A collaborative effort to illuminate the K-12 curriculum landscape for educators & advocates. We get into the important weeds for popular and emerging programs.
Joined September 2018
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Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
“A lot of our problems in mathematics are caused by the fact that students aren’t clearing the fluency stage of learning.” Great @rastokke presentation at @ResearchEd_CL
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
We have been overdue for a conversation about math curriculum, and every teacher I know sounds like this RN.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Creating my own scripted lessons, allows me to anticipate Ss misconceptions and know how to respond to them. It gives me a clear direction and intention to my instruction. Scripts are not meant to restrict a teacher. They help keep the focus on student learning.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
In this blog post, my colleague Sarah Engstrom addresses common misconceptions about FASE reading & shares examples of what preparation for student reading can look like.
teachlikeachampion.org/blog/…
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
My favorite part of the teaching day is when I'm teaching students a pair of contrasting words like civil and hostile. I enjoy this part of the day because it teaches students new words AND students try to connect these new words to previously learned ones. I use a script. At the end of the script students have to discern between the contrasting word pair. I provide a sentence and students choose which word by spelling it on their mini white boards. For example, students discern between the words civil and hostile. I encourage students to quickly write words that are associated with either civil or hostile underneath. The words don't have to be synonyms, but should be related in some way. I'm trying to get students to solidify word networks so to speak. Here is an example from one of my students on Friday. What I like about this routine is that it is pretty quick. Students learn two new words through pronunciation, spelling, and meaning. They also are building word networks by retrieving previously learned vocabulary. There seems to be a lot of student thinking going on in this short amount of time. I might quickly ask the class to turn and talk and discuss how these words are related. I might come up with a paragraph describing how these words are related with examples for the entire class to read the following day. This has worked exceptionally well over the years. Students are not only learning words, but linking them to other ones, AND getting a lot of spelling practice with both newly learned words and retrieving previously learned words. Just for context, students previously learned the words benevolent & malevolent during novel study (Walk Two Moons) and learned belligerent earlier in this Word Mapping Project unit through Structure Word Inquiry working with the matrix and base bell meaning war.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Megan is one of the Great Explainers in literacy spaces.
She has incredible depth and breadth of knowledge on literacy research (including her own research), paired with the teacher's natural instinct to translate the information clearly to parents, teachers, Me.
This book will be superb, and I can't wait to read my copy.
Just in time for Dyslexia Awareness Month.
@MissyPurcell @brett_tingley @Veggievangelist
💜 Dyslexia for Dummies starts shipping next week... and will be sold in select Barnes & Noble stores!
💜 Designed to be a clear, practical guide for families of struggling readers
💜 Dedicated to Penelope, my brilliant student who has testified on Capitol Hill about the power of early reading intervention
#DyslexiaAwarenessMonth
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
So now we are going to have months+ of debate because everyone has different definitions of DI/di. 😩. Can we just call it Englemann's Program. Or ZI, Zig's Ideas.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
I can’t make this stuff up.
Yesterday, during parent-teacher conferences, another teacher told me that several parents had mentioned their students taking what they learned about memory, forgetting, and retrieval practice in my class and applying it in their other classes.
I don’t share this to be performative. I share it because I regularly hear pushback against explicitly teaching students how they learn, the science behind how learning happens, and what they can do to become better learners.
Time and time again, I see evidence that students take this knowledge and use it beyond my classroom. Will it help every student? Probably not. Will every student apply it consistently? Of course not. But the idea that explicitly teaching students how to learn isn’t worth the instructional time is, in my view, fundamentally misguided.
The opportunity cost of teaching students how to learn is one I’m willing to pay. The potential payoff extends far beyond my classroom.
A former student stops me in the hallway and says, “Mr. Benson, thank you so much for teaching me that method last year. It’s working great in all my classes.”
I asked her which method she was talking about.
Retrieval practice.
Explicitly teach students how they learn, then explicitly show them what they should do based on that knowledge. Many of them will take it from there.
We shouldn’t underestimate what happens when we equip students with the knowledge and strategies to take ownership of their own learning.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Yet another empirical investigation concludes no validity to VAK learning styles. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d…
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
If you need me tomorrow morning, I’ll be:
The new season of Sold a Story is coming tomorrow. I've seen speculation about it. I think there will be some surprises. I'm interested to know what you think.
First two episodes tomorrow. Then one a week on Thursdays until Nov 19. features.apmreports.org/sold…
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Knowledge isn’t at the bottom of Bloom’s Taxonomy because it matters least. It’s the foundation for everything that follows.
@C_Hendrick reminds us that higher-order thinking depends on what we know.
#KnowledgeMatters💙
carlhendrick.substack.com/p/…
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
My book, Reading Beyond the Basics, is on sale with an Amazon coupon until Oct. 19! Check it out if you want simple, research-backed ways to enhance your reading lessons for grades 2-6 - whether you have a reading program or not. (Link below).
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Sold a Story changed the conversation on reading.
Season 2 is looking at what happened to teaching itself and why an evidence-based approach (Direct Instruction) was sidelined for so long.
Trailer is below, new episodes tomorrow
youtu.be/4YDq-AB_d2c
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
"Fine motor skills... every year, when I think it can't get worse, it get worse."
– Kindergarten teacher
If I have heard this once, I've heard it 1,000 times.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Power of daily math fact practice.
Same student BOY placement test, vs last weeks 2 min timed practice.
From 0 correct to 24 correct, in just over 4 weeks of math fact work.
@brian_poncy
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
I've made a concerted effort this year trying to get my students to read really good books. I know it is debatable on the definition of a good book. I want 5th graders to move on from Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the I Survived series. These are the books my 5th graders are currently reading. I just purchased a couple of novels in verse like Finding Wonders, The Red Pencil, and Home of the Brave.
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
"Knowledge is what we think with."
tinyurl.com/yp39fxw4
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
Where are all the school- and classroom-based news stories from the past 2.5 weeks since NHJ's essay came out? Why are so few education outlets and teams looking into what goes on in schools like Unisom and PS307?
"Classroom instruction is a fundamental mechanism for perpetuating or disrupting inequity... [And yet] I don’t see education journalism examining classroom instruction frequently or deeply enough." - @isobeltx
alexanderrusso.substack.com/…
Curriculum Insight Project retweeted
The HOW: Building Knowledge That Makes Readers Stronger | Daniel Willingham
youtu.be/UtKmnRIuJ3Y
