195: PBL Tips on Managing the Process

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At project start, make sure students are on the right track:
  • Help students brainstorm next steps (such as research plans) prior to beginning those processes
  • Hold early private meetings with teams while the rest work on other assignments (ex: background reading assignment) to vet and give feedback on their next steps and research questions
  • Require deliverables with early work sessions to make sure students are making progress and gaining momentum
  • Provide milestones, benchmarks and templates to support students in managing projects
Tailor grouping strategies to project needs:
  • Vary out grouping methods: student choice, teacher choice, random draw, etc
  • Aim for heterogeneous groups that team up students who are advanced with students who struggle
  • Grouping friends together works well with projects that require a lot of work outside class time
  • If a project requires a lot of different skills, may aim to form teams that include students who have those skills as a whole when combined in teams
  • Mixed method – students choose pairs and then teacher chooses which pairs to combine into teams of 4
  • Make grouping appear random even when it is actually very deliberate
  • Expert -> jigsaw teams – expert teams become very verses in 1 topic and then jigsaw teams are formed to include one of each type of expert
  • Use knowledge of students to create balanced teams
  • Sometimes when students choose their own teams end up with several strong teams and several unfocused teams
  • Could make students apply to be on teams
  • Have students conduct a team inventory of their skills and compare that to the skills needed to complete the project – if there is a mismatch they can lobby to switch team members to better align their team’s skills to the project
  • Fake Autonomy – group all students into 3-4 colors.  Students who should not work together share the same color.  Ask students to form teams that include one student of each color
  • Can have students submit 1st and 2nd choice for partners and try to honor their requires while forming balanced teams
  • Can have students rank their interests from a list of topics and form teams based on common interests
Plan how to accommodate the needs of diverse students
  • Plan in remediation time for students who don’t get it the first couple times
  • Have students develop a portfolio that crosses projects so they can access resources throughout the year
  • Use knowledge of students to provide different types / levels of support to different students
  • Students can get help from teachers, other students, the library, the internet, etc.
  • Try to allow for time for students to work with their friends or work on a topic they are interested in
  • For more on differentiating for various needs, see this article: Clustering student needs for more efficient planning
Intervene with students who are not carrying their own weight:
  • Sometimes let teams go through the firing process and then the student needs to work alone.  Or that students can produce a body of work and apply for a rehire from another team.
  • For teams that complain about team members not working, facilitate a meeting to renegotiate and tighten timelines.  Add more details to timelines including action item descriptions, action item owners, and specific deadlines.
  • Inform parents when their child is missing checkpoints and brainstorm together how to improve students’ project and self management skills.
  • Have individuals and teams reflect on group processes so they can become more aware and communicate to each other and the teacher about their group concerns and problems.
  • Brainstorm with teams who are stuck or off task on ways to become more motivated and focused.
Keep track of each group’s progress
  • Move a lot! Use the proximity effect (location matters more than content) to coach students working in teams
  • Set clear benchmarks and deadlines and have quick touch-in meetings to check on teams’ progress and answer questions and concerns
  • Let students complete a project planning form and then have a review meeting around that form.
  • Use checklists or 3×5 cards to record group observations
  • Instruct teams to maintain group folders that include all their logs and product artifacts.
Make sure groups keep track of their own progress
  • Instruct groups to meet and record who attended the meeting, what was accomplished, the meeting agenda, data, location
Keep public records of group progress:
  • Maintain a public accountability chart that shoes what benchmarks teams have completed – make this a graphic display that everyone can see
  • Allow time at the start and end of work days to set and track team goals
The Internet is only one information resources.  Students often need help to use it efficiently
  • Use school librarian as a project partner
  • Provide students with a starter list of helpful websites
  • Teach students how to analyze the content of websites and evaluate whether or not they possess the prerequisite knowledge to understanding the web content
  • Teach students how to evaluate the validity and quality of web sources
Technology can be a powerful tool; it can also crash and burn.
  • Trial and troubleshoot tech before using it in a project
  • Identify people who can help you troubleshoot technology
Don’t use tech blindly.  Select tech that enhances student learning
  • Select tech that addresses the meat of the project effectively
  • Before using a tool ask: What can be accomplished by this tool?  Can we do this using simpler tools?
  • Allow time to train students how to use selected technology.
  • Use tech only when it is appropriate and enhances student learning.
Don’t be afraid to make mistake
  • When mistakes are made, model how to fail forward by brainstorming solutions with students
Don’t be afraid of making mid project corrections
  • When students are missing essential info, let students know how / when class will get together to fill in the gap
  • Rethink timelines if you realize that students can’t meet the original timeline or are ready and willing to do more
  • When problems arise, hold a class meeting to debrief the situation and brainstorm and select solutions
  • Renegotiate expectations with teams that run into unexpected obstacles – focus new expectations on what’s critical to learn
Debrief project with your class and ask for project feedback
  • 2 questions:
    • What is of lasting value to the learner as a result of completing this project?
    • What is of lasting value to the community as a result of completing this project?
  • Show students models of good reflection before they start generating reflective comments.
  • Ask students
    • what didn’t work and why and possible alternatives?
    • what the fell they did well in the project?
    • what they feel didn’t go well?
    • what grade do they deserve and why?
    • are you proud of your end product?
    • how could end product be better?
  • Could gather feedback on overall project and specific end products on sticky notes
  • Keep student and teacher notes on project improvements in a secure place
  • Processing time is well worthwhile – set aside time for it
Reflecting on the Driving Question
  • Reflect on the driving question to review content and hopefully make long lasting learning connections

 

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Effective (poor) project management can make (break) a project.  Students need support developing skills related to self- and project-management.  Setting aside time to scaffold these skills and using templates to reinforce / guides these skills will make students more effective at learning within PBL projects.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Analyze standards and create related list of academic learning targets.
  • Create project products and expectations.  Create an inventory of skills students need to have to be successful in the project.
  • Create character learning targets that are skills in the inventory that students may not have yet.
  • Design scaffolding and templates for character learning targets.
  • Select and troubleshoot technology that advances learning
Early Implementation Steps
  • Set aside time in projects to scaffold character learning targets.
  • Provide feedback on templates that scaffold project and self management process in touch-in meetings
  • Provide opportunities for students to set and track their goals throughout the project
  • Facilitate a post-project reflection discussion to gather feedback on what worked and alternatives to problems
  • Use variety of grouping methods that enhance project goals
  • Select and use technology that advances student learning; scaffold the tech
  • Intervene / support teams / individual students who are struggling
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Ask upperclassmen to coach / mentor students in project management skills
  • Ask experienced students to design their own project planning forms
  • Use tech to update group accountability charts in real time
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191: 3 PBL Student Briefs

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The following briefs can be used to help students self-manage their project tasks:
Student Planning Brief
  • The overall challenge that defines this project is …
  • I / we intend to investigate:
  • I need to complete the following activities:
    • What will I / we do?
    • How will I / we do it?
    • Date due
  • I / we need the following resources and support:
  • At the end of the project, I / we will demonstrate learning by:
    • What?
    • How?
    • Who and where?
 
Student Product Brief
  • What product do I / we want to construct?
  • What research do I / we need to conduct?
  • What are my / our responsibilities for this product?
  • I / we expect to learn the following from working on this product:
  • I / we will demonstrate what we’ve learned by:
  • I / we wil complete the product by:
 
Student Presentation Brief
  • What will the audience learn from my presentation?
  • What part am I responsible for?
  • My plan to make a successful presentation:
  • I expect to learn the following from making this presentation:
  • Specific skills I plan to work on are:
  • I need the following technology / equipment for my presentation:
  • I need the following visuals for my presentation:

 

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The student briefs in this article help students plan out their tasks related to project, products, and presentations.  They also help students reflect on the learning goals related to these tasks.  Using one or more of these briefs can help teachers provide feedback to students on their project / product / presentation plans, check that their learning goals match the intended learning targets, and address students problems and concerns in a timely manner

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Set character learning targets for students that specific describe effective behaviors related to good project management
  • Select and adapt the design brief that most closely supports your selected  learning targets.
  • Develop an exemplar version of the student brief you plan to implement
Early Implementation Steps
  • Model how to use student brief using think aloud protocol and exemplar.
  • Set aside class time for students to complete the briefs and for teachers to provide face-to-face feedback on the briefs.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Incorporate selected student brief into classroom routines
  • Use student feedback to refine student brief prompts and formatting
  • Analyze trends in student briefs to identify students’ strengths and gaps.  Design scaffolding related to gaps.
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173: Assessing Metacognition (3 of 4)

  1. Classroom Opinion Polls
    • Description
      • Students complete anonymous polls of their opinions
    • Purpose
      • Discover student opinions related to course-related issues
      • Helps students become aware of opinions that can support or hinder learning
      • Teachers can get advance information that can help him or her better frame course-related issues
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Preview upcoming materials and search for issues that may have related opinions that can affect learning.
      • Choose 1-2 issues to convert to Classroom Opinion Poll questions.
      • Create a polling electronic form or paper form.  Tools for electronic forms: Socrative, Nearpod, PollEveryhwere, Mentimeter
      • Administer the assessment.  Remind students not to put their names on the paper forms if you use these.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Count and tally responses.
      • Electronic tools (see above) will count and tally responses automatically.
    • Extension Ides
      • Ask students to justify their responses.
      • Have students write rebuttals for opinions different than their own.
      • Let students come up with polling questions.
    • Pros
      • Low floor task that is accessible to all
      • Showing poll results helps students acknowledge the diversity of opinions in the class
      • Teachers gain info that can help refine/reframe future lessons
    • Cons
      • May find that students are opposed to using evidence to justify opinions
      • Students may find it difficult to commit to a response
    • Caveats
      • Be prepared to discuss issues related to opinion polls
      • Gather assessment data anonymously
      • Model respectful consideration of varied opinions
      • May opt to summarize data in private in order to hide reactions to unexpected surprises in the data
  2. Double Entry Journals
    • Description
      • Students take notes in 2 columns.  On one column that write key ideas, assertions and arguments learned during activity.  In the other column they explain the personal significance of those ideas and ask questions of the ideas.
    • Purpose
      • Detailed feedback on how students read, analyze and respond to assigned texts
      • Teachers learn what students value in the text
      • Students learn about how course issues relates to issues in their personal lives
      • Students become more aware of how they read and respond to texts
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Select important parts of text to be annotated.  Should be short, challenging and provocative.
      • Show students how to setup notebook page for the strategy.
      • Model how to use the strategy by getting the annotations started on both columns while thinking aloud.
        • on left column – copy key quotes and passages from the text
        • on right column – explain why they chose each excerpt – could include agreements, disagreements, questions etc
        • encourage 2 columns to interact like a dialogue
    • Analysis Steps
      • Compare students’ left column to key points in the text
      • Try to categorize the types of responses that appear in the right column
    • Extension Ides
      • Let students do a double entry journal on a lecture – provide recording of the lecture
      • May offer 2-3 excerpts for them to interpret and have them add a couple more items in the right column
      • Use as first step in a bigger writing assignment – write an essay based on double entry journal
      • After they’ve done this several times, get students to look over several double entry journals and notice patterns in the types of excerpts they choose to include
    • Pros
      • Student practice careful reading and responding to texts
      • Encourages students to look for personal meanings in texts
    • Cons
      • Students may try to write for the teacher instead of candidly write for themselves
      • Students may struggle with this strategy at first
    • Caveats
      • Importance to distinguish between lack of skill with this note-taking strategy and lack of awareness
      • Students may need a lot of coaching before students start genuinely sharing their opinions
  3. Profiles of Admirable Individuals
    • Description
      • Students write a brief focused profile of an individual in a field related to the course whose values, skills and/or actions they admire
    • Purpose
      • Teachers learn what students value
      • Students acknowledge what they value in professions related to the course
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Try out strategy yourself – write a profile for an admirable individual for a course.
      • Decide what criteria you will use to assess the profiles.
      • Develop clear instructions for profiles.  Be sure to include length limits and to define what populations students can draw their people from
    • Analysis Steps
      • Notice the characteristics and values that appear repeatedly in students’ profiles.  Tally these.
    • Extension Ides
      • Provide a list of people who students can write profiles for in case they can’t come up with a person.
      • Have students rank the characteristics in their profiles in order from most to least important.
      • Have students write parallel profiles of people who are not admirable and explain their negative appraisals.
      • Have students work in teams to read each other’s appraisals and come up with a composite list of admirable characteristics.
    • Pros
      • Requires students to consider their own values.
      • Teachers can learn about role models who have influenced students.
    • Cons
      • May make some students uncomfortable.
      • May need to do research to identify people for profiles.
      • Specifying admirable characteristics of individuals can be challenging.
    • Caveats
      • Keep assessments anonymous
      • Model how to write good profiles that elaborate on individual’s admirable qualities
      • If students chose someone you’ve never heard of, remembers that identifying the admirable qualities is more important than knowing the role model

 

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All 3 of these strategies have students notice and share personal connections they are making with course.  Making personal connections with course materials is one powerful way to motivate students and to help them remember new content.

 

Classroom opinion polls can help teachers identify student opinions that may help or hinder learning in the course.  The double entry journal can help teachers see what students value in assigned texts and why they value these.  The profiles of admirable individuals can help teachers see what positive characteristics students see and value in professionals who relate to the course.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Identify what you would like to learn about students’ beliefs, ideas, etc.
  • Identify the strategy that would most readily access the information you’d like to learn about students.
  • Create resources that go with the selected strategy.  See above for details.
Early Implementation Steps
  • Describe how to complete the assessment.  Provide early coaching in the from of modeling if needed.
  • Give students time to complete the assessment inside or outside of class.
  • Analyze the assessment to look for interesting patterns and comparisons.  Compare these with course character learning targets
  • Share insights from analyzing the assessment with the class.  Facilitate discussions related to these insights.
  • Describe to students how these insights will impact future teaching and learning in the course.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Try out some of the extension activities.  See above.
  • Use knowledge of students to reframe upcoming projects and scaffolding activities to more closely engage with students’ interests and values.

 

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172: Assessing Metacognition (2 of 4)

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  1. Goal Ranking and Matching
    • Description
      • Students list a few learning goals they have for the course and rank their importance and difficulty.
    • Purpose
      • Measures degree of fit between student and teacher goals
      • Can be used to create shared class goals
      • Students identify and clarify their learning goals
      • Students connect their learning goals with course goals
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Clarify instructional goals for the course.  This can be down by writing long term character learning targets for the course.
      • Assess negotiability and flexibility of character learning targets – are you willing to change these in response to knowing students’ goals?  If not, don’t use use this assessment.
      • Ask students to list 3 to 5 specific goals they have for the course.  Eliminate common answers such as: to do well in the course, to complete course requirements.
      • Direct students to rank goals from most to least important.  May need to model this step.
      • (Time allowing) Direct students to rank goals from most to least difficult.
      • Collect the responses and tells students what data will be used for and when you will discuss related analyses.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Categorize responses with similar goals.  What goals are most common?
      • Can tally up the number of votes that go with each type of goal.
      • Decide whether or not to incorporate student goals into course goals.
      • Compare student goals to course goals.
    • Extension Ides
      • Ask students to rank goals by amount of time needed to reach these.
      • Have students complete the assessment in teams
      • Do follow-up assessment mid-course and end-of-course.  Look for changes in student goals.  More specific? More realistic?
      • Can have students plot learning goals on an importance difficulty matrix so they can label goals as: targeted, high value, strategic and luxurious
    • Pros
      • Students become aware of how their learning goals (or lack of) connect to the course
      • Assess overlap in teacher and student goals
      • Nice conversation starter for course goals and aims
    • Cons
      • Students may struggle to articulate their own goals
      • Students are not used to critiquing course goals
      • Students may get discouraged by mismatches in student and teacher goals
    • Caveats
      • Being aware of goals takes practice
      • Don’t ask if you don’t want to know
      • Don’t hesitate to compare/contrast teacher and student goals (be transparent)
      • Make an effort to respond to student goals in some way
  2. Self-Assessment of Ways of Learning
    • Description
      • Students compare themselves to profiles to identify their preferred ways of learning
    • Purpose
      • Assess students’ preferring learning styles and modes
      • Teachers can use approaches that match students’ learning styles
      • Students realize their learning styles and can make choices that make learning more efficient for them
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Select a framework for describing learning styles and preferences.
      • Determine main categories within selected framework.
      • Create profiles of learners that fit different types in the framework.
      • Design prompts that will have students identify their affinity for one (or more) of the learning profiles and explain their affinity
      • Create a 1 page handout with assessment questions and related profiles.
      • Trial the form.
      • Administer the assessment.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Tally up responses for each type of profile.
      • Show data summary to the class and lead discussion on implications of the data summary on future instruction and learning.
    • Extension Ides
      • Organize class debate teams by grouping together students with similar learning profiles.
      • Asks students to identify pros and cons of their preferred learning type
      • Ask students how someone in their style would approach a learning task
      • Organize study groups that mix up students with different learning styles
    • Pros
      • Students learn to acknowledge multiple learning styles
      • Students become more aware of preferred learning style
      • Students may experiment with different learning styles
      • Teacher can gain quick insight into learning styles without using complicated inventories
    • Cons
      • Students with multiple styles may oversimplify their preferences by having to choose one
    • Caveats
      • Treat learning styles as tendencies, not absolute prerequisites.
      • Learning styles can be context dependent
      • Allow students to make relative choices to describe their preferences

 

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These assessments can help teachers gather information on students’ learning goals and learning styles.  Knowing either or both of these can help teachers refine their course goals to better connect with students.  Knowing the predominant learning styles in a class can help teachers select activities and assessments that favor those learning styles.  Knowing students’ learning goals can help teachers engage students by alerting them to activities and goals that overlap with their goals.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Decide what information you would like to gather about students’ learning.  Decide how you will use that information.
  • Select the strategy that will harvest the information you want most.
  • Create a handout that goes with the selected strategy.  See above for details.
  • Share with students how you will use the information gathered by the assessment.
Early Implementation Steps
  • Administer the assessment.
  • Analyze the assessment – look for interesting patterns and comparisons.
  • Share results with the class and their impact on future instruction and learning.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Implement some of the extension ideas described above.
  • Use student data to refine overall course goals, lesson formats, and project products.
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171: Assessing Metacognition (1 of 4)

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  1. Focused Autobiographical Sketches
    • Description
      • Students write a 1 to 2 page autobiographical sketch about a past successful learning experience that may be relevant to a current course
    • Purpose
      • Can help teachers set realistic executives and objectives based on knowledge of students
      • Provides starting line info on how to assess learning
      • Build feelings of self efficacy associated with a course
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Find an element of learning experiences to focus on that relates to course goals and objectives.
      • Can limit still further by limiting the life areas (personal, work, academic) and time periods autobiographical sketches can be drawn from.
      • Determine criteria that will be used to assess the sketches.  Make sure prompt will direct students to create sketches that relate to assessment criteria.
      • Design a prompt that ties to focus & assessment criteria of assignment.
      • Assign prompt to students.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Scan responses and read for stories that relate to course goals.  Try to notice stories and lessons that can be shared to give students advice on how to succeed in the course.
    • Extension Ides
      • Ask students to explain why they deemed their experiences to be successful.
      • After trust is established, ask students to write a Focused Autobiographic Sketch about lessons learned from personal failures.
      • Ask students to focus on story from the point of view of someone else involved.
    • Pros
      • Focused prompts give teachers info on students that’s more relevant to the course than general background statements.
      • Give info on range of past learning experiences and self awareness of students.
    • Cons
      • No simple guidelines for assessing the quality of this assessment.
      • Reading and analyzing sketches takes a lot of time.
    • Caveats
      • Students may need coaching on writing self-reflective prose before this assessment can yield good information.
      • Some students may balk at sharing their stories, even if done anonymously.
  2. Interest / Knowledge / Skills Checklists
    • Description
      • Students respond to checklists to communicate their interests and levels of related skills
    • Purpose
      • Inform teachers of students’ interest in course-related topics and students’ levels of related skills
      • Teachers can use data above to adjust syllabi
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Divide a paper into two columns.  On one column list course topics.  On other column list related skills.
      • Come up with a simple form that will help you code students’ answers.  Examples:  use checklist with Likert scale response per item
      • Let students know why you are gathering data on their interests and skills.  Can keep surveys anonymous.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Can generate bar graphs that show average Likert responses per item.
      • If the surveys are submitted via Google form these bar charts can be created in Google spreadsheets
      • Share interesting data trends and features with students
    • Extension Ides
      • Ask students to explain why they are interested (not interested in) top (bottom) 3 topics
      • Use a graphic display to show overlap between student interests and course goals
    • Pros
      • Gives teachers access to data that helps with course planning
      • Teacher can compare students’ self perceived competencies with his or her own observations
      • Having students be explicit about their interests and skills and how they relate to the course will help them be more self-aware
    • Cons
      • Sizable front end investment to create checklists and analysis tools
      • Results may show that students’ interests do not align well with current course goals
    • Caveats
      • Students may lack interest in topics due to ignorance.  They may develop an interest when they learn more.
      • Assessments may be more a measure of self-confidence than prior learning.

 

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Getting to know students is a key step in building positive relationships with students that can promote deeper learning.  The strategies above can help teachers harvest information on students’ habits, motivations, interests and skills.  Teachers who use this data to improve their course design are more likely to create and facilitate engaging projects for students.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Determine what you would like to learn about your students as learners – what information could help you design better projects and interventions?
  • Decide which format (Focused Autobiographical Sketch or Interest/Knowledge/Skills Checklists) will more readily yield the information you want.
  • Design prompts or forms that go with the selected strategy.
  • Decide how you will analyze the data gathered by the selected strategy.
Early Implementation Steps
  • Explain why you want students to complete the selected assessment.  Explain how it will inform your teaching and course design.
  • Give students time to complete the assessment – in class or out of class.
  • Analyze patterns and trends in students’ responses.
  • Share interesting stories, patterns and trends with students and explain how these connect to course goals.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Let students complete assessment at the start and beginning of the course to see if habits, skills, and/or interests change.
  • Try out one of the extension ideas described above.

 

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170: Assessing Academic Behaviors & Skills (2 of 2)

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  1. Process Analysis
    • Description
      • Students record the steps they take to carry out an assignment and comment on any conclusions they draw about their approaches to the task.
    • Purpose
      • Gathers explicit detailed information on the steps students take to complete an assignment
      • Can help students pinpoint issues in how they work and help them improve on these
      • Teachers can learn what steps in assignments are giving students the most trouble
      • Good for noticing and improving habits that relate to completing routine assignments
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Select an assignment that meets these criteria
        • complex enough to warrant recording steps in a Process Analysis
        • you are genuinely interested in how students work through it
        • focusing on this activity will teach students lessons that can apply in future similar assignments
      • Describe what students will record:
        • steps to complete an assignment &
        • time spent on each step
      • Give students access to example Process Analysis records to show them how to record steps.
      • Assign a task to be logged with the Process Analysis and direct students to complete the task along with the associated Process Analysis
      • Collect Process Analysis along with assignment.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Read assignments first and grade without looking at Process Analyses.
      • In Process Analyses
        • assess overall work schemes for clarity and explicitness
        • the number of steps taken
        • effectiveness of each step
        • similarities & differences among students’ analyses in number, content, and order of steps
        • identify patterns between process steps and levels of performance on assignment
    • Extension Ideas
      • To make them easier to analyze, divide class into groups and stagger when each group completes Process Analyses
      • Have students use Process Analyses to compare notes on how they worked
      • Direct students to focus on only one stage of the process in their discussions (beginning, middle or end)
      • Ask students to focus on one step they would like to add or improve in their next assignment.
    • Pros
      • Focus on process is transferable to other assignments
      • Focus on steps allows students to break down, add, improve specific steps in order to improve overall process
      • Teachers can see if students are implementing steps they are taught to take to complete assignments such as term papers
      • Can uncover productive strategies that can be shared among students
    • Cons
      • Students may resist or struggle to complete the Process Analysis
      • Teachers may find that quality of processes do not always correlate with quality of end products
      • Time consuming to analyze these.  (Note – if these are submitted via Google form, can use pivot tables, sorting, and conditional formatting to speed through analyses of these)
    • Caveats
      • Don’t make process to laborious.  Ask for an outline of steps taken, not a narrative.
      • May need to model how to document steps for students who aren’t used to this.
      • Student who could benefit most from this analysis may be the most unwilling to do it.
  2. Diagnostic Learning Logs
    • Description
      • Students maintain a log for assignments and learning activities.  After learning activities they make lists of key points learned and things that were unclear.  For assignments, they lists problems encountered or errors made and successful responses.
    • Purpose
      • Students identify their own strengths and weaknesses as learners
      • Students can diagnose and suggest and test remedies for their learning difficulties
      • Students develop skills needed to become independent learners
      • Teachers learn more about students strengths and weaknesses that can improve their coaching of students through difficulties
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Explain to students that they will logging information about their academic successes and struggles and the benefits of being aware of these.  The main benefit is that the greater awareness can also lead to better ideas to improve upon processes used to overcome struggles.
      • Provide them with a simple format.  See below:
        • After a learning session:
          • List the main points you learn from the session.  Give examples where possible.
          • List points that are unclear to you.  Give examples where possible.
          • Write a few questions that relate to the unclear points.
        • Homework assignment:
          • Briefly describe the assignment.  What is it about?
          • Give 2 examples of successful responses. What made them successful?
          • Give 1-2 examples of less successful responses.  What errors or ommissions did you make?
          • The next time you confront a similar situation what could you do to increase your learning?
    • Analysis Steps
      • Can categorize assessment using
        • Don’t identify successful and unsuccessful responses
        • Identifies successes and struggles but does not diagnose them.
        • Identifies and diagnoses, but doesn’t offer solutions
        • Identifies, diagnoses and offers solutions
      • Record types of questions students are raising and types of problems they identify
      • What is range of responses students use to describe their own learning?
    • Extension Ideas
      • To make them easier to analyze, divide class into groups and stagger when each group completes the logs
      • Ask students to focus logs on the learning of specific key topics
    • Pros
      • Develop more independent, active, self-reflective learners
      • Protocol can be transferred to any academic situation
      • Provides teachers with assessable, classifiable data on students’ metacognition
      • Can provide insights that improve student learning
    • Cons
      • Requires a lot of time and effort from teachers and students
      • Attention to failures may demoralize students.  Can counteract this by teaching students about the power of struggle
    • Caveats
      • Students may need coaching to complete this well
      • Encourage students to capitalize on their strengths as well as improve upon their weaknesses

 

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Both the Process Analysis and the Diagnostic Learning Log make students more aware of the steps they are taking to learn.  The Process Analysis alerts students to the steps they take to complete assignments.  Noticing these steps can help students identify strengths to reinforce and gaps to fix in order to improve overall learning processes.  The Diagnostic Learning Log makes students aware of what they understand and what they don’t and encourages them to take steps to work through their academic difficulties.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Determine if there are upcoming tasks or activities that could benefit from the use of a Process Analysis or Diagnostic Learning Tool
  • Design the form that will gather the data related to the selected strategy.  See above for examples.
  • Create sample completed forms that will be used to model the selected strategy
Early Implementation Steps
  • Talk through a sample completed form in order to show students how to complete it and how to think through responses in the form.
  • Explain the purpose of gathering and analyzing the data in the strategy.
  • Analyze the data in order to identify interesting patterns and strategies.  (Note:  Gathering data through Google forms can facilitate this data analysis due to functions such as sorting, conditional formatting, averaging, and pivot tabling).
  • Share key insights that go with the analysis of the data gathered by the selective strategy.
  • Give students time in class to compare their observations with other students and to discuss possible strategies to try in the future.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Have students do the strategy more than once in order to see if their learning processes are improving
  • Have students set a reinforcement and an improvement goal – reinforce a strength and improve upon a weakness.
  • Try one of the extensions described above.
  • Create character learning targets that describe key learning processes.  Let students use analyses to gather evidence of progress towards these learning targets.

 

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169: Assessing Academic Behaviors & Skills

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  1. Productive Study-Time Logs
    • Description
      • Students keep simple records of how long, what time and how well they study at different times of the day.
    • Purpose
      • Students learn:
        • how much they study for a specific course
        • how well they use their study time
        • when they are most productive
        • how much time they are studying relative to their peers
      • Students can adjust choices – such as scheduling study times to occur at more productive times of day.
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Decide what you most want to know and want your students to notice about their study habits.
      • Make a simple log sheet that helps students gather study data related to the things you want yourself and your students to learn.
      • Decide frequency and duration for logging entries.
      • Create sample completed sheets.
      • Share log sheets with students.  Use sample completed logs to explain how to fill out the sheets.  Describe what to include and exclude from the log sheets.
      • Tell students the purpose of the sheets and when you will share a summary of the log sheet data.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Calculate averages for quantitative data in the log sheets.
      • Look for trends that describe:
        • when most studying occurs
        • when most productive studying occurs
        • where most productive studying occurs
      • Note:  If you gather this data in Google forms, the data will pool into Google spreadsheets where pivot tables can be used to identify the trends above.
    • Extension Ides
      • Share data trends extracted from the log sheets and use them to start discussions in which students share ideas and strategies for improving study habits.
      • In statistics, the analysis of the study logs can be done as a course assignment.
    • Pros
      • Student learn more about variations in their study habits and can use these to make better decisions.
      • Summarizing log sheet data can give teachers a measure of student’s time commitment to the course during out of class time.
      • Peer comparisons of log sheet data will help students realize if they are studying too little and make better choices.
      • Teachers can use data to make adjustments to student’s work loads.
    • Cons
      • Some students may forget to complete the form as they go.
      • Students logging many hours but still doing poorly are likely to get discouraged by this assessment.
      • Data summarization can be time consuming (not if you use Google forms and pivot tables)
    • Caveats
      • Students may exaggerate work loads if they think you’re going to make adjustments in response to the data summaries.
      • Finding out summary of study time may be an unwelcome surprise.
  2. Punctuated lectures
    • Description
      • Teacher periodically pauses in a lesson and gives students time to reflect on how their most recent behavior helped or hindered their learning and to jot down insights in the form of anonymous notes to the teacher.
      • Sounds similar to Writing Breaks.
    • Purpose
      • Focuses reflections on how or whether (or not) students are processing information in activities.
      • Encourage students to become self monitoring learners.
    • Step-by-Step Procedure
      • Choose a lecture that can be chunked into smaller segments (each segment no longer than 10-20 min).   Decide on times when you will punctuate the lecture and give students time to reflect and write.
      • At time of punctuation, explain the purpose of the assessment (to reflect on one’s current learnings).
      • Give them reflection time and writing time.  Can also give them prompts such as
        • How fully where you concentrating during the lecture? Did you get distracted? If so, how did you redirect your attention?
        • What were you doing to record the information in the lecture?  How successful were you?
        • What were you doing to make connections between this new information and what you already know?
        • What did you expect to come next in the lecture and why?
      • Collect their feedback.
    • Analysis Steps
      • Observe how specific and how aware students are of their habits.
      • Share some of their successful redirection and recording strategies with the rest of the class.
    • Extension Ides
      • Ask students to save several of their reflections and analyze them for patterns and changes over time.
      • Share especially astute self analyses with the class as examples of keen self awareness.
      • Students can develop “processing plans” that describe:
        • how they will redirect their attention,
        • how they will record their learnings and questions, and
        • how they will connect old and new information.
    • Pros
      • Shows how students learn.
      • Promotes active listening and self reflection.
      • Focuses attention on self-monitoring – important part of metacognition.
    • Cons
      • Students may struggle to be aware of what they were doing and get frustrated.
      • Many students and teachers have not built up a shared vocabulary to describe learning processes.  Building up this language takes time.
    • Caveats
      • Don’t expect immediate results from this strategy.  Being self aware is hard.
      • May encounter resistance to the idea that the methods for information processing can be consciously changed by those who believe the brain is a black box.

 

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Productive Study Time Logs can help teachers and students learn more about students’ study habits outside of class time.  In a PBL setting, gathering this data can set up frank conversations among team members that have large disparities in the amount of time each member is contributing towards products.  Analyzing this data can also help teachers better understand how students are managing the work loads in their classes.

 

The Punctuated lectures strategy can help students become more aware of the processes students are using to focus their attention and process information during workshops.  It can also get students to try out new strategies that may improve the way they learn during workshops.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Decide what types of things you would like students to learn about their learning processes during and outside of class time.
  • Select the strategy that will help students gather the most data and observations about the processes that are most important to you.
  • Write character learning targets that relate to the specific study habits or information processing habits you would like students to practice and assess.
Early Implementation Steps
  • Create models for the selected strategy.  Use these to demonstrate to the students how to record their observations.
  • Explain what teachers and students can learn from investigating the study data.
  • Give students time to practice the strategy.  Provide them with guide sheets to gather their observations.
  • Teachers and peers analyze the data to note interesting comparisons and trends.  Use these insights to identify possible new strategies to try out to improve learning.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Use Google forms to consolidate productive study time logs data into a spreadsheet that can be pivot tabled to analyze the trends.
  • Set up discussion protocols that will help peers provide each other with constructive study feedback based on their observations and brainstorm adjustments.
  • Do the strategy at different times in the course that are well separated and compare the data from both times to notice what changes and stayed the same.

 

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152: From Tracking to Growth Mind Set Grouping

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Opportunities to Learn (OTL) & Tracking:
  • Students given opportunities to learn high-level content tend to achieve at higher levels
  • Early tracking denies OTL to many students.
  • Early tracking goes against research about child development and the plasticity of the brain.
  • Ability grouping promotes fixed mindsets.
  • Early tracking tends to lower achievement scores.
    • Can make higher tracked students more brittle due to fixed mindsets and due to defending their gifted identifies
    • Can demoralize lower tracked students
Growth Mindset Grouping:
  • Grouping students heterogeneously and using strategies to leverage the strengths of heterogeneous groups.  See below.
Teaching Heterogeneous Groups Effectively:
  1. Provide Open-Ended Tasks
    • Assign problems with a low floor and high ceiling
    • Challenge and support individual students at the right levels
  2. Offer a Choice of Tasks
    • Offer students choice of different tasks that address different levels and fields of mathematics
      • Examples:
        • Choose between 2 tasks: 1) investigate shapes with area of 64 or (2) investigate shapes with volume of 216
  3. Individualized Pathways
    • Example: Using SMILE cards to individualize instruction for London students
      • Assign students 10 cards that they word on at their own pace before collecting 10 more
      • To see the SMILE cards, go here.
    • Offer individualized learning pathways and opportunities for group work and collaboration.
Four Tenets of Complex Instruction (or How to Do Math Effectively in Teams):
  • pedagogical approach designed to make group work equitable designed by Liz Cohen and Rachel Lotan
  1. Multidimensionality
    • Emphasize more than one type of math processing including:
      • asking good questions
      • rephrasing problems
      • explaining
      • using logic
      • justifying methods
      • using manipulatives
      • connecting ideas
      • helping others
    • Design group worthy tasks.  These tasks:
      • illustrate important math concepts
      • allow for multiple representations
        • encourage visuals
        • encourage color-coding to represent same ideas in different visuals – for example make all visuals that represent the variable, x, blue
      • draw effectively on collective resources of the group
      • have several possible solution paths
      • Examples –
        • Given several pile patterns what would be the pile number for pile 10
        • Challenge activity intentionally designed to have missing information
        • Use linear functions (t-tables, drawings, equations, visuals, etc.) to derive the equation for the lengths of shoe laces that go with given shoe sizes
        • Problems from the CPM Connections series
        • Problems from the Interactive Mathematics Program
    • Encourage students to tackle group worthy tasks using strategies such as:
      • reading problems aloud
      • ask themselves questions such as:
        • what is the problem asking us?
        • how could we rephrase the question?
        • what are the key parts of the problem?
  2. Roles
    • Assign meaningful roles to students.  Here are some examples:
      • Organizer – keeps team focused on the task at hand
      • Resourcer – only one that can leave the table to gather resources and to call over the teacher when the team is ready
      • Understander – Asks questions that get all team members to understand and record all ideas that are presented
      • Includer – Makes sure all team members are included in discussions
  3. Assigning competence
    • Raising the status of a student perceived to have low status in a group by praising their work, their thinking or their contributions to the team
    • This can be especially helpful for students who are introverted and soft spoken
  4. Shared student responsibility
    • Invest time in teaching students how to collaborate effectively
      • develop and scaffold group norms for respect and listening
        • example lesson – Ask students to make class lists of things They Like and Don’t Like  to see / experience / hear when they are solving problems in groups.  Use these lists to make class displays that encourage (discourage) good (bad) team behaviors
      • be explicit about good math values and the purposes they serve
        • examples of things to value:
          • communicating thinking behind solutions
          • creative representations of ideas
        • examples of things to discourage:
          • speeding through the solutions without explaining reasoning
      • calling on students at random within a team to explain their team’s ideas and other concepts
        • if student doesn’t know the answer, emphasize to the team that it’s the team’s responsibility to make sure everyone understands the concept related to the question
        • give team time to teach other
        • return and ask the same student the same question
      • Group tests – students would take test individually, one test selected at random to be the score for the entire team
      • Set up problem solving norms that REQUIRE students to always justify their reasoning and answers
      • Promote relationship equity
        • less about having equal scores and more about showing respect for others
      • What about high achievers? Will they be harmed by heterogenous grouping?
        • many high achievers are fast problem solvers who need to develop the skill of slowing down and explaining the reasoning for the steps in their solutions
        • discussing problems in groups can help these speedy problem solver solve problems at deeper levels through discourse

 

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Homogeneous ability grouping can lead to fixed mindsets about one’s abilities in math.  These fixed mindsets can harm students who are led to believe that they have high or low abilities in math.  Students grouped as “high ability” may develop a fragile sense of self that leads to investing more energy to protect the gifted image of themselves rather than investing that energy in growth  Students who are labeled as low ability may lose the sense of self-efficacy needed to persevere through challenging problems.
This article describes strategies for growth mindset grouping – i.e. grouping students heterogeneously and designing tasks and implementing strategies that encourage students to effectively collaborate while solving math problems together.  See above for descriptions for these strategies.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Research or design rich mathematical tasks that are group worthy.  These tasks have low floors and high ceilings.  They are multidimensional, have multiple solution pathways, can be represented in multiple ways and encourage discussion and group work.
  • Develop and scaffold norms, values, and strategies that promote effective collaboration.
  • Decide on what group roles you would like students to practice throughout the year.
  • Decide on what strategies you will use to reward group accountability.
Early Implementation Steps
  • Teach students HOW to collaborate effectively and HOW to live out effective mathematical values and strategies.  See above for ideas.
  • Use assigning competence strategy to redirect and model for groups how to value the opinions of students who aren’t getting a lot of air time.
  • Use strategies that emphasized shared accountability – for example:
    • assigning random people to speak on behalf of the team to the entire class,
    • group tests (random person’s test is scored and that score is assigned to the whole team)
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Sequence collaboration strategies in phases in a order that is logical and emphasizes collaboration skills that tie well with content activities
  • Gather feedback from students on norms and strategies in order to fine-tune them

 

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151: Assessing Analytical & Critical Thinking Skills (Part 2 of 2)

 

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  1. Content, Form, and Functions Outline
    • Purpose:
      • Assess students’ ability to determine the informational content, form, and communicative function of a piece of writing
      • All of these skills are important because we are buried in messages of all kinds
    • What It Is: 
      • Students read a message and analyze the what (content), the how (form), and the why (function) of the message.
      • Students can analyze a piece of reading creating a what, how, and why outline
    • Suggestions for Use:
      • Good for writing and communication courses
      • Good for courses that require students to digest dense texts
    • Step-by-Step Procedure:
      1. Choose a sample text that represents a focus genre of a unit.
      2. Divide sample text into sub-sections.
      3. Find a model text that can be used to write a model Content, Form and Functions Outline.
      4. Model process of creating Content, Form and Functions Outline using model text and model outline.  Give clear examples that differentiate form and function.
      5. Provide students with a blank Content, Form and Functions Outline graphic organizer.
      6. Assign text for students to outline and provide sufficient time for students to complete the graphic organizer.
    • Analysis Tips:
      • .Analyze outlines through 3 lenses
        • How well did they paraphrase content?
        • How well did they identify and describe the forms of the text passages?
        • How well did they analyze the functions of the text passages?
      • Keep a running tally of problem spots that students have trouble analyzing
    • Extension Tips:
      • Use this outline to compare different types of writing or media and evaluate their effectiveness
      • Cut a completed outline into pieces for a given text and have students use the text to reorder the pieces
    • Pros:
      • Prompt students to analyze messages carefully
      • Stimulates thinking about patterns and common structures in texts.  Can help students see why and how different genres encode the same information.
      • Allows teachers to focus in on specific sticky points in the text.
    • Cons:
      • Time intensive technique for teachers and students
      • Many texts and messages can’t be easily categorized in neat ways.
      • Many texts and messages perform several functions for each component, making analysis more tricky.
    • Caveats:
      • Start small.  Introduce technique with a short, simple text passage.
      • Don’t feel constrained to model and practice technique over one day – ok and maybe more effective to spread over several days.
      • Recognize that students may come to different valid conclusions about the function of a message.
  2. Analytic Memos
    • Purpose:
      • Assesses ability to analyze assigned problems by using discipline-specific problem solving and communication methods.
      • Assesses ability to communicate concisely and clearly.
      • Provide students with feedback on analytical and writing skills.
    • What It Is: 
      • Students write a 1-2 page analysis of an issue / topic for a specific audience (employer, client, stakeholder)
    • Suggestions for Use:
      • Good for courses that teach specific problem solving / argumentation skills
      • Good as practice for larger writing assignments
      • Best suited for small classes because they take long to prepare and assess
    • Step-by-Step Procedure:
      1. Determine which analytical / critical thinking / problem solving methods you want to assess.
      2. Invent a well-focused issue or problem for the students to analyze.  Gather background information on the issue.
      3. Specify the role of the writer, the audience, the subject and purpose of the memo.
      4. Write your own Analytic Method on the issue.  Note any difficulties.  Assess whether it emphasizes the right types of problem solving and analytical methods.
      5. Decide whether students will work alone, in pairs or in small groups.
      6. Provide written expectations for assignment that includes: students’ role, their audience, specific subject, analytical approach to be taken, length limit (usually 1-2 pages) and deadline.
      7. Explain to students how this assessment will prepare them for subsequent tasks in the course and in their careers.
    • Analysis Tips:
      • Read memo quickly, only once before assessing it.
      • Use short checklist as an aid with 3-5 major points to look for in each memo and limit yourself to these points.
      • Make a simple grid for checklist for places to check off: well done, acceptable, needs work.
      • Limit comments to 2-3 specific comments.
      • Can tally number of well done, acceptable, etc. and identify what are you students’ strengths and areas in need of improvement.
    • Extension Tips:
      • Facilitate peer feedback and revision sessions.
      • Use Analytic Memo as first draft to a graded memo-writing assignment.
      • Divide class into policy analysts and policy makers; have makers respond in memo format to the analysts.
    • Pros:
      • Authentic tasks that sharpen and assess job-related skills
      • Provides rich data related to students’ skills
    • Cons:
      • Preparing memo is time consuming.
      • Providing feedback on memos is time consuming.
    • Caveats:
      • Choose problems that are real enough to warrant thoughtful analysis.
      • Choose problems that are familiar to students.
      • Find ways to give grading credit to these drafts without penalizing students because this is an early draft.

 

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Content, Form & Function Outlines can develop students’ awareness of the methods used to promote specific messages in texts.  Repeating this strategy may help students identify patterns that help them compare / contrast different texts and help them learn how to communicate messages in different writing genres.
The Analytic Memo can help students develop and gather feedback on their use of discipline specific problem solving and writing strategies.  It can serve as a first draft for a larger analytical writing assignment.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Analyze standards related to upcoming products – analyze the verb (thinking levels) and noun (concepts, topics) in the standards
  • Analyze the reading, writing and thinking skills needed to successfully complete products aligned to the standards
  • If the reading is dense, consider breaking the key texts using the Content, Form and Function outline – this is especially true if the key texts are serving as sources of information and as models for written products
  • If the project requires high levels of analytical thinking, consider using the analytical memo as a pre-assessment of students’ writing and problem solving skills and as a first draft for a written product
Early Implementation Steps
  • Use a version of the procedures above (see WHAT?) to implement the assessment of your choice.
  • Analyze the assessment and provide timely individual and class-wide feedback on the assessments.
  • Describe how the assessment feedback will affect future teaching and learning.
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Implement assessment strategy multiple times so students can use the feedback and practice to develop related skills over time
  • After students have experienced the assessment several times, try implementing one of the assessment extensions ideas (see WHAT? above).

 

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149: Supporting Positive Behaviors in 9th Grade

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TRANSITION TO HIGH SCHOOL= CRITICAL POINT OF INTERVENTION
  • 9th grade course failure is a strong predictor of high school dropout
  • Why is 9th grade so critical?
    • DRAMATIC INCREASES IN COMPLEXITY in ..
      • number of classes and teachers to interact with
      • academic demands of coursework
      • size of school and peer groups
    • CHALLENGES:
      • high schools are not equipped to support freshman in the development of new academic behaviors that can handle new loads
      • students experience increased demands and striking reductions in support
    • EFFECTS:
      • Widespread grade failures – in Chicago, 53% of freshman fail at least 1 course
      • Absences increase between 8th to 9th grade – in Chicago, they tripled
    • INTERVENTIONS:
      • make sure students have high attendance to classes
      • intervene early when students start to fail courses
9TH GRADE: A PLACE WHERE STUDENTS “GET STUCK”
  • After a school move, students grades, attendance and attitudes towards school decline – this decline is marked in urban school environments
  • Decrease in grades is most noticeable in urban schools because of high rates of absenteeism and course failure
  • Academic failure undermines academic mindsets: sense of confidence, engagements and belonging
  • Academic failures can start a downward spiral leading to sustained poor performance
  • Students who fail courses run the risk of not promoting past then 9th grade in credits
9TH GRADER WITH STRONG ATTENDANCE AND GOOD GRADES ARE MORE LIKELY TO GRADUATE:
  • On track to graduate (credit wise) by the end of 9th grade was a strong predictor of high school graduation (4 times more likely to graduate than off track students)
  • Dip in academic performance is not limited to students who have low performance in middle school
  • On/off track to graduate after 9th grade was a stronger predictor of high school graduation than middle school achievement measures
ACADEMIC BEHAVIORS, MORE THAN TESTED ACHIEVEMENT, PREDICT COURSE FAILURE IN 9TH GRADE:
  • Reasons for failing courses (failure in academic behaviors):
    • students not attending classes
    • students are not doing homework
    • students are not studying
  • Above factors were measured through questionnaires and school records – these factors could explain dip in GPAs from 8th to 9th grade
A 9TH GRADE PROBLEM, NOT A HIGH SCHOOL READINESS PROBLEM
  • Common assumptions – students who fail are NOT READY to attend high school
  • Abrupt changes in student behavior make it hard to predict which students need more interventions – students who did fine in middle school are included among students failing 9th grade
  • Change in high school environment may change student academic behaviors;
    • stage environment mismatch – example – decline in adult control of behavior and decreases in academic support from 8th to 9th grade
    • measured decreased levels in teacher attention, student-teacher trust, teacher personal support
    • less monitoring of student behaviors leads to more skipped classes
    • less adult involvement in student choices -> responsibility transferred to students
  • Reasons for decline in support
    • high school teachers teach more students
    • high school teachers strategically withhold support to teach independence
  • Students reactions to decline in support
    • students who lack academic skills and display poor academic behaviors start getting low grades
    • students lack direction
    • students overwhelmed by new demands
    • withdrawal of support leads to lack of development of skills that could make students more independent
    • trying to fix student behaviors through punitive grade policies doesn’t seem to work
  • What really works to build independent learners
    • have clear and high expectations for success
    • teach and practice strategies that make students successful learners
    • provide high levels of support to help students meet high expectations
    • provide multiple opportunities for students to succeed
    • safe environments that lack fear of failure
THE AVOIDABLE FAILURE
  • Strategies that have worked
    • strategies that increase sense of belonging in a community
      • small 9th grade academies that foster strong relationships among students and teachers
    • problems that have high levels of expectations & relevance
      • standards-aligned, college-tracked PBL programs
    • lengthening time of classes where students need extra support (Math and ELA)
    • teaching learning strategies such as goal setting, study skills, etc
    • ensuring freshmen have high attendance rates

 

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Understanding the real factors behind poor 9th grade academic performance can help teachers setup classroom environments, policies, supports and activities that help freshman successfully transition from middle to high school.  Contrary to popular belief, the withdrawal of support intended to let freshman develop independence often has the opposite effect; it tends to decrease the development of skills freshman need to learn to become effective independent learners.  Schools that successfully transition 9th grades have high expectations and provide high levels of support to meet these expectations.  They create safe learning communities where students feel like they belong and feel that it is safe to fail and succeed.  They teach students the learning strategies they need to be successful.

 

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Preparation Steps
  • Recruit a team of teachers who share the same students to collaborate with on developing and testing strategies and on setting common clear policies
  • Research strategies that can promote the 4 critical academic mindsets
  • Research strategies for teaching learning skills that can help students succeed
  • Decide how teacher team can use message abundancy (same message, many methods) to teach critical attitudes and skills
Early Implementation Steps
  • Implement scaffolding activities that have students and teachers collaborate on norms to create and maintain a positive safe classroom culture
  • Implement fair and supportive grading policies
  • Give students time to learn and practice learning skills
  • Use student reflection to assess whether or not interventions are working and to refine them 
Advanced Implementation Steps
  • Share observations and data with grade level team to determine what interventions are working and which need to improve.  Use this sharing to determine what practices to incorporate into routines and which to refine or scrap.
  • Collaborate with grade level team to refine policies (especially grading policies)

 

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