Using Frameworks for Teaching and Learning
By: Debra Franciosi
Across all grades and content areas, professional development can provide a common pedagogical philosophy and instructional strategies that guide students to be self-directed, lifelong learners. The foundation of effective professional development lies in two basic frameworks: a framework for teaching and a framework for learning. These frameworks are tools that help us wrap our brains around the complexities of effective educational practice – placing the key elements on a scaffold that allows us to see the whole as the sum of its parts. While every grade level and subject area classroom may look different, the frameworks provide a common language that supports student progression through more and more complex content and collegial conversation that informs instruction.
The Framework for Learning: PETR
The Framework for Learning is based on the assumption that students need to learn to be metacognitive: they need to know when they are and are not learning, and, when they are not learning, they need to have a toolbox of strategies to fix deficits in understanding. Teachers assist students in becoming fully metacognitive through modeling and by gradually releasing responsibility when teaching new processes. Students are introduced to the learning process using a simple framework that includes steps to Prepare, Engage, Transform, and Reflect (PETR).
Students are taught to Prepare for learning by taking steps to activate background knowledge; determining a focused purpose for interacting with new content (reading, viewing, or listening); and analyzing text structures and print conventions (also known as Author’s Craft).
During any interaction with new content, they are directed to actively Engage in learning. This means they need to be able to recognize when they hit stumbling blocks, such as unknown vocabulary, confusing grammatical structures, ambiguous logic, and learner fatigue. And, they need to apply fix-up strategies and be persistent as they attack difficult content—actively employing strategies such as changing their pace, accessing reference tools, or using a form of two-column notes to make sense of dense content.
During and after reading, students must Transform information to make it their own by writing, discussing, illustrating, and/or organizing it. Using structured procedures and tools, students learn to deeply process information, allowing their new learning to move from short-term to long-term memory.
Finally, students must Reflect on the metacognitive learning processes they use, identifying ways and contexts in which the processes can transfer to other subjects and learning situations.
When students internalize this process and are given the opportunity to choose and evaluate what tools work best for themselves, they are more motivated and well on their way to becoming self-directed learners. It does take time and practice, but the front-loading allows for more and deeper learning later on – a tradeoff teachers trained in this framework are willing to make. In schools where all teachers are committed to implementation, the consistent expectations, language, and processes pay significant dividends in student achievement.
The Framework for Teaching: P2ETR
The Framework for Teaching incorporates the learning framework with a thoughtful planning process and some teacher-specific elements in the remaining steps.
Highly effective instruction requires teachers Plan for learning, with learning goals (enduring understandings), careful selection of appropriate materials, and forethought given to both formative and summative assessments. Enduring understandings are those concepts teachers want students to understand at a deep and lasting level. In this framework, understandings are indentified for content, learning process, language (for English Language Learners), and technology. Teachers choose high-quality instructional materials that will lead students to attain the enduring understandings, accessible at an appropriate level for the students. Then acceptable assessments, both formative and summative, are identified. Teachers consider what learning activities in and of themselves are demonstrations of learning, as well as what is the best means for each student to demonstrate his or her cumulative knowledge. Providing students a choice in this acknowledges their learning styles and motivation.
Teachers Prepare for student learning by identifying those key questions that will trigger activation of background knowledge, formulating the purpose for learning to focus student attention on content that targets the enduring understandings, and noting new or unique text structures and conventions that will support or obstruct student learning.
Careful consideration is given to how to Engage students to encourage active persistence. Activities need to be scaffolded to allow activation of background knowledge, chunked to facilitate processing time (short-term memory cannot hold onto the content of a 30-minute lecture!), and the strategies used need to match the materials and goals.
After students interact with new content, they need to Transform information through writing, discussion, illustration, and organization in meaningful ways that drive understanding deeper. Often, combining several transformational tools is most effective. Students write informally to clarify their thinking, discuss with peers to expand their understanding, and then generate some form of graphic illustration to lock concepts in their minds.
Finally, the teacher must first prompt students to Reflect on their content and learning process understandings, and second, reflect on the effectiveness of their modeling and lesson design, and on the depth of student learning.
These frameworks have the power of common sense, decades of research, and over 25 years of teacher implementation and refinement to support their power. When teachers see these frameworks modeled and practice using them in their professional development program, they gain pedagogical awareness and learn best practices that help them empower their students to achieve and succeed.
Debra Franciosi, Ed.D., is associate director of and a national trainer for Project CRISS: CReating Independence through Student-owned Strategies, a professional development provider of instructional best practices for over 25 years, www.projectcriss.com.
