Teach organizational routines in middle and high school
If you’re a middle or high school teacher, you’re probably experiencing some challenges as you see your students struggle to organize materials from previous class sessions so they are unable to use them in future classes. Let’s look at this from the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) perspective.
The UDL Guidelines recommend scaffolds we can put in place to ensure that a broad range of students have strategies to close any gaps between current and desired performance (CAST, 2011; Meyer et al., 2014). We know secondary students’ strategic brain networks are still developing. Preadolescents do not reliably make productive decisions about their actions and may not adeptly adjust or recover when their actions are not reaching the goal. Some students display passive “spectator behavior” or learned helplessness. In addition, students in these grades are developing their self-regulation skills at different rates, and one class period or group of students may be able to accept redirection or sustain intellectual effort with much more success than their peers. The UDL framework for teaching and learning accepts this learner variability as the norm. Using the UDL Guidelines helps us intentionally plan instruction of strategies to overcome these barriers.
As middle and high school teachers, the first barrier we must plan to address is related to student organization. We give students new reading passages and papers each week…and students must keep up with all of them! Most middle and high school students are novices in organizing texts and tasks. Their neural networks may have few preexisting strong connections, so the cognitive load is heavy. To build these connections, we must intentionally plan what students will experience. What’s the best way to ensure all students make new neural connections and have a path to success?
- Name a strategy (such as “binder organization” or “notebook cleanup”).
- Model it in varied contexts and with varied materials (“Write page 3 at the top and put it in your binder”).
- Offer guides and supports (such as posting an anchor chart of the table of contents and setting a timer for putting materials away).
- Give students feedback on using the strategy (Meyer et al., 2014).
Routines are taught through a gradual release of responsibility (“I do, we do, you do together, you do alone”), which provides scaffolds and builds learner fluency while incrementally increasing student responsibility for the learning (Dawson & Guare, 2012, 2018; Fisher & Frey, 2011, 2021; Fisher et al., 2012, 2016). By highlighting the critical features of each routine, providing multiple examples, and giving students feedback on their use of it, we can use these routines to scaffold and support the development of students’ diverse neural networks (CAST, 2011; Meyer et al., 2014; Rappolt-Schlichtmann et al., 2012). Strengthening the neural connections supporting organizational skills is the first step to independence for many middle and high school students.
References
CAST (2011). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0. Author.
Dawson, P., & Guare, P. (2012). Coaching students with executive skills deficits. Guilford Press.
Dawson, P., & Guare, P. (2018). Executive skills in children and adolescents: A practical guide to assessment and intervention. Guilford Press.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2011). Engaging the adolescent learner: The first 20 days establishing productive group work in the classroom. International Reading Association.
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Lapp, D. (2012). Teaching students to read like detectives: Comprehending, analyzing, and discussing text. Solution Tree Press.
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hite, S. (2016). Intentional and targeted teaching: A framework for teacher growth and leadership. ASCD.
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2021). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility, 3rd ed. ASCD.
Meyer, A., Rose, D., & Gordon. D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. CAST.
Rappolt-Schlichtmann, G., Daley, S., & Rose. L. (Eds). (2012). A research reader in universal design for learning. Harvard Education Press.
For more information, contact Susanne Croasdaile, ([email protected]), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
Categories Behavior, Inclusive Practices