- What information do you feel you can and will apply in your teaching?
- What stood out and why?
- Was there anything that seemed to contradict what you were presented in methods? Any overlap with methods?
You are also expected to comment on a classmates post. DUE Thursday, Dec 2 11PM.
If Jaf, Randy or a classmate respond to your post, especially if they ask a question, please reply.
His closing was motivational, and well given.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the insight he was able to offer as an administrator. It was well balanced and biased towards the interests of the students.
It was interesting to see ho focusing on individual students at Conner raised the overall school grade on the standard tests. By dealing with the outliers he moved the mean. Maybe tactical, but certainly of real value to the individuals.
I really enjoy Tom Moore's sessions. His stories really convey how much he loved being a teacher and how important it is. I feel he brings across some really good points. He always has some story which makes me tear up and realize how important I can be in a student's life.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, I do not feel the teachers reach out and communicate with us as much as they should. There are parent teacher conferences in October and February along with the three reports cards received during the year with the generic comments, i.e. ’pleasure to have in class’. While I don’t think I would call every parent; I would certainly send e-mail to introduce myself. I think it’s also important to let the parents know you are in this together and not on opposing sides. I would also ensure every parent had my contact information early in the school year.
He talked about rubrics and showed us many different types. This seems consistent with what we have learned in Methods. I went into this thinking I would not use as rubric as a math teacher; now I see how important they are and how you can use them to assess things other than grades, i.e., behavior, participation, following instructions.
Tom mentioned that initiation and closure are very important aspects – again something we have heard repeatedly in Methods. Assessing prior knowledge is a key – you don’t want to waste time teaching something the students already know. The ‘do now’ is a way to achieve this.
More take aways: Assessing can take on many forms and does not have to be a straightforward test. Feedback is important for both the students and the teacher. CMTs are not necessarily a bad thing. Teaching to the test, does create learning.
One thing I love is that he opened up the AP classes to kids who wanted to be in them. I believe there is much bias in the teachers’ viewpoint as to who should and should not be in these classes. Tom gave me advice on how to handle a situation with my own child.
Hey Sandy, thanks for a great start!
ReplyDeleteI love your point about your own child and tying this into your perspective as a parent. We are public servants and communicating with parents is important and an ethical and moral imperative.
The prior knowledge point is useful to see who will struggle as well and to target them with intervention which will result in prevention in the subsequent chapter.
It occurred to me that in business if you have a dissatisfied customer you bend over backwards to resolve the issue and yet most of us I'm sure know of teachers who are inflexible and unreasonable. From Mr. Moore's discussion I understood that when teachers make poor assessment choices it can be demoralizing and detrimental to the students. It reminded me that our charges have developing brains & individually they are at different stages in establishing habits & so some take longer to respond in the fashion that would make our jobs easier. They are learning to learn, learning to take notes, learning to meet deadlines, learning to manage obligations and there is psychological, physiological and environmental aspect to developing the habits necessary to do homework, to participate in learning and other activities. Other charges have living situations that some of us have not experienced. Our assessment style should not penalize them for there immature brains nor their harsh living realities. It should have us as the rational reasonable adults (sometimes the only ones) "rooting" for students but not being patsies. Since we each derive our assessemnt strategies we must ensure they are not adversarial but are supportive and fair. Since we share the common goals of subject mastery, college readiness and development of the student into moral, diligent individuals fit to enter the working world the students' needs are to be placed first.It can't be alright to withhold an opportunity to have a student's work assessed on the basis of it being late, on child's indiscipline or on child's reasonable excuse. I hadn't thought of this before but Mr. Moore pointed out that when the opportunity to recieve a grade is removed the student knows that there's no way to repair the damage done by a missing grade and so he has no reason to apply himself in that class. Teachers must be creative and flexible as the case deamnds but ought to remember that its illegal to discuss with parents of another student or another student, our adjusted grading poicy for a selected student's situation.
ReplyDeleteAs Sandra wrote, paired with assessment is feedback.Concise, nonjudgemental feedback to the student must be provided so that the students discover their weaknesses and correct them. Expanding on Sandra's comments on rubrics, Mr Moore suggested as I've heard suggested in Methods that the students be given rubrics so that they can invest in there performance.
With these checks and balances discussed we can have a big say in whether any child is left behind.
I really enjoy Tom Moore’s presentations. His enthusiasm for teaching, his love of students and his admiration for great teachers (and his “low regard”/impatience with bad ones) really shines through. I walk away from his presentations really fired up about teaching and the positive impacts we can have on our student’s lives. But I also come away with an overwhelming sense of responsibility that teaching holds. When Tom talks about “needing to believe you can save people” and “some kids will be saved from prison due to you” those are pretty strong challenges being laid before us. To be honest, self-doubt creeps in as to whether or not I am up to the task. Perhaps I’m just taking Tom’s inspiring message to an extreme and I am putting too much pressure on myself. I guess the real key goes back to our universal message from other core and methods sessions about engagement. Make the learning as fun, relevant and engaging as possible for the students and they will look forward to coming to my class and in some sense my class could indeed be an oasis for some who need positive things to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteTom spoke about the special challenges that math teachers need to overcome. He commented that leading up to middle school, math is taught by elementary school teachers for whom surveys indicate math was usually their least favorite subject. That can be a tough start for a middle school and high school math teacher to overcome. In addition math seems to have the unique position where it seems so typical to hear “it is okay not be good at math” or “not everyone has the talent for math”. These attitudes could easily lead a student to a disengaged attitude towards math by the time I see them in middle or high school. This can be tough to overcome, especially for a new math teacher trying to find his “voice” and style for engagement and effective teaching.
Finally, it was very interesting learning about the history and use of the CMTs and CAPTs and standardized assessments in general. As a parent I think I can now look at my children’s results with a more informed eye. I also agree with Tom’s perspective that while teaching purely to the tests and ignoring or only providing cursory coverage of other skills/topics (as some school districts seem to do) can be short-sighted and detrimental, I recognize the utility of standardized tests as an important feedback mechanism for teaching and as a tool for instruction improvement. The CMTs and CAPTs results for my students each year should be used by me as measure of my professional development and progress to becoming a great teacher.
Tom Moore's sessions provided many nuggets related to assessing student learning. His talks make you realize that teaching is as much art as science and that there are a lot of "gray areas" sure to be encountered. There will also be a multitude of decisions thrown at you every day, some may seem extremely minor at the time but can have greater implications down the road.
ReplyDeleteSharon mentions in her post that students are developing children, and also that many have valid reasons for missed homeworks, poor test performance, etc. How do you handle a situation when a student works 30 hours a week outside of school to help their family, or has other family obligations like caring for a sibling or relative? These are the gray areas that need to be pondered. What I take from Tom's talks is that there is no right answer to a lot of these situations, just that they require careful consideration. The ultimate decision needs to keep the student's best interest as the #1 priority.
Homework (purpose? when due? how long to allow? fair? etc) and tests (format? reasonable? etc.) are just two assessments which come with many questions. Seating is a seemingly minor decision but is not. Much thought needs to be given to these topics. These can be planned for, but many things will happen in real time, and we need to be prepared.
When Tom mentioned that teachers need to be confrontational I was a bit surprised. But as Tom explained it - you must confront the issue in front of you - and this makes a lot of sense.
Hey Sharon, you make two points that I think our excellent:
ReplyDelete1. in business if you have a dissatisfied customer you bend over backwards
Traditionally we use the one size fits all model in education. Most teachers likely were capable students and could effectively adapts to the structure of their classes. Many students cannot do this but we are still responsible for guiding them.
2. paired with assessment is feedback
Assessment should always be formative meaning there should always be feedback to guide the students and the teacher.
Hey Chris, I like how you hit three topics like you did.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to say a "class is fun." It is that 60-40? Is it "ham" time?
The idea that we may help steer a student away from prison is indeed real but I think that it is not an explicit cause and effect relationship like you see in the movies. First, it's difficult to identify success in terms of what is avoided. Second, we probably make a contribution to the overall successful outcome. Having said that, each of us may be THE teacher that turns a particular student towards the positive direction.
Some teachers find it easier not to confront challenging issues like how to problem-solve when a student works 30 hours a week or has a disability. This goes back to the one size fits all approach of expecting kids to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
ReplyDeleteI had a senior who literally worked every night until late as his mother stayed at home watching her young children. I made various allowances, gave him alternative testing times, allowed him to make up missed work etc. I problem-solves and catered the course to fit his needs (not completely).
I understand wanting to be certain that we have had a significant impact in the lives of every student that passes our hands but since I agree that the impact in terms of path avoided is immeasurable. I think we may have to be sure that every school year we make a greater effort than we did before by upgrading our previous approaches fully knowing that at the end of the school year we did our best with existing knowledge at the time. I believe that even if our best turns out to not be “the best” we must have truly believed it to be at the time. After all, we are evolving. Like someone said in one of our Methods class although our main objective is to ensure mastery in mathematics if a student is not ready to partake of the learning experience provided, our student-teacher interaction could have a direct positive impact on the student in another subject or even awaken a desire to learn mathematics at a later date or could resonate in the quiet moments of his life later on if he even goes astray.
ReplyDeleteIn our methods class we have been warned to ensure that we present accurate information at first go to students as it can be confusing to have a teacher correcting a mistake particularly a conceptual one. Chris’ reference to Tom Moore’s discussion concerning attitude to mathematics by teachers at the middle school level brought to light just how challenging straightening errors can be. I found a similarity between the difficulty of countering the resulting negative attitudes to math with the difficulty of reteaching a topic previously taught with inaccurate information. Just as a teacher’s attitude to mathematics is directly proportional to the level of engagement of students so is a lesson’s clarity and accuracy directly proportional to engagement. It sounds unnecessary to say it but both do a number on students.
Randy:
ReplyDeleteI tend to think of "making class fun" for my students as being up-beat and enthusiastic. I envision me being like a coach in the classroom and the class being the team. I'd like to create an environment where the whole class encourages each other to do well. I want to be sure when individual students do good things it is recognized and acknowledged, not only by me but by other students/teammates as well. I think this approach might be something natural for me and wouldn't have to involve any "forced hamming". Hopefully this kind of environment can be one that students look forward to coming to each day.
Chris
Tom Moore always challenges us to be the best. I agree with Chris's comment about leaving his presentations feeling both fired-up and responsible to make a difference. I am impressed with the results that were made with the students at Conard which resulted in increased test scores for individuals and consequently, the school. It truly shows what is possible and how you can impact an individual. In a school with many students behind, it would be more difficult to do something similar to what was done at Conard on that personal of a scale but well worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteI believe calling the parents makes a big impact. When my son started middle school, his homeroom teacher (also his math teacher) called me the first week of school. It made me feel that he cared about my son and that my son wasn't going to be lost in the big school. It personalized the school for me and I felt more welcome to call the teacher with questions since I now had a connection. I agree it is worth the time. It was a quick conversation but worthwhile.
It was great to hear the CMTs are good tests and that they test the right material. So often we hear complaints about the tests, the time they take and teachers "teaching to the test". He pointed out that teaching to the test isn't bad since the test covers what they should be learning. The problem is when teachers take Jan & Feb to prepare for the test rather than weave the material into their lessons all along. I can't tell you how many times I repeated this over the last 2 weeks to my friends with kids in school and how it changed their thoughts on the CMTs.
The idea that everybody doesn't need the same assessment every time intrigued me but as a math person I also want consistent data across the students. This will take more creativity and planning to make sure that I am still able to get valid information.
Rubrics: My sons have been given rubrics for projects since 4th grade. It is so helpful in completing the project and judging if your work is complete. It makes clear what to do and how you will be graded. It definitely makes it easier for the teacher to grade - provided you set it up correctly and focus on the important items.
I have been giving a lot of thought to grading after Tom's discussion. The challenge is to make sure a student who is learning and progressing doesn't quit because of a bad grade or is trapped by a grading system that he can't overcome due to a bad start or a bad day. I come back to Tom's and our methods teachers' focus on us as teachers and getting the kids to learn the material. We want to set them up to be successful and give them opportunties to be successful and grow. The grading should also support that growth opportunity too.
CAPT and CMT tests-Tom stated that these tests have helped improve overall grades. How much time is right to “teach to the tests”. I personally worry about my soon to be 3rd grader who will be taking the 360 hours of testing next year and will not be able to complete it all. I do agree that there needs to be some type of assessment for both the students and the teachers. Tom stated that he believed that teachers should have tenure reviews every 4 years. It seems to me that teaching is one of the few professions that are not assessed as rigorously as others are. Tom stated that it is very challenging to remove a teacher with tenure in CT.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that Tom emphasized is that we as teachers need to be up to date on the politics of our state and federal government on teaching. There is a direct impact on what our elected officials decide on what opportunities we have as teachers.
Tom shared stories about Jasmine and LeRonne who were great successes. I believe that you have to set students up for success and not failure. He let 2 students from special ed into his AP class on the urging of the teacher. He then opened AP classes to others, not in “the track”. Advocacy from that teacher was important and it also helped to open Tom’s mind up as well. I have to constantly remember, it is all about the students and everything that I do should revolve around that goal. Haim Ginott sums it up best in his quote on the “Job of Teaching”.
Tips for me in my reminder list:
•If you set a time, stick to it or check and see where kids are at and then give more time if necessary
•Kids learn best kinestically-take them out of class if you can-look at bridge
•Always correct spelling
•Give a wide variety of assessments to tap into each students strengths
•When giving feedback, be careful with language and give it constantly
•Expectations are critical-Spell out specifically what you value. Using a rubric is helpful to set expectations(as we discussed in methods)
•When managing the classroom, learn to work efficiently(don’t waste time on busy work) spend as much time as possible teaching
•If you are sure that a kid is cheating, tell the parents first before you talk to the kid
•Have a classroom blog
•Show kids what good looks like, if you give an essay test show them or describe what good should look like.
•Rubrics can be used for a variety of support in the classroom-rubuistar.com
•Make the first day of class so great that your kids want to come back for the second day.
•Call the parents in the first 2 weeks so they can get to know you.
•Promote tests as good-they help the students learn
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ReplyDeleteThere were two main things I took away from Tom Moore’s presentations on Assessing Student Learning. The first is a strong sense of pride for the teaching profession and the people in it. Tom is clearly engaged in his work, loves it and wants everyone to have his same passion for teaching. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be in this program. I can only hope that there are many other Tom Moore’s out there, and that I can work for someone with that much pride and passion.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing, however, was a mild frustration over the entire topic of assessment. Many of the answers to the questions posed about assessment started with “it depends…”, which I found to be somewhat frustrating, even now as I still think about it. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of good in the presentations, and a lot of great helpful hints, but I didn’t come away with a strong feeling of how & what to assess on an ongoing basis. I was hoping for a little more, especially regarding the homework assignment we completed prior to the session. I don’t feel I have a strong basis to know what type of assessment to use and when to use it. Tom Moore mentioned assessing twice a week will enhance student learning. Although, in methods we are learning to assess throughout the lessons, every day, which I think is more appropriate for math. I want to know during the lesson if the students are getting it, not tomorrow or at the end of the week. Again, it depends on the purpose of the assessment, but I’m feeling rather vague about that at this time. What I did take away is that assessment is constant, not always for grades and reflects on my teaching as much as the student’s learning.
That said, there were a number of really interesting discussions in the class. Even though it was just an overview, and I see it on the Methods schedule in the near future, Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Skills was fascinating. I see now why Randy describes memorization as the lowest order of thinking, when using this scale (knowledge or remembering). Although Tom Moore’s point was not so much about getting everyone to the highest order of thinking, but to use the entire spectrum in asking questions, creating activities across the skills and to give all the students a chance to do something they are good at, and if they are good at memorization, then start there.
I was also glad to learn more about the CMTs. My 3rd grade son has been talking about the CMT’s for at least a year. I was shocked to learn just how much testing he has to go through this year (6 hours! Yikes!) and I did not realize it was at every grade from 3-8. Although after this session, I can see just how much of what he brings home on a daily basis is leading him toward these tests, and I am thankful that he has a superb teacher that motivates him to do better on all of his work. This is a teacher that really does embed the performance criteria in everyday classroom activity. I can see that while he does not “teach to the test” he is definitely “teaching the test”, and there is a distinct difference that can be made by good teachers.
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ReplyDeleteHello everyone, hope you enjoyed your long weekend,
ReplyDeleteI will start by agreeing with Dave when he commented on Mr. Moore’s motivational closing. Adding to it I would say that Mr. Moore overall is a great motivator and a speaker that knows how to connect to his students. In this case we were the students. It all started with the initiation for his first presentation on assessing student learning on Friday where he got me to dislike him for giving us a pop quiz, which whomever is failing would have to write an essay to his method instructor. He pretty much showed us how to initiate, control and engage 160 students. I’m sure most of us didn’t like it and hated him for the rest of the evening. It is all about our attitude and how we transmit it to our students.
He made the issue of the achievement gap a bit more clear with his example of accepting two failing students to his AP Western History class. Mr. Moore was sure that his friend/co worker idea would be a failure but he went with it and those students eventually received a good score on the AP test. From what I understood this was a changing point for him which he took with him when he became a principal. He opened all the AP classes for anyone who believed they could succeed in the class. I believe this is what made him successful in his position as a principal and helped lead him to the job as assistant superintendent. So we have to give every student the opportunity; although the key is the will of the student to take the opportunity. I know it is hard to do but Mr. Moore proved it could be done and we can’t argue with the results. This is a start to how to deal with the achievement gap. The students have to have the will to achieve and we as teachers need to give them the opportunity.
This presentation really helped me to understand more about the CMT and CAPT and how important it is for the students to do well and how they can create pressure on the kids and their PARENTS. Mathematics 120 minutes for grades 3 and 4 and 180 minutes for grades 5-8. Questions come up like, what if they are not good at taking test? It also explained how the achievement gap happened but as Mr. Moore ended his presentation he showed we can close this gap.
I enjoyed seeing the multiple examples of rubrics. I agree that they can help teachers fairly assess the work kids do and the assignment itself. It is important that the assignment actually measure the learning I will be looking for as a teacher. But it is also important that students understand exactly what it is that I, the teacher, will be looking for. It is kind of like a roadmap to the “A.” If a student does not know how to get there, how will they?
The tips I took from the first presentation where about the many ways of assessing the students:
• Build a bank of questions and based on the situation and decide which one fits the current class.
• Have the students write the homework questions.
• Find something good when you write the feedback.
• Have the students grade their work before you do it.
• Have a homework notebook which you can collect; this can help you to really assess their job and give the students honest, detailed feedback.
• Rubrics are a great tool that help us to assess our own assignments, as much as our students’ performance.
• Establish rules but understand that sometimes things happen.
See you all on Friday !!!
Did Moore discuss formative assessment? If so, what do you guys remember?
ReplyDeleteThere are a great many students who have ability but underachieve for various reasons. In the right setting they can blossom. This includes builing up self-confidence, developing self-help skills and scaffolding!
We'll hit Bloom's HARD! It is a very big deal yet is surprisingly overlooked in education. This mirrors the reliance on expository instruction. Kids are very often expected to be passive learners and memorize and practice low level skills - kill drill.
The pressure to do well or show improvement on the CMT and CAPT is incredibly intense in some schools. There's one in Hartford in which FIRST GRADERS were expected to MEMORIZE the strands. A principal actually had the teachers work on this with these kids. SICK.
Just like most of my colleagues, I too truly enjoyed Tom’s presentation. It was clear that he had a lot of knowledge and personal experiences to share with us but it was his passion for teaching, passion for the kids and an admiration for outstanding teachers that really stood out and kept all of us on the edge of our seats, even late Friday night. The topic of assessing student learning is also one of the more difficult and controversial in some way. As Tom told us, we should strive to be fair when grading, always have clear expectations and always provide quality feedback to students as soon as possible. Grades should measure achievement; they should never be a punishment. Even at the end of the session there were still many unanswered questions, such; how can you reduce subjectivity? Should you consider effort? How can you reduce time spent grading and how detailed your feedback should be? To many of the questions Tom simply said,” I can’t tell you…”. There is no black and white line when it comes to grading, there always will be some extraneous circumstances to be considered and that is a scary and unsettling part of being a beginner teacher. He did have a very strong opinion on curving grades, dropping grades and extra credit – he believes in none of those strategies. Instead, if the grades are a problem that means that you did not teach it well or assess it well so just reteach and retest. I totally agree with this, it seems like curving grades or dropping them is more of a band aid strategy that does nothing to solve the real issue that the students really did not learn.
ReplyDeleteThis brings another important topic of creating the right assessment and always knowing what we are assessing. “Good tests” are used for gathering data, planning instructions and for students learning (error analysis or reflections). They should be a mixture of low order questions and some higher thinking as to explain, to compare or to evaluate… Tom suggested that it is a very good practice to create the test along with planning the unit therefore you will know exactly what you need to focus on. This made me think that the test would then serve as a task analysis (just like we do in methods for planning a lesson) and guide us what we need to teach.
ReplyDeleteNancy - I agree with you about the CMTs. I have always heard the teachers complain about having to teach to the test. Last year, my daughter's 4th grade teacher spent two months teaching to the test where Emilie spent weeks on end just doing old tests from the CMTs. When I mentioned to Emilie that I went over the CMTs in school, she said that she hates that test because all she does in school for a long time is take old tests! This same 4th grade teacher also told me - over the phone when I requested a face-to-face meeting - that the reason for Emilie's grades to go down was because of her test scores. On an essay part of one of the standardized tests, Emilie "wrote a brilliant story - well thought out and advanced for her age - but she did not use first person like instructed. She used her name instead. Because of this, she was marked down on the essay and that is why she was marked down on her report card." I was not happy with this response.
ReplyDeleteWhile at my daughter's teacher conference - held only ONCE a year - I spoke to her 5th grade teacher about her plans for the coming year. Emilie's teacher told me that she wrote her graduate paper on test taking in CT and she does not believe that she needs to review expensively for the tests at all. She says that she incorporates the testing points from the CMTs in her lesson plans. The teacher did admit that she will give her students one test before the CMTs but that is to get the students comfortable with the test structure. As you can well imagine, I was very happy to hear her outlook on CMTs.
Going back to what one of you said about testing teachers more rigorously, my son's first grade teacher this year told me that she needed to give homework one day because the following week she was giving the unit test and she needed to "teach to the test." She was saying this very sarcastically. What I wanted to say was "Well, we used to call that review. If you don't review, then how can the students or the teacher or the parents know if the student is ready for the test?" I did not challenge her on this comment since I am having enough trouble with Christopher in her class due to anxiety about where he is supposed to be after school. (Last year's teacher was very caring and if there was a discrepancy between what the child believed he was supposed to do at the end of the day and what the teacher thought, she would call home to confirm. A simple phone call home alleviated the worry factor. My son's current teacher does not call home so he is faced with anxiety, even though we review the evening before and the morning of school where he is supposed to be at any time.)
Sandy and one other classmate mentioned about teachers calling each parent at the beginning of the school year being a good idea. I can't agree more. From the time my daughter was in first grade, I would introduce myself to the teacher at "Meet the Teacher Day" and let them know that I would be sending a note requesting a short conference about my child. Every year, I meet with each of my children's teachers right after school starts to discuss my child. I mainly have these meetings for my daughter's benefit since she is extremely shy and we are working on her social skills. I have adopted this method also with my son and it has proved to be quite effective. If each teacher called at the beginning of the school year, I would have just mentioned my concerns for each child during these calls.
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ReplyDeleteNadeen,
ReplyDeleteI also worried about the time spent on preparing for the CMTs. Now that my children are a little older, I realize that the extra help a child gets for the test actually helps them prepare for school work as well as the CMT.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteTom Moore didn't spend a lot of time on formative assessments, although what stuck out for me was the use of "Common Formative Assessments" that are used across teaching teams. I really like this idea as it assesses students in different classes on the same material. This seems like it would be a great tool to use to improve teaching when one class as a whole doesn't do as well as another class on the same assessment, or why some kids learn the subject matter and others do.
Jen
The most interesting part to Tom Moore's presentations were, at least to me, not actually the presentation itself. The most interesting part of his presentation was the underlying sense of iteration and reinforcement I had afterwards.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I felt from the beginning of his presentation on Friday and throughout his prsenation on Saturday a sense of deja-vu. Wasn't the concept of "initiation" introduced and discussed already, and from multiple perspectives? While Tom was showcasing his "bad" initiation (where he demonstrated how setting harsh or overly rigid standards can completely eliminate motivation and engagement), I realized how wonderful it was that this one concept was discussed and modeled so many times, and in different ways. Although I understood the importance of initiation (and have written about it in other reflections) from previous sessions, I feel that I have even a better understanding of it now.
This turned into a domino effect. Isn't seeing various pedagogical concepts from different perspectives modeling another concept-- that of considering the students in the lesson? Doesn't this relate very strongly with task analysis?
I suppose I always understood how integrated each concept is to another, but since I am so new to teaching, I had considered each concept (e.g, initiation, communication with parents, rubrics, grading) distinct and separate. The best part of Tom Moore's presentation was how he physically showed how integrated these concepts really are. And maybe, hopefully, it shows how much more in tune with teaching and thinking of teaching I am!
The more presentations I hear and the more reflections I write, I realize more and more how important experience is to teaching. How are we to really know what emphasis to place on certain grades or grading, or under which circumstances should we be lenient or steadfast, without having actual personal experience? Yes, we're learning and training, and mock teaching, but the real-life intangibles that make up the teaching can't be anticipated fully.
ReplyDeleteThe comments I'm seeing about the amgiguity over Tom Moore's "gray area" of grading standards and parent-teacher relationships, and yet, on the other hand, how important rubrics and standards are to students highlights the relevance and helpfulness of personal experience to answering these questions. And as Tom, Jaf, Randy, and Dr. Fritz have all said, what works for one teacher will not work for another.
Julie, what an intriguing question about personal experience!
ReplyDeleteThere are two layers to the experience factor - quantity and quality. The more you experience the more likely you are prepared to handle situations and teach effectively. BUT, if you do not grow from your experiences then you will not be as equipped to be effective despite your flight time. Hence, a newer teacher can be more effective than a veteran teacher.
To be sure, you will make mistakes as you engage the learning curve. The more you learn to plan, prevent/avoid problems and develop a monitor and adjust approach the better you'll be.
For example, you plan your lessons by chunking the activities so you have appropriate places to stop if you run out of time. This also keeps instruction in short, manageable pieces for you and the students. You plan engaging activities to let them learn in an active way and to avoid behavior issues. You reflect and take data (formative assessments) to make decisions as you go along to revise as necessary.
Teaching to the test is a two-edged sword. It goes beyond review and can go as far as structuring a course around the types of questions as opposed to focusing on objectives. For example, you can train students to work out a solve an equation problem by simply having them plug in the possible answers as opposed to actually solving the equation!
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, when used effectively it can focus on meeting all the objectives. Some teachers don't do a good job of this.
When we talk about CMT and CAPT we'll get into this.
As teachers, we have a great responsibility to be very careful about everything that we say or do. We can rarely be off. Tom Moore’s opening remarks about having the quiz and if we failed had to do homework made his point. He wanted us to emotionally feel how a student would feel when he started out the class. His comments were harsh and could have set the tone for the entire semester. We need to be cognizant of how we treat our students. One small remark can set the tone for how a student interacts or not interacts during the course of the school year. He also shared the example of the girl who was an exceptional student and he gave feedback using the word shallow on one of her essays. She remembered this for 3.5 years and realized that you need to be choiceful and careful on how you talk and give specific feedback to your students.
ReplyDeleteLike Chris, I feel the great responsibility on us to be great teachers right away. Every week we gain information to help us be great. Intellectually it makes sense but in reality, coming to terms with being bad the first year and even subsequent years is a challenging concept to grapple with.
The key to success as teacher, Tom says is “How much do you love the kids and root for them”. You need to prove to the kids that you are rooting for them. This could be done in a variety of forms.
While Randy and Jaf emphasized tests/pop quizzes in the class and the concept of assessments, the concept is much greater than I imagined. I learned much more about how important assessments are and how many different types there are. In addition to lesson plans, it is important to have good assessments that are relevant to the materials in a variety of forms. It is all about helping the students improve and make them want to do better. Tom shared the quote, “What students learn depends as much on your tests as on your teaching” This is yet another component that needs to be factored into how we become great teachers. Make sure that there is a purpose to your assessment-Question yourself; if it not worth assessing is it worth doing? The assessment is very helpful to use so that we can gauge how the students are understanding or not understanding and where we need to go next with our plan.
Feedback is another topic that Tom talked about. In my previous job, we described feedback as SMAC-specific, measurable, achievable and compatible. Not only is it important to give kids “SMAC” feedback, but Tom mentioned how important it is for a teacher to give the parents feedback on their children. Students should know what they are doing so frequent feedback is preferable; especially in math where it would be preferable to check home work daily vs. having a homework notebook. By reviewing daily we are can better analyze what they got wrong and make adjustments to our lesson plans.
Flexibility and adaptability- Tom gave some examples of this. It is important to have these traits when teaching. Sometimes, things cannot always go as planned. If students are having 3 tests on Monday, can you change the test to another day? What is the final grade that a student should get if a student’s test scores are moving in a positive direction? We had much discussion on Tom’s Friday night homework assignment. Sometimes there is no right answer. It is how you view each individual student situation that will make the difference.
I like the idea that Anne mentioned about incorporating the review problems into daily math so it doesn't feel like we are teaching to the CMT's or any other test. I have seen this being done in my kids math classes through weekly problem set, problem solving journal, problem of the day or ADD (Arithmetic Developed Daily) so there are many creative ways to accomplish the same goal. When the review is done through the year, it becomes a routine for the kids and they don't think about it as a preparation for a test.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to all your comments on the CMT and CAPT test I would like to share some late news that has been going on this week in New Haven.
ReplyDeleteThis is from the New Haven register:
Education historian and author Diane Ravitch headlined a school reform panel discussion Tuesday evening, and argued her position that national school policy is too focused on the numbers. “The status quo demonizes teachers and reduces students to test scores,” she said.
A former proponent of the No Child Left Behind Act, Ravitch later became disillusioned by the test score-based philosophy and has become one of its most vocal critics. “We are judging students by these test scores. They are not telling us how much students are learning. They are telling us how much students have been prepped,” Ravitch said, and called for richer curriculum. Author of the book, “Death and Life of the Great American School System,” Ravitch Tuesday was part of a 12-person panel that included teachers, parents, students, administrators and community leaders.
The discussion took place at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School and was broadcast live via video and blogging by local leaders and media outlets including the New Haven Register. The event was organized by the New Haven Independent and co-sponsored by WNPR and News 8.
Here is the link for the article:
http://www.newhavenregister.com/articles/2010/12/01/news/new_haven/doc4cf5cd90db9c7844606938.txt
I have been having problems posting - I posted this one twice but it still hasn't appeared - or should I say it keeps disappearing - so here goes...
ReplyDelete------------------------------------------------
I have been thinking about assessment over the last two weeks, in particular the question that Tom posed about what grade you would give a student with a list of grades. I found that question very hard to answer because I did not know the student, I did not know the tests or quizzes that were given and I did not know what guidelines were given to the students about marking. Because I do not have these answers, I find myself calculating the student’s average and then adjusting the grade up by a little for effort.
After working on that problem, I realized that I have a hard time with marking students because I always think about what is fair. What is fair to that student and what is fair to the other students in the class? I have a hard time separating out the students from one another when marking. One statement that Tom Moore made during his opening remarks really stuck with me and that was “don’t stay married to your idiosyncrasies.” That statement really hit home when I had the task of marking the student in the fictitious example. I have been thinking about what I can do as a teacher to help myself assess my students and I feel that setting clearly defined guidelines at the beginning of the year which includes effort and behavior as well as using Rubrics for project assessment will help me.
One statement that Tom made was that teachers do not have to assess students the same way. A teacher can give different assessments to different students to check for understanding. I can see where different assessments can be useful for different students especially when you are differentiating your classroom but what happens when you need to use the assessment as part of the mark? How do you incorporate the different levels of assessment into the student’s grade? I know that grades should measure achievement and not be punitive but if you just mark strictly on grades, then how do you incorporate the assessment level into the mark? Both students may have an understanding of the material but one can bring it to the next step.
Part 2 - AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteHere are a few other points that Tom made during his presentations that I feel are worth remembering:
• Assessment is constant – Teachers can assess their students every day using Do Now work, Pop Quizzes, Homework, class participation, as well as special projects and tests. Our lesson plans are created aimed at instantly assessing the student’s understanding of a topic using these items.
• Teaching is very time consuming – creating lesson plans, creating tests, and marking tests can be very time consuming. A test may be easy to mark like a multiple choice test but it can be very time consuming to create. For a math teacher, any work the student completes needs to be assessed including homework, another time consuming activity.
• A teacher can and should assess a student differently at the beginning of the year as compared at the end of the year.
• Give everyone a chance to do something they excel at – In order to fulfill this requirement, a teacher would have to find ways to incorporate different projects into the curriculum to address all students in the class. I can see how you can incorporate engineering into a math curriculum as well as music. Art is another area where math comes into play – sometimes without the artist realizing it. I am not sure how to incorporate drama into the math classroom but I will have to think about that more, based on the class that I would be teaching.
I find it interesting that one comment that a lot of us made in our blogs is regarding the "gray area" of assessments. I would think that based on someone's personality and how they will function as a teacher the "it depends" will be either frustrating or freeing as a teacher. In my previous roles, I have always liked the gray area. With the caveat that I would use rubrics as a guideline. As Tom stated, we can make the decision, but never discuss another student(or grades) with other students or parents.
ReplyDeleteDuring our Methods group we have been learning how to create a good lesson plan. We are leaning that a good lesson plan takes time to create and has many components. One of those components is assessing student learning. Mr. Tom Moore spent a lot of time expanding upon this one aspect.
ReplyDeleteMr. Moore provided an overview of rubrics, CAPT, and CMT programs. He explained how these tests evolved and how they are used. Breaking down assessments further he discussed evaluating individual students. I enjoyed the pre-lecture assignment and homework assignment. They both gave me a chance to evaluate a situation and try to think through the process and consequences. It was interesting to hear the other ARC students’ responses. It makes you think about what is a grade and how does it reflect the student’s ability.
I have begun to think more about what students should do to learn material. Initially I thought there would only be three basic duties required from the students; class participation, homework and tests. These are very basic and seemingly easy to evaluate. Also to me teaching mathematics is like building blocks, information taught today is required knowledge for understanding material taught later. So you want to insure that students learn the material, not just pass the tests. A good teacher must be creative when developing lesson plans to insure student participation and learning.
Getting back to Mr. Moore, he also emphasized that teachers will be coming under greater scrutiny and increasing accountability. We will be evaluated more closely and expected to attend career classes. These career classes will expand, enhance and advance our teaching capabilities thus promoting better instruction techniques. He also seems to have a holistic approach the classroom. I believe he is saying that we should not get lost in the details of day to day activities.