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! 

Tic-Tac-T-Oh my Goodness, what a cool idea!

 

             Looking for a fun and effective way to individualize learning tasks for students (either based on different levels of readiness, interest, or learning style)? In her 2005 text, Differentiation in Action: A Complete Resource with Research-Supported Strategies to Help You Plan and Organize Differentiated Instruction – and Achieve Success with All Learners (Whew – what a title!), Judith Dodge recommends an often-cited approach: she calls it “choice boards,” I call it Tic Tac Toe. (You say potayto, and I say potahto.) The concept is, the teacher creates nine different assessments designed to assess student mastery of the same objective. Type those nine assessments up in boxes to resemble a Tic Tac Toe board (three rows of three columns each). If you’re mixing it up for different readiness levels, you make sure the range of levels is represented on the Tic Tac Toe board. Addressing various interests instead? Just make sure there’s a true variety in types of assessments. Learning styles? Refer to our friend Mr. Gardner, and try to address all or most of the types of learning styles in your nine assessments.

            Here’s what one may look like if the teacher is aiming to address preferences in learning style (Note: this is a quick example just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about – as you’ll see, these assessments are not fully fleshed out!):

         Auditory                                            Visual                                                    Tactile-Kinesthetic

Teach a Lesson	Create a Web Site	Gather an Artifact Box
Conduct an Interview	Create a PhotoJournal	Present a TV Newscast
Engage in a Debate	Design a Graphic Organizer	Role-Play with Props

            Now, hand out those beautifully-crafted Tic Tac Toe boards to your students. You can ask them to choose three different assessments from anywhere on the board, the only requirement being that they create a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal “tic tac toe” line connecting the assessments they’ve chosen. (Using the above example, a student might make a horizontal line, choosing “Engage in a Debate,” “Create a PhotoJournal,” and “Gather an Artifact Box.”) You can leave the choice completely up to the student, or you may want to engineer more student variety by requiring students to choose one assessment from each row or each column.

            Some may wonder about the use of this for different readiness levels. With this approach, each row would represent assessments for each of three readiness levels of students. Teachers may (understandably!) feel uncomfortable telling a student, “You need to do the three assessments on the middle row because that row matches your ability.” But, I think you can do this without needing to directly say something like this to your students. It’s been my experience that, with choice of assignments, most students will gravitate to the one that best matches their readiness level. You just need to be on the lookout for students who choose an assessment that is way beyond their readiness level, because they may get frustrated and give up. (But be cautious about this – if a student is choosing something that stretches them, this is not always a bad thing. Just monitor it, and jump in if the student is drowning! Let them know they can abandon ship in this case, and choose a different assessment from the board). You also need to be on the lookout for students who are choosing assessments that are at a lower readiness level than they are capable of. You can recommend/require that these particular students choose from one of the other rows on the board in order to challenge themselves.

            Using this strategy can be as complex or as simple as you want to make it. It can be used before, during, or after a unit of instruction for diagnostic, formative, or summative assessment purposes. Teach in my district, want to give it a try, but aren’t sure how? You know where to find me!