by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 28, 2013 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
While math and English language arts teachers have a much more direct call for Common Core implementation, teachers in other content areas are also being called to implement the Common Core State Standards. This may be a challenge for some. In my work with teachers across many states, I find that non-ELA and non-math teachers aren’t as familiar with the CCSS, nor with implementation. In the next couple of blogs, I’d like to share the stories of science and art teachers implementing the CCSS — their processes, reflections and advice. We’ll start with science.
Biofuel vs. Fossil Fuels
Katie Abole teaches science at Bronx Leadership Academy in New York. “I had never thought about using literacy so intentionally and even having started my teaching career with LDC [Literacy Design Collaborative] as a model, it took a couple of years and a really great literacy coach before I really understood how to tackle literacy,” Katie told us. She shared that it was easier to focus on the content than paying attention to literacy skills, but with the Common Core, she knew that she would have to take some responsibility rather than let the ELA teacher be solely responsible. In fact, she said, “science literacy is different and requires different skills.” To start this implementation, Katie was trained by the LDC to create modules for her science class that would work on targeted CCSS standards. LDC modules have the Common Core hardwired into them, and focus on reading text to write about those texts. Katie created a module about biofuels and fossil fuels. Her task and question was:
Which is a better energy source: biofuels or fossil fuels? After reading articles and potential energy diagrams, write a report that compares the reactions of hydrogen biofuel vs. fossil fuels and argues which is a better energy source.
Reading Standards
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.
10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
Writing Standards
1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audience.
Implementing the Standards
Katie scaffolded literacy skills from reading and writing standards in a variety of ways. She used graphic organizers, drafting and outlines, revision, and direct instruction to have her students write an argumentative piece on the question. “Because we looked at an actual journal article for the fossil fuels vs. biofuels module, students felt proud that they were learning college-level skills,” said Katie. “I think the authenticity of the task leads to a higher student engagement, and the ability to write something gives students a voice, especially in an argumentative essay.”
She balanced literacy instruction with traditional science activities and lessons. “For example, when we would spend one day reading an article, the next might be an activity or lab, which kept students engaged in the overall unit.” This helped to ensure that the “stamina” to read and write wasn’t a major concern. In addition, the reading and writing was about the science content itself. Although some of the instruction for traditional science content was taken away, Katie’s approach allowed for depth in a specific area of science content using literacy skills.
Nuclear Power vs. Fossil Fuels
Christopher King, who teaches at West Bronx Academy in New York, developed a similar LDC unit about nuclear and fossil fuels. He used the same task frame as Katie, but his focus was on ninth and tenth grade science content. In the unit, students would read a variety of texts that provided both the pros and cons for using nuclear and/or fossil fuels. His task and question was:
Should electrical energy be generated from nuclear power or fossil fuels (natural gas or coal)? After reading informational texts on how electrical energy is generated from these fuels, write an essay that compares the chemistry behind the two methods to generate electricity, and state whether one is the better method for production in an urban environment. Be sure to consider alternate viewpoints and support your position with evidence from the texts.
Because he used the same task as Katie, Christopher targeted the same built-in reading and writing standards. Not only did he scaffold it with strategies, he also included a Socratic Seminar to scaffold argumentation and evidence skills. He used sentence stems to help students quote articles and readings effectively as well as work on counterclaims.
Reflections and Advice
Both Katie and Christopher learned a lot from their experience. Neither had previously included much literacy instruction in their content area classes, but they said it allowed them to cover science content as well as intentionally work on literacy skills. Because of the nature of the prompt, students were willing to engage in academic conversations. They wanted to argue because the topics were interesting and relevant to them.
So what should you think about before getting started? Christopher suggests:
I think the easiest way to get started is to start small. I mean, really small. Like have students look at a graph and make a claim about what the graph is telling them. Then analyze the structure of the claim they make. Then, when they have the hang of that, move on to the next step. Taking everything at once is a recipe for disaster.
Katie’s recommendation is similar:
The best thing I can say is to think of where you want students to be skills-wise by the end of the year and build in opportunities to have students practice to reach that goal . . . Starting small allows you to develop a path to guide them on and build them up so their confidence as scientists/writers will be sufficient to carry them through the module!
by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 16, 2013 | Blog, Huffington Post
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post, an internet news and commentary website. The Education section features updated on college, teachers, and education reform, where I regularly contribute. View Original >
There are many educational policy issues manifesting themselves currently that are creating tensions and in some cases all out rebellion. One is of course standards, and more specifically, the Common Core. With this effort to standardize learning objectives, there is of course backlash. NBC News recently noted that many teachers and even parents are “rebelling” against them. Regardless of how you feel about the Common Core, it is a change for many educators, and change causes tension. In addition to the Common Core Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards are hot of the heels of the Common Core in terms of adoption. My home state of Washington recently announced they would adopt these standards. No doubt, there will be some backlash there as well.
Speaking of rebellion and backlash, standardized tests are also a source of rebelling. Teachers in Washington State garnered national attention when they decided they would not issue the standardized tests set forward by the state. The new Smarter Balance and PARCC assessments, aligned to the Common Core are the latest tests to receive this backlash. States like Georgia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Alabama, and Pennsylvania have all backed out of issuing the new PARCC assessments.
With all these controversy and conversation around standards and testing, I feel there is a major issue that needs to be discussed from the Educational Policy perspective: Student Engagement. Why aren’t we creating policy that focuses on diverse ways to engage our diverse group of students? Standards in no way will solve the problem of engagement, nor will testing. Now I’m not saying it easy to legislate or create policy to drive engagement, but it certainly has not been at the forefront of the conversation. Why aren’t we creating policy to create professional learning experiences to arm teachers with a variety of techniques to engage students? Why aren’t we debating policy to shift towards personalized and competency-based pathways to differentiate instruction for all students? I have no answers, but I know there are pockets of excellence. I simply want Student Engagement to be as important at the forefront of our minds and conversations when we create policy that will affect our students.
by Andrew K. Miller | Oct 11, 2013 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Authenticity — we know it works! There is research to support the value of authentic reading and writing. When students are engaged in real-world problems, scenarios and challenges, they find relevance in the work and become engaged in learning important skills and content. In addition, while students may or may not do stuff for Mr. Miller, they are more likely to engage when there is a real-world audience looking at their work, giving them feedback, and helping them improve. This is just one critical part of project-based learning. However, maybe you aren’t ready for fully authentic projects. Where are some good places to start taking the authenticity up a notch in your classroom?
Authentic Products
Does the work matter? Does it look like something people create in the real world? It should. Much of the work we do in the classroom may not be like the real world. Wouldn’t it be great if it were? Now, I’m not saying you need to make every piece in your classroom completely authentic, but consider having your major summative assessments reflect the real world. If you truly want the work to matter, make your products not only look authentic, but actually be authentic. Follow this link for a list to consider.
Needs Assessment
How do you make the work be authentic? One way to is to conduct a needs assessment of your community. You can facilitate students to conduct this needs assessment by having them design the type of data to be collected, collecting and analyzing that data, and then developing action plans. These action plans can include real-world projects that you help your students align to curriculum standards. Paired with authentic products, the work now matters to the community and can make a difference.
Authentic Audience and Assessment
Edutopia has a great section on Authentic Assessment that you can use to get started. It goes over definitions, features videos, and includes tools to help make the assessment process more authentic. Part of this is having an authentic audience to give your students feedback. Sometimes that audience can be parents, but often it’s made up of people who, in their everyday lives, do the same or similar types of work to what your students are doing in the PBL project. So instead of just a public audience, make it an authentic audience. Remember, this audience doesn’t just participate at the end of the work, but is engaged throughout.
Authentic Tools
When you partner with an authentic audience that can give honest feedback about the work, they may also be able to provide you with authentic tools. These tools might be construction-type materials, or they might be technological. Different work calls for different tools, and having the right tools can help students do more authentic work. As you plan your work and projects, find those real-world connections, and ask them what tools they use.
Whenever I build PBL projects, I try to make them as authentic as possible, not only because it helps engage students, but because the students start becoming social change agents. Education shouldn’t stop at engagement in learning — it should be about engagement in our world in community!
by Andrew K. Miller | Sep 27, 2013 | Blog, Edutopia
This post originally appeared on Edutopia, a site created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, dedicated to improving the K-12 learning process by using digital media to document, disseminate, and advocate for innovative, replicable strategies that prepare students. View Original >
Providing your students with a public audience is not only a critical part of the project-based learning process, but it’s also a great strategy for building authenticity into assignments to create work that matters. We often leverage our students’ parents and guardians in this process because 1) they are easily accessible, and 2) they are our partners in their children’s learning plans. Why not then continue and build this partnership in PBL? John Larmer wrote a great blog about how to build parent support for PBL, and one of the best ways he mentions is to keep them involved in the PBL project you launch in your classroom. Here are some strategies to consider as you leverage parents for your next PBL project.
Use Technology
I know many teachers use technology tools like Edmodo in their PBL projects, and Edmodo has a way to set up parent accounts. Use Twitter as a backchannel chat with a classroom hashtag to communicate. Use Skype to bring in parents who are experts on content and skills as well as for entry events.
Parents as Experts
Our parents and guardians are experts not only in a wide range of job-specific content areas and skills, but also in hobbies and other outside interests. To explore this resource, send home a survey to ask parents about their interests and areas of expertise. As you discover what is just phone call away, start building a huge database of experts who can support your PBL activites before, during and after the project.
Parents as Assessors
If you plan to have parents or guardians as part of the assessment process, make sure to orient them to the rubrics they will be using. Don’t think that they need to look at the entire rubric. If you have a team of parents and guardians assessing a presentation, for example, jigsaw it! Or perhaps just have them use a checklist along the way as well. The other key piece here is to have parents and guardians give growth-producing feedback. Give them stems such as “I like . . .” and “A good next step would be . . .” This will help focus the feedback and keep it balanced.
Parents as Planners
One very powerful way to make parents or guardians a critical part of the PBL project is to involve them in the planning process. Having a content expert with you in the planning stages can help ensure that all gaps are filled and that you’ll have more eyes to ensure a quality project. In addition, seek out parents who are familiar with the Critical Friends Group critique protocol, because they can provide excellent feedback before you launch the PBL project. (Don’t forget to involve the students in your planning process as well).
Thank You!
It’s easy to forget this part. Please say thank you to your parents. Record a class video. Have students write thank you notes. Send a letter home signed by the class. This seemingly little piece can go a long way toward a continued partnership with your parents and guardians.
As you partner with parents in your PBL projects, remember this one piece of advice: just ask! You aren’t going to get anything if you don’t — and the worst-case scenario is still the same. But keep asking! Before you know it, you will have many parents and guardians who are more than willing to help in whatever way they can. This will lead to a better school community and buy-in for authentic PBL.
by Andrew K. Miller | Sep 17, 2013 | ASCD, Blog
This post originally appeared on InService, the ASCD community blog. ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) is an educational leadership organization with 160,000 members in 148 countries, including professional educators from all levels and subject areas––superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
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Educational leaders, I have an important announcement for you! (You’ll get the joke later). We are always pressed for time. Many of us do not have collaborative planning time, or if we do, it is limited. There is never enough time, and so we have to be creative, both in creating space for work and in changing how we would normally spend our time. The staff meeting is one place where we can be creative with time and refine it to meet our professional learning goals. Here are some things you might do to restructure and “flip” the staff meeting.
Quit the Announcements – You know what gets old at a staff meeting? Announcements. At every staff meeting, I was always frustrated when we spent 15–20 minutes going over logistics and making announcements. You can record these announcements, create a document, or send an e-mail and spend the time asking clarifying questions instead. This way, you can save time for better work; work that teachers will find more meaningful.
Teacher Led PD – Based on needs assessments of teachers, we create targeted professional learning activities. Frankly, we don’t need to do this creation ourselves. Our teachers have great ideas, and we can ask them to share these ideas that are aligned to faculty and staff needs. We can co-create professional learning sessions. Build your teacher leaders and have them model great instruction by leading focused professional learning.
Ongoing Protocols – Discussions can sometimes get out of hand. We are educators, and often we love to talk…and talk…and talk. I’m guilty of this as much as the next teacher. Let’s honor the talk, but also focus it. Choose professional learning protocols to use in staff meetings. Perhaps it’s a critique protocol or looking at student work protocol. Regardless, your staff meeting can now become a time where revision and reflection occur, and student learning is the focus of the time.
These are just three ideas you might use to start flipping your staff meeting. It can be a valuable time for professional learning, but only if we are creative with that time and shed some of the “traditional” ways they have been used. How do you foresee flipping your classroom for the upcoming year?
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