Blaine and Mount Vernon TWSSP Workshop September 21, 2013

Who is in the room?

3 Pausing Paraphrasing Posing Questions Putting ideas on the table Paying attention to self and others Presuming positive intentions Pursuing a balance between advocacy and inquiry

Increase understanding of importance of connecting feedback to learning targets and apply feedback ideas to own student work. Increase understanding of discourse strategies to activate students as resources for each other and commit to classroom implementation. Increase understanding of characteristics of good assessment questions for different purposes.

Classrooms with Embedded Formative Assessment Practices Mary Webb & Jane Jones Exploring Tensions in Developing Assessment for Learning Acceptance that mistakes are an essential part of learning. Mutual support for each other ’ s learning. Trust that others will be supportive. Willingness to take risks in trying new ideas. Willingness to give and receive criticism. A shared language of assessment and feedback. Emphasis on dialogue and exploratory talk to support thinking. Shared belief in taking responsibility for one ’ s own learning. Learning rather than performance orientation (mindset).

– What successes have you had in communicating learning targets with your students so far this year?

Techniques you find to be particularly useful to increase student understanding of learning targets.

Goal-setting and Target-setting Self-instruction (self talking and self questioning- the skills for which need to be taught) Self-evaluation (much more important than self-monitoring because it requires extra step of evaluating what he or she has monitored) Learning Strategies with the Highest Effect Sizes

The most important instructional decisions are made, not by the adults working in the system, but by the students themselves. Stiggins, R.J., Arter, J. A., Chappuis, J. and Chappuis, S. Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right- Using It Well

Session Goals Increase understanding of characteristics of good assessment questions for different purposes.

What do we want students to know? How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills? How will we intervene for students that struggle and enrich for those who are proficient? Four Questions How can we use evidence of student learning to improve our individual and collective professional practice?

What are the purposes of diagnostic vs discussion questions? Can you remember a time when you used a well-crafted question to inform your teaching? What evidence do you have that your question was informative for you, as well as your students? Can you remember a time when your planned question did not provide the results you were looking for? What prevented your question from providing actionable results? Individually Read Pages of Embedded Formative Assessment up to “ Diagnostic questions can be used... Discuss

What are some of the qualities of a good diagnostic question? How can you use your PLC to help you craft and share good diagnostic questions? Individually Read Pages 100, “ Diagnostic questions can be used.. ” through the rest of the chapter (p. 105) Discuss

Something to Indicate Content seating Content Seating Assignments

Think of every possible way a student can get the right answer with incorrect reasoning. Exchange questions with another group. Identify a question from an upcoming assessment task on one person ’ s learning progression. As a group write a good diagnostic and discussion question. Reserve discussion question for later. Provide feedback to other group.

Break Take a Break

Increase understanding of importance of connecting feedback to learning targets and apply feedback ideas to own student work.

In giving student descriptive feedback, you have modeled the kind of thinking you want them to do as self-assessors. Chappuis Helping Students Understand Assessment

Classrooms with Embedded Formative Assessment Practices Mary Webb & Jane Jones Exploring Tensions in Developing Assessment for Learning Acceptance that mistakes are an essential part of learning. Mutual support for each other ’ s learning. Trust that others will be supportive. Willingness to take risks in trying new ideas. Willingness to give and receive criticism. A shared language of assessment and feedback. Emphasis on dialogue and exploratory talk to support thinking. Shared belief in taking responsibility for one ’ s own learning. Learning rather than performance orientation (mindset).

Revised PLC schedules for at least 16 hours of meetings to Shannon before end of day Additional 8 hours of collaborative time: PLC special project (combined disciplines? combined schools?) Plan involves classroom implementation and collection of evidence Plan to Shannon by October 15th

How can you regularly challenge one another to improve your individual and collective instructional practice in your PLCs?

Consider these questions as you read and prepare to discuss with your group : What practical considerations about feedback were clarified in this article? What feedback practices will you commit to implement?

Something to Indicate Content seating Move to content groups in order to provide feedback to your students.

With a partner, provide feedback to students on the student work you collected using post it notes. Look at the comments you each provided to students and discuss whether the comments will allow students to move forward in their understanding.

Feedback Rubric In what ways do the comments you provided for students meet the criteria provided in the rubric? What changes could you make to your feedback to make it more useful for your students?

What common structure can we create for how we give written and oral feedback to students? What common language can we agree to use in that feedback?

When students know there are no additional opportunities to succeed, they frequently take teacher feedback on their performance and stuff it into desks, backpacks, and wastebaskets. Grant Wiggins

Initial Ideas Part 1 What elements or characteristics were present in that academically productive discussion? What did that discussion look like? What was the teacher or facilitator doing? What were the students or participants doing? Think back to a rich discussion that you have facilitated or participated in as a learner.

Ground rules for discussion that would be useful in your own classroom. Think about the ‘ science specific ideas ’ on the top of page 3. How could similar discussions be structured in math, ELA, or social studies? What elements you listed as necessary components of a rich discussion were also listed in the article? What elements that you thought were important for rich discussions were missing from this article? Read Part 1: What is Academically Productive Talk Pages 1-4 Think about and be prepared to discuss with your group

What elements you listed as necessary components of a rich discussion were also listed in the article? Were there any elements from the article you feel might have been missing from the elements you identified earlier? If so, what are they?

Why is it important to talk about academic content in classrooms? How can you establish a culture of productive talk in your school?

Consider the authors ’ 5 points about the importance of talk in classrooms. Rank the 5 points in terms of importance for your discipline and be prepared to discuss. In your estimation, what characterizes academically productive talk in your discipline? Why is it important to talk in math, science, ELA, and social studies? What are 3 to 5 norms for collaboration that you would like to establish in your school? Part 2 Why is Talk Important? Pages 4-6 And Part 3 Establishing a Culture of Talk Think about and be prepared to discuss with your group

With a content partner, on your whiteboards: What characterizes academically productive talk in your discipline? Why is it important to talk in math, science, ELA, and social studies?

Chart Paper Record On chart paper for each school record: 3-5 common norms for discussion you would like to establish in your school

What do you worry about when considering how to facilitate a discussion in your classroom?

How can you prepare your students for different talk formats (whole group/ small group/ partner talk)? What infrastructure needs to be in place for students? Part 4: How Can Teachers Support Productive Talk Pages 7-11 Think about and be prepared to discuss with your group

Something to Indicate Content seating With your content peers, plan an academically productive conversation with your students, taking into account format and talk moves.

Reflect What individual and group commitments can you make about collecting good evidence, providing feedback, and encouraging student discourse? How can your PLC help support you?

What evidence can you collect around student discourse or talk between now and February 1st? Observations? Video?

Winter Dates Observations Friday, February 7th Workshop Saturday, February 8th Summer Academy June 23-27, 2014