Thursday, November 13, 2014

Student Talk--Accountable Academic Discourse

Have you been looking for a way to hold students accountable for their student talk?  Well, here is a short (2:48) clip to help you get started.

Participation Protocol for Academic Discourse-A Classroom Strategy:


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Are you sick of "turn and talk"?

Ready for a different student talk strategy?

Check out 1-3-6, an easy Student Talk Protocol that you can try tomorrow…and it will only take 2:28 of your time to watch the video. 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Rubrics for Student Talk

Use one or more of these attached mini rubrics to help students understand what success looks like when they are engaged in student talk.

Let us know how we can further support you with student talk.

Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards
Grade 6 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/6/
Grade 7 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/7/ 
Grade 8 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/8/ 
Grades 9-10 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/9-10/
Grades 11-12 http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/11-12/ 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Student Driven Success Criteria--Formative Assessment with a Google Form

As suggested last week, co-creating your success criteria is an effective strategy that will shift the ownership of learning from the teacher to the student which in turn will increase the relevance, clarity and motivation of students. 

This week, we want to show you an easy way to have students revisit the success criteria at the end of the lesson using a Google Form. Follow the steps below or watch Kimberly do it:

e 

(If you have difficulty getting the video to play in Chrome, try it in IE.)

  1. Before class, create a simple Google Form with the following questions: Name (text), Period (choose from a list), a grid question with blank rows and the levels of achievement across the top, and Additional Reflection or Comments (paragraph text).
  2.  As you and your students co-create the success criteria, fill in the rows of the grid question. I wouldn’t hesitate to let students see you do this—just pull up the form and type as you brainstorm criteria.
  3. At the end of the class, have students fill out the form. (Share the link to your live form by getting a short URL and writing it on the board, emailing the URL to your students, posting the link on your SWIFT site or in Google Classroom.)
  4.  Review your responses in the spreadsheet: FormàShow summary of responses.

If you’d like to make a copy of Kimberly’s form as a starting point for your own, let her know. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Student Driven Success Criteria

Co-creating your success criteria is an effective strategy that will shift the ownership of learning from the teacher to the student which in turn will increase the relevance, clarity and motivation of students. After you have developed and shared your learning target to students, ask them the question: What will success look like? It is important that you visually capture the student’s responses for all to see. Use your student’s responses to create the success criteria, working to build consensus that is aligned to the standards you are teaching to.  You may even choose to capture student discussion within a blank rubric.


Questions to ask students if the learning target is process based:
·         If we videotaped class, what should we see each other doing?
·         During a discussion, what types of behaviors should we see?
·         What are some non-examples? What do we not want to see?
·         What types of behaviors are exemplary?
·         How can we show evidence of the behavior?


Questions to ask student if the learning target is product based:
·         What should the product look like?
·         Can the product be broken down into clear measurable parts? If so, what are they?
·         What components of the product do we value more than others?
·         What components are essential to demonstrate you got it?



At the end of the lesson students will have clear criteria to compare their learning with the target.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Success Criteria as a Rubric

We see lots of Success Criteria written as bullet points or a checklist. This is great, but sometimes a checklist just doesn’t quite hit the mark for your Learning Target. How about writing your Success Criteria as a rubric?

This week we want to share a link to a blog that speaks to the power of Success Criteria when presented in a rubric. While there, you can also check out Marzano’s Levels of Understanding rubrics.

We know that the blog includes an elementary math example, (counting to 100) , but it is a good concrete example of the use of Success Criteria that can be applied with all grade levels and content.

Below we've included 4 other examples of Success Criteria rubrics for a variety of content areas and grade levels.

Science: (You might want to rework this into student friendly language so that students could self-reflect on their level of learning.)
Level
Description
Level 4
Above and Beyond
Student accomplishes level 3 AND goes beyond in some significant way, such as:
           Explaining unexpected results
           Judging the value of the investigation
           Suggesting additional relevant investigations
Level 3
Complete and Correct
Student analyzes and interprets data correctly and completely, AND draws a conclusion compatible with the analysis of the data
Level 2
Almost There
Student notes pattern or trends, BUT does so incompletely
Level 1
On Your Way
Student attempts an interpretation, BUT ideas are illogical, OR ideas show a lack of understanding
Level 0
Student’s response is missing, irrelevant, or illegible.
x
Student had no opportunity to respond

Math: 
Learning Target:  I can solve equations that include rational numbers
Descriptor
Proficiency Scale
3

          I can always or almost always correctly solve one-step equations that include rational numbers
(fractions, decimals, and integers)
          I remember to check my answers for accuracy
2

          I can solve one-step equations that include whole numbers
        Sometimes I can solve one-step equations that include rational numbers.
(fractions, decimals, and integers)
          I mostly recognize which operation to “undo” first

          I am still working to solve one-step equations that include whole numbers
         I get stuck on which operation to “undo” first

Language Arts:
Learning Target:  I can summarize a story
Success Criteria (How I will know that I hit the Learning Target?)
4 ~ Exceeds the Target
My summary includes ALL of the following:
         Written in paragraph form
          Setting
          Main Characters
          The Problem
          Four important details from the beginning, middle, and end of the story that lead to the resolution of the main character’s problem
          Resolution
3 ~ Meets the Target
My summary includes ALL of the following:
          Setting
          Main Characters
          The Problem
          Three important details from the beginning, middle, and end of the story that lead to the resolution of the main character’s problem
         Resolution
2 ~ Close to meeting the Target
I included at least three of the requirements above
1 ~ Not close enough to meeting the Target
I included less than three of the requirements above


Let us know if you experiment with writing your Success Criteria in rubric form. It would be wonderful to have more examples to share out with colleagues.