(Vol. 3, No. 1 - Spring 1999)

Stacy Irvin:
High Standards Teaching
That's "In the Loop"

Math teacher Stacy Irvin relies on equal portions of standards-based instruction, backward lesson planning, and positive reinforcement to teach her "loopy" middle graders.


by Anne C. Lewis

Stacy Irvin is sitting on the edge of a student's desk. Her face is only inches from his, as the teacher and student attempt to work out a math problem together. A few minutes later, she is on the floor helping a youngster cut out geometric shapes. When the next period begins, she's in the home economics classroom with her class, discovering the math involved in baking chocolate chip cookies.

Return to Irvin's classroom and you may find her rolling down the window shades that cover the tall windows of Highland Middle School, revealing display after display of her students' work. She hovers about her five classes of sixth-grade students with a soft voice, offering only positive comments in a lilting tone that continually reinforces their efforts. "Miss Irvin likes that," or "Miss Irvin wants to know what content standard you are addressing" or "Miss Irvin wants to hear you explain your answer." She never uses the word "I."

Stacy Irvin rarely loses the attention of any student for very long. Who could ignore a teacher who uses "sweetie" and "sweetheart" liberally with her students? A teacher who responds to every answer and if it is wrong, keeps working with the answers until the student comes up with the right one? A teacher who uses her skills as a counselor to engage each student in her deliberative, well-planned instruction, which always includes time for feedback from students?

Irvin makes sure her students have chances to "learn it their way" --visually through videos and other means; or in tactile ways using tools that give students a feel for numbers, such as manipulatives; through writing; or through abstract reasoning for those who learn best that way.

Using standards to "backward-plan" lessons

Irvin's instruction also is standards-based. Her "backward lesson plan design" (see diagram) for each unit begins with what she wants students to do and know. The outcome of the lesson is determined by the performance standard. Then she asks herself a series of questions: How do I assess along the way? What prior knowledge do my students need to know to be successful? How will my students show understanding of the appropriate content standards?

Her plan ends with the beginning of the unit. "That way I always know where I'm going as I teach, because I've already been there in my planning process," Irvin says.

The JCPS content and performance standards guide Irvin's students as well as herself. When they write an answer to the "problem of the day," for example, they also write the content standard that it is addressing. Her sixth graders "didn't fully understand why at first, but now it is a way for them to make mental notes on what they are learning," she says.

An example: "Mr. Andrews drove his new car for 1,386 miles in half a year. If he continues to put mileage on his car at this rate, how far will he have driven by the time he sells the car after having owned it for 67 months? Explain and show work." Each student must also correctly write at the bottom:" This addresses the computation standard."

Under the standard regarding statistics at the middle-grades level, students must demonstrate "proficiency in gathering and analyzing data using a variety of techniques." Her students read and discuss this standard before they begin their statistics project -- gathering and displaying poll data. They move around the room asking classmates if math is their favorite subject, or if they support year-round schools, or other questions that will produce data they can present on a chart. The sixth-graders must also write an explanation of the chart and the content standard the assignment addresses.

When taking up the standard on fractions, Irvin tells her students they will not just repeat the rules. She distributes colored strips of paper that students fold in different ways to display fractions of a whole. She praises one youngster for recognizing patterns, then urges the rest of the students to think creatively. She absolutely won't give up on one struggling student in the class, offering him another example when he hopelessly stumbles over the first one. She makes one student feel good about helping someone else, but says she will give the classmate another example "just to make sure he understands how to solve the problem." The fractions unit will end in the kitchen where students reduce or expand upon the amounts of ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. "It's pretty chaotic," says Irvin, "but they are really hyped up about fractions when they get through."

Students receive no grade on a problem unless they write an explanation of how they solved it. They also often create the rubrics or scoring guides for an assignment, which helps them think more deeply about the quality of work they must produce to meet a particular performance standard. Weekly agendas showing the work students are doing each day are sent home to be signed.

At the beginning of the school year, Irvin taught her students to average their own scores and determine their current standing in math class. "I don't want their grades to be a surprise," she explains. They add their scores up every three weeks as a check, and at the end of each six­p;week reporting period they tell Irvin what their grade should be.

Getting "in the loop" with students

This school year, Irvin moved from eighth grade -- where she was teaching algebra and preparing students for high school math -- to sixth grade, where she focuses more on math fundamentals. Her move to sixth grade was part of a larger plan at Highland Middle School to raise student achievement by keeping students with the same teachers for an extended period of time. The teaching approach, known as "looping," called for Irvin and three experienced teachers in the other core subject areas (English, history and science) to serve as sixth-grade teachers this year and then stay with the same group of kids through seventh and eighth grades.

Irvin conducted her own study of the looping concept and became a strong advocate for the idea among her teacher colleagues. Highland principal Holly Nolan says the research on looping, or "multi­p;age grouping," shows that it results in a richer curriculum for students over several years because it eliminates repetitive instruction and reduces "down time" at the beginning of the school year. "Teachers in traditional settings must get to know their students and their learning needs each year," Nolan says, "and that takes a lot of time." Over the three years Irvin's team has students "in the loop," they learn a great deal about their individual instructional needs, their personalities, and they're also able to work more closely with their parents.

Irvin sees looping as a way for teachers to be accountable. She was "blown away" by results from the district's new diagnostic tests showing many of her sixth­p;grade students had not learned simple math skills -- "even some students who were on the list for advanced classes." As her current students move through middle school, "there will be no one else to blame for low achievement but us." She and fellow team members--Curt Matter, Amy Herbert, and Linda Whitfield--are developing thematic units around conflict resolution, appropriate for a student-teacher team named the Peacemakers. She and Herbert are trained mediators, and all students on their team will become trained in peer mediation. The theme will culminate in the eighth grade with a trip to Washington, D.C. and the Holocaust Museum.

The Peacemakers are one of two looping teams at Highland this year. Nolan is confident the looping strategy, backed by a dynamic group of experienced teachers, will make a difference for students. "When I'm feeling down and need to be reminded why I'm here, I go visit the looping classes," she says.

Stacy Irvin has lived through the ups and downs at Highland. It's the only teaching post she's ever known. She came first as a volunteer coach for the girls' basketball team when she was in college, was offered the chance to do her student-teaching at the school, and was then invited to join Highland's staff seven years ago. Irvin has since earned a master's in counseling and joined the district partnership working to raise minority student achievement. Irvin works to stay current in her field, attending professional development programs around math topics and related issues like "writing in content areas."

Originally intending to major in business, Irvin is grateful for her mother's advice: "Choose a career where you want to get up every morning." Ask anyone at Highland Middle School: "Miss Irvin" is one of the first people through the doors each day.


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