Recharging your Batteries over Break

YOU GUYS! We did it! We made it to Winter Break without completely losing our sanity—well, most of us that is.

As you begin to prepare for the holidays and the happy chaos, that comes with that, be sure to take some time for yourself.

This entertaining article provides 12 ways to recharge your teacher batteries over the holidays.

Here it is at a glance:
- Reflect on the positives of last term
- Don’t go to work!
- Turn off your email
- Set specific time aside for work if you need to
- Get enough sleep
- Eat well
- Plan something to look forward to
- Get creative
- Get some fresh air
- Create a relaxing environment
- Indulge yourself
- Play!

Have a restful break. You deserve it!

Waiting Strategies to Meet Student Needs

For many, the holiday season is packed so full of things that we have to do and things that we want to do that the stress can be overwhelming. Throw in lessons to plan, papers to grade, restless students (all the way through December 22--eek!), staff parties and holidayevents, and, suddenly, we wonder if we can even survive.  Perhaps what we need most is to settle back, take a deep breath, and practice waiting.

In “Waiting is the Hardest (and Best) Part,” Neil Finney reminds us that our students often   learn even more when we wait, rather than act immediately. Read his full blog here 

(https://www.edutopia.org/blog/waiting-hardest-and-best-part-neil-finney).  

Collection Systems for Formative Assessments

Ever find yourself drowning in the assessment data you’ve been collecting since September? Haven’t quite figured out a streamlined way of organizing this data? Or, do you have a HUGE binder stuffed with student work that needs to be organized?

Google Forms is one way to keep your formative assessment data orderly and easy to access!

In this short and informative article, it explains how Google Forms can be the perfect solution to your collection system problems. Google Forms automatically creates a spreadsheet of your data that you can store and organize AND access whenever you need it.

Thanks to Kimberly Allison's expertise, here are some helpful websites you can visit to get you started:

· A “How To” from Google: https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/forms/get-started/

· A formative assessment example: http://alicekeeler.com/2016/03/29/google-forms-quiz/

· An article that addresses the quiz option: https://edtechchange.blogspot.com/2016/08/google-apps-for-education-updates.html

Please know that you can contact Kimberly Allison ( kallison@tahoamsd.us ) if you need any support with using Google!

Visit our previous blogs for formative assessment ideas to help you create an assessment to use with Google Forms.

As always, we gladly take suggestions for future instructional tips.

Enhancing Learning Through Movement

To keep your students engaged despite the excitement of the holidays AND to help them learn more efficiently and retain learning longer, consider adding some movement to your classroom.

Why should you add movement?  

• ·         A much-referenced study from 1976 showed that students can focus on a teacher lecturing for 10-18 minutes before their mind wanders. Note: this was before computers, phones, headphones, DVDs, video games, etc., etc., etc.).
• ·         In a nutshell, movement and exercise facilitate learning.
• ·          Do you want a more scientific reason? John J. Ratey, MD, author of Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, says that exercise “[first] optimizes your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another, which is the cellular basis for logging in new information; and, third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus.”

What are some easy ways to integrate movement into your lesson?

• ·         In a math or science class, have students use their bodies to measure things around the room and report the results. Example: “This diagram is five pinkies long.”
• ·         Play Simon Says game with content you have just covered: “Simon says point to the square root. Simon says point to five things in this room that are the color ‘rojo.’” “Simon says to point toward a word that could be used as a metaphor.”
• ·         Model a move-around system using memory cue words. For example, “Move to the place in the room where we first learned about the life cycle of. . .”
• ·         Use a ball toss for a review.
•          Have students do arm and leg crossover activities that can force both of their brain hemispheres to “talk” to each other better. “Pat your head and rub your belly” is an example of a crossover activity. Other examples include marching in place while patting opposite knees, patting yourself on the opposite shoulder, and touching opposite elbows or heels. Even better, have them recite or review new learning while patting and rubbing.

(The above were adapted from  http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104013/chapters/Movement-and-Learning.aspx, taken from Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition by Eric Jensen, Chapter 4. Movement and Learning) 

•  Chalk Talks or Graffiti Wall, in which students read their peers' ideas and add their own
•  Gallery Walks, in which students walk around the room, reading texts or graphic organizers posted on the wall, and adding their own ideas, either on the poster or in their notes
• Musical Mingle—ask students to stand. When music starts, they should find  a partner and answer a designated question.  When the music stops, they must find a new partner, share their answers, and answer a new question.

(The above were adapted from http://kennycmckee.com/five-movement-strategies-in-the-high-school-classroom/)

•  Move small groups of students around the room to the white board or poster paper.  Give a problem or a question, and have them record a response.  They step back, and then others examine their responses.
•  Ask students to pair up and walk around the building or down the hall while reviewing specific content. Tell them that you will cold-call on students to share when the return.
•  Ask students to create a tableau, a living image representing a concept. They form this with their bodies, as in a small group depicting the life cycle of a plant

More Resources

    

•       Go to http://kennycmckee.com/five-more-strategies-to-get-students-moving/
•          Get a copy of Energizing Brain Breaks by David Sladkey
•       Your Health and Fitness teachers

Being a Thankful Teacher

As we approach a much- needed break, we can spend some time reflecting on what we are thankful for as teachers.

This article recounts one teacher’s appreciation for our profession.

Have a quick read, and then respond with one thing for which you are thankful, using the comments . Check out how we are thankful teachers-- we’ve already posted!

We will come back next week with a more “instructional” tip. In the meantime, have a restful break and enjoy your family and friends this week!

Frequently-asked Questions on Lesson Closure

Frequently-Asked Questions on Lesson Closure

Does every lesson need a closure? 

Closures should occur at the end of each learning target and at least once during that day’s lesson. Whether it’s a review day or a test day or a work day for students, the end of the learning target should culminate in a closure.

What are the minimum components in an effective lesson closure?  

·       a formative assessment aligned with the learning target and success criteria. This could be formal or informal.

·       a student evaluation/reflection aligned with the learning target and success criteria

·       a feeling of wrap-up and a transition to the next learning target or lesson

Does my closure have to be at the end of the period? 

Absolutely not. The closure should come at the end of the learning target and unit, whether they fall during your lesson or at the end of your lesson.

What should I do if my time is short?  

A well-crafted student reflection/evaluation aligned with the learning target and success criteria can also be a formative assessment, showing you where kids see themselves and where you need to help them grow. This can help you kill two birds with one stone.

How long does my closure need to be? 

It might be a 2-3 minute wrap-up with an informal formative assessment and self-reflection, but at least occasionally you will want to gather formal data. Most closures are 5-10 minutes, although a unit closure might run longer.

What are some quick closure strategies?

• ·       Have kids pack up and return to seats. Have someone read aloud the learning target, and give students 30-60 seconds to reflect on specific evidence as to how they met the learning target. Cold-call on students to share out. This will serve as your formative assessment.  You could do a quick thumbs-up or fist of five to have them share how well they individually met the learning target.
• ·       Give students a Post-it. Ask them to place the Post-it on an arrow you’ve drawn on the whiteboard to show where they are on  the path to meeting the learning target. If they’re not 80% of the way there, they must record which of the success criteria is keeping them from a score of 4 or 5 (example, using transitions or reducing the fraction in the problem).
• ·       Have students write a one-minute summary of their learning today on a 3 x 5 card as the formative assessment. Then, put the success criteria on the screen, and have students rate themselves regarding their mastery of the success criteria on the back (example: 1, 5, 3, 3, 5).  You can review the cards quickly, looking for scores of 1-2, and deciding what you will need to reteach.

Success Criteria: Product vs. Process

Success criteria in the form of rubrics and exemplary examples are great tools, but what if you teach math, science, a CTE elective, or are doing some skill based reviewing in a humanities class? It’s easy to make your success criteria “to find the right answer.” However, we want our students to be able to identify the processes they go through to find the right answer, rather than the end product-- the right answer.

Product success criteria can be defined as focusing on only the endpoints of a lesson. Whereas, process success criteria can be defined as explaining how the learning target will be achieved. Students are more actively engaged in the process of learning.

According to Connie Moss and Susan Brookhart’s book Learning Targets they believe, “Many educators mistakenly assume that they are sharing success criteria when they tell their students how many questions they should get right on an assignment or encouraging them to shoot for a certain score or simply to ‘do their best.’ These vague criteria cannot foster the kind of meaningful goal setting or critical self-assessment that our theory of action requires. Success criteria are not ways to certify student understanding in terms of grading language: scores (55/60), grades (A+), percentages (95%), or any other numbers or labels. Rather, they describe what it means to do quality work in today’s lesson in student-friendly terms that are ‘lesson-sized,’ observable, and measurable. Students can use the criteria to plan, monitor, and assess their own learning progress.”

Here is a simple math example of product versus process success criteria (adapted from Samaira Nasim):

Learning Target: I can use a multiplication grid to calculate AB x AB.

Success Criteria (Product): I can find the answers as I calculate AB x AB by using a multiplication grid.

Vs.

Success Criteria (Process):
I will be able to…
1. Partition the numbers into A and B on the grid.
2. Multiply the numbers for the first square and put the answer in the box
3. Do the same for the rest of the grid total the four boxes
4. Explain how multiplication grid demonstrates about the process of multiplication

To sum up, success criteria that helps explain the process kids go through to meet the learning target is much more specific, helpful, and truly guides students through the critical thinking we need them to accomplish—even if the task is a seemingly simple one.

As always, we’d love some suggestions for future instructional tips.

Bridget & Brooke

Sharing Student Reflections in a Debrief Circle

Are you working on your closures, but getting thoroughly sick of exit slips?  A fun closure strategy is the Debrief Circle, demonstrated here in this Teaching Channel video from Expeditionary Learning (note: you may have to create an account to watch the full video).

In this two minute-video, the teacher has her students form two circles, one inside the other, each with the same number of students. The students face one another; each holds written responses to reflection questions. When the teacher calls time, the students share with the person directly across from them the answer to the first question.  One circle then rotates, so that students now have new partners, and they then discuss the second question.  In the video, the teacher has students answer four questions:

• What would you have changed in the lab you did?
• What did you notice?
• What did you wonder?
• What did it mean to meet the learning target?

While the video doesn't show this, the teacher could take notes on what he/she hears, and use those notes either as a quick summary at the end of the period or to have students share specific targeted responses with the large group.

This would be a creative way for students to reflect, to practice their communication skills, and to deepen their understanding of the topic!

Making Feedback Meaningful

In our recent blogs, Brooke and I have been providing you with lots of information on closure and formative assessments. The next logical question any teacher would ask themselves is: “Now what”?

After reviewing your students' reflections through a closure activity or looking at how did kids on a recent formative assessment you will want to be able to give them some meaningful, personalize feedback about their understanding and progress.

Today’s instructional tip comes from a Teaching Channel video called Making Feedback Meaningful. Sean McComb, a high school English teacher, provides strategies about how to give timely, differentiated and meaningful feedback to students. Although this is an ELA example, these strategies apply to all content areas.

In this powerful 10-minute video Mr. McComb presents these strategies:

- One on one conferencing

- Small group instruction on a targeted skill

- Use highlighting to limit time spent on writing feedback

- In a Google Doc, try using voice notes for feedback

- In Word, highlight and provide comments

One word of advice Mr. McCombs gives is try not to give too much feedback to students. Make them grapple with what they know and how your feedback will lead to their next steps. Giving students meaningful feedback very time consuming. These strategies will help you balance your work & home life along with giving kids the support they need from you.

As always, we welcome any suggestions for next week!

Bridget & Brooke

What Does Lesson Closure Include?

Last week's Teaching Tip was an introduction to lesson closures, which we compared to "sticking the landing" as a gymnast.  You were given some end-of-lesson strategies or formative assessments to incorporate into your lesson closures. Here is the link to that Teaching Tip in case you would like to reread it.

This week we continue with the concept of closure. Ann Sipe of Grandview School District created a handout entitled "Lesson Closure with Examples, or 40 Ways to Leave a Lesson."  You can read her entire handout, along with 40 formative assessment/closure activities here.

We have also captured some of Sipe's great ideas below and added a few of our own:

What is Lesson Closure?

• what the instructor does to wrap up the lesson in a meaningful way and smoothly transition to the next lesson
• a quick review to remind students what they have learned (or should have learned) in terms of meeting the learning target. This works best when students are doing the thinking, not when the instructor is summarizes for them
• a part of the lesson that includes formative assessment to tell you:
• how well students have met your learning target, can summarize main ideas, can evaluate class processes, can answer questions posed at the beginning of the period, and can link to past and future learning
• if additional practice is needed
• whether you need to re-teach the concepts or skill, or can move on to new learning
• not complete without student self-assessment and reflection against the learning target and success criteria
• an opportunity for students to draw conclusions, connect learning to past learning or personal experiences, make inferences, ask questions, deepen their understanding of concepts, and begin to draw connections to upcoming lessons
• something you can do in five minutes
• something that takes place at the end of the learning target, which may or may not be at the end of the period

Sticking the Landing: Closure in the Classroom

Sticking the landing. This phrase is typically used when referring to gymnasts as they finish their routine with a perfect landing. 

This phrase also applies to closure in the classroom.

Tyler Reese, an educational blogger, writes: “How a lesson ends can affect a learner's ability to organize, evaluate, and store information presented in class. Although we give emphasis to hooking students' interest at the start of instruction, the end is often hurried and overlooked. These emergency landings leave students struggling to absorb newly acquired knowledge as they rush out the door to the drone of homework reminders and announcements. Teachers tend to subconsciously undervalue closure; as a result, they don't plan for it and miss out on the opportunity to collect rich learner feedback.”

One take-away from this article that many teachers found comforting was that closure doesn’t have to be at the end of the lesson. It can, in fact, happen during a transition in the middle of class or even at the beginning of the period the next day! Providing enough time for kids to reflect on the days learning is just as important as what they are reflecting about.

We can have the most amazing lesson with student talk, engaged students, and critical thinking. We could be on fire with our teacher moves, questioning strategies and checks for understanding. But, if we don’t give kids enough time to reflect and connect to that new learning we would expect the same results a gymnast would if they didn’t stick the landing-- a less than perfect lesson.

Start sticking the landing in your classroom by reading about Reese’s strategies to plan routine closure in your classroom! Need strategies for a closure activity? Visit our formative assessment blogs for ideas!

A Few More Fun Formative Assessments

 Last week we featured a few creative, new formative assessment ideas for you to try out.  Since most buildings are continuing to fine-tune their formative assessment skills and to pack their toolboxes full of strategies, we are offering a few more fun strategies this week for you to try out.

These ideas are adapted from “56 different examples of formative assessment,” a Google Slide show curated by David Wees, Formative assessment specialist, New visions for Public Schools.  You can view the entire slide show at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nzhdnyMQmio5lNT75ITB45rHyLISHEEHZlHTWJRqLmQ/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&slide=

1. 3x Summarization: To check understanding, ask students to write three different summaries: One using 10-15 words, one using 30-50 words, one using 75-100 words. Students can compare/contrast with peers and/or look at teacher models via the document camera.  The differing lengths  require different attention to detail and can help you to see how well students understand the content.
2.  Three Things: Students should list three things/strategies/ideas on a 3 x 5 card or a Google Doc that a peer might misunderstand about the topic.  Instantly you can assess your students' depth of knowledge.
3.  Chalkboard Splash:  Position 5-7 individual students around the room in front of a whiteboard or large butcher paper sheet.  You might have small groups of students stand beside/behind the student who is writing. Give students a prompt, a problem, or a question, and ask each of the students to respond individually.  Their small groups can either help them , or evaluate their work . You can sit at the back and observe all working simultaneously. You can also point out unique or astute ways of solving the problem.
4. Partner Quizzes: Have partners work together to solve a problem or answer a question, providing feedback to one another. Then give them a similar problem that they must solve independently, which is then submitted to you.

These strategies are from “Focus On Student Learning - Instructional Strategies Series Book Two: 60 Formative Assessment Strategies,” by Natalie Regier, M. Ed.    http://www.stma.k12.mn.us/documents/DW/Q_Comp/FormativeAssessStrategies.pdf​

1.        One Minute Essays: The one-minute essay is a quick formative assessment strategy that allows you to gauge student understanding of a particular topic. Pose a question to the students, and have the students respond. Tell them that they have one minute to write down their response. Use questions that cause students reflect on learning and make personal connections with their own lives.
2.         Response Cards:  Ask a question, and have students respond by choosing to hold up one card from a pile of cards he/she has been given. The most common response cards are yes/no questions, but you could also use “a,” “b,” “c”, “d” cards for multiple choice; “agree” or “disagree” cards; true/false cards; math operations cards; punctuation cards; etc., cards with your students.
3.        Three Facts and a Fib, or Three Truths and a Lie: This is a great strategy to find out what students have learned about a unit of study. Students write down three facts and one fib about the  topic. They take turn sharing their three facts and a fib with a partner, in a small group, or with the entire class. Students must identify the “fib” and explain why it is untrue. 

FUN Formative Assessment Strategies

As we swiftly move through September, we are all coming to a point where kids’ understanding of our content’s standards should be our focus. Providing formative assessments helps us not only know where kids are, but they are also tell kids where they are as they navigate through their own understanding of the content and standards.

This week’s instructional tip is a few new and exciting (and dare I say, even fun) formative assessments to shake things up in your classroom.

Here are some strategies compiled by K. Lambert of OCPS Curriculum Services. Note, most of these strategies make for a great closure activity! Bonus!


Onion Ring: Students form an inner circle and an outer circle facing a partner. The teacher asks a question and the students are given time to respond to their partner. Next, the inner circle rotates to one person to the left. The teacher asks another question and the cycle repeats itself.


Analogy Prompt: Present student with an analogy prompt. Example: (A designated concept, principle, or process) is like ___________________ because_________________.


ABC Summaries: Each student in the class is assigned a different letter of the alphabet and they must select a word starting with that letter that is related to the topic being studied.


Fill in Your Thoughts: Written check for understanding strategy where students fill in the blank. Example: Another term for rate of change is ___________or ___________. (This is a good reading formative assessment for ALL content areas)


Idea Spinner: The teacher creates a spinner marked into 4 quadrants and labeled “Predict,” “Explain,” “Summarize,” and “Evaluate.” After a new material is presented, the teacher spins the spinner and asks students to answer a question based on the location of the spinner. Example: If the spinner lands on the “Summarize” quadrant the teacher might say, “List the key concepts just presented.”


One Word Summary: Ask students to select (or invent) one word that best summarizes the topic. You can have them share this word in a variety of ways: to you at the door, on a sticky note or note card…


Have fun trying out a variety of these engaging formative assessment strategies!

And as always, we’d love to hear from you and are glad to take any suggestions for our instructional tips.


Bridget and Brooke

Making Students Do the Heavy Lifting

We all know the old adage that teachers too often work harder than the students, but what are some simple strategies that reduce the burden on the teacher while positively impacting student learning?

1.     One strategy for Chromebook checkouts and no-opt out discussions:  From Orlia Stanford’s classroom at THS:  Firmly tape a number to each desk or seat in your classroom.  Use these numbers for Chromebook checkouts—if a student is sitting in seat #9, he/she should get Chromebook #9.  Even better, make one set of numbered popsicle sticks.  To call on students, draw a stick with a number, and the student sitting in that seat must respond.  This saves time for teachers, who don’t have to make five sets of name cards or popsicle sticks, but can still hold students accountable for learning.

2.     Reducing the burden on teachers to race around the room answering individual questions:

a.       From Kathy Whylie, Math Instructional Coach:  when students are working individually on assignments/problems and have questions, require them to write the question on a Post-It and place it on the whiteboard.  The students should look to see whether anyone else has written the same question; if so, he/she should place the Post-It next to that one.  This requires students to put their question into words, to take the time to write it down (sometimes figuring out the answer as they do so), to categorize their question, and to see if someone else has the same question.  This strategy then allows the teacher to check for common questions, to answer questions in the order of urgency or need, and/or to send a student who knows the answer to help the struggling student(s). 

b.       From Malinda Shirley’s classroom, THS: when students are working individually on assignments/problems and the first student finishes, ask that student to stand at the back of the room. The second student finished should join the first, and the two should compare answers and/or check the answers again the key.  When they are certain all of their responses are correct, the two students head out into the classroom to answer questions and help other students.  The next two students to finish do the same thing, and the teacher now has four tutors roaming the class, providing individualized instruction.

3.      Reducing time and energy spent distributing handouts: From Jon Neil’s and Matt Tucker’s classrooms:  On a table near the door, place the handouts or worksheets for the day, along with a sign that says “Take One.” Students will become accustomed to grabbing these as they enter. The responsibility has shifted to the student.

These great ideas all come from THS, but we know that equally wonderful strategies are being implemented all over our district.  Please share with us your ideas so that we can reduce the stress on teachers and raise the learning of all of our students.

Becoming a Transformative Teacher

“However talented, no one is a natural-born teacher. Honing the craft takes significant care and effort, not just by the individual, but also by the school at large.”

~~from David Miller’s blog, “How to Become and Remain a Transformational Teacher.”

How do WE hone our craft and become transformational teachers? Miller’s blog offers six pieces of advice as to how we can transform our practice…and, interestingly enough, the first three directly support Hattie’s top-ranked impact on student achievement: teachers working together as evaluators of their own work.

Miller advises that we transform our practice in the following ways:

1. Constantly share best practices
2. Find a trusted mentor (no matter how long you’ve taught)
3. Commit to classroom observations
4. Change things up
5. Model the usefulness of what you teach
6. Care beyond what you teach

Read Miller’s blog here, choose one piece of advice to apply in your own classroom, and become an even more transformative teacher!

Five Priorities of Classroom Management

While we have fewer classroom management issues than in many districts, the beginning of the year is always a great time to reacquaint ourselves with helpful hints to make our classrooms operate smoothly.  An Edutopia blog post, “The 5 Priorities of Classroom Management,” by Ben Johnson, had some great suggestions. You can either read the blog post yourself or read the summary  below.

From “The 5 Priorities of Classroom Management,” by Ben Johnson

·         Develop effective working relationships with students: A good relationship with a student allows you to push your students harder and further to learn because your students trust you.

·         Train your students on how learning takes place in your classroom: Clearly map out the why you are asking your students to try a strategy, such as Cornell Notes, and why you believe they will learn more productively.

·         Protect and leverage your time: Spend time planning how you will minimize time lost during transitions, such as taking attendance, returning papers, getting supplies, announcements, etc.

·         Anticipate your students’ behaviors in well-written lesson plans:  The best discipline management plan is a good lesson plan. Channel your students’ behaviors and attention into productive learning paths by building your lesson backwards—what is my learning target, what is my assessment, how will I get students there?

·         Establish behavioral standards: Focus on respect, communication, and coming prepared to learn, and include specificsin your directions.  Example: “You have 15 minutes, and you will be working with your partner on designing a structure out of newspaper that will reach the ceiling. You may use inside voices to quietly discuss your plans with your partner. If you have questions, please put the red cup on your desk, and I will come and help you as soon as possible. Meanwhile, keep working on other parts of the project until I get there.”

·        

l

End of Year -- A thank you and final wish

This is our final Teaching Tip of the year, and we first would like to thank you for your dedication to students and learning, your passion for your subject, and your willingness to change and grow in our challenging and highly rewarding profession.  We especially want to thank those of you who responded to us with a much-appreciated comment, suggestion, or note.  Special shout-outs to Ken Loomis, Dale Lehman, Kelly Allison, Tracy Krause, Malinda Shirley, Kathryn Strojan, Hillary Ledford, Stella Patrick, Candi Lommen, Marissa Morelock, Tarie Sloan, Nancy Adamson, Dale Heinbigner, and and anyone we missed.

As English teachers (always and forever, regardless of current job title), Lara and I must end with a literary quote:

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”                                                                                                                                                                                              

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

May your life begin again on June 17, and may you know how very much respect, admiration, and gratitude we bear toward the best secondary teachers in the state!

Lara and Brooke

Course and Teacher Evaluations--Getting End-of-Year Feedback from Students

With the end of the year just around the corner, you may already be mentally planning for next school year.  Consider gathering anonymous student feedback to help you become an even more effective teacher.

Here are some sample Course/Teacher Evaluation forms you could use as a starting point.  Remember that you can use hard copies of these evaluation forms, or one that you create. You could also create your own Google Form version to gather feedback from your students. 

If you are creating your own evaluation, consider including some of the following:

·         Did students have a clear understanding of the learning target each day?
·         Did the learning targets fit together in a cohesive whole for the semester?
·         Did students know what it looked like/sounded like to be successful meeting the learning target?
·         Did students feel that they got sufficient feedback from you as they were learning? Did they know where they were strong and what their gaps were prior to their final assessment or project?
·         Did students feel a sense of ownership in their learning?
·         Was the course challenging enough? Too challenging? Just right?
·         Did students feel that the assignments helped them to achieve the learning targets?
·         What might have helped them to more easily master the learning targets?
·         Was the time during the class period well-spent?

If you would like help creating an end-of-course evaluation or a teacher evaluation, please contact your building coach or administrator.

Growth Mindset

Happy Wednesday!

Looking for new ways to cultivate a classroom culture that embraces a growth mindset? This week’s coach tip includes several resources for you to add to your toolbox related to growth mindset in the classroom. Maybe you will try something new in the last few days of school, or use the resources to plan for next year!

Growth Mindset: a belief that suggests that one’s intelligence can be grown or developed with persistence, effort, and a focus on learning.

According to Mary Cay Ricci in her book, Mindsets in the Classroom, “An educator with a growth mindset believes that with effort and hard work from the learner, ALL students can demonstrate significant growth and therefore all students deserve opportunities for challenge. Add to this belief an effective teacher armed with instructional tools that differentiate, respond to learner’s needs, and nurture critical thinking processes, and you have a recipe for optimum student learning.”

   

Looking for a little summer reading? This book, Mindsets in the Classroom, is full of helpful ideas in an easy to read format. There is also a compatible resource book making new ideas easy to implement.

Additionally, this video “Praising the Process”, demonstrates how process praise helps students to develop growth mindsets. The video is specifically focused in the area of writing, and is well worth the 6 minutes to watch! In the video, Ms. Stewart shares tips for how teachers can begin to use process praise in their classrooms.

Finally, if you haven’t already checked out the Class Dojo videos related to growth mindset, you’re missing out! They are a perfect way to help elementary students to see themselves as learners, cultivate a growth mindset, and start classroom discussions.

Class Dojo Growth Mindset Videos

Super-Easy Strategy to Help You Save Time for a Lesson Closure

Why should teachers build in time for lesson closures?

Lesson closure can enhance “a learner’s ability to organize, evaluate, and store information presented in class” (Reese). We focus on learning targets, but to maximize learning, we should also make sure that students have adequate time to process their progress toward the learning target and to set goals at the end of the lesson.   

The problem is this:  How does a teacher keep track of the time and not end up accidentally teaching all the way to the bell? 

Watch this SUPER-EASY strategy used in the classroom of THS Math teacher Malinda Shirley.  All she did was to recruit a student to call a five-minute warning at the end of the period each day, so that she always has time for a closure. Brilliant!

To learn more about closures: “Road Tested / Lesson Closure: Stick the Landing” by Tyler Reese.
 (http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/jun14/vol56/num06/Road-Tested-~-Lesson-Closure@-Stick-the-Landing.aspx)
 

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Student Self-Assessment & Goal Setting

According to Susan Brookhart, the coordinator of assessment and evaluation for the school of education at Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, student self-assessment is driven by three basic questions that students must be taught to ask themselves

• Where am I going?
• Where am I now
• Where to next?

To learn more about equipping students with the tools to accurately answer those questions check out this article: “Students 'Self-Assess' Their Way to Learning”

Three W's Closure Strategy

This is a simple strategy that provides students a chance to reflect on their learning and teachers an opportunity to gain important information to inform future instruction (6.3).

Students write or discuss:

What?	So What?	Now What?
What did we learn today?	What is the relevancy, importance, or usefulness?	How does it fit into what we are learning?   Does it affect our thinking?  Can we predict where we are going?