ACTIVATING STUDENTS AS LEARNING RESOURCES IN THE CLASSROOM Presented by: Nancy Schwerin

1. ACTIVATING STUDENTS AS LEARNING RESOURCESIN THE CLASSROOM Presented by: Nancy Schwerin

2. Objectives:Agenda: • To define formative assessment and the players involved • To identify ways to make students learning resources for each other • To identify activities that activate students as owners of their own learning • Look at the research • Participate in Formative Assessment Lesson/Activity • Identify strategies to use in your discipline • Participate in Formative Assessment Lesson/Activity • More ways to include Formative Assessment in your classroom • Conclusion

3. What is Formative Assessment? • “Assessment carried out during the instructional process for the purpose of improving teaching or learning” (Shepard et al., 2005).

4. What is Formative Assessment? • “Evidence about student achievement which is elicited, interpreted, and used byteachers, learners, or their peers to make decisions about the next steps instruction that are likely to be better founded, than the decisions they would have made in the absence of that evidence.” (Wiliam, p.43)

5. Understanding Formative Assessment Wiliam, p. 46.

6. Making the Case for Students as Learning Resources for One Another Wiliam, p. 53.

7. Sharing Learning Intentions Wiliam, p. 55.

8. Making the Case for Students as Learning Resources for One Another Conclusions from Case Study: • Difference in emphasis of one activity per week yielded drastically different results • In the Experimental Group low achievers improved more than 3 times that of the Control Group • In the Experimental Group high achievers improved more than 2 times that of the Control Group points • By talking about the expectations and the way in which work was going to be assessed, the students learned exactly what quality work looks like • Lessened the gap between low and high achievers

9. Sharing an Active Reflection Lesson My Original Objectives: • Students will conduct two classroom observations. • Students will write a detailed description of one observed lesson. • Students will write a summary of the other observed lesson. • After describing the lessons, the student will deduce the learning intention(s) and write an objective statement using Bloom’s verbs.

10. Schwerin’s Observation Evaluation Activity Put yourselves in the shoes of the students… Directions: • Find a Partner • Read the student Classroom Observation Summaries. • Identify the observed Learning Objectives. Underline the Learning Objectives within the summary inblue. • Read the student Learning Objective Statements. • Determine if the learning objective is academic? Explain how this objective is connected to the subject. • Circle Bloom’s Taxonomy verb(s) in red/pink. • Indicate the level of each of Bloom’s verbs by writing the level in green next to verbs.

11. Incorporate an Active Reflection Activity in your Classroom Directions: • Think about the units you will teach during second semester. • Collaborate with your table to generate ideas for incorporating an active lesson reflection into your classroom. • Record your ideas on chart paper. IDEAS:

12. Ideas for Active Reflection Activities : Formative Assessment • AP Calculus • Group of 4 receives their practice exam and a blank exam • They compare their answers and agree upon the best composite answer • Science • Students rank exemplars of lab reports • Social Studies/ Govnt. • Students identify the characteristics of the top 3 essays and apply these characteristics to their own essay Wiliam, p. 39-40.

13. Effects of Formative Learning Assessment What are the benefits of using an Active Reflection Activity? • Increases critical thinking • Delays emotional response to student grade • Improves student understanding of the learning intention • Provides active involvement of students in their own learning • Lessens teacher work load Wiliam, p. 39.

14. Sharing Another Formative Assessment: An Active Reflection Activity Directions: • There are 3 English Essays, of varying quality, on your table. • There is also teacher feedback concerning an essay on each strip of paper. • Match the teacher’s feedback to the appropriate essay. • How does this activity inform teachers? • How does this activity inform students? • What do the students have to actively reflect upon?

15. Formative Assessment Techniques • Red /Green/Yellow Cups Creating Green or Yellow Cup Students • No Hands – Don’t allow students to choose whether or not to participate • “No hands up except to ask a question.” (Leahy, Lyon, Thompson & Wiliam, 2005) • Popsicle Sticks - Selecting students at random is a radical change in the “classroom contract.” (Brousseau, 1984)

16. Prior to Parting… Please Determine: • How you will utilize students as learning resources for other students during the upcoming semester? • How will you actively engage your students in their own learning during second semester? • How the activities or techniques, which you just referenced in your responses to the previous questions, will inform your instruction?

17. References • Brousseau, Guy. Theory of Didactical Situations in Mathematics: Didactique Des. 1984. Print. • Leahy, Shioban, Christine Lyon, Marnie Thompson, and Dylan Wiliam. Classroom Management: Day by Day, Minute by Minute. 2005. Print. • Shepard. ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING DEFINED. Print. • Wiliam, Dylan. Embedded Formative Assessment. 2011. Print.