Visible Learning for Literacy, Grades K-12: Implementing the Practices That Work Best to Accelerate Student Learning

"Every student deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design" -- Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, & John Hattie

What if someone slipped you a piece of paper listing the literacy practices that ensure students demonstrate more than a year's worth of learning for a year spent in school? Would you keep the paper or throw it away? We think you'd keep it. And that's precisely why acclaimed educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie wrote Visible Learning for Literacy. They know teachers will want to apply Hattie's head-turning synthesis of more than 15 years of research involving millions of students, which he used to identify the instructional routines that have the biggest impact on student learning. These practices are "visible" for teachers and students to see, because their purpose has been made clear, they are implemented at the right moment in a student's learning, and their effect is tangible. Yes, the "aha" moments made visible by design.

With their trademark clarity and command of the research, and dozens of classroom scenarios to make it all replicable, these authors apply Hattie's research, and show you:

• How to use the right approach at the right time, so that you can more intentionally design classroom experiences that hit the surface, deep, and transfer phases of learning, and more expertly see when a student is ready to dive from surface to deep.
• Which routines are most effective at specific phases of learning, including word sorts, concept mapping, close reading, annotating, discussion, formative assessment, feedback, collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, and many more.
• Why the 8 mind frames for teachers apply so well to curriculum planning and can inspire you to be a change agent in students' lives; and part of a faculty that embraces the idea that visible teaching is a continual evaluation of one's impact on student's learning.

"Teachers, it's time we embrace the evidence, update our classrooms, and impact student learning in wildly positive ways," say Doug, Nancy, and John. So let's see Visible Learning for Literacy for what it is: the book that renews our teaching and reminds us of our influence, just in time.

Table of Contents

List of Videos

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Laying the Groundwork for Visible Learning for Literacy

• The Evidence Base
• Meta-Analyses
• Effect Sizes
• Noticing What Works
• Learning From What Works, Not Limited to Literacy
• Teacher Credibility
• TeacherÐStudent Relationships
• Teacher Expectations
• General Literacy Learning Practices
• 1. Challenge
• 2. Self-Efficacy
• 3. Learning Intentions With Success Criteria
• Conclusion

Chapter 2. Surface Literacy Learning

• Why Surface Literacy Learning Is Essential
• Acquisition and Consolidation
• Acquisition of Literacy Learning Made Visible
• Leveraging Prior Knowledge
• Phonics Instruction and Direct Instruction in Context
• Vocabulary Instruction
• Mnemonics
• Word Cards
• Modeling Word Solving
• Word and Concept Sorts
• Wide Reading
• Reading Comprehension Instruction in Context
• Summarizing
• Annotating Text
• Note-Taking
• Consolidation of Literacy Learning Made Visible
• Rehearsal and Memorization Through Spaced Practice
• Repeated Reading
• Receiving Feedback
• Collaborative Learning With Peers
• Conclusion

Chapter 3. Deep Literacy Learning

• Moving From Surface to Deep
• Deep Acquisition and Deep Consolidation
• Deep Acquisition of Literacy Learning Made Visible
• Concept Mapping
• Discussion and Questioning
• Close Reading
• Deep Consolidation of Literacy Learning Made Visible
• Metacognitive Strategies
• Reciprocal Teaching
• Feedback to the Learner
• Conclusion

Chapter 4. Teaching Literacy for Transfer

• Moving From Deep Learning to Transfer
• Types of Transfer: Near and Far
• The Paths for Transfer: Low-Road Hugging and High-Road Bridging
• Setting the Conditions for Transfer of Learning
• Teaching Students to Organize Conceptual Knowledge
• Students Identify Analogies
• Peer Tutoring
• Reading Across Documents
• Problem-Solving Teaching
• Teaching Students to Transform Conceptual Knowledge
• Socratic Seminar
• Extended Writing
• Time to Investigate and Produce
• Conclusion

Chapter 5. Determining Impact, Responding When the Impact Is Insufficient, and Knowing What Does Not Work

• Determining Impact
• Preassessment
• Postassessment
• Responding When There Is Insufficient Impact
• Response to Intervention
• Screening
• Quality Core Instruction
• Progress Monitoring
• Supplemental and Intensive Interventions
• Learning From What DoesnÕt Work
• Grade-Level Retention
• Ability Grouping
• Matching Learning Styles With Instruction
• Test Prep
• Homework
• Conclusion

Appendix

References

Index