards are necessary but insufficient. He comments that under NCLB with its mandated or sanctioned move toward proficiency, test cut off scores were reduced. We can indeed make a test that everyone is proficient on. That being said the test itself does nothing to improve skill. State test score proficiency levels rose and international test scores stagnated.

An interesting corollary to this idea. In New York when we adopted the new CCSS and tests, we were warned that test proficiency rates would drop significantly. Only 30 percent of students would "pass." Once the tests were administered and scored this was nearly the exact result. Why? The cut score was determined by the commissioner of education. If I want only 30% to be proficient, I send my psychometricians that goal and the cut score will be adjusted so that the vast majority of students fail, demonstrating that our students are woefully in trouble and we need the new standards to fix education.

Kelly emphasizes that what our focus needs to be is on good teaching- not meeting all the standards, something that would take far more than the 13 years of free public education our average student is expected to receive. He supports standards, but suggests that they fit in around the good teaching, not the other way around. He suggests that we not fixate on the tests but on the instruction. If we want to raise the level of education among our students that is where we must focus.

As another author once pointed out, we do not have students able to jump a high jump better by raising the bar.

Good thinking

Erik Palmer is an excellent communicator. His first book, Well Spoken, which  I blogged about here and here, was well-written and informative. His newest publication, Good Thinking: Teaching Argument, Persuasion, and Reasoning, is similar in its easily accessible style, practical suggestions and informative direction. The book starts with exploring the idea that the Common Core Standards (CCSS) include argumentative writing and reading throughout the grades. We need to persuade people as adults and the CCSS have it right that this is an essential skill students need. Further we need to back up our assertions with support. Now a day does not go by when I do not hear a teacher reference finding evidence to support an assertion. Rarely do they discuss what qualifies as good evidence, just the right or wrong information (afterall, workbooks have a correct answer.)

Palmer argues that one of the first things we need to do is share a common vocabulary.

• Statement, conclusion, position and claim--> results of thought
• reasons, premises, warrants --> help lead us to the thought

Palmer uses the term argument to mean the "group of statements that leads to a conculsion." (p 15) Using this defition he then goes on to explore the idea that an argument is cold- it is a detailed listing of inforamtion that lead to a conclusion. Persuasion, however, he sees as hot- it is the manner of presentation designed to get you to agree.

The first section of the book is devoted to argument. What makes a sound argument? He explores logic in depth. The major principle of logic that he uses is syllogism. Teachers of algebra and geometery often teach syllogism. (Think back this is the "If p then q" statements many of us had to work with during our logic unit in high school.) Syllogism is one of the main underlying reasons we want students to take higher level math- they learn logic. Wouldn't it be better if kids didn't need to wait until high school or beyond in order to learn logic. With the push for agumentative writing we can now see this move. Palmer introduces the term, but sadly, never makes the math relate. We use syllogisms all the time without even thinking about it. While we may not structure our statements in the strict logic format, we could.

If you have money, you can buy an ice cream.
You have money.
You may buy the ice cream.

If you behave in the store, you may have a quarter to buy something from the machines outside.
You behaved.
Here's the quarter.

If you revise your paper, you will get a better score.
You did not revise.
Your grade sucks.

We see examples like this all the time. This is logic embodied as a syllogism.

He then extends the syllogism discussion by addressing what is evidence. He describes five types of evidence: facts, numbers, quotes, examples, and analogies. Unfortunately, CCSS tests seem to reduce evidence to merely quotes. We should definitely teach students to identify quotes that support our conclusions, but we also need to teach students to use other types of evidence as well. We could have students examine argumentative pieces and highlight the evidence provided and how they explain it and put it together to build an argument. (This technique then can be used to showcase elements of persuasion and rhetoric.)

From there Palmer moves to discussing persuasion. This would be the ethos and pathos that Aristotle described. He describes various persuasive techniques like bandwagon, loaded words, and plain folks. Then he moves on to other rhetorical devices like hyperbole and rhetorical questions. These devices and techniques abound around us. Examining advertisements is a great place to start teaching these skills. Further it helps our students become savy consumers- another life long goal. Then you could move to speeches and see how these tools are present in what people say. Since we are knee deep in political commentary as the presidential campaign is reving up, many interviews with candidates and their supporters are available. Critically ask students to look at them. See how people use these devices to make their points. Often they either side step the argument/questions; sometimes they use poor logic to make their point. We should use these short snippets to help us teach children to become critical citizens- another life long goal of education.

This book offers helpful minilesson ideas across multiple subject areas and grade levels. Most teachers could pick it up and find easy ways to integrate his ideas into their curriculum. The importance in teaching logical thinking cannot be underestimated. This book demonstrates how it can be done, not as a stand alone unit, but as a component of units that you already teach.

Differentiated Coaching

In Differentiated Coaching: A Framework for Helping Teachers Change, Jane A. G. Kise uses the Myers Briggs personality type framework as the lens through which coaching can be viewed. She views the personality types as a view point for assessing communication styles. According to her thesis, only by understanding the communication styles and preferences of others can you design coaching to meet the needs of each teacher. When there is a mismatch between presentation of information style and individual, poor outcomes result from the professional development. People can coach others with whom they do not share personality styles, but the coach then needs to adjust to meet the needs of the individual.

First a quick down and dirty summary of Myers-Briggs style. This format has been used by the business world for decades. The book goes into some detail about personality style, but an interested party should pursue more detailed information from the website above and other sources.  Myers and Briggs identify people as belonging to one of each of the following groups:

• Judging (planning) v. Perceiving (open and flexible) --> J or P
• Extraversion (energy through the outside world and people) v. Introversion ( reflection and solitude) --> E or I
• Sensing (information, facts, details) v. Intuition (open-ended, creative, big picture) --> S or N
• Thinking (decision making through logic) v. Feeling (decision making through emotions and personal impact) --> T or F

People then are identified as one of 16 four letter styles that highlight how they like to interact with the world. Although the author correlates framework with other learning style and personality style systems, such as Gardner's multiple intelligences and Gregorc's Mind Styles Model, the links are tenuous at times. The common thread could be that our inborn traits determine who we are and what we excel at as well as areas where we struggle. While research has shown that attention to multiple intelligences does not improve academic results, it may be true that communication style differences do.

One useful feature that I found was her chart on different coaching styles. Pages 146-8 detail four types of coaching preferences and how individual needs can be met. Below is a summary of the chart.

	Want a coach as a …	To meet their needs
ST	useful resource	·         Hands on relevant lessons ·         Provide evidence of effectiveness ·         Provide easily customizable examples ·         Listen to concerns
SF	Encouraging sage	·         Provide encouragement, clear goals, and concrete tasks ·         Join in the classroom and highlight the good, suggestions for trouble spots ·         Limit the number of choices ·         Model one strategy at a time, document success
NF	Collegial mentor	·         Conversation to engage creativity ·         Demonstrate concrete examples of abstract concepts ·         Step by step assignment procedures and graphic organizers to keep everyone focused ·         Classroom management support ·         Talk through the scenarios before choosing a strategy
NT	Expert	·         Provide credentials and references- be able to answer their questions ·         Balance theory with hands-on experimentation ·         Allow them to question and improve upon ideas ·         Provide evidence and data

I am a T person with a mix of S and N. When I was at a workshop and the three questions I asked were not only unable to be answered by the presenter, but she did not go find the answers for me. I was very unsatisfied with the program because she did not meet my need to have an expert in the subject material present information to me.


Some of the type information that I found intriguing included:

• SP students who struggle in school tend to test and enjoy the discomfort of teachers that results Gifted students tend to be N, perhaps as a result of testing bias
• Teachers tend to be INFJ, INFP, ENFP, ENFJ or ENTJ. Those with different types may struggle to fit in well with their peers.
• American culture tends to prize J, but that is not true of all cultures. Cultural preferences tend to be overrepresented in the population.

This book presents an interesting viewpoint on learning. While it does present ideas for large scale initiatives and incorporating them in light of personality types, it does not in any way discuss implications of the Common Core Standards on classrooms. The author's view on how instruction has shifted in light of CCSS adoption and how personality styles are addressed would be interesting. One shift in the mathematics realm, for example is an increased emphasis on understanding and articulating the why of a solution or algorithm. This will appeal to the J, S and Ts but could be a challenge for the P, N and Fs.

The book includes a fantastic appendix which describes each personality type, their general strengths, stressors, what they are best at in the classroom, their needs during change, typical areas for growth and suggestions for a coach to meet those needs. Understanding myself is, perhaps at least as effective as understanding the needs of professionals with which I work. Knowing that professional development (PD) that does not meet my needs for clear connections between current and new practices, information to answer all my questions, careful attention to details, time for reflection, and opportunities to provide influence is likely to not be well received means I need to adjust and seek out the opportunities that I do need. I am unlikely to respond favorably to PD that does not meet my needs, but I am not everyone. It does explain my thirst for details and knowledge as I approach new experiences.

Examining Similarities and differences

The third book in the Marzano Center series Essentials for Achieving Rigor that I have read is Examining Similarities & Differences: Classroom Techniques to Help Students Deepen Their Understanding by Connie Soles West and Robert J. Marzano. This book is arranged much like the other books I have read in the series: description of the technique, lesson plan steps, common mistakes, elementary and secondary examples and non examples, evaluation of student success and scaffolds and extension activities.  It includes a conclusion with self reflection questions and a short appendix of graphic organizers. Again, the approach is a practical implementation guide rather than explore the research behind the technique explanation. The text would also be useful to organize a PLC around.

Marzano and West  continue with the idea that in order for the technique to be effective for learning content, it must be taught. In order to use this particular group of techniques, students must be somewhat familiar with the content. These are not things to have students attempt when they are just learning information. The authors do not go into using teacher provided metaphors, similes or analogies to help provide initial instruction; their approach in this text is purely in using comparisons to increase content learning from the student's end.

The six techniques that the book covers are:

• comparing using sentence stems, summarizers and constructed responses
• comparing using graphic organizers
• classifying using sorting, matching and categorizing
• classifying using graphic organizers
• comparing by creating metaphors and similes
• comparing by creating analogies.

Throughout the book, sentence stems are seen as a preliminary step. This is a strategy that is highly effective for students with language disabilities and non-native English speakers. For students struggling with the more complex metaphors, similes and analogies, this step could be very useful. Stems like

• ______ and ____ are the same because ______
• Cities are like cells because __________________
• conjunction is to _______________ as ______________________ is to _________________
• Hamlet is like lion king because _____ and _____ and ____, but different because ____ and ____ and ____.

are helpful in getting students going, but before they approach this, many will need to brainstorm what is critical about the things being compared and share this information in groups before they start writing.

I have used sorts a couple of different ways to work on understanding:

• Give a list of words and categories and have kids sort them out.
• Give a list of categories and have students pull important terms out of a reading in each area
• Give a set of subtitles from a chapter and have students order them in a way that seems to make sense- explain why the students selected the organization they did, read the chapter and compare with the author's organizational approach and evaluate if their method would have been as effective.
• Provide a list of vocabulary terms and have them sort them into groups of their own making.

Kids do need to have these types of activities demonstrated for them before they go off and try on their own.

One strategy that I really liked was an affinity diagram. In this approach students brainstorm ideas around a topic with each idea going on a post it note (index card, strip of paper,..). Once the ideas are generated, they are sorted into groups. This approach could be used when thinking about an essay, discussion or debate- how are Romeo and Juliet showcasing hubris? Discuss three causes of the Revolutionary War. Should kids wear uniforms to school? Is chocolate the best ice cream and how do you know? Or they could be used to review before a test- how are polygons related? Distinguish between depositional and erosional glacial impacts.  This approach reminds me of mind mapping in that you manipulate the information generated in order to organize thoughts.

An important part of all the techniques was summation at the end of the activity. It is not enough to brainstorm and complete the Venn diagram. Students need to summarize what they learned- not restate the diagram. The image below is an example from science that I used years ago when I taught earth science.

My student had to arrange the information onto the chart (sort) and then come up with a statement. This level of information helped him to differentiate between two similar things. I have also used the technique with latitude and longitude, peninsula and strait, Romeo from Romeo and Juliet and Oedipus from Oedipus Rex, and congruent and similar (math) among others. I love comparing things to help students get it better and remember it more clearly.

Recording and representing knowledge

Ria A. Schmidt and Robert J. Marzano's Essentials for Achieving Rigor Series book, Recording & Representing Knowledge: Classroom Techniques to help Students Accurately Organize and Summarize Content describes how to increase knowledge in terms of students taking notes. This book is set up in two parts:

• Linguistic strategies: summarizing and note-taking
• Nonlinguistic strategies: graphic organizers, pictorial notes and pictographs, dramatic enactments, and mnemonic devices.

Each technique has a dedicated chapter that explains the technique, provides a sample lesson plan format, provides an elementary and secondary example of the technique in use across a variety of subjects, explains common mistakes, a rubric for evaluating mastery of the technique and a list of scaffolding and extension ideas. The book ends with an Appendix that includes an assortment of graphic organizers that are discussed in the graphic organizer section. The writing is clear and easy to read. The book includes some self-reflection questions and could easily be used for a PLC.

Much of the book recaps previous Marzano research and writings such as this ASCD article on vocabulary, The Art and Science of Teaching and Building Academic Vocabulary. If you are familiar with his research, this book will have a strikingly resonance. If you are not versed in his research and writings, he explains strategies and is light on deep research, so the material is very approachable.

A couple of critical elements leaped out at me as I read. First was his insistence on teaching the technique to ensure that students comprehend what is involved, why things are being done and all the steps required to complete the task. All too often, when it comes to recording information, we assume kids can do it and we ignore this step. Having students experience the challenge of selecting the best graphic organizer to use with the information is essential to their eventual independent use of the tool. Explaining types of mnemonic devices and how to develop useful ones is a critical step to being able to do it on one's own.

A second thing that he reiterated repeatedly was that students should not record information during the initial presentation. They should have processing time first. My brother, a university professor, talks about being able to either record what someone is saying or listening and processing what is being said. I do not think this is too different from what many people experience. Given a choice, I would far rather have my students listen and process than write it down. In practice this means presenting information- print, image, or verbal form- and then letting students process small chunks to find the key ideas. This requires a shift in how we think about taking notes- copy everything the teacher writes down or transcribe everything that he says- is not effective for learning. Notes need to be personal and relevant to the processing. More frequent breaks to record instead of recording while we work becomes the goal.

Third, a note about dramatic enactment. I worked with a teacher who had his students act out scenes from history. Typically a group of 6-8 kids to a group would draft a script (i.e. a lead student would draft the skit). Then kids would act it out. Points were given for props and dramatic vision. Once the activity was over students were given the unit test. These activities disturbed me because I could see that many students were not learning the material, but I could not articulate the problem clearly. Having read this book, I can. First, groups were not collaborative in the creative cycle. A leader did all the thinking with one or two inputs from others. A Reader's Theater approach might have been more useful because then students could have dived straight into the simulation rather than wait around for others to process the information for them. Deciding how to read a script would have had more use than the "bang with sticks" I saw in one skit.  Second, there was no summarization of the learning. After the enactment, writing or talking about what they learned from the activity would have helped the activity be cemented into memory. Third, the heavy emphasis on props took away from the emphasis on the events being depicted. Drama can be very useful for kids, but it has to be well-thought out and include a wrap up processing activity.

note-taking as an instructional technique

Lectures have a bad rap. Anyone who has ever sat through a three hour class lecture knows that at least some of it is deserved. So why do teachers and professors still do it? Because lecture is a highly efficient way of delivering large amounts of information. That being said, how do we optimize lectures so that students derive benefit from them? Silver and Perini wrote The Interactive Lecture as a PLC guide to help teachers tackle this task. Similarly, Ria A. Schmidt and Robert J. Marzano look at note-taking in their Essentials for Achieving Rigor Series book, Recording & Representing Knowledge: Classroom Techniques to help Students Accurately Organize and Summarize Content.

According to Schmidt and Marzano, teaching note-taking is essential. Think how many times teachers have complained that students can't take notes. Then think how we do not teach note-taking. It all makes sense. The authors propose four steps to developing note-taking:

1. Teach the method from the beginning of the year.
2. Consistently used the method on a daily basis
3. Provide feedback to students on note-taking
4. Allow notes to be formative assessment- after looking at them alter instruction to meet the needs of students- scaffold or extend as necessary for SPECIFIC students.

While the authors do not support the use of one note-taking technique over another, they emphasize teach and practice the technique repeatedly. When I was in college I had a professor who taught a class on teaching ELA and social studies. He was adamant that we learn how to create mind maps of material. At least once a week an assignment included creating a web. At first I hated it. It was foreign and hard. He collected and graded the notes we made with these webs. As time went by I became more comfortable with the webs. Ultimately I used webs to "outline" every paper I wrote in graduate school. Many students never latched on to the webs or preferred more traditional outlines or Cornell notes or some other method for recording information. The only way we were able to make a choice, however, was by being forced to learn different methods. It is ok if each teacher requires a different technique. We are building choices for our students and teaching flexibility in learning.

A couple of key features characterize effective note-taking:

• Students must summarize and prioritize ideas and information- NOT all the information is recorded
• Processing time is provided prior to notes being taken
• Note-taking does not occur during presentation of new information
• Often peers are given the chance to talk through some of the information to help with processing and prioritizing.
• Students are not expected to copy from the board.

This structure is very different from the note-taking we typically see in classrooms. A common classroom modification for students with disabilities is copy of classroom notes will be provided. This is helpful if the expectation is copying notes. Unfortunately, processing of information during note-taking is not a common occurrence.  Although the authors do not comment about the challenges many students with disabilities have with note-taking, many of their suggestions for note-taking eliminated the requirements for multitasking, copying from the board, and spelling.

Since several pieces of research (see here, here, here and here) verify that pencil notes are more helpful in increasing knowledge in students than notes taken on computers, we need to be very wary of students using electronics during lectures. The authors only highlight paper note-taking procedures. They do not, however, comment about trends toward audio-recording or live-scribing technologies that are sometimes used for note-taking.

A lesson might look something like this:

• Teacher presents new information for five to fifteen minutes. (The older the student, the more experienced with note-taking, and the more familiar the student is with the information, the longer the chunk of information can be.) No writing should take place.
• The teacher asks students to spend a few minutes recording key ideas and details from the lecture.
• Students are asked to pair-share for a couple of minutes to discuss their thoughts.
• Students receive another couple of minutes to refine their notes.
• (If still teaching the process or if a check for understanding is desirable- a few students are asked to share and defend their notes followed by another couple of minutes to refine notes)
• Repeat.
• Toward the end of a section of information or a period, nonlinguistic representations of the information and/or summary statements of the day's information are requested to be written.

True, a teacher might not cover quite as much information, but with this sort of approach, much more learning is likely to take place reducing the need for review at another time.

The authors suggest scaffolding such as student friendly definitions and examples of note-taking techniques be provided and templates or fill-in-the-blank notes for students to complete be available. Templates or skeletal notes could certainly be useful for students. I am not so sure that providing definitions of the techniques would be so helpful. If you are teaching the format you want students to practice, you should have done this already. Using more pair-share opportunities and nonlinguistic representations would be a good idea. Additional wait time might help, but in a whole class presentation, this could be difficult to implement. Encouraging preview material through short podcasts or video or key vocabulary review at home or in a resource room might allow the additional processing time some students need to be successful. Providing cut up possible notes that students select and prioritize and then glue/tape into notes might help with students with spelling, handwriting, or language issues. For students with memory problems, pictures highlighting key ideas might be used to trigger memory. Students could even just take "notes" with images. Color coding could be a useful scaffold for students who struggle with note-taking. If notes are being made on reading material, readings with a lower reading level could be utilized.

Suggested extension ideas include student prioritization of information, rewriting definitions in your own words and researching a big idea. Since prioritizing big ideas is part of the technique, I do not see how that becomes an extension idea. If students are not copying from the board, they either have fantastic memories and can write definitions verbatim or they are writing definitions in their own words. Researching a big idea is an extension of the content area and is useful but is unrelated to learning the technique of note-taking. I might have students try and make connections to other classes, past experiences, real life experiences and record them in their notes to share with others. Another extension idea for students who easily comprehend the reading that you want students to take notes on is to provide more challenging reading material. The internet provides a wealth of material at different reading levels; college level texts could even be used for some students. NewsELA, Reading A-Z and Breaking News English are websites that have readings about the same topic written at different reading levels.

A technique that could either take the learning to a more basic or a more complex level would be a parallel teaching form of co-teaching where one teacher presents the lesson content to one part of the class and the other teacher presents either a more basic or more complex version to a smaller part of the class. If another staff member is not available, a web video could be utilized. Students could then come together in a whole group for the summarization phase of the lesson. Or a jigsaw approach could be made where students could share their notes from a section of the learning with others from the class who learned about a related but different aspect of the material.