A CAGE to Set You Free

Did you know there's a cage out there that you can keep your students in? AND it will give them more freedom?

Last night I attended the first of four sessions of a Primary Source workshop, Teaching for Global Understanding. The presenters introduced us to -- yet another! -- educational acronym (because who doesn't need another? I mean, I personally love them!). This one is CAGE, and here's how it breaks down:

Choice

Authentic

Globally connected

Exhibit to authentic audiences

CAGE is a lens through which to view your assessments. The idea is to think about assessments you already give, and apply the CAGE acronym to them. Does the assessment provide choice to students (can they choose their own topic, or product)? Is the assignment authentic -- is it something that people in the real world actually do? (For example, I don't know anyone in the real world who writes book reports. But people do other types of writing in "real life." And people do other types of things to share their ideas about a book in "real life.") Is the assessment globally connected -- does it provide students with an opportunity to explore or investigate global perspectives? Finally, can there be an authentic audience for the student's work -- is the audience more than just the student's teacher and classmates?

These factors -- choice, authenticity, connectivity -- can be real motivators for students. Don't pressure yourself too much, though. Not every assessment you give can (or potentially even should) meet all the requirements of CAGE. But it's excellent food for thought -- can all, or at least almost all, of your assessments meet at least half of CAGE? Can some of them meet all of CAGE? 

If you're interested in designing some assessments (or updating assessments you've given before) so that they motivate students, engaging them as global citizens and empowering their ownership over the assignment, please let me know! I'd love to provide you any support you need or want in freeing your students -- and yourself -- through the use of a CAGE.

Ensuring Equity with Differentiated Assessments

So, you're coming up on the end of a unit and you've decided to mix it up a bit with your final assessment. You'd like to give your students some choices in order to differentiate based on their interests and possibly also their learning styles.

The only problem is, you're concerned about equity. How can you provide a variety of choices while still being fair? How can you ensure certain options aren't perceived as "easier" or "harder" than others?

Here's my suggestion. It all comes down to the objective -- what's the purpose of the assessment? What is the skill and/or knowledge mastery it's supposed to be assessing?

You need to answer these questions first. If you're having difficulty, revisit your essential questions for the unit. What's the big picture? What are the big take-aways for students?

Once you've decided upon what you want to assess  -- what do students know and/or are able to do? -- you need to commit to this for each option you provide to students. In this way, what varies is not the objective of the assessment, but the product -- the way the student demonstrates their mastery of this objective.

For example, you may decide that what you really want to assess is the student's ability to answer a particular essential question of the unit and to include evidence to support his or her points. With this in mind, you can provide all kinds of choices to your student: an essay, a powerpoint, a poster, a formal debate, a RAFT, a video, a newspaper article, etc., etc., etc. The key is to establish the common criteria for any of these options -- regardless of what the student chooses, he or she must provide an acceptable answer to the essential question and must include evidence to support his or her points (with some of the more visually-based options, you can always require the student to include a separate written explanation of their piece that meets this criteria). What students come up with is going to look different, but it is still going to allow you to assess everyone based on universal criteria. It's only when you don't establish this kind of common criteria, when you don't ensure that you're measuring the mastery of the same objective, that inequity can creep in -- you might end up with lots of cool projects, but you run the risk of this collection of cool projects actually measuring all sorts of different objectives. That's not overly "fair," and, more importantly, it doesn't give you data on how all of your students are performing within a particular standard or objective.

"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.***

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!