For the past few weeks I've have been putting together my first lesson and unit plan, and I would like to share some of it with you to discuss GRASPS. GRASPS is an acronym for goal, role, audience, situation, performance, and standards and teachers may use these to refine and orient their assessments. This helps in avoiding activities over performance tasks, which will actually present problems in a life-manner situation for students to utilize their skills and understandings to solve.
I am studying to become a sixth grade English teacher, and my unit focuses on connecting current information to future outcomes in the form of predictions. This unit is meant to teach students the skills of identifying important present conditions or information in their own lives and identifying possible outcomes that may result in their own lives. This in turn will help them form goals and strategies to prepare for future expectations by their homes, their jobs, their communities, and their world. From preparing the best defense/offense strategy for a football game, to weighing the impacts a new law might play on your country, prediction is a key skill an individual might use to prepare for any possible situation.
So having explained the main concept of my unit plan, I must consider what performance task I might assign my students to best assess their understanding and mastery of this concept. To do this, I will use GRASPS.GRASPS stands for goal, role, audience, situation, performance, and standards. Here is a GRASP I have been considering for my unit plan:
Goal: Plan a camping event on the football field for your peers.
Role: You are Ms. Miller’s sixth grade English class.
Audience: Your audience contains the Principal, your parents, and fellow teachers.
Situation: You want to have a camp night on the football field and need the principal to sign off on your event. You also need to convince your parents and teachers to volunteer as chaperons. To do this you are expected to have rules, a list of necessities, and a response plan in case of misbehavior or bad weather.
Performance/Product: You will form a thorough plan and list of necessities for a one night stay on the football field. In order to convince the principal and your teachers, you must present a well formulated list of necessities and rules to address possible needs and issues which you must predict. You must provide evidence for your predictions and a response plan should any of your predictions come true.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
I have been thinking recently on teaching strategies, considering ways in which I could use high expectation teaching to not only challenge higher level learners, but to intrigue and pursue lower level learners. A challenge--but teaching is all about conquering challenges and moving on to even greater performances. In a reading on teaching strategies I recently read for an education class, I have managed to come up with three favorite strategies which I would love to share with you.
1. Pre-Assessment
One thing I have come to cherish is the strategy of Pre-Assessment. The understanding that students learn best when interested in subject matter is well known among educators. We ourselves are eager to dive in and struggle through difficult material should it intrigue us. Pre-Assessment allows you to gather information, like student interests, when beginning a new unit. In this manner, the teacher can teach students new material utilizing those interests, not only grabbing students attention but motivating them to persevere when a task appears too difficult.
Pre-Assessment does more than collect interest data. As the name suggests, it pre-assesses students understandings and skills of new material. The easiest way to turn off learning in the class is to teach information students already grasp. They know the material, they understand what is being taught--Why must they learn it again?! If a pre-assessment reveals student mastery in an upcoming unit, the teacher can proceed to teach a more difficult task, one that builds off of current capabilities and prepares them for not-so-cookie-cutter problems in the real world.
However, as is important to remember, students are rarely if ever homogeneous in learning. Yes, you have students that have already mastered and understand information. But more than often teachers find through pre-assessment that students have various understandings and mastery (or lack thereof) of the new material. Using Pre-Assessment, teachers can discover how much the student understands, where they are struggling, and which students can be called upon to help other students in understanding the new material. If one particular student struggles in Pre-Assessment, extra attention can be set aside throughout the unit to make sure that particular student understands and catches up with his fellow classmates.
2. Compacting
Suppose in your Pre-Assessment you discover all except one student have not yet mastered upcoming material. To assume any student will further her education by learning the same material again without challenge would be destructive to that child's education. She not only is being told that she is not required to put forth effort in furthering her understanding, but she is being told that her learning is not a priority of the teacher. She must then assume that challenge represents failure, not on the teacher's end, but on her own.
The same goes for students who struggle in Pre-Assessment and find themselves "not getting it." With learning requirements at the end of the year, it is difficult for teachers to loiter over a lesson for one particular student. As mentioned before, that is unfair to those who have mastered the understandings. But leaving a student to struggle in the dust, constantly falling behind and coming to believe he will always be behind, is murdering the student's potential at mastery.
Compacting really addresses these exceptional students. Following Pre-Assessment, teachers can allow students who understand or fail to understand, to compact out of lessons that focus on knowledge or skills. The goal of compacting is to focus on student understanding of those skills and knowledge, and attack understanding directly to master the material. A great way of using compacting is Independent Investigation which allows students to pursue their interests using the new material or address specific struggles with the new material to personalize learning.
Meanwhile, students who have not mastered but somewhat struggle with the information can continue with the planned lesson. Their knowledge is still being challenged and they, in their own time, may compact out of the unit. As their classmates continue with the main lesson, the exceptional students perform their Independent Investigations which address their individual struggles and strengths. No Individual Investigation will be the same, and students will better master the material in these personalized lessons.
3. Complex Instruction
Complex Instruction is an excellent tool to use whether many or few students understand the material. The goal of Complex Instruction is for heterogeneous groups of students to collaborate in order to solve complex problems and tasks. This strategy calls upon all group members to contribute through their individual skills, knowledge, and understanding. This task not only furthers students mastery of information, but creates worth and belonging within the class as students recognize the importance of their contributions and how they lead the group to success.
Students who have high understanding of content clarify information to their struggling peers, allowing the group as a whole to become more confident in their own capabilities. Students who struggle are able to contribute through their own strengths, creating a belief that they can belong with the "achievers". They also are able to communicate on lower-stressed learning, where they feel comfortable discussing and arguing their conflicting understandings and come to a better grasp of the information.
Complex Instruction also allows the teacher to step aside and let students pursue understanding in a manner that best fits students' own needs. The teacher is then free to address each group's challenges and assure that all students have a well round grasp of the information. In this manner, students are not bored with learning what they have already mastered and grapple with new skills and understandings which they are ready to overcome.
Each of these strategies and many more can help students who both excel or struggle with learning to better master content. Learning is not meant to bore or discourage. It should never be comfortable, but challenging for each student. Teachers must focus on adapting their lessons to meet the needs of their students, both high-level and low-level learners. By using flexible yet challenging strategies, a teacher can better meet the learning needs of each student.
1. Pre-Assessment
One thing I have come to cherish is the strategy of Pre-Assessment. The understanding that students learn best when interested in subject matter is well known among educators. We ourselves are eager to dive in and struggle through difficult material should it intrigue us. Pre-Assessment allows you to gather information, like student interests, when beginning a new unit. In this manner, the teacher can teach students new material utilizing those interests, not only grabbing students attention but motivating them to persevere when a task appears too difficult.
Pre-Assessment does more than collect interest data. As the name suggests, it pre-assesses students understandings and skills of new material. The easiest way to turn off learning in the class is to teach information students already grasp. They know the material, they understand what is being taught--Why must they learn it again?! If a pre-assessment reveals student mastery in an upcoming unit, the teacher can proceed to teach a more difficult task, one that builds off of current capabilities and prepares them for not-so-cookie-cutter problems in the real world.
However, as is important to remember, students are rarely if ever homogeneous in learning. Yes, you have students that have already mastered and understand information. But more than often teachers find through pre-assessment that students have various understandings and mastery (or lack thereof) of the new material. Using Pre-Assessment, teachers can discover how much the student understands, where they are struggling, and which students can be called upon to help other students in understanding the new material. If one particular student struggles in Pre-Assessment, extra attention can be set aside throughout the unit to make sure that particular student understands and catches up with his fellow classmates.
2. Compacting
Suppose in your Pre-Assessment you discover all except one student have not yet mastered upcoming material. To assume any student will further her education by learning the same material again without challenge would be destructive to that child's education. She not only is being told that she is not required to put forth effort in furthering her understanding, but she is being told that her learning is not a priority of the teacher. She must then assume that challenge represents failure, not on the teacher's end, but on her own.
The same goes for students who struggle in Pre-Assessment and find themselves "not getting it." With learning requirements at the end of the year, it is difficult for teachers to loiter over a lesson for one particular student. As mentioned before, that is unfair to those who have mastered the understandings. But leaving a student to struggle in the dust, constantly falling behind and coming to believe he will always be behind, is murdering the student's potential at mastery.
Compacting really addresses these exceptional students. Following Pre-Assessment, teachers can allow students who understand or fail to understand, to compact out of lessons that focus on knowledge or skills. The goal of compacting is to focus on student understanding of those skills and knowledge, and attack understanding directly to master the material. A great way of using compacting is Independent Investigation which allows students to pursue their interests using the new material or address specific struggles with the new material to personalize learning.
Meanwhile, students who have not mastered but somewhat struggle with the information can continue with the planned lesson. Their knowledge is still being challenged and they, in their own time, may compact out of the unit. As their classmates continue with the main lesson, the exceptional students perform their Independent Investigations which address their individual struggles and strengths. No Individual Investigation will be the same, and students will better master the material in these personalized lessons.
3. Complex Instruction
Complex Instruction is an excellent tool to use whether many or few students understand the material. The goal of Complex Instruction is for heterogeneous groups of students to collaborate in order to solve complex problems and tasks. This strategy calls upon all group members to contribute through their individual skills, knowledge, and understanding. This task not only furthers students mastery of information, but creates worth and belonging within the class as students recognize the importance of their contributions and how they lead the group to success.
Students who have high understanding of content clarify information to their struggling peers, allowing the group as a whole to become more confident in their own capabilities. Students who struggle are able to contribute through their own strengths, creating a belief that they can belong with the "achievers". They also are able to communicate on lower-stressed learning, where they feel comfortable discussing and arguing their conflicting understandings and come to a better grasp of the information.
Complex Instruction also allows the teacher to step aside and let students pursue understanding in a manner that best fits students' own needs. The teacher is then free to address each group's challenges and assure that all students have a well round grasp of the information. In this manner, students are not bored with learning what they have already mastered and grapple with new skills and understandings which they are ready to overcome.
Each of these strategies and many more can help students who both excel or struggle with learning to better master content. Learning is not meant to bore or discourage. It should never be comfortable, but challenging for each student. Teachers must focus on adapting their lessons to meet the needs of their students, both high-level and low-level learners. By using flexible yet challenging strategies, a teacher can better meet the learning needs of each student.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
English Language Learners (ELLs) are filling classrooms and teachers are expected to teach them the same material they are teaching English speakers. With increasing expectations on students to all perform at critical and complex thinking levels, the challenge teachers face in sparking understanding in ELLs is no surprise. How can teachers present their complex information, which English speakers struggle with, in a manner that ELLs can understand and master?
Rebecca Greene, a certified teacher for students learning English as a Second Language, discussed this in her article "5Key Strategies for ELL Instruction." Her article also included a video in which Emily Park-Friend utilized certain nonlinguistic skills to better teach her ELL students.(I have provided a link to both the article and video at the end of this post.)
Being a nation of opportunity, American teachers can only expect to see a rise of ELL in the classroom. As teachers, we are responsible for reaching these students and providing information in a manner that is understandable to any student in the class. Using and expanding on examples from Greene's article and the Tch Video, here some examples of strategies I believe would aid any teacher in reaching out to ELL students.
Tch video: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-ela-unit-persuasion
Rebecca Greene, a certified teacher for students learning English as a Second Language, discussed this in her article "5Key Strategies for ELL Instruction." Her article also included a video in which Emily Park-Friend utilized certain nonlinguistic skills to better teach her ELL students.(I have provided a link to both the article and video at the end of this post.)
Being a nation of opportunity, American teachers can only expect to see a rise of ELL in the classroom. As teachers, we are responsible for reaching these students and providing information in a manner that is understandable to any student in the class. Using and expanding on examples from Greene's article and the Tch Video, here some examples of strategies I believe would aid any teacher in reaching out to ELL students.
- Use Graphic Organizers
Sometimes words are not enough. Or in the case of English Language Learners--too much. Using symbols and images to organize information not only allows students to analyze and break information into manageable chunks, but allows students to place meaning to pictures/symbols outside of the English Language. This means focusing on the most important concepts and picking them out for students to focus on and recognize.
- Use Manipulatives or Physical Models
As Park-Friend showed in the Tch Video, information can be broken into physical pieces and manipulated by students for better analysis and understanding. The Jigsaw activity in which Barbra Jordan's speech was broken apart onto separate sheets of paper for students to reorganize, made students analyze the use of language, the key components used in organizing an effective English speech, and the important concepts the speech touched on pertaining to national equality among the races. So students were able to not only learn important information about Barbra Jordan's history and her impact on society, but ELLs were also able to analyze how her speech was constructed and better understand the English Language.
- Generate Mental Pictures
When students imagine and create images within their own minds of new information, they make that information personal and meaningful. Such information is easier for students to recall and master, rather than foreign information entering one ear and exiting the other. For ELL students, generating and sharing mental images not only allows students to build on their understanding of information, but also allows teachers to better see how well the students understand the information.
- Create Pictures
Students, more often than not, will take pride and interest in creative expression of information. Personalizing new information into pictures, illustrations, or graphs allows students to analyze methods of accurately portraying the information in a recognizable and understandable manner to their peers. Not only then do students gain better mastery, but they also teach their peers information that may have been confusing and complicated in boring textual fashion. As pictures and art speak across languages, pictures are a key way to invoke understanding to students who lack the understanding of complex English words. Vocabulary and meaning are transferred through image into the learners own language, allowing for better grasp of the subject at hand.
With these examples in mind, the possibilities are endless for teaching to English Language Learners. And learning becomes all the more exciting.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
I read an article by Carol Tomlinson titled "Deciding to Teach Them All." In her article, Tomlinson discussed a fellow teacher's attempt to teach a high level curriculum in a general education class. In doing so, this friend quickly realized the curriculum would need altered, but not dumbed down. Unlike many teachers caught in the idea of raising students to meet curriculum demands, this teacher recognized the importance of altering the curriculum to help students obtain the most important skill and understandings key in completing the curriculum.
Recently, I have also been learning about collaborative learning in the classroom and its effect on learning. So I couldn't help but consider how the classroom discussed in Tomlinson's article, a class filled with higher-learners, special needs students, English language learners, and every student in between or lower, might benefit from the collaborative skills discussed in Chapter 3 of Classroom Instruction that Works (2nd ed.). (CIW)
The students, of course, would need to be organized into diverse groups, expecting lower level learners to strive harder to reach the expectations of higher learning students. The group work would also need to challenge students who already have fair understanding of the lesson, and should expect such students to apply their understanding to life situations while reorganizing the information in a manner their group mates might better learn and understand. In short, the collaborative learning would raise expectations for lower level learners, while raising higher learner expectations to the role of mini-teachers.
As Dean, Hubble, Pitler, and Stone (2012) stated in CIW:
As one author implied in an article considering the use of technology in schools (I have provided a link to this article at the bottom of the article), the use of digital tools in teaching is "intended to be a compliment to, rather than a replacement of, traditional instruction." (Diette Casey, 2013) In this same manner, teachers should perceive group learning as a tool, not a replacement, of teaching in the class. Unless collaborative learning is well organized, monitored, and taught cooperative learning can easily cripple students and result in meaningless loitering.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rural_education/2013/10/rural_schools_face_barriers_promise_by_moving_to_blended_learning.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3
Recently, I have also been learning about collaborative learning in the classroom and its effect on learning. So I couldn't help but consider how the classroom discussed in Tomlinson's article, a class filled with higher-learners, special needs students, English language learners, and every student in between or lower, might benefit from the collaborative skills discussed in Chapter 3 of Classroom Instruction that Works (2nd ed.). (CIW)
The students, of course, would need to be organized into diverse groups, expecting lower level learners to strive harder to reach the expectations of higher learning students. The group work would also need to challenge students who already have fair understanding of the lesson, and should expect such students to apply their understanding to life situations while reorganizing the information in a manner their group mates might better learn and understand. In short, the collaborative learning would raise expectations for lower level learners, while raising higher learner expectations to the role of mini-teachers.
As Dean, Hubble, Pitler, and Stone (2012) stated in CIW:
"Studies show that well-organized cooperative learning opportunities positively affect academic as well as socioemotional achievement, self-esteem, motivation, and engagement with school, all while helping to minimize feelings of social isolation." (p.46)Students are drawn to their peers and are often motivated by the desire to perform well according to the skills of fellow students. To provide opportunities where students share, encourage, and develop understandings and skills through collaboration is a golden ticket to learning. However cooperative learning must not be mistaken as the "Get Out of Jail Free" card in teaching.
As one author implied in an article considering the use of technology in schools (I have provided a link to this article at the bottom of the article), the use of digital tools in teaching is "intended to be a compliment to, rather than a replacement of, traditional instruction." (Diette Casey, 2013) In this same manner, teachers should perceive group learning as a tool, not a replacement, of teaching in the class. Unless collaborative learning is well organized, monitored, and taught cooperative learning can easily cripple students and result in meaningless loitering.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rural_education/2013/10/rural_schools_face_barriers_promise_by_moving_to_blended_learning.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
How should we use our assessment results?
In my previous article I discussed how assessment could be used within a class to analyze students' understanding and learning, as well as provide feedback for teachers in making profitable changes in their lesson plans to meet students' needs. I pointed out the flexibility of assessment and how the results should be recognized as data and feedback concerning teaching, not just learning.Now I want to discuss how assessment results can be used concerning the learner.
Students are sensitive to how teachers present feedback and recognition within the classroom. Feedback on assessment results should focus on recognizing students' achievements while encouraging them to pursue mastery of skills or understandings that may still elude them. The ultimate goal of teachers is to present challenges that will cultivate specific skills and understanding in students, thus enabling students with the ability to face future challenges head on. When teachers recognize students strengths and provide feedback on aspects of challenges that students continue to struggle with, students' analysis and acceptance of that feedback is imperative in students' self-efficacy (beliefs about one's competency).
If students accept feedback on assessment results as an analysis of their self worth rather than recognition of strengths and areas demanding of further learning, students will most likely be discouraged and lack the motivation to pursue mastery. Worse, students who perform well and accept feedback of assessment results in matters of self worth will view further mastery as unnecessary and stagnate their skills and efforts. However, when students are informed and encouraged to recognize feedback as a tool for refining areas of strength or developing further understanding in areas not yet master, students then are motivated to continue tackling difficult challenges. Students also understand that their abilities can be refined due to efforts and pursued learning.
I recently read an article by Tammy Russel called " Why Resilience Is Critical in a Learning Environment." (I have provided a link to this article at the end of this post.) In her article, Russel discussed the importance of students' ability to be resilient as a learner and recognize their ability to grow in understanding and skill. She stated:
"When students have resilience, they are open to learning because they believe that they can learn; they are receptive to assistance because it is not a criticism of their abilities; and they are comfortable not understanding concepts immediately because they see learning as a pursuit of knowledge and know that motivation and effort are just as important as knowing how to do something."
By focusing on goal mastery and refining understanding, teachers reveal to students a positive analysis of assessment results and encourage them to use feedback to pursue mastery in needed areas. Teachers need to focus on connecting effort to students' success and motivate learners to appropriately produce the effort necessary for furthering learning.
http://www.wholechildeducation.org/blog/why-resilience-is-critical-in-a-learning-environment
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Assessment. Let's be honest, we all hated it in school. The anxiety, the excitement, the disappointment. All those tests and quizzes.
But wait!
What if there is more to assessment than tests or quizzes? What if there is a deeper purpose than learning whether or not students can regurgitate specific facts? What if assessment evaluated where students were in understanding, encouraged areas of growth, and showed the teacher what needed to be clarified for mastery?
Assessment means more than Q&A. Teachers can easily be trapped in the ideology that they are to present the information on a given test (which may only be given at the end of the unit). Students who score well, learn well; students who score poorly, are lazy. Now please tell me you disagree with that statement. When used correctly, assessment can reveal weaknesses in teaching and strengths in learning! Tests certainly do not need to appear only at the end of units. By the time teachers realize that students failed the assessment and misunderstood key skills or concepts, too much time has been wasted and a new unit has begun.
So what if assessment moved towards the middle of the unit? Not only are teachers seeing where the students understanding lies, but students gain a sense of what is expected of them to learn and what they need to master before the end of the unit. This aligns with an acronym W.H.E.R.E.T.O.--
The W of W.H.E.R.E.T.O. represents a road map of learning for students. What are important key concepts they are expected to learn through this unit? Why are these skills useful? Where will students use these skills in the class and in life? Surveys evaluating what students already know about the unit and revealing what they do not, allow teachers to shape lesson plans around students' understanding. Students also gain a glimpse at what they expected to know and accomplish by the end of the unit, focusing on honing such concepts and skills. Assessments given in the middle of units also fall under this category (as well as several others). The students obtain feedback through the exam of how well they are learning. Teachers can also evaluate whether more time is needed to clarify key concepts or approach information in a new fashion.
I mentioned that assessment falls under other categories of the W.H.E.R.E.T.O. acronym. Consider EVALUATE, ORGANIZE, and RETHINK. Assessment allows students to evaluate their learning, whether they are understanding the material, and what concepts they are still trying to master. By receiving encouraging feedback on assessments, students recognize room for growth and strive to master understandings that still elude them. Teachers can also organize remaining lessons in a manner students will be able to understand material and refine their current understandings. Misconceptions can be reflected on and revised, once more allowing students to better evaluate their learning and gain mastery of information.
Assessment, in truth, can be re-framed in multiple manners to hit either category of W.H.E.R.E.T.O. Rubrics allowing students to organize information expected of them also equip students with expectations to meet. They may also reflect on feedback concerning what was done well or needs further work using the rubric, allowing them to reflect on their work and revise what was wrong. Assessments may also be open to creativity. Project presentations that focus on using key skills or reflecting key concepts allow students to present what has been learned in a manner that is both exciting and comfortable to the student. Where one is more comfortable with art, another with presentation, and even another with writing, each can accept the challenge and feel comfortable placing their best work in assessment.
In the end, assessment is a tool that allows teachers to encourage learning. Reflection and revision occur when assessment is used beyond Q&A and allows teachers to refocus lessons on areas students struggle most. This way, students realize that assessment is not there to bore or stress them out, but exists to help them recognize what is expected of them to learn, why such concepts and skills are important, and how to approach misunderstandings to correct and refine them.
But wait!
What if there is more to assessment than tests or quizzes? What if there is a deeper purpose than learning whether or not students can regurgitate specific facts? What if assessment evaluated where students were in understanding, encouraged areas of growth, and showed the teacher what needed to be clarified for mastery?
Assessment means more than Q&A. Teachers can easily be trapped in the ideology that they are to present the information on a given test (which may only be given at the end of the unit). Students who score well, learn well; students who score poorly, are lazy. Now please tell me you disagree with that statement. When used correctly, assessment can reveal weaknesses in teaching and strengths in learning! Tests certainly do not need to appear only at the end of units. By the time teachers realize that students failed the assessment and misunderstood key skills or concepts, too much time has been wasted and a new unit has begun.
So what if assessment moved towards the middle of the unit? Not only are teachers seeing where the students understanding lies, but students gain a sense of what is expected of them to learn and what they need to master before the end of the unit. This aligns with an acronym W.H.E.R.E.T.O.--
- WHERE, what,why
- HOOK
- EQUIP, explore, experience
- RETHINK, revise, reflect, refine
- EVALUATE self
- TAILOR to differences
- ORGANIZE for understanding
The W of W.H.E.R.E.T.O. represents a road map of learning for students. What are important key concepts they are expected to learn through this unit? Why are these skills useful? Where will students use these skills in the class and in life? Surveys evaluating what students already know about the unit and revealing what they do not, allow teachers to shape lesson plans around students' understanding. Students also gain a glimpse at what they expected to know and accomplish by the end of the unit, focusing on honing such concepts and skills. Assessments given in the middle of units also fall under this category (as well as several others). The students obtain feedback through the exam of how well they are learning. Teachers can also evaluate whether more time is needed to clarify key concepts or approach information in a new fashion.
I mentioned that assessment falls under other categories of the W.H.E.R.E.T.O. acronym. Consider EVALUATE, ORGANIZE, and RETHINK. Assessment allows students to evaluate their learning, whether they are understanding the material, and what concepts they are still trying to master. By receiving encouraging feedback on assessments, students recognize room for growth and strive to master understandings that still elude them. Teachers can also organize remaining lessons in a manner students will be able to understand material and refine their current understandings. Misconceptions can be reflected on and revised, once more allowing students to better evaluate their learning and gain mastery of information.
Assessment, in truth, can be re-framed in multiple manners to hit either category of W.H.E.R.E.T.O. Rubrics allowing students to organize information expected of them also equip students with expectations to meet. They may also reflect on feedback concerning what was done well or needs further work using the rubric, allowing them to reflect on their work and revise what was wrong. Assessments may also be open to creativity. Project presentations that focus on using key skills or reflecting key concepts allow students to present what has been learned in a manner that is both exciting and comfortable to the student. Where one is more comfortable with art, another with presentation, and even another with writing, each can accept the challenge and feel comfortable placing their best work in assessment.
In the end, assessment is a tool that allows teachers to encourage learning. Reflection and revision occur when assessment is used beyond Q&A and allows teachers to refocus lessons on areas students struggle most. This way, students realize that assessment is not there to bore or stress them out, but exists to help them recognize what is expected of them to learn, why such concepts and skills are important, and how to approach misunderstandings to correct and refine them.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
How does organization affect teaching? And I don't mean tidy desks alphabetized, nor stubbornly outlined notes. I'm talking about preparation, knowledge of tools at hand and understanding of the best time to use each. As I read the second edition of Classroom Instruction that Works (CIW), chapter four, I gathered several key examples of organization's effect using tools such as cues, questions, and advanced organizers.
According to CIW, cues are "hints about content of an upcoming lesson; they reinforce prior information while providing knew information on the topic." Now let's consider how this affects teaching. Students are often drowning in a sea of information while teachers eagerly point out every fish of knowledge swimming within. But teaching requires focus, requires catching the big fish and letting the little ones alone. Cues help students fish for those big ideas, the important concepts they need to master before exploring deeper knowledge. Cues allow the teacher to gear up students in order that they recognize which facts and concepts are important and which are present curiosities They also allow teachers to build off of students prior knowledge to create a more complete understanding and mastery of a topic or concept.
What about questions? How do they affect teaching? We already know that they exist on tests and can--in useless situations--be rhetorical. But when teachers question their students to provoke deeper thought, reflection, and assessment of knowledge, questions become a key factor in unlocking understanding. I touched on this in a previous post concerning understanding. (See September 18, 2013) Questions must be broad, require critical thinking, and allow for multiple personal answers. If a teachers asks a question with one specific answer, students will merely spit out data without gaining any personal insight to the answers importance. "'When did Columbus sail the ocean blue?'--'In 1492!'" So what? Why is this date so important? What is significant about four specific numbers? Instead, consider this question: "How did Columbus' discovery of America in 1492 impact the European world?" Much broader! This question opens the floor to student discussion allowing them to discuss multiple impacts of New World and Old World interactions, competition in the East for new materials, culture shock. These concepts can then, with further questioning, be applied to students personal lives, equiping them with skills to interact with a diverse world growing "smaller" every day.
Advanced Organizers allow teachers to grab students interest. Although they can be effectively used any time during a lesson or unit, CIW notes that they work best to hook students at the introduction of new material. The four types of commonly used organizers are Expository (written/verbal explanations of new and important content); Narrative (new information presented in a story format); Skimming (quick glances over new information to gain a general impression); and Graphic Advanced Organizer (graphic organizers provided in advance to subject introduction using pictures and phrases to organize prior information). Each of these provide a road map to students concerning what is about to be taught and what is to be learned. Organizers may take the form as verbal stories, small videos, diagrams, work sheets, group activities. Even, as mentioned in Skimming, glancing over the titles of Chapters and sections to identify key points and predict important concepts allows teachers to provide an organized outline of information to students. By doing this students get a general idea of what will be taught as well as hone their reading skills to recognize important information.
But, these need not always be used in introduction. In Jane Fung's article "Four Ways to Think Like a Scientist with Science Notebooks" (I have provided a link to this article at the end of this post) organizers can be used to allow student reflection of new material. In her article, Fung described the flexibility the journals provided in her elementary science class. Students were encouraged, prompted, and/or left to their own imagination to record and analyze what they had learned in science notebooks. As the year progressed and students acquired better honed information-gathering skills, the journal entries become more complex. Fung was then able to use these journals to assess the students' understanding. The students were also able to reflect on what they had learned and self-assess their learning skills.
The journals are not the only Organizers teachers can use to assess student understanding. Having students create their own study guides (questions) or write creative diary entries using information learned in the entry both allow students to take the knowledge provided and personalize the information.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/09/25/think-like-a-scientist/
According to CIW, cues are "hints about content of an upcoming lesson; they reinforce prior information while providing knew information on the topic." Now let's consider how this affects teaching. Students are often drowning in a sea of information while teachers eagerly point out every fish of knowledge swimming within. But teaching requires focus, requires catching the big fish and letting the little ones alone. Cues help students fish for those big ideas, the important concepts they need to master before exploring deeper knowledge. Cues allow the teacher to gear up students in order that they recognize which facts and concepts are important and which are present curiosities They also allow teachers to build off of students prior knowledge to create a more complete understanding and mastery of a topic or concept.
What about questions? How do they affect teaching? We already know that they exist on tests and can--in useless situations--be rhetorical. But when teachers question their students to provoke deeper thought, reflection, and assessment of knowledge, questions become a key factor in unlocking understanding. I touched on this in a previous post concerning understanding. (See September 18, 2013) Questions must be broad, require critical thinking, and allow for multiple personal answers. If a teachers asks a question with one specific answer, students will merely spit out data without gaining any personal insight to the answers importance. "'When did Columbus sail the ocean blue?'--'In 1492!'" So what? Why is this date so important? What is significant about four specific numbers? Instead, consider this question: "How did Columbus' discovery of America in 1492 impact the European world?" Much broader! This question opens the floor to student discussion allowing them to discuss multiple impacts of New World and Old World interactions, competition in the East for new materials, culture shock. These concepts can then, with further questioning, be applied to students personal lives, equiping them with skills to interact with a diverse world growing "smaller" every day.
Advanced Organizers allow teachers to grab students interest. Although they can be effectively used any time during a lesson or unit, CIW notes that they work best to hook students at the introduction of new material. The four types of commonly used organizers are Expository (written/verbal explanations of new and important content); Narrative (new information presented in a story format); Skimming (quick glances over new information to gain a general impression); and Graphic Advanced Organizer (graphic organizers provided in advance to subject introduction using pictures and phrases to organize prior information). Each of these provide a road map to students concerning what is about to be taught and what is to be learned. Organizers may take the form as verbal stories, small videos, diagrams, work sheets, group activities. Even, as mentioned in Skimming, glancing over the titles of Chapters and sections to identify key points and predict important concepts allows teachers to provide an organized outline of information to students. By doing this students get a general idea of what will be taught as well as hone their reading skills to recognize important information.
But, these need not always be used in introduction. In Jane Fung's article "Four Ways to Think Like a Scientist with Science Notebooks" (I have provided a link to this article at the end of this post) organizers can be used to allow student reflection of new material. In her article, Fung described the flexibility the journals provided in her elementary science class. Students were encouraged, prompted, and/or left to their own imagination to record and analyze what they had learned in science notebooks. As the year progressed and students acquired better honed information-gathering skills, the journal entries become more complex. Fung was then able to use these journals to assess the students' understanding. The students were also able to reflect on what they had learned and self-assess their learning skills.
The journals are not the only Organizers teachers can use to assess student understanding. Having students create their own study guides (questions) or write creative diary entries using information learned in the entry both allow students to take the knowledge provided and personalize the information.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/09/25/think-like-a-scientist/
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
How do we teach? There is so much more to teaching than basic facts and knowledge. As mention in my previous post, understanding is key. And here I'd like to add that puzzling students is golden.
What do I mean by puzzling students? I'm talking about asking questions students will be puzzling over and revisiting, re-answering, and re-evaluating beyond one school year, let alone one class period. Teachers are responsible for more than instilling facts to be recited into tests and essays. They elicit deeper questions from the students and instill such curiosity within them, that they are searching for better understanding beyond primary schooling.
But this is so difficult when students sit in the class staring at their teacher, blank-eyed, uninterested, or--worse!--storing up every word said without argument, assessment, nor application. In order to surpass memorization, students require what Understand by Design states to be connection with meaningful, real-world problems. We all remember sitting in at least one class, scribbling every word tumbling from the teachers mouth, and questioning how on earth this could ever be applied to "my life." And that is where teachers need to evaluate how they are presenting their lessons.
Students need to know upfront why the information is important and how it can be applied in life situations. In order to effectively instill the lessons in their students, teachers should be engaging and thought provoking; their information should encourage debate, reconsideration, analysis of support and contradicting information. As touched on in Ariel Sacks article "Did it Sink in Right Away?" (provided at the end of this post) teachers are providing students with questions and techniques that will continue rounding them for years to come. When asking students questions, there should be no immediate single answer. Immediate response prove a question to be pointless and ineffective in furthering student understanding. Teachers need to provoke their students into asking their own questions, intriguing learners to utilize the skills being taught and apply knowledge beyond assessment questions.
But how do teachers do this? Understanding by Design and Essential Question provide many suggestions in drawing in the learner. In many cases where teachers reflected on effective lessons in their own childhood, they came to the conclusion that hands-on activities, personalized assignments, and encouraged debate were common tools for learning. When teachers presented students with options of assessment with clear goals and expectations, the students were more comfortable in challenging their understanding. When hooked with thought provoking introductions to new material, the students pushed themselves to uncover the mystery and understand the information. In activities involving Socratic discussion, perplexing open-ended questions, and personal evaluation intermittently throughout the lessons, students were comfortable and driven to learn.
So teachers must puzzle their students. They must be sensitive to the questions of their students and encourage them to assess what they know, why they know it, and how it applies to their own life. The results of many lessons may not appear in one year. Indeed, teachers are constantly building upon prior knowledge and understanding, refining, and encouraging students to pursue autonomous learning.
http://www.teachingquality.org/content/did-it-sink-right-away
What do I mean by puzzling students? I'm talking about asking questions students will be puzzling over and revisiting, re-answering, and re-evaluating beyond one school year, let alone one class period. Teachers are responsible for more than instilling facts to be recited into tests and essays. They elicit deeper questions from the students and instill such curiosity within them, that they are searching for better understanding beyond primary schooling.
But this is so difficult when students sit in the class staring at their teacher, blank-eyed, uninterested, or--worse!--storing up every word said without argument, assessment, nor application. In order to surpass memorization, students require what Understand by Design states to be connection with meaningful, real-world problems. We all remember sitting in at least one class, scribbling every word tumbling from the teachers mouth, and questioning how on earth this could ever be applied to "my life." And that is where teachers need to evaluate how they are presenting their lessons.
Students need to know upfront why the information is important and how it can be applied in life situations. In order to effectively instill the lessons in their students, teachers should be engaging and thought provoking; their information should encourage debate, reconsideration, analysis of support and contradicting information. As touched on in Ariel Sacks article "Did it Sink in Right Away?" (provided at the end of this post) teachers are providing students with questions and techniques that will continue rounding them for years to come. When asking students questions, there should be no immediate single answer. Immediate response prove a question to be pointless and ineffective in furthering student understanding. Teachers need to provoke their students into asking their own questions, intriguing learners to utilize the skills being taught and apply knowledge beyond assessment questions.
But how do teachers do this? Understanding by Design and Essential Question provide many suggestions in drawing in the learner. In many cases where teachers reflected on effective lessons in their own childhood, they came to the conclusion that hands-on activities, personalized assignments, and encouraged debate were common tools for learning. When teachers presented students with options of assessment with clear goals and expectations, the students were more comfortable in challenging their understanding. When hooked with thought provoking introductions to new material, the students pushed themselves to uncover the mystery and understand the information. In activities involving Socratic discussion, perplexing open-ended questions, and personal evaluation intermittently throughout the lessons, students were comfortable and driven to learn.
So teachers must puzzle their students. They must be sensitive to the questions of their students and encourage them to assess what they know, why they know it, and how it applies to their own life. The results of many lessons may not appear in one year. Indeed, teachers are constantly building upon prior knowledge and understanding, refining, and encouraging students to pursue autonomous learning.
http://www.teachingquality.org/content/did-it-sink-right-away
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Understanding. It's more than knowing the facts. It's more than being able to apply the Pythagorean theorem upon demand. Understanding is the ability to take the knowledge given and recognize it as a tool, not an answer. Educators are supposed to be supplying our students with the knowledge that the world is open for dissection. Teachers supply our students with recognition that the lessons we teach them will help them pick apart the world for themselves.
If that is our goal, why are so many students coming out of high school and into college struggling with open ended questions? Why, when prompted by the teacher that there is no specific answer, do students wrack their brains for "the obviously correct answer" to the question? Why are they afraid to answer?
It is because they have been trained with nonessential questions. It is because they have been introduced to new material in the wrong manner. Look at the 'Brainology' Approach of the September 11, 2013 Edweek article: "Growth Mindset Gaining Traction as School Improvement Strategy." (I have provided a link at the bottom of this post.) Students in the classroom often maintain one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. Students of a fixed mindset will believe their intelligence is ingrained in their DNA, that's it is fixed and incapable of significantly improving. But students of growth mindset will approach knowledge as something they can easily obtain with effort. These mindsets are introduced and entertained by how teachers question their students. When asked questions such as, "In what ways did the pilgrims mistreat the Native Americans?"--students are being trained to answer questions with facts found in their book. What is not being taught are deeper connections between the past and present. In the same sense, teachers introducing new material under the impression, "This is an easy question to begin our lesson," are leading students who struggle with the easy question to negatively view the lesson and, more importantly, their own intelligence. If something that is supposed to "be easy" leaves a student struggling for the answer, how are students supposed to be encouraged to challenge their knowledge and trust their understanding as a useful tool for harder questions.
Let's go back to the pilgrims and Native Americans and try broadening the question: "How might one culture be affected by the introduction of a new and different culture?" Stop and think how the students might approach this question. They are still able to use the example of the pilgrims moving in on the Native Americans to develop their answers, but this question also allows them to argue their own opinions and dig deeper into the mixing of cultures, what changes might occur (good or bad), what biases might be made, and how differences can be overcome or reinforced. Such a question may have stemmed from the subject being taught, but it is essential in the basis that the students can make connections between what they are learning and how it applies personally in their own lives. That is understanding. Being able to take the information beyond "the right answer" and using it as a tool to answer "my life question."
How teachers phrase the question or introduce new material can affect students' learning and should be monitored. Remember that "easy question" introducing the new lesson? By reintroducing that question as "This one might take a few tries" students who struggle are not as discouraged as those who struggled with the "easy question." Instead they are approaching the same question with a growth mindset: "I can figure this out if I try hard enough and learn from my mistakes."
Teachers must keep in mind the importance of wording and application. Questions should be more than test material; they should encourage the students to strive for knowledge. Questions should reveal to students important skills and provide a deeper understanding in which students can take said skills, apply them effectively in situations outside of the classroom, and do so without explicit directions on how to solve problems.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/11/03mindset_ep.h33.html?tkn=OMMFBUpoZuQwY4qvMMvS1tu%2BEpDD9iqQZV0U&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
If that is our goal, why are so many students coming out of high school and into college struggling with open ended questions? Why, when prompted by the teacher that there is no specific answer, do students wrack their brains for "the obviously correct answer" to the question? Why are they afraid to answer?
It is because they have been trained with nonessential questions. It is because they have been introduced to new material in the wrong manner. Look at the 'Brainology' Approach of the September 11, 2013 Edweek article: "Growth Mindset Gaining Traction as School Improvement Strategy." (I have provided a link at the bottom of this post.) Students in the classroom often maintain one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. Students of a fixed mindset will believe their intelligence is ingrained in their DNA, that's it is fixed and incapable of significantly improving. But students of growth mindset will approach knowledge as something they can easily obtain with effort. These mindsets are introduced and entertained by how teachers question their students. When asked questions such as, "In what ways did the pilgrims mistreat the Native Americans?"--students are being trained to answer questions with facts found in their book. What is not being taught are deeper connections between the past and present. In the same sense, teachers introducing new material under the impression, "This is an easy question to begin our lesson," are leading students who struggle with the easy question to negatively view the lesson and, more importantly, their own intelligence. If something that is supposed to "be easy" leaves a student struggling for the answer, how are students supposed to be encouraged to challenge their knowledge and trust their understanding as a useful tool for harder questions.
Let's go back to the pilgrims and Native Americans and try broadening the question: "How might one culture be affected by the introduction of a new and different culture?" Stop and think how the students might approach this question. They are still able to use the example of the pilgrims moving in on the Native Americans to develop their answers, but this question also allows them to argue their own opinions and dig deeper into the mixing of cultures, what changes might occur (good or bad), what biases might be made, and how differences can be overcome or reinforced. Such a question may have stemmed from the subject being taught, but it is essential in the basis that the students can make connections between what they are learning and how it applies personally in their own lives. That is understanding. Being able to take the information beyond "the right answer" and using it as a tool to answer "my life question."
How teachers phrase the question or introduce new material can affect students' learning and should be monitored. Remember that "easy question" introducing the new lesson? By reintroducing that question as "This one might take a few tries" students who struggle are not as discouraged as those who struggled with the "easy question." Instead they are approaching the same question with a growth mindset: "I can figure this out if I try hard enough and learn from my mistakes."
Teachers must keep in mind the importance of wording and application. Questions should be more than test material; they should encourage the students to strive for knowledge. Questions should reveal to students important skills and provide a deeper understanding in which students can take said skills, apply them effectively in situations outside of the classroom, and do so without explicit directions on how to solve problems.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/11/03mindset_ep.h33.html?tkn=OMMFBUpoZuQwY4qvMMvS1tu%2BEpDD9iqQZV0U&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
What do we teach? According to Classroom Instruction that Works (CIW); 2nd Edition teachers need to teach beyond curriculum and facts. Chapters 1-2 speak of setting objectives and goals, as well as teaching the relationship between true effort and achievement. This idea was reflected in an article I recently read from ASDC SmartBrief. (I have provided a link to the article at the bottom of this post.) The article described an after school program where girls in grades third through fifth train for a bi-yearly 5K. The program focuses on more than physical exercise, but teaches the girls teamwork strategies and goal setting that will help them assess their achievement. As described in CIW, the importance of goal setting and teamwork teaches the students how to not only apply effort but to assess how their efforts effect their achievement, as well as assess the levels of effort needed to attain their goals. The third chapter also touches on cooperative learning and responsibility partners hold towards not only their teammates but themselves. Such a concept was seen in the Girls on the Run program discussed in the article. The girls learn through practicing for their relay races to support one another in their efforts. Recognizing the importance of teamwork the girls work hard on supporting and encouraging each other in reaching the finish line.
http://www.app.com/article/20130908/NJLIFE04/309080018/Girls-Run-program-builds-strength-self-esteem?nclick_check=1
http://www.app.com/article/20130908/NJLIFE04/309080018/Girls-Run-program-builds-strength-self-esteem?nclick_check=1
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