Instructional Profile

Lauren Henry
Professor Williams
EDU 429
December 15, 2017
Spring Arbor University
 Introduction to Teaching & Instructing Models

When teaching, there are many different ways to reach the same conclusion. Each way

can benefit a certain childs mind to make them more successful in a school setting. When I think

about different instructional strategies I think about Albert Einsteins quote: Everybody is a

genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing

that it is stupid. I believe in this quote because as a teacher, we need to constantly adapt our

instructional strategies to meet the needs of each and every child. I cannot expect them all to

learn the same way when they are all so different.

In order for each student to thrive in the classroom, there should be instruction that is

based off of research to help each individual child. Three of the different models that will be

used in my classroom are high yields categories, high leverage practices, and high engagement

strategies (WICOR). Students will receive quality instruction, while being able to choose their

own way of making the content come to life for them These practices are to help challenge

students and shop them that they are beyond capable of being a genius.
 Understanding the Research

Define Each Model

High Yield Categories:

High Yield Categories are nine different sections that were created by Robert Marzano

(2001). Marzano believes that we should be using these strategies intentionally; they are meant

to be taken seriously and used to provide percentile gains within the classroom. Context and

consideration must be taken when implementing the nine strategies. If the content and context is

not taken into consideration, the results that are produced may be negative. For example, if I was

to use one of the high yield strategies, I would look at my standard and decide which method

best fits what I am trying to teach the students. When using the strategies listed below, students

will be able to compare, classify and create. I also believe that students will be able to think

critically, have discussions, and be involved in their own learning process.

1. Identifying Similarities and Differences

2. Summarizing and Notetaking

3. Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition

4. Homework and Practice

5. Nonlinguistic Representation

6. Cooperative Learning

7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback

8. Generating and Testing Hypotheses

9. Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers

(Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001)

High Leverage Practices:

A high leverage practice is meant to increase the likelihood that teaching will be

effective to students learning (Teaching Works, 2016). In order to find the best practices,

researchers who figured out what students could do in order to become successful in the

classroom. There are nineteen practices that help students succeed academically, emotionally,

and socially. Strategies may be used across grade levels, content areas, and different

management strategies. These strategies should start being used on day one of teaching. Many of

the strategies are done through modeling, discussions, and critical thinking. High Leverage

Teaching Practices push the students to become aware of themselves and what is happening

around them. Below are the nineteen strategies that researchers thought would best benefit

children, the curriculum, and teachers.

1. Making content explicit through explanation, modeling, representations, and

examples

2. Leading a whole-class discussion

3. Eliciting and interpreting individual students thinking

4. Establishing norms and routines for classroom discourse central to the subject-

matter domain

5. Recognizing particular common patterns of student thinking in a subject-matter

domain

6. Identifying and implementing an instructional response to common patterns of

student thinking

7. Teaching a lesson or segment of instruction

 8. Implementing organizational routines, procedures, and strategies to support a

learning environment

9. Setting up and managing small group work

10. Engaging in strategic relationship-building conversations with students

11. Setting long- and short- term learning goals for students referenced to external

benchmarks

12. Appraising, choosing, and modifying tasks and texts for a specific learning goal

13. Designing a sequence of lessons toward a specific learning goal

14. Selecting and using particular methods to check for understanding and monitor

student learning

15. Composing, selecting, interpreting, and using information from methods of

summative assessment

16. Providing oral and written feedback to students on their work

17. Communicating about a student with a parent or guardian

18. Analyzing instruction for the purpose of improving it

19. Communicating with other professionals

(Teaching Works, 2016)

High Engagement Strategies (WICOR):

WICOR is a small part of the Advancement via Individual Determination, or AVID.

AVID trains educators to create proven practices that will help students succeed. AVID has four

main characteristics that they abide by. First, it is meant to teach skills and behaviors for

academic success. Second, the training provides intensive support with tutorials and strong

student/teacher relationships. Next, it creates a positive peer group for all students. Lastly, AVID
is meant to develop a sense of hope for personal achievement gained through hard work and

determination (Avid, 2017). By using these high engagement strategies, educators are closing the

learning gap and making success more readily available to all students.

WICOR stands for writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading to learn.

Students and teachers will work together by taking these five skills and using critical thought

processes to advance their thinking. The teachers job is to introduce the skills, and guide

students through the process. The teacher will then slowly let the student be in control of their

critical learning. WICOR is an amazing skill set to have because it will benefit the student later

on in life. We are not only teaching our students content knowledge skills, but skills that will

help them become an effective member of society.

Comparing and Contrasting High Yield Strategies and High Leverage

Practices

Marzanos High-Yield Instructional Strategies are similar to high-leverage practices in a

couple different ways. First of all, one of Marzanos strategy is reinforcing effort and providing

recognition. That means to reward students based on their performance. This could be tangible

items or even just specific and positive feedback (Marzano, 2001). It is similar to the high-

leverage practice of providing oral and written feedback to students on their work. Basically, this

helps students focus on the good qualities of their work while still showing them what they can

do better in (Teaching Works, 2016). Both strategies let students know that the teacher values

their work ethic, learning styles, and overall personalities while they are in the classroom.

Another similarity that these two practices share are to set objectives. Marzano believes that

setting objectives allows teachers and students to create specific and measurable goals (2001).
The high leverage practice is setting long- and short-term learning goals for students referenced

to external benchmarks. The point of setting goals in this high leverage is to make sure that all

students are learning the expected standards. Goal setting needs to include interim assessments

that will show the progress towards a long-term goal (Teaching Works, 2016). The two coincide

because it is obvious that students setting goals can improve their classroom gains over the years.

Goals also help the teachers maintain purposeful instruction throughout the year.

While there are similarities to these two different methods, there are also differences. A

big difference that I noticed was that Marzanos practices seemed to have more research backing

it up. I believe this is true because each high yield strategy showed a specific percentile gain for

the year. I would rather use a method that is proven to show gains if used correctly. Another

difference I see is that high-leverage practices seem to encompass more overall. It includes

assessment, management, collaboration, and relationships and goes into depth about each of

them when considering helping a child become highly engaged. While Marzano covers these

topics, they are brief. As an educator you need to take into account all of these different areas

and combine them to become an effective teacher. One is not better than the other, but together

the classroom can be engaging and effective, in all aspects. These differences matter to a K-12

teacher because when children are so young, knowing that they will have gains is a must. We

cannot take time away from them that is not constantly building them up, engaging them, and

being highly effective in the classroom. Many kids dont get this at home, so it is our job to make

their gains as much as possible in a years time.

 Combining Research, Opinion, and Practice

My Personalized Teaching Model

My personalized teaching model is based off of Marzanos high-yield instructional

strategies and high-leverage practices. I believe that I most often use high-leverage teaching

practices because there are so many different practices that work well in an elementary

classroom. When I am teaching lessons, I take context, content, and each student into

consideration as I implement these strategies. The aspects that I feel are most incorporated into

my instruction are:

1. Engaging in strategic relationship-building conversations with students

a. As a teacher I will know what is going on in their lives. I will attempt to build

relationships with them to show I care and that they are learning in a safe

environment. I will take their day to day lives into account when I am creating

lesson plans.

2. Analyzing instruction for the purpose of improving it

a. I will be intentional about analyzing my instruction because I want what is best

for my students. If a strategy or lesson is not working, I want to know why it is

not working, what I could do to improve it, and the steps I will be taking to

improve it. By analyzing instruction, I am giving students a bigger chance to

succeed in my classroom and in the future.

3. Eliciting and interpreting individual students thinking

a. This is extremely important because I feel as though the majority of education is

getting a child to find their voice and opinion through critical thinking,

reflections, and discussions. As a teacher this will allow me to evaluate student

 understanding, guide instructional decisions, and surface ideas that will benefit

other students (Teaching Works, 2016).

I also believe that Marzanos nine high-yield instructional strategies will be beneficial in an early

childhood classroom. I will need to make sure I am being intentional about using the three

strategies listed below, because I believe they have the biggest gains and are most effective.

1. Identifying similarities and differences

a. In this strategy, research says that students should compare, classify, and create

metaphors, analogies, and non-linguistic or graphic representations (Marzano,

2001). This gives students a better chance at getting the correct answer because

two minds are always greater than one.

2. Summarizing and note taking

a. Students will learn how to eliminate extra information, rewrite their notes, and

analyze information. Rewriting notes allows students to hear about the topic,

write it down once, and then write it down a second time. This cements

information into a childs brain and allows them to process the information in

their own words.

3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

a. This is important because teachers will hold high standards while still giving

specific feedback to students. This will be used in my classroom to tell students

what they are doing that is outstanding and a few ideas that they can continue to

work on.
 Conclusion

Both of these instructional practices have the capability of encouraging students, raising

them to higher standers, and allowing them to have a role in their own learning. As a teacher, it is

my job to implement instruction that connects with each and every one of my students on an

individual level. It is also important that they are making gains over the year, setting goals for

themselves, and to be excited about learning. The models that I have chosen to work with the

most are Marzanos High-Yield Instructional Strategies and High-Leverage Teaching Practices.

The combination of these two instructional models will help me include assessments,

relationships, collaboration, and much more over the year I have with my students.

Decision Making Process for Lesson Planning, Implementation

and Reflection
 References

AVID. (2017). WICOR: AVIDs foundation for high engagement teaching and learning.

AVID. Retrieved from http://avid.org/dl/hed/hed_reviewofliterature.pdf

Marzano, R. J. (2001). Marzanos (Nine) High-Yield Instructional Strategies.

TeachingWorks. (2016). High-leverage practices. TeachingWorks.org. Retrieved from

http://www.teachingworks.org/work-of-teaching/high-leverage-practices.