Teaching & Learning Advisory

November 2024

Instructional Focus Documents

Instructional Focus Documents (IFD) provide a lens into what effective instruction looks and sounds like. The IFDs are content specific and assist with deepening knowledge of the standards.

The IFDs are available within the Curriculum Maps Sharepoint. Specifically, within each content area 'Additional Supporting Documents' folder (see example below).

HIGH IMPACT STRATEGIES

Explaining and Modeling

What are the elements of the practice? The diagram below breaks down key teacher actions to occur during modeling/explaining content.

RELEVANT RESEARCH

Engagement Strategies Research

https://library.teachingworks.org/curriculum-resources/high-leverage-practices/

Ball, D.L. and Forzani, F.M. (2009). The work of teaching and the challenge of teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 60, 497-511.
Ball, D.L., Sleep, L., Boerst, T.A., and Bass, H. (2009). Combining the development of practice and the practice of development in teacher education. The Elementary School Journal, May 2009, 458-74.

Core Practices Research

Grossman, P., Hammerness, K., and McDonald, M. (2009). Redefining teaching, re-imagining teacher education. Teachers and teaching: Theory and practice, 15(2), 273-289.
Grossman, P. (ed.) (2018) Teaching core practices in teacher education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Lampert, M. & Graziani, F. (2009). Instructional activities as tools for teachers’ and teacher educators’ learning. The Elementary School Journal, 109(5), 491-509.

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Engaging Students through Anchor Charts

Anchor Charts 101: Assists in anchoring instruction and a tool for scaffolding, especially with English Language Learners. Co-creation of the anchor chart makes content engaging and ensures that all students think about and grapple with challenging content. See content and photographs below for additional insight:

ELA - https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/member-benefits/e-ssentials/ila-e-ssentials-8065.pdf

Math - https://my.nctm.org/blogs/evgeny-milyutin/2018/02/27/how-do-we-support-english-learners-success-in-math

Science - https://greatminds.org/science/blog/phd-science/using-anchor-charts-and-models-to-drive-student-learning

Social Studies - https://www.inquired.org/post/anchor-charts-the-unseen-heroes-of-inquiry-based-learning

Science

ELA

Math

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

#36983 iReady Literacy Tasks, November 13, 2024, 3:30-5:00pm

Educators learn about the i-Ready Literacy Progress Monitoring/Benchmark Tasks and the key foundational literacy skills that they cover. They are introduced to the options for using the Benchmarks and Progress Monitoring forms and learn how to administer and score these tasks to conduct systematic progress monitoring. Finally, they understand the process of entering student data from the Progress Monitoring tasks into i-Ready Connect and how to view the Literacy Tasks (Student) report.

#37111 K-5 Wonders ELA Curriculum Fall Sessions, November 14, 2024, 4:00-5:00pm

Participants will gain deeper insight into the structure, components, and resources that support lesson preparation for K-5 ELA classrooms.

#37096 6-12 ELA myPerspectives Fall Professional Learning, November 19, 2024, 4:00-5:00pm

Participants will gain deeper insight into the structure, components, and resources that support lesson preparation for 6-12 ELA classrooms.

#37118 aimswebPlus Progress Monitoring, November 19, 2024, 4:00-5:30pm

Participants will understand where to locate progress monitoring probes and how to administer and score the probes.

#37096 6-12 ELA myPerspectives Fall Professional Learning, November 21, 2024, 3:30-4:30pm

Participants will gain deeper insight into the structure, components, and resources that support lesson preparation for 6-12 ELA classrooms.

#47173 iReady Delivering Differentiated Instruction, November 21, 2024, 4:00-5:30pm

During Delivering Differentiated Instruction, educators analyze their Diagnostic data to create small groups based on instructional priorities. Using corresponding i-Ready resources, they create actionable small group instructional plans to support students with grade-level instruction. As time permits, educators plan for additional teacher-led instruction to support students in Personalized Instruction and/or how to engage students through data chats. Focus Outcome: Analyze i-Ready data to determine student instructional priorities and plan differentiated small group instruction using i-Ready resources.

#85589 Reveal Algebra 2 - The Instructional Model and Digital Curriculum, November 21, 2024, 3:00-4:00pm

#85671 Algebra Tasks Using the Graphing Calculator Part 1, December 12, 2024

MATH

Play-Based Learning Strategies for Early Numeracy

Literacy-Based Sentence Stems for Math

These sentence stems were developed to support the implementation of High Leverage strategies in math. Incorporate sentence stems as appropriate for a math lesson’s literacy-based focusing activity or closing activity.

pdf

insert_drive_file

Literacy-Based Sentence Stems.pdf

Download

194.6 KB

SCIENCE

TN Stem Innovation Summit

The Call for Presenters for the 2025 Summit is now open!

Conference dates: May 8-9, 2025

Application Link: https://www.tsin.org/callforpresenters

Applications are due by 11:59 pm CST on Thursday, December 19, 2024.

Student Construction of Explanations in Science

Constructing explanations is a key part of scientific practice. Consequently, for the high-leverage practice of explaining and modeling content the focus is on how teachers can support students to construct explanations rather than on teacher ability to explain content to students. Constructing explanations and supporting them with arguments are two closely related scientific practices in which students should engage.

One goal of science is to create explanations for why or how natural phenomena occur. These explanations are developed and supported through a process of argumentation, negotiating different interpretations of evidence. Science teachers must be able to support students to construct their own explanations and arguments by using the data they collect during investigations. -

https://library.teachingworks.org/curriculum-resources/materials/science-explaining-and-modeling-content/

The visual below reflects the necessary work teachers must do to support students in the crucial disciplinary work of constructing their own scientific explanations of phenomena, not on how well teachers explain content to students.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Updated Standards for 2027-2028

The State Board approved new social studies standards on final reading in February 2024. These standards will go into effect starting in the 2027-2028 school year.

For more information on the process or the new standards, check out the resources below.

Upcoming Tennessee Social Studies Standards

Recommendation Committee Executive Summary

Current to Upcoming Social Studies Standards Crosswalk

Standards Recommendation Committee Members

Modeling in Social Studies

In history and the social sciences, students must read and write in ways that may be unfamiliar. Modeling can help students understand the ways historians and social scientists approach and compose text. Students who have access to models of historical thinking will begin to interact with documents from the past in ways that help them uncover meaning and develop their own interpretations of the past and present.

https://library.teachingworks.org/curriculum-resources/materials/social-studies-explaining-and-modeling-content/

See the chart below reflecting content broken down into learnable and teachable components.

Tennessee State Library & Archives - Professional Learning

The Tennessee State Library & Archives is pleased to offer in-person teacher workshops for the 2024-2025 school year. During these workshops, participants will explore the Tennessee Constitution and the periods of history (1796, 1834, and 1870) that led to its creation and revision. Tennessee Social Studies and English Language Arts standards related to the State Constitution will be explored along with how Tennessee became a state.

Using diverse mediums such as maps, written documents, diaries, political cartoons, newspapers, and other informational texts, participants will have the opportunity to discover activities that build student background knowledge and engage the classroom in a cross-curricular approach.

See the flyer attached below for additional information regarding spring dates.

pdf