Training for the New Georgia Performance Standards

1. 1 Training for the New Georgia Performance Standards Day 2: Unpacking the Standards

2. 2 Why Are We Here? Our mission is to develop an understanding of how to “unpack” and use the performance standards to improve student achievement. We want to build a common language and work together to create a working curriculum document for system wide implementation of the Georgia Performance Standards.

3. 3 Day Two Objectives Define and describe the rationale for identifying big ideas, enduring understandings, essential questions, and skills and knowledge for a standard. Develop, for a given standard, the big ideas, enduring understandings, essential questions, and skills and knowledge (unpack the standard). Discuss unpacking multiple standards to create cohesive units of study.

4. 4 GPS Training: Day Two Agenda Introduction Define Backward Design How will Houston County utilize the Backward Design Model to “unpack” a standard? What are the steps of the Backward Design Model? Unpacking Standards

5. 5 Group Norms and Housekeeping Group Norms: Participate and share Listen with an open mind Ask questions Work toward solutions Use time effectively Housekeeping: Silence cell phones Rest rooms Breaks Lunch

6. 6 How Sure Are You?

7. 7 How Sure Are You?

8. 8 What is the Backward Design Process?

9. 9 Backward Design

10. 10 Let’s take a closer look:

11. 11 How is the Backward Design Process used in Standards-Based Teaching and Planning?

12. 12 Standards-Based Education The focus is on student learning. Expectations are the same for all students. Standards are expressed through essential questions and supporting skills and knowledge. Assessments are used to guide and modify instruction. The effectiveness of instruction is judged on whether students meet the standard.

13. 13 Standards-Based Education, cont. Curriculum maps are aligned to the standards Instructional strategies provide opportunities for students to learn expectations outlined in the standards Student interests, previous achievements, and developmental levels are considered in planning instructional methods Teachers work on building enduring understandings 

14. 14 The Process of Instructional Planning Traditional Practice QCC Select a topic from the curriculum Design instructional activities Design and give an assessment Give grade or feedback Move on to new topic Standards-based Practice GPS Select standards from among those students need to know Design an assessment through which students will have an opportunity to demonstrate those things Decide what learning opportunities students will need to learn those things and plan appropriate instruction to assure that each student has adequate opportunities to learn Use data from assessment to give feedback, reteach, or move to the next level

15. 15 What Are the Steps of The Backward Design Model?

16. 16 The Steps of Backward Design (pg. 9 K-3; pg. 7 4-5) Big Idea Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions Skills and Knowledge Evidence/Assessment

17. 17 Big Ideas (pg. 6 K-3; pg. 8-9 4-5) What are the big ideas and core processes at the heart of this standard? What do I want to concentrate on and emphasize in this unit? NOTE: This is just a stepping stone in the process; once we have turned the BIG IDEAS into enduring understandings, we will no longer need to write them down! ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text.

18. 18 Enduring Understanding (pg. 7 K-3; pg. 10-11 4-5) Transfer the big idea into “enduring understandings”. A full sentence declaration or generalization, specifying what we want students to come to understand about the Big Idea. “Big Picture” concepts A tool for teachers to help focus students on deeper understanding Enable teachers to have a shared understanding of the standard Use the format “students will understand that…”

19. 19 Enduring Understandings: Bad to Best “Students will understand comprehension strategies.” Bad: what should they understand? “Students will understand specific strategies for gaining meaning from grade-level text.” Better: narrows the focus but still does not state what insights we want students to leave with. “Students will understand that effective readers use specific strategies to help them better understand the text (e.g., making predictions from text context, generating questions before, during, and after reading).” Best: Summarizes intended insight, helps students and teachers realize what types of learning activities are needed to support the understanding.

20. 20 Enduring Understandings: Format NO: “Students will understand principles of persuasive speaking.” NO: “Students will know how to speak persuasively.” NO: “Speak persuasively in public.” YES: “Students will understand that persuasion often involves an emotional appeal to the particular wishes, needs, hopes, and fears of an audience, irrespective of how logical and rational the argument.”

21. 21 From the BIG IDEA to Enduring Understandings…

22. 22 Essential Questions:(pg. 8 K-3; pg. 12-13 4-5) Have no right answer Are meant to be argued Broad Answered by “enduring understandings” of the concepts

23. 23 Developing Essential Questions Create two to five per unit. Should be big, open-ended. Look at how (process) and why (cause and effect). Consider various levels in Bloom’s taxonomy. Use language appropriate to students. Sequence so they lead naturally from one to another. Use as organizers for the unit, making the “content” answer the questions. Share with other teachers.

24. 24 From Enduring Understandings to Essential Questions Enduring Understandings Students will understand that effective readers use a variety of strategies to better understand text (e.g., visualizations, making connections, making predictions, generating questions before, during, and after reading). Essential Questions How do strategies help readers better understand text? How do effective readers know which strategy to use to help them understand?

25. 25 Skills and Knowledge—Support the enduring understandings Facts Concepts Generalizations Rules, laws, procedures

26. 26 Creating a Graphic Representation Choose a metaphor to represent the terms in the GPS and in backward design. Create a graphic organizer, using the following terms (add more as needed)

27. 27 Matching Game There are 13 terms and 13 definitions. Work as a team to match each term to its definition. First team to correctly complete the task is the winner.

28. 28 Unpacking A Standard Using the backward design, let’s unpack a Georgia Performance Standard Understanding By Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

29. 29 Standards Based Education

30. 30 Food for Thought How can unpacking a standard enrich our assessment and instruction practices so that all students can reach mastery of the GPS?

31. 31 How Sure Are You?

32. 32 How Sure Are You?