Snippets of Conversation: How Knowledge-Rich Curriculum Can Change a School Community
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Mrs. Luedtke听watches听as听her students听gather in small groups.听This听is their听first time drafting a multi-paragraph essay,听and the topic is ambitious:听how and why Jacques Cousteau explored the sea.听The class鈥檚 read alouds听and discussions听about Cousteau听have been going well, but听Mrs. Luedtke听is not听sure how her third-graders听are going to听respond to the essay project; this is not the type of work that used to be common in her school.听As the small groups settle, the noise in the room听is听nonexistent,听but听silence听is not what Mrs. Luedtke wants. She wants鈥�needs鈥攖o hear discussion.
After a few silent moments, Mrs. Luedtke begins to hear snippets of conversation, hesitant at first, but growing in volume and deepening in content. One child, Tesa, says, 鈥淛acques Cousteau felt a responsibility.鈥� Cameron adds, 鈥淗e was curious.鈥� 鈥淗e wanted to go into the unknown to see things never seen before,鈥� Bailey says. The conversations grow louder, clearer,听and more confident with each group Mrs. Luedtke passes. She continues to move about and slowly realizes she is letting out a breath she didn鈥檛 know she鈥檇 been holding. She hears Lana say, 鈥淗e wanted to explore a new frontier.鈥� Michael says, 鈥淗e discovered new creatures . . . bioluminescent creatures with his inventions.鈥� Maya chimes in, 鈥淗e wanted to conserve the world鈥檚 oceans.鈥�
A听year earlier, I (Mrs. Luedtke and the author of this article) was in a room full of frustrated and devastated K鈥�4 teachers. Most of the children who attend our school are from families with low incomes; in fact, my school has the highest number of families living in poverty in our district. Our community has suffered from the opioid epidemic, higher levels of unemployment, and the 2019 tornado outbreak, and our students tend to experience frequently changing living situations. So, after receiving our state English language arts testing results and seeing the drastic difference between our scores听and the听neighboring, more affluent听districts,听we knew something had to change.听
Like so many other districts across the country, we lacked an aligned approach to language arts鈥攁n approach that provided a cohesive study of reading and writing, speaking and listening, and viewing and visually representing within each grade and across grade levels. Over the听past several听years, we had tried to听fill in听what we thought was missing by pulling materials听from websites, seminars,听and workshops,听but it had always felt like grasping at straws. Nothing ever seemed to be enough; test scores always seemed to reflect our shortcomings and gave us very little to celebrate.
On this particular day, as we reflected once again on the scores, we decided we needed to offer our students more. But the question was:听how?听The principal of our school listened, took notes, and got our听district听administration to act.听Having been a teacher in our district himself, he understood what we were facing and was willing to help us enact change.听What followed was a series of听meetings where staff members (including teachers, intervention specialists, Title 1 teachers, and district-level coaches) analyzed听our test scores听and discovered that听our vocabulary, comprehension,听and critical thinking scores were significantly lower overall than other districts in the state.
With this information, our next step was clear: we needed to find听a comprehensive听language arts听program听that would enrich our students听in every area,听starting with vocabulary. To pay the 鈥渆ducational debt鈥� owed to our students (Ladson-Billings 2006), we also sought an approach with consistent terminology and听alignment to ensure students鈥櫶齭kills and knowledge听were听built听both within and across the grades in our buildings.
Our meetings also revealed that some grade levels planned听as a team听to create horizontal alignment, while others didn鈥檛.听No one was planning across grade levels听to create vertical alignment.听While we used听the听Common Core State Standards, there was nothing common about the way we chose the skills we were teaching听each听week:听we were trying to teach reactively instead of proactively, and we did not have any systems in place for students to master skills. Month after month, we were听setting up intervention groups and were reteaching skills听(instead of providing rich instruction from the start). It was a continuous cycle that left us exhausted and frustrated鈥攚e knew we were not supporting our students to their full potential.听听
In addition, our discussions led us to the research. Research shows that students love learning, learning from each other, and knowing information that adults often don鈥檛 know (Chenoweth听2015).听They also seek out opportunities to make connections from old learning to new facts.听There was also evidence that changing to higher quality, well-aligned curriculum materials, including texts, can boost student听achievement more than other major changes schools tend to make (Chingos & Whitehurst 2012; Berner听2017).听
We decided to follow the research so that we could enhance our students鈥� opportunities to learn, and we also learned many lessons ourselves along the way. In this article, we discuss those lessons and the strategies we used for adapting our chosen curriculum to develop students鈥� critical thinking skills, language and literacy skills, and world knowledge.
Increasing students鈥� opportunities to learn: Choosing a new language arts curriculum听
Having looked closely at our data and having reflected about what was (and was not) working, we determined that a听well-rounded,听challenging,听and structured curriculum听would help听our听students to develop听knowledge about and听skills to thrive inside and outside of our school.听Our district instructional coaches, curriculum coordinator,听and several teachers researched different language听arts programs.听Everyone agreed that we wanted to look beyond a traditional basal approach. We had gone down that path and had determined it wasn鈥檛 getting us where we wanted to be. After a few months of research, they found Great Minds鈥櫶齨ew program Wit & Wisdom,听which was being piloted in select districts around the country (Gewertz 2019). 听听
There were several elements of the program that stood out to us:
- Each student gets their own copy of high-quality, authentic texts rather than basal textbooks.听For example, third-graders read听The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, by Dan Yaccarino;听Starry Messenger, by Peter Sis;听When Marion Sang: The True Recital of Marion Anderson, by Pam Mu帽oz Ryan; along with poetry, fables, and myths. They also study artwork by Homer Winslow (The Gulf Stream), Mary Cassatt (The Boating Party), Hokusai (The Great Wave Off Kanagawa), and Pablo Picasso (Reading at a Table).
- Texts are linked by units, or听modules,听that are framed by different types of questions. (See 鈥淒eveloping Critical Thinking Skills鈥� below for examples of these questions.) Each grade level typically has four modules for the school year, some of which include听Westward Expansion, A Great Heart (covering both the literal and figurative meaning of this topic), The Civil Rights Movement, A New Home (featuring stories of immigrants arriving in the United States), the Continents, and the Revolutionary War.
- Teachers are encouraged to rehearse vocabulary, emphasize new terminology, and have children engage in challenging activities for each text.
Having high-quality, real, related texts is key, and framing questions provided the continuity we were looking for. Wit & Wisdom听is designed to be used with a听companion program to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and other essential skills that lead to reading and writing fluency and automaticity.听As I explain later in听this article (see 鈥淟imitations: Ensuring Growth in All Areas of Language and Literacy鈥� below),听we came to realize our听approach to these aspects of early language and literacy development was not听sufficient听in preparing students for engaging with challenging texts.听
Developing critical thinking skills and building complex vocabulary
Enacting change is never easy, and we learned that doing it well depends on having sufficient support and flexibility to be responsive to our students.听Although our administration was supportive, they decided that our school would pilot this new program while the other elementary schools would continue as they had been. Unfortunately,听due to events beyond our control, we received our materials just two weeks before the school year started. Without enough book copies, we relied听on the e-versions听of some, YouTube recordings of others,听and book sharing听(including scanning and projecting听pages onto whiteboards). We chose to hold extra听staff听meetings, practice teaching on each other, and completed work after hours to learn how to interpret the extensive lesson plans and to make adaptations to support each learner.听听
Another key change for us was听learning听how to rephrase critical thinking questions without losing the integrity of the听original听question. We believed that more complex texts and more challenging thinking about them were essential to increasing our students鈥� opportunities to learn鈥攖hat was the crux of this whole shift in听our curriculum and听teaching.听For example, a question recommended by Wit & Wisdom听was,听鈥淚n your opinion, which part of听Moonshot听best depicts the wonder or danger of traveling to the moon?鈥� We replaced the word听depicts听(a word students may not have been familiar with), with听shows, to scaffold their understanding until both words became connected and familiar in discussions, reading, and writing.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Each听Wit & Wisdom module has several components. Here, we highlight each component and how it helps to develop students鈥� critical thinking skills through different types of questions.听
- An essential question, which guides learning throughout the entire module and toward a greater understanding of the topic. For example: why do people explore the sea? This is the essential question for the first module of third grade, and it promotes students鈥� thinking and learning about what drives people to explore the sea. 听
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A听focusing question, which stays constant for about听10听lessons and helps students to view texts and discussions through a more focused lens related to the essential question. Following the previous example, a focusing question is: how do artists explore the sea? This homes in on artists specifically and how the sea draws them in with its beauty and danger.听
- A well-designed progression of the focusing questions, which address different aspects of the essential question. For example, through a series of focusing questions, students investigate how artists, explorers, and scientists are curious about the sea and why they all explore the sea. 听听
- A content framing question, which is more fluid and generally stays constant for one to two lessons to support comprehension. These ensure that students are working toward mastery each time the question is presented.
- A craft question, which also builds toward mastery by connecting a writing skill, such as supporting writing with evidence and elaboration, to process key questions and as a way to close the module.
- A deep dive, which involves examining grammar concepts, such as the use of adverbs, in students鈥� own writing and in the core texts they read.
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The importance of planning听听
These types of scaffolds,听while seemingly simple,听took听planning: we had听to look ahead at each听lesson part, see what vocabulary was being used,听and then revise the question听while still meeting the learning objectives.听Because we were prepared, we could also focus on guiding peer interactions. We learned to rely on peer interactions to facilitate everyone鈥檚 learning of the content and vocabulary through active conversations and discussions. For example, using rich vocabulary in daily conversation听filtered through everyone in the classroom and beyond (other teachers in our district soon came to visit to observe our lessons). As this continued to happen, we began to realize how the changes we made in our planning and instruction were fostering changes in children鈥檚 knowledge and learning.
Organizing materials
Another aspect of planning that was essential to our new approach involved organizing materials for teaching and learning. We worked hard to find an easier system that would keep the student鈥� minds on the content, rather than the program鈥檚 suggested interactive notebook approach. After several months and through trial and error, we finally stumbled on the idea of creating packets. One day per quarter, with time provided by our curriculum department,听each grade level gathered to create the materials needed to successfully teach the lessons听in the next part of the module鈥檚 arc.听We realized that looking too far ahead created great confusion, and we had to slow down our planning in order to truly foster students鈥� learning.听(If we couldn鈥檛 keep the texts and skills organized in our own minds, how could we expect our students to?)听At each grade level, we
- created vocabulary charts with听blanks for students to听fill in;
- made t-charts with听lines to write on instead of blank spaces;
- used response writing paper听with听dotted midlines听to make writing听neater; and听
- added听reflections with the question听or prompt听at the top so students could reread and see the question instead of just hearing it read aloud.
This time was invaluable for us to understand what we would soon be teaching, and we began to comprehend how the vocabulary, questioning techniques, and writing all fit together.听In short,听we began to see the big picture.听Above all, we learned how to trust each other and knew that we were all in this new program together鈥攅ven on days when lessons failed (and they did) and on days when we cried (and we did) and in moments when we wondered if what we were doing was right (which it was).听Planning in this way improved our knowledge and practices and served as another lesson learned through this journey of change.
Genuine opinions and interesting discussions听
Just as we were starting to hear听students听using rich language鈥攁nd听noticing,听wondering听about,听and observing听texts听in completely new ways鈥攖he results of听our听fall听state-mandated听test听came in. Results were mixed at听best. Our scores were virtually equal to听our peers within the district who hadn鈥檛 switched to the new program, but we knew our students were gaining听new knowledge and听skills.听They were no longer听just rehearsing information;听they had begun to internalize the information and to have genuine opinions and interesting exchanges.听
We were keen to continue these efforts to keep improving, and we discovered another area for attention鈥攂uilding students鈥� background knowledge from one grade to the next. In our journey toward increasing students鈥� opportunities to learn, we found that there is a large body of evidence鈥攎uch of it from cognitive science鈥攖hat critical thinking and comprehension are greatly influenced by students鈥� background knowledge. As explained by the Knowledge Matters Campaign听(2018, n.p.),
Background knowledge is like Velcro; the more you have, the easier it is for additional knowledge and vocabulary听to 鈥渟tick.鈥� Recent studies have found that students who read a series of texts on a topic are likely to learn new听vocabulary four times faster than jumping from topic to topic.
Because our previous language arts curriculum lacked complex texts about history, science, the arts, and literature, our students had not explored, questioned, or critically thought through such content in school.听Moving to a knowledge-heavy reading diet was hard,听but we stuck with it through each lesson taught with听as much听fidelity, patience,听and grace听as we could muster. We had given up so much for this;听not one of us was听willing听to give up and go back to what we knew didn鈥檛 work.听Others started to notice too, and there was a decision that all elementary and middle schools (K鈥�8) would begin using the Wit & Wisdom program the following听school听year. We were happy about this. For the first time in a long time, all听elementary and middle听schools would be vertically and horizontally aligned for English language arts.
Limitations: Ensuring Growth in All Areas of Language and Literacy听听
As mentioned in this article, Wit & Wisdom did not address certain areas of literacy and language development, and our lower-elementary students were suffering from a lack of a systematic phonics program.听Through further research by our team of Title 1 teachers and further training especially for our K鈥�2 teachers, we implemented other programs (one is Fundations and the other is Geodes) that blend systematic phonics instruction and handwriting instruction with high-quality, decodable texts. Research shows that children who receive multisensory direct instruction are then more easily able to apply the skills learned when reading in context. However, this can only be possible while utilizing a balanced literacy approach and providing various activities to improve overall language skills and development (Sessa 2003). Fundations was appropriate for us. This meant that our students were now being loaded with听high-quality,听research-based听curriculum programs in all language arts areas. Five years later, we observed the benefits of a more comprehensive approach: the听majority of听the children听now come to third grade with decoding and encoding听essentials and strong handwriting skills.听听
Another area of growth involved stamina. Our past language arts instruction consisted of short texts, a phonics worksheet,听and听a writing听assignment鈥攁nd听even those short activities were听not all completed in the same lesson.听Even within differentiated reading groups,听students practiced skills听but only in short bursts of time.听Shifting to new and worldly texts and topics听meant building stamina. It took time (and frequent wiggle breaks), and students reached new heights, grappling with and making meaning from these texts with fewer and fewer breaks.听听
Building stamina also meant thinking carefully about our youngest learners. In the听second year of implementation,听our听kindergarten teachers听worked with administrators to听wait听until October to begin听Wit & Wisdom听lessons. This was based on our pilot year experiences and a better grasp of what the program entailed. So, prior to beginning these lessons, kindergarten teachers spent time with their students learning about rules and routines and learning letters,听letter听sounds, numbers, and other foundational information before entering into the deeper work of content-rich instruction. Even now, five years later, our kindergarten teachers still begin instruction听two to three weeks after the school year begins.听Delaying the start of the program gives teachers and their students a chance to get to know one another听and听to get used to what it is like being in school. Importantly,听this time is also used to gain insights鈥攖hrough both informal and formal means鈥攖o learn about each child and the contexts in which they live and learn and begin to provide early intervention for students who would benefit from it.
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Final thoughts: Becoming a knowledge-rich school听
We finished our first year exhausted听and听weary,听but hopeful.听We were prepared to view our听spring听test scores through a different lens than before. We had done something completely different and had pushed ourselves mentally听and听physically. We hadn鈥檛 taught to the test; rather,听we had taught skills and content that students would encounter on the tests through engaging, knowledge-rich units. We taught them how to have听respectful and effective debates and听discussions and how to write narratives, explanatory essays, opinion essays,听and complete听sentences听in the听grammar听of academic English.听Students across grade levels听connected to the texts. They read more engaging, complex texts听and, through those texts, they learned about the human body, seasons, feelings,听and many other science and social studies听topics. Overall, they became engaged and involved in their own听learning and听were no longer passively participating听in lessons that were teacher-led and lacking meaningful content.听听
Families commented on how their children were coming home and sharing knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement, the American Revolution,听and poetry.听They expressed amazement at the changes in and level of depth of their children鈥檚 understanding of these topics.听Our students could听persuasively听discuss why they would have or would not have been a part of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon,听and听they could express great sadness听that Galileo was condemned for his beliefs about the solar system. They relished learning about how听and why听families听immigrate听to America and听what听they听leave behind in听their homelands.听They discussed the need for the conservation of the oceans due to learning about Jacques Cousteau.听These topics听were made accessible听through听well-chosen texts and related materials and through our hard work developing听vocabulary-enriched lessons.听听听
Our听spring听state test scores听indicated growth, which in turn led to more training and materials.听Over the听next two years,听we became the听specialists听of the program and听watched our test scores continue to rise.听We were observed by other teachers, principals,听and administrators. Never did we think we would be included in the prestigious 听and receive the 听from听the state of Ohio.听Now, our听elementary听school听is the highest scoring in language arts听in our district.
There were those who doubted us and our students because of the statistics. But what started as a room full of frustrated teachers became a discussion of research听and听teaching techniques, and it听grew into听a school family like no听other听I鈥檝e seen in听the听18 years of my career.听 While I believe an individual can and should be a force for change, this dynamic shift was the result of a staff coming together.听 That is why, throughout this article, I intentionally chose the pronoun听we, not听I. Our success was not just dependent on our students, it was something we all had to deeply believe in. Today, we are still learning and growing together.听The knowledge-rich curriculum, adapted to make it our own, changed our school, our teaching and learning, and听the dynamic of an entire school. It has changed us. Forever.
As our students听learned听about the struggles and triumphs of Jacques Cousteau, John F. Kennedy, Ruby Bridges,听and the Founding Fathers, we all learned to be听strong听and choose to do the hard things. I have no doubt that you can do this too. If we can ask our students to do hard things, why shouldn鈥檛 we ask the same of ourselves?听听
Finding High-Quality Language Arts Programs听
While听Wit & Wisdom听is ultimately the program we chose, there are听many other great programs to use if change is something you鈥檙e seeking.听To find the right program for you and your students,听take a look听at the following websites.
- 听highlights research听about the importance of academic vocabulary and broad knowledge for listening and reading comprehension. It also points to curricular materials recommended by teachers.
- 听is dedicated to reviewing K鈥�12 curricula, and all reviews are led by听experienced听teachers and administrators.
- instructional materials reviews听are based on an extensive听process in which听everyone from expert educators to members of the public can weigh in on programs鈥� quality.
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References
Berner, A. 2017. 鈥淗ow Rethinking Classroom Instruction May Have Boosted Student Achievement in Louisiana.鈥� The 74.听.
Chenoweth, K. 2015. 鈥淜ids Love Knowing Stuff.鈥� The Huffington Post. .听
Chingos, M., & R. Whitehurst. 2012.听Choosing Blindly: Instructional Materials, Teacher Effectiveness, and the Common Core. Report. Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings.
Gewertz, C. 2019. 鈥淎 Look Inside One Classroom鈥檚 Reading Overhaul.鈥� Education Week. .
Ladson-Billings, G. 2016. 鈥淔rom the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools (2006 AERA Presidential Address).鈥澨�Educational Researcher听35 (7): 3鈥�12.
Knowledge Matters Campaign. 2018. 鈥淚t鈥檚 Time for a Reading Reset!鈥澨�.听
Sessa, A.J. 2003. 鈥淎 Study of the Effectiveness of the Wilson Fundations Program when Applied to a Group of Children with Mild to Moderate Special Needs.鈥� Masters thesis. Rowan University. .
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