National Board Study Group Meeting

National Board Study Group Meeting Dan Barber 5th Grade Teacher Irwin Academic Center Dan.Barber@cms.k12.nc.us

This Morning’s Agenda: 1) The good, the bad, the ugly 2) Description vs. Analysis vs. Reflection 3) Pyramid vs. Inverted Pyramid style of writing 4) Practice Examining Instructional Context 5) Suggested Timeline 6) Future Meeting Topics (suggestions?) 7) Small group work

Group Work In small groups (at your tables): • Divide your paper in ½ • On ½ your paper write some guiding questions you should be/will be addressing when you write in that particular style • On the other ½ of your paper write some sentence starters that fit well with that particular style of writing For example: Descriptive writing: What is the gender/race/age composition of my class? I selected the following learning sequence for my class… The objective I set for this unit was…

Descriptive Writing (your “WHAT”) • Helps your assessor visualize your “reality” • Sets the scene • Presents features/elements/events/concepts • Describes a location/arrangement/situation Structure of a Descriptive Paragraph: • State what you are describing • Provide adequate & pertinent details to help the assessor picture and understand what is described

Descriptive Writing (continued)… Both Descriptive & Analytical Writing Should Be: • Dense & Concise • Concrete/Specific/Accurate • Objective • Unambiguous/clear • Ideas should flow

Analytical Writing (your “SO WHAT” or “WHY”) The most common problem of portfolio entries is that they are mostly descriptive. The major part of writing for your portfolio is the analysis of teaching and its impact on student learning Teachers make hundreds of decisions a day. Teachers’ everyday expertise is implicit knowledge, which never gets expressed. The analysis requirement of the portfolios forces candidates to put their silent knowledge into words. Analysis answers the why? question by giving explanations, rationales, reasoning, and decision-making processes.

Analytical Writing Structure of an Analytical Paragraph: • Make a claim (this is the main idea and it should answer the entry question) • I.e., “The objectives of my lesson were met…” • Support your statement/claim (Examples, proof, arguments, backing what you stated) • Conclude Analytical Writing Should: • Show thoroughness of detail • Demonstrate depth of ideas • Be logical • Be highly relevant • Prove high level of thinking

Reflective Writing (your “NOW WHAT”) As you reflect consider: Were the goals and objectives you set appropriate for those particular students? Were the goals appropriate for the instructional unit? Were your instructional strategies and resources adequate? How did your students perform in light of the goals/objectives you set for them? What were the successes? What were the problem spots? What would you do differently? What strategies do you believe might have increased student performance (or could increase student performance in the future)? When answering these questions, give specific examples from your videotape and/or student work!

Reflective Phrases Upon reflection… If I were to redo… This is significant because… This activity prompted me to… This indicated to me… I realized… When presenting this information/lesson/learning sequence again in the future… I concluded… In retrospect…

Pyramid Argument: <Description> In this video segment, the students have chosen to divide themselves by gender. The boys are all seated together, as are the girls. In this case, the conflict being resolved was a “boys versus girls” playground battle arising from my students’ strong self-identity as boy or girl. This class has been particularly prone to... <Analysis> Therefore, I allowed students to self-segregate, to prevent an in-class flare-up of gender conflict. Keisha and Bob, the respective ring-leaders of the girls and the boys, have no target for their… <Reflection> Although this was a successful policing strategy and the students learned about getting along, I wondered whether they learned to get along. I decided that I would change the small group activity I had planned for the afternoon by...

Pyramid Argument: The pyramid argument’s strength is its unfolding of the situation by telling a story. However, because it is an unfolding story, it’s easy for a reader to read the description, then jump to their own analysis and impose their own instructional choices onto the situation before you have had a chance to give your analysis. Therefore, the pyramid form is best used for arguments that end in reflections that address other possible instructional choices.

Inverted Pyramid Argument: <Analysis> The segregation of the class by gender was purposeful, in order to lessen the underlying conflict of boys vs. girls, as evidenced in the playground battles that spurred this class discussion. By so dividing the class, individual conflicts between neighboring boys and girls were avoided and instead, students spent the discussion time... <Description> In this video segment, the boys and girls discuss the situation without the animosity displayed in their playground battles. Keisha and Bob, the two main antagonists, sit safely out of reach of one another and have joined in the... The inverted pyramid prevents readers from jumping to the conclusion by putting the conclusion first. Since the reader doesn’t have the context, he or she can’t reach his or her own conclusion, and, therefore, is more likely to accept your interpretation. The inverted pyramid is best used for reporting or justifying some act of practice.

Practice: Your descriptive, analytical, and reflective writing can (and should!) be taking place simultaneously: I teach a second grade class of 20 children in an urban school setting. There are 12 girls and 8 boys in my class. The racial makeup of my class is: 10 African-Americans, 2 Asian-American, 4 Caucasians, 2 Hispanics, and 2 multi-racial student. I have one student with limited English language skills. I have 4 children who come from homes in which English is not the primary language spoken.

Practice (continued): I have two students with identified learning disabilities. As part of their IEP, they each receive testing accommodations in a separate setting. To accommodate for these students learning disabilities I …

Practice (continued): The students in this class are extremely bright. The students in this class are very bright, evidenced by their success on formal assessments and ability to comprehend complex ideas.

Suggested Timeline • Plan out your instructional sequences & begin to think about what lessons (within those sequences) you’d like to videotape • Familiarize yourself with a/v; “mock” video tape • Video tape at least 1 of your 2 video tape entries (to analyze over winter break) • Collect artifacts on the students you will be “following” for the school year (to analyze over winter break) • Collect evidence/artifacts for entry 4. • ***Depending on what you use for evidence/artifacts (i.e., letters from colleagues), this may take some time to collect, so get started now! ***

Suggested Timeline (Winter Break): • Entry 4 • Gather & compile any Entry 4 evidence • Type up the instructional contexts (and contextual information) for your entries • Begin to analyze student work for your non-video-taped lesson • Analyze any lessons you have been able to video tape • Look over the areas you will be assessed in; study for the assessment center • Suggestion: identify any “areas of weakness” and seek out experts or resources in those areas

Housekeeping/Homework 1) Schedule your assessment center date; testing window: January 2 – June 15 (the sooner you schedule, the more likely you’ll get a desirable test date) 2) Begin to read over your assessment center exercises 3) “Make & Take” @ our next meeting: bring examples of assessments you use (formal/informal, rubrics, observation checklists, etc.); if possible, please make copies 4) Bring entry examples (or portions of entries) you’d like to discuss with your subject-area peers 5) Volunteers to show video footage at our next meeting? Winter Institute: February (Portfolio preparation) Spring Institute: April(Assessment center preparation)

Next Study Group Meetings: January 12, 2013: Tentative topic: “Assessment” & “Analyzing Video Footage/Entries” February 9, 2013: Tentative topic: “Using your Evaluation of Evidence & Scoring Guides” March 9, 2013: Topic: “Packing the Box” April 13, 2013: Topic: “Assessment Center Preparation”

National Board Study Group Meeting