Enhancing Formative Assessment,
Increasing Student Responsibility:
Focus on Collaborative Learning
Elementary Powerful Conversations Network
January 19, 2011
Activity #1: Give One-Get One
Welcome back to your PCN community!
Use this time to meet or reconnect with colleagues through
participation in “Give One-Get One.” First, take a few
minutes to individually reflect and jot down 1-2 responses to
each prompt on your template.
Then, stand up and connect with colleagues not from your school.
Exchange one idea, writing down what you hear from your
partner. As we begin our session at 9:30, we’ll afford time for
school team members to share what they learned.
Partners with the Alabama State Department of Education
Initiatives
Guiding Questions
• How can the gradual release of responsibility
framework be used to better design, deliver and
assess instruction that ensures all students are wellprepared for the next level?
• In what ways can we enhance the collaborative
learning component of the Gradual Release of
Responsibility framework?
• How can we integrate formative assessment into
collaborative learning so as to improve learning for
all students?
Guiding Questions, cont’d
• How can we take our work in collaborative school
leadership teams to the next level as we transfer
learnings to our school setting?
• What is my responsibility to: (a) transfer my learning
to my own classroom or school; (b) work with my
team to enhance our collective practice; and (c)
share learning from PCN with our faculty-at-large?
How can we best monitor our progress and measure
the effectiveness of our implementation?
Norms
• Collective Responsibility
• Collaboration
• Each of us is responsible for all of our students.
• Participation
• Monitor your talk.
• Encourage and support others.
• Respect
• Put cell phones on vibrate.
• No side-bar conversations.
• Time
• Begin and end on time.
• Take care of your own creature comforts.
Activity #2: Sharing Designs
for Guided Instruction
WHAT?
Individual reflection followed by sharing with
colleagues related to the guided instruction lesson
you designed and taught
WHY?
To learn with and from one another
HOW?
Individual teachers will present their focus lessons
to two other colleagues who will pose questions to
take the presenting teachers deeper into reflection
about their lesson; two or three rounds of sharing
to ensure that all present and reflect (pp. 4-5)
(Administrators will use reflection form received
earlier and follow the same protocol.)
Activity #2: Begin with
Individual Reflection
• Turn to page 4 in your Activity Packet.
• Use the template on this page to consolidate
your thinking and reflection about the focus
lesson you designed.
• You will use this reflection template and
your lesson design itself as you talk with
colleagues.
Activity #2: Administrators
and Coaches
• Principals and Assistant Principals use Activity
Sheet #2 designed for administrators.
• Coaches may choose whether to work in a teacher
group or with an administrators’ group. Choose the
appropriate reflection sheet.
Move to Grade-Alike Groups
1. K-1-(2)
2. 3-4-(5)
3. 5-6 (as
appropriate)
Activity #2: Create triads
• Move to area designated for your grade level.
Administrators should meet at the back of
the room.
• Create a triad, ensuring that at least 2
members of triad have brought a focus lesson
to share.
• Find a comfortable spot to sit for the next 50
minutes or so of sharing.
Activity #2: Protocol for
Sharing
• Decide who will be the first
speaker/reflector.
• The two other members of triad will serve as
interviewers, being intentional in asking
questions to clarify and/or to cause speaker
to go deeper in his/her reflection.
• There will be 3 rounds of sharing. Each
round will be 10 minutes in length.
Return to Your School Team
• Take 10 minutes to share what you learned
during this activity with members of your school
team.
• How can you apply these learnings yourself ?
How can you share these ideas with members of
your faculty who are not attending PCN?
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Framework for Student Learning
“The gradual release of responsibility model of
instruction suggests that the cognitive load
should shift slowly and purposefully from
teachers-as-model, to joint responsibility, to
independent practice and application by the
learner (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983).”—p. 2, 2nd
paragraph, 1st sentence, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching
Gradual Release of
Responsibility
4 Phases
FOCUS LESSONS
GUIDED INSTRUCTION
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING
INDEPENDENT TASKS
A structure for successful instruction, p. 4 Better Learning Through Structured Teaching
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
“I do it”
“We do it”
Collaborative
Learning
Independent
“You do it
together”
“You do it
alone”
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
Targets for Today’s Investigation of
Collaborative Learning
To understand that all group work is not collaborative
learning; to understand what collaborative learning
is—and what it is not
To deepen knowledge about key features of effective
collaborative learning
To engage in and share strategies and protocols that
can be used for collaborative learning
Collaborative Learning
“. . . It is during this phase of
instruction that students consolidate
their thinking and understanding.
Negotiating with peers, discussing
ideas and information, or engaging in
inquiry with others causes students to
use what they learned during focus
lessons and guided instruction (p. 7).”
Activity #3: What Collaborative Learning Is—and
Is Not!—Four-Square Share
WHAT?
Develop a shared understanding of the purpose
and role of collaborative learning within the GRR
framework
WHY?
Collaborative learning is the most omitted phase
of instruction; its value and contributions to
student learning are not clearly understood
HOW?
Read pp. 62-65 in Better Learning Through Structured
Teaching, and use 4-Square Share Protocol for
conversation. See p. 6 in your Activity Packet.
Debriefing of 4-Square Share
• What did it accomplish?
• Have you used this format for conversation with
your students? If so, how did it go?
• Think together about how you might use this
protocol with students. What management problems
would you need to address?
Activity #4: Key Features of Collaborative
Learning—Reciprocal Teaching
WHAT?
Using Reciprocal Teaching to think deeply about the
key requirements of effective collaborative
learning
WHY?
To ensure understanding of the research-based
elements that are prerequisite to effective
collaborative learning
HOW?
Intentionally activate the four comprehension
strategies embedded in Reciprocal Teaching to
deepen individual and collective understanding of
the key features of collaborative learning. See pp.
7-8 of Activity Packet.
Reciprocal Teaching—
4 Key Comprehension Strategies
• Summary
• Questions
• Clarification
• Predictions
Debriefing of Reciprocal
Teaching
• How did this work? Did the strategy seem to
accomplish intended purposes?
• What experiences, if any, have you had in using this
in your classrooms?
• If you have not used this strategy, would you?
• How can you best orient students to the
roles/responsibilities associated with this strategy?
Activity #5: Sharing Instructional Strategies
for Collaborative Learning—Table Rounds
WHAT?
Conversations with colleagues designed to
share strategies and understandings
related to collaborative learning
WHY?
To learn with and from one another and
thereby deepen understanding of
collaborative learning
HOW?
Use Table Rounds protocol, pp. 9-10 in
Activity Packet.
Procedural Points to
Keep in Mind
• Participate in conversations related to each of the three
topics over the next 45 minutes or so.
• Do NOT move as a table group. Try to seat yourself with
different colleagues during each of three rounds.
• Name a new table host for each new round.
• Previous hosts stay behind to provide a one-minute
summary of their groups’ conversation—then join a
different group.
Norms for Table Rounds
• Use prompts to activate thinking and conversation. Don’t’
feel that you need to answer the questions posed in a
compliant manner.
• Listen actively.
• Respect diverse perspectives; question to get behind
colleague’s thinking.
• Encourage balanced participation.
• Jot notes (or sketch illustrations) that depict key ideas
emerging from your group’s dialogue.
Debriefing of Table Rounds
• What were the benefits of this protocol? What did it
accomplish?
• How might you modify this protocol to make it
appropriate and effective for collaborative learning
with your students? (Remember the requirements for
collaborative learning as you think about need to
modify this strategy.)
Model Lesson for
Guided Instruction
Presented by Georgina Nelson,
Director of Professional Learning,
Alabama Best Practices Center
Activity #6: Individual Reflection
WHAT?
Individually and silently think back
on the day
WHY?
To consolidate our learnings and
think about how we will transfer to
our classroom
HOW?
Silent reflection and writing using
prompts on Activity Sheet #6, pp.
11-12.
Activity #7: School Team Reflection
and Planning
WHAT?
Sharing individual reflections with school
team members and beginning to plan for
transfer of learnings back home
WHY?
To be intentional in our plans to share
learnings and resources with colleagues
who are not in attendance at PCN
HOW?
Team dialogue using the team planning
template found on page 13 of Activity
Packet
Final Reflection and Feedback
• Please complete the Final Reflection and
Feedback form prior to departing.
• Leave your completed form in the center of
the table.
• Safe travels back home!