NUA Insights and Applications from the CoP

On the last day of the high school NUA CoP, people shared the following summary statements from their key word notes page to provide a quick review of the weeks activities:

1. NUA strategies address culture, language and cognition and require students to think about their thinking.


2. NUA and Thinking Maps address classroom management by bridging the culture and achievement gaps.


3. NUA provides a variety of strategies to assist students in learning with particular attention to culture, language and cognition.


4. NUA strategies provide a common language to foster equity in learning that sometimes doesn't occur.


5. Thinking Maps connect all disciplines to all cultures.


6. I have a better grasp of NUA foundations. The research with Gifted and Talented students has mixed results since 10% of students said their writing skills declined because of Thinking Maps, but students were self reporting.

In addition, CoP members shared the following specific strategies that they plan on implementing in the classroom in the coming weeks:

1. Ann will use the multi-flow map with students to discuss the causes and effects of controlling their asthma and the double bubble map to compare and contrast rescue inhalers with preventative inhalers.
2. Elizabeth will implement the notebook this year to cut down on photocopying and help students get organized.
3. KC, and the other English 10 teachers, are using an anticipation guide for community building in the first few days of school. KC has teacher facts on one anticipation guide. Another one English 10 will use is "High School Anticipation Guide" with questions about academic honesty and high school concerns. Many of the questions will be answered in the syllabus.
4. Jim is doing his anticipation guides on surveymonkey.com and linking to his blog.
5. Betsy pointed out that blogger just added the poll option so that teachers could do a weekly poll on an issue.
6. Jackie has a flow map of the semester units on her bulletin board to build interest. Heidi (not a CoP member but an NUA Cohort member who shared this idea) is building a flow map across her wall as a unit progresses. Scott will consider doing this in his math class on his back white board. He could have each day's outcome summarized with a Thinking Map which flows into the next day's map summary or items learned list.
7. Jackie is also adapting many of Baruti Kafele's classroom management ideas. She has a vision statement on the bulletin board, a wall of fame in back, teleflip text messaging for positive comments, student goal setting on a multi-flow map, highlighting students through their Ipods, and putting an essential question of the day and agenda on the white board each day so that students know what they are supposed to get from each day.