1. A310-G INQUIRE: Examining Instruction into ACT: Developing and Action Plan Thursday January 13, 2011

2. We’ve heard you want more… Examples of what the work looks like Time to ask questions Time to build small-group skills Variety in grade-levels addressed Clarity about the assignment

3. Revised Schedule – see online Syllabus

4. Adjustments to Schedule

5. Assignment PowerPoint Presentation of your Data Overview Meeting (includes agenda slide & charts) Word Document containing the Facilitator’s Notes corresponding to your PPT (see Draft #2 agenda distributed on Monday) If you are including your Facilitator’s Notes in the Notes section of your Data Overview PowerPoint Presentation, please email Marcia.

6. Questions about Assignment

7. Objectives for Today Understand how to bridge from a Learner- Centered Problem to a Problem of Practice. Understand how to describe teaching and learning using evidence. Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

8. Agenda for Today

9. Step 5: Examining Instruction

10. Learning Objective Understand how to bridge from a Learner-Centered Problem to a Problem of Practice.

11. Restating the Problem PRIORITY QUESTION EDUCATIONAL QUESTION LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM PROBLEM OF PRACTICE

12. Examining Instruction 1.Link learning and teaching 2.Develop the skill of examining practice 3.Develop a shared understanding of effective practice 4.Analyze current practice

13. 1. Link Learning and Teaching Helping teachers take responsibility for student learning Strategies from moving the conversation from students to parents – Affinity Protocol – Why-Why-Why Protocol

14. 2. Develop the Skill of Examining Practice Relentless Focus on Evidence – Artifacts – Observations – Self-Reports Intentional Collaboration – Learning to See – Key Elements of Observing Practice

15. 3. Develop a Shared Understanding of Effective Practice Relentless Focus on Evidence Intentional Collaboration

16. 4. Analyze Current Practice Collect instructional data (our next session) Stating a problem of practice (the session after that)

17. Observing Practice

18. Learning Objective Understand how to describe teaching and learning using evidence.

19. Whole-Class Norms Ask Questions. Listen & Learn from Others. Disagreement is OK. Be mindful of the ladder of inference. Notice evidence of norms in our conversations today

20. Ladder of Inference* Judgment Inference Description * Developed by Chris Argyris

21. Observation Protocol* What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing? What is the task? * City et al, Instructional Rounds in Education

22. Transition to Larson 214 Sit in same third of the room where you were on Tuesday Mix it up at the tables so you are working with different people

23. Stating a Problem of Practice

24. A Problem of Practice (PoP) is… … a statement about practice, not a question. … based on evidence we found when examining instruction. … directly related to our Priority Question and Learner-Centered Problem. … specific and small.

25. Example 1 Priority QuestionWriting: How do students use evidence from text to support their argument? Learner-Centered Problem Students include quotes, but do not explain how quotes support their argument. Problem of PracticeAs teachers, we do not explicitly model how to use quotes to support an argument.

26. Example 2 Priority QuestionReading: What strategies do students use for comprehension? Learner-Centered Problem Students don’t look for connections to their own lives as they read. Problem of PracticeAs teachers, we do not give students sufficient opportunities to practice writing about the connections they have to their reading.

27. Example 3 Priority QuestionMath: How do students approach word problems? Learner-Centered Problem Students translate word problems into equations and solve without thinking about what the problem is asking. Problem of PracticeAs teachers, we ask students to memorize a list of words/phrases and what they mean mathematically (“more than” means addition). This promotes a translation-style approach.

28. Questions about Problem of Practice?

29. Step 6: Developing an Action Plan

30. Learning Objective Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

31. Action at Last! PRIORITY QUESTION EDUCATIONAL QUESTION LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM PROBLEM of PRACTICE ACTION PLAN

32. 6. Develop an Action Plan Decide on instructional strategies Agree on what the plan will look like Put the plan down on paper.

33. Putting the Plan Down on Paper Objective of our Action Plan Statement of our solution to our problem of practice WhatWhoWhen Specific tasks that people will do Names of who will do the tasks Dates by which tasks will be completed

34. Data Wise Journey Presentation By the Horizon Data Team and Horizon 4 th Grade Team December 16, 2010

35. Steps 1& 2: PREPARE

36. Set norms for our work together Learned about the Data Wise Improvement Process Reviewed the Educational Question that the Data Team identified based on work from the Getting Started with Data Wise course EDUCATIONAL QUESTION How are our students performing in English Language Arts?

37. Step 3: Create Data Overview EDUCATIONAL QUESTION

38. Step 3: What we did Data Team created data overview focused on our current 4 th graders Together, we discussed overview using the “Visual Thinking Strategies” protocol. This focused our conversation on: What do you see? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find in the data?

42. Step 3: What we accomplished Identified the Priority Question that we want to dig into: PRIORITY QUESTION How do students use sentence structure in their writing? This question was important to us because We wanted to understand why this is an area of relative weakness for our students We believed this could be an area in which we could foster higher order thinking in our students

43. Step 3: Reflections Following the Visual Thinking Strategies protocol forced us to describe the data first instead of jumping to conclusions. Having the data overview focused on one educational question made examining the data manageable. Sticking to the time allotments in our meeting agenda ensured we completed our task of identifying our Priority Question.

44. Step 4: Dig into Student Data PRIORITY QUESTION

45. Step 4: What we did Examined 20 writing samples from the September 2010 district writing prompt for 4 th graders Discovered that: About 2/3 of sentences were simple I play basketball every day. Compound sentences only used connectors “and” and “but” I like reading, but I don’t like math. Five students used complex sentences; these students only used connector “because” I like school vacation because I get to sleep late.

46. Step 4: What we accomplished Identified the Learner-Centered Problem that our team wanted to address: LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM Students’ sentence structure is not as sophisticated as it could be. Students write mostly simple sentences, and when they do use compound or complex sentences, they draw on a limited repertoire of connector words.

47. Step 4: Reflections We were concerned that 20 writing samples would not feel representative of all students, but we found that we had a good understanding after 10. Removing student names from the samples helped us avoid making assumptions. We found it difficult to use only descriptive language when discussing the samples. We had to keep reminding one another “what did you see that makes you say that?”

48. Step 5: Examine Instruction LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM

49. Step 5: What we did Each member of our team described opportunities in his/her classroom for students to build skills in sentence structure. These included: Weekly writing in journals, lab reports, math learning letters, biographies Peer editing against the six-point rubric every week 1:1 teacher feedback using rubric every week Mini lesson on sentence structure

50. Step 5: What we accomplished Identified the Problem of Practice that our team wanted to address: PROBLEM OF PRACTICE We do not explicitly teach students how to vary their sentence structure or show them how doing so can be a powerful tool for shaping the tone of their writing.

51. Step 5: Reflections Focusing on something specific like sentence structure helped us: Feel less overwhelmed Stay on task during meetings Have a detailed discussion of about instruction around this skill.

52. Step 6: Develop Action Plan PROBLEM OF PRACTICE

53. Step 6: What we did Met to discuss concrete and immediate steps that we could take to improve students’ sentence structure skills.

54. Step 6: What we accomplished Objective of our Action Plan Students will analyze mentor texts to determine how sentence structure shapes the tone of the author’s writing and apply what they learn to their own writing. WhatWhoWhen Select mentor text Practice analysis of mentor text Write lesson for student analysis Write assignment for student writing Implementation and observation Max & Kari Data & Instr Team By Nov 11 Meeting Nov 11 9:15-10:15 Nov 18 9:45-11:45

55. Step 6: Reflections Because our Problem of Practice was very specific, it was relatively easy to develop a very focused action plan for addressing it. By involving everyone in brainstorming solutions, we came up with an instructional strategy that captured our best collective thinking. Being clear about who was going to do what when ensured that we would not lose momentum.

56. Questions about Action Plans?

57. Reflection

58. Objectives Revisited Understand how to bridge from a Learner- Centered Problem to a Problem of Practice. Understand how to describe teaching and learning using evidence. Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

59. Today’s Activities

60. Taking Stock of your Learning Revisit what you wrote earlier today about ACTION 3 minutes

61. Plus/Delta Protocol On first notecard, please write at least one plus On second notecard, please write at least one delta