From Portrait to Practice: Redesigning Instruction for Deeper Learning

Outline

Opening & Context Setting (5 minutes)
Content: Quick poll via digital tool or table discussion—participants share their POG competencies
Engagement: Synthesize themes in real-time, identify the most common competencies
Process: Frame the central question: "If these are our outcomes, what must change about instruction?"
Activity 1: Vision-Reality Gap Analysis (12 minutes)
Content: Present research-based protocol for analyzing instructional alignment
Engagement: Participants work in pairs to audit one week of their own instruction against their POG using the provided template
Process: Structured reflection questions—Where do you see authentic competency development? Where is it named but not actually developed?
Time allocation: 8 minutes partner work, 4 minutes whole-group share-out of patterns
Activity 2: Deep vs. Shallow Engagement Analysis (15 minutes)
Content: Present two contrasting lesson examples (same content standard, different instructional approaches)
Engagement: Small groups analyze both lessons using a rubric—which actually develops POG competencies? What's the evidence?
Process: Groups rotate through 2-3 lesson plan analysis stations, annotating with sticky notes or digital comments
Time allocation: 10 minutes analysis, 5 minutes debrief synthesis
Activity 3: Lesson Redesign Using Four Shifts Framework (23 minutes)
Content: Introduce framework for shifting instructional practice to align with POG competencies:
Content coverage → Concept mastery and transferable skills
Individual work → Authentic collaboration that develops POG competencies
Teacher-centered → Inquiry-driven learning
Compliance → Student agency and voice
Engagement: Participants identify which shift would most impact their practice, then select one upcoming lesson/unit and apply that shift to redesign a key component using provided template
Process: 3 minutes framework introduction, 10 minutes individual redesign work, 10 minutes structured partner feedback protocol—"What POG competency would this actually develop? What's your evidence?"
Tool: Redesign template focuses participants on changing learning targets, task structure, or assessment approach
Action Planning & Closing (5 minutes)
Content: Implementation planning framework—immediate vs. ambitious changes
Engagement: Individual commitment—identify one immediate shift (implementable next week) and one ambitious redesign (this semester/year)
Process: Digital or paper exit ticket capturing specific commitments
Closure: Share digital resources and brief Q&A

Outcomes

After this session, participants will be able to:

Analyze the alignment between their Portrait of a Graduate competencies and current instructional practices using a structured protocol
Apply a backwards-design framework to redesign one lesson/unit around authentic development of graduate profile skills
Distinguish between surface-level activity and deep cognitive engagement through collaborative lesson analysis
Create an implementation plan identifying immediate instructional shifts and longer-term redesign goals

Supporting research

1. Battelle for Kids. (2023). Portrait of a Graduate Research Brief: Evidence and Implementation Insights. https://www.battelleforkids.org.

2. Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 97-140.

3. Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Corwin.

4. Hattie, J., & Donoghue, G. M. (2016). Learning strategies: A synthesis and conceptual model. npj Science of Learning, 1(1), 16013.

5. Kallick, B., & Zmuda, A. (2017). Students at the Center: Personalized Learning with Habits of Mind. ASCD.

6. Liljedahl, P. (2022). Modifying Your Thinking Classrooms for Different Settings: A Supplement to Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. Corwin

7. McEwen, L., & McLeod, S. (2025). From posters to systemic change: Understanding the impact of the portrait of a graduate on classroom instruction and implementation [Unpublished manuscript]. Leadership for Educational Organizations, University of Colorado Denver.

8.Mehta, J., & Fine, S. (2019). In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School. Harvard University Press.

9.National Research Council. (2018). How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. The National Academies Press