The student teacher listened but seemed overwhelmed. I realized that it was simply too ambitious to implement all these suggestions before the next set of presentations. I asked her what she thought we could reasonably implement before the next class. She decided we could write a learning intention and success criteria, and she could greet students at the beginning of class.
We met again before the next class and created a learning intention and success criteria together. During our meeting, I learned the student teacher had jotted down some ideas of what she wanted her students to learn but didn’t share them with her class. In researching, planning, implementing, and reflecting on the student presentations, she had forgotten about the learning intention and success criteria. Understanding this was also a learning experience for her, I explained that many things could get lost in the shuffle as we try to design the best, most engaging classroom lesson we can. I explained that using a framework for those first few minutes of class might help keep her and her students on track. Once we developed the learning intention and success criteria, we wrote them down on butcher paper and hung them in the front of the classroom so students could see them as they walked into class. During the next class, as students were preparing for presentations and getting organized for the learning, she walked around the room, greeted each group at its table, and offered positive words to those who had not yet presented.
Once students were ready, the student teacher read the learning intention and success criteria aloud. Unfortunately, she did not have enough time to unpack the why and how of the learning intention and success criteria because presentations were on a tight schedule. But she greeted her students specifically, and we accomplished a learning intention and success criteria where they had not existed before. At the end of the presentations, the student teacher and I met one more time. She said she had implemented two specific components in her other classes: (1) writing the next day’s learning intention and success criteria at the end of the day and hanging it in a specific spot so students could see it, and (2) standing outside the classroom door and interacting with each student before the bell rang. In taking just these two steps, she noticed specific improvement. She shared that students seemed more relaxed and less anxious about their presentations once she started providing structure at the beginning of class. As a result of the structure, she thought students appeared to have a more confident demeanor. She was also learning things about her students she had never known before. She told me, “Several of my students walked in the Dreamers March. I didn’t know that,” and she appreciated them sharing their lives with her.
She explained that she had never really thought much about the beginning of class and instead was more content oriented. But after our discussions, she wanted to continue working with me on ways to structure those first ten minutes for optimal student success.
It was through this process that I created the concept of FRAME and its components that make up those first ten minutes of class: focus, reach, ask, model, and encourage. Over time, I observed how the components of FRAME appeared within a typical classroom lesson; so from there, I applied FRAME to the entire classroom experience.
FRAME was born out of a need to help a fellow teacher. The teacher had completed her lesson; there was no doubt she knew her content and wanted her students to know it too. However, without properly organizing her students’ thinking, the lesson fell short. My collaboration with the student teacher helped me realize the value of using FRAME during the first ten minutes, during the lesson, and as a check for understanding. I designed FRAME as a resource for teachers to implement some research-based ideas, along with practical classroom strategies. Focusing on an instructional target, reaching students to intentionally build community in the classroom, asking questions and analyzing expectations to demonstrate achievement, modeling desired outcomes, and encouraging students will develop a community of curious learners ready to engage with the content and understand why it is valuable.
How to Use This Book
Teachers are eager to implement the content they have learned or the lesson they have designed. They are excited to support students and help them become better readers, writers, mathematicians, historians, artists, and knowledgeable citizens. However, they sometimes forget that as valuable as their content is, the lesson will have little impact if their students aren’t prepared and poised for learning. If students aren’t ready to learn, the best lesson will fail.
Author Pernille Ripp (2015) explains that students want to know the greater purpose behind the tasks they must accomplish, and she details how she helped students know the purpose of the lesson by spending time deconstructing standards and speaking about the connections between things. Educators and program and policy experts Peter Goss and Julie Sonnemann (2017) further find, “When students are engaged in class, they learn more. It is vital that teachers create the right classroom climate for learning: raising student expectations, developing a rapport with students; establishing routines; challenging students to participate and take risks” (p. 3).
Unfortunately, many teachers, even experienced teachers, dive right into the material without implementing a structure or routine in their class. Students want to know the big picture; they want to know where they’re going and how to get there. If the class has no structure, students are apt to become disengaged and disinterested. FRAME aims to eliminate the trepidation that students might feel upon entering the classroom and, instead, provide a basis for community building and learning and help teachers get their students ready for the important job of learning. The goal of this book is to help teachers systematically launch the first ten minutes of class and continue applying that structure throughout the lesson.
In addition, teachers have the option to apply all or individual components of FRAME. Teachers can determine if students need more or less time on specific components, thereby giving teachers flexibility and explicit control over all elements of their classroom.
Chapter 1 contains foundational information about learning intentions and success criteria and how to write them. Chapter 2 describes how to apply FRAME within the first ten minutes of class. Chapter 3 offers ideas for how to apply FRAME throughout a lesson or instructional unit. With the FRAME structure and process established, we turn to how you can establish and grow FRAME’s adoption in your school. To that end, chapter 4 offers suggestions on how to prepare for and conduct teacher observations utilizing FRAME; observations give both teacher and observer the opportunity to share strategies and resources that support classroom instruction and align expectations for students’ learning.
Each chapter features two exciting recurring elements: the Exemplary Classroom applies the chapter’s topic to an authentic classroom experience, and the Do-Now Suggestions for Your Classroom or Collaborative Team that end each chapter give educators a list of pedagogical questions to spark reflection and schoolwide or districtwide conversation and perhaps opportunities for growth and change.
The appendix includes a blank template for following the FRAME structure, along with sample completed templates for elementary school, middle school, and high school lessons that give teachers concrete examples of what FRAME could look like in their classroom. It also provides a reproducible copy of the “FRAME Peer Observation and Feedback Form for Teachers” tool I introduce in chapter 4. These examples are meant to present ideas and suggestions for adding FRAME to your tools of best practice and solid pedagogical standards.
Conclusion
FRAME offers a structured guide to daily teacher preparation and planning that also builds a firm foundation for student readiness. The components