The authors: Vlacia Z. Campbell, SIM Trainer and Learning Resource Consultant, Berks County (Pennsylvania) Intermediate Unit, and John Jacobs, Transition Teacher Consultant, Berks County (Pennsylvania) Intermediate Unit. This article originally appeared in the March 2000 issue of Strategram, a newsletter for SIM teachers.
In this article, authors Vlacia Z. Campbell and John Jacobs share their experiences blending a Strategic Instruction Model component, specifically instruction in the SCORE Skills, with an educational theory called Invitational Education. John first describes the situation he faced in his classroom; then, the authors describe the results they achieved when they joined forces.
Among the biggest challenges I have faced over the past 20 years in teaching children with emotional support needs was creating a classroom environment in which all students were motivated to invest in the learning opportunities they encountered. For 18 years in self-contained classrooms, I tried multiple approaches: behavior modification, assertive discipline, cooperative learning. Nothing worked with lasting effect. Then in 1996, my school district mandated total inclusion for all students with special needs, and I was no longer teaching alone. Instead, I was teaching science along with Elizabeth Villareal. I was among the lucky special education teachers; my general education teaching partner wanted to make the classroom work so that all students would succeed. My co-teacher and I knew that for all students to invest in their learning, the classroom needed to be an inviting and productive place. We believed that the social atmosphere is critical in effective classrooms. We agreed that along with teaching the content of science, we needed to teach students how to interact with us and with each other. We knew what we wanted the classroom to become, and we embarked on our journey of discovery.
The adventure began several years ago, shortly after meeting Dr. William Purkey, a founder of an educational theory called "Invitational Education." Invitational Education is a theory of educational practice that addresses the total school environment. It is based on communicating caring and appropriate messages that enable students to realize their human potential. After studying this theory, my co-teacher and I were inspired and convinced that achieving the principles of Invitational Learning would create the learning and classroom environment that would empower all students in our inclusive 10th-grade science class to be successful.
The transformation has not been easy nor without its setbacks. Our beliefs were strong, but the tools were not clear. The process of creating our ideal environment has taken time, experimentation, and persistence. It involved a tentative start down an educational side road, a lucky detour in the form of outside involvement, and, finally, signs of success.
We began by trying cooperative learning. Students worked in groups using team-building and class-building exercises; however, students were having difficulty in their groups. They were not respectful to one another or to the teachers. In a brainstorming activity with students, we asked them to list all the difficulties in working together. Students shared with us that student interactions and behaviors were the primary roadblocks in establishing an atmosphere that was conducive to real learning. We realized that just because students sit together during an activity, it doesn't mean that they know how to work together.
Clearly, we needed to address the area of social skills. But, we asked, shouldn't students at this age already know how to behave, to cooperate, and to be considerate? Teaching social skills at the secondary level was uncharted territory for us, but we knew we had to try--reluctantly and cautiously at first.
Thus, we started down the road to creating an invitational environment by addressing the issue of social skills without addressing the issue directly. My co-teacher and I were timid about entering into the world of peer interactions with secondary students, so we began in a very indirect way. We modeled appropriate interactions without speaking of appropriate behavior explicitly. When students were "caught" using appropriate behaviors, we acknowledged this with verbal praise. Despite our best efforts, nothing changed. Social interactions were not improving enough to have a noticeable effect on learning.
In the midst of our struggle, a colleague and Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) Trainer from the local intermediate unit, Vlacia Campbell, asked whether she could co-teach with us to practice using a new social skills instructional program. This program, known as the SCORE Skills, is one of many developed and researched at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. The SCORE Skills, which are easy to use, are social skills that are foundational to building an effective learning community. The acronym, SCORE, is used to help students remember and use the five skills.
SCORE Skills
As we--a SIM trainer, a special education teacher, and a science teacher--worked with the SCORE Skills instructional program, we realized that we had found a match. The instructional process complemented the principles of Invitational Education. We began to explore other instructional programs associated with SIM, and we became convinced that this model would help us meet our goals.
As stated earlier, Invitational Education is a theory of educational practice that addresses the total school environment. It is based on communicating caring and appropriate messages that will enable students to realize their human potential. The four principles of Invitational Education are respect, trust, optimism, and intentionality. Although we agreed that these four principles should be important components in our classroom, we struggled to find the means to integrate them in our daily work with students. That's where the SIM instructional model provided the road map to an invitational classroom. SIM gave us the practical tools that created the classroom environment of caring. SIM also offered the means to empower students to realize their own potential.
SIM offers comprehensive learning strategy instruction and Content Enhancement Routines that empower students to meet the complex learning demands encountered in typical secondary schools. The model is based on a set of instructional procedures that, when implemented, dramatically increase academic success. A closer look at each of the four principles of Invitational Education shows how they can be woven together with the Strategic Instruction Model instructional procedures to create a nurturing classroom environment. Below, we describe the links we made between the principles of Invitational Education and the SIM instructional procedures common to all strategy instruction. We also describe how Invitational Learning and SIM can work in tandem to foster a classroom environment conducive to student success.
The quality of respect, as described by Invitational Education, refers to the principle that people are able, valuable, and responsible and should be treated accordingly. Likewise, the Strategic Instruction Model holds the basic premise that for students to be empowered, they must think of themselves as able, valuable, and responsible learners. These beliefs can be developed within students through the process of engaging them actively in working with the information they are to learn and by giving them choices as to what and how they want to learn. Because students have a voice in their learning, they develop an ownership in the outcomes of the learning. The SIM teacher facilitates this by encouraging students to choose the strategies they want to learn and to decide how fast they will learn them.
The first sign of respect came about when students expressed their surprise and delight when they were asked whether they wanted to learn the SCORE Skills. This was the first time students had been asked their opinion about what they wanted to learn and had the opportunity to develop a reason for learning the skills. As we expressed our commitment to effectively teach the SCORE Skills, students realized that the dynamics of the classroom were going to be different. Asking for and obtaining the students' commitment to learn the SCORE Skills was the beginning of the process of developing mutual respect between teachers and students, as well as between students and their classmates.
Trust is an Invitational Education quality that conveys that education should be a cooperative, collaborative activity in which process is as important as product. Similarly, the instructional phases of SIM focus on both process and product by giving continual attention to exploring the learning process with students. The process of "learning how to learn" helps students discover how using strategies will enable them to have a better product--success in school. Students develop trust in the teacher, who provides meaningful feedback that facilitates the students' success. The process of providing feedback leads to students trusting themselves to assess their own progress. The SIM teacher deliberately facilitates independent and successful functioning by the student. The collaboration and trust between the teacher and students become the basis for students first believing and then confirming their ability to be successful learners.
For example, through the process of providing guided practice and feedback when learning the SCORE Skills, students began to trust teachers more and to trust their peers. Students responded well to the nonjudgmental feedback, which explicitly taught them what they needed to do to succeed. This new way of collaboratively interacting with teachers and peers gave students the confidence to take risks with the content of science. Students asked questions in class versus sitting passively in their seats. When we asked students questions, students risked sharing their ideas rather than sitting with their eyes staring down at their desks.
The Invitational Education quality of optimism focuses on the notion that people possess untapped potential in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor. Likewise, SIM instruction continually reminds students of their potential as learners. High expectations for students are a foundation of the model. Communicating high expectations to students elevates their awareness of their own potential, which gives them the confidence and tools to achieve at a higher level. Success with strategies empowers students with the realization that "Okay, I can do this now. Before, I just didn't have a tool, a strategy to get it done."
A critical unit of the science curriculum was DNA, a topic students often found especially intimidating. We were delighted when this group of students who had been through the process of learning the SCORE Skills expressed eagerness to take on the topic. Students knew we expected them to learn the subject well and trusted that we would provide the support needed to ensure their success. The trust that was established in learning the SCORE Skills generalized to an optimism for learning science.
Intentionality is a quality of Invitational Education that addresses human potential. It is the idea that human potential can best be realized by creating and maintaining places, policies, processes, and programs specifically designed to invite development. It is realized by people who are intentionally inviting with themselves and others, personally and professionally. Similarly, SIM is based on the belief that all students should develop their potential as independent and strategic learners across learning, social, and motivational domains. To do this, SIM's philosophical principles stress that administrators and teachers must work together to establish the policies, processes, and programs needed to build strategic environments that promote growth. The implementation of SIM depends on cooperative planning between teachers with strong support from administration, ancillary staff, family, and community agencies. The cooperation allows the establishment of schoolwide systems that enable SIM programs to flourish. This cooperation enables teachers to create the invitational classroom that empowers students to reach their potential.
Within the classroom, the SIM instructional principles and process provided the tools to create and maintain an environment specifically designed to invite the development of the students in our classroom. The instructional steps of obtaining a commitment, describing, modeling, practice, and feedback provided the road map. The principles of providing choices, emphasizing the rationale, and empowering students to realize socially significant gains in achievement and status provided what was needed for a successful journey.
Garnering the collective expertise of colleagues in and around the school to develop the places, policies, processes, and programs on a schoolwide basis is imperative to continue to invite the development of all the students we serve. Inviting our colleagues to intentionally join us in our efforts to use Invitational Education theory and the SIM instructional process and principles is a task we have yet to undertake.
There is no doubt that the classroom moved closer to the principles of Invitational Education when students learned the SCORE Skills through application of the SIM instructional principles. The signs of respect for other teachers, other students, and themselves first became noticeable when students responded positively when asked whether they wanted to learn the SCORE Skills. As both teachers and students verbalized and wrote commitments to teach and learn SCORE Skills, students responded with respect for a new way of interacting. Ensuring learning through practice and feedback resulted in observable trust. With trust came success, which led to optimism for more success.
The SIM instructional procedures and principles that directed our instruction freed us to begin the process of learning. Students and teachers began to relate better and to cooperate and respect each other more. Likewise, students' relationships with each other improved as well. Our classroom became a more productive, interesting, and successful place. SIM instruction complemented the principles of Invitational Education. Together, Invitational Education and the Strategic Instruction Model have the potential to live up to Dr. Purkey's view that "Schools can be the most inviting place in town."
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