Welcome and Join In!

Welcome to the blog for our professional book study!! We are excited to begin this collaborative experience and our hope is to continue our discussions via this blog. Our first book, seen above, is Robert Marzano's Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement: Research on What Works in Schools. The first chapter is available online for those who might not yet have the book.

Some thoughts to ponder before we meet:

Why is background knowledge important?

How do we know when a student is lacking background knowledge?

Marzano writes:

"The most straightforward way to enhance students' academic background knowledge is to provide academically enriching experiences, particularly for students whose home environments do not do so naturally. I refer to such efforts as “direct approaches” to enhancing academic background knowledge."

What "direct approaches" are we using?