From Roots 2 Wings: a universal educational trajectory!

Using decoders, students build comprehension, foster connections, and develop creativity by evaluating choices and tools in many subject areas.

Students, especially disadvantaged youth, struggle with categorizing information. Their limited view of the world creates learning vacuums where their assumptions are often based on faulty information. It is difficult for a teacher to realize where background knowledge gaps occur in their students, and research shows significant gaps in every classroom no matter where they go to school.

For a teacher to level the playing field for all learners, they must probe their students’ prior knowledge to effectively build comprehension, connections, and scaffolding. Research literature supports one compelling fact: what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content.  Research highly recommends teachers design curriculum which activates their students’ prior knowledge and supports them in organizing and processing knowledge. This is where my universal educational model comes in.

The paradigm shift came when I realized all people face choices. When we make choices, we then decide what tools are needed, and those choices and tools are also defined as problem-identifying and problem-solving. I created a proven program which enables students to examine and participate in the learning process by investigating choices and analyzing tools.

Using what I call ‘decoders’, students examine predetermined choices and tools which expand opportunities to transfer new material into long-term memory, incorporate visual cues to increase repetition, enhance memory storage, and close achievement gaps.

How do the decoders work? Here are specific examples - history: Churchill faced choices of aligning with Hitler, Mussolini, the King of England, or ask Roosevelt for help. Each choice had consequences, so imagine classroom conversations as the teacher reveals the human who became a hero! What tools did Churchill have- tanks, lightsabers, muskets, or fighter jets? Students enjoy the joke of lightsabers and learn he didn't have access to modern fighter jets (they assume fighter jets without thinking of time period). Literature: Tolkien placed his books in a medieval setting where Rowlings did not. The authors’ choices define the tools and weapons available to their characters (background setting). Art: choice – what object to paint with what technique? Tool - oils, pencil, acrylics, or charcoal? Geography: 18th century Ethiopians wanted their goods for Egypt but struggle with deserts and waterfalls. What do they take?  How do they travel -  water, land, camel, or car?  Health: what choices used for conflict resolution – apology, forgiveness, bitterness, revenge? Tools: words, weapons, growth mindset, angry words.

Decoders scaffold instruction into introduction, reinforcement, and reviewing content-specific vocabulary, especially in the Stage 1 decoders. As the students advance, decoders are more clearly aligned to the subject material. Students activate Bloom’s Taxonomy by working through the efficient templates that guide instruction, organize students’ learning, and sustain a cohesive curriculum. Students recall information and make connections as they choose and discard other choices and tools. In addition, the external focus on choices and tools gives students opportunities to nurture personal accomplishments and develop teamwork which are essential in the workplace. 

Decoders are a process for reaching students with content; it seems a new application of software already available will be the most effective delivery system. For inexperienced teachers, decoders will quickly demonstrate common misconceptions and identify students’ misunderstandings. All educators collect feedback examining how well students learn course material. Students develop critical thinking skills and creative thinking. With decoders, students do not feel threatened if they do not know the answers because learning is seen as a puzzle of connections instead of a collection of memorized facts for the test. 

At this time, decoders are limited to using Google forms, posted as a static screen on a Smart Board, or printed PDFs in classrooms with no technology. Google forms allow teachers to quickly scan data, but our lack of technology is affecting our influence. Our vision includes designing technology for students’ Chromebooks, I-pads, and classroom Smart Boards that would demonstrate the pathways of choices. With technology’s assistance, veteran and inexperienced educators would have access to specialized decoders and have guidance for classroom discussions. Students would benefit with visual pictures aiding recall, comprehension, and scaffolding. 

Our primary goal is to be part of SOLVE because of access to software designers - our present strategy is using technology developed for other purposes which is limiting our curriculum. With appropriate software, we will support inexperienced teachers by mentoring, survey our participating teachers on how we may support them in their classroom, and are developing webinars on the use of decoders. As our expert educators design content-specific decoders, teachers would access relevant and applicable curriculum, learn to design their own decoders, and be part of a community in a specialized Facebook page.   

As a veteran educator, I am very aware of the challenges students face. I teach in disadvantaged communities and developed the decoders for them. As other teachers have joined me, we enthusiastically share how decoders have revolutionized our classrooms by giving all our students a level playing field to learn new material. We have experimented on real students and know what works in a real classroom. These decoders are designed by teachers who use them, revise them, and share them with others. 

These decoders are  models for innovative teaching that is very affordable and will increase both the quality and quantity of teachers and other educators, particularly in disadvantaged communities. As teachers become familiar with decoders, they will be able to personalize them for how they prefer to teach.

Teachers will also be able to personalize and adapt teaching to all, especially people with disabilities, and learners living in areas disrupted by crises or in low-income settings

We estimate approximately 500 teachers are using some form of decoders in their classroom. They attended presentations at local, regional, state, and national conferences and learned how to adapt decoders to their personal use. Educators have told us they see an increase in engagement and knowledge in their students.  Students stay more on task and enjoy working through the decoders. All of them want more decoders.

We see a huge potential for growth if we can figure out the technology piece. Decoders are a very quick way to make sure students have learned material, a very quick way to assess them, and a very quick way to grade them. Decoders don't replace curriculum but engage the learner by making it more relevant and applicable to their own lives. With the Internet, we could reach hundreds of educators, which in turn would reach thousands of students in all types of classrooms. My personal vision is to develop decoders for educational purposes in Africa.

As a veteran educator, I am very aware of the challenges students face. I teach in disadvantaged communities and developed the decoders for them. As other teachers have joined me, we enthusiastically share how decoders have revolutionized our classrooms by giving all our students a level playing field to learn new material. We have experimented on real students and know what works in a real classroom. These decoders are designed by teachers who use them, revise them, and share them with others. 

Educational revenue models seem to fall into three categories – individual memberships by month or year, TeachersPayTeachers, or the global curriculum business for school districts. We would like to explore a fourth category where training for teachers is available as packaged webinars and individual coaching is accessible as a mentoring program. The purchase of the technology or decoders already designed provides additional revenue.

Decoders are not limited by the age of the student, the country of origin, or the content knowledge of the educator. As the decoder curriculum grows, schools around the world will be purchasing them for their students. We would like to see several delivery models so there is no limit on how using decoders. The only difficulty we see is if there are no students available to learn!

We are applying to Solve for their expertise in technology, the mentoring of the community, and the know-how of business leaders.  As veteran teachers, we know classrooms and students, but we have discovered becoming a business in the educational world and designing technology for teachers requires experts in those fields. We are also interested in partnering with other SOLVE applicants.

As with most innovative ideas, we face two challenges.

• Disseminating information in a manner that is effective and convincing to overcome teachers’ uncomfortableness with this paradigm shift.
• An efficient distribution system that will generate sustainable revenues over a broad population.

We see SOLVE initiative as Shark Tank for educators. We have the product but we request assistance with business and marketing skills to reach our targeted population.