Making Assessment and Descriptive Work in Middle Level

1. Making Assessment and Descriptive Work in Middle Level AMLE 2015

2. For further conversation about any of these topics: Rick Wormeli rwormeli@cox.net 703-620-2447 Herndon, Virginia, USA (Eastern Standard Time Zone) @RickWormeli2 (Twitter)

3. “Is my purpose to select talent or develop it?…If your purpose as an educator is to select talent, then you must work to maximize the differences among students. In other words, on any measure of learning, you must try to achieve the greatest possible variation in students' scores …Unfortunately for students, the best means of maximizing differences in learning is poor teaching. Nothing does it better.” -- Thomas R. Guskey, Education Leadership, ASCD, November 2011, Pages 16-21

4. “If, on the other hand, your purpose as an educator is to develop talent, then you…clarify what you want students to learn and be able to do. Then you do everything possible to ensure that all students learn those things well. If you succeed, there should be little or no variation in measures of student learning. All students are likely to attain high scores on measures of achievement, and all might receive high grades. -- Thomas R. Guskey, Education Leadership, ASCD, November 2011, Pages 16-21

5. Do I dare disturb the universe? -- From, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot, 1917

6. Essential Attributes for a Successful Middle Years Experience This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents(AMLE, 2010) Developmentally Responsive Challenging Empowering Equitable

7. Curriculum is challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant. Educators use multiple learning and teaching approaches. Varied and ongoing assessments advance learning as well as measure it. Characteristics of Successful Middle Level Schools Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Educators value young adolescents and are prepared to teach them. Students and teachers are engaged in active, purposeful learning.

8. The school actively involves families in the education of their children. The school includes community and business partners. Culture and Community The school environment is inviting, safe, inclusive, and supportive of all. Every student's academic and personal development is guided by an adult advocate. Comprehensive guidance and support services meet the needs of young adolescents. Health and wellness are supported in curricula, programs, policies.

9. Unique Needs of Young Adolescents • Structure and clear limits • Physical activity every single day • Frequent and meaningful experiences with fine and performing arts • Opportunities for self-definition • Safe and inviting emotional atmosphere • Experiences in with real competence • Meaningful participation in families, school, and communities • Basics: food, water, rest, good health, physical presence. • To belong

10. “Emotion drives attention, attention drives learning.” -- Robert Sylwester, 1995, p. 119, Wolfe

11. Moral/Abstract Reasoning Empathy Working memory Awareness of ConsequencesPlanning Adjusting to changing situations Impulsivity control Input by-passes cognition centers; goes directly to emotional response centers

12. Creating an Emotionally Inviting Classroom • Catch them doing things right. • Listen to their stories and questions with interest. • Applaud positive risk-taking. • Be prepared for each day. • Demonstrate commitment to student success, not documenting student deficiencies.

13. Emotionally Inviting Classrooms(Continued) • Repeatedly demonstrate that academic struggle is a virtue, not a weakness. Handle struggle with grace. • Let go of grudges and vengeful attitudes. • Give choices in assignments. • Give students responsibilities/roles.

14. With school work, middle years students will persevere if they perceive they have the right tools to do the job and a clear picture of what is expected.

15. Common Analogous Relationships • Person : least related adjective • Math relationship • Effect : cause • Action : Thing Acted Upon • Action : Subject Performing the Action • Object or Place : Its User • Object : specific attribute of the object • Male : Female • Symbol : what it means • Classification/category : example • Noun : Closely Related Adjective • Elements Used : Product created • Attribute : person or object • Object : Where it’s located • Lack (such as drought/water – one thing lacks the other) • Antonyms • Synonyms • Age • Time • Part : Whole • Whole : Part • Tool : Its Action • Tool user : Tool • Tool : Object It’s Used With • Worker: product he creates • Category : Example • Effect : Cause • Cause : Effect • Increasing Intensity • Decreasing Intensity • Person : closely related adjective

16. Word Morphology:Teach Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes! Mal – badly, poor Meta – beyond, after, change Mis – incorrect, bad Mono – one Multi – many Neo – new Non – not Ob, of, op, oc – toward, against Oct – eight Paleo – ancient Para – beside, almost   Penta – five   Per – throughout, completely   Peri – around   Poly – many   Post – after   Pre – before   Pseudo – false

17. Reading Notations P I agree with this. X I disagree with this. ?? I don’t understand this. !! Wow! (‘Elicits a strong emotion) CL General Claim EV Evidence for the Claim (These can be numbered to indicate their sequence, too: EV1, EV2, EV3…)

18. Teach sudents how to annotate as they read.

19. What is Mastery? “Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on.” Ben Franklin, 1750, Poor Richard’s Almanac

20. What’s the difference between proficient in the standard/outcome and mastery of the standard/outcome? What does exceeding the standard mean?

21. The better question is not, “What is the Standard, competency, or outcome?” The better question is, “What evidence will we tolerate?”

22. Grade 6: Write and evaluate numerical expressions involving whole-number exponents. (From the Common Core Standards) • What if they can write the expressions but can’t evaluate them? • Does the standard require students to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole number exponents, too? • Some teachers think whole numbers includes zero and negative integers, so should we require students to demonstrate proficiency with negative exponents as well? • Does the standard mean students can recognize mistakes others make while evaluating such expressions?

23. What if they can do this by rote, but can’t explain the math behind the algorithm? • What if they can do the standard this week, but can’t do it two months from now? • How many times and over what period of time do students need to be able to do this in order to be considered proficient? • What does it mean to exceed this standard, if that’s what our “A” grade represents?

24. Students will: • 4.2.1 appreciate how an understanding of Alberta’s history, peoples and stories contributes to their own sense of belonging and identity: • recognize how stories of people and events provide multiple perspectives on past and present events • recognize oral traditions, narratives and stories as valid sources of knowledge about the land, culture and history • recognize the presence and influence of diverse Aboriginal peoples as inherent to Alberta’s culture and identity • recognize how the diversity of immigrants from Europe and other continents has enriched Alberta’s rural and urban communities • demonstrate respect for places and objects of historical significance

25. Great assessment is never kept in the dark. “Students can hit any target they can see and which stands still for them.” -- Rick Stiggins, Educator and Assessment expert If a child ever asks, “Will this be on the test?”.….we haven’t done our job.

26. Non-mastery… • The students can match each of the following parts of speech to its definition accurately: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, gerund, and interjection.

27. …and Mastery • The student can point to any word in the sentence and explain its role (impact) in the sentence, and explain how the word may change its role, depending on where it’s placed in the sentence.

28. Consider the Highly Variable Readiness Levels of Students in Transition! Examples: “These don’t even know their multiplication facts – How can I teach them Algebra?” “This student can’t read on grade level, so he can’t analyze this advance text.”

29. “The student understands fact versus opinion.” Identify Create Revise Manipulate

30. “The Inner Net” - David Bowden “Learning is fundamentally an act of creation, not consumption of information.” - Sharon L. Bowman, Professional Trainer

31. Determine the surface area of a cube. • Determine the surface area of a rectangular prism (a rectangular box) • Determine the amount of wrapping paper needed for another rectangular box, keeping in mind the need to have regular places of overlapping paper so you can tape down the corners neatly • Determine the amount of paint needed to paint an entire Chicago skyscraper, if one can of paint covers 46 square feet, and without painting the windows, doorways, or external air vents Which one qualifies for an “A” in the gradebook?

32. Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult Difficult Rigor versus

33. Does providing more support mean it’s less rigorous? On the contrary, providing support for complex, multi-faceted applications is MORE rigorous.

34. Working Definition of Mastery(Wormeli) Students have mastered content when they demonstrate a thorough understanding as evidenced by doing something substantive with the content beyond merely echoing it. Anyone can repeat information; it’s the masterful student who can break content into its component pieces, explain it and alternative perspectives regarding it cogently to others, use it purposefully in new situations, and critique others in their applications of it.

35. Accuracy increases with sample size; use clear and consistent evidence over time.

36. What is the Role of Each One? • Formative Assessment • Summative Judgment • Pre-assessment • Common Formative Assessment [Focus on Common Evidence first!]

37. Formative vs Summative in Focus: Lab Reports in a Science Class

38. Pre-Assessments: Three Purposes • Teacher Focus • To make informed decisions about the next steps in students’ instruction • Student Focus • To provide highly motivating Growth-Over-Time perspective • To prime the brain, ‘putting important content on student’s “radar scope” for elevated attention during learning

39. Set up your gradebook into two sections: Formative Summative Assignments and assessments Final declaration completed on the way to of mastery or mastery or proficiency proficiency

40. From Assessment/Grading Researcher, Doug Reeves, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 18, 2009: “The Class of 2013 grew up playing video games and received feedback that was immediate, specific, and brutal – they won or else died at the end of each game. For them, the purpose of feedback is not to calculate an average or score a final exam, but to inform them about how they can improve on their next attempt to rule the universe.”

41. We can learn without grades, but we can’t learn without descriptive feedback. What are you supposed to be learning, and where are you in relation to that goal?

42. Feedback vs Assessment Feedback: Holding up a mirror to students, showing them what they did and comparing it what they should have done – There’s no evaluative component! Assessment: Gathering data so we can make a decision Greatest Impact on Student Success:Formative feedback

43. Two Ways to Begin Using Descriptive Feedback: • “Point and Describe” (from Teaching with Love & Logic, Jim Fay, David Funk) • “Goal, Status, and Plan for the Goal” • Identify the objective/goal/standard/outcome • Identify where the student is in relation to the goal (Status) • Identify what needs to happen in order to close the gap

44. When providing descriptive feedback that builds perseverance, …comment on decisions made and their impact, NOT quality of work.

45. Effective Protocol for Data Analysisand Descriptive Feeddback found in many Schools:Here’s What, So What, Now What • Here’s What: (data, factual statements, no commentary) • So What: (Interpretation of data, what patterns/insights do we perceive, what does the data say to us?) • Now What: (Plan of action, including new questions, next steps)

47. Date Mr./Mrs./Miss ________________________, I understand…. I need assistance in…. I suggestion the following four steps for me to take in order to learn these content and skills: Sincerely, _______________________

48. -- Marzano, CAGTW, pgs 5-6

49. Rubric Design R – 7.0 U – 6.0 B – 5.0 R – 4.0 I – 3.0 C – 2.0 S – 1.0

50. SIX + 1 Writing Traits Sample Rubric -- Ideas and Content [From Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 101 SW Main, Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204] 5 = This paper is clear and focused. It holds the reader's attention. Relevant anecdotes and details enrich the central theme or storyline. Ideas are fresh and original. The writer seems to be writing from knowledge or experience and shows insight: an understanding of life and a knack for picking out what is significant. Relevant, telling, quality details give the reader important information that goes beyond the obvious or predictable. The writer develops the topic in an enlightening, purposeful way that makes a point or tells a story. Every piece adds something to the whole.