- National Center for Urban School Transformation
- 619-594-7905
- ncust@sdsu.edu
- 9245 Sky Park Court Suite 120 San Diego, CA 92123
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Through 15 years of identifying, awarding, and studying schools that achieve excellent and equitable learning results, the National Center for Urban School Transformation has found that Black, Latinx, low-income, and other diverse groups of students are much more likely to achieve outstanding learning results when teachers design instruction in ways that lead all students to feel valued and capable. In this session, learn practical strategies for ensuring that all your students are likely to thrive in online learning environments.
Making Students Feel Valued and Capable through Online Learning
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. Rupi Boyd, Ed.D., & Jose Iniguez, Ed.D.
Focusing on Understanding and Mastery through Online Learning
A focus on understanding and mastery is quite different from a focus on coverage that may be observed more typically. In many schools, teachers feel driven to cover the lesson associated with a pacing guide or a scope and sequence chart. Teachers in high-performing schools were passionate about ensuring that students acquired deep levels of understanding and mastery. of the concepts and skills taught. Teachers meticulously planned lessons to lead each and every student to mastery of the lesson objectives. Teachers worked relentlessly, not simply to present lessons, but to ensure that all students mastered the essential concepts and skills associated with the lessons. Throughout lessons, teachers carefully monitored what students understood related to the lesson objective and sometimes adjusted lesson designs midstream in order to increase the likelihood that every student achieved mastery.
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. and Cara Riggs
Promoting Clarity through Online Learning
In schools where all demographic groups of students achieve outstanding learning results, teachers ensure that students develop clarity about intended learning outcomes. Teachers use words, images, objects, and interactions to represent important lesson ideas. As well, they organize lessons logically so students know what they should understand and students can gauge their learning progress.
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. and Shirley Y. Peterson, Ed.D.
Ensuring Culturally, Socially, and personally responsive teaching through Online Learning
One of the most exhilarating moments in teaching occurs when a student exclaims, “Oh, now I get it! Hey, I know about this! Now, this makes sense!” This seemingly magical moment occurs when a student connects a concept that he or she perceived as foreign, distant, or ambiguous with something that is part of their background or experience. The “aha moment” represents the priceless transition from confusion to understanding, from being a disengaged bystander to becoming an active participant in learning.
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. and Rupi Boyd, Ed.D.
CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING, PROVIDING FEEDBACK, AND ADAPTING THROUGH ONLINE LEARNING
“I can’t believe my students got this wrong! I know I taught this in detail! And, I know my students were paying attention. They were right in front of me, looking at me as the explanations came out of my mouth! They were smiling and nodding, showing me they understood! How could they have misunderstood this so completely?”
Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. and Cara Riggs
LEADING STUDENTS TO LOVE LEARNING THROUGH ONLINE LEARNING
Teachers use a variety of strategies to lead their students to love learning. Most importantly, teachers exhibit a sincere enthusiasm that adds energy, value, and meaning to lessons that might have otherwise been perceived as dull or routine. Hattie (2009) acknowledged, that while teacher enthusiasm is rarely studied empirically, it has a powerful influence on student learning. In high-performing schools, teachers exhibit enthusiasm for the content they share, but they also exhibit enthusiasm as their students develop increased fluency with concepts and increased proficiency with skills. Students of all ages thrill when their teachers get excited as they demonstrate mastery of challenging, meaningful objectives.
established in 2005, NCUST strives to help urban school districts and their partners transform urban schools into places where all students achieve academic proficiency, evidence a love of learning, and graduate well prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, the workplace, and their communities.
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