Lewandowski Instructional Profile 1

Austin Lewandowski

EDU429

Instructional Profile

Instructional Profile
Can also be found at austinlewandowski.weebly.com

As a hammer is a tool for the builder, the instructional strategy is the tool for the teacher.

For without a hammer, a house cannot be built. Without a myriad of strategies, the student does

not learn. As such, knowing and utilizing various strategies increasing student learning and leads

to an effective classroom. Strategies have been created and modeled by specific organizations or

studies. High leverage categories, high yield practices, and WICOR strategies will be discussed

at length. Models will be compared and a personal take will be explored.

First, high level categories/practices (HLPs) come from Teaching Works out of the

University of Michigan. These practices describe how one can, or should, conduct certain

activities like leading a group discussion or setting up small group work (Teaching Works,

2018). The thought is that if these twenty or so practices are followed, then the teacher will be

effective. It is the same idea as an athlete touching his chest on each pushup rather than only

coming close. These practices make a good teacher great. It is important to note that HLPs are

for all content and age groups. They transcend subject and age for they are practices for the

teacher to follow.

The next set of strategies have a similar name: high yield strategies/practices. These eight

strategies are created and explain by Robert Marzano in his book Classroom Instruction that

Works. The HYPs do have an order of importance. That does not mean however, that the first

few strategies should be used more often or every day. Simply that they should be more apt to be

used. In general, the HYPs bring the students to a higher level of thinking (Marzano, 2009).
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Instead of focusing on simple recall or knowledge base, students are asked to compare and

create. When the students partake in higher level of thinking, greater learning has been achieved.

It is important to note that these practices were not meant to be used every single day or that they

will always work (Marzano, 2009). In fact, each strategy should be used at some point (having a

wide variety) and knowing that adaptations may have to be made. Sometimes strategies work in

one context but not another. The practices are not a formula for success but a tool for success.

Some of these strategies include identifying similarities and differences, summarizing

and note taking, and cooperative learning. As the strategy suggests, students are asked to

categorize or compare between two objects or ideas in the first strategy. Only knowing facts is

not enough. The facts must be aligned with other knowledge. In a similar way, content is

summarized in the students’ own words. The summary takes the content and personalizes it for

the students (Marzano, 2001). Again, the hope is to move student thinking from simple recall to

the higher orders.

The Third model is high engagement strategies or WICOR and AVID. Each of these

models bring excitement and success to the students for they are student centered (AVID, 2018).

This model brings learning through cooperation and relationships. Students bounce ideas off of

one another or become masters of a subtopic. More so, higher thinking is achieved through the

acronym WICOR: Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, Reading to learn. Students

process their thinking through writing and inquiry (AVID, 2018). Asking questions to their peers

and reading for answers bring learning to a higher level. Again, this model connects students and

makes learning relational.

Strategies from this model include share and swap and jigsaw. In both strategies, students

become masters of their topic. They either read an article or passage and take notes on it. Then,
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the student partners with another and they share their ideas. The master of the subject reinforces

their learning by teaching where the other student learns from a peer. Learning is personal and

countless connections are made.

To compare, HLPs and HYPs are similar yet different. On the surface, they appear to be

the same but there are some distinctions. First, HLPs are for the teacher to follow (Teaching

Works, 2018). Again, these include establishing norms and setting goals for the students. This

contrasts with the student actions in HYPs. Here, students are the ones who are finding

differences or creating tables. The students are putting in the work (Marzano, 2001). Another

difference includes when each are used. Some HLPs could be used almost every day where

HYPs should not. Or to say in a different way, HLPs can happen behind the scenes and can

almost always be taken into account where HYPs are in the open and variety is key. More so,

HYPs have an order of importance to them (Marzano, 2001). HLPs on the other hand, are all

equal (Teaching Works, 2018). HLPs also breed effectiveness where HYPs may or may not

work depending on the day or class (Marzano, 2009). In all, HLPs and HYPs do have

differences.

What makes these two the same is that they are practices. They are both laid out to be

easily followed. HYPs require variety and HLPs should also have variety. One practice should

not be beaten to a pulp. Both increase a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom and as a

professional. If these practices are followed, then students will more readily learn. HLPs and

HYPs should be utilized within the classroom.

Personally, the HLPs will be used in my classroom. They logically make sense and only

increase efficacy. For lesson creation, having the list and explanations for each strategy will be

useful. If the lesson calls for discussion, then the HLP can be reviewed. The list will also remind
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me to include and HLP or two into each lesson. Partnering HLPs with HYPs will also be

beneficial. For example, using nonlinguistic representation (HYP) well includes the first HLP.

Or in other words, to use an HYP well, an HLP must also be utilized. In this way, a hybrid of

HLPs and HYPs will prove extremely beneficial. Each action or lesson will be intentional and

have research-based meaning. See Figure 1.

To conclude, there are many models of instruction. HYP, HLP, and WICOR were

explained at length. Each have their own examples and some cross into each other. Using a

hybrid of strategies and models will create an effective environment and yield the highest results.

The hope is to engage students and get them thinking on a higher level. Simple recall is not

enough to be successful in the world today. As such, teaching students collaboration or thinking

skills will only help them in the end. We owe it to our students to teach them properly and well.
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Spring Arbor University School of Education

High-Yield Practice
Lesson Plan Essential Elements
Nonlinguistic Representation

Title:
Subject:
Grade Level:
Time Allotted
Materials Required:
___________________________________
Michigan Curriculum Framework:
Objective(s)_________________________________
___
Instructional Procedure: What information do
students need to accomplish the objective(s)?

Time Essential Element

Allotted

1. Anticipatory Set:

2. State Purpose and Objective(s)

of Lesson:

3. Plan for Instruction: High Level Practice

Making content explicit though

modeling and representations
4. Differentiation Considerations
(accommodations):

5. Assessment:
Figure 1: Both HYP and HLP are being used to create a lesson. Ideas or practices from both

models go into lesson planning for a hybrid of effectiveness.

6. Closure:
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References

AVID. (2018). What avid is. AVID.

Teaching Works. (2018). High leverage practices. University of Michigan.

Marzano, R. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing

student achievement. ASCD.

Marzano R. (2009). Setting the record straight on “high-yeild” strategies. Phi Delta Kappan.

91(1), 30-37.