How MAPPEN embeds the High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS)
The 10 High Impact Teaching Strategies (HITS) are instructional practices underpinned by research undertaken by John Hattie and Robert Marzano. Due to our authors’ deep pedagogical knowledge and understanding of best practice curriculum delivery, all of these instructional practices are embedded in MAPPEN. While it is understood that teacher expertise is required to provide ‘on the spot’ responses to student engagement with regard to content, skills and processes, MAPPEN provides an evidence-based backward design model that incorporates HITS and other instructional strategies.
Examples of alignment include:
1. SETTING GOALS:
MAPPEN units are rigorous and designed with high expectations in mind. MAPPEN students set individual goals around cooperative learning and learning dispositions (Habits Of Mind). Students are supported to self-reflect and share their insights as learners.
2. STRUCTURING LESSONS:
MAPPEN lessons are planned sequentially with learning tasks that promote student engagement scaffolded towards a rich summative task. All tasks within a unit link directly to the concept being studied, as well as the rationale and essential questions as outlined on the front page of each unit.
3. EXPLICIT TEACHING:
Each MAPPEN task has a clearly identified learning intention. The content and activities presented to students explicitly address the learning intention. Where appropriate, MAPPEN teachers are provided with specific examples and models, to ensure that students are clear on the intent behind the task.
In addition, students are introduced, in week two, to the summative task in each unit. This provides clarity of purpose and enables students to see where their learning is taking them.
4. WORKED EXAMPLES:
Throughout MAPPEN teachers are guided to model new skills for their students. These moments are clearly outlined with step-by-step actions for the teacher to take. In addition, teachers are provided with completed examples of graphic organisers to support student understanding.
5. COLLABORATIVE LEARNING:
MAPPEN students are provided with protocols for working collaboratively. They are grouped randomly through the use of cards, that immerse students in the content being taught. Social skills are taught explicitly and are referred to continuously.
Learning tasks involve students actively participating in various roles and responsibilities and working cooperatively to share knowledge and solve problems. Examples of cooperative strategies include inside/outside circles, hot potato and global café. Resources to support collaborative learning include social skills cards, content-specific random grouping cards and teamwork rubrics.These rubrics provide opportunities for students to reflect on and self-monitor their success as collaborators.
6. MULTIPLE EXPOSURES:
Within each carefully scaffolded MAPPEN unit, students are provided with multiple opportunities to learn skills and content knowledge as they work towards the summative task.
MAPPEN teachers can access MAPPEN Curriculum Maps to identify where their students are exposed, on multiple occasions, to Victorian Curriculum Content Descriptions across the two-year scope and sequence for the level they teach.
7. QUESTIONING:
Question prompts within MAPPEN tasks are centred around a purpose to engage, encourage reflection, challenge students’ thinking and aid them to make connections to their own experiences. The use of well-crafted questions leads to deep thinking and promotes rigorous discussions.
8. FEEDBACK:
Feedback is gathered in MAPPEN in a range of ways. Student/teacher conferencing allows for feedback of student progress. Students prepare questions and ideas before each conference, and teachers use feedback templates to record their students’ ideas. Other strategies such as traffic lights and thumbs up and down, provide teachers with instant feedback. This invaluable information provides a guide as to the effectiveness of instruction. By gathering this feedback, teachers check for understanding and, where necessary, intervene with further clarification.
9. METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES:
After each MAPPEN task (from weeks two to eight) students complete a guided reflection. These reflections require students to consider a range of things such as; the way they tackled the task, how they worked with peers, how they met a learning goal etc.
Thinking dispositions are explicitly taught. Two of Costa and Kallick’s 16 Habits of Mind are taught in each MAPPEN unit. The habits have been assigned to complement the concept being studied. The Habits of Mind can best be described as ‘ways to think intelligently when you don’t know the answer.’
A range of thinking tools such as Lotus Diagrams, Ranking Ladders and SCAMPER provide ways for students to make their thinking visible. Purpose-built graphic organisers within MAPPEN support the teaching of specific content.
10. DIFFERENTIATED TEACHING:
In a drop-down menu attached to each task, there are multiple strategies based on the June Maker Model. These strategies are based around ways to differentiate the content knowledge, processes and products that are presented in MAPPEN. Teachers can identify students who require differentiated tasks and, referring to these strategies, write an adapted version of the task in the ‘notes’ tab.
