3. Frequently Asked Questions Assignment

I complete my responses to FAQ's on December 2012.  This seven page response to the 15 questions strengthened my conceptual understanding of SIM CER and the foundations of SIM.

1.       Teachers feel pressure to deliver large quantities of content to students in a short period of time. A great concern is that students experience meaningful learning. How will SIM Content Enhancement address this concern?                  
As stated in Strategram’s Combating the ‘coverage’ mentality, “Two forces present in every classroom work counter to a teacher’s best efforts: the Instructional Time/ Content Explosion Dilemma and the Performance Gap. SIM provides ways to minimize the effect of these forces and improve the educational process for both teachers and students.”                  The solution is to identify and focus instruction on critical content that is of greatest worth for kids to learn.  SIM Content Enhancement provides tools  and strategies to assist teachers in planning “SMARTER” through the “ReflActive Planning Process”  Working with students to learn and understand the routines takes an initial investment of time, and as a result a more focused and increased learning takes place for all students. By planning SMARTER, teachers: a.       Select critical content to be taught and develop critical questions that students should be able to answer by the end of instruction b.      Map the critical content in a way that will be meaningful to the students c.       Analyze why critical content might be difficult to learn d.      Reach decisions about how content will be taught and which routines and strategies can enhance instruction e.      Teach student about content enhancement routines and strategies and how to use them to be actively involved in the learning f.        Evaluate mastery of critical content g.       Reevaluate planning and teaching decisions   SMARTER planning and teaching the CER establish a sense of community by helping to create a positive and productive classroom environment for students. SIM offers and integrated approach by providing a framework for working toward meeting state standards and mandatory testing requirements.                                   Ideas from “Strategic Instruction in the Content Areas” by Janis Bulgren and Keith Lens; “Combating the ‘coverage’ mentality” by Don Deshler and Julie Tollefson   3.       Why should I teach Content Enhancement Routines to my students?                  
  Content Enhancement is an instructional method that relies on using powerful teaching devices to organize and present curriculum content in an understandable and easy- to-learn manner. There are several benefits to teaching CER to your students.   First, both group and individual needs are valued and meet. Second, the integrity of the content is maintained. Third, critical features of the content are selected and transformed in a way that promotes learning for all students. Fourth, Instruction is carried out in a partnership with students. Having class routines with high expectations allow students to feel comfortable in participating, leading to success in class that in return builds confidence for students. Students become more efficient because they know the expectations, feel comfortable using the routines, and understand how the devices support their learning.                                   Ideas from “Strategic Instruction Model in Support of Secondary Literacy” by KUCRL
4.       How does Content Enhancement increase student involvement in the classroom?                    
Students are actively engaged during the use of Content Enhancement Routines, because the students and the teacher work in a partnership to ‘co-construct’ the device. The students become actively involved in the learning process by contributing facts, sharing their ideas, and writing information during the development of the device. There is a direct relationship between the use of the devices and the verbal interactions that occur between students and teachers in general education classrooms. Teachers who used the CER devices significantly increased the number and variety of questions that they asked students during the lesson.                   Ideas from Strategram “Raising Questions about Questions” by Sherrel Lee Haight                        
5.       How will Content Enhancement work with my really low students? How?                  
 The Content Enhancement Routines are examples of Level 1 Interventions and represent your first response to meeting the needs of students who are struggling with in content instruction. The major types of CER can be categorized as Planning & Leading Learning, Explaining Text/Topics/& Details, Teaching Concepts, and Increasing Performance Routines.                   The Planning & Leading Learning routines have been designed as frameworks to help orient students with in the content by Course, Unit, and Lesson. For example, the Unit Organizer supports struggling students by pre-exposing critical information/ vocabulary in a unit, by clarifying what content has been taught and what’s to come, and finally as review and formative assessment at the end of a unit.                 The Explaining Text, Topics, & Details routines include Framing, Survey, and Clarifying, and guide teachers’ translation of concepts into easy-to –understand formats. For example, the Clarifying Routine can be used as an intervention to re-teach a difficult concept identified after a formative assessment.                 The Teaching Concepts routines help students comprehend and acquire new information by specifying what concept is going to be learned, accessing the knowledge students possess related to the new concept, explicitly depicting information related to the new concept, and summarizing what has been learned. Examples of these routines are Concept Mastery, Concept Anchoring, and Concept Comparison.                 The last group of routines includes Quality Assignment, Question Exploration, Recall Enhancement, and Order Routines. These focus on Increasing Performance, by enhancing the concreteness and meaningfulness of information presented during a lesson, thereby making the information easier to recall.                 The Content Enhancement Routines have been designed to be integrated in general education classes that include students with LD and other at-risk students. These tools will allow you to build routines and give you ability to successfully instruct academically diverse classes.                   Ideas from Strategram “Ensuring Content-Area Learning by Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities” Donald D. Deshler, Jean B. Schumaker, B. Keith Lenz, Janis A. Bulgren, Michael F. Hock, Jim Knight, and Barbra J. Ehren.     6.       Why do I need to know about the “big picture” of SIM?                   CLC - levels  
7.       I have previously participated in staff development sessions on graphic organizers. How do the Content Enhancement Routines compare to other graphic organizers?                  
  Content Enhancement Routines are like other graphic organizers in that they are both visual tools used in the classroom to organize information in a way that promotes recall and retention of facts. Unlike other graphic organizers, the CER are designed with an instructional routine, known as the Cue-Do-Review process, to help teachers mediate student learning, explore and use prior knowledge, assure deep understanding, promote strategic thinking, and assure success on assessments.  Included in the process are the essential linking steps of each device; these follow the cognitive process learners need to understand new content information. The CER also respond to the needs of students of diverse abilities and maintains content integrity.  Often facilitating the instruction of new information using the CER with fidelity of the linking steps; a teacher can develop students who take control of their learning. These students will not only improve at retrieval of critical information, but also the application of critical information in a variety of situations.                                                 Ideas from “Effective Content- Area Instruction for All Students” by Janis Bulgren  
13.   Under what conditions can I make adaptations to the Content Enhancement devices?                  
There are several things to consider when Shrinking, Expanding, Adapting, or Modifying (SEAM) Content Enhancement Routines (CER). You should consider if the SEAM affects the underlying process captured by the device. If there is a change in the Linking Steps or an adjustment to the Cue-Do-Review process, then it may take longer to see desired results or those results may not be reached at all.  Adaptations should not change the goal of the routine; they should be consistent to data-driven solutions, aligned with standards, and most importantly help move students beyond simple recall to deeper thinking, problem solving, and generalization.                                                 Ideas from “Routine Rules for SEAM CER LENZ” shared by Vicky Yarbrough    

2. Content area textbooks are often written beyond the grade level of students.  The volume of information contained in a text is not only overwhelming, but also requires the reader to distinguish critical information.  How will SIM Content Enhancement promote student understanding of texts?   Student understanding of text is facilitated in a variety of ways using Content Enhancement Routines.  Indirectly, the teacher can strategically select specific section of textbook to emphasize as part of the planning process through the Lesson, Unit and Course Organizers.  Through other routines like the Survey Routine, teachers can lead students to identify critical content.  Students learn to organize and structure the content of the textbook for their needs (#2).  The routines provide systematic ways to approach text through summarizing and paraphrasing (#6).  Typically, the content is written at a higher level than students read (#16), the Survey Routine and others related to understanding concepts help all learners access content.  

4. How does Content Enhancement increase student involvement in the classroom?   Student involvement in the classroom increases through the interactions the teachers have with students as they co-construct the graphics and worksheets of the routines.  Bulgren and Lenz (1996) discuss how routines help students process information by restructuring content-in what they termed “externally mediating learning p.424)” (#2).   Lenz, Alley, and Schumaker (1987) demonstrated that students learning is activating through advanced organizers.  Advanced organizers are an essential component of the routines through the Cue-do-Review teaching process.  All routines follow a step-by-step process, so although the goals and purposes change among routines, the procedures provide familiarity to students.   From this repeated explicit instruction students gain confidence in learning and expectations (#17, 14).   In addition to the advanced organizers the routines ask for student input as they are co-constructed within the classroom.  Although the teacher has done preparation prior to introducing the routine to the class, the visual worksheet with graphic map is done with all students in the class.  Some routines require students to identify and set their own personal challenges as with the Quality Assignment Routine (#13, 14, 19).
  In the Clarifying Routine, elaborating is the centerpiece of the routine.  Among the elaboration technique new terms are connected to previous and background knowledge of students.  Students are invited to have input into their understanding (#18).   Built into each of the routines are many opportunities to increase student involvement.  At the beginning of the routine the advanced organizer invites students to participate in developing the routine.  Frequently, during some routines students are asked to provide their own background knowledge to connect old information with new.  At other times, routines require that students set personal goals of achievement.  

6. Why do I need to know about the “big picture” of SIM?   SIM states that the instruction is strategic.  It is strategic for teachers when they plan and execute instruction.  For students learning strategies show them how to learn.  Understanding the interaction between teachers and students is essential to SIM.  Routines acknowledge the demands of the curriculum in general education.  Learning strategies recognize that students bring a variety of skills to the learning (#6 7,).  It is the appreciation of  teaching and learning that is essential in the SMARTER planning process (#5).  Knowing the SIM big picture enhances one’s understanding of what good teaching is.  

9. How will I be able to teach my students Learning Strategies and Content Enhancement?   Much of this depends upon where students spend their instructional time.  Traditionally, special education teachers teach learning strategies, and  general educators implement routines (#7).  Both would support and reinforce the other.  Learning strategies are used to develop students’ skills, typically for those students who are working below their academic level.  Students who need intensive work with learning strategies need ways to learn how to approach a task (#5).  Routines address how instruction is organized, how concepts are presented, and how new information connects to prior knowledge.  Given the separate nature of the learning strategies from the routines, students should be able to work with both.  The additional advantage of using both routine and strategies is that students will encounter systematic, step-by-step instructional processes to connect to all kinds of learning.

11. Why is the Cue-Do-Review Sequence so important?   The Cue-Do-Review Sequence allows the 5 principles of Content Enhancement to be followed.  Those 5 principles include locating critical content, clearly describing purpose, scaffolding learning, identifying student strategies, and co-creating with students (#30).   The sequence highlights good teaching (#27).  First, attention is called to the purpose of the lesson (#4).  Secondly, explanation and modeling are presented.  Finally, closure and revisiting content of the lesson is completed.   This framework assures that the parts of the routine are integrated into a whole lesson.    

12. How can I teach my students abstract concepts when they have difficulty learning concrete ones?   Students struggle with concepts-abstract or concrete-because of the amount of language needed to understand and organize the knowledge.  If abstract concepts can be organized into practical situations, interpretations, or examples, students can learn concepts (#5).  The Framing Routine assists students to see relationships through visual representations of the structure of the information (#6).   The Anchoring Routine uses analogies and in-depth questioning to discover the meaning of new concepts (#1).  As Deshler (2002) stated, “We can help students and relieve some of the memory demands by pushing students to acquire the language-the labels-they can use to talk about the concepts and their related details in a comparative way (# 23), p. 7).”  

13. Under what conditions can I make adaptations to the Content Enhancement devices?   If the 5 principles of Content Enhancement are left intact (see Question 11), the strength of the routine remains (#30).  Occasionally, routines, especially, Unit or Course Organizers might need adaptation to meet state standards (#29).  Other variations for the Linking Steps are noted in the routine manual (#26).  Particularly if a routine is used with regularity, varying the sequence might increase student motivation (#15).  For those routines that require questioning and/or paraphrasing, some adaptation will be necessary based on the students’ skills and experiences with asking higher order questions or paraphrasing (#18).  To vary the amount Routine was introduced in grades 7 and 8, and in the high school other routines were added (#6).       As Ellis (2002) indicated a good starter is the Framing Routine.  It is a technique learned easily by both teacher and students and can be adaptable to all subjects readily.  The Framing Routine is used to differentiate main idea from details with a summary statement completing the exercise (#20).   If possible, the best way to plan using the routines is to engage in a discussion with key players about how best to implement the routines within the school building.  Determining the mission of the school within the current educational climate may be part of the decision-making process for routines (#11).  Once a plan is established, the support systems that need to be put in place can be outlined and/or created.  

23. What about elementary students?  How will Content Enhancement help them?   Although initially designed for use in secondary programs, elementary classes would benefit from the consistency of the Content Enhancement Routines.  All teachers and students need clear understanding of what is critical within a given content area.  In addition, elementary students come in all academic shapes and sizes, as their respective elder high school friends; as Bulgren and Lenz (1996) discussed the HALO class members exists at every level, and each learner –and teacher- needs to be an active within the class.  Those basic principles of Content Enhancement are universal and suitable for all ages.   At a workshop hosted at Frostig, Tony Van Reusen was presenting a Content Enhancement professional development opportunity for about 90 teachers from Frostig and the surrounding community.  Three kindergarten teachers attended and found completing a practice Concept Comparison table enlightening when they used it to develop concepts related to transportation.  As the three brainstormed about completing the table, they realized that they needed to differentiate transportation with wheels from those options without.  They left the workshop ready to present to their young students.  

 24. Okay, I’m ready to implement.  How do I know I am using Content Enhancement correctly?   If Content Enhancement is being implemented by several people in the school, a learning community is one way to know that implementation has fidelity of instruction.  In addition, rubrics and checklists are available to use for self-reflection and observations (#30, p.3).  As with the routine manuals, debriefing with others or a Cooperative Study Group (#10, p. 5) is another alternative to checking implementation accuracy.  The idea of cooperative planning and checking for accuracy requires a level of administrative support to continue a successful program (#6).  If a teacher is the solo Content Enhancement provider, being best friends with the manual might be the first line of assistance.  

25. What do I do to get the students motivated to learn Content Enhancement routines?   Ellis (1992) highlighted “Turn On” strategies to help motivate students to continue working with routines.  He mentioned that it was important to be explicit about how the strategies/routines are important to overall achievement.  In addition, he emphasized the importance of seeing improvement as soon as possible, so he recommends beginning the strategies by using SLANT (#8).  Attending explicitly to the benefits of the routines is similarly motivating to students.  For instance, as students use the Quality Assignment Routine (#13, 14), attention should be made to creating their personal goals, so that progress can be celebrated incrementally.  These small celebrations (as students complete subsections of an assignment) will lead to the acknowledgement of the final project.    Students will be motivated to participate in the co-construction of the routine as they are invited to provide information about their prior knowledge, previous learning (#2).  As content becomes clearer, more concise, students will be willing to step up to a daunting, but equally challenging task.   Motivating students might be related to increasing student involvement in the classroom (Question #4).  As students’ input is acknowledged positive in the class, students may be more willing to try the routines.  

28. How are Learning Strategies and Content Enhancement routines related?   Familiarity with the Content Literacy Continuum will help with understanding the relationships (discussion in the Stupski Foundation document, #32 below).  Although not restricted to exclusive use by general education,  the Content Enhancement Routines are ideal for use in general education classes where the teacher must plan for academically diverse groups.  These groups can have a variety students with academic challenges and limited understanding of how to organize critical content.  The routines act as a planning guide for teachers to differentiate what information all, some, and few students need to know.  Once the teacher has planned the instruction, students are invited to actively co-construct the routine-both graphic representation and other questioning parts with the teacher.  The routines lend themselves to whole group participation.    On the other hand, Learning Strategies provide students an opportunity to learn how to learn regarding their individual skill level.  Strategies address individual academic skills; however, they can be taught in large or small groups.  The pace at which students complete the stages of strategies varies among individual students.  Many times the strategies are taught by special education teachers and may be the focus of a resource program; however, the learning strategies are appropriate for all learners.   Both routines and strategies provide structure learning for students.  Routines address grade level, standards-based concepts required within general education classes.  Learning strategies address the students’ academic skills which may or are probably not at grade level.  

30. What do I say when I am asked, “How does SIM Content Enhancement correlate to the district and state standards?”   A first response might be, “It does nicely.”  Teachers will use the standards to determine which content should be addressed by the selected routines (#28).  For instance, the teacher might begin the class using a Course Organizer Routine.  The Course Questions might be formulated using the standards as guidelines (#24).  The standards might also identify concept necessary for students to know.  In that case,  a Concept Comparison Routine will assist in understanding those concepts by systematically addressing high-order thinking involved in understanding the concepts (#23).  Ultimately, the routines were developed to be implemented/integrated in “ongoing instructional efforts and time frames (#2, p.422).”  These instructional efforts and time frames might be mandated or suggested by state or district standards.