I met with two co-teachers at Page Middle School in Gloucester County. They co- teach 6th grade civics. We reviewed the concept diagram components and went through the book. We discussed the research that supported using it with their population of students. They were excited about the possibilities this would create for their students. I shared my experience in using it and seeing it used. The immediate successes were that they were able to see how teaching this way would be far more meaningful for kids then what they are currently doing which is having them copy notes from an overhead. We reviewed the examples in the book. Then we talked about their initial impressions. Next, we discussed how they thought using it might support their students' learning. Lastly, we determined an upcoming lesson that they would use it in and began initial planning and brainstorming. They wanted to evaluate you if using the routine increased student retention of concepts and we decided we would compare unit tests scores with and without teaching with the concept diagram to determine it's effectiveness on student learning.
