Please take out your phone, Ipad, or any device you can use to Created by Amber Miller Please take out your phone, Ipad, or any device you can use to access a search engine.

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Doing the Impossible: “Growth & Grades” “People do not care how much you know, but they want to know how much you care.” - John C. Maxwell

Teamwork at Lakes! “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford

Thankful to have an amazing math coach! Ryan Gillespie has invested so much time in preparing us for a standards-based learning concept in our classrooms. He planned, prepared, and collaborated with us on a weekly basis so we would feel comfortable moving these concepts into our teaching.

pure measurement of each student’s achievement. Part of the Process By thinking of grading with a standards-based mindset teachers will be more effective in determining a pure measurement of each student’s achievement. We were all invited to go listen to Tom Schimmer at Lake City High School just before the beginning of the school year. Tom spoke highly of the importance of teachers needing to approach grading with clarity and focus, and grading needed to be accurate with a standards-based mindset.

Standards-Based Grading LEARNING GOALS: CLEAR EXPECTATIONS CREATE A LEVEL OF MASTERY THE STUDENT HAS ACHIEVED ON EACH CONCEPT. ASSESSMENTS: LOOK AT CURRICULUM, PROJECTS, ACTIVITIES, AND TESTS AND MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A PURPOSE. WITH A CLEAR GOAL WE CAN BE INTENTIONAL ON WHAT EACH ACTIVITY IS FOR AND IF IT SERVES THE PURPOSE OF THE LEARNING GOAL. FEEDBACK: ONCE GOALS ARE CLEAR WE CAN BE CLEARER WITH STUDENTS ABOUT HOW WELL THEY ARE MASTERING A CONCEPT.

Grading for Learning It really made us think about our own grading practices at the school. As a staff, we had some amazing conversations in regards to how we effectively grade achievement. After watching this great presentation from Tom, we took on the job of reading, sharing, and having in-depth conversations around the book How to Grade for Learning written by Ken O’Conner.

Part of the Process As Ken O’Connor explained it, “Grades are limited to achievement and should not be used as punishment for poor attendance, inappropriate behavior, or lack of punctuality.” These things do impact achievement, however they should not be used as penalties on grades. Here are some other things Ken mentioned should not be graded. Effort & Participation Attitude & Behavior Attendance Late Work (usually 50% off) Extra Credit or Bonus Points (distorts achievement) Remember, grades are a measure of achievement, so the things listed above should not be included.

Building the Growth Mindset We have also been doing a book study, at Lakes, called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success written by Carol S. Dweck. Here is what Carol says, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”

Building the Growth Mindset We began by building a growth mindset culture at the school. We discussed PowerPoint presentations, shared YouTube videos, put posters in our rooms, and most importantly talked the “growth mindset” talk.

Our Visit at Venture Nicole Symons and I were invited to go observe another math teacher, Heather Chase, at Venture High School. Heather does standards-based learning in her class, and implements things like: *all practice in the classroom is to prepare students for the assessment and is not graded *students have the opportunity to do assessment retries to have growth and mastery *only grades from the assessments are used (true reflection of learning)

So we agreed to pilot the program in January of 2015. Part of the Process We came back to Lakes and discussed our visit more in depth with Ryan. Then we took our conversation to our principal, Jeff, and shared how the day went. We came out of it knowing this is really a true reflection of students learning and this needs to be implemented in our school. So we agreed to pilot the program in January of 2015. We started small by creating our assessments based off of our learning goals and targets. Of course, with lots of help from Ryan!

LEARNING GOALS and ASSESSMENTS: How Does it Look? work backwards when planning LEARNING GOALS and ASSESSMENTS: We, and of course Ryan, created learning targets/goals for the assessments. Then the assessments were built off of the targets. There are at least 3 assessments created for each one.

How Does it Look? BASED OFF THE LEARNING TARGETS or GOALS: Now when We plan our teaching and learning we look at our curriculum, practice pages, activities, group work, interactive sites, etc. and make sure it all has a purpose with our Learning goals.

How Does it Look? BEFORE AND AFTER GRADES WERE MAINLY MADE UP OF LOTS OF HOMEWORK AND PRACTICE PAGES. THE ONE OR TWO LONG ASSESSMENTS WOULD BE GIVEN AFTER YOU FINISHED A UNIT AND MANY OF THE TARGETS WOULD BE A SURPRISE TO STUDENTS. YOU WOULD USUALLY HAVE ABOUT TWO TO THREE ASSESSMENTS EACH SEMESTER AND THEY WOULD NOT BE WORTH A WHOLE LOT. BEFORE CONTINUED: STUDENTS COULD FAIL THE ASSESSMENTS, NOT BE GIVEN ANOTHER TRY, AND STILL PASS THE CLASS. GRADES WERE USUALLY ABOUT 10-20% FOR THE TESTS AND 80-90% FOR CLASSWORK.

How Does it Look? BEFORE AND AFTER AFTER: AFTER CONTINUED: ASSESSMENTS ARE GIVEN MORE OFTEN AND THEY HAVE LESS QUESTIONS. STUDENTS ARE GIVEN THE FIRST VERSION AS SOON AS YOU START A NEW UNIT, SO THEY KNOW THE LEARNING TARGETS RIGHT AWAY. NOW THERE IS A PURPOSE FOR THE TEACHING AND LEARNING THAT COMES NEXT. AFTER CONTINUED: WHEN STUDENTS TAKE AN ASSESSMENT AND STRUGGLE THEY ARE GIVEN AS MANY RETRIES AS THEY NEED UNTIL LEARNING TARGETS ARE MASTERED. THERE IS A PROCESS TO FOLLOW, INCLUDING FEEDBACK BEFORE TAKING THE NEXT ASSESSMENT RETRY. GRADES ARE NOW USUALLY ABOUT 90-100% FOR THE TESTS AND 0-10% FOR CLASSWORK. STUDENTS ARE NOW TAKING OWNERSHIP OF THEIR OWN LEARNING.

Supporting Academic Success With the growth mindset and new grading practices it is our belief that all work is MANDATORY and IMPORTANT. Not all of our students take advantage of being able to work at home, so we have a few different support systems put into place for those kiddos. Students have access to Homework House (in the morning and at lunch), Academic Enrichment (during Magnet), and Club 245 (afterschool).

Academic Enrichment We will support and encourage ACADEMIC SUCCESS for all students! Students are taking ownership of their own learning. We will provide POSTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS for students to do their work. We will MOTIVATE students to be accountable and responsible for mandatory work.

Academic Enrichment Students come to the designated classroom and work on their work. Once the work is finished they are allowed to go back to their Magnet class. This is a great motivator for students. We have a process in place to call students to the Academic Enrichment rooms. Each classroom has a specialty subject. One class is used for Math, another for L.A., and another for Science & Social Studies.

Academic Enrichment Academic Enrichment is during our Magnet class which is 8th period. Teachers send us names of any students who need to do a retry assessment or have missing assignments. All work is MANDATORY and important, so as a staff we work extra hard to hold students accountable for their own learning.

Thank you for allowing me to share the amazing things happening at Lakes!