Teaching Conceptually

In the fall of 2012, the Primary Years Program where I work received feedback from an evaluation team that our Program of Inquiry was too knowledge-based, focused on meeting state standards and less on having students develop conceptual understandings. The team recommended that we "revisit the units to ensure that they are conceptual in nature while still hitting the state’s mandated targets."

Since that time, we've learned all about writing concept-based curriculum. (Want to learn what we learned? Here are some worthwhile resources: Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction for the Thinking Classroom by Erickson and Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe)

Slowly, our program of inquiry is being transformed, as teachers diligently, meticulously, and collaboratively revise planners, making sure the written curriculum is clearly focused on students learning concepts and not just isolated knowledge and skills.

Something I'm still confused by though is how we put that plan into place. I understand how the written curriculum can be concept-based, but what about the taught curriculum? To help resolve this tension in my pedagogical understanding, I consulted some important resources. (Want to learn what I've been learning? Here are some worthwhile resources: Making the PYP Happen, Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison, and Transitioning to Concept-based Curriculum and Instruction by Erickson & Lanning).

Now when I plan a lesson, I make sure to include the five steps below. Note, these steps do not comprise my entire lesson plan and they are not a silver bullet (i.e. complete these steps and your students will understand concepts!) But it has been what I've been doing lately and what I've been noticing is that it helps me and the students focus on conceptual understandings and shift my focus away from only having them learn isolated knowledge and skills.

1. Start with a concept.
2. Pick a specific, concrete example of a person, place, situation, or thing that illustrates that concept.
3. Create an opportunity for students to explore that concrete example. 
4. Check for understanding by having them write a concept statement.
5. Reflect on their thinking and decide next steps.

Below, I describe (at length) how I recently used these steps to teach a lesson to third graders about perspective. Check out the slideshow I used to teach the lesson.

1. Start with a concept.

I wanted the students to understand that when people look at the same thing, there are often different perspectives. No perspective is right or wrong, just different.

I was clear with the students at the onset of the lesson that that big idea was our goal. Some might disagree with me and suggest that the whole point of inquiry is to have students uncover the big idea for themselves. If you find yourself in that camp, ask a provocative question instead that clearly communicates what the focus of the lesson is. In this example, I might have asked, "When there are a lot of different perspectives, how do we know which one is right?"

2. Pick a specific, concrete example of a person, place, situation, or thing that illustrates that concept.

Because the third graders with whom I was working were learning about light and space, I decided to have them read different stories from several cultures about the Big Dipper. I was able to find a multitude of perspectives on those seven bright stars near the North Celestial Pole.

3. Create an opportunity for students to explore that concrete example. 

To explore different perspectives, I had the students make their thinking visible using a bubble map, so they could graphically compare and contrast the different perspectives they were reading about.

Typically, I would advocate for getting out of the students' way - literally. Give students the chance to discover the big idea themselves. Get out from in front of the class, while still being there to ask provocative questions, to give feedback, to remind, and to motivate.

That said (or rather pontificated), of the multiple classes I worked with on this perspective lesson, I had one class who were given more autonomy when reading the different Big Dipper stories. As you can see below, the quantity they were able to read through didn't match the classes who worked through the stories as a whole class.

The following bubble maps  came from classes that worked through this lesson as a whole group.

These student work examples came from the class that had more autonomy. These students worked in pairs. 

4. Check for understanding by having them write a concept statement.

Because my goal in this lesson was for the students to understand a concept, instead of being able to do a skill or know a fact, I needed to check their conceptual understanding. I had students show me what they were thinking by answering the prompt at the end of the lesson: "What can you tell me about perspective?" 

Typically, when I have students write concept statements at the end of a lesson, I have them share them in the whole group and I have the students negotiate together to create a whole-class concept statement that we test to make sure is timeless, abstract, universal, and transferrable. To read about how I've done that whole-class negotiation, check out examples with fourth graders, with third graders, and with fifth graders.

However, because of time restraints, I just had the individual students respond to the prompt and I didn't have them share in the large group.

As you look through the examples, remember that my aim was that I wanted the students to understand that when people look at the same thing, there are often different perspectives. No perspective is right or wrong, just different.

This student didn't correctly respond to the prompt. On a scale of 1-5, with 4 being "meets expectations", I'd give this student a 1.



These students also didn't correctly respond to the prompt, but at least their response reflects knowledge they learned during the lesson. I'd give these students a 2.





These students below all earn a 3, but for different reasons.

This student understands perspective, but gives the concrete example to explain, so I can't be assured that she understands this concept.

These students give me a response that shows they understand the concept of perspective, but I was wanting the students to go past the generic definition of perspective. These students do not.

The following students earn a 4, "meets expectations". They understand that when people look at the same thing, there are often different perspectives. No perspective is right or wrong, just different.

To me, these last two student examples earn a 5, because they go past what was expected of them. They have come to understand that although no perspective is right nor wrong, we can learn from other people's perspectives. This is an important conceptual understanding that went above and beyond the scope of this lesson.

5. Reflect on their thinking and decide on next steps.

You can see by my notes in purple above that I reflected on the students' thinking. I was able to do this with the third grade team, by following an adapted version of the Looking At Students' Thinking (LAST) Protocol (p. 263 of Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison). 

In that reflection meeting, I asked the teachers to look at the documentation of students' thinking and respond in three ways:

1. Students’ thinking - note specific evidence.
2. Questions.
3. Recommendations for next steps.

As we reflected, we decided that a good next step would be to explore the concept of perspectives again, but in a different concrete context. Teachers decided that looking at the idea of perspectives in relation to poetry (which is a key part of their next unit of inquiry) will be a good next step, especially for those students who had a limited understanding of this concept.

Making students' thinking visible and taking the time to analyze, discuss, and reflect on documentation of students' thinking helps us get closer to "switching the paradigm of teaching from trying to transmit what is in our heads to our students and toward trying to get what is in students' heads into our own so that we can provide responsive instruction that will advance learning," (p. 35 of Making Thinking Visible by Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison).

Above, I've just described what I've been doing lately to help me and the students focus on conceptual understandings and shift my focus away from only having them learn isolated knowledge and skills. What have you been doing lately that has proved successful at getting students to focus on concepts?