Summer Reading....For Teachers!

     It's about that time, teachers! Looking for some great reads this summer to help energize you and give you ideas for what will surely be a quickly-approaching September? Then look no further; I've got a teacher's summer reading list right here. (Sorry, these are probably not what you'd consider "beach reads," but they are educational books that I really enjoy. Just mix one or two of them in with your novels and magazines!)

     I'm thinking you can find most of these on Amazon, but if it gets tricky, just contact me and I'll give you more detailed information to help refine your search...

• So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning -- Cris Tovani 

This is a great read for secondary teachers. Tovani is writing primarily about ELA classes, but I say anyone who is interested in how a workshop structure could work at the secondary level should read this book. (By the way, workshop structures effectively allow the teacher to differentiate, to conference, to assess students' individual strengths and weaknesses formatively...)

• The Daily 5 -- Gail Boushey & Joan Moser (aka "The Sisters") 

Disclaimer: I got kind of sort of OBSESSED with The Sisters this year. Elementary teachers -- if you are looking for a system that will help you establish routines, build student stamina, and set expectations for ELA workshops, this is the book for you. (Also, as a former secondary person, I must say that if you are interested in the workshop structure at the secondary level, I'd still recommend this book. Just read it with your "secondary eyes" and "translate" the material up a few grades!)

• The CAFE Book -- Gail Boushey & Joan Moser (aka "The Sisters")

See above. Same lovely ladies. I'd recommend reading The Daily 5 first, then delving into The Sisters' CAFE system. This book is FULL of so many great resources: specific and detailed ideas for setting up a conferencing notebook and record-keeping system, specific reading strategy lessons in the areas of comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary....It is a great read!

• Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom -- Rick Wormeli

This book rocked my world! Rick Wormeli (who happens to be the silver fox of differentiation) is a straight shooter and really tells it like it is. While reading, I was forced to confront some of my own past assessment practices that I had to admit were not effective or purposeful. Wormeli truly changed my way of looking at assessment, for the better!

• Checking for Understanding: Formative Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom -- Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

Yes! This book was such a useful read. Lots of practical suggestions of ways to consistently, regularly, and effectively check your students' understanding. I think it applies to all grade levels.

• Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, Grades 6-12 -- Rick Wormeli

Here he is again! This is definitely geared towards secondary teachers, mostly due to the content of the sample lessons and units Wormeli discusses (but I think elementary teachers could "translate" what it is he's doing to their own grade levels). Wormeli walks you through the stages of planning a differentiated lesson. Very useful information!

• Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids -- Carol Ann Tomlinson & Jay McTighe

Disclaimer: This is only my second favorite text involving Carol Ann Tomlinson (for my first, see below...). The bridge between DI and UbD is specifically laid out in this text. I'd recommend it to anyone who has a strong understanding of one, but perhaps not of the other. 

• Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson -- Connie M. Moss & Susan M. Brookhart 

This book can honestly be a bit "dry," but the idea of learning targets is so important! Basically, Moss and Brookhart advocate for a more student-friendly lesson objective to share with students and recommend that this learning target be stated as what the student will be able to do by the end of the lesson, from the student's own perspective (i.e., "I will be able to identify three traits of the main character. I will use words from our character traits word wall to do so. I will be able to provide evidence from the text that supports each of these three traits."). Learning targets can help students self-assess and can give them a purpose for learning.

• Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom -- Carol Ann Tomlinson & Marcia B. Imbeau

LOVE this one! If you are interested in the philosophy behind DI, then this book is for you. Even more so, if you are interested in helping your students understand and be a part of a differentiated classroom community, then this book is definitely for you. Tomlinson and Imbeau provide specific lesson ideas for teaching students how (and why) to be members of a differentiated learning environment.

HAPPY READING!

Taking a Page from Cris Tovani's Book

     In the district where I am an instructional coach, I am consistently impressed by how many teachers directly inform their students of the objectives of the day’s lesson. Providing students with a road map like this is essential; what better way to begin a lesson than to know what it is you’ll be learning, what it is you’ll be able to do by the end of the lesson?

     Well, with this post, I’d like to take our thinking about sharing objectives with students one step further. I’ve been re-reading a favorite educational text of mine lately by Cris Tovani, So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning (2011). In it, she shares what students see written on the whiteboard as they enter her ELA classroom. Here’s a sample from p. 48 of this great book:

Learning Targets	Assessments
I can show how I am thinking about a text in a variety of ways.	inner-voice sheets
Instead of saying, “I don’t get it,” I can ask a question of the text that might help me build background knowledge to answer my question.	sticky notes

     The first thing I’ll point out is the slight difference between what most of us know as lesson objectives (which usually sound much like standards) and learning targets, which Tovani employs. Posting learning targets basically has the same function as posting objectives – it lets students know what they should know or be able to do by the lesson’s end. I just happen to like how learning targets are student-friendly and are written from the perspective of the student him- or herself. 

     The second thing to take from Tovani’s chart is the real meat and potatoes, though (the difference between objectives and learning targets was just an appetizer, so I hope you’re hungry!). Tovani shares with her students how each learning target of the lesson will be assessed. I won’t go into huge detail explaining what inner-voice sheets or sticky notes are, but suffice it to say they are useful, if not “unfancy,” assessments Tovani uses on a regular basis with her students. The important thing here is that not only has Tovani planned out exactly how she will assess students on each of her lesson’s learning targets (and what tools she will use to conduct said assessments) – this is huge enough on its own, honestly! – but that she is also sharing this information with students. So, when her students begin filling out that inner-voice sheet or jotting down a question on a sticky note, they know why Tovani is asking them to do these things. They know what the tasks relate to in terms of their learning, and they know Tovani will use the data to determine how they are each doing in terms of that day’s learning targets (actually, for that matter, the students themselves can also self-assess whether or not they’ve met the learning targets based on how they felt they did with the assessments).

     If you’re a teacher who regularly posts daily objectives or learning targets, how hard would it be to take the extra step and also post the corresponding assessments? How much would this extra step help you and your students to be aware of the link between instruction and assessment?

"Let's see, I'll start with the garden salad, and then I'll have the salmon..."

     Forgive me, readers, but I'm kind of hungry today. That's probably why I latched right on to Rick Wormeli's idea (shared in his awesome 2006 text, Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom) about learning menus.

     Here's how it breaks down. Whenever you are giving your students "choices of tasks to complete in a unit or for an assessment from a pre-determined list of options" (Wormeli, p. 62), you could arrange these choices or options as menu items. Sounds delicious, no? (This might also be a fun way to set up student options for anchor activities or for Learning Contracts). 

     Basically, you're listing choices in the style of a restaurant menu, "complete with appetizers, entrees, side dishes, and desserts" (Wormeli, p. 62). The "entree" tasks are required, but students can choose just one of the "appetizers" and two of the "side dishes." "Dessert" items could be for enrichment. (Or, really mix it up any way you'd like. This is just another fun way to provide some choice to students. See my previous blog on Tic Tac Toe boards for more fun!)

     In addition to providing choice to students, you could further differentiate your menu by providing more than one. You might decide to present different menus to differently tiered groups. Or, you might use one menu, but "alter the choices differently tiered groups are allowed to make" (Wormeli, p. 64). Of course, as always, if a student wants to try something on someone else's menu, then I say -- go for it. As long as it's assessing the same objective, what is the harm?

     This blog post sure does give new meaning to the phrase "food for thought," now, doesn't it?

***Like learning about and thinking about ways to differentiate in your classroom? Then (shameless plug alert), consider joining me for the summer workshop I'm offering on practical approaches to differentiation in the classroom. If you teach in the same district as me, that is.***

Take 2

     Should we allow students do-overs? Re-dos? Re-takes? Second chances?

     Here's one lady's answer: pretty much, yes.

     Here's one lady's reasons:

     First, you'll have to agree with me (and a bunch of educational researchers and writers) on what a grade truly signifies. A grade should denote a student's level of mastery of a standard (or standards). This is what a grade means in standards-based education. Are things like participation, attendance, effort, attitude, and responsibility important? Yes, definitely. Without a doubt. BUT, when we factor these into how we assign a grade to a student, we are muddying the waters. Now, the grade doesn't really tell us the level to which the student mastered the standard. It's trying to tell us a whole bunch of things and, most likely, failing to paint a very specific picture.

     Now, there are ways to still foster effort, responsibility, and attitude without including these factors in a grade. But, for today, let's just focus on how the above definition of a grade informs the idea of student re-dos and re-takes. If we are teaching in a differentiated classroom, we are honoring the idea that not every student is going to master a standard at the exact same time, right? So, if we give a test on day X, and some students get a D or an F on this test on day X, does that mean it's over for them? They'll never learn the concept or master the standard? If we are teaching in a differentiated classroom, we know the answer to these questions is no. Of course not. These students might master the standard with some extra support a few days or weeks from now. So, they should be given a chance at that point to demonstrate this mastery to us through a re-do. The re-do may or may not be the same exact test, but it is testing the students on the same performance standard. If they can't do it on day X, but can do it on day Y (or Z, or A...), then shouldn't their grade reflect when they can do it, instead of when they couldn't?

     Also, should the opportunity to prove mastery of a standard only be extended to students who get a D or an F? What about the student who got a B? Can't they have the opportunity, if they want it, to continue their work towards this standard and, when they've mastered it, demonstrate this to us? Should we ever turn down a student's wish to continue to work toward mastery? 

     I know there are lots of issues that arise when we start to think about changing our grading practices. And I know this one blog entry does not come even remotely close to discussing those issues. But thinking about why we give grades -- and how that "why" impacts our grading practices -- is a good starting point.

     Interested in thinking more about this? Contact me if you want to investigate your grading practices and what it would mean for your students to do re-takes. Take a look at Rick Wormeli's (2006) book, Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom.

     OR, (shameless plug alert!) you could sign up for my summer workshop (provided you teach in the same district as me) on practical approaches to differentiation in the classroom. I promise we'll get into the idea of grading and assessing in differentiated classrooms (and much, much more!).

Learning Contracts

     Some of the top questions raised when we think about differentiating in our classrooms are: “How do we meet with a small group of students while the rest of the class does…what…exactly?” “What do we do when some students inevitably finish a task before others?” There are lots of ways to answer these questions (shameless plug: you can hear about them all in my upcoming summer workshop on differentiated instruction!). This post is about one particular strategy I just discovered, thanks to Carol Ann Tomlinson and Caroline Cunningham Eidson, authors of Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum (2013).

     Tomlinson and Eidson suggest the use of learning contracts (don’t you just love that phrasing?). I’ll go ahead and give you their exact definition:

“A learning contract is an agreement between a student and a teacher      regarding a task or project that a student will work on independently and with some freedom. Learning contracts often provide some degree of choice regarding specific tasks to be completed and the order in which they will be completed. This element of choice can help teachers address differences in students’ interests and learning profiles. Effective contracts focus on key understandings and skills that a student is to work with and provide information about the criteria for quality work. Learning contracts require teachers to match learning objectives with contract options so that students must practice and apply important skills” (p. 187)

What’s great about learning contracts is that, when introduced (as is recommended) at the start of a unit, they provide students with meaningful tasks to accomplish throughout the unit. These tasks are assignments students can work on when they finish other tasks early one day, or when you need to meet with a small group or one half of the class. The teacher and the student agree on the number of tasks the student will complete from the learning contract options (this works best when there’s lots to choose from, and lots of variety) and when the student will be done with each task. Students should fill out and sign a contract that includes items such as: the tasks they agree to work on, the dates due for each, and agreements to work on these selected tasks at various times during class without distracting peers. What I love about Tomlinson and Eidson’s definition is that it separates learning contract tasks from “busy work” by insisting that these tasks include “criteria for quality work” and that they “match [the] learning objectives” of the unit. And don’t even get me started on the element of student choice and student ownership implicit in learning contracts – how great is that? 

     Below, I’ve listed some ideas for learning contract tasks. Learning contracts are great for including assignments based on multiple intelligences and learning styles, so you’ll notice this reflected in this list. ***Please note: learning contracts should list specific criteria for each option presented. I have not included criteria in the list below as I simply want to share what types of tasks may be found on a learning contract. ***A second note: I’ve included examples from several content areas and from several grade levels, K-12. ***Ok, just one more note: Some teachers prefer to further differentiate learning contracts by typing up two different lists of tasks – one geared towards the advanced learners and one geared towards those who are novice learners of the particular subject.

     So, without further adieu, here are some ideas (many of which can be found in the 2003 Tomlinson & Eidson text):

·      Make an ABC list (or book) of plants. Use books in the classroom to find the names of plants that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

·      Draw and label the plants we cannot eat. Why can’t we eat these?

·      Measure the plants in the classroom, and make a graph showing their heights. Which is the tallest plant? Which is the shortest one? Do you think that will change? Why?

·      Write a song about plants, what you like about them, and why they are important.

·      Using information from resources provided in the classroom, as well as various travel brochures provided, create a travel brochure about our community. Your brochure should make people outside of our community want to come visit it…

·      RAFT writing tasks -- the possibilities for these are almost endless! (See my previous post about RAFTS: An Alternative to White Water RAFTing.) Seriously, I can't recommend these writing opportunities enough!

·      Invent a game to help teach children about lines, angles, polygons, circles, polyhedrons, congruence, and symmetry. Write a manual for parents and teachers that explains the rules and procedures for playing the game and discusses the benefits of playing the game…

·      Research geodesic dome buildings. Draw a picture or build a model of a dome building and write three or four paragraphs discussing dome buildings, answering the following questions…

·      Using pictures from magazines and newspapers, find and label objects that represent the different types of lines, angles, and shapes that we’ve studied…

·      Create a Private Investigator Poster about Macbeth. Draw his profile, police line-up style, and label him with “Checks Out” traits (his good points) and “Warning Signs” traits (his weaknesses).

·      Create a metaphor for Macbeth: Macbeth is a __________ in these three ways…Give three text citations to back up your argument.

·      Discuss what you see as the most compelling or significant scene in Act I. Cite specific textual examples that support your claim (using diction, figurative language, motifs, scansion).

·      Translate a Shakespearean scene or soliloquy into contemporary English.

·      Draw a concept map showing the major hurdles le petit prince had to overcome in the novel and the major hurdles you (or adolescents in general) have to overcome during this time of your life.

·      Listen to excerpts from Gustave Holst’s The Planets. Create and record brief soundscapes of what at least three of the planets that le petit prince visited might sound like. Write a CD liner-note explanation of your soundscapes to make the link between the music and the stereotype represented by the planet’s inhabitant(s).

·      Design a map that illustrates le petit prince’s journey (physical, emotional, or spiritual) throughout the book. Annotate the map so we can see the importance of the “places” you chose to include.

·      Find and illustrate a set of quotes by le petit prince. Annotate the quotations, explaining their significance to the themes of the novel.

·      Design a cartoon that illustrates your journey as a water droplet. Include an appropriate caption(s).

·      Create a fictional story about the journey of a water droplet.

·      Draw an accurate version of the water cycle that includes all steps. Be sure to show the processes that get a water droplet from one step to another.

·      Create a local version of the water cycle. Be sure to include the names of local rivers, bays, oceans, mountains, and so on.

    

     Cool, right? I’ll wrap up with just one last shameless plug: if you like the above ideas, and want more, more, more (and if you teach in the same district as me!), then please sign up for the summer workshop I’m offering: A Practical Approach to Differentiation in the Classroom. Tell your friends! 

The G Word

Disclaimer: I am about to bring up a bunch of issues that I don't necessarily have solid answers to. Consider this post a collection of ideas in the making, not a collection of solutions (just yet, although I'd LOVE to get there someday).

     The G word. Something that for many teachers, especially those practicing or considering the practice of differentiated instruction, is becoming increasingly exasperating. Grading. There, I said it. 
     Now, there are a lot of reasons why bringing up grading with teachers might be synonymous with cursing. It can feel like a never-ending process. It can take up lots of time. True, and true. But today I want to focus on what, for me -- especially in light of my recent obsession with differentiated instruction [DI] -- is most frustrating about the traditional practice of grading.
     As I read book after book and article after article on DI, I grow more and more in love with the philosophy behind it. But this little voice in the back of my head will insist on asking questions, like "I get how teachers can teach in a DI classroom, but how can they grade in one?" I am not alone in this concern. I've had several conversations with several teachers during which they express the same concern.
     Luckily for me, I just finished reading Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe. And when I reached chapter 8, "Grading and Reporting Achievement," I became a very excited reader. What follows is what I gleaned from the chapter, my reactions to this, and some questions I think all educators need to consider if DI is truly going to function fully as a means of providing the best education to all students.
     Here's the overall problem: traditional grading and reporting practices as we have known them for decades do not mesh well with the philosophy and practice of DI. Why not? Because traditional grading practices require teachers to keep a rank book (paper or digital) in which the perception is that teachers will record a significant number of grades for the given term. I know many teachers who fret over not having enough grades in their rank book, so, trust me, the quantitative aspect of it is something teachers focus on. Sometimes the more grades one has recorded for a term in one's rank book, the more armed they feel should they ever have to defend a particular student's grade. Now, I get all that. I've lived all that as a teacher. But in embracing DI, I've had to face the ugly reality that this doesn't make sense. Why not? The biggest factor rests in the practice of beginning to assign grades to students at the very beginning of a marking quarter and continuing throughout the quarter to add more and more grades. The issue here is that, at the end of the quarter, the teacher then averages all these grades together, culminating in one final term grade. Here's the rub: Should a student's assessments from early in a term really impact his or her final grade for that term? What if they didn't understand the material during the third week of the term (thus doing poorly on assessments) but made great strides, and had come close to mastering the material by the term's end? Perhaps this student's understanding of the material during the last week of the term looks like a B+, but, when averaged in with those early assessments, the grade for the term becomes a D+. Isn't there something wrong with this? Shouldn't a student's grade be indicative of performance on summative assessments only, summative assessments which are designed to assess what the student has finally learned by a unit's end (versus the formative assessments given prior that really should only be used to inform further instruction and goal-setting)? As Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) suggest, ". . . the student should not be penalized for failure to demonstrate mastery in the second or fourth weeks. . . . In other words, what a student learns should be more important than when he or she learns it" (p. 132). 

     I did begin this post with a disclaimer, stating that I personally have no solid solutions to these problems as of yet. I recognize that changing how quarter grades are determined and how they are reported (which is currently on a report card for most districts) would be a huge undertaking for any school or district. But, Tomlinson and McTighe, as well as grading expert Ken O'Connor, have made suggestions that I think are well worth considering.

     O'Connor (as cited in Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 132) "suggests that grades should be 'determined' from various sources of evidence, rather than 'calculated' in a purely quantitative manner." He goes on to suggest that, should averaging be required by the district, teachers should use "the median or mode -- not the mean -- as the basis for arriving at a grade." 

     Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) present a total alternative to the report card as most of us know it. They recommend that schools and districts switch to using "reporting systems that support standards and differentiation" (p. 135). Rather than using a single grade to try and report "all that we need to say about a student's learning," they propose "that at least two, and preferably three, separate factors be reported: (1) grades for achievement of goals, (2) progress towards goals, and (3) work habits." When I read this, I almost fell out of my seat. This notion is so thrilling to me. I can't think of a better way to communicate a student's individual achievement and progress, not to mention placing value on work ethic. 
     So, what do you think? I'll leave you with the questions Tomlinson and McTighe (2006) share at the beginning of this inspiring (to me, at any rate!) chapter:

How will we know that we are providing high-quality feedback to parents and students?

How might we ensure that the information we transmit in the grading and reporting process is useful in supporting the learning process?

How should we grade and report in ways that encourage learner success?

Important questions! I'd love to hear what you think, readers.