Developing the data collection system involves decisions about when to collect progress data and which rubric to use.
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Educational Leadership:Interventions: What's Working:Making the Most of Progress Monito... - 8 views
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If a student has not made adequate progress toward an objective, the team needs to have a conversation to decide what to do.
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The visual format of the intervention form enables team members to quickly review the data and make decisions about the intervention.
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I would definitely like to spend more time re-reading this article. However, as a teacher who has worked with similar forms for years, why are all the examples about elementary students with relatively easy barriers to track? The position that online record keeping has more immediacy was interesting.
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good question, re: elementary. Does anyone have any secondary examples to share?
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Better and more efficient progress monitoring tools can lead to better instructional decision making and improved student outcomes.
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Other objectives may not lend themselves so easily to a rubric as rate of reading. For example, reading comprehension will require the team to consider what to measure and how to measure it.
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In fact, progress monitoring and reporting is the federal special education requirement with which schools struggle the most (Etscheidt, 2006). For students with disabilities, schools follow specific procedures for developing an IEP, which involves selecting targeted goals and services. But even the IEP is not sufficient to guide daily intervention and progress monitoring. Instead, IEPs create the broad structure from which educators can develop a more detailed and practical day-to-day intervention plan.
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Educational Technology Guy: 11 steps to planning Professional Development - 0 views
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educational technology planning professional development
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Iowa review team recommends new science standards | Iowa Department of Education - 1 views
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"The review team's recommendation proposes modifying the Next Generation Science Standards for Iowa so that only the performance expectations section is used, rather than the entire standards document. Members said the performance expectations are easier to understand, especially for teachers in subject areas other than science, and allow for more local control because they are broader than other parts of the standards document. The team's recommendation also proposes modifying the Next Generation Science Standards for Iowa by separating them by grade level for kindergarten through 8th grade and organizing the high school standards into a span of grades."
Course: Collaborative Learning Teams - 0 views
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Ankeny teachers praise time they have to team on classwork | The Des Moines Register | ... - 1 views
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AllThingsPLC » Blog Archive » Stop Sliding Away… - 1 views
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It is a flawed assumption to believe that the presence of the right structures alone will ensure teams are successful.
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Effective principals recognize that “a critical step in moving an organization from rhetoric to reality is to establish the indicators of progress to be monitored, the process for monitoring them, and the means for sharing the results throughout the organization.”
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Progress or Procrastination? | AllThingsPLC - 3 views
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There is a law in organizational theory called Parkinson’s law which says that work will expand to fill the amount of time we are willing to devote to it.
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Which of my students is still struggling with this essential skill? Which of my students has mastered the essential skill? What is an area in which my students excelled, what strategies led to their success, and how might I share those strategies with my colleagues, and conversely what is an area of weakness where I might seek help from my colleagues? Is there an area where students struggled regardless of the teacher to whom they were assigned and if so, what steps can our team take to address our own professional learning regarding teaching that skill?
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Teams should create their own assessments rather than using textbooks or commercial assessments and should use performance-based assessments when the skill or concepts requires such an assessment.
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Is It Worth It? - Sharing Data from Successful PLCs | AllThingsPLC - 27 views
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It was very easy to get together and “chat” about things like lesson plans, travel forms, and recess procedures. It was not until we began to look at our data that we realized, by accident, that some of us were better at some things and some of us were better at others!
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It is amazing how all schools are similiar, when it comes to the nuts and bolts. We all have a group that have multi-talents if we could work with each other and benefit the students it would be a good day.
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This is a great resource! It goes very deep into the motives of using PLNs and breaks it down into a few ideas and questions so you can reflect on what a successful PLN would look like and how to utilize it for students' engagement and success.
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In the article, one district had late starts on Mondays for planning time for their PLCs. Our district plans to have groups meet once a month for 30 minutes. I'd like to hear what other districts are doing.
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We are going into our 3rd year of PLC in my district. I think the idea is great and can be incredibly valuable. However, the group is only as powerful as the members in it. If all members buy into the concept, great things can come out of it. If members view it as a waste of time, come unprepared or do not participate then it truly is a waste of time. Getting members to believe is the most difficult part.
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We are just starting PLCs at my school. So far we have just had a training session about it. I will be interested to see how it works during the next few years.
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The biggest hurdle for some districts may be having enough technology/computers available
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This is the first year of PLC's for Charles City. We are following a very 'patient' approach by 'dictating' the direction of the PLC's (everyone studies characteristics of effective instruction) for the first several months. Hopefullly, this will allow everyone to to understand the dynamics of PLC first before we allow individuals to 'breakout' by content or topic.
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This is our first year of PLC's in the Dike-New Hartford District. Like Charles City we are also easing into the direction our group wants to go. Right now we have two early dismissal days a month to meet. We are too getting to know the dynamics of PLC's to make them effective in our district.
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This is our second year of PLC at GR. I ahve found working in our group this year during the extra 8 hours outside of school time very beneficial. Going 1 : 1 computers, this sharing has given us time to find new sources for ourselves and students to use as we improve learning.
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“Is it worth it?” will always be a question for those interested in taking the PLC journey. While we have data to support it and strategies to share on how we have moved in the direction of learning for all, the greatest answer to the question is in the smiles of our children and stories of their parents as they know and share that student learning is what we are all about at Fort Leavenworth Schools.
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Collaboration is key. Cant be a complaint session. Must have input from everyone.
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I agree. When we start working on solutions to challenges, rather than complaining, educators can make incredible gains.
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Our PLC made little flags with photos of Norm from "Cheers" on wooden sticks. When one of us starts going down a different path with the discussion, any of us can hold up our "Norm" to remind us to stay on track. This works well for us because it is a humorous way to keep organized and doesn't hurt anybody's feelings.
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Diane: I love the creativity and team-bldg. by using humor ...and yet being organized and productive.
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Just attended a PLC of 4 regional schools last friday where we were trying to develop curriculum alignment amongst school. Develping this network on line will allow us as a gorup to "steal" activities from others, discuss best practices and share our successes and struggles.
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It seems as though my school's PLCs have been overshadowed by PD and our mixture of content teachers, while good in theory, has not worked in practice. I am a foreign language teacher, the only one in my school, and I am always paired with art, music, PE and the guidance counselor. Then we are so structured that any type of 'ah-ha moment' cannot be realized, due to the constraints of the itinerary.
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Finding the time to meet consistently seems to be the biggest task for us. It seems that we begin to lose our inspiration when it is so complicated to get together.
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We met in PLCs the last two years, but then became one to one and our focus has switched for this year. I wonder how this will change in the future.
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I agree that time is the key. During basketball season my group was only able to meet at 6:30 am.
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I think these questions are so valuable to all of us. It forces us to think and evaluate what we are doing in the classroom and how much is necessary vs. "fluff".
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I feel like I am coming up with more questions than solutions...yet am excited for the potential that increased PLC productivity can become using technology
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she commented that one of the norms for her group was to leave their egos at the door. When everyone did that, honest conversations started to happen and learning was paramount. Realizing that it was not a personal affront to anyone when you spoke about data was a huge AHA moment for our teachers! It gave professionals permission not to have to be supermen and superwomen in their classrooms, but to focus on what they can do better – together!
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Nice write-up about learning teams and the use of common formative assessments.
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Having a PLC and actually using it effectively is important. As teachers, we know we need the time to work collaboratively to make effective changes. This was an excellent source on how teachers worked together to improve performance. Goood key questions used to keep teachers focused on improvement.
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This is our first year implementing PLC at Dike New Hartford. We are in the beginning phases and are dismissing two hours early twice a month. The big idea of focusing on learning and not teaching is a big shift in thinking, but a much needed one. After spending three days in Minneapolis, I feel I have a good handle on what a true PLC should look like, but not sure a lot of my teaching partners due yet.
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I would like to see more time in our school devoted to PLC...with increased focus on technology...this stuff takes time yet in the long run would SAVE so much time. I have to say technology gets me more excited as to the access of information than the actual Iowa Core does.
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I am in my first year in a district that uses PLCs for professional development. I find it to be a great way to share ideas and learn from colleagues from a variety of curricular areas; very worthwhile professional development.
Teachers team up to tackle learning gap - 3 views
AEAPDOnline: Exploring the Iowa Core Through Collaborative Learning Teams - 4 views
moodle.aeapdonline.org/...category.php
ICC Characteristics of Effective Instruction AIW iowa core learning teams collaborative
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The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: 5 Characteristics of Effective Instruction - 6 views
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So not only will Iowa's high schools develop implementation plans for the content next year, they will also conduct a self-study to determine which characteristics need attention and put forward a professional development plan to improve in that area(s).
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ICC is a process. To see this change to its fullest extent, the DE is proposing a plan for each district to create a plan to roll it out over several years. (This is how we should/might view our classrooms...focus on making a few changes at a time, but do them well rather than trying to be Mr. Awesome Teacher in all kinds of areas without enough time/thought/trial & error.) <-- this is KEY. What are your thoughts, Russ?
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I like that it is built on reflection and continual improvement. You've explained it to me before as being "what good teachers should be doing." I think all teachers, rookies and veterans, can benefit from an open discussion on that point.
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I'm leery of the plans becoming planning for planning sake, but the intention is good--trying to get at the process of continual improvement, as you mentioned.
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Evan, there's no doubt that some schools/districts will simply write a plan, then check it off the list of things to do. However, many others that recognize the value in the intent, or spirit, of the IC will approach the process seriously.
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Just to piggy back here, I also like it that there are people that are going to reflect on what may or may not be working. Often enough, I don't think that gets done enough. As Teresa said, some and perhaps the majority of schools will just fulfill what they have to, but some will put in time and get some neat things out of this process. I hope that many will take it seriously.
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Our district is currently working on the plan. I hope we do a good job so we can implement and use it!
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Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of core content.
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I didn't think about this until my 5th year of teaching. What is your "assessment plan"? How will you assess? How often? What will you do if students are absent on assessment day?
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Your comment made me think of the quote we shared with you this past weekend: "our generation wants in 7 years what our parents worke for all their lives." That's what I feel fairly often since I've been surrounded by veteran teachers. There are many times I need to slow down and remember that I'm learning, learning. learning. So, to "answer" your questions, I don't know. I appreciate being able to learn from your experiences.
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A rigorous curriculum is one that is complex, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging
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This is a never-ending task. I don't expect to "master" this, even when I'm ready to retire. It involves really thinking about the content and the students and how authentic work can be created by them according to their interests. This is TOUGH!
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Evan had a great comment on this point: "The key is to teach students how to learn that advanced content on their own--to become life-long learners. No one is arguing that teachers aren't cognitively limited; they are. But that is (or should be) irrelevant. To continue the transmission model of education, where teachers have all the knowledge and students have to get it in the approved way, will continue to stunt the growth of students."
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Good point. It's the old 'liberal arts' education lingo...becoming a life long learner. From my experience, it's difficult to get some students to learn the basics, let alone do any learning on their own (the few that come to school because they're required...or only desire a passing grade...or some other sort of grade to please parents). Not saying it can't be done, but lots of thought, motivation and modeling needed.
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One thing I've found is that out of the 5, this is the one that teachers say, "Yeah, I've got this one down". It seems everyone has seen the graphic of the quadrants. What's difficult is, even though we all know we need to be rigorous & relevant, we don't often know which of our lessons truly are rigorous & relevant. The best professional development will give teachers some specific, tangible examples to show how to ramp up rigor.
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This definition is adapted from Teaching What Matters Most by Silver, Strong and Perrini. It's a great read (ASCD)
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Differences can best be accomplished by engaging in a process which has teachers using student and instructional assessment data to make sound instructional decisions to meet the needs of individual students.
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when formative assessment is done well, differentiation comes naturally. Again, easier said than done....so we need to be patient in this area as we learn the common misconceptions of students in our curriculum, this practice will become more visible over time.
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I saw this on a large scale when I visited Knoxville West Elementary school as part of our IDM team. They had reading data on all students and used it to adjust the instruction for all kids. Do you think formative assessment flows naturally from the assessment to the remedial instruction? What I mean is, say a teacher formatively assesses students, do we assume that teacher is using that data to influence instruction? Is the "changing intruction" part of the definition of formative assessment?
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You hit the big "aha" moment ICC is going to (hopefully) help so many educators in Iowa realize. I sort of feel like differentiation and formative assessment aren't mutually exclusive...one in the same (assess, use data to create new individualized/group instruction to help students move along the continuum of learning; repeat). Not sure if it's worth debating the definitions, but rather seeing the ideas as working together to improve classroom practice. Yes, it is possible to collect data and do nothing with it. This is the major misconception of 'formative assessment,' in my opinion. The analogy of "formative assessment is chef's ongoing soup tasting during prep; summative assessment is restaurant customer liking or disliking soup" seems to fit, but when some educators hear this, they only taste the soup (collect data, quiz more often, etc.) but never make any changes to the soup recipe (instruction). I'm guilty and to be honest thought this way until earlier this year. We can't just assume the data is being used, you're right. In a quality classroom, I think it would be pretty obvious that the data was being used (maybe my class next year?!).
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The only reason I bring up the definition is so everyone is on the same page when discussing it. If some think "formative assessment" is only the assessment and others think it includes the instruction-adjustment, there's a disconnect. That's all. Plus I'm an English guy, so I like definitions. I'm already loving this ICC stuff now that I get "the point." So here's my big thought of the day: how are college education programs going to use the ICC? If the state has defined effective practices, will colleges follow suit in what they focus their teaching on...both in the ed. training programs and how the faculty teaches?
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I think ICC defines formative assessment as a process of both collecting the data and modifying instruction: From ICC, Module 5: "Assessment FOR Learning (Formative Assessment): Formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of core content. As assessment FOR learning, formative assessment practices provide students with clear learning targets, examples and models of strong and weak work, regular descriptive feedback, and the ability to self-assess, track learning, and set goals. (Adapted from Council of Chief State School Officers, FAST SCASS)."
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Not sure how/if it will impact higher ed. Impact on higher ed. will surely aid in determining success of ICC, but won't necessarily directly affect our day-to-day instruction. If new staff are trained with ICC in mind, it would help the process along. To be realistic, I think it takes extended classroom experience to get a grasp on what an abstract idea such as "assessment for learning" truly is. Nonetheless a theoretical framework (aside from modifying/extending student teaching/practicum as you and I have discussed previously), is one possible step forward.
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You both make excellent points, and I like the "chef" anaology. As far as post-secondary ed is concerned, some of them are coming to the table to at least sniff the soup. Eventually, I think they'll buy the whole meal because (1) schools will be demanding that teacher ed programs include the IC, and (2) students who have experienced full implementation of the IC in high school will demand the same of their experiences at the post-secondary level. It's just going to be a long-term process.
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In Student-centered Classrooms, students construct their own knowledge based on experiential, holistic, authentic, and challenging experiences.
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From what I know about you, Russ, I think you'll do well in this area (student-centered classroom). Realistically, this can only be done "well" with a solid classroom management plan coupled with a focused look on the desired culture of your classroom.
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I appreciate you saying that, Matt. It struck me as funny, mainly because of what I emailed you last night: "I'm nervous about classroom management/atmosphere." :)
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See other bookmark in this group, re: Harry Wong and procedures. Wish I would have known Wong (and implemented it) earlier on. You'll be much wiser and knowledgeable than me. Read the book and/or the website. Becky probably has the book. I can email you my procedures if you're interested. Rehearse! It seems goofy and a strange use of time for the first few weeks, but pays huge dividends. Once procedures are established, you can shape the culture (a la more student-centered) and build relationships with students to your heart's content.
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while these 5 characteristics are essential to a successful school, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive of each other.
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Amen, Evan! See my notes on differentiation and formative assessment. They go together!
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It's my gut feeling that the DE thinks this is implicit; that everyone knows this. But given that the DE's main role is in checklist accredidation, they'll need to be a bit more explicit to districts, or I think they will have districts treating each one separately.
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Great point, Evan. I would venture to guess that the majority of the educators I know would say that "assessment" and "instruction" are mutually exclusive entities. I hear things all the time like "Today is quiz day" rather than viewing it as an ongoing activity. I discussed my thoughts related to this topic here: http://bit.ly/NBqyH This will be a HUGE task on the DE/AEAs part, in my opinion...helping Iowa educators see the conceptual connection as well as how it looks (and doesn't look) in practice.
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Teaching for Understanding is leading students (to engage in a variety of thought-provoking activities such as explaining, finding evidence in examples, generalizing, connecting, applying, making analogies, and representing the topic in new ways.
What is your school doing, re: ICC? - 34 views
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Best content in Iowa Core Discussion | Diigo - Groups - 11 views
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Give students a list of the learning targets they are responsible for mastering, written in student-friendly language.Show students anonymous strong and weak examples of the kind of product or performance they are expected to create and have them use a scoring guide to determine which one is better and why.Administer a nongraded quiz part-way through the learning, to help both teacher and students understand who needs to work on what.Highlight phrases on a scoring guide reflecting specific strengths and areas for improvement and staple it to student work.Have students identify their own strengths and areas for improvement using a scoring guide.Have students keep a list of learning targets for the course and periodically check off the ones they have mastered.Give students feedback and have them use it to set goals.Have students graph or describe their progress on specific learning targets.Ask students to comment on their progress: What changes have they noticed? What is easy that used to be hard? What insights into themselves as learners have they discovered?
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I agree that identifying their owns strengths and areas of improvement can be a useful tool
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Student self assessment is becoming both more important and more difficult in classrooms. It seems as though students sometimes aren't ready to admit their faults or concerns when it may help the teacher conduct formative assessment tasks. Sadly, teachers often rely heavily on that very self-assessment, which may or may not be entirely accurate.
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I have actually found that those students who take their education seriously (and there are more than I think) are almost fault finding rather than confidence building. That is when I take the opportunity to build them up and point out their successes.
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I agree with Kevin's comment that students do not want to admit fault. They are also timid about asking for help. We recently had a student who did not hand in an assignment that was a substantial part of his grade for the term. We asked several times if he wanted/needed help. His response was always no. Finally, after about 3 weeks the teacher made him come into her room during study hall and work on the assignment. He failed to understand one of the key steps and after it was explained, he finished the essay. It was a failure on both our parts. The student should have asked for help, but if we had a better system in place to check for understanding at key points, it would have been less stressful for both parties. We need to consider doing more of these things at my school.
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I really like the last question, especially with students I work with. It is most important that the student see their progress, for the sole reason they don't believe anyone. Also, the fact they are to see themselves as learners and what they have discovered. Love it!!!
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I think if students are given their expectations a head of time, you will see progress in their work. Their are special cases where this is untrue, but we all like expectations that are obtainable.
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I agree with Chrisine. Students are quite honest and critical of themselves and it gives them the oportunity to see growth within themselves.
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I agree that if we let the students know from the beginning what the expectaions for the class are, they can follow their progress in the class and see their improvment. Also, giving a norgraded quiz is also a good idea but I'm wondering if they would do their best knowing it isn't graded at the beginning.
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These are all excellent components to learning and helping students move forward with learning. Could there also be a parent component which would allow for more communication opportunities?
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I use non-graded quizzes regularly -- the word "quiz" helps them take it seriously -- to assess where students are. I think I will try adding the self assessment of where they are on the learning targets to the end of the quiz. Rather than collecting and going through myself, I will let them assess what they know and what still needs to be worked on. When I collect them, we will both be on track to fill the gaps.
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I like having students identify their own strengths and goals...gives them ownership and accountability.
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I like the idea of "student-friendly" language and for students to look at their own progress would be very helpful. Using rubrics would be similar but adding it into technology would make it more engaging for students plus it would be paperless.
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A big part of DuFour (Solution Tree, PLC) is non-graded formative assessment. The claim is that, once a student sees a grade, the learning stops. No matter what amount of feedback you give, all they are concerned about is the grade.
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As a high school teacher, I have found that students generally don't take seriously non-graded assessment. I do though strongly agree that incremental formative assessment is key to developing desirable levels of skill and understanding. Over the years I've developed two different schemes for addressing the need for incremental formative assessment, while avoiding the barriers that "grades" can impose. For Junior and Senior students, it has been useful for the students to allow them retakes, so they may retake any incremental formative assessment whose score is not what they would like it to be. I take the most recent score for better or worse. If they wish to retake a third, forth, or umpteenth time then they may do so (with the same better or worse consequence). Though this scheme is helpful for them, allowing them to see how the prep work leads to assessment items, and thus focusing their instruction to make them more efficient test-takers, it is somewhat burdensome in paperwork (as every incremental formative assessment has multiple versions -- many tailor-made to suit specific learning preferences). As the Freshmen student class sizes are so much greater and as Freshmen are less mature in the ways of the grades, the aforementioned retake scheme has not proven useful with them. Many Freshman consider that a nongraded assignment is "busy work" and don't give it their best effort. More importantly, the results of such nongraded assignments are considered to be unimportant primarily because the students knew they didn't utilize their best effort. The scheme that has proven to be most successful with them is "risk ratcheting". Students are given prep work which is designed to help them with note-taking skills. the answer to all the prep-work material is reviewed in class with the understanding that if the prep work was done poorly, then it is a sign that your notes need to be fixed (corrected, culled, or added to). The next assessment item is small and each ind
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I agree with Todd here. We have done it both ways and we went to teach another school about PLC's where they would be assigning groups. I do not think they would find as much joy and success that way as DuFour says in his book having a choice is key!
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Van Meter has given teacher flexibility when doing PLC. Meeting at Early but allowed to leave early of whatever the group works out.
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Gladbrook-Reinbeck Elem teachers have been having their PLC's on Wednesday mornings before school. Unfortunately, we didn't have much focus or direction. Some of our teachers are going to a training this summer, so hopefully next year will be better.
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In the article, one district had late starts on Mondays. Our district is having teachers meet for 30 minutes once a month. I'd like to hear how other schools are setting up planning time for their PLCs.
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At Charles CIty we are have late starts on MOnday. Teachers will have 80-85 minutes to work in PLC's that are being 'dictated' this year with the idea that they will 'breakout' next year.
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Discussion and ideas contributed by the group members as to activities, use of technoogy and curriculum changes adn modifications are all great to hear from others, especially when I am a 1 person curricular area teacher in our small school
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Charles City has set a late start on Wednesday for PLC. This is are first year and groups were asigned. I think being able to choose you own team would make descussion and topics more useful.
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Resource Roundup: Making the Schedule Work for Your School | AllThingsPLC - 12 views
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Scheduling is so hard! Love having ideas! I loved when we went to Chicago and saw how they all took times to help with intervention times and every team was able to meet to help all children from this!
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This is perfect! Our school is in the middle of revising our master schedule for next year. Lots of changes coming and we are all trying to contribute solutions.
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Is REAL Formative Assessment Even Possible? - The Tempered Radical - 0 views
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Instead, school leaders should ask that teachers meet with ONE collaborative group and one collaborative group only. Then, they should require that collaborative groups make formative assessment a priority. Meetings should focus on studying formative assessment data, creating exemplars, improving rubrics, and designing remediation and enrichment opportunities for kids. The simple truth is teachers just don’t have the time to do formative assessment correctly if their attention is divided between the kinds of traditional meetings we’ve always been required to attend.
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Heartland Moodle: Exploring the Iowa Core Through Collaborative Learning Teams - 6 views
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Blogging About The Web 2.0 Connected Classroom: Twitter In Schools-A Getting Started Guide - 12 views
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Twitter is beginning to catch on with many educators, schools are
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Thanks for sharing this article. I have used Twitter for some time, but on a personal level. I have a side business as a portrait photographer and have used it to stay connected and for some marketing. I was interested in how the article described the use of Twitter for a school community.
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Great ideas! Our school just launched a Twitter and Facebook account this school year. We are still in the beginning phase and this will help push it!
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I too liked this...helping my learning curve rise much faster as I develop my PLN using Twitter and Diigo etc..
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This article has really made me think about how I can use Twitter in the Art room... my brain is overflowing with ideas!
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I used to be against twitter but now I am starting to see the possible benefits of using twitter for the classroom.
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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Twitter In Schools-A Getting Started Guide The end of the school year is upon us however many are looking forward to next year. You may be thinking what can you do differently next year? How can you stand out above the crowd? How can your school become a larger part of the school community?While Twitter is beginning to catch on with many educators, schools are lagging in their adoption of the platform. But let's think about it. Twitter is a quick and easy
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I see the increasing interest in the use of twitter, but I am having a difficult time convincing other colleagues to use it. It seems to take fire only when twitter is an 'all in' tool for a staff of teachers. As much as I like twitter and see the usefulness so this as a tool of education, it has a significant amount of growth to do in order to be the mainstream tool within a school.
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I see a use for Twitter by our school's Administration to push out notifications for: meeting reminders, congratulatory messages, weather related school closings, and sports scores. However, I believe schools and teachers need to be conscious of how much we push out -- having multiple posts a week by each of the seven or eight teachers that a high school student has in a day could be obtrusive. Our system uses PowerSchool and individual teacher websites to post: assignments, scores, and additional course specific information. Parents and students should be able to look up what they need when it is convenient for them as opposed to being messaged when it may not be.
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along.
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Oh my! I am not a current Twitter user, so I am not familiar with exactly how it works, but I think I have an idea. This is probably a good examply of the "line" that separates those who are used to this technology and those who are good at technology but at the point of trying to figure out how and when to apply it. WHen I read the "Think First" section, I just kept picturing in my head classes/students/teachers being bombarded and interrupted all day long if they possibly hoped to keep up with Twitter posts. But as I read farther and saw it might be more intended to tweet to the public, I thought "ok", but ...... So, while I'm not turning my reception off to Twitter, I am interested to know how, when and for what purposes Twitter can be used in education. Interesting notion! I look forward to hearing more about its application.
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While Twitter is beginning to catch on with many educators, schools are lagging in their adoption of the platform. But let's think about it. Twitter is a quick and easy tool
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What do you want to do with this account? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you want to communicate? So, you are going to have a Twitter account. Great! Why? What do you want to tell people? The possibilities here are really endless. But think beyond the basic stuff like picture day and what's for lunch. Consider taking pictures of kids doing collaborative projects or highlighting staff of the month. It can really go beyond all the regular communication and show the community what your school (or district) is all about. Who will be in charge of the account? Will there be just one person who will post or will you have multiple people who post? This is all situation dependent. I would say more than one person is great but too many and things can get out of hand and duplicate information could easily be posted. Keep it simple and experiment to find what works for your group.
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Pertaining to the use of Twitter in the classroom and as part of the curriculum, I believe these questions to be paramount. Too often, with technology, especially networking sites we seem to jump in without much thought or planning as to how this will affect us and what kind of effect it will have on our intended users/viewers/public.
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This is a great introduction to using twitter in the classroom and answers many questions I wouldn't even have thought to ask. It would make using to it more focused.
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I think using Twitter in the classroom would be a great addition. Our school is planning on going to 1-on-1's next year, making it easier for everyone to access. I agree with the idea of being able to share some of the cool things the kids are doing with the rest of the community. Kid's get a bum wrap sometimes, when in fact they are doing a lot of really great things both in and out of the classroom that deserves recognition from the community. It would also be a nice way to update people about events going on at the school. For example, our softball team did a soup supper to raise money for the year. While they advertised in the more traditional sense, posters, e-mail's to the faculty, etc., many community members had no idea that this was happening. It would have been nice for them to be a part of the activity, if they would have had more information.
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I never thought Twitter would be used in the classroom, but the more I use it and more I read about it, I am beginning to see the benefits of it
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I can see where this would be good in the regular public schools. However, I teach at a detention facility and technology is a hard thing to incorporate with students, but think it could be a perfect communication tool for teachers involved with these students.
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I am not apposed to using Twitter in the classroom but am failing to see the benefit of having it in the classroom. We seem to have other tools that have a wide variety of uses. Twitter seems limited in comparison.
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I am excited by the possibilities of this. But my problem is getting staff and families on board. We have a population where many families don't have internet. And many staff don't get their emails read so how do we add more things for them to look for? I would like more information on getting people on board. I don't want it to be a two-tiered system, where a small click in in the know and the rest are out.
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We have a school wide Twitter account but I am not sure how I would use it in a kindergarten classroom. Any suggestions?
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Parents in your class could follow your twitter account to see what you are doing on a daily basis!
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We have a district twitter account and have the possibility of a school account. I'm trying to picture my principal and lead teacher with time to tweet with everything else going on around them. I can see teems communicating this way which would help them to get input from other sources.
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Communication is always the complaint that is registered by parents and students when it comes to schools. Having a school update come to you via your phone would be awesome. As always, decisions have to be made on what is the most effective way to communicate. Twitter could really bridge the gap in some cases.
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Great way to utilize the tool/resource instead of trying to block kids off of it at school. Will be sharing!
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Education Update:Taking the Fear Out of the First Year:Professional Learning Communitie... - 13 views
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Being a part of a collaborative culture helped to take my first year from being a complete, disorganized disaster to a year of successful learning for both the children and me. I felt the mentoring process was a form of collaborative culture.
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The time for groups of teachers to work together is key. This can be difficult at the secondary level, districts and administrators are getting more creative about finding ways to make this happen.
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Specials teachers also like to be included in these communities. It seems like we get placed in the position of working with students while other collaborate in our building. Not sure how to solve this scheduling issue.
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Allysen is right! key is time for teachers to work together and learn the technology available
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Because of teachers' busy schedules, it is important for administrators to allot specific time for teachers to meet as groups. "It's absolutely immoral to tell teachers they need to collaborate and not give them the time to collaborate," says Mike Mattos, principal at Pioneer Middle School in Tustin, Calif. His school implemented the Late Start Wednesday program, in which students come to school late on Wednesdays (the other days are longer to make up classroom time), allowing teachers time for collaboration.
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I think it's great that this article points out the importance to allot time for collaboration! We have implemented an early out once a month this year for basically this reason. We are using the time to work on AIW, Authentic Intellectual Work, with co-workers. This focuses on working together to improve tasks, student work and instruction.
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It is important to provide time to collaborate. In some schools the teachers only see each other at lunch, in the hallway, or at an already structured meeting. There should be an opportunity for teachers of all subjects to get together to talk about what they have been doing, what has worked, and what has not worked.
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an easy-to-read article describing the professional learning community philosophy
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Here is a great article I found during a PLN class I am taking and it talks on how to use twitter. Our class on Personal Learning Networks fits right with PLC's. Our school in Grundy Center, Iowa just finished it's second year. Here is the sight for the twitter info. http://cooper-taylor.com/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
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http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=2105 Here is an article to see if your school is doing a good job with PLC's. Our school thought it had a great first year and the second year we didn't. We followed the steps the second year and didn't personalize it as much and we regretted it later. While assessing PLC's don't ever forget to make it your own.
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I am taking a class bout this concept of PLN's and we have been investigating multiple social media outlets in order to help contribute to the students' learning environment. Below is a link to the 2006 Time magazine "person of the Year" article. It's a good read and offers great perspective and it would be a great resource to explain to kids and other teachers (PD) as to what direction "learning" is heading and why is it important to continue to evolve our methods. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html
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The PLC team I was on this year really felt like we were successful at helping our first graders. We were able to focus on what we wanted to do to help our students and have the time to discuss if it was working. We were also able to have the time to discuss what we can all do to make things better.
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There is no question that a collaborative culture encourages improved student achievement. When we all work together, it's always better for the students and for us.
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I look forward to creating that collaborative culture in our district. I feel we have it, but turning the focus on to the student's actual learning will be very powerful and beneficial to all of our students. Providing the time for our teachers will be critical, and getting everyone to buy into the change in thinking.
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Perhaps because I am taking a class on and learning the power of PLNs, I am really impressed by the potential of this. And beneficial to teachers AND students.