Module One

Turning on a Dime: Making Change in Literacy Classrooms

Charlene Cobb

This article focuses on the acronym DIME which is the four strategies that are mainly found in classrooms that have committed to transform and improve the success in all their students. DIME stands for differentiating, interacting, monitoring, and extending time for learning. 

Differentiating

Differentiation is a word that is heard constantly in the education field. Many teachers believe that by having their students work in small groups they are differentiating; however, the word differentiation means a lot more than having your students work in small groups or having students choose from different activities.  For differentiation to be affective, teachers need to have a clear vision of where they want their students to be at (end result) and methods on how to reach that goal. Differentiation calls for clearly defined goals and standards that provide teachers with a road map for designing instruction (Cobb, C. 2004). Also, is important for teachers to take into account students’ needs and abilities when they differentiate the content, process, products, and learning environment. The video below outlines different components of differentiating in a classroom.

 

Interacting

Providing opportunities for interaction as well as different types of interaction is one of the keys to learning. Vygotsky (1978) recognized the complex relationship between development and social interactions; learning is socially constructed and we learn from our interactions with peers (Cobb, C. 2004).Student conversations should be seeing in classrooms a lot more than teacher and student conversations. Classrooms should have routines and rules set that enhance conversations that focus on learning. Students should be included in the decision making process that focuses on their learning as well as teachers having a conversation with students and not talking to them. The following video talk about how the classroom environment and interaction goes hand in hand.

Monitoring

Continually monitoring instruction is key for teachers to know if their teaching strategies are being effective and reaching all learners. Monitoring can be done formally and informally. Informal monitoring is working in small groups, during teacher student conferences, or walking around the room gathering information and their observations. Formal monitoring is through assessments. Is important to give students feedback on their assessments in order for students to have more responsibility of their own learning as well as for the student to know what they need to do to achieve their goal. Showing students how to critically examine their own work (Stronge, 2002); by providing students with rubrics, teachers can make their expectations explicit and public (Cobb, C. 2004).

  

             Informal                                                                                  Formal

 

 

                            

Extending time for learning

In 1994, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning made many suggestions in regards to the use of time in school; however, now 2016 school are still struggling with teaching all that needs to be learned in 180 school days.  Different schools have come up with different solutions that work best for them. One school uses a large block of uninterrupted time for literacy, 90 minutes of uninterrupted  time for literacy in their daily schedules (these minutes were not necessarily at the same time each day) (Cobb, C. 2004). Another group of schools has the same 30 minutes block of time three to four days each week. During this time, students from the same grade level are grouped depending on their fluency, comprehension, or vocabulary.  The students are reassessed every six weeks and the groups are changed. Assessment results in these schools indicate that student achievement is on the rise.

Administrators and reading specialists can have a significant effect on change by providing the structure and support systems that enable teachers to become effective and efficient at “turning on a dime” (Cobb, C. 2004).

References

Cobb, C. (2004). Turning on a Dime: Making Change in Literacy Classrooms. Reading Teacher,
             58 (1), 104-106.