The Courage to Learn��Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey��Full Powerpoint at�www.fisherandfrey.com�“resources & recordings”
Learning and risk are inseparable-you can’t have one without the other.
A willingness to ask questions, offer ideas, seek feedback, and complete complex tasks.
Academic Risk-Taking
Academic risk-takers aren’t born. They are BUILT.
From Research to Practice (Abercrombie et al., 2022)
“Examples of risk-taking during learning include asking a genuine question during class, choosing a paper topic based on curiosity or interest rather than certainty for success, questioning status quo approaches to conceptualizing or solving problems, and trying a
new approach or taking a
new perspective during
creative processes.”
Averse
Hesitant
Bold
Exploratory
Reckless
bit.ly/Spark_Courage
We are learning about creating successful literacy learners who maintain their courage to learn.
Can I define academic risk-taking and explain it’s value in literacy learning?
Fostering the Courage to Learn
Is there a sufficient level of relational trust?
Fostering the Courage to Learn
Are there strong teacher-student and
student-student relationships?
Fostering the Courage to Learn
Is the task challenging enough for there to be opportunities to take risks?
Fostering the Courage to Learn
Are students provided with incremental success criteria
in each lesson?
The Success-Failure Ratio
From Research to Practice (Wilson et al., 2020)
The Remembered Success Effect
From Research to Practice (Finn et al., 2025)
��Courage Grows in Community
Challenge-seeking behavior is contagious.
The courage to learn spreads.
From Research to Practice (Ogulmus et al., 2024)
Challenge-seeking rates on math word problems were greater after observing a challenge-seeking peer than after observing a challenge-avoiding peer.
Can I explain the impact of experiencing success on students’ courage to learn?�
Chunking Learning for Success
Chunking Learning for Success
Chunking isn’t just making lessons shorter.
It’s sequencing and reducing simultaneous interactions so students can successfully process one meaningful unit before adding the next.
From Research to Practice (Rey et al., 2019)
Meta-analysis that contains 56 investigations of multimedia reveals a significant segmenting effect with small to medium effects for retention and transfer performance.
“Segmentation reduces the overall cognitive load and increases learning time.”
Tasks
Input
Responses
Evidence
Success
TIRES organizes instruction..
Evidence
Success
Input
Tasks
Responses
It’s not the order. We rotate the TIRES!
Evidence: What are we noticing about how the student learns, engages, and makes meaning?
Success
Input
Tasks
Responses
Evidence as a Driver of Learning
What do I want students to learn?
What evidence would I accept to verify their learning?
Ralph Tyler, 1949
Assessment Cycles
LONG-CYCLE
Formative Assessments
MEDIUM CYCLE Formative Assessments
Wiliam, D., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2024).
SHORT CYCLE Formative Assessments
Short-cycle formative assessment occurs within and between lessons, day-to-day and even minute-to-minute; not so much every six to ten weeks, but rather every six to ten minutes!
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
Medium-cycle formative assessment typically occurs within an instructional unit.
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
Long-cycle formative assessment involves cycle lengths of four weeks or more—typically six to ten weeks.
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
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ONE YEAR
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
Long-cycle assessment involves cycle lengths of four weeks or more—typically six to ten weeks.
UNIT 1
UNIT 3
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 6
UNIT 7
UNIT 2
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ONE YEAR
Long-cycle assessment involves cycle lengths of four weeks or more—typically six to ten weeks.
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
ASSESSMENT 1
ASSESSMENT 2
ASSESSMENT 3
ASSESSMENT 4
UNIT 1
UNIT 3
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 6
UNIT 7
UNIT 2
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ONE YEAR
Medium-cycle assessment typically occurs within an instructional unit.
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
UNIT 1
UNIT 3
UNIT 4
UNIT 5
UNIT 6
UNIT 7
UNIT 2
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Short-cycle assessment occurs within and between lessons, every six to ten minutes
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
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DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
DAY 6
DAY 7
DAY 8
DAY 9
UNIT 1
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ONE YEAR
The goal of assessment is that we are constantly using evidence to inform instruction.
Wiliam, Fisher, & Frey, 2024
UNIT 1
UNIT 2
UNIT 3
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UNIT 6
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Assessment Inventory
Short-Cycle | Medium-Cycle | Long-Cycle |
| | |
bit.ly/Rigor_Inventory
Evidence: What are we noticing about how the student learns, engages, and makes meaning?
Success: What does it mean to be successful?
Input
Tasks
Responses
Success Criteria
Incremental Success Criteria provide a ladder for students.
Illustration by Hammam Fuad همَّام on Unsplash
Evidence: What are we noticing about how the student learns, engages, and makes meaning?
Success: What does it mean to be successful?
Input: What instruction honors strengths while supporting growth?
Tasks
Responses
Input
Show it.
Model it.
Make it clear.
Input Options
MICROLEARNING
Gilbert et al., 2026
Evidence: What are we noticing about how the student learns, engages, and makes meaning?
Success: What does it mean to be successful?
Input: What instruction honors strengths while supporting growth?
Tasks: What do students need to do to generate evidence?
Responses
Tasks exist to produce evidence, not to fill time.
Poor tasks lead to misleading data.
If the task can’t generate the evidence you need, the task is the problem.
Tasks require students to:
Evidence: What are we noticing about how the student learns, engages, and makes meaning?
Success: What does it mean to be successful?
Input: What instruction honors strengths while supporting growth?
Tasks: What do students need to do to generate evidence?
Responses: How does the student show growth and understanding?
Responses
Show what you know.
Rehearsal and retrieval are key to making learning permanent.
These form a memory trace in your brain that makes each retrieval of information easier.
Roediger & Karpicke, 2006
Universal Responses:
Micro-assessments That Propel Learning
Parker, Novak, & Bartell, 2017
Prevent Students From Feeling Invisible
When teachers ensure that everyone responds, whether by whiteboards, polls, or signals, students feed needed and valued.
“Our teacher really wants to know what we think.
Everyone is important and she waits to make sure that we all have an answer.
Then she helps us if we need it.”
Response cards are associated with higher achievement on tests and quizzes, higher levels of participation, and lower levels of disruptive behavior, compared to individual hand raising to answer a question (Marsh et al., 2023).
Wait time in classrooms is
often less than one second.
Of 27 Head Start classrooms studied, only 1 teacher waited more than one second before soliciting an answer from students.
During read-alouds:
Hindman et al., 2019
Takeaway #1:
Build academic risk-takers by increasing the number of times students experience success.
Takeaway #2:
Keep TIRES in mind to chunk learning experiences.
Takeaway #3:
.
Soak up everything you can while at Plain Talk!
The Courage to Learn
Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey