Title | Stewart, Aimee_MED_2022 |
Alternative Title | Daily Spiral Review for 8th Grade United States History: A Curriculum Project |
Creator | Stewart, Aimee |
Collection Name | Master of Education |
Description | The following Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction thesis reviews research based on historical and pedagogical thinking tools to assist student learning. |
Abstract | The teaching of history is time limited and often utilizes pacing that encourages teachers to teach a concept one time and move on. Research shows that students do not meaningfully learn from that "one and done" model. To aid in helping students learn, build schema for their historical learning and retain that information, a daily spiral review was created with this curriculum project. This set of reviews utilizes research based historical and pedagogical thinking tools to facilitate this goal. These reviews were utilized by the teachers in the History teaching department for the 8th graders in our small rural school. Each review worksheet in the project includes reviews of previous lessons and has been expert reviewed for efficacy, accuracy and alignment. It is hoped that these reviews will provide a framework for systematic, built-in instruction of historical concepts covered by the standards set forth for the state. |
Subject | Education--Evaluation; Education--Research--Methodology |
Keywords | Daily review; Spiral curriculum; United States History |
Digital Publisher | Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, United States of America |
Date | 2022 |
Medium | Thesis |
Type | Text |
Access Extent | 13.7 MB; 105 page PDF |
Language | eng |
Rights | The author has granted Weber State University Archives a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce their theses, in whole or in part, in electronic or paper form and to make it available to the general public at no charge. The author retains all other rights. |
Source | University Archives Electronic Records; Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction. Stewart Library, Weber State University |
OCR Text | Show Abstract The teaching of history is time limited and often utilizes pacing that encourages teachers to teach a concept one time and move on. Research shows that students do not meaningfully learn from that “one and done” model. To aid in helping students learn, build schema for their historical learning and retain that information, a daily spiral review was created with this curriculum project. This set of reviews utilizes research based historical and pedagogical thinking tools to facilitate this goal. These reviews were utilized by the teachers in the History teaching department for the 8th graders in our small rural school. Each review worksheet in the project includes reviews of previous lessons and has been expert reviewed for efficacy, accuracy and alignment. It is hoped that these reviews will provide a framework for systematic, built-in instruction of historical concepts covered by the standards set forth for the state. Keywords daily review, spiral curriculum, United States History 1 Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Review of Literature ....................................................................................................................... 4 Benefits to Teachers .................................................................................................................... 4 Corrective Feedback ................................................................................................................ 5 Daily Spiral Review Components ............................................................................................... 5 Activating Prior Knowledge .................................................................................................... 5 Vocabulary ............................................................................................................................... 6 Map Work ................................................................................................................................ 8 Timelines ................................................................................................................................. 8 Document Based Questions (DBQ’s) ...................................................................................... 8 Political Cartoon Analysis ....................................................................................................... 9 Current Events ....................................................................................................................... 10 Reading Comprehension Skills ............................................................................................. 11 Methods......................................................................................................................................... 12 Approach ................................................................................................................................... 12 Purpose of Project ..................................................................................................................... 13 Procedure ................................................................................................................................... 13 Expert Reviewers for Feedback ................................................................................................ 14 Feedback Survey ....................................................................................................................... 14 Procedure ................................................................................................................................... 15 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 15 Survey Results ........................................................................................................................... 15 Implications ............................................................................................................................... 18 References ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 22 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 23 1 Introduction History is often taught chronologically, and the concepts that students are expected to master are taught only once so that they can move on to the next content to master. Teachers are assigned a vast span of history to cover within a short academic year. Brophy and Sledright (1997) commented on this method of fast-paced and time-governed instruction, “The most common approach to history teaching offers a perfunctory overview of as many facets of U.S. history as can be crammed into a school year” (p. 27). Cuban agreed with this view, “Teachers operating separately in their classrooms move 25 to 30-plus students through a 700-page history text and give frequent tests to see whether students have learned the required knowledge and skills” (Cuban, 2013). This approach can be problematic because the rapid pacing and emphasis on content can leave some learners behind. It can also lead to, “an objectivist tradition in selecting and representing content or the emphasis on breadth rather than depth that produces parades of ill-organized and soon-forgotten facts.” (Brophy & Sledright, 1997, p. 258). The traditional model of moving through chronological events focuses on rapid, shallow mastery of content rather than critical thinking. This is problematic because, according to Lunenberg 2011, content that is taught without critical thinking is “dead” and students might be able to “parrot” it back but will not retain what they have learned (p. 2). Ambrose et al. (2010) further explores this idea. In their book, “How Learning Works,” these researchers discuss the importance of practice and integration of new knowledge to gain “greater fluency and automaticity” (p. 5). This practice can be accomplished through aligned, frequent, appropriately challenging tasks. This practice is also important because it allows students to return to the content that they struggled with originally providing multiple opportunities for mastery (Blankenship, 2015). 2 For students to have deep understanding and maintain knowledge of the content they are taught, they need to revisit prior knowledge and connect what they learn to new knowledge. Connections between new content and old content and personal experience creates a schema that allows students to master new content (Lunenburg, 2011). Research tells us that mastery comes through a series of steps, acquisition, practice and integration and then application (Ambrose, et al., 2010). This deeper understanding is reinforced by retrieval practice. According to researchers, retrieval practice is, “Spaced practice (a.k.a. distributed practice), the opposite of cramming. It is regular, dispersed studying that occurs in multiple small sessions rather than one long session shortly before a high-stakes testing event” (Stavzener & Lom, 2019, p. A2). Retrieval practice can resemble quizzes or practice questions, but they have no penalties attached to them for incorrect answers and inform the learner of deficits. Retrieval practice is a powerful tool in the classroom and is considered highly effective in comparison to other instructional techniques such as textbook study or lecture (Stavzener & Lom, 2019). Unfortunately, there is not currently a systematic way to meet these needs of retrieval practice and review in a rural school district in the western United States. This district has a curriculum guide that outlines necessary ideas, key figures and events, and vocabulary and a pacing map that moves students quickly through the content but gives teachers the autonomy to decide how that should be done. One way to support students in making connections is through a daily spiral review. Spiral curriculum is based on Jerome Bruner’s constructivist theories. Harden and Stamper (1999) identify four components of a spiral curriculum. The first component is that ideas are revisited throughout a course. The second is that the level of difficulty increases throughout the course. The third is that “new learning is related to previous learning” (141). The 3 fourth and last component is that students demonstrate increased competence in the content assigned and objectives set. To a certain extent, the spiraling of American History curriculum is built into the Utah State Standards. Students are expected to receive instruction about U.S. History in 5th grade, 8th grade and 11th grade (Social Studies, 2009 & Social Studies, 2017). The topics for 5th and 8th grade are vertically aligned and 11th grade builds on the previous two classes to instruct students on U.S. History post-reconstruction. The efficacy of this vertical alignment is dependent on students receiving adequate instruction within their classrooms and mastery of the topics and objectives set by the state standards. Currently, there is not a spiral review curriculum created for 8th grade U.S. history in the school district which is the focus of this project. It is the goal of this curriculum project to create a spiral daily review activity that can be used daily as a self-start for students to review what they have learned previously in the class and be introduced to new vocabulary and topics that will be taught. This spiral review will benefit the instructor by creating a framework to systematically collect data and reteach material as needed. It will also benefit students by providing them with opportunities for direct instruction, corrective feedback and retrieval practice. 4 Review of Literature Benefits to Teachers A daily spiral review provides a systematic opportunity to measure mastery, reinforce comprehension skills and introduce critical vocabulary. According to Harden and Stamper, spiral curriculum organizes curriculum and content, which creates a more efficient and effective way of teaching, benefitting teachers and their students. Harden and Stamper (2009) describe this as, “A spiral curriculum is one in which there is an iterative revisiting of topics, subjects or themes throughout the course. A spiral curriculum is not simply the repetition of a topic taught. It requires also the deepening of it, with each successive encounter building on the previous one.” (p.143) Incorporation of a daily spiral review helps teachers to mindfully provide explicit, strategic instruction by attending to that curricular order and organization. Data Collection Once developed, using a spiral review offers both a learning opportunity for students and an assessment tool. This opportunity is referred to as Assessment for Learning and creates an opportunity for students to demonstrate what they know and are retaining while practicing skills. According to McDowell et al. (2011), Assessment for Learning (AfL) is a useful tool to increase content mastery. They believe an effective AfL should meet several different criteria. AfL should give opportunities for formal and informal feedback and include “authentic or relevant” tasks. AfL should also give students the opportunity to practice what they’ve been taught and the skills that they have acquired. AfL should “assist students to develop independence and autonomy” (p. 750). AfL can help teachers provide a low-stakes environment for their students to practice what they’ve learned prior to summative assessment. 5 Corrective Feedback Due to the systematic nature and curricular organization of a Daily Spiral Review, essential formative assessment opportunities are provided. This provides an opportunity to review student work in a low stake (non-summative) manner and provide corrective feedback. Used in a classroom setting, these daily spiral reviews and vocabulary introduction/practice will also provide an opportunity for systematic corrective feedback. After allowing students an opportunity to complete the assignment, the teacher may correct the reviews verbally in a whole group setting. This corrective feedback, according to Bitchener, Young, and Cameron (2005) becomes “direct feedback” and occurs "when the teacher identifies the error and provides the correct form.” By adding this systematic review and feedback, students will be able to both share their correct ideas and revise misconceptions before moving on to the next subject to be taught. Daily Spiral Review Components Researchers such as Brophy and Sledright (1997) have identified effective history instruction as instruction that includes a variety of techniques that engage and challenge students. Those techniques should include opportunity for reflection, connections to examples from students’ own experiences and responsibility for self-efficacy. Such techniques might include the introduction or review of vocabulary, the use of open ended or document-based questions, map work, timelines, and opportunities for students to use higher order thinking skills to make essential connections within content. Activating Prior Knowledge According to researchers Fisher and Frey (2009), the activation of background knowledge is key to comprehension of complex informational text, which is utilized daily in 6 history classrooms. Daily spiral reviews could include KWL, or Know, Want-to-know, and Learned Charts (a graphic organizer that asks students to identify what they know, what they want to know and what they learn in the lesson), anticipation guides (with a series of true and false questions for students to answer) and other techniques for activating prior knowledge to encourage students to prepare for the lesson they will be learning for the day. Background knowledge can also be activated by asking controversial or open-ended questions (Ferlazzo, 2020). By asking student what they want to know and what they already know, they are allowed to connect already existing background knowledge to what has been previously learned and create a schema for retention, which creates a more effective spiral review. Vocabulary Flannigan et al. (2012) emphasizes that students’ understanding of academic vocabulary is critical in their understanding of material. History is rich in content-specific vocabulary and complex generalized academic vocabulary. Students who do not understand content-specific vocabulary will struggle with understanding the content connected with that vocabulary. Vocabulary is best taught through repeated exposure and practice of new words. McKenzie (2014) also mentions reinforcing vocabulary acquisition through use of acquired vocabulary within lessons leads to mastery of essential academic vocabulary. With the spiral review, new words would be introduced by use of a Frayer Model with a student friendly definition. Those words would be aligned to the lesson and reinforced by teaching content (reading, lecture, assignments). Given the importance of vocabulary mastery in understanding complex historical ideas, the inclusion of vocabulary concepts would be a powerful tool to include in a spiral review through a variety of instructional methods. 7 One form of vocabulary instruction involves the use of graphic and visual organizers (Rakes, et al., 1995). Graphic organizers are a useful tool for the teaching and retention of new academic vocabulary and will be incorporated into each daily spiral review (McKenzie, 2014). Graphic organizers are a way for teachers to help students activate and connect prior knowledge to newly introduced vocabulary (McKenzie, 2014). An example of these graphic organizers is the Frayer model. The Frayer model gives students a visual divided into four squares. Students are asked to work individually, in small groups or with their instructor (“Classroom Strategies,” n.d.) and define the vocabulary word, list the characteristics of the assigned word and give both examples and non-examples of the word (McKenzie, 2014). There is flexibility within the Frayer model and teachers can adapt it to meet the objectives and needs of their classes. An example of this adaptation is including a space for students to draw illustrations of vocabulary words. Illustrations are another powerful tool in helping students recall and interpret vocabulary words. Illustrations also allow teachers to check for correct understanding of concepts being studied (Rakes, et al., 1995). Generative word study is another effective form of vocabulary instruction (Flanigan et al., 2012). Generative word study utilizes prior knowledge of words and asks students to break the words into prefix, suffix and root word components to analyze and compose meaning out of unknown words. This word analysis helps students to connect words to previously learned words and is applicable throughout many different content areas (Flanigan et al., 2012). This word study empowers students to interpret words on their own and gives them an essential tool for understanding content with more complex vocabulary. 8 Vocabulary will also be reviewed with matching and question/definition tasks within these spiral reviews to provide a formative assessment tool. This will give students a chance to practice retrieval of information prior to summative assessment. Map Work Map work is another effective way to incorporate the standards of historical thinking into daily reviews. Map work is when students are asked to utilize maps to answer questions or form conclusions (Bednarz et al., 2006.). Like the graphic organizers used to help teach vocabulary, map work is another visual tool that helps students analyze and interpret how geography, climate and topography impact the development of historical events. According to Bednarz et al. (2006), using maps in classroom instruction meets common core standards for geography as a way to communicate ideas and “organize information about people, places, and environments” (p. 402). Map work can be used to encourage the development of higher order thinking skills and requires students to use their spatial skills to problem solve. Timelines The purpose of teaching chronology and timelines is not for students to memorize dates. Timelines help students understand the cause and effects of historical events and develop a framework for learning history (Dawson, 2004). Timelines and chronological order would be a useful tool for spiral review because it would allow students to create a scaffold for ordering historical events. Structures that organize facts help with student retention (Ambrose, et al., 2010). Document Based Questions (DBQ’s) Document based questions (DBQ’s) are writing tasks in which students are asked to analyze a document or other data (generally primary sources) to draw conclusions and answer 9 questions (Noonan, 1999). Document based questions are an often-utilized tool in history classrooms. DBQ’s are assessment tools. DBQ’s are useful because they can give teachers insight into student thought processes and a chance to see if students are understanding assigned historical concepts and give opportunities for meaningful, corrective feedback (Blankenship, 2015). Using DBQ’s to reinforce historical thinking and content also creates an opportunity for students to use contextualization and sourcing (Where is this document from? Is it credible? Who wrote it? Could their perspective or the context in which it was written create bias?) (Blankenship, 2015). This also allows students to use active reading skills, which include not only sourcing and contextualization but also summarizing and predicting (Ambrose, et al., 2010). Use of a micro-DBQ (an excerpt rather than a single lengthy document or set of documents) within a spiral review would allow students to practice for more complex tasks. This task would also provide scaffolding and preparation for students who are required to write larger document-based essays or wish to take Advanced Placement classes in high school. DBQ’s also provide opportunities for students to examine multiple perspectives outside of their assigned textbooks, which facilitates a wider historical perspective than they might otherwise have. Historical thinking requires students to think beyond the facts presented and examine evidence to draw their own conclusions. DBQ’s offer an opportunity to do this and examine documents critically. It provides a chance to question and draw conclusions contrary or parallel to that presented by textbooks and arms them with tools to look critically at information presented to them beyond history class (Hynd, 1999). Political Cartoon Analysis Political cartoons are concise visual representations of political events, policies and viewpoints. According to Dougherty (2002), analysis of these visual representations is a high 10 engagement tool to use with students learning history or politics. Dougherty gives some guidelines for the usage of political cartoons with students. She recommends having an objective in mind when choosing the cartoon and creating a list of questions to guide analysis and discussion (259). She also recommends that students have been previously introduced to subject material (key figures and events) so that the cartoon does not need a lot of explanation. Analysis of political cartoons is another tool that could be incorporated into a spiral review for history classrooms to help students understand and retain information by examining different viewpoints and perspectives from history. There are opportunities within these tasks for asking deeper questions with these tasks and encouraging higher order thinking skills such as application, synthesis and evaluation (Fisher & Frey, 2007). Current Events The final component that could be included in a spiral review is a graphic organizer to record what students learn from the current events presentation that we view daily in the classroom. Students will watch a 10-minute-long CNN student news (as mandated by the history department at a junior high school in the district which is the subject of this project) and will use the news to practice summarizing, writing, listening and other essential literacy skills. Since the viewing of this daily news broadcast is mandated, in order to make this tool effective, students should be asked to watch for bias or opinion pieces and identify how and why this occurs (Journell, 2014). Students will be encouraged to make connections to the history that is being studied in the classroom and their own experiences. This is a useful tool for students to practice contextualization (such as how geography impacts culture and historical developments?) or how does colonialism still impact the world today?) (Blankenship, 2015). 11 In order for students to retain the content presented in history classes, they must be given the opportunities for practice previously mentioned (Ambrose, et al., 2010). In addition to the vocabulary work, map work, chronology and timeline work, political cartoon analysis and DBQ’s students will also be given other opportunities for practice through this set of spiral reviews, such as close reads, sorting tasks and concept maps Organizing structures such as sorting tasks and concept maps give teachers insight into how students are organizing information and helps identify gaps in knowledge and misconceptions in their content knowledge (Ambrose, et al., 2010). Reading Comprehension Skills Reading comprehension skills will be included through practice pieces within these daily reviews. Tasks such as finding the main idea, summarization, cause and effect, and compare and contrast will be included to promote the inclusion of cross curricular standards. Along with high quality instructions, these daily spiral assignments will help equip students to evaluate and comprehend increasingly complex texts. “To think like a historian, your students need to be able to evaluate, corroborate, and synthesize multiple, often-conflicting, sources. These sources may include newspaper articles, paintings, political cartoons, songs, diary entries, depositions, and speeches” (Brann, et al., ND, para. 5). Reading comprehension is a critical skill. 12 Methods Approach This curriculum project created a daily worksheet with activities and vocabulary to help teachers in our department present the material in our district scope and sequence for the academic year (80 in total). In addition, it supports and aligns with Utah state standards. It was created by incorporating state English/Language Arts standards and comprehension skills in addition to the content and historical thinking of the history content. Utilizing this project will provide 15 minutes a day of practice and instruction for the students of our junior high history department with included corrections. This project was reviewed and utilized by two teachers besides myself. To create this curriculum project, the following materials were utilized: district scope and sequence, curriculum maps and open-source materials (readings, maps, vocabulary definitions). The following steps were utilized to ensure quality, systematic reviews: 1. Identify learning targets/outcomes by reviewing district scope and sequence and state content standards for Language Arts and History for 8th grade. 2. Create an outline for the curriculum project. 3. Locate or create daily activities included in this literature review to support/spiral review daily learning targets. 4. Utilize peer review in department to ensure quality. Teachers were given digital and worksheet forms of the project and will be asked to provide written, specific feedback so corrections can be made. The department is supportive and already utilizes many of the teaching materials that I’ve developed. They agreed to review the new materials. 13 5. Revised with feedback as needed. This project has limitations due to its specificity to the district it is being created for. Our schedule allows for 84 days of instruction for the year of U.S. History with block schedule and time is another limitation. Purpose of Project The purpose of this project is to create a supplemental daily spiral review assignment for 8th grade U.S. history. This daily spiral review will encourage constructivist learning, low stakes skill and content practice, and informal formative assessment while systematically reviewing state standards. It is hoped that by providing a framework for teachers to regularly review material and necessary vocabulary, that students will attain greater mastery of those state standards. Procedure These reviews were created using the scope and sequence generated by the school district, which includes a pacing guide, vocabulary, and essential understandings. This scope and sequence is aligned with state curricular standards and is designed for teaching 8th grade students. This scope and sequence was then be used to create an outline of the project that align to learning targets. These spiral reviews are designed to be a small part of the daily lesson and systematically support students to build literacy, critical thinking and content skills and assist with mastery of essential understandings. They were utilized by students at the beginning of class by a team of three teachers in the same department and building. Our school operates on a block schedule with every other day classes, so a set of 80 daily one-page assignments were created to support the lessons taught in class. 14 Expert Reviewers for Feedback All three reviewers invited to review this curriculum have experience in classroom teaching and have completed master’s degrees. All are well qualified and considered experts in this area. They have taught in this project’s subject area (U.S. History 1) for more than five years. Two of the teachers asked for feedback were from the team utilizing the curriculum and the third was a previous team member who is now Social Studies curriculum director for the district. The two practicing teachers were given two weeks of this curriculum project to implement with their 8th grade classes. They were asked to utilize the spiral review and then answer a short qualitative feedback survey. The third doesn’t teach currently, as they are an administrator, but oversees the scope and sequence of Social Studies instruction for the district, and they reviewed it with that lens. Feedback Survey A survey (Appendix A) was created and given to the expert reviewers along with the curriculum materials, with the request that they utilize the curriculum materials for two weeks, reflect on their efficacy and fill out the survey with those reflections. The survey has five yes/no/explain questions and two open-ended questions. The yes/no questions include the following questions: “These spiral reviews support learning targets,” “These spiral reviews are appropriately rigorous for 8th grade students,” and “These spiral reviews support literacy and content skills for U.S. History classes.” Additionally, expert teachers were asked, “Did students easily understand the tasks given?” and “Did these assignments encourage students to think like historians?” The open-ended questions include the following questions, “How could this curriculum project be improved to support your teaching?” and “Will you continue to use these spiral reviews in your classroom? Why or why not?” 15 Procedure This project began with an examination of the standards. After that, the curriculum project was created and distributed to expert teachers for utilization in their classroom. Those teachers were asked to use the curriculum for two weeks in their classroom, review the curriculum set and provide feedback using the survey provided. Results Survey Results All three expert reviewers returned their feedback quickly and reported positive results from the use of this spiral review. Reviewers were asked to answer five of the feedback questions with a yes or no response and then asked to follow up with explanations of their answers. These statements began with #1, which asked whether the spiral reviews supported learning targets. One reviewer agreed that they did support the learning targets and explained by adding that they were “able to better guarantee that students are understanding the learning targets.” The second reviewer also agreed and stated that the reviews were well aligned with main learning goals and objectives. The third reviewer felt that they were “intentionally designed to build on skills and knowledge of specific content that are beneficial for student learning.” The second statement asked reviewers if they agreed that the spiral reviews were appropriately rigorous for 8th grade students. All three reviewers were in agreement that they met the needs of 8th grade students. One reported that the spiral reviews “are at grade level and show many ways to show what they know.” Another noted that the reviews, “challenge them while at the same time being manageable.” 16 In response to the third statement, “These spiral reviews support literacy and content skills for U.S. History classes,” all three reviewers agreed and marked a yes response. Explanation comments included, “These focus on vocabulary words that help [students] understand the content and promote skills that help students access the curriculum.” Another stated, “As we explore topics through history, the spiral reviews give me an extra chance to use literacy skills through all aspects of social studies.” The fourth statement reviewers were asked to evaluate was, “Students easily understood the tasks given.” All three reviewers agreed that the tasks were easily understood. One of the reviewers said, “The instructions were clear and concise,” while another added, “Very few students require much help. However, the tasks are not too simple either.” The final reviewer claimed, “Another way that these are beneficial for students is that they are predictable and easy to understand what is expected of them without being too repetitive or boring.” The fifth statement, and last of the yes/no response questions was, “These assignments encourage students to think like historians.” Again, all three reviewers answered affirmatively. The first noted that, “The skills reviewed help students use their historical thinking skills.” The other reviewer recounted, “Historians are required to analyze situations, documents, events, etc., and determine meaning from these things and apply these things to their own lives. These require all of the above.” The third reviewer replied that, “Students are asked questions and guided to think like a historian, especially by using different sources to form their conclusions.” The final two questions on the feedback forms provided to expert reviewers were open-ended and invited a short response. The first of these questions asked reviewers, “How could this curriculum project be improved to support your teaching?” All three reviewers had suggestions for improvement. The first reported that, “This is something that will always need to be tweaked 17 and improved to fit the needs of the students and possible changes in the curriculum.” The second added, “By allowing us to provide feedback as our needs evolve, the self-starts tremendously support my teaching and I don’t see them ever losing their value.” The third reviewer concluded, “The alignment with topics could be better,” on her feedback and when asked verbally to clarify for improvement, she added that 80 were more than she could use and that sometimes the order of our lessons change because of a teacher being out due to illness or personal business. She reported that she would need to skip a few to keep up throughout the year. In order to address this concern, both of the teachers asked for and were given access to the complete digital curriculum project so that they can adjust, revise and tailor to their individual teaching and student needs. The final question on the feedback form asked reviewers if they would continue to use these spiral reviews in classrooms and asked for clarification of why or why not they responded positively or negatively. The three reviewers agreed that they would continue to use the daily spiral reviews to support their students and teaching. The first reported, “Yes, these provide extra literacy, and history skills for my students in a low-risk environment.” The second agreed, stating, “Yes, they are very beneficial! They help me to continually focus on vocabulary review, main ideas that have been taught, and build necessary skills for U.S. History students. The final expert reviewer reported, “Yes, I would continue to use these because it has been proven to be beneficial for the students’ learning. They are given opportunities to continually see and work though the high leverage skills and important content, which helps set up their success.” The two currently practicing teachers both asked for digital copies of this review set so they could continue to utilize them throughout the rest of the academic year. 18 Implications According to reviewers, while not perfect, these daily spiral reviews add value to their instructional time in class. All the reviewers had positive experiences in the classroom during the two-week implementation period. Due to these positive experiences, reviewers will continue to utilize them in their classrooms. The specificity of the materials, which are tailored to the vocabulary and material covered in the district scope and sequence, might be useful for other 8th grade teachers within the same district. Feedback has been positive for this project. Teachers who were given a copy of the two weeks worth of material asked for copies of the rest of the spiral reviews so they could continue to implement this project in their classroom. As a department, we will use these as a self-start activity. Because these materials are not yet completely aligned with daily lessons, in part due to the arbitrary nature of school schedules and individual teacher plans and scheduling, it is my conclusion that it will take a full academic year to completely revise and align this set of spiral reviews. Each teacher will need to decide which materials to use and which to remove to fit their personal teaching needs. There is room for improvement. With my PLC team, we are continuing to align the lessons to match up with what we are doing in class. Because we vary in our daily lesson topics (sub days, student needs, etc.), each teacher is going to rearrange the material to better match their own lessons. They received digital copies to make this process easier. I’ve already received two emails with additional feedback. One was a typo on a quote and one email was a suggestion for additional content coverage. Verbally, teachers have reported that assessment scores are improved and retention is more evident. This is not going to be a static project. I will continue to revise, build and align this project to meet student and teacher needs. 19 References Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., Lovett, M. C., DiPietro, M., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bednarz, S. W., Acheson, G., & Bednarz, R. S. (2006). Maps and Map Learning in Social Studies. Social Education, 70(7), 308-432. Retrieved July 3, 2019. Bitchener, J. Young, S., & Cameron, D. (2005). The effect of different types of corrective feedback of ESL student writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 14, 191-205. 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Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36:7. Retrieved September 14, 2021. McKenzie, E. (2014). Vocabulary Development using Visual Displays. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 42(2), 12-17. Retrieved July 2, 2019. Noonan, N. C. (1999). Document-Based Assessment Activities for Global History Classes. Portland, ME: J. Weston Walch. Rakes, G. C., Rakes, T. A., & Smith, L. J. (1995). Using Visuals to Enhance Secondary Students' Reading Comprehension of Expository Text. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 39(1), 46-54. Retrieved July 2, 2019, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/40016720. Social Studies-5th Grade. (2008). Retrieved July 23, 2019, from https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=6050 Social Studies-US History I. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.uen.org/core/core.do?courseNum=6420 Stavnezer, A. J., & Lom, B. (2019). Student-led Recaps and Retrieval Practice: A Simple Classroom Activity Emphasizing Effective Learning Strategies. Journal of undergraduate neuroscience education: JUNE: a publication of FUN, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 18(1), A1–A14. 22 Appendix A Rate your agreement with the following statements. #1 These spiral reviews support learning targets. 1- Yes 2- No Explain: #2 These spiral reviews are appropriately rigorous for 8th grade students. 1- Yes 2- No Explain: #3 These spiral reviews support literacy and content skills for U.S. History classes. 1- Yes 2- No Explain: #4 Students easily understood the tasks given. 1- Yes 2- No Explain: #5 These assignments encourage students to think like historians. 1- Yes 2- No Explain: Please respond to the following questions. #6 How could this curriculum project be improved to support your teaching? #7 Will you continue to use these spiral reviews in your classroom? Why or why not? 23 Appendix B 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 |
Format | application/pdf |
ARK | ark:/87278/s6c8tntj |
Setname | wsu_smt |
ID | 96870 |
Reference URL | https://digital.weber.edu/ark:/87278/s6c8tntj |