In the Summer we dream of Staplers

I was busy.  Very busy.  Like most schools in Ohio, we've been scrambling with HB 153 and its contents.  It comes down to new evaluations, and new compensation systems (yet to be determined).  At Indian Hill, we'll be using the Danielson Framework, and change the headings to Ohio's required Basic, Developing, Proficient, Accomplished. The 22 components and 76 smaller elements are clustered into four domains. Rest assured, we're not throwing out Marzano's domains and its 60 elements, since writing Student Learning Objectives (SLO's) will be based on his research and our professional learning community work that has been ongoing for 4 years in our buildings.


Curriculum?  Well, that's changed too.  Common Core.


I'm very much enjoying my summer off as are other teachers!  Can't wait to be back in the classroom and try to find a stapler.   If I had a stapler, I could get much more work done.

Analyzing a Common Assessment Non-Success

Well, it seems it was widespread. So let's look at what we found.
1. The students aced the straight vocabulary questions.
2. When the questions asked the students to apply material in an analytical way, they went
with a practiced, memorized answer from an activity rather than looking at the new
question and thinking through the question. (jump to a familiar answer, don't think)
3. We have some test-taking issues. How to cross-reference a test, and how to use context to
produce a higher level answer.
4. We have some GREAT test takers, who marked their thought processes on the tests in
ways that showed us what led to them the precise answer they needed.

Here is a resource that we have used for a few years to help us with common assessments that's based on Marzano's research. It also has a rubric that helps to analyze the questions that a teacher is asking.

Our responses:
1. We are going to break down the objectives and do the reteaching in varied ways so that
they practice analyzing. We'll give feedback on those smaller chunks.
2. We'll put it back together a piece at a time so that we can see when we lose students and
catch them before they fall.
3. Lots of personalization. The students did well when they had used the material in a
personal way (they were great with infinitives following timeo, which means "I fear",
because we had and activity where they shared what they feared to do, but when we
replaced timeo with volo "I want", they fell apart.

Other items:
Mr. K noted that I was flying through material, and I didn't listen. He was right. I should have recognized a red flag when I incorporated venn diagrams and the students could not use the vocabulary that they had mastered to describe the relationships in the diagram. Why? Because they were not at the analysis level, they still were just memorizing. That's the flag that should have stopped me, but didn't.

Lessons learned:
Slow down. Chunk more. Check for transfer, not just recall. Things I know, and thought that I was doing, but I needed more, and these students need more. Shifting gears. I hope the transmission can handle it.

Leadership*

Many years ago one of my favorite colleagues was giving what was then called the "citizenship" portion of the state test. It was the day of the test and she wrote on the board C-I-T-I-Z-E-N-S-H-I-* And turned around to give directions for the first portion of the test to her students. After a minute one of them pointed discretely to the board and indicated that there might be a need for revision. The image is emblazoned so perfectly in my mind that no one can say the word "Leadership" without me seeing it written on the board (with a "t" at the end). Yes, I teach middle school. I'd like to think that if I did that in one of my classes, the class "tablet editor"would walk up and correct my error-or at least highlight it.

Last week we teachers and administrators spent some time talking about what we need to do as leaders in our building to help those who lag or resist moving toward the next goal. We have an "i-team" made up of reps from different departments and grade levels who go back to smaller groups to interpret the message to the teachers who are doing the grass roots work, and then bring their experiences back to shape the goals. It was time well spent. We have a great team that is willing to nurture and kick, cajole and support as we move toward good use of common assessments and measuring valuable skill growth in our students.

Our team is reading Marzano's The Art and Science of Teaching first, and I'm enjoying how much toward the ART it leans in the opening-and yet it's supported by all the charts that are necessary to satisfy the science demand. As we read, we're sharing thoughts in segmented groups, but I'd like to be able to have the conversation as a group. Perhaps a wiki is the answer? Or maybe I should invite my team members to have the conversation here on the blog. Hmmm.

At the same time our technology committee made a 1:1 proposal to the board of education that was warmly met and bodes well for us moving to tablets in the next three years-what enlightenment! So with all this forward movement going on, who wants to sleep? Let's research right now! Or. . . go to the beach for a vacation. Or. . . do both? What an idea!

Image resources

Here's a great list of image resources that I found as I was looking at through Marzano's instructional strategies. I'm always looking for pictures to reinforce the language that we're using in class and the students hook into the visual images quickly and readily. We spend class time using Latin (and elaborate English) descriptions that connect us to the picture. When the students see the picture again they remember many of the words that we used in class. Obviously, if the student wrote the word, demonstrated the word, said the word, made art of the word, used the word in a dialogue, he/she is more likely to recall it-so it's all in using the image. Technology is giving us many ways to "art" words, like wordle and one of my faves, Big huge labs' motivator.

When the students create something with the vocabulary themselves and use it in class (especially in games) they are highly engaged in the learning. And it's fun!!