PowerTeaching: Frequently Asked Questions
“No matter where [our teachers] are in their careers (three years of experience to twenty years of experience), they all have said this has truly changed how they teach, not just math, but across the curriculum.”What is PowerTeaching?
PowerTeaching is a unique curricular framework that can be custom fit to any math curriculum. The PowerTeaching framework is designed around a research-proven Cycle of Effective Instruction that engages students and extends their mathematical understanding.
How is cooperative learning structured in the PowerTeaching model?
Cooperative learning is often negatively portrayed as resulting in team grades, asking one child to do the work for four, or turning control of the classroom over to the students. In PowerTeaching, cooperative learning means none of these things. Instead students work together toward a common learning goal, but they are held individually accountable for their own learning. Here, too, the research is unequivocal: Structuring opportunities for team members to help prepare every member to achieve success on the Lesson Cycle Assessment and rewarding teams for their efforts is the most effective cooperative-learning model.
What are the team cooperation goals?
The team cooperation goals are a way to improve students’ in-class behavior over time and help them learn to function effectively in teams. By focusing on a single behavior at a time and having team cooperation points tied to this targeted behavior, students soon internalize appropriate classroom behavior. As students become more skilled in interacting with their classmates, conflicts decrease, and time increases for both learning and individualized or small-group teaching.
What are team cooperation points?
In an effort to build team interdependence and student motivation and to reinforce the idea that students take responsibility for their learning, team cooperation points are awarded to teams on a daily basis as a way to celebrate positive peer interaction. Team cooperation points are not connected to individual assessments and are not connected to academic performance.
What is the research behind PowerTeaching?
PowerTeaching was formally known as STAD (Student Teams Achievement Division). According to reviews listed on the Best Evidence Encyclopedia, PowerTeaching is listed as having “strong evidence of effectiveness.” STAD’s cycle sequence (teach, team, test, team recognition) aligns with PowerTeaching’s Cycle of Effective Instruction.
How will PowerTeaching improve academic performance?
According to research, as summarized in Classroom Instruction that Works (Marzano, 7), strategies utilized by the PowerTeaching framework have huge effect sizes:
For more information, review Classroom Instruction That Works, chapters 3–5 and 7, for research related to improving test scores.
Will PowerTeaching replace my current math curriculum?
PowerTeaching is not a math program. PowerTeaching is a framework that employs research-proven instructional techniques that will lead to substantially improved student achievement. This is a delivery system that focuses on student engagement to assist the cognitive process. PowerTeaching can be used with any math program and content, and all the strategies in PowerTeaching are transferable to other content areas, including language arts, science, and social studies.
Is PowerTeaching just cooperative learning?
PowerTeaching includes direct instruction (15 minutes), which is infused with Think-Pair-Share and Random Reporter to increase student engagement. Students receive smaller chunks of information, talk about it, use kid language, and make connections. Teamwork allows students to talk and problem solve, and it allows teachers to reteach those who need it. This results in more on-task behavior and more learning. PowerTeaching is good instruction and is similar to Pearson and Gallagher’s gradual release of responsibility model—I do, we do, you do in pairs, you do.
How will PowerTeaching increase mathematical retention?
Most teachers are familiar with William Glasser’s work. We learn:
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we both see and hear
70% of what is discussed with others
80% of what we experience personally
95% of what we teach to someone else.
Academic results tend to align with the instructional practices at the school. The Center for Data-Driven Research and Reform in Education (CDDRE) explains that a school’s academic success is directly related to the school’s set-up and instructional delivery. PowerTeaching empowers teachers to use the strategies that produce the greatest results.
How does PowerTeaching relate to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel report?
The National Mathematics Panel supports the work of PowerTeaching.
For example:
How are the needs of students who have an IEP met using the PowerTeaching framework?
By law, you have to follow a student’s IEP. However, most IEPs state that the student should be placed in a small group within a heterogeneous (inclusive) learning environment, which is clearly promoted by the PowerTeaching model.
How do you create multilevel teams if your class consists of only special education students or a majority of special education students?
By law, you have to follow a student’s IEP. However, most IEPs state that the student should be placed in a small group within a heterogeneous (inclusive) learning environment, which is clearly promoted by the PowerTeaching model.
Do we have to do PowerTeaching every day or just on some days?
The PowerTeaching framework is designed to be used every day within math classes. Throughout the professional-development series, teachers will be supported in their daily implementation of PowerTeaching.
