A Time of Year for Reflecting and Planning

The end of the school year has quickly come upon us. It is a hectic time of year filled with standardized assessments, summative exams, capstone projects and of course many field trips. For most teachers it is a time to provide a self reflection and meet with an administrator for a summative evaluation meeting.  It is also a time to present evidence and a reflection of your professional growth goals for the year.

Depending upon your district and administrative requirements this process of reflection may require structured responses to guiding questions, mountains of evidence and a scripted dialogue in a conference. While this method provides a significant amount of content to fill up a summative evaluation it can easily become a task without a great deal of true engagement.

I would prefer to see a more personalized approach for educators. Allowing for a true reflection of the year with an emphasis on "what would I truly like to improve on or learn more about next year?". The idea of pursuing an intrinsic passion is not new. We have had professional learning goals for years. However, the delivery and the process seemed to make it "another thing I have to do for my district". We have repackaged this idea by creating new vocabulary such as "Genius Hour" or "Mastery Minutes".  The idea being that you are mandated a block of time to pursue a true passion or interest that will assist in developing you as an educator.

While the idea and packaging have evolved the concept remains the same. In order to maintain "engagement" it requires personal passion. What worked for you this year? What do you see evolving within your classroom, school, the greater educational community and the world? Is there something that requires exploration, collaboration and reflection? Make that your professional development goal for next year!

What's for Homework? Be ready for a question.

The use, value, and effectiveness of homework has been a long debated topic. Homework serves a number of purposes. What becomes a point of contention is the difference in opinion regarding the purpose. The primary rationale for homework tends to lean towards practicing what has been introduced in class or reading content to prepare for the next day's lesson.

The use of homework as a method to check for understanding or assess student understanding is not effective.  How students complete their homework can vary with the availability of tutors or crowd sourced answers. Even the standard process of homework review is flawed. I have observed countless classes in which the opening of the lesson goes like this, "Take out your homework. Does anyone have any questions or problem with any of the questions?" This then transitions to a whole class lesson in which a few problems are reviewed based on a choral response to the teacher's question.

Proponents of the flipped classroom have turned the table on this approach by having students view recorded lectures or read instructional content for homework. When the students return to class they are provided opportunities to apply what they learned. The instructor facilitates this application of knowledge, checking in on students, and providing small group instruction when necessary.

I believe their is value in homework for those who need it. I propose making homework optional.  A better approach for teachers to ensure understanding is to begin class with a question. A skillfully designed question or question set that provides the instructor with immediate feedback regarding student understanding. The results of which may guide the lesson towards moving forward or reviewing the previous topic. This type of assessment must provide aggregate and individual data. Using fingers or ABCD cards is a low tech option to a posed question. Class clickers, cell phones or learning management systems provide high tech solutions that can quickly aggregate results.

By implementing formative assessment at the start of the end of a lesson we can move away from "who does not understand?", and transition to  "let's take another look at ......, it seems to be challenging"

Authentic Writing Meets Formative Assessment with RAFT Writing

The translation of knowledge, opinion and understanding into a written response can be a challenge for a number of students. Teachers across content areas often discuss the challenge of not only improving the quality of student writing, but also having it be a reflection of what students know. The typical protocols for developing written voice involve a variety of strategies and resources including pre and post writing strategies. Graphic organizers, journaling, conferencing, word webbing and collaborative authoring and review through online documents are just a few of the strategies employed. Typically students are presented with a prompt and asked to formulate a written response that includes supporting evidence. The guiding words used in such prompts are typically who, what, when, where, why and how. 

RAFT writing takes a more holistic approach to the process, but segments the objective into four components that students can easily understand. It also provides an authentic and engaging connection to the content.

• Role of the Writer: Who are you as the writer? A movie star? The President? A plant? 

• Audience: To whom are you writing? A senator? Yourself? A company? 

• Format: In what format are you writing? A diary entry? A newspaper? A love letter? 

• Topic: What are you writing about?

* Read Write Think - http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/using-raft-writing-strategy-30625.html

Image - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3ab2Wr-rVYj7kolKOrWONYFPdXrbpyb8E2SDfv0p553MuKV_EqDaK75hq3Kcnh0PCm9Z5PT84ON_g-muduYZhhab9LahLEvLTOZ-m6NU6ctDyCp10g6g_C_IdSrV7LXys74VqpDBqeQ/s640/RAFT+Graphic+Organizer.png

The flexibility, choice and alternative formats offered with this strategy offer differentiation and authenticity to the task at hand. The final product presents a higher order understanding of the content presented.

I recently observed a U.S. history course in which the students were being introduced the the viewpoints of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists with regards to the ratification of the Constitution. A simplified explanation of the objective was for students to understand the supportive and opposing views of establishing and investing in "big government"

The RAFT writing strategy may be applied to this lesson in a variety of formats:

• Role - A concerned citizen

• Audience - State Senator

• Format - Letter

• Topic - Your concern regarding the proposal to unite all of the schools in Morris County, NJ into a single school district. 

• Role - George Washington

• Audience - Self

• Format - Diary Entry

• Topic - The opposition to the ratification of the constitution

The infusion of a RAFT writing task may be utilized to introduce a topic or as a formative or summative assessment.   There are a variety of resources available including online random generators.  I have curated many of them within the Wiki linked below.
RAFT Lesson Ideas

Quick Write - An Underutilized Instructional Strategy

During a recent classroom observation I observed the use of a quick write strategy. While this is not new or something I have not used myself I reflected on its value. A quick write strategy is simple by design, but powerful in many ways.  A teacher poses a high quality question to the class and asks students to jot down their thoughts regarding the question. After providing some time the teacher asks students to share their thoughts.

The quick write strategy offers the following advantages in the classroom:

• All students in the class are provided the opportunity to reflect on the question and organize a response. 
• Students who are slower processors are provided time to formulate a response before sharing with the class. 
• Teachers may use this strategy as a formative assessment by circulating the room to view what students have written.
• Students may use this as a self-assessment by analyzing what they wrote in comparison to what other students in the class share. 
• A quick write might be assigned as a "do now" in order for students to activate prior knowledge or  as a closure activity to reflect on a lesson. 

The quick write instructional strategy provides an opportunity for everyone in the class to have a voice and reflect on the content. It levels the playing field and ensures active participation and engagement.