Subject+Area+Best+Practices

Subject Area Best Practices

The best practices summarized below are based on the research of Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde in **//[|Best Practice: Today's Standards for Teaching & Learning in America's Schools]//**. The Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) invites colleagues to reference these practices as you develop curriculum and design classroom approaches for various units of study. Copies of this book are available in the library, in the Lovett Teacher Parent Study Room and from individual members of the Teaching and Learning Committee.

Best practices in the Arts:
 * Arts**

The Bad Model: “the building’s one or two arts specialists see each class of children once or twice a week for half an hour, and rarely does that instruction have a chance to achieve intensity or continuity.

Qualities of Best Practices in Teaching the Arts

1) Students should DO art not just view art. 2) The arts should be integrated across the curriculum as well as taught as separate disciplines. 3) Students need to exercise genuine choice, control, and responsibility in their art making. 4) Students should be helped to nurture their special talents and find their strongest art form. 5) Students should experience a wide variety of arts forms. 6) Students should have the opportunity to share their work. 7) Children should attend a variety of professional arts events. 8) Artists should be present in schools and classrooms 9) All teachers, not just arts specialists, should be artists in their classroom

//Best Practices// focuses more on visual arts than performing arts, but many of these practices can apply to both.


 * Counseling**


 * School Counseling Standards - ASCA Scope and Sequence**

** K-2: **
 * ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT**
 * Display positive interest in learning
 * Take pride in work & achievement
 * Use communication skills - know when & how to ask for help when needed
 * Take responsibility for actions
 * Apply study skills necessary for academic success
 * Understand the relationship between classroom performance and success in school
 * Understand the relationship between learning and work

**CAREER DEVELOPMENT**
 * Learn about the variety of traditional & nontraditional occupations
 * Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests and motivations
 * Develop hobbies & vocational interests
 * Develop a positive attitude about work & learning
 * Utilize time- & task- management skills
 * Identify personal skills, interests and abilities and relate them to a career choice
 * Demonstrate awareness of education & training needed to achieve career goals
 * Understand the relationship between educational achievement and career success
 * Understand that work is an important and satisfying means of personal expression
 * Learn how to use conflict management skills with peers and adults

**PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT** __ Acquire self-knowledge __
 * Develop positive attitudes toward self as a unique & worthy person
 * Identify values, attitudes & beliefs
 * Understand change is a part of growth
 * Identify & express feelings
 * Distinguish between appropriate & inappropriate behavior
 * Recognize personal boundaries, rights & privacy needs
 * Understand the need for self control & how to practice it
 * Identify & recognize changing family roles

__ Acquire interpersonal skills __ __ Self-knowledge application __ __ Acquire personal safety skills __
 * Recognize that everyone has rights & responsibilities
 * Recognize, accept, respect & appreciate individual differences
 * Recognize, accept, respect & appreciate ethnic & cultural diversity
 * Recognize, accept, respect & appreciate various family configurations
 * Use effective communication skills
 * Know that communication involves speaking, listening, & nonverbal behavior
 * Learn how to make & keep friends
 * Understand consequences of decisions and choices
 * Identify alternative solutions to a problem
 * Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems
 * Demonstrate when, where & how to seek help for solving problems & making decisions
 * Know how to apply conflict resolution skills
 * Demonstrate respect & appreciation for individual & cultural differences
 * Know when a peer is influencing a decision
 * Demonstrate knowledge of personal information (telephone number, home address, emergency contact)
 * Learn about relationship between rules, laws, safety and the rights of individuals
 * Learn about appropriate and inappropriate physical contact
 * Identify resource people in school & community, know how to seek their help
 * Apply effective problem-solving & decision-making skills to make safe & healthy choices
 * Learn about emotional & physical dangers of substance use & abuse
 * Learn techniques for managing stress & conflict

** 3-5: **
 * ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT**
 * Articulate feelings of confidence and competence as learners
 * Accept mistakes as essential to the learning process
 * Demonstrate how effort and persistence positively affect learning
 * Demonstrate the ability to work independently as well as cooperatively with other students
 * Demonstrate dependability, productivity and initiative
 * Share knowledge
 * Demonstrate motivation to achieve potential
 * Learn and apply critical thinking skills
 * Become a self-directed and independent learner
 * Establish challenging academic goals
 * Demonstrate the ability to balance school, extracurricular activities, leisure time and family time
 * Understand how school success and academic achievement enhance future career and vocational opportunities

**CAREER DEVELOPMENT** **P****ERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Learn how to interact and work cooperatively in teams
 * Learn to make decisions
 * Learn how to set goals
 * Know various ways occupations can be classified
 * Describe traditional and non-traditional career choices and how to relate to career choices
 * Explain how work can help achieve personal success and satisfaction
 * Understand the importance of equity and access in career choice
 * Demonstrate how interests, abilities, and achievement relate to personal, social, educational and career goals
 * Learn the goal-setting process
 * Demonstrate cooperative behavior in groups
 * Identify personal strengths and assets
 * Identify and discuss changing personal and social roles
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Respect alternative points of view
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Understand consequences of decisions and choices
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Use persistence and perseverance in acquiring knowledge and skills
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Demonstrate the ability to set boundaries, rights and personal privacy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Differentiate between situations requiring peer support and situations requiring adult professional help
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Learn how to cope with peer pressure

** 6-8: **
 * ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT**
 * Identify attitudes and behaviors leading to successful learning
 * Apply time-management and task-management skills
 * Apply knowledge and learning styles to positively influence school performance
 * Develop a broad range of interests and abilities
 * Seek information and support from faculty, staff, family and peers
 * Organize and apply academic information from a variety of sources
 * Use knowledge of learning styles to positively influence school performance
 * Establish challenging academic goals
 * Use assessment results in educational planning
 * Develop and implement annual plan of study to maximize academic ability and achievement
 * Apply knowledge of aptitudes and interests to goal setting
 * Use problem-solving and decision-making skills to assess progress toward educational goals
 * Identify postsecondary options consistent with interests, achievement, aptitude and abilities
 * Seek co-curricular and community experiences to enhance the school experience
 * Demonstrate an understanding of the value of lifelong learning as essential to seeking obtaining and maintaining life goals
 * Understand that school success is the preparation to make the transition from student to community member

**CAREER DEVELOPMENT**
 * Develop skills to locate, evaluate and interpret career information
 * Understand the importance of planning
 * Pursue and develop competency in areas of interest
 * Acquire employability skills such as working on a team and problem-solving and organizational skills
 * Understand the importance of responsibility, dependability, punctuality, integrity and effort in the workplace
 * Apply decision-making skills to career planning, course selection and career transition
 * Demonstrate knowledge of the career-planning process
 * Use research and information resources to obtain career information
 * Learn to use the Internet to access career-planning information
 * Understand how changing economic and societal needs influence employment trends and future training
 * Use employability and job readiness skills in internship, mentoring, shadowing and/or other work experience
 * Select course work that is related to career interests
 * Maintain a career-planning portfolio
 * Identify personal preferences and interests influencing career choice and success
 * Understand that the changing workplace requires lifelong learning and acquiring new skills
 * Describe the effect of work on lifestyle
 * Apply academic and employment readiness skills in work-based learning situations such as internships, shadowing and/or mentoring experience

**PERSONAL/SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT**
 * Positive health habits
 * Good communication skills
 * Understanding peer pressure
 * Ability to apply problem-solving models to real-world problems
 * Ability to identify and use personal strengths
 * Understand how past choices influence present and future actions
 * Descriptions of unique qualities of self, positive self-concept, and understanding of one’s uniqueness as well as similarities with others
 * Ability to deal with pressure
 * Understanding of relationship between personal responsibility and life management
 * Identify long- and short-term goals
 * Identify alternative ways of achieving goals
 * Develop an action plan to set and achieve realistic goals
 * Learn coping skills for managing life events


 * English Language Arts

Writing instruction:** [|**http://docs.google.com/a/summitmail.org/Doc?docid=0AefG2KMPdXv1ZGR2cGR3ZnFfMjk0bjQ1Y3BqZA&hl=en**] []
 * Reading instruction:**

Library, Information Technology and Media
[]
 * For current draft see google.doc** -


 * Math**


 * Physical Education**

[|Best Practices for Science]
 * Science**


 * Social Studies** 1


 * Student Support Services**
 * For strategic instruction: KU strategies: http://www.iowa.gov/educate/index
 * For CRISS literacy strategies: http://www.cusd200.org
 * For learning style inventories and techniques: http://www.learning-styles-online.com
 * For resources for students with learning differences: http:// www.ldonline.com
 * Carol Dweck, Growth Mindsets and Motivation: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=aPNeu07I52w&feature=related


 * Technology**


 * ======<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Best use of technology resources will be based upon strong teacher knowledge of the content area and sound pedagogical practice. Teachers who have a firm understanding of their subject matter and pedagogy can draw on this knowledge in making better decisions about the most relevant use of technology with their students. ======
 * ======Technology can be used to make learning more student-centered and more meaningful.======
 * ======Technology can be used to better illuminate the learning process, not just the learning product. Technology allows for more transparency in both cognitive and meta-cognitive processes.======
 * ======Technology can be used to motivate students.======
 * ======Technology can be used to communicate across both physical and social domains. This process reinforces general social interaction and communication skills.======
 * ======At the individual level, technology can be used to accommodate learning differences.======
 * ======Use technology responsibly and appropriately. Consider the positive and negative effects of its implementation: What problems can it solve/create, and how big are these problems? What groups and individuals have something to gain/lose by using this technology? How can it reinforce/weaken content and pedagogy? What other positive/negative outcomes can occur as a result of using this technology? If necessary, create an "Appropriate Use Policy".======


 * World Languages**
 * integrating art, drama and music into lessons. Students create visual displays, perform skits and sing songs to enhance their understanding of a story, a cultural tradition, etc.
 * using student generated and facilitated games to review for assessments.
 * providing differentiate instruction to suit the needs of various learning styles.
 * incorporating geography, history, culture, art and math into lessons so that students gain insights about the people speaking the various languages.
 * in terms of communication, students create conversations, stories, skits, etc. orally and in writing. These dialogues allow them hands-on time with the language.
 * comparisons between language and culture are made whether we are comparing the accents and idioms of different Spanish speaking countries or how holidays are celebrated in the U.S. and other countries where the different languages are spoken.
 * connecting to discussions that are going on in other classes.
 * 9th grade students do research papers and presentations on a topic that interests them about the culture, history, etc.
 * 9th grade students also immerse themselves in the language and/or culture. (Immersion Day, the Roman Banquet, etc.)
 * participating in community events that enable students to interact with native speakers of the language

Statement of Best Practices:
[]
 * For current draft see google.doc** -

American Library Association (ALA) Standards:
Here is an 8-page statement of Standards. [|AASL_LearningStandards.pdf] This statement has been expanded in a book which specifies more detailed learning objectives. The ALA is currently working on a publication which will include model lesson plans that coordinate with the standards and objectives.

Scope & Sequence
Here's a WORD chart we've used in the past to help analyze what we're doing and when. It's been updated to include some technology, but doesn't include a media focus. It will need to be revised again after we finish with the statement of Best Practices. [|Skills Grid-research 3-8-10.doc] We will need to collaborate with Tech folks and content area teachers when we get to doing the next revision.