Goals Increase understanding of ‘big ideas’ in your curriculum Increase understanding of learning progressions

Capturing your thinking…

Read What Is A Big Idea? How do the ideas in the article agree with your initial ideas? What would you add, delete, or change?

An idea is ‘big’ if it helps students make sense of lots of confusing ideas and experiences and seemingly isolated facts. It’s like the picture that connects the dots and reveals the image (big Idea) by connecting the component pieces (key concepts).

How did the Wiggins article impact your understanding of the importance of a ‘big idea’ for student understanding? How can you organize your content in a way that allows students to build big ideas?

As a learner... I need a helpful schema, a framework, a touchstone, a guidepost, a strategy for making sense of what I am learning. In other words, I need a framework for my new content: I need a way to order, categorize and prioritize what I am learning. Grant Wiggins

Learning progressions that clearly articulate a progression of learning in a domain can provide the big picture of what is to be learned, support instructional planning, and act as a touchstone for formative assessment. -Margaret Heritage

Learning Progressions by James Popham

Building Block Knowledge Know where we are going… What does it look like? How will I know? Learning Progression What are the criteria for success? Gather understanding evidence of

11 Learning Progressions “The reason we are digging into learning progressions with such zeal is that they can provide the framework for the sorts of formative assessment activities that will take place in the classroom.”- Popham Building a learning progression will allow you to strategically and intentionally insert assessment opportunities into your lessons in order to make instructional decisions.

“Grain Size”

Multi-Grade Learning Progression for Weather and Climate

Clearly Identify the Big Ideas What are the big ideas in your unit? What building blocks make up those ideas? How can you make the big ideas clear for your students?

Step 1: Identify the big idea, from the standards, in your curriculum.

Step 2: Identify all necessary building blocks (concepts, knowledge and skills)

Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots of variations and complex life cycles. Insects share some common features, yet vary in other ways. Building Block- True or False?

Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots of variations and complex life cycles. Insects belong to the Animal Kingdom. Building Block- True or False?

Insects have unique structures, behaviors, and basic needs. They are all related, yet have lots of variations and complex life cycles. All Insects have characteristics that perform certain functions. Building Block- True or False?

Step 3: Determine how to measure the building block

Key Idea! Keep a learning progression sufficiently lean so that it is likely to be used. The only building blocks to include are those for which you plan to collect assessment evidence. –Popham

Why assess the building blocks? Why not only assess the big idea?

Dylan Wiliam Washington Educational Research Association workshop June 2009 Good assessment tasks or questions cause thinking and provide data that informs teaching

Example: Jenna put a glass of cold water outside on a warm day. After a while, she could see small droplets on the outside of the glass. Why was this? a) The air molecules around the glass condensed to form droplets of liquid. b) The water vapor in the air near the cold glass condensed to form droplets of liquid water. c) Water soaked through invisible holes in the glass to form droplets of water on the outside of the glass. d) The cold glass causes oxygen in the air to become water.

Step 4: Arrange all your building blocks in a structurally defensible sequence.

Reflection How can learning progressions help focus you, and your students, on the big ideas in your curriculum?