Relates story of how professors in English and history read a text differently -- like literally, they read in a different order and read different parts.
"Only by making our footsteps visible can we expect students to follow in them."
check it out: https://depts.washington.edu/gs630/Winter/Wineberg.pdf
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Doug Buehl on "Questioning the Author" Questioning Literary Fiction
How to use QtA for literary fiction
link here: https://www.winnipegsd.ca/schools/CollegeChurchill/StudentResources/examinfo/Documents/WEAC%20LiteraryFiction.pdf
link here: https://www.winnipegsd.ca/schools/CollegeChurchill/StudentResources/examinfo/Documents/WEAC%20LiteraryFiction.pdf
Illinois Professional Teaching Standards
"What do Professors REALLY Say About College Writing?" (English Journal 2011)
Key finding... "As a field, we naturally value... a wide range of writing assignments and genres: everything from stories, poems, and memoirs to newsletters, resumes, press releases, and more recently, digital stories, blogs, and wikis. However... we should... not underestimate the value of summary and critique, especially as a writing-to-learn strategy. (even though it may seem 'boring')."
read more: http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1003-jan2011/EJ1003What.pdf
read more: http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1003-jan2011/EJ1003What.pdf
Alfie Kohn "How to Create Nonreaders: Reflections on Motivation, Learning, and Sharing Power"
Excellent article published in English Journal in 2010 that argues for student choice. Clever and witty, the article connects research on motivation ("You can tap into their motivation, in other words, but you can't 'motivate them.'") and how teachers typically assign reading.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/create-nonreaders/
http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/create-nonreaders/
Barak Rosenshine "Principles of Instruction: Research Based Strategies That All Teachers Should Know"
This is from the AFT "American Educator" magazine in 2012. These 10 principles seem absolutely
current in 2015.
https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf
current in 2015.
https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf
Carol Jago "Crash! The Currency Crisis in American Culture"
In this article, Jago argues that we need to read literature, we need to write about literature, not just talk about it, and we need to teach literature that challenges.
No short-cuts, no meeting kids where they are comfortable.
This was for NCTE publication in 2009 when Jago was president-elect.
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Jago_final.pdf
No short-cuts, no meeting kids where they are comfortable.
This was for NCTE publication in 2009 when Jago was president-elect.
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Jago_final.pdf
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Penny Kittle "Book Love" (Heinemann, 2013)
"fourth grade slump" Before this all students participate.
principal's goal was "to make listening to students one of our all-school goals"
"once children have entered the 'swamp' of negative expectaions, lowered motivation, and limited practice, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get back on the road of proficient reading" (Spear-Swerling and Sternberg (1994)
PK challenges students to find a 'reach' book (often, but here at 4th quarter)
"This is how most people live: sleeping on the bank of a fresh-water stream, lips dry with thirst." - Rumi
"What our students read in school is important; what they read the rest of their lives is more important" Gallagher Readicide (2009) 117
Gladwell - 10,000 hour rule -- 20 hours a week for 10 years
"What I am proposing in this book runs parallel to the accepted structure of English class. The study of literature is half the job; leading students to satisfying and challenging reading lives is the other, and we haven't paid enough attention to it." (19)
Developing Stamina for College and Beyond
Tom Newkirk "said that he didn't care whether all students read any particular book, only that they read a lot so they would have a variety of experiences to draw on and the ability to handle the volume of reading expected in college." (which is 200-600 pages a week. Providence college - 600 pages per week; Harvard -- 400 pages a week in one class; 100-600 pages from current college kids;
PK reads 142 books in 2011
typical HW - read at a comfortable pace for 2 hours or more each week outside of class; first week of class asks kids to read for 10 minutes and record the # of pages; multiply by 6 to get pages/hour; double it to get expected reading for a week; she rechecks the rate every month;
How she keeps track of 30 students at a time:
Newkirk. Thomas. 2011. The Art of Slow Reading.
principal's goal was "to make listening to students one of our all-school goals"
"once children have entered the 'swamp' of negative expectaions, lowered motivation, and limited practice, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get back on the road of proficient reading" (Spear-Swerling and Sternberg (1994)
PK challenges students to find a 'reach' book (often, but here at 4th quarter)
"This is how most people live: sleeping on the bank of a fresh-water stream, lips dry with thirst." - Rumi
"What our students read in school is important; what they read the rest of their lives is more important" Gallagher Readicide (2009) 117
Gladwell - 10,000 hour rule -- 20 hours a week for 10 years
"What I am proposing in this book runs parallel to the accepted structure of English class. The study of literature is half the job; leading students to satisfying and challenging reading lives is the other, and we haven't paid enough attention to it." (19)
Developing Stamina for College and Beyond
Tom Newkirk "said that he didn't care whether all students read any particular book, only that they read a lot so they would have a variety of experiences to draw on and the ability to handle the volume of reading expected in college." (which is 200-600 pages a week. Providence college - 600 pages per week; Harvard -- 400 pages a week in one class; 100-600 pages from current college kids;
PK reads 142 books in 2011
typical HW - read at a comfortable pace for 2 hours or more each week outside of class; first week of class asks kids to read for 10 minutes and record the # of pages; multiply by 6 to get pages/hour; double it to get expected reading for a week; she rechecks the rate every month;
How she keeps track of 30 students at a time:
Goals for the semester: take pages per week and multiply by 18, then divide by 200 (average # for a book)... get a goal for # of books;
Kids keep a "To-Read-Next" list on the back of their notebook. (kids add things to this list from the Book Talks)
Ann Patchett (2009) "I'm all for reading bad books because I consider them to be a gateway drug. People who read bad books now may or may not read better books in the future. People who read nothing now will read nothing in the future."
The most important condition in my classroom is my relationship with my students. My students are not moving through a system that guarantees they'll read; I am moving them through a system that helps me manage the large number of students I teach. The magic formula is the relationship we form and my ability to meet them where they are, accept where they are, and then put books in their hands that will ignite their own intrinsic motivation to read. (35)
we need to balance these forms of reading in English:
1. study literature (whole texts)
2. read short mentor texts (in all genres) to understand the writer's craft and create a vision for what we ourselves will write
3. develop an indepedent reading life
PK does 50% - independent reading, studying short texts in class; 25% - annotating, thinking of mentor texts and using those lessons to write better; 25% - whole class or small group novel study
Daily Reading/Writing Workshop Plan
Chapter 5 - The Power of Book Talks
- I talk 4-5 books a day during the first week of school; kids keep a list of what they want to read next on last page of notebooks
- Book Talk essentials
- hold the book
-know the book (If you like... then you'll like...)
- keep records of what you've book talked
- accept help (students, parents, fellow teachers, librarians, bookstore owners, administrators)
- remember how important you are (passion is contagious)
Nancie Atwell (2007) "For students of every ability and background, it is the simple miraculous act of reading a good book that turns them into readers. The job of adults who care about reading is to move heaven and earth to put that book into a child's hands" (28).
Book Talk + Text Study = using a book talk to teach the qualities of writing (p. 65)
I copy p. 6 and 7 of Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrel... each student needs a copy to mark up with noticings -- annotations of word choice, details they see, feel, smell, taste, know to be true.
questions... what do you think is wrong with Mom? What do you think comely means? How would you describe the economic condition of this family based on evidence in the text?
I collect them as an exit slip to survey students' proficient reader skills.
use "Encyclopedia of an ordinary life" as inspiration for guided notebook writing.
words around Encyclopedia- covert cell phone use, freshman, hallways, cafe, food, parking, mean girls, short freshmen, subs, lockers, how to avoid walter, rules I didn't follow
Chapter 6- Conferences
"If there is no responsiveness between us, no openness to being influenced by the other, there is no trust."
Questions: How's it going? Tell me what you're thinking abut your reading? What's this about? I haven't read it." What are you reading? How did you choose it? How do you find good books? What on your next-to-read list? What authors are your favorites? How much did you read last year? Do you consider yourself a reader? Where do you read at home?
Conferences that Teach a Reading Strategy
how is the reading going for you? is this an easy or a hard read for you? how do you know? tell me about a time when this book has confused you and what you're doing to get yourself back on track in your understanding. Tell me about these characters -- who are they, what do you think of them?
what questions are at the heart of the book? what questions might the author be trying to answer through the struggles of these characters? how has the character changed? how is the book different from the last book that you read?
"Park sits up taller. There is something powerful about giving students the authority to teach us."
"Will you lead an author talk on his work?" (vs book talk?)
I keep a pad of paper on my clipboard with a page for each student, and I cycle through the pages, day after day, class after class. If a student is absent, I write absent in my conference notes and move on.
Reading conferences fall into three categories: Monitoring the student's reading life, 2. teaching strategic reading, 3. helping the student plan the complexity and challenge of her reading.
My bridge between writing and thinking is notebooks. If I can get students to quick-write the first thing that comes to mind and follow that thinking, they discover the unusual, the thing they weren't thinking about, the thing that appears in their writing and must be attended to."
How often should students write about reading? Every other week works for me. Asking them to write about their reading every time they read destroys the process." (103)
Asking Questions that Drive Responses:
Fiction
Tell me about the narrator of your book. Is she believable?
How has the author taken a flat portrait of a character and added flesh and bones? What are the moments that define a character you've connected to?
Discuss the pace of the book. How fast or slow is the plot moving and how does that impact your enjoyment of the sotry?
Nonfiction
does the author present enough evidence to support the main ideas of the book? Do you feel there was an attention toa variety of sources for information?
Talk about the effectiveness of the organization of ideas in the book.
How are the elements of story evident in this book? Would you classify the book as informative/explanatory or argument?
What are things you've learned in your reading that still have you thinking?
Nancy Atwell: "Frequent, voluminous reading build fluency, stamina, vocabulary, confidence, tastes and preferences, loyalty to authors, and even that cultural knowledge that Diane Ravitch advocates. Students leave our tiny school in rural Maine as skilled, literary readers. They also leave smarter about words, ideas, history, people, places they've encountered only in the pages of the rich stories they have read."
Elaine Millen, Dean of Campus Development for the University Systems of New Hampshire "That's been our biggest challenge. They're waiting for someone else to tell them what they need to learn rather than using the tool of reading and literacy to learn."
Modeling Thinking About Themes (113)
brainstorm big ideas of 2 books; examples think aloud on 114-115 of how 2 works are similar
I believe in the power of setting goals and making them public. Don Murray used to send me his daily word counts; Don Graves forwarded me his daybook notes.... My students need to understand why and how to challenge themselves as readers, to set goals, and then be nudged to commit to them.
- plans and suggestions for each student passed on to next year's teacher, plus time before the start of the school year to get to know incoming students through their reading and writing portfolios. imagine starting the school year analyzing students' reading lists, reflections, and writing portfolios.
Heinemann website contains 2009 video of students who fake their way through reading. (Neal)
Survey... 20% of our students said they read books regularly, about 30% read a book or two a year, and the remaining 50% said they did not read books at all. (142)
Richard Allington (2001) We seem to be producing readers who can read more difficult texts but readers who elect not to read even easy texts on their own time" (8)
summer reading - we need books that can be and will be read independently
book club throughout fall... meeting each Wednesday at local coffee house.
Books to read
Tom Romano
Jeff Anderson. Mechanically Inclined (2005) Everyday Editing (2007) Ten Things Every Writer Needs to Know (2011)
Grave, Don and Penny Kittle (2005) Inside Writing: How to Teach the Details of the Craft
Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003) 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to Help Your Kids Read It and Get it!
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary LifeNewkirk. Thomas. 2011. The Art of Slow Reading.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
Top 5 Engagement Strategies for Discussion
It's the teacher's job to make sure that all students are actively engaged in discussion. Leaving it up to kids to raise their hands, especially when the teacher is awarding "points" for participation, is a strategy that will not be very effective.
1. Save the Last Word for Me. (link) for PDF instruction
2. (from CEL 2015)... Oona
3. (from Assessment Literacy 2015)
4. (from Feldman... write, talk... )
1. Save the Last Word for Me. (link) for PDF instruction
2. (from CEL 2015)... Oona
3. (from Assessment Literacy 2015)
4. (from Feldman... write, talk... )
A Taxonomy of Socratic Questions by Richard Paul
To make the Socratic questioning method readily usable by teachers, identifiable categories of questions have been established (Paul, Richard, Critical Thinking: How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World, 1993, pp. 276-77):
Questions of clarification are basically asking for verification, additional information, or clarification of one point or main idea. The student would be expected to provide the information, expound on an opinion, rephrase the content, or explain why he/she made that particular statement. Clarification may also be requested from others in the discussion group.
Why do you say that?
How does this relate to our discussion?
"Are you going to include diffusion in your mole balance equations?"
Questions than probe assumptions
Many questions can center around the concept of assumptions. The student may be asked for clarification, verification, explanation, or reliability of the assumption. Students may also be asked to identify another assumption which might apply to the particular case.
What could we assume instead?
How can you verify or disapprove that assumption?
"Why are neglecting radial diffusion and including only axial diffusion?"
Questions that probe reasons and evidence
This category of probing questions asks for additional examples, evidence which has been discovered, reasons for making statements, adequacy for the reasons, process which lead student to this belief, or anything which would change the student's mind on this issue.
What would be an example?
What is....analogous to?
What do you think causes to happen...? Why:?
"Do you think that diffusion is responsible for the lower conversion?"
Questions about viewpoints or perspectives
The student might be asked whether there are alternatives to this viewpoint or perspective, how might other groups or people respond, what argument a person might use who disagrees with this viewpoint, or a comparison of similarities and differences between viewpoints.
What would be an alternative?
What is another way to look at it?
Would you explain why it is necessary or beneficial, and who benefits?
Why is the best?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of...?
How are...and ...similar?
What is a counterargument for...?
"With all the bends in the pipe, from an industrial/practical standpoint, do you think diffusion will affect the conversion?"
Questions that probe implications and consequences
The student might be asked to describe and discuss the implication of what is being done or said, the effect which would result, the alternatives which might be feasible, or the cause-and-effect of an action.
What generalizations can you make?
What are the consequences of that assumption?
What are you implying?
How does...affect...?
How does...tie in with what we learned before?
"How would our results be affected if neglected diffusion?"
Questions about the question
The student might be asked to identify the question, the main point, or the issue at hand. In addition, the student might be asked to break the question into single concepts rather than multiple concepts or determine whether some type of evaluation needs to take place. The student or discussion group may also be asked to identify why this question is important.
What was the point of this question?
Why do you think I asked this question?
What does...mean?
How does...apply to everyday life?
"Why do you think diffusion is important?"
- questions of clarification
- questions that probe assumptions
- questions that probe reasons and evidence
- questions about viewpoints or perspectives
- questions that probe implications and consequences
- questions about the question
Questions of clarification are basically asking for verification, additional information, or clarification of one point or main idea. The student would be expected to provide the information, expound on an opinion, rephrase the content, or explain why he/she made that particular statement. Clarification may also be requested from others in the discussion group.
Many questions can center around the concept of assumptions. The student may be asked for clarification, verification, explanation, or reliability of the assumption. Students may also be asked to identify another assumption which might apply to the particular case.
This category of probing questions asks for additional examples, evidence which has been discovered, reasons for making statements, adequacy for the reasons, process which lead student to this belief, or anything which would change the student's mind on this issue.
The student might be asked whether there are alternatives to this viewpoint or perspective, how might other groups or people respond, what argument a person might use who disagrees with this viewpoint, or a comparison of similarities and differences between viewpoints.
The student might be asked to describe and discuss the implication of what is being done or said, the effect which would result, the alternatives which might be feasible, or the cause-and-effect of an action.
The student might be asked to identify the question, the main point, or the issue at hand. In addition, the student might be asked to break the question into single concepts rather than multiple concepts or determine whether some type of evaluation needs to take place. The student or discussion group may also be asked to identify why this question is important.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates
9 - destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations.
29 - Your grandmother taught me to write, by which I mean not simply organizing a set of sentences into a series of paragraphs, but organizing them as a means of investigation. When I was in trouble at school (which was quite often) she would make me write about it. The writing had to answer a series of questions: Why did I feel the need to talk at the same time as my teacher? Why did I not believe that my teacher was entitled to respect? How would I want someone to behave while I was talking? What would I do the next time I felt the urge to talk to my friends during a lesson? I have given you these same assignments. I gave them to you not because I thought they would curb your behavior -- they certainly did not curb mine -- but because these were the earliest acts of interrogation, of drawing myself into consciousness. Your grandmother was not teaching me how to behave in class. She was teaching me how to ruthlessly interrogate the subject the elicted the most sympathy and rationalizing -- myself. Here was the lesson: I was not an innocent. My impulses were not filled with unfailing virtue. And feeling that I was as human as anyone, this must be true for other humans. If I was not innocent, then tey were not innocent. Could this mix of motivations also affect the stories they tell? The cities they built? The country they claimed as given to them by God?
34 An unceasing interrogation of the stories told to us by the schools now felt essential. It felt wrong not to ask why, and then to ask it again.... I don't know that I have ever found any satisfactory answers of my own. But every time I ask it, the question is refined. That is the best of what the old heads meant when they spoke of being "politically conscious" -- as much a series of actions as a state of bein, a constant questioning, questioning as ritual, questioning as exploration rather than the search for certainty.
51 I was learning the craft of poetry, which really was an intensive version of what my mother had taught me all those years ago -- the craft of writing as the art of thinking. Poetry aims for an economy of truth -- loose and useless words must be discarded, and I found that these loose and useless words were not separate from loose and useless thoughts. Poetry was not simply the transcription of notions -- beautiful writing rarely is.
55 I took a survey of Europe post-1800. I saw black people, rendered through 'white' eyes, unlike any I'd seen before -- the black people looked regal and human. I rememer the soft face of Alessandro de' Medici, the royal bearing of Bosch's black magi. These images, cast in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were contrasted with those created after enslavement, the Sambo caricatures I had always knonw. What was the difference? In my suvey course of America, I'd seen portraits of the Irish drawn in the same ravenous, lustful, simian way.
60 Hate gives identity... We name the hated strangers and are thus confirmed in the tribe... She taught me how to love in new ways.
67 Dan Ryan... State Street corridor. The housing occurred to me as a moral disaster not just for the people living there but for the entire region, the metropolis of commuters who drove by, each day, and with their quiet acquiescence tolerated such a thing.
81 And if he, good Christian, scion of a striving class, patron saint of the twice as good, could be forever bound, who then could not? And the plunder was not just of Prince [Jones] alone. Think of all the love poured into him. Think of the tuitoions for Monessori and music lessons. Think of the gasoline expended, the treads worn carting him to football games, basketball tournaments, and Little League. Think of the time spent regulating sleepovers. Think of the surprise parties, the daycare, and the reference checks on babysitters. Think of World Book and Childcraft. Think of checks written for family photos. Think of credit cards charged for vacations. Think of soccer balls, science kits, chemistry sets, racetracks, and model trains. Think of the embraces, all the private jokes, customs, greetings, names, dreams, all the shared knowledge adn capacity of a black family injected into that vessel of flesh and bone. And think of how that vessel was taken, shattered on the concrete, adn all its holy contents, all that had gone into him, sent flowing back to the earth.
116 The Dream seemed to be the pinnacle, then -- to grow rich and live in one of those disconnected houses out in the country, in one of those small communities, one of those cul-de-sacs with its gently curving ways, where they staged teen movies and children built treehouses, and in that last lost year before college, teenagers made love in cars parked at the lake. The Dream seemed to be the end of the world for me, the height of American ambition. What more could possibly exist beyond the dispatches, beyond the suburbs?
143 I am convinced that the Dreamers, at least the Dreamers of today, would rather live white than live free.
29 - Your grandmother taught me to write, by which I mean not simply organizing a set of sentences into a series of paragraphs, but organizing them as a means of investigation. When I was in trouble at school (which was quite often) she would make me write about it. The writing had to answer a series of questions: Why did I feel the need to talk at the same time as my teacher? Why did I not believe that my teacher was entitled to respect? How would I want someone to behave while I was talking? What would I do the next time I felt the urge to talk to my friends during a lesson? I have given you these same assignments. I gave them to you not because I thought they would curb your behavior -- they certainly did not curb mine -- but because these were the earliest acts of interrogation, of drawing myself into consciousness. Your grandmother was not teaching me how to behave in class. She was teaching me how to ruthlessly interrogate the subject the elicted the most sympathy and rationalizing -- myself. Here was the lesson: I was not an innocent. My impulses were not filled with unfailing virtue. And feeling that I was as human as anyone, this must be true for other humans. If I was not innocent, then tey were not innocent. Could this mix of motivations also affect the stories they tell? The cities they built? The country they claimed as given to them by God?
34 An unceasing interrogation of the stories told to us by the schools now felt essential. It felt wrong not to ask why, and then to ask it again.... I don't know that I have ever found any satisfactory answers of my own. But every time I ask it, the question is refined. That is the best of what the old heads meant when they spoke of being "politically conscious" -- as much a series of actions as a state of bein, a constant questioning, questioning as ritual, questioning as exploration rather than the search for certainty.
51 I was learning the craft of poetry, which really was an intensive version of what my mother had taught me all those years ago -- the craft of writing as the art of thinking. Poetry aims for an economy of truth -- loose and useless words must be discarded, and I found that these loose and useless words were not separate from loose and useless thoughts. Poetry was not simply the transcription of notions -- beautiful writing rarely is.
55 I took a survey of Europe post-1800. I saw black people, rendered through 'white' eyes, unlike any I'd seen before -- the black people looked regal and human. I rememer the soft face of Alessandro de' Medici, the royal bearing of Bosch's black magi. These images, cast in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were contrasted with those created after enslavement, the Sambo caricatures I had always knonw. What was the difference? In my suvey course of America, I'd seen portraits of the Irish drawn in the same ravenous, lustful, simian way.
60 Hate gives identity... We name the hated strangers and are thus confirmed in the tribe... She taught me how to love in new ways.
67 Dan Ryan... State Street corridor. The housing occurred to me as a moral disaster not just for the people living there but for the entire region, the metropolis of commuters who drove by, each day, and with their quiet acquiescence tolerated such a thing.
81 And if he, good Christian, scion of a striving class, patron saint of the twice as good, could be forever bound, who then could not? And the plunder was not just of Prince [Jones] alone. Think of all the love poured into him. Think of the tuitoions for Monessori and music lessons. Think of the gasoline expended, the treads worn carting him to football games, basketball tournaments, and Little League. Think of the time spent regulating sleepovers. Think of the surprise parties, the daycare, and the reference checks on babysitters. Think of World Book and Childcraft. Think of checks written for family photos. Think of credit cards charged for vacations. Think of soccer balls, science kits, chemistry sets, racetracks, and model trains. Think of the embraces, all the private jokes, customs, greetings, names, dreams, all the shared knowledge adn capacity of a black family injected into that vessel of flesh and bone. And think of how that vessel was taken, shattered on the concrete, adn all its holy contents, all that had gone into him, sent flowing back to the earth.
116 The Dream seemed to be the pinnacle, then -- to grow rich and live in one of those disconnected houses out in the country, in one of those small communities, one of those cul-de-sacs with its gently curving ways, where they staged teen movies and children built treehouses, and in that last lost year before college, teenagers made love in cars parked at the lake. The Dream seemed to be the end of the world for me, the height of American ambition. What more could possibly exist beyond the dispatches, beyond the suburbs?
143 I am convinced that the Dreamers, at least the Dreamers of today, would rather live white than live free.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Constructivist Learning: Allowing Students to Struggle
Great article in Quartz (link) called "The best way to learn math is to learn how to fail productively."
Students are presented with unfamiliar concepts, asked to work through them, and then taught the solution. Students taught this way outperform those taught through formal instruction and problem-solving.
Instead of teaching standard deviation, provide students with this problem, and let them work on it for 30-45 minutes (45 minutes! what grit!):
After that, the teacher talks about the most common 3-4 techniques devised by students, then shows the class the standard solution.
How do you get students to keep up the effort? They are told "we know you don't know this, we want you to generate as many ideas right or wrong and the more you generate the more you will learn."
One of the problems with this? Teachers. Teachers "say it's stressful to teach this way. It's easier to tell them [students] what you know."
Students are presented with unfamiliar concepts, asked to work through them, and then taught the solution. Students taught this way outperform those taught through formal instruction and problem-solving.
Instead of teaching standard deviation, provide students with this problem, and let them work on it for 30-45 minutes (45 minutes! what grit!):
After that, the teacher talks about the most common 3-4 techniques devised by students, then shows the class the standard solution.
How do you get students to keep up the effort? They are told "we know you don't know this, we want you to generate as many ideas right or wrong and the more you generate the more you will learn."
One of the problems with this? Teachers. Teachers "say it's stressful to teach this way. It's easier to tell them [students] what you know."
Strategic Questioning: Talking Partners
What's a talking partner?
Even if the question a teacher asks is a basic recall question, a more effective approach than rapid fire Q&A is to ask the question, then ask students to talk to the person next to them (their talking partner) for, say 30 seconds, to determine the answer. Then answers are then gathered, with no hands up, from a number of pairs (with one student acting as spokesperson^ each time) until a full definition is compiled. When asking open questions ("What might be the reasons for this?"), it is often useful to ask students to raise their hands if their partner had a good idea that they could tell the class. This technique also has the benefit of students feeling authentically proud of what they've done in class. Having 'talking partners' as a regular feature of lessons allows students to think, to articulate, and therefore to extend their learning.
^who should be the spokesperson? Kevin Feldman would say that the teacher should choose the weaker student when it's an important academic task. Too often, the weaker student sits on the sideline while the stronger student practices thinking and speaking.
(mostly from Shirley Clark, Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom)
Strategic Questioning: Three Ways to Increase Wait Time?
How to increase 'wait time'
- indicating the thinking time and asking for no hands up until the time is up
- asking for talking partner* discussions for a given period of time before taking responses
- asking students to jot their thoughts on paper for a given period of time before taking responses
what are the benefits of extending wait time?
- answers are longer
- failure to respond decreases
- responses are more confident
- more alternative explanations are offered
- students challenge and/or improve the answers of other students
Of course, even better than longer wait time is a policy of "no hands up."
* what's a talking partner?
Even if the question is a basic recall question, a more effective approach than rapid fire is to ask the question, then ask students to talk to the person next to them (their talking partner) for, say 30 seconds, to determine the answer. Then answers are then gathered, with no hands up, from a number of pairs (with one student acting as spokesperson^ each time) until a full definition is compiled. When asking open questions ("What might be the reasons for this?"), it is often useful to ask students to raise their hands if their partner had a good idea that they could tell the class. This technique also has the benefit of students feeling authentically proud of what they've done in class. Having 'talking partners' as a regular feature of lessons allows students to think, to articulate, and therefore to extend their learning.
^who should be the spokesperson? Kevin Feldman would say that the teacher should choose the weaker student when it's an important academic task. Too often, the weaker student sits on the sideline while the stronger student practices thinking and speaking.
(mostly from Shirley Clark, Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom)
What is the Constructivist Classroom?
Brooks and Brooks (1993), authors of In Search of Understanding: the case for constructivist classrooms, list twelve descriptors of constructivist teaching behaviors.
1. Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative (students frame their own questions and find answers)
2. Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive and physical materials (students look for evidence rather than receiving knowledge passively and link concepts to real life situations)
3. When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use terminology such as 'classify,' 'analyze,''predict,' and 'create'
4. Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content
5. Constructivist teachers inquire about students' understandings of concepts before sharing their own understanding of these concepts (take account of current understandings and interests)
6. Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another (students are encouraged to present their own ideas as well as being permitted to hear and reflect on the ideas of others; paired two-minute discussions before general feedback leads to more powerful construction of new understandings or reflection of old ones.)
7. Constructivist teachers encourages student enquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other
8. Constructivist teachers seek elaboration of students' initial responses
9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion -- teachers ask questions which set up contradictions to encourage discussion
10. Constructivist teachers allow 'wait time' after posing questions.
11. Constructivist teachers provide time for students to construct relationship and create metaphors
12. Constructivist teachers nurture students' natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model - (i) students interact with selected materials and generate questions and hypotheses, (ii) teacher focuses students questions as a way of introducing the concept, (iii) students work on new problems as a way of applying the concept.
1. Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative (students frame their own questions and find answers)
2. Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive and physical materials (students look for evidence rather than receiving knowledge passively and link concepts to real life situations)
3. When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use terminology such as 'classify,' 'analyze,''predict,' and 'create'
4. Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content
5. Constructivist teachers inquire about students' understandings of concepts before sharing their own understanding of these concepts (take account of current understandings and interests)
6. Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another (students are encouraged to present their own ideas as well as being permitted to hear and reflect on the ideas of others; paired two-minute discussions before general feedback leads to more powerful construction of new understandings or reflection of old ones.)
7. Constructivist teachers encourages student enquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other
8. Constructivist teachers seek elaboration of students' initial responses
9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion -- teachers ask questions which set up contradictions to encourage discussion
10. Constructivist teachers allow 'wait time' after posing questions.
11. Constructivist teachers provide time for students to construct relationship and create metaphors
12. Constructivist teachers nurture students' natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model - (i) students interact with selected materials and generate questions and hypotheses, (ii) teacher focuses students questions as a way of introducing the concept, (iii) students work on new problems as a way of applying the concept.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
What is formative assessment?
Shirley Clarke, in "Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom" (2005), first spells out a "summary list" that defines formative assessment:
In the introduction, she introduces the key research that underpins her book. The core of that research is Black and Wiliam research (Assessment Reform Group, 1999). She cites Black and Wiliam's research to define formative assessment and "inhibiting factors.'
"The research indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, key factors:
This was further broken down to include
The "inhibiting factors" identified include:
OFSTED publication Good Assessment in Secondary Schools (2003) includes a list of the features seen in classrooms where formative assessment was deemed successful:
- clarifying learning objectives and success criteria at the planning stage, as a framework for formative assessment processes (chapter 1);
- sharing learning objectives and success criteria with students, both long term and for individual lessons (chapter 2);
- appropriate and effective questioning which develops the learning rather than attempts to measure it (chapter 3);
- focusing oral and written feedback, whether from teachers or student, around the development of learning objectives and meeting of targets (chapter 5)
- organising targets so that students' achievement is based on previous achievement as well as aiming for the next step (ipsative referencing) (chapter 5)
- involving students in self- and peer evaluation (chapter 6)
- raising students' self-efficacy and holding a belief that all students have the potential to learn and to achieve
In the introduction, she introduces the key research that underpins her book. The core of that research is Black and Wiliam research (Assessment Reform Group, 1999). She cites Black and Wiliam's research to define formative assessment and "inhibiting factors.'
"The research indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, key factors:
- the provision of effective feedback to students;
- the active involvement of students in their own learning
- adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessments
- a recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial influences on learning
- the need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.
This was further broken down to include
- sharing learning goals with students;
- involving students in self-assessment;
- providing feedback which leads to students recognising their next steps and how to take them;
- underpinned by confidence that every student can improve
The "inhibiting factors" identified include:
- a tendency for teachers to assess quantity of work and presentation rather than the quality of learning;
- greater attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower the self-esteem of students, rather than to provide advice for improvement;
- a strong emphasis on comparing students with each other which demoralises the less successful learners
- teachers' feedback to students often serves managerial and social purposes rather than helping them to learn more effectively.
OFSTED publication Good Assessment in Secondary Schools (2003) includes a list of the features seen in classrooms where formative assessment was deemed successful:
- a welcome to the students, who were personally valued and knew that they would be expected and helped to do their best
- clarity of aims and expected outcomes, discussed at the outset
- a range of methods that give students some responsibility for organising how they learn, and that involve them in a variety of ways -- through presentations, displays, using the whiteboard, simulations, role play, quizzes, modelling, the use of memory and recall techniques, and through reflecting on the value of what has been achieved.
- a collaborative approach to learning, with a strong emphasis on analysis and discussion
- opportunities for divergent thinking in an atmosphere that ensures students do not feel bad if they make a mistake.
Shirley Clarke's "Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom" (2005)
Shirley Clarke's "Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom" (2005)
Introduction
Formative Assessment consists of the following- clarifying learning objectives and success criteria at the planning stage, as a framework for formative assessment processes (chapter 1);
- sharing learning objectives and success criteria with students, both long term and for individual lessons (chapter 2);
- appropriate and effective questioning which develops the learning rather than attempts to measure it (chapter 3);
- focusing oral and written feedback, whether from teachers or student, around the development of learning objectives and meeting of targets (chapter 5)
- organising targets so that students' achievement is based on previous achievement as well as aiming for the next step (ipsative referencing) (chapter 5)
- involving students in self- and peer evaluation (chapter 6)
- raising students' self-efficacy and holding a belief that all students have the potential to learn and to achieve
Black and Wiliam research (Assessment Reform Group, 1999)
"The research indicates that improving learning through assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, key factors:
- the provision of effective feedback to students;
- the active involvement of students in their own learning
- adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessments
- a recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial influences on learning
- the need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve.
This was further broken down to include
- sharing learning goals with students;
- involving students in self-assessment;
- providing feedback which leads to students recognising their next steps and how to take them;
- underpinned by confidence that every student can improve
The "inhibiting factors" identified include:
- a tendency for teachers to assess quantity of work and presentation rather than the quality of learning;
- greater attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower the self-esteem of students, rather than to provide advice for improvement;
- a strong emphasis on comparing students with each other which demoralises the less successful learners
- teachers' feedback to students often serves managerial and social purposes rather than helping them to learn more effectively.
OFSTED publication Good Assessment in Secondary Schools (2003) includes a list of the features seen in classrooms where formative assessment was deemed successful:
- a welcome to the students, who were personally valued and knew that they would be expected and helped to do their best
- clarity of aims and expected outcomes, discussed at the outset
- a range of methods that give students some responsibility for organising how they learn, and that involve them in a variety of ways -- through presentations, displays, using the whiteboard, simulations, role play, quizzes, modelling, the use of memory and recall techniques, and through reflecting on the value of what has been achieved.
- a collaborative approach to learning, with a strong emphasis on analysis and discussion
- opportunities for divergent thinking in an atmosphere that ensures students do not feel bad if they make a mistake.
In Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom, Shirley Clarke claims that "constructivist teaching" underlies true formative assessment. Brooks and Brooks (1993), authors of In Search of Understanding: the case for constructivist classrooms, list twelve descriptors of constructivist teaching behaviors.
1. Constructivist teachers encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative (students frame their own questions and find answers)
2. Constructivist teachers use raw data and primary sources, along with manipulative, interactive and physical materials (students look for evidence rather than receiving knowledge passively and link concepts to real life situations)
3. When framing tasks, constructivist teachers use terminology such as 'classify,' 'analyze,''predict,' and 'create'
4. Constructivist teachers allow student responses to drive lessons, shift instructional strategies and alter content
5. Constructivist teachers inquire about students' understandings of concepts before sharing their own understanding of these concepts (take account of current understandings and interests)
6. Constructivist teachers encourage students to engage in dialogue, both with the teacher and with one another (students are encouraged to present their own ideas as well as being permitted to hear and reflect on the ideas of others; paired two-minute discussions before general feedback leads to more powerful construction of new understandings or reflection of old ones.)
7. Constructivist teachers encourages student enquiry by asking thoughtful, open-ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other
8. Constructivist teachers seek elaboration of students' initial responses
9. Constructivist teachers engage students in experiences that might engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses and then encourage discussion -- teachers ask questions which set up contradictions to encourage discussion
10. Constructivist teachers allow 'wait time' after posing questions.
11. Constructivist teachers provide time for students to construct relationship and create metaphors
12. Constructivist teachers nurture students' natural curiosity through frequent use of the learning cycle model - (i) students interact with selected materials and generate questions and hypotheses, (ii) teacher focuses students questions as a way of introducing the concept, (iii) students work on new problems as a way of applying the concept.
Chapter 3: Questioning
How to increase 'wait time' in questioning
indicating the thinking time and asking for no hands up until the time is up
asking for talking partner* discussions for a given period of time before taking responses
asking students to jot their thoughts on paper for a given period of time before taking responses
what are the benefits of extending wait time?
answers are longer
failure to respond decreases
responses are more confident
more alternative explanations are offered
students challenge and/or improve the answers of other students
Of course, even better than longer wait time is a policy of "no hands up."
* what's a talking partner?
Even if the question is a basic recall question, a more effective approach than rapid fire is to ask the question, then ask students to talk to the person next to them (their talking partner) for, say 30 seconds, to determine the answer. Then answers are then gathered, with no hands up, from a number of pairs (with one student acting as spokesperson^ each time) until a full definition is compiled. When asking open questions ("What might be the reasons for this?"), it is often useful to ask students to raise their hands if their partner had a good idea that they could tell the class. This technique also has the benefit of students feeling authentically proud of what they've done in class. Having 'talking partners' as a regular feature of lessons allows students to think, to articulate, and therefore to extend their learning.
^who should be the spokesperson? Kevin Feldman would say that the teacher should choose the weaker student when it's an important academic task. Too often, the weaker student sits on the sideline while the stronger student practices thinking and speaking.
(from Shirley Clark, Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom)
Chapter 5: Quality Feedback: practical implications
Shirley Clarke's "Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom" (2005) has been on my "to read" list for a couple years. I've finally gotten around to reading it. Not too long ago I read this section about "Comment Only Marking" that fits in very well with our departmental conversations about making feedback to students as good (and as efficient) as it can be. I thought that it might be useful to share now that we're moving into 2nd quarter.
Here's how you do it:
Phase 1: At the very beginning of a new work/assignment/paper, explain to the class that you will be changing the way you will mark their written work in order to help them make more progress in the future.
Phase 2: Read all of a student's work through very carefully before making any mark on the paper. Next, highlight three places in the writing where the student best met the learning intention(s) of the activity (where the student met with some success on the rubric or scoring guide). Then indicate with a star where an improvement can be made to the original work. Use your judgment about the one area on the rubric that would be best for this student.
Phase 3: Draw an arrow to a suitable space near the start and write a "close the gap" (yes, Shirley is British) prompt to support the student in making an improvement to their work. This prompt can be provided in a number of ways:
a) reminder prompt is simply a rather unhelpful reiteration of the learning objective, for example: ("give more detail about the impact of Henry VIII's reign" or "write a more interesting ending to this story")
b) scaffolded prompt involves the teacher giving examples and ideas as words or phrases. For example: ("Give more detail. For instance: what else did he change? what kinds of people were affected by this change? in what ways did the affect them? or could you make your story more interesting? what did the character learn from his experience? what advice might he give to future travellers?)
c) the example prompt involves the teacher giving exact models of what the student might write. The student is invited to choose one of these or to then write their own example.
Phase 4: Ensure that you provide time in class to enable students to read and respond to the 'close the gap' comment. This could also provide a suitable time to follow up individual needs with specific students 'face to face.' Finally, remember to comment on their improvement at the first available opportunity.
According to Clarke, you don't share a letter grade. You don't give 1 good thing and 3 things to work on. And, if at all possible, you provide the feedback verbally. (She says that later, when students are nearer mastery, you might want to give kids more "negative" feedback, but start this way.)
I just collected papers on Friday and finished grading them Sunday. I have been meeting with each student these past couple days and am doing this: provide exactly 3 areas that the student has shown some success and 1 area for growth with a specific request for a change. I have selected "good example paragraphs" from the papers that I've graded to share as "example prompts" that will provide examples for various KINDS of paragraphs (intro, summary, response/critique, synthesis, conclusion) that I'm sharing with students. Everyone leaves with their paper, a “cover sheet” of the 3+1, and an example photocopied paragraph. I look each student in the eye and say, “you’ve done some really good work here. I think that reworking this section will make a real difference. Work hard.” I’m trying to make them blush and feel good about what their current efforts and that they can do even better with some specific hard work.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
"Instructional Urgency"
How do teachers orchestrate instruction urgency (which is not going fast, but students understand the importance of their work and that every minute counts).
In Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov tells us that in the classroom, “time is water in the desert, a teacher’s most precious resource: to be husbanded, guarded, and conserved. Every minute matters” (2010, p. 230). Effective teachers know that time is sacred; the highest-performing teachers never waste a minute of class time (Cunningham & Allington, 2007).
Joanne Kelleher in Phi Delta Kappan, Oct 2015. article here.
In Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov tells us that in the classroom, “time is water in the desert, a teacher’s most precious resource: to be husbanded, guarded, and conserved. Every minute matters” (2010, p. 230). Effective teachers know that time is sacred; the highest-performing teachers never waste a minute of class time (Cunningham & Allington, 2007).
In the classrooms where teachers value time — theirs and students’ — you will observe the following:
- Students arrive on time and begin working on some type of “do now” activity or anticipatory set;
- Time-saving routines are in place;
- Every minute of instructional time is used;
- Time limits are placed on activities and shared with students;
- A variety of activities occur during instruction;
- Transitions between activities are seamless; and
- Teacher praises students’ efficient use of time.
Joanne Kelleher in Phi Delta Kappan, Oct 2015. article here.
Does the Common Core Support Thoughtful, Skeptical Readers?
What do we mean when we say we know something? This core question is a key question missing from the Common Core State Standards.
Susan Kirch says that the focus in the CCSS on "finding evidence" overlooks more essential critical reading skills that are absent in the CCSS.
"The phrases used in [the CCSS] -- use evidence, identify evidence, draw evidence, cite relevant evidence, support with evidence -- imply that evidence is an object that can be identified simply by looking at it." A more thoughtful approach to critical reading would help students "develop abilities to understand how explanations, arguments, or persuasive narratives are produced."
Here are some other questions to ask:
did the authors prove their claim?
How do we know?
Is an alternative possible?
Is all evidence equally useful, valid, and trustworthy?
How do we decide to trust a source?
Do we tend to believe what we read no matter what it says or who writes it?
Do we tend to believe what we read only when it is consistent with our own personal experience?
Susan Kirch "Teaching and Learning the Purpose of Evidence for Knowledge and Knowing" The Reading Teacher, Sept/Oct 2015
Susan Kirch says that the focus in the CCSS on "finding evidence" overlooks more essential critical reading skills that are absent in the CCSS.
"The phrases used in [the CCSS] -- use evidence, identify evidence, draw evidence, cite relevant evidence, support with evidence -- imply that evidence is an object that can be identified simply by looking at it." A more thoughtful approach to critical reading would help students "develop abilities to understand how explanations, arguments, or persuasive narratives are produced."
Here are some other questions to ask:
did the authors prove their claim?
How do we know?
Is an alternative possible?
Is all evidence equally useful, valid, and trustworthy?
How do we decide to trust a source?
Do we tend to believe what we read no matter what it says or who writes it?
Do we tend to believe what we read only when it is consistent with our own personal experience?
Susan Kirch "Teaching and Learning the Purpose of Evidence for Knowledge and Knowing" The Reading Teacher, Sept/Oct 2015
Susan Cain on "How Schools Can Accommodate Their Introverted Students"
Susan Cain and Emily Klein in "Engaging the Quiet Kids: Brain Science and the Teaching of Introverts" in Independent School, Fall 2015. Link to article.
"Why do so many introverts look back on high school as the worst time of their lives -- and why do we accept this as normal and 'OK'?"
"Do professional educators have a full understanding of how tough a place an American high school can be for introverts? Do we realize what an extroverted act it is, in the first place, to go to school all day long in a classroom full of people, with constant stimulation, precious few breaks, and almost no quiet time or alone time? Even for introverted kids who like school, it's still an over-stimulating environment -- not unlike an all-day cocktail party for an introverted adult (but without the alcohol)."
"From grading students for participation (almost exclusively defined as raising one's hand and speaking, rather than engaging quietly with the material), to an emphasis on cooperative learning and group discussion, to subtle and informal but powerful incentives for being well liked and socially active, schools reward outgoing students and penalize quiet ones."
How can schools right the imbalance?
1. Rethink grading for participation. Grades should accurately assess students' learning, not how much they talk in class.
2. Teachers should orchestrate engagement/participation. Cold calling, random calling, speaking partners, think, pair, share...
3. Wait five or ten seconds before calling on students.
4. Use social media in the classroom
5. Practice public speaking in small groups
9. Have some quiet time, for at least part of the day
"Why do so many introverts look back on high school as the worst time of their lives -- and why do we accept this as normal and 'OK'?"
"Do professional educators have a full understanding of how tough a place an American high school can be for introverts? Do we realize what an extroverted act it is, in the first place, to go to school all day long in a classroom full of people, with constant stimulation, precious few breaks, and almost no quiet time or alone time? Even for introverted kids who like school, it's still an over-stimulating environment -- not unlike an all-day cocktail party for an introverted adult (but without the alcohol)."
"From grading students for participation (almost exclusively defined as raising one's hand and speaking, rather than engaging quietly with the material), to an emphasis on cooperative learning and group discussion, to subtle and informal but powerful incentives for being well liked and socially active, schools reward outgoing students and penalize quiet ones."
How can schools right the imbalance?
1. Rethink grading for participation. Grades should accurately assess students' learning, not how much they talk in class.
2. Teachers should orchestrate engagement/participation. Cold calling, random calling, speaking partners, think, pair, share...
3. Wait five or ten seconds before calling on students.
4. Use social media in the classroom
5. Practice public speaking in small groups
9. Have some quiet time, for at least part of the day
Leadership One-Liners
"It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." Steve Jobs (HBR)
Encourage reflection after doing. "Don't avoid thinking by being busy." Take 15 minutes at the end of a work day reflecting and jotting notes on the lessons learned that day. (HBR)
There is a bias towards experts -- an overly narrow view of expertise (titles, degrees, years of experience) rather than time on the front line... also a problem of 'experts' which robs an organization of the wisdom of those closest to the action. (HBR)
69 Chinese proverb: "Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
mantras: "improvise, adapt, and overcome"
"I can handle this even though I may not like it."
98 "The arrow that hits the bull's-eye is the result of 100 misses." Buddhist saying
99 "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Japanese proverb
Encourage reflection after doing. "Don't avoid thinking by being busy." Take 15 minutes at the end of a work day reflecting and jotting notes on the lessons learned that day. (HBR)
There is a bias towards experts -- an overly narrow view of expertise (titles, degrees, years of experience) rather than time on the front line... also a problem of 'experts' which robs an organization of the wisdom of those closest to the action. (HBR)
69 Chinese proverb: "Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
mantras: "improvise, adapt, and overcome"
"I can handle this even though I may not like it."
98 "The arrow that hits the bull's-eye is the result of 100 misses." Buddhist saying
99 "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Japanese proverb
Education Quotations
"It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do." Steve Jobs
"Why do so many introverts look back on high school as the worst time of their lives -- and why do we accept this reality as normal and 'OK'?" Susan Cain and Emily Klein
69 Chinese proverb: "Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
mantras: "improvise, adapt, and overcome"
"I can handle this even though I may not like it."
98 "The arrow that hits the bull's-eye is the result of 100 misses." Buddhist saying
99 "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Japanese proverb
"Why do so many introverts look back on high school as the worst time of their lives -- and why do we accept this reality as normal and 'OK'?" Susan Cain and Emily Klein
69 Chinese proverb: "Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
mantras: "improvise, adapt, and overcome"
"I can handle this even though I may not like it."
98 "The arrow that hits the bull's-eye is the result of 100 misses." Buddhist saying
99 "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." Japanese proverb
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Efficient Quality Feedback: Comment Only Marking
Shirley Clarke's "Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom" (2005) has been on my "to read" list for a couple years. I've finally gotten around to reading it. Not too long ago I read this section about "Comment Only Marking" that fits in very well with our departmental conversations about making feedback to students as good (and as efficient) as it can be. I thought that it might be useful to share now that we're moving into 2nd quarter.
Here's how you do it:
Phase 1: At the very beginning of a new work/assignment/paper, explain to the class that you will be changing the way you will mark their written work in order to help them make more progress in the future.
Phase 2: Read all of a student's work through very carefully before making any mark on the paper. Next, highlight three places in the writing where the student best met the learning intention(s) of the activity (where the student met with some success on the rubric or scoring guide). Then indicate with a star where an improvement can be made to the original work. Use your judgment about the one area on the rubric that would be best for this student.
Phase 3: Draw an arrow to a suitable space near the start and write a "close the gap" (yes, Shirley is British) prompt to support the student in making an improvement to their work. This prompt can be provided in a number of ways:
a) reminder prompt is simply a rather unhelpful reiteration of the learning objective, for example: ("give more detail about the impact of Henry VIII's reign" or "write a more interesting ending to this story")
b) scaffolded prompt involves the teacher giving examples and ideas as words or phrases. For example: ("Give more detail. For instance: what else did he change? what kinds of people were affected by this change? in what ways did the affect them? or could you make your story more interesting? what did the character learn from his experience? what advice might he give to future travellers?)
c) the example prompt involves the teacher giving exact models of what the student might write. The student is invited to choose one of these or to then write their own example.
Phase 4: Ensure that you provide time in class to enable students to read and respond to the 'close the gap' comment. This could also provide a suitable time to follow up individual needs with specific students 'face to face.' Finally, remember to comment on their improvement at the first available opportunity.
According to Clarke, you don't share a letter grade. You don't give 1 good thing and 3 things to work on. And, if at all possible, you provide the feedback verbally. (She says that later, when students are nearer mastery, you might want to give kids more "negative" feedback, but start this way.)
I just collected papers on Friday and finished grading them Sunday. I have been meeting with each student these past couple days and am doing this: provide exactly 3 areas that the student has shown some success and 1 area for growth with a specific request for a change. I have selected "good example paragraphs" from the papers that I've graded to share as "example prompts" that will provide examples for various KINDS of paragraphs (intro, summary, response/critique, synthesis, conclusion) that I'm sharing with students. Everyone leaves with their paper, a “cover sheet” of the 3+1, and an example photocopied paragraph. I look each student in the eye and say, “you’ve done some really good work here. I think that reworking this section will make a real difference. Work hard.” I’m trying to make them blush and feel good about what their current efforts and that they can do even better with some specific hard work.
Here's how you do it:
Phase 1: At the very beginning of a new work/assignment/paper, explain to the class that you will be changing the way you will mark their written work in order to help them make more progress in the future.
Phase 2: Read all of a student's work through very carefully before making any mark on the paper. Next, highlight three places in the writing where the student best met the learning intention(s) of the activity (where the student met with some success on the rubric or scoring guide). Then indicate with a star where an improvement can be made to the original work. Use your judgment about the one area on the rubric that would be best for this student.
Phase 3: Draw an arrow to a suitable space near the start and write a "close the gap" (yes, Shirley is British) prompt to support the student in making an improvement to their work. This prompt can be provided in a number of ways:
a) reminder prompt is simply a rather unhelpful reiteration of the learning objective, for example: ("give more detail about the impact of Henry VIII's reign" or "write a more interesting ending to this story")
b) scaffolded prompt involves the teacher giving examples and ideas as words or phrases. For example: ("Give more detail. For instance: what else did he change? what kinds of people were affected by this change? in what ways did the affect them? or could you make your story more interesting? what did the character learn from his experience? what advice might he give to future travellers?)
c) the example prompt involves the teacher giving exact models of what the student might write. The student is invited to choose one of these or to then write their own example.
Phase 4: Ensure that you provide time in class to enable students to read and respond to the 'close the gap' comment. This could also provide a suitable time to follow up individual needs with specific students 'face to face.' Finally, remember to comment on their improvement at the first available opportunity.
According to Clarke, you don't share a letter grade. You don't give 1 good thing and 3 things to work on. And, if at all possible, you provide the feedback verbally. (She says that later, when students are nearer mastery, you might want to give kids more "negative" feedback, but start this way.)
I just collected papers on Friday and finished grading them Sunday. I have been meeting with each student these past couple days and am doing this: provide exactly 3 areas that the student has shown some success and 1 area for growth with a specific request for a change. I have selected "good example paragraphs" from the papers that I've graded to share as "example prompts" that will provide examples for various KINDS of paragraphs (intro, summary, response/critique, synthesis, conclusion) that I'm sharing with students. Everyone leaves with their paper, a “cover sheet” of the 3+1, and an example photocopied paragraph. I look each student in the eye and say, “you’ve done some really good work here. I think that reworking this section will make a real difference. Work hard.” I’m trying to make them blush and feel good about what their current efforts and that they can do even better with some specific hard work.
On Respecting Your Elders
"The ideal Puritan girl was a sterling amalgam of modesty, piety, and tireless industry. She was to speak neither too soon nor too much. She read her Scripture twice daily. Increase Mather warned that youths who disregarded their mothers could expect to 'come to the gallows, and be hanged in gibbets for the ravens and eagles to feed upon them.'"
Stacy Schiff "The Witches of Salem," The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 2015
Stacy Schiff "The Witches of Salem," The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 2015
Saturday, October 17, 2015
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