Klingenstein+Summer+Institute+Summer+2009

The Klingenstein Summer Institute (KSI) is a branch of Columbia University's Teacher's College. The two week intensive program is designed to bring independent school teachers in their 2nd - 5th year of teaching together to share ideas, learn from master teachers, and explore curricular and diversity issues. KSI is held at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

The program can be divided into roughly two parts: curriculum and diversity. We gathered according to our curriculum area and discussed ideas and topics pertaining to what we teach. For the diversity section, we gathered with a range of participants and discussed issues including types of privilege, multiracial experience in independent schools, a host of LGBT issues, and religious aspects of schools, to name a few.

We spent a good amount of time learning about ways in which students learn best. Here are some ways we discussed to improve student learning:
 * when they feel safe and in an environment that gives them a voice,
 * when a thoughtful enduring understanding is expressly stated throughout the lesson,
 * when prior knowledge is activated, possibly prior “schemas” are activated,
 * when items are “chunked” for placement in the short-term memory so they can be transferred to the long term memory,
 * when students reflect on their own learning styles, i.e. metacognition,
 * when we can use a balance of formative(ungraded)/summative(graded) assessments,
 * when they receive timely, thoughtful, honest, supportive feedback,
 * when we anticipate common issues/struggles,
 * when we describe what competence looks like,
 * when we are transparent about our purpose as teacher/grader as both gatekeeper and cheerleader,

 Another concept I found powerful is the difference between the "intended curriculum," the "taught curriculum," and the "learned curriculum." We should aim to minimize the gap between the three co-existing curricula. Here are some ideas we discussed:
 * Have formative assessments, simply asking students what is going well and what is not (note card with + and -),
 * Spending time identifying student misconceptions and trying to undo them,
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Developing a com prehensive understanding of key terms to level the playing field,
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Having students use cover sheets on writing assignments to impart the importance of metacognition and transfer of skills,
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Give students writing feedback and give them the opportunity to rewrite,
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Be clear and transparent about my own assumptions and goals, especially with “gatekeeper” and “cheerleader” in terms of my role as grader
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Plan lessons out in advance and try to identify “enduring understandings” for each lesson, and how lessons connect; something like a clearly expressed, publicly displayed philosophy statement (or bullet points)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A final curricular take away is the concept of "Critical Friends." This concept is a protocol based approach to faculty reflection and growth where a small group of teachers gets together and shares an issue they are having with a lesson or assessment. By using a protocol, efficiency is increased and the potential for honest and thoughtful feedback is increased as well. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The diversity takeaways focus on the need to teach issues of diversity before they occur, not after they have occurred. This means some sort of conversation early in the school year, and at the Middle School as well. Several presenters stressed the need for schools to provide a safe and secure environment for all students, and that having public, transparent discussions is a good way to show the student body that they are secure. These presenters spoke about how discussing diversity issues and having a diverse climate increases a school's ability to strive for excellence -- something all independent schools do.

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