January 26, 2011 Refine our understanding of ELA and how the new curriculum imagines learning for students Review additional support materials for unit and year planning Explore formative assessment, feedback, summative assessment and reporting Provide time to plan and design assessments ELA is unique in many ways. We have so much to cover in such a short time so a Learning Project Day #2 will be offered on April 6. At that time, we will put all the pieces together (curriculum, planning supports, assessment, learning plan) and work together to advance our planning. 9:00 – 9:10 Welcome and introduction 9:10 – 9:40 Activating prior knowledge 9:40 – 10:00 ELA key points 10:00 – 10:20 Planning supports review 10:20 – 10:30 Destination partners and coffee 10:30 – 10:45 Assessment introduction 10:45 – 11:30 Rubric inquiry 11:30 – 12:00 Rubric design 12:00 – 12:45 Lunch 12:45 – 1:20 Making rubrics 1:20 – 1:50 Formative assessment, feedback and learning plans 1:50 – 2:00 Curriculum Corner 2:00 – 2:10 Coffee 2:10 – 3:00 Work, Parking Lot and “Final go round” In groups of four, consider the questions on your table and record your thoughts (15 minutes) Whole group de-brief (10 minutes) Transfer unanswered questions to the Parking Lot (5 minutes) What is this subject all about? Compose and create - expressive strand and includes speaking, representing and writing Comprehend and respond – receptive strand and includes listening, viewing and reading Assess and reflect – reflecting on self and others and setting goals for language learning In the C and C goal area, the greatest emphasis rests on the work students do before producing a product In C and R, this emphasis shifts to the work students do during their interaction with texts Children demonstrate their learning and understanding in the receptive strands (comprehend and respond) through expressive means (compose and create). Example: I show I can comprehend what I read by talking about it, writing down my thoughts and representing myself through drawings, charts, diagrams, videos and so on. Therefore: You cannot teach each goal area in isolation. EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED Broaden and deepen students’ understanding of themselves, others, life and the world Language learning happens within a context…we communicate and think about things -not as isolated skills Five Contexts: 1. Personal and Philosophical 2. Social, cultural and historical 3. Imaginative and literary 4. Communicative 5. Environmental and technological TYPE OF UNIT NUMBER OF UNITS per YEAR Multi-genre thematic 3 (minimum) Multi-genre inquiry and/or interdisciplinary 1 (minimum) Author or genre study 1 (maximum) Learn to use language Learn about language Learn through language What we do with students before, during and after engaging in a text will determine their growth, engagement and success. Learning strategies are the thoughts and actions we engage in, consciously or not, to learn new information. The goal of explicitly teaching learning strategies is to help students consciously and metacognitively focus on how they learn so they apply strategies before, during, and after engaging with texts across all subject areas. Students, over time, will develop skill in using multiple strategies which they can then independently apply to new and different situations. Learning strategy Instructional strategy Activating prior knowledge K-W-L Anticipating author’s message Think-pair-share Pausing, thinking and making notes T-chart Consider illustrations Picture walk We must continually ask ourselves if our students are thinking and learning, and what we need to do differently in order to help them. Key elements Unit planner – 6 strands BDA charts – focus on learning strategies, essential questions, enduring understandings and knowledge Sorting documents – menu for tracking learning; tasks, strategies and criteria Find your destination partner sheet Sign up four different people for your four different pairings How do we define assessment and what tools should we use? Find your Argentina partner. Consider: What is authentic assessment? Why do we assess? What do we assess? Authentic assessment clearly assesses the outcomes in a context that reflects the actual learning experience. In other words, we assess in the exact same way we have invited students to learn. Authentic assessment also invites us to ask how students may come to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained and assess them based on that information. An assessment plan clarifies the learning destinations through establishing criteria. It clarifies how evidence of learning will be collected – through products, observations and conversations. An assessment plan is realized over the course of an entire unit and, ultimately, over the course of a year. It aims to provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. It clarifies how students will be assessed formatively and summatively, how they will be offered feedback and how their progress will be reported. that effective instruction depends on high quality assessment. Therefore, we expect all assessments to provide accurate and timely information about student achievement. Each assessment must adhere to standards of quality that all staff know and follow. the primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. It is the expectation of the NESD that all assessments will be directly linked to specific student learning outcomes, use assessment methodology appropriate for the subject/grade level, and will allow for the effective communication of results. that assessment can serve as a powerful form of instruction. By involving students in the assessment and evaluation of their own achievement under direct supervision, teachers can use assessment and feedback to help students progress towards meeting the expected learning outcomes for each subject, at each grade level. that a variety of assessment tools are considered appropriate for use within the NESD. Any ‘grade’ should include varied forms of assessment. that a differentiated approach allows all students to be assessed on student learner outcomes in a manner that is appropriate to each individual. that achievement and behavior should be assessed and reported separately. When thinking like an assessor, we ask… What would be sufficient and revealing evidence of understanding? What are the different types of evidence I can use to assess student learning? Against what criteria will I consider work and assess quality? Did the assessments reveal and distinguish those who really understood from those who only seemed to? Do I know why mistakes were made? When thinking like an activity (only) designer, we ask… What would be fun and interesting activities on this topic? What projects might students want to do? What tests should I give based on the content I taught? How will I give students a mark and justify it to their parents? How well did the activities work? How did students do on the test? Wiggins and McTighe (2005) Remain with your Argentina partner and look at the four rubric samples provided. All four rubrics were designed to assess the same task. Consider: What task are these rubrics assessing? What values do these rubrics communicate? What do they say is most important about this task? Using the same rubrics, write down your observations, comments or questions about the rubrics provided. Put one idea/ sticky note. Join with another pair. Share your sticky notes with each other. Sort sticky notes into general categories of commentary/ questions. Choose three and use the following prompts to reflect: 1) Here’s what we notice… 2) So what does this say about rubrics/assessment/ learning, etc.? 3) Now what we propose is… Be prepared to share 5 minutes Ask yourself: What will students need to do in order to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required in this outcome? How will I know how far and deep they need to travel in their understanding? What is the continuum of learning for this outcome? What will it look like? How can I help myself and others come to understand how learning progresses? Holistic rubric – Provides an overall impression of a student’s work. These rubrics yield a single score or rating for a product or performance. Analytic rubric – Divides a product or performance into distinct traits or dimensions and judges each separately. Message – clear and specific Organization – coherent and clear Ideas and information (grade four only) – complete and support message Language and conventions – appropriate for audience and purpose Grade four: Ideas and information – retell and explain Text structures and features – recognize and understand role in message Respond to and interpret texts – using support and evidence Grade five: Ideas and information – understand, retell and explain Text structures and features – analyze Respond to and analyze texts – support from text, personal experience and research Sorting sheet Process/ Product connection Holistic and analytical Example - Narrative By what criteria should performance be judged and discriminated? Where should we look and what should we look for to judge performance success? How should the different levels of quality, proficiency, or understanding be described and distinguished from one another? How can learning continue? Understanding is not yes or no; it is a matter of degree. It is a continuum! If possible, gather samples (written, video, photos, etc.) of student work Brainstorm criteria based on outcomes Use samples to begin writing performance indicators Start with the level you want all students to reach (ex. a 3 on a 4 point rubric) Avoid numbers in performance indicators (ex. Is able to list three out of four…) Test-drive the rubric on more student samples Field test the rubric with students (make sure the language is student-friendly) Keep descriptors positive - For example “Needs editing” instead of “Many mistakes.” The first descriptor tells a student how to improve. Formative rubrics should contain no numbers, just descriptors. Summative rubrics would contain numbers, and this may be the only difference between them. Numbers are challenging because some students track for “just enough” instead of for success. Avoid including criteria that measure adherence to directions of a task instead of mastery of the outcome (ex. Included title). Message/Meaning Great work! This is going extra well for you! You did it and you did it on your own! Good start. You are beginning to make sense of this on your own. You can do it. Spend some extra time with the criteria and ask for help. Focus on central idea or topic The topic for the narrative was established early on, was immediately engaging, and was developed skillfully throughout. The topic for the narrative was established early on and developed clearly throughout. The topic for the narrative was established but, at times, was lost in the story. More time should be spent in the ‘before’ stage, clarifying the intent of the narrative. Develops a point of view First person point of view was developed and maintained throughout the essay. The point of view added compelling relevance to the story. The topic, language and organization are extremely well-suit to the intended audience and purpose. There is clear understanding of the reason for the narrative. First person point of view was developed and maintained throughout the essay. The point of view was convincing and relevant. The topic and language and are appropriate for the audience and purpose. Some help is needed to develop a first person point of view which is maintained throughout the essay. Despite assistance, the narrative’s topic was never fully developed and therefore, the message was lost. Much more time needs to be spent in the ‘before’ stage. Much more attention needs to be given to considering and developing a point of view. A Awareness of audience and purpose There are aspects of the topic, language and/or organization that do not suit the audience and purpose. More time should be spent considering who will be reading the narrative and why the story is being told. Despite assistance, there is clear difficulty with writing to match the audience and purpose. More clarification of criteria would help. Ideas and Information Text structures and features Great work! This is going extra well for you! You did it and you did it on your own! Discuss purpose, point of view and biases You had a deep understanding of how the purpose, point of view and biases have impacted the representation and can elaborate on your thinking. You can clearly identify the purpose, point of view and any biases within the representation. Identify underlying values You showed a deep understanding of how values impacted the representation and were able to expand on your thinking. You have a clear understanding of fact and opinion and how the creator used them to convey a specific message. You were able to see what values the creator might hold and how their values might impact their work. You have an in depth understanding of text structures and features used and how they impacted the viewers and the message. You have a good understanding of the text structures and features used in the representation. Distinguish between fact and opinion Identify text structures and features You can clearly identify which aspects of the representation are fact and which are opinion. Good start. You are beginning to make sense of this on your own. You can do it. Spend some extra time with the criteria and ask for help. With some help, you were able to Why was this representation identify the purpose, point of made? view and any biases of the What was the point of view representation. Think a little presented? more about how the reason for Were there any biases in this making the representation might representation? What is a have impacted the bias and how might it look? representation itself. With some help, you could see What do you know about the how the creator’s values might person who created this have impacted the representation? representation. Spend a little Can you see how what they more time learning about the value and may have affected creator and his/her beliefs. their work? With some help, you can tell What is a fact and what is an which parts might be fact and opinion? which might be opinion. Make How can you tell which is sure you know what fact and which in a representation? opinion are and how they might Which did this creator use look in a representation. and why? With some help, you were able to What are the parts of a identify some structures and representation? features used by the creator. What helps to organize the Where can you learn more about message? text structures and features used What was used in this in representations? representation? Great work! This is going extra well for you! You did it and you did it on your own! Establish criteria Has an in depth understanding Is able to state the criteria of the criteria and how they for the work they are doing link to the work they are doing independently Identify successes Has a specific understanding of own strengths and how they relate to the goals of the work they are doing Goals are appropriate and specific and display an ability to reflect deeply on own strengths and challenges Set goals Take steps toward goals by applying strategies Has a clear and deep understanding of how to progress toward goals and enthusiastically does so Respond to feedback Seeks feedback willingly and applies new information to the work they are doing; shows strong reflective practices and good listening skills Good start. You are beginning to make sense of this on your own. Needs a little help remembering some of the criteria. Make sure you know what is most important. Is able to describe the things Needs a little help identifying that went well some strengths. What went well for you? What did you find easy? Is able to set goals that link Needs a little help setting to strengths and challenges goals that relate to the work independently they are doing; has trouble linking future work to current work Is able identify steps needed Needs help imagining how to to address goals and then address goals and showing take those steps movement toward goals. What areas need work? Approaches feedback with an open mind and a reflective manner; makes decisions about how to respond to feedback and apply it to the work they are doing Is showing some skill in responding to feedback through reflection and good listening; needs a little help deciding how to apply feedback to work You can do it. Spend some extra time with the criteria and ask for help. Is unable to state the criteria for this project on own. What is unique about this text form? What is the same as other text forms? Is unable to recognize strengths on own Is unable to set goals that are appropriate and specific; needs to spent much more time practicing reflection Is unable to independently move toward goals. Think about the rubric for your work. Where do you need to improve and how can you do it? Much help is needed in active listening and deciding how to apply feedback to work they are doing. What did you hear? How can you apply it? Find your Hawaii partner. Together, construct the criteria for reading a narrative text rubric at your grade level. Consider: How can our sorting documents help us? How can our rubric supports help us? Be prepared to share and discuss What criteria are part of this task? Where did you fit it on your rubric? Does it matter if it is in the wrong spot? With your partner, choose one criterion and fill in the four levels (review if necessary) Compare your new rubrics to the samples you looked at in the beginning. How do we know what the criteria are for a given task? Where do we get clarification about the degree to which levels of understanding or skill are required (descriptors or performance standards on a rubric, for example)? Were there aspects of the online rubrics that were appropriate according to our curriculum? Look at the task sheet for reading a narrative. Highlight in one colour those aspects that made it onto the rubric. Somewhere on the sheet, list those things that appear on the rubric that do not appear in some form on the task sheet. With your Hawaii partner, reflect: What is the link between criteria and the task sheet? Does everything on the rubric belong on the task sheet? Does everything on the task sheet belong on the rubric? Find your France partner and consider: How does determining the criteria assist in developing formative assessments and in giving students feedback? What makes feedback most and least effective? Timely and specific feedback is the greatest contributing factor to growth in learning and skills. With your Thailand partner, consider: How does determining the criteria clarify the Learning Plan? If we determine the destination before embarking on the journey, we must ask ourselves how we can ensure every child makes the connecting flights. What skills do they need to do so (strategies)? It is our job to explicitly TEACH the understanding embedded in the criteria and invite children to reflect on how they are learning in addition to what they are learning. Task #2 Goal: Comprehend & Respond: READING, listening Compose & Create: WRITING Assess & Reflect Essential Questions: What makes poetry fun to read? What are some of the features of poetry? Why is poetry a unique way to express you? 1. BEFORE: Use following questions as prompt for journal writing entry: a) How many times have you been asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Make a list of ten possible answers-real or funny. b) Think of a poem or a rhyme that you can say off by heart. Write it down and explain why you remember it. c) What do you think about poetry? Explain why you feel the way you do. 2. DURING: Read, “When I Grow Up” for enjoyment. On second reading, identify message. (Reader response: Personal/Critical thinking) Read a third time and listen for rhyme scheme to identify pattern of rhyme (couplets). 3. AFTER: Discuss how rhyme pattern adds to the enjoyment of text and distinguishes the writing form. Consider how rhyme links to memory. Think of nursery rhymes you can say off by heart. Identify other features of poetry (expresses strong feelings/emotions; figurative language; concise, takes grammatical liberties to reflect message, can be humorous, etc.) 4. AFTER: Experiment with rhyming words. 5. AFTER: Brainstorm some of the challenges of growing up. What changes and challenges are you facing? What are some of the pros and cons of getting older? What are some of the challenges you will face in the future? Experiment with rhyming couplets, to express some of the issues that come with growing up. Develop these ideas into a poem. Self reflect on poetry writing. (see attachment) Other Poetry/Song Selections “Yesterday” (Cornerstone) “Moths and Moons” (Collections: Looking for Answers) “I Want to Be” (Collections: Looking for Answers) “Sunrise, Sunset” (Fiddler on the Roof) “Cats in the Cradle” (Harry Chapin) “I Will Take Care of You” (Amy Skye) “Butterfly Kisses” (Bob Carlisle) Where can I find things? Model units? Develop and link tasks Sort “Whats” into Unit/Year plans and identify contexts, unit types, and Big Ideas Develop assessments with criteria Develop Learning Plans for units Parking lot Burning questions Sharing our work – here and now and later on… I now have a deeper understanding of… I am pleased that I… From here, I can…