Office of School Improvement Differentiated Webinar Series Formative Assessment – Checking for Understanding January 17, 2012 Dr. Dorothea Shannon, Dr. Greg Wheeler, Mrs. Thomasyne Beverly 1

The ultimate goal in school improvement is for the people attached to the school to drive its continuous improvement for the sake of their own children and students. - Dr. Sam Redding 2

Today’s Agenda 1.Welcome (2 minutes) 2.Team reports (10 minutes 3.Research regarding the featured topic (20 minutes) 4.Activity/Discussion Checking for Understanding (20 minutes) 5.Reflections/Assignment for the subsequent webinar (8 minutes) 3

Purpose To examine the impact of “checking for understanding” on student learning. To review the FA indicators pertaining to “checking for understanding” and give examples of each. 4

Team Reporting 1. Which module have you been working on since the last web session, what indicators, and what tasks? Select one member of your team to respond. 2. Share one artifact that is an example of teacher implementation of FA. (You will be given the opportunity to display your artifact. Have it loaded on your computer and ready to share). 5

What the Research Says Garrison & Ehringhaus (2003) 6 “When a comprehensive assessment program balances formative and summative student learning/achievement information, a clear picture emerges of where a student is relative to learning targets and standards. Students should be able to articulate this shared information about their own learning. The more we know about individual students as they engage in the learning process, the better we can adjust instruction to ensure that all students continue to achieve.”

Impact of Checking for Understanding on Student Learning Students will be able to:  Articulate their current progress towards mastering a learning objective.  Describe what they are doing well on a task and what needs improvement.  Make adjustments to their work or performance based on their self-assessment of their progress.  Identify when they need help and independently and appropriately seek help from the teacher or others as needed. 7

Checking for Understanding Indicators  VB02: Teachers check students’ understanding through purposeful questioning (such as formulating higher order questions).  VB03: Teachers use a variety of techniques during questioning to increase participation and check for ALL students’ understanding (such as response cards and hand signals).  VB06: Teachers check students’ understanding minute-to-minute and day-by-day and address misunderstandings quickly so they do not go undiagnosed for prolonged periods of time. 8

Indicators continued...  VB07: Teachers provide adequate wait time during questioning to give students time to think and provide meaningful responses.  VB08: Teachers create effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning. These include strategies for gathering information such as on-the-fly, planned, and curriculum embedded assessments. 9

VB08 – Strategies for gathering information  On – the – fly Are made mid-lesson and may require teachers to stop and do some corrective or additional instruction Example – Teacher overhears a small math group headed in the wrong direction on an activity and provides a quick lesson to redirect 10

Strategies continued...  Planned Are structured into a lesson in advance and simultaneously prompt active student inquiry into a topic and supply teacher with ongoing information about levels of student understanding During independent practice the teacher can conference with individual students Examples include planned series of questions to ask during whole class instruction or a planned activity in which individual students will do observable work with new material while teacher walks around to check. 11

Strategies continued...  Curriculum-embedded The teacher frequently begins class by reading aloud “admit slips” (2-3 minute anonymous comments written by students to answer a specific question on the board, and turned in) as a quick-check on learning and correcting misconceptions. The teacher routinely collects and reviews student notebooks or portfolios. (Editure, 2010) 12

VB07 – Research on adequate wait time  In most classrooms, wait time last rarely lasts for more than 1.5 seconds (Rowe, 1988).  Cotton (1988) found that teachers gave struggling students even less wait time than the 1.5 seconds they allowed for learners perceived as more capable.  Giving students at least 3 seconds to think before responding to lower level questions was most positively related to achievement (Rowe, 1988). 13

Research continued...  When asking higher level questions, the conclusion was that students were increasingly engaged and performed better the longer the teacher was willing to wait for responses (Cotton, 1988). In your group, discuss what you believe to be positive outcomes for both student and teachers when students are given wait time. Write your answers in the chat box. 14

Questioning Strategies Should focus on what is important as opposed to what is unusual Higher order thinking questions produce deeper learning than questions asked at the knowledge/recall level (Teachers need to vary the level of questioning throughout the lesson.) Use wait time Questions are an effective learning tool even when asked before a learning experience. 15

Check Your Understanding  During your classroom observations, how are your teachers checking for understanding on a daily basis?  What strategies have you observed teachers using in the classroom? Take 30 seconds to review these two questions and be prepared to share your answers. 16

What was one idea I learned during today’s webinar that I plan to share with teachers at my school? 17

Team Assignments for Webinar Session 5  Be prepared to share various strategies that teachers are using on a daily basis to check for student understanding.  What steps are teachers taking when it is obvious that some or all of the students are not “getting it?”  Continue working through the Editure formative assessment modules and continue using the instructional conversations. 18

Questions? Next web session – February 28, 2012 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. 19