Assessment & Learning...putting the pieces together.

Ruthie B.--Blog #5, Ch. 6&7

Literary Luminary:

"In other words, they are told what they should be able to do by the end of the lesson as defined but the instructional objective." (pg. 115)

"Once the end result is envisioned and identified, then everything planned for class--big and small--should be geared toward that goal." (pg. 115)

These ideas of knowing what classroom goals are both as a teacher and as a student are so very important.  For some students, concepts may be almost impossible to grasp or assign value to if students are not aware of  what they are working toward.  If they can assign meaning to each lesson as a way of working toward an end goal, it means far more than simply adding information to the last thing that was taught.
As teachers, working backwards from what we would like to see as the end result in our classrooms means that our lessons have more meaning if each one is done with intention working toward our end goal.

"As you come to know each student's areas of strength, it becomes possible to capitalize upon these strengths while working on a students challenges. For example, a child who can memorize intricate rap songs but struggles to recall multiplication tables might learn the tables through rap; a student who is an excellent artist but struggles to write might create the plot of a story through a storyboard." (pg. 143) 

I had a wonderfully amazing fourth grade teacher who could have written this quote.  She constantly found creative ways for us to actively learn that did not necessarily resemble a traditional teaching or learning approach, but learn we did all the same.  It is important as educators that we remember that not all of our teaching needs to occur in the traditional manner.  Sometimes the "traditional" teaching may be a detriment to some of our struggling students.

Essence Extractor:

Reaching students requires teaching and assessing both simply and intimately. 

Rigorous Researcher:

Chapter 6 probably listed about 2-3 dozen different creative and quick classroom assessment and teaching techniques including but not limited to:

Concept Mapping
Brainstorming
Readers Theater
Story Maps
Drawing
Interactive Journals
Double Entry Journals
Role Play
Buddy Reading
Carousel Graffiti

"Quick Writes usually take one to six minutes and give all students the chance to record their thoughts about a certain topic. These can be used to tap into prior knowledge about a subject soon to be introduced, or in the middle of learning about a topic (sometimes referred to as "stop and jot"), or at the end of learning. Because students are frequently asked to capture their thoughts on paper, they become increasing accustomed to formulating and recording their thoughts." (pg. 118)

"Plus/Minus/Interesting is an approach used to connect students to a text before they start reading. The main idea can be stated, summarized, or quoted, and students are asked to analyze and comment upon the issue (the pluses, the minuses, and general comments)." (pg119)

"Think-Pair-Share is a multi-step, yet simple, approach to encourage the participation of all student in responding to a question posed by the teacher.  First, each student is asked to compose his or her thoughts and/or briefly write them down. Second, each student is paired with a peer to share their thoughts with each other.  Third, once everyone has shared in pairs they are encouraged to share with the whole group. Teachers can use this method in any content area, and it is an appropriate device for posing higher-order, open-ended questions." (pg. 120)

These different assessment and learning techniques jumped out to me as three exciting ways of working with students in a classroom as a non-threatening way to assess.  While this may not be "research" to all, I found this entire section very new and the ideas were eye-opening.  As a Physical Educator, none of the assessments that I have given have ever looked anything like this and I must say that these are not the assessments that I remember coming from elementary school.  I am excited to think that these are some of the techniques that are being suggested for todays classrooms.  How much less nerve-wrecking are these ideas than any pop-quiz a teacher may have given?  I can only hope that these are some of the techniques that my children will find in their classroom someday.

Lessons, Strategies and Students

Andrea Koppen:  Blog #5:  Chapters 6 &7


CREATIVE CONNECTOR


1)  I was able to connect to the section on "The Art of Lesson Planning" on pages 108-115.  Currently in another class,  I am learning how to generate a lesson plan using "backward design".  Generating objectives using the verbs, "list, compare, describe, analyze and create" as mentioned in this book have also been introduced in my new lessons for my new unit plan.  I like the lesson layout in this book and also how it gives examples at different age levels. I will use this as a resource for my other class.


2).  I was also able to connect to the terms of "Buddy Reading" (p.120).  In my daughter's 1st grade class last year, her teacher introduced buddy reading.  The children were able to pick a partner to read with and had individual cards to "read aloud", "check for accuracy","check for fluency", and "check for understanding".  I remember coming into the class and thinking that they were too young to understand the vocabulary of fluency, accuracy and  comprehension.  I was wrong.  They all understood the words because their teacher took the time to "teach" the language of the tasks.  My daughter carries these words along with her daily in second grade and is able to self-monitor her reading and implement new strategies as she is taught.  They have been using "the daily 5" program by Boushey and Moser.  I have been very impressed with their methods.


3).  In speaking in Chapter 7 (p.  162) about "Teaching to the Test", I find there to be conflict.  Of course, any teacher would not want to guide their lessons toward the state tests.  However, there is so much pressure on the teacher and the students to perform at test time.  Modifications are made for these tests for students with IEP or 504 if needed but really what it comes down to is how they all score.  We consistently talk (in this chapter and in schools) about using authenic assessment, portfolios, journals, writing pieces etc to assess the student's academic performance, yet we still come back to the "TEST".  It is frustrating as a teacher and as a parent to see students anxiety over one assessment. 


VOCABULARY VITALIZER: ( Many of the terms in these chapters are found in many other books that I have read.  I have included information from these other books to elaborate on the terminology.  These new resources are cited under references on the right side of the blog.)


Norm-Referenced Test (p.  159):  Turnbull defines this type of test as, " an achievement test compares a student with his or her age- or grade-level peers in terms of performance.  Valle and Connor say that it is worth stating that these tests are," constructed in a way which requires that a certain percentage of students to fail. However, Criterion-Referenced Testing (p.159)  is intended to measure how well a person has and has not learned a specific body of knowledge and skills.


Anticipation Guides (p. 123):  Tomkins states in her book, Literacy for the 21st Century (2010), "These guides are used to activate students' background knowledge before they read content area textbooks and informational books.  Teachers prepare a list of statements about the topic for students to discuss.  Some of the statements are true and others are incorrect" (p.  428).  They need to decide whether they agree with it or not.  After they read the reading, they can discuss their opinions to see if they have changed.

 Ticket to Leave (p.  129):  This is a comprehension strategy used for assessing a students knowlege of content.  "Everyone must write a response to the teacher's prompt and hand it in before leaving class.  The ticket may have academic, social or behavioral objectives.  We used this strategy at the end of our last class when we were asked to write down 3 highlighted aspects of the current lecture.




QAR (p. 119) :  Refers to Question Answer Relationships.  In QAR Now (2006), this has been described as a "comprehension strategy or a metacognitive strategy, but first and foremost it is a language for use in the classroom.  It provides a common way of thinking about and talking about sources of information for answering questions " (Raphael, Highfield & AU, p.  18).  Using "in the book" and "in my head" strategies, students are able to recall, interpret and evaluate information within reading.


Think-Pair-Share (p.  120):  Valle and Connor (2011) state this as "a multistep, yet simple, approach to encourage the participation of all students in responding to a question posed by the teacher.  First, each student is asked to compose his or her thoughts and /or briefly write them down.  Second, each student is paired with a peer to share their thoughts with each other.  Third, once everyone has shared in pairs, they are encouraged to share with the whole group" (p. 120).




IDEA ILLUSTRATOR:


Readers Theater:  This is an example of a readers theater;

 Reader Theatre Scripts Resources:

Fredricks, A.D. (2007) Nonfiction readers theatre for beginning readers.  Portsmouth, NH:  Teacher Ideas Press.

Worthym, J. (2005).  Readers theatre for building fluency:  Strategies and scripts for making the most of this highly effective, motivating, and research-based approach to oral reading. New York:  Scholastic.

 

This book introduced the strategy of using graffiti for free writing about a topic.  My thoughts connected using art graffiti in the classroom with the oral explanation.  I looked up some images and thought this one to be interesting using the topic of peace, love and the environment.  The students were able to use graffiti to express what they had learned on walls, t-shirts and other objects.  This could be used as part of an informal assessment of knowledge on a topic.    http://www.haringkids.com/lesson_plans/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/wall4.jpg



 USING A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER (p. 118)  ON 7 GOOD READING HABITS (p.121-122)

"The ship comes safely home..."

Ruthie B.--Blog 4, Ch. 5


"In many respects, a teacher is like the captain of a ship who needs to get from one port of call to a final destination far away...she is responsible for the well-being of all passengers for the duration of the entire journey...navigating an outside world that can change from glorious to tempestuous and back again in the blink of an eye." (pg 76)

Creative Connector:

1. "So, while universal design was originally intended to incorporate people with disabilities, the flexibility it provides benefits everyone.  For example, corner curb cuts for wheelchair users help people pushing strollers, rolling luggage, or wheeling large or heavy items." (Pg 77)
In Physical Education we typically use matching equipment colors: a ball, that matches a poly-spot, that matches a cone, and thanks to companies like GOPHER we have plenty of colors to choose from.  This is usually done in classes that have students with autism or other processing delays but what we find is that it benefits all of our students whether they weren't listening attentively and have the ability to put two and two together or because it's easier to match the like colors.  In either case, something that was put in place to assist students with disabilities really benefits everyone.

2. "Everyone knows everyone else's name." (Pg 79)
So, so, so important to me!  It floors me when I fill in for another teacher and I find that the students in the classes don't know each other's names.  We make sure that there is such a community in the classroom in elementary school and as students get older and older we ensure that there is less and less of a structure to know one another. I really respect teachers who work to facilitate and environment where everyone knows everyone else regardless of popularity, clicks or peer groups.

3. "Walls can be used to inform children about one another by displaying student work.  A rule of thumb: Display student work prominently." (Pg 81)
One of the schools that I work in has 4th grade artwork painted on the ceiling tiles of the upstairs hallway.  My favorite part of that is walking by with high school students who did those paintings years ago and still proudly point out which one is theirs.

Vocabulary Vitalizer:

1. Gardner's Multiple Intelligences--
This website below has an awesome Multiple Intelligence test that calculates your levels in Excel.  It worked WONDERFULLY and defined them very well!
http://www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm#multiple%20intelligences%20tests

2. Competency--if we are speaking of our students being competent then we need to know exactly what it means.
1: a sufficiency of means for the necessities and conveniences of life 

2: the quality or state of being competent: as

      a : the properties of an embryonic field that enable it to respond in a characteristic manner to an organizer

      b : readiness of bacteria to undergo genetic transformation

3: the knowledge that enables a person to speak and understand a language

3. Relationship--we refer to having or being "in relationship" with our students.
1: the state of being related or interrelated
2: the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship: as a specific instance or type of kinship.
3: 

a : a state of affairs existing between those having relations or dealingsb : a romantic or passionate attachment

Idea Illustrator:

This chapter discussed all different kinds of learners.  The clip below is from the movie coach carter.  The significance of this clip is that these boys' basketball coach will not allow them to play until they are all passing.  It is not that they cannot pass their courses but that no one has ever taken the time to teach and be patient with the kind of learners that they are.  This clip shows these students finally taking pride in basketball, school, and who they are as people.

This next clip is from "The King and I".  Our chapter specifically referred to this song.  As teachers it's in our job description and a part of our responsibility...getting to know you...

"A rule of Thumb: Display student work prominently!" (pg 81)

Continuous Learning

Andrea Koppen:  Week 4:  Blog 4:  Chapter 5: 

Literary Luminator


Environment:  Valle and Connor speak about the importance of "displaying student work".  "Work should include samples that indicate varying levels of success" (p.  81).  I believe this to be significant to a child's self-esteem and value.  They are able to show how their work contributes to the classroom as a community.  Displaying different levels gives other readers the opportunity to see the diversity in their works.  This will also give students self confidence and self worth.  They may feel successful and proud of their accomplishments.  I would also suggest that, at times, the student pick one of his/her own works to display.  This will give them ownership and some control of the environment.

 Tools:  I found the "Learning Style" tool to be very informative and "eye-opening".  Valle and Connor use "five major lenses through which to view a learner along with the considerations each perspective offers" (p.  87-90).  They listed these views taken from the teacher's perspective of the child's learning.  I have experience using visual, auditory and tactile learning styles to enhance children's learning experiences, however, I have not used these views before.  The questions asked under each lens involved the child's classroom environment,  "physical body rhythms", visual and auditory processing skills,  and organizational preferences.  The information taken from these questions would enlighten the teacher learning to adaptations needed for student success. 

Backward Planning:  I chose this topic because I am currently learning so much about the process of conceptual planning.  Starting from the "outset with the big picture in mind" gives the teacher the opportunity to ask,  What do I want them to know, understand and do?
(p. 92) Valle and Connor state 3 stages to backward planning; identifying desired outcomes, determine what represents acceptable evidence of student competency and to plan instruction and learning experiences (p.  92-93).  I am currently writing plans using this design and can already see how my scope of what I want them to ultimately learn has changed.  I am sure that as I learn this process, my views and ideas will also change.  Using backward planning allows for teachers to bridge core curriculum ideas with differentiated instruction to provide meaningful application for all students.


In this video, the teacher involves the children in their own learning.  I love the excitement and fun that they are having while learning the concepts of math.  Universal design promotes conceptual learning by "doing".  This is a must see!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNfwZX1sRog&feature=player_profilepage



Essence Extractor

A  conceptual design with individual application leads to meaningful learning.



Rigorous Researcher

  Benjamin Bloom
He was born in 1913 in Pennsylvania.  As a child he was always curious about the world, loved to read and was an active researcher.  He received his undergraduate degree and Masters degree from Penn State.  He then moved to Chicago where he became an instructor of Psychology as he completed his Ph.d. in 1942. "His system of classification soon became the standard for describing objectives and the process of achieving them" (Sprinthall, 2002).  His most recent  study was on the process of the gifted and talented.  Bloom passed away in 1999.  He was 86 years old.

I believe this wheel could be used as a useful tool when planning and executing assessments and lesson plans.  Bloom's taxonomy gives teachers a resource to assist students to "answer higher level questions and partake in activities that require more than recollection and application" (Valle & Connor, 2011, p.  85).

Source: Sprinthall, Norman and Sprinthall, Richard, Educational Psychology (Dec. 2002)

To Be Me Or Not To Be Me, Should Not Be The Question

Andrea Koppen:  Week 3:  Blog 3:  Chapter 3 & 4:

Vocabulary/Concept Vitalizer:

                           Normal


Valle and Connor relay the origin of "normal" (p.  44).  Webster's dictionary had many definitions for "normal"  These were a few that I believed pertained to our topic of inclusion;

Definition of NORMAL

adj \ˈnȯr-məl\

1  a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern  

2  a : of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development b : free from mental disorder : sane

John Perry, a professor at Stanford's philosphy department and an on air talk show co-host  from Philosphy Talk states on his blog, " What is Normal?" (2010) ;

    

 "It seems that there is nothing very normative about being typical, regular, usual and ordinary; but conforming to a type or standard seems like something one ought to do. We set standards, live up to standards or fail to do so, and the like."

http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2010/03/what-is-normal.html

Valle and Connor discuss these next two words, mainstreaming and inclusion, throughout the text.  Inclusion was "understood to be an updated term for mainstreaming rather than a significantly different philosophical orientation." (p.  57)  These are Webster Dictionary's current definitions;

Definition of MAINSTREAM

verb \ˈmān-ˈstrēm\

transitive verb

1 : to place (as a disabled child) in regular school classes

2: to incorporate in the mainstream

Definition of INCLUSION

noun \in-ˈklü-zhən\

1: the act of including : the state of being included

2: something that is included: as a : a gaseous, liquid, or solid foreign body enclosed in a mass (as of a mineral) b : a passive usually temporary product of cell activity (as a starch grain) within the cytoplasm or nucleus

3: a relation between two classes that exists when all members of the first are also members of the second — compare membership 3

4: the act or practice of including students with disabilities in regular school classes

Valle and Connor use the terms, "Discourse of Disability" (p.  60) and "myth of homogeniety" (p.  52).   I am unfamiliar with these terms.  I thought I would look further into their meanings.

               

DISCOURSE OF DISABILITY:

According to Weller, the author of an article titled, The Discourse of Disability (2000) states,  "Disability Discourse draws upon personal narratives, rhetoric, material discourse, discourse analysis, cultural representation, ethnography and contextual studies, as international contributors seek to emphasize the multidimensional nature of "disability language" in an attempt to further inform our understanding of disability and to locate disability more firmly within contemporary mainstream social and cultural theory."

MYTH OF HOMOGENEITY:

Webster's Dictionary defines homogeneity as, "the quality or state of being homogeneous".  Valle and Connor discuss how therer is an "unending pursuit of new methods for sorting children according to their sameness" (p.  52).  In my opinion, this is why it is a myth.  We all have differences.


Creative Connector:

Valle and Connor state (p  42), "...it is commonplace in today's culture, for persons with severe disabilities to reside in group homes within their communities".  I can connect to this phrase as I have a close family friend who has a 23 year old child with Downs Syndrome.  The parents are struggling to let her reside in one of these community homes.  They are getting older in years themselves and are challenged with the notion of what will happen to her when they are gone.  Still, she lives home with them.  There are not many same sex homes but there are resources.  I imagine the internal struggle they face daily.  It may seem like an easy and logical decision to place this young woman in a group home, however, there are many emotions that are significant when  it comes to someone you love.

Another area that I was able to connect with was when Valle and Connor gave the scenerio of a teacher being asked to leave her room  in the middle of a lesson by a stranger to go down the hall and notice that all the other teachers are teaching and not being asked to leave.   Then continues to tell the story with emotions of the teacher and the uneasiness he/she feels and how the experience makes her feel "less competent than her peer teachers" (p.  46).  It brings the teacher through the process of a child being pulled out of his/her room for testing.  I wish I could post the entire scenerio because it hit home with me.  I pull kids out to test daily as a Speech therapist whether it be formal or informal.  Valle and Connor describe the  testing experience as "demoralizing" (p.  60).  They reference to "lab rats made to run through mazes".  It makes me ask the question; When we are "asked to perform in a decontextualized and standardized environment", is that really a true understanding of that student's knowledge?  I will keep this in mind when I need to evaluate my students as a whole.

The last connection that I would like to make is in regard to "Inclusion in Action" (p.  68-73).  The CTT classroom scenerio displays a classroom that allows all students," regardless of skill level"  or disability to participate.  I currently push-in to 4 classrooms to provide services and work collaboratively with teachers to plan and execute appropriate and meaningful education for all children.  I was astonished in the scenerio that "the speech/language therapist expressed doubt that students with learning disabilities could gain anything valuable by participating in class Read Alouds and recommended instead that they attend pull-out language instruction during that time".  This is such a wonderful time to be involved in teaching the vocabulary, assisting with self and world connections to the literature, and to assist the student with communicating their knowledge with peer groups.

Idea Illustrator: 

CollaborativeTeaching + Differentiated Instruction= Inclusion

  

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." --Albert Camus

Ruthie B.--Blog 3, Ch. 3&4

Literary Luminary:
1. "'You know, I could never do what you do.  I am glad there are people in the world like you.'"

2. "It is further implied that a very special person is needed--preferably one with the zeal and sacrificial nature of a missionary--to work with disabled children, who present formidable and presumably undesirable challenges." (p.40)

**(1. & 2.)  I haven't whole-heartedly disagreed with much that I have read so far but these passages certainly did me in.  This book says that we shouldn't regard special educators as "set apart" and different, but I disagree.  They have gifts that serve a population that learns in a different manner.  It is the same way that a high school English teacher may regard a Kindergarten Teacher as a "very special person"--a Kindergarten teacher may not be a Special Educator but to that high school teacher boogers & tears are "formidable and undesirable challenges" that would certainly prove to get the best of her, but not the Kindergarten teacher.  In the same way we regard a Neurosurgeon as someone special and set apart.  By the definition the book is using I feel like they should be regarded as "just another Joe Shmoe" regardless of their abilities as a physician.    I believe that different people have different abilities and different callings that lend them to functioning higher and doing better in certain areas and in certain capacities.  Does this extend to teachers? Yes, I think it does.  Why does one teacher excel at teaching math while the other excels at teaching reading?  These different gifts and talents are some of the many reasons why I am a Physical Educator and not a classroom teacher.

3. "It is worth noting that Madelyn scored below her age level on the Vinelan Adaptive Behavior Scale--one of the social behavior measures that contributed to her newly acquired label of "mentally impaired." Had the previous scenario been a test of social competence, how many nine-year-olds could have negotiated it as successfully..." (p.51)

**(3.) What this passage does not reveal is that Madelyn has just politely and successfully finished asking an individual who is a bouncer by profession if he could find somewhere else to smoke.  How many times do we assume that because a child doesn't fit the cookie-cutter idea of how they are supposed to act or function that clearly there must be something wrong with them.  Madelyn scores on the behavioral scale that indicated she may not be competent in social interactions certainly did not keep her from approaching an adult and successfully navigating a social situation that would have had most adults ducking for cover.

Essence Extractor:
Inclusion requires us to "normalize" every learning style students require.

Rigorous Researcher:
Below is the way that Merriam-Webster defines the word "normal".  There is a long list of all of the ways in which it is used but there are a few that pop out as being very relevant to how we as teachers use this word or comparison when we talk about the needs, requirements and abilities of our students.

Definition of NORMAL

1 : perpendicular to a tangent at a point of tangency

2

a : according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle

b : conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern

3: occurring naturally 

4

a : of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development

b : free from mental disorder : sane

5 of a solution 

a : having a concentration of one gram equivalent of solute per liter

b : containing neither basic hydroxyl nor acid hydrogen

c : not associated 

d : having a straight-chain structure 

6 of a subgroup : having the property that every coset produced by operating on the left by a given element is equal to the coset produced by operating on the right by the same element

7 : relating to, involving, or being a normal curve or normal distribution 

8 of a matrix : having the property of commutativity under multiplication by the transpose of the matrix each of whose elements is a conjugate complex number with respect to the corresponding element of the given matrix

I think that the definitions that have the most impact on us are definitions 2 a.&b. as well as 4 a.&b. Each of these are applicable to our teaching as we look at our students and discuss with peers and co-workers what "normal" age-appropriate activities or actions of our students are on their part.