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

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March 2016 | 216 pages | Corwin

“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. 

 

 
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

 
Teacher–Student 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 Doesn’t Work
Grade-Level Retention

 
Ability Grouping

 
Matching Learning Styles With Instruction

 
Test Prep

 
Homework

 
 
Conclusion
 
Appendix: Effect Sizes
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

It was a great textbook with new concepts about literacy education with a focus on deeper and transfer learning.

Professor Gaoyin Qian
Counseling/Leadership/Literacy/Special Education, Lehman College
May 28, 2021

Focussing on the primary education years, this book focusses on how to make best use of visible learning strategies to teach literacy skills. A very useful and nicely organised book that will be valuable for teachers who are keen to develop their practice in this area.

Dr Louise Campbell
Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh University
June 18, 2018

Quite possibly the best book in our methods course. One student, a returning teacher, said he wished he had this book earlier in his teaching career. Often it is difficult for teachers to turn research into action because the practical application is missing. In this book, the practical application is tied closely to the research, which makes this a powerful tool for teachers.

Dr Ted Murcray
School Of Education, California Baptist University
February 20, 2018

A great summary of the data and how it relates to literacy. Will be recommended to our students.

Miss Linda Lapere
School of Education, Social Work &, Dundee University
October 19, 2016

Students using this book as a basis for reference, discussion, and documentation have found it to be invaluable. I concur.

Tom Lueschow
School Of Education, Viterbo University
January 31, 2017

I'm not sure I am going to adopt this as my main/required text for this course, but may recommend it as an optional supplemental text. I love the primer on effect sizes and am motivated to go back and read the 2 previous books by these authors on Visible Learning.

Dr Kelly Kathleen Metz
Speech Hearing Sciences Dept, Univ Of Southern Mississippi
September 14, 2016

Like the research basis of text. Considering for grad literacy course with heavy research emphasis.

Dr James N. Nichols
School Of Education, Nyack College-Rockland
June 1, 2016

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