Friday, February 10, 2012
Collaboration With Language Arts
Today we joined with the language arts department to help kids write rock stories and post them on their blogs.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
A Fresh Look At Learning Targets
My teaching partner Ted Malefyt wrote this article about our recent look at learning targets....
We innovated a couple of our old hunches and really feel we have struck gold....
1. Innovate "Student Passports"
2. Innovate Learning Targets
Yield: Lower Student Failure Rate and Decreased Reteaching.....
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good to learning targets. They provide structure and focus to the learning that takes place in the classroom. Additionally, learning targets help in the process of grading, especially for teachers implementing a true system of standards based grading. However, I would argue that there might be a better way!
The Process This year, 7th grade science has started to implement more challenged based learning into the classroom. With this implementation we discovered that students had a difficult time asking good questions to drive their research. Upon reflection, Bob and I made a decision that we needed to increase our focus on student inquiry. In addition, we took a look at learning targets and came to the conclusion that each learning target was teacher driven.
Not a single learning target was derived from student inquiry! Therefore, we decided to pursue a method that would preserve the content the state was requiring of us all the while encouraging student inquiry. We came up with a plan to have student questions drive the formation of our newly found (thanks to Brad Fuzak and Nate Alkire) road map.
When you take a look at the road map, student questions were divided up and organized into appropriate categories. These categories were designed to match the state curriculum. We hypothesized that student questions would match the general curriculum. In fact they did with a little teacher influence on the organization. The next phase of this newly found "road map" is the formative structure that it provides. As students complete the "box categories" we enter into a discussion with each student. Using their questions as a guide we determine if they have a good understanding of the content in that category. If a students has completed all the tasks and can demonstrate content knowledge they receive a stamp on that box to verify. No student is allowed to take a summative assessment until they have all their stamps!
The Data
The data supports the validity of the student inquiry driving the tasks and the formative assessment. After the first trial of summative assessment on rocks we came up with the following: 175 students (88%) scored above a B-, which we consider to be proficient. 22 Students (12%) scored between a B- and D-. 1 student scored below a D- Conclusion Without actual numbers from previous years, I am very confident that we have never achieved this kind of student performance on the first summative assessment for a concept of this magnitude. A concept as complicated as a dynamic rock cycle has proven to be difficult in years past for many students.
Many times we have found ourselves finding ways to re-teach material and providing justification for using retakes. Witnessing 88% of our students demonstrating proficiency this early in the process is good, but having only 1 student receive an E the first time through is bigger. In my opinion, reflecting on our use of learning targets is a discussion worth having.
1. Innovate "Student Passports"
2. Innovate Learning Targets
Yield: Lower Student Failure Rate and Decreased Reteaching.....
Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good to learning targets. They provide structure and focus to the learning that takes place in the classroom. Additionally, learning targets help in the process of grading, especially for teachers implementing a true system of standards based grading. However, I would argue that there might be a better way!
The Process This year, 7th grade science has started to implement more challenged based learning into the classroom. With this implementation we discovered that students had a difficult time asking good questions to drive their research. Upon reflection, Bob and I made a decision that we needed to increase our focus on student inquiry. In addition, we took a look at learning targets and came to the conclusion that each learning target was teacher driven.
Not a single learning target was derived from student inquiry! Therefore, we decided to pursue a method that would preserve the content the state was requiring of us all the while encouraging student inquiry. We came up with a plan to have student questions drive the formation of our newly found (thanks to Brad Fuzak and Nate Alkire) road map.
When you take a look at the road map, student questions were divided up and organized into appropriate categories. These categories were designed to match the state curriculum. We hypothesized that student questions would match the general curriculum. In fact they did with a little teacher influence on the organization. The next phase of this newly found "road map" is the formative structure that it provides. As students complete the "box categories" we enter into a discussion with each student. Using their questions as a guide we determine if they have a good understanding of the content in that category. If a students has completed all the tasks and can demonstrate content knowledge they receive a stamp on that box to verify. No student is allowed to take a summative assessment until they have all their stamps!
The Data
The data supports the validity of the student inquiry driving the tasks and the formative assessment. After the first trial of summative assessment on rocks we came up with the following: 175 students (88%) scored above a B-, which we consider to be proficient. 22 Students (12%) scored between a B- and D-. 1 student scored below a D- Conclusion Without actual numbers from previous years, I am very confident that we have never achieved this kind of student performance on the first summative assessment for a concept of this magnitude. A concept as complicated as a dynamic rock cycle has proven to be difficult in years past for many students.
Many times we have found ourselves finding ways to re-teach material and providing justification for using retakes. Witnessing 88% of our students demonstrating proficiency this early in the process is good, but having only 1 student receive an E the first time through is bigger. In my opinion, reflecting on our use of learning targets is a discussion worth having.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Creating Student Blogs
Here is a student sample of work they produced for our Piping Plover Mini Challenge. The challenge can be found by clicking here. Overall it was a good project and we are extremely thrilled with the students being able to create accounts on vimeo for them to publish to the world! Students then are in the process of embedding their videos on their newly created blog! I will post an example of a student blog soon.
Getting To True Inquiry!
We are changing things up in our rocks and minerals unit this year. In years past the labs and activities were based upon our interpretation of the standards. This year, we are going to format the unit based upon student questions. Our hypothesis is that the student questions will match the content expectations of the state. From these questions, we will create a "road map" of activities and tutorials for students to use to answer their questions!
We are changing things up in our rocks and minerals unit this year. In years past the labs and activities were based upon our interpretation of the standards. This year, we are going to format the unit based upon student questions. Our hypothesis is that the student questions will match the content expectations of the state. From these questions, we will create a "road map" of activities and tutorials for students to use to answer their questions!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Collaborize Classroom Formative Assessment
Recently we tried a website called "Collaborize Classroom" in which students were asked to answer a question and combine their answer with a response supporting their opinion....
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