Supporting student success in a an environment of high stakes assessment

1. Supporting student success in a an environment of high stakes assessment Karen Yager yagerk@knox.nsw.edu.au @yagerk17

2. Anxiety & stress • The unknown • Uncertainty • Self-doubt • Skill and knowledge acquisition • Preparation • Isolation • Expectations

3. “Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action” (Bandura, Social Learning Theory, 1977)

4. “Students will increasingly need to know how to develop an agile mindset and flex their cognitive skills in areas such as empathy, social and emotional intelligence, and divergent thinking to work collaboratively, solve unstructured problems, and create new value for themselves and others” (The Harvard Innovation Lab).

5. High expectations • Higher expectations result in higher performance (Schilling and Schilling, 1999) • "Pygmalion effect“ • Growth mindset • Plasticity

6. Creativity Rufus Black asserts that creativity flourishes when: • a specific goal is provided • there are clear guidelines • tasks are action oriented • a task is relevant and time-bound.

7. Agility “Learning Agility is the willingness and ability to learn from experience, and subsequently apply that learning to perform successfully under new or first-time conditions” (Lombardo & Eichinger).

8. Agility • It is a growth mindset, strongly correlated to emotional intelligence. It creates learners who take risks, fail and find new and better ways.  • Capitalising on failure and pivoting from the original plan in order to harness the momentum of a tangible moment

9. Flexibility: They are able to apply the learning to new situations. • Innovating: They are not afraid to challenge the status quo. • Performing: They remain calm in the face of difficulty.

10. Reflecting: They take time to reflect on their experiences. • Risk-taking: They enjoy challenges and problematised learning • Resilience: They are open to learning and resist the temptation to become defensive in the face of adversity.

11. Agency • The power to act • Owning the learning   • Defining learning goals • Self-regulation • Self and peer feedback

12. How do we grow agency and agility?

13. “We learn faster, and much more effectively, when we have a clear sense of how well we are doing and what we might need to do in order to improve” (Carless, 2006).

14. Targeted teaching • Do my students know what they need to learn? • Do they know how their prior knowledge can be transferred to new learning? • Do they know how to demonstrate the learning? • Do they know the standards and how well they are expected to do it? • Do they know how to improve? • Do they own the learning?

15. Knowing our students’ stories • Data • Skills • Knowledge • Understanding • Dispositions

16. Knowing our students Data matters Mining the data NAPLAN – e.g. 6 in Writing – skills at a basic level Assessment marks in English and other subjects 7-10 Pre-testing Assessment mean and standard deviation Continuous formative tasks We need to know the story of our students – the qualitative and quantitative data so that we can: • Develop a clear understanding of where each student is at in their learning. • Identify gaps in knowledge, set learning goals and gauge the level of support needed to advance each student. • Target teaching to improve and extend the learning.

17. CollaborationWe are only as strong as each other!

18. Agency & Agility • Knowing the performance standards! • Beginning at the end – backward mapping! • Marking guidelines with a cusp script • Individually marked with a grade and then discussed in pairs • Join the relevant grade team and arrive at an agreed mark • Justify the mark • Teams provide feed-forward • Same principles applied to own responses so they can transfer the knowledge

19. Agency & Agility • 6 minute writing task every lesson and peer marking • Jigsaw or cafes • White-board work • Designing questions and composing possible answers • Learning through argumentation deepens the learning • Feed-forward Friday

20. Agency & Agility • Targeted feedback and feed-forward: This could be mean targeting the use of striking verbs or engaging openings. • Teach explicitly reflection and critical evaluation • One minute essay, Pecha Kucha, one sentence summary, concept map or persuasive speech in the middle of the term to assess learning – enables you to provide immediate feed-forward for follow-up task at the end of a term. • Left-base questions tackled by students in teams to problematise the learning • Google docs or drive

21. Jigsaw or cafes • Experts • Time constraints • Six stations • Collaboration • Peer reviewing • Refection

22. Peer feedback • “When students are more active participants in the whole process, then feedback is likely to be most useful to students’ learning” (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). • “When students get to see other students’ work it deepens understanding of the learning goals” (Nicol, 2008)

23. Feedback directed to the ‘self’ (e.g.: “You are a great student”). ‘Rarely does it enhance achievement or learning’. The Power of Feedback in School Settings John Hattie (2003) Pedestal of feedforward Increases the ability to accommodate deeper and more meaningful feedforward ‘Feedback at this process level appears to be more effective than at the task level for enhancing deeper learning’ ‘Having correct information is a pedestal on which processing and self-regulation can be effectively built.’ Most feedback remains task focused Knox Grammar School

24. Drafting & re-submits • Be strategic and get students to submit sections of work, such as an opening or the setting. • Resubmitting only section that needed work • Set individual targets for improvement • Insert word on typed documents • Recorded feed-forward - Screencastomatic - http://screencast-o-matic.com/home; Kaizena and can be added to Google drive; Explain Everything; http://doodlecastpro.com/

27. Agency & Agility • Stick-it note questions at start of lesson – phone a friend • A recipe box of provocative questions • Exit cards with questions that uncover the lesson’s learning • The big audacious hairy question • Flipped learning • Making connections between student responses

28. Encourage ambiguity and deep thinking “Teaching is the art of asking questions” Socrates. Questions rather than answers are your most powerful learning tool: • Framing your units with essential questions helps students make sense of the knowledge they're learning.  • Present provocative questions or problems that require students to think deeply, seek help from others and even do further research. • Probe rather than expecting a quick and superficial response. • Wait time

29. Bloom’s Model • C: What if…? & Can you see other possibilities? • E: Is there a better solution? • AN: How was the setting represented? • AP: Could you apply this approach to…? • U: Who is the main character? • R: Can you name the…?

30. S.C.A.M.P.E.R • S: What if I change or swap this? • C: What can I blend or combine? • A: What could I substitute? • M: What will happen if I add…? • P: How could I use this somewhere else? • E: What happens when I remove…? • R: What if I did this the other way?

31. Williams’ Model - Extending • Paradox: Paradoxes can be used to evaluate ideas and challenge pupils to reason and find proof. • Analogy: Pupils find the similarities between things and compare one thing to another. • Discrepancy: Pupils should be challenged to discuss what is not known or understood. • Provocative questions: These are questions that require thoughtful consideration to clarify meaning or develop new knowledge. • Organised Random Search: Given a situation or body of knowledge, pupils search for other information to answer questions such as, what would you do or what would you have done? • Tolerance for Ambiguity: Open-ended questions • Intuitive Expression: Empathy questions • Evaluative Situations: Evaluate solutions and answers in terms of their consequences and implications — pose the question what if? • Visualisation Skills: Provide opportunities for pupils to perceive or visualise themselves in many contexts.

32. Socratic Questioning

33. Langford’s 5 Whys • Ask a question • This leads to a second question • Ask three more questions • Probes and deepens understanding • Thwarts superficial responses

34. Deep learning environment • High expectations, mutual respect, modelling of creative attitudes, flexibility and open, honest dialogue • Enabling divergent thinking and encouraging students to appreciate and value alternative perspectives

35. Deep learning • Understanding • Connecting to prior knowledge • Identifying assumptions • Questioning and challenging • Conceptualising • Elaborating • Adapting

36. Concepts • Perspectives • Positioning • Context • Conventions

37. Representation Textual constructions that give shape to ways of thinking about or acting in the world; texts re-present concepts, identities, times and places, underpinned by the cultural assumptions, attitudes, beliefs, values or world view of the composer

38. Representation WHY? • Context • Perspective • Purpose • Assumptions • Ideas • Values

39. Representation HOW? • Form • Structure • Language • Conventions THROUGH? • Textual evidence • Analysis WHAT? • Ideas • Meaning

40. The challenges Unit 3 • Summative internal assessment 1 (IA1): 25%: Extended response — written response for a public audience • Summative internal assessment 2 (IA2): 25%: Extended response — persuasive spoken response Unit 4 • Summative internal assessment 3 (IA3): 25% Extended response — imaginative written response • Summative external assessment (EA): 25% Examination — analytical written response

41. “Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up’’ Jane Yolen.

42. Learning from the masters • When we teach our students to read from the perspective of a writer, they focus less on what the writer is trying to say and more on how the writer is saying it. • Specifically, they look at the techniques the writer is using to get their message across and how those techniques affect them as they experience the text.

43. Imaginative writing • Focus on the process of the writing • Chunk the writing • Explicitly zoom in to the word and sentence level • Modelled texts • Sharing and celebrating great writing

44. Imaginative texts - Language • Make students aware of every word that they use • The sound of the vowels and consonants to amplify or create euphony, discordance or disruption • Plosive or fricative consonants • Long or short vowel sounds • Verbs the muscles of writing • Striking imagery • Lexical density! • Verbal cinema

45. Imaginative texts - setting • The minutiae – the details that make a setting authentic • Authentic references • Verbal cinema: Open with an extreme close-up and then draw back to a medium shot…use mise-en-scene to create a room or a place. • Synaesthesia: colour, sound, smell… • Imagery • Pathetic fallacy and symbolism

46. Imaginative texts - Characterisation • Specific and paradoxical experiences • Complexity: anomalies and inconsistencies • Qualities • Shifting emotions • Details • Back story • How they move and act in the setting • Dialogue and voice • Relationships • Actions and consequences

47. The sky is suspended aubergine as you walk inside. Splayed out flesh-wise, and yet you’re the one feeling etherised. The view of the pasture reminds you of how Dad used to take you out in the afternoons. Nothing would be said, but he’d walk behind and catch your doe-eyed stumbles. A clumsy love that fit into absences; the worn out soles of your shoes repaired one morning, blankets drawn up.

48. Analytical Essay • Practice makes perfect! • Students designing the questions • Quote walls • Chunking the writing • Glossary • Modelling • Timed writing

49. Theses • Overarching thesis through the question to a specific line of argument. High-range responses use the key terms of the question to create a thesis. • At least one or two supporting arguments or ideas used to further the thesis that address the question in the essay. • Topic sentences that signpost the ideas and build your argument. • Transition sentences that aid cohesion. • TEEL OR PEEL only to guide at the start! • Integrated links to the ideas and texts.

50. Developing a Thesis • Judicious textual support: Detailed, relevant examples from the text/s rather than spurious, shallow examples. • Supporting the analysis of language features with examples from the text/s and evaluating their impact on the responder. Never a shopping list of techniques! • Begin with the idea, move to the textual detail and then analyse the language features and the meaning conveyed.