I am sure that many of you have heard of the expression, "less is more."

But, have you heard of the expression, "less but better" by Greg McKeown?

Perhaps there is no better to explore that phrase than right now in December.

Without a doubt, the past months have been overwhelming.

One of the norms for teachers over the year has been doing "whatever it takes" to get results for students...and this year, that often seems impossible. Instead, we often seem to have to settle for the strategy of "bridge the gaps we can" this school year, and that can be frustrating.

When things this year are changing at the drop of a hat, it is really easy to become overwhelmed, overworked, and overtaxed.

Less but better can be a design principle and also a life principle. It is the idea of of eliminating a lot of noise and focusing only on the essential aspects of something.

Less but better means:

• Defining what is truly important
• Having the courage to eliminate other things
• Focusing on the essential and giving that our best effort

Embracing less but better can shift our attention from quantity to quality. It may at first seem like sacrifice, but it's not.

Abundance becomes experiential: deeper connections, honored commitments, meaningful conversations, focused work, more enjoyment, and better use of things.

There are so many plates spinning with teaching this school year. I invite you to embrace less but better into one aspect of your planning and teaching this school year. I encourage you to:

• Start small: Try to reduce (or eliminate) one thing that isn't working well, and isn't essential.
• Practice daily: Try asking yourself, "Is this the most important thing? Can I eliminate it? Can I eliminate parts of it?" Then, focus on the best thing you can do, and give it your best.
• Rethink additions: If you need to add something, think about it before making a decision. "Is it helpful? Can you let go of something else before you add something new?"

Also, think about the things we know in education gives us the biggest return on investment.

For example, in this newsletter, we are going to explore briefly "the science of learning." For over 100 years, cognitive scientists have conducted research on how we learn.

There are techniques that educators at every level and in every content level can put to use in their classroom that are grounded in the latest research on how students learn.

We know more about how the brain works and learns in the last 20 years than arguably ever before.

Have you adjusted your teaching to take advantage of these research-based strategies?

If not, as you are working with the idea of less but better, now might be the time to integrate some of these into your instruction.

As always, please reach out if I can help you!

Kind regards,

~Donna

This sketchnote by Mary Kemper introduces you to the idea of retrieval practice and ways to empower teaching with retrieval practice strategies.

For some time now, Greg Eckert has been involved in studying the topics of cognitive science and education.

In today's issue, he is going to share a little more about one of the four power tools for learning, and show us an example.

Here's what Greg shared:

"As an adjunct professor at Millersville University in the English department, the first question I ask students during the first week of class is: what is your preferred strategy when studying for a test?

Take a moment. Consider yours. Even when you take a graduate course—how do you study?

Cramming with their notes—that is their go-to strategy. I’ll be honest and say that during undergraduate, my answer was exactly the same. I would hover over my notes, highlight, read a short story, re-highlight, re-read a short story, but according to Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel (2014) re-reading and this type of massed practice is one the least effective types of studying someone can do—that goes for students (pedagogy) as well as adult learners (andragogy). After all, we as humans are a terrible judge of our learning—we mistake repetition like this for meaningful learning.

If you are looking for a great alternative to help students learn your material, consider retrieval practice. Most of you already use this in your classroom in some capacity, but increasing the frequency of how often you test has incredible benefits. Not only does testing provide you with a measurement of student knowledge, testing solidifies learning (Roediger & Kapricke, 2006).

Studies that test this theory go something like this: two groups of students study for a test. Group A studies and then takes an exam while Group B studies but does not take the exam. A few weeks later, both groups take a test, but guess who scores higher? Group A. Karpicke and Grimaldi (2012) refer to this as test-enhanced learning or retrieval-based learning and is most effective when teachers provide learners with feedback (Roediger & Karpricke, 2006).

You don’t have to give the traditional end-of-unit test more frequently; instead, low-stakes assessments work, too, Edpuzzle is the one that we as a PLC use quite frequently. With retrieval practice, we are looking to help students continuously use our terms or ideas so that they do not forget them.

Consider ways that you can ask students questions where they have to put forth effort to remember something. Some struggle is good! After all, “learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014).

Nearpod is also a great way to assess students about their knowledge. Consider doing a ticket-in-the-door, a ticket-out-of-the-door, an Edpuzzle after a day or two of using new terms, consider a Nearpod after a 3-day weekend. Retrieval helps the brain keep the information fresh in their minds."

Here is a simple Nearpod ticket-in. I used this a few days after introducing my unit 1 vocabulary:

https://share.nearpod.com/G1RYXkM9U9

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., III, & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make it stick: The science of successful learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Karpicke, J. D., & Grimaldi, P. J. (2012). Retrieval-based learning: A perspective for enhancing meaningful learning. Educational Psychology Review, 24, 401–418.

Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006a). The power of testing memory: Basic research and implications for educational practice. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 181–210.

[Thank you very much for sharing both the research and an example with us, Greg!]

The Cult of Pedagogy article below shares what’s new in research.

"In recent years, cognitive psychologists have been comparing retrieval practice with other methods of studying—strategies like review lectures, study guides, and re-reading texts. And what they’re finding is that nothing cements long-term learning as powerfully as retrieval practice."

Please click here or below to access the article.

When we teach in the way that works best for our brains, everyone benefits. What does science say about how the brain learns, and how can it apply to remote learning? Pooja K. Agarwal, PhD, is the co-author of Powerful Learning. She'll share the "power tools" of learning -- and how they apply to remote learning.

The video below is brought to you by Ditch That Textbook (http://ditchthattextbook.com) ... encouraging less reliance on the textbook through technology, creativity and innovation.

Please note: This video automatically starts at 13:35 no matter how I set it. Once you open it, please just move the arrow on the video back to the beginning.

Caitlyn Zechman has been working a lot with design to increase student engagement and student interest in 7th grade science.

Caitlyn, John, and Carol recently had students participate in an Energetics "Whodunnit" as a classroom activity called the Tylenol Murder Mystery Case Study and instead of their traditional unit exam, students had the opportunity to complete a project to demonstrate what they had learned in the unit in the form of a Diner Menu Project which is a type of choice board for assessment.

Caitlyn has some great ideas that she is using in practice to share with us regarding classroom engagement and assessment strategies.

Please reach out to her to learn more.

Here is some information from Caitlyn on her "Whodunnit" called the Tylenol Murder Mystery Case Study.

"In order to increase engagement in our lessons, we have implemented case studies that connect real world concepts to the science topic they are learning. After we finish teaching about the basics of cellular respiration, the students will apply that knowledge to solve a real life murder mystery involving the mitochondria.

The 'case file' style of the presentation will also help students feel like they are detectives and be more invested in 'solving' the case."

Here is an overview of the Diner Menu Project assessment.

"We are using a Diner Menu as an interesting take on choice boards for our energetics unit project. The students will choose one appetizer, one entree, one side dish, and one dessert."

[Thank you for sharing all these resources and suggestions with all of us, Caitlyn!]

Keeping track of students' attendance in each class is really important at this time, but it can be very time consuming.

The Hurricanes Team of Kathy Mack-Hoover, Brian Ogle, Ashley Gorman, and Dawn Templeton set up a chart to track students' attendance each class period for students' core classes on their team. This might be something you could use or adapt.

Here's an explanation from Kathy:

"Our team started a chart for each day to keep track of who we mark absent in HR, and who is a no show, late, etc. in our classes throughout the day. It has eliminated the time we were taking to check in with each other with the status of our students. Even though it is another thing to record, we can do it quickly and we link it to our team agenda. It has been a time and communication life saver! Also, we are quickly able to see who has needs that should be shared with guidance or administration, or if we see a pattern with an individual student."

Click on this link, or the green button below, to view the chart that they are using.

[Thank you so much for sharing this idea and sample resource with us: Kathy, Brian, Ashley, and Dawn!]

In this learning environment, we can all think of many examples of being frustrated with students who are disengaged, not completing assignments, and not doing their part.

Without a doubt, it is so easy to focus on the magnitude of that problem because there are so many students who we know are, for whatever reason, doing less than their best in this environment. That is one set of students that all teachers are very concerned about.

On the other hand, we do have students that really are in a learning partnership with us, and are doing their part. Some of them may be doing everything we ask of them (maybe not to the level that we would hope to see them working, but it is clear that they are working), and other students who are actually achieving and thriving in this learning environment this school year.

Sometimes, we forget about the second set of students.

The 7th grade Raya Team of Caroline Shearer, Caitlyn Zechman, Lisa Whiston, and Kayla Horn send out messages of encouragement for students who are doing their work and assignments.

Caroline shared some screenshots below.

This may be something you might want to start doing if your team or PLC isn't doing it already.

Those of you familiar with Carol Dweck of Stanford University's work, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, will remember her powerful insights on the roots of intrinsic motivation stressing the importance of focusing on a child's ability to pursue goals and commitment to learning new skills which is within his control in order to foster a growth mindset.

The recognition this team is giving to students at this challenging time helps students who are doing their work focus on their own growth, development, and self-efficacy. These things will last far beyond the COVID time we are currently in.

[Thank you very much for reminding us that this is important and for sharing your idea with us, Caroline, Caitlyn, Lisa, and Kayla!]

Before DTSD went fully virtual, Dave Yingst and I had shadowed four students over two days from 7:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Two students were face-to-face in the concurrent classroom, and two students were fully virtual students.

We tracked student activities throughout those four days, and shared that data with the middle school teachers in a previous newsletter.

One of the things that was particularly challenging (even for us as adults) was being able to attend both in the socially-distanced classroom and the virtual space.

While students had 30 minutes off for lunch, out of the four days, the four students only experienced a total of 10 minutes of any kind of brain breaks or mindful minutes.

The 6th grade ELA PLC of Sarah O'Brien, Kathy Mack-Hoover, and Kim Pegher have been curating a list of brain breaks and mindful minutes to use in their classroom, and they actively continue to add to the list.

They are sharing this running list with all of you.

Please click on this link, or on the green button below to view their running list.

[Thank you so much for sharing your resource with the rest of us, Sarah, Kathy, and Kim!]

Please consider sending me your teacher / team / PLC examples, tools, ideas, hacks, or tips & tricks for an upcoming newsletter.

It doesn't have to be elaborate.

In fact, some times the simplest things help us the most.

If you have found something that is helpful to you, your team, or your PLC, it could be very helpful to others.

Sharing our ideas is one of the best way for us to all get through this COVID year.

We are better together, and everyone has something to share!

Description of the Session:

Teacher collaboration around sharing ideas is one of the most powerful improvement strategies we have in education, but we infrequently have the time to make that happen. In this session, Bring two tips or tricks that are working for you as a teacher in this concurrent classroom model (face-to-face instruction and virtual teaching simultaneously), and leave with many more from your DTSD colleagues and coaches. A link will be sent the day of the session.

Sign Up:

Please sign up on the district's 48 CARATS site. If you are interested in an hour of trade time, please complete the district's trade time paperwork also.

~Dave Yingst & Donna Spangler

Description of the Session:

As teachers, we know that student interaction in the classroom is a key component to successful learning. Can that happen in a concurrent classroom (face-to-face instruction and virtual teaching simultaneously?) Yes it can! This session will develop and enhance a teacher’s skill set with student-to-student collaboration in a virtual and face to face environment. A Zoom link will be sent the day of the session.

Sign Up:

Please sign up on the district's 48 CARATS site. If you are interested in an hour of trade time, please complete the district's trade time paperwork also.

~Dave Yingst & Donna Spangler

Donna Spangler - Middle School Instructional Coach (dspangler@hershey.k12.pa.us)

Email: dspangler@hershey.k12.pa.us
Website: https://hmsinstructionalcoaching.weebly.com/
Location: Hershey, PA, USA
Phone: (717)531-2222
Twitter: @spanglerdonna1