Depth of Knowledge

Let’s review... 1.Students perform simple procedures like copying, calculating, and remembering. They either know an answer or they do not. 2.This level addresses skills and concepts. Students make some decisions about how to approach a problem and use two or more strategies such as collecting and classifying to show understanding. Let’s review DOK

3.This level promotes strategic thinking. Students perform tasks that require solving non-routine problems, using evidence, conducting experiment, or designing things. 4.This level involves extended thinking. Students engage in complex reasoning, planning, or investigations over a longer period of time. At this level students relate concepts within and across disciplines and consider an array of variables.

We learn from each other... Working with those at your table, share your work by discussing the following: a.Your example of a DOK3 or DOK4 task b.Your incorporation of technology into your lesson plan c.Your difficulty or ease in creating tasks at a DOK 3 /DOK 4 level d. Your use of a Think Aloud or passage mapping e.Your difficulty or ease in incorporating either of these instructional techniques From your discussion as a table group, identify a good example of a DOK3 or DOK 4 task. Share one common thought in regards to creating higher level tasks OR in implementing the instructional techniques discussed.

Recall Skill Yet another way of thinking...

Assessing Whether Our Assigned Work Is Worth Doing The Master Teacher Vol. 47, No. 11

Strategy One: Guarantee the quality of the learning target. Strong and effective learning targets are written in student- friendly language to ensure students know the content and performance for which they are aiming. We are learning to so that we can explain

Learning Target It is not a learning target unless both the teacher and students aim for it during today’s lesson. Every lesson needs a performance of understanding to make the learning target clear for the day’s lesson. Expert teachers partner with students during a formative learning cycle to make teaching and learning visible and to maximize opportunities to feed students forward. a.Observe: Did students deepen their understanding of essential content and skills and what evidence did the students produce to support this conclusion? b.Student response: What are you learning in this lesson and how will you know if you’ve learned it? c.Teacher response: What were students supposed to learn and how do you know for sure who learned it and how well they learned it as well as who did not learn it and why?

Strategy Two: Solidify foundational knowledge. Students must be familiar with a topic before they can deepen their understanding of the topic. A learning goal that fails to recognize prior knowledge can create gaps in student understanding. A news article can tell students about a new Supreme Court decision but not what the Supreme Court is or how this branch of government fits within our democracy.

Strategy Three: Take the pulse of the room. If high order thinking is present, the teacher is a facilitator moving about the room. Silence is not always golden when it comes to students’ thinking. Regular “check ins” offer good insight into what and how the class is learning. The teacher is eavesdropping on conversations, guiding students when the are stuck, asking probing questions and waiting for a response.

Strategy Four: Give feedback that feeds forward Once the teacher assigns work with an authentic purpose, the teacher must use words the students understand to compare the work to the learning target/standard. Feedback should be given during the process as students apply understanding to a task— when the task is almost done. Teachers will describe what was done well in relation to the success indicators/ rubric, explain what can be improved, and make suggestions of where to go next.

Strategy Five: Create an Assessment Team Developing level three and four assessments is more time-consuming and difficult than writing DOK level 1 or 2 tasks. Don’t work alone. Teacher teams can analyze work through clearer lens of real world application and design the activity that more accurately demonstrates that the student “gets it.”

Continued Learning 1.Read “The Power of Purposeful Reading” 2.Bring your most recent assessment to the next meeting. Consider working with a co- worker to create a level 3-4 task or assessment. 3.Self evaluate your daily learning targets