No Textbook + Little Homework = High MEAP Scores

1. No Textbook + Little Homework = High MEAP Scores Barb Light Brimley Teacher

2. 2006 MEAP Scores (8th Grade Science)

3. MEAP Data Over Time

4. No Textbook:

5. Why did I stop using a textbook? • Our text was listed on a list of woefully inadequate texts. • I have enough experience and education to create lessons without a text. • Technology makes delivering material easy.

6. I love no textbook! • No textbook forms, no rebinding, no erasing dirty words, no textbook expense • No worrying about reading level and my students who can’t read • Not having a textbook actually makes my life easier and gives me more control of what my students learn in my class.

7. Turn and Share • Turn to someone near you and tell them something (a lesson topic) you want to teach without a textbook.

8. Who should keep their textbook? • New teachers – use it for a few years • Non-tenured teachers with textbook loving administrators • Math teachers • Reading teachers • Teachers who use it well and have a great book • Just remember it is NOT your curriculum!

9. What is your curriculum? • Simply put, it is what you are supposed to teach. • It should be the state grade level content expectations (GLCEs) or standards. • Textbooks may present part (rarely all) of your curriculum; textbooks are not the curriculum. • http://www.michigan.gov/mde

10. Aligned curriculum is critical. • My lesson plans all begin with the state standard or grade level content expectation. • Dump “frog units” out of your curriculum.

11. So, what do you do with no textbook? • Notes – EXAMPLE 1 and EXAMPLE 2 • Labs and activities • Video clips • Discussions • Articles • Project based learning • Assessments • Anything that teaches your students the state standards

12. Turn and Share • How do you define teaching?

13. My Teaching Definition • I have not truly taught the material unless the students have truly learned the material. • The definition of teaching must begin with the idea of student learning.

14. Little Homework:

15. Turn and Share • What percent of your students don’t do their homework on a regular basis? • Why do you think they don’t do the homework?

16. The truth about my students: • Many of them don’t do homework. • I have nonreaders in my classes every year. • Some students come from homes that do not support their kids emotionally, much less educationally. • A few of them would rather stay at school every night than go home to their families.

17. Therefore… • I don’t trust their parents to be their teacher. • I don’t expect them to have a home environment conducive to doing homework. • My goal is to teach in class everything they need to know about every state standard I am assigned to teach!

18. Role of Homework: • Enhance the education of the gifted or motivated students • Practice something that can only be learned by repetition • Teach students how to be responsible

19. Role 1: Enhance • Monthly homework assignments that are really projects • They are open ended enough to allow excellent students to take it and run with it and do something wonderful and exceptional. • They are also open ended enough to allow struggling students to learn something, enjoy the experience and get a decent grade.

20. Examples Reports on people, places or other topics Power Points Simple at home experiments Commentary on a TV show Building models Creating diagrams with detailed labels Making a quiz or questions for a review game Observations written in a journal Any kind of journaling

21. Suggestions • Give specific parameters and a rubric for grading to the students • Allow plenty of time • Remind them about it • Find the right balance between specific parameters and allowing them to individualize (and own) the assignment

22. What if they don’t do it? • Monthly homework assignments are worth 10% of their overall grade • Daily work – anything we do in class plus science fair is worth 55% of their overall grade • (That leaves 35% for tests and quizzes)

23. Role 2: Practice • Important in math and reading • Important for certain concepts like balancing chemical equations or certain skills like finding answers from a written paragraph (worksheets) • Once students demonstrate the concept or skill, move on

24. Worried about retention of material? • You can teach an inch deep and a mile wide OR you can teach a mile deep and an inch wide. • Teach for depth of understanding and then review throughout the year.

25. Role 3: Responsibility • Doing homework is an important life skill. • Monthly homework assignments are the only assignments I do not accept late without severe penalty. 1 day late drops their score by half, 2 days late is a zero. • I choose to use this to teach homework responsibility and allow students to make up all other assignments with little or no penalty, because other assignments teach state standards. • I tell students and parents that the kids cannot earn an A without doing at least some of the homework assignments.

26. Turn and Share • Share one thing you have heard so far that you want to apply and brainstorm how you will do that.

27. A few other thoughts… • Giving busy work as homework decreases your popularity with students. • Your professional relationship with your students has a huge impact on how well they learn in your class. • Good teachers deliberately work to have a good image with their classes because students learn more when they like the teacher. • Extra credit is free. Free time is free. Candy is cheap (use sparingly).

28. High MEAP Scores:

29. Jealously guard teaching time Don’t throw a temper tantrum when they tell you about an upcoming assembly, but don’t waste instructional time.

30. Turn and Share • Tell someone next to you one time waster in your class or a common time waster that you see in other classes. • Suggest a way to solve the problem if you can.

31. Time Wasters • First week of school • Busy work – if they already know it, don’t waste time teaching it • Videos • Last 5 minutes of class • First 5 minutes of class • Discipline if it takes more than 30 seconds

32. These are not time wasters • Grading in class • Project based learning • Having the students do presentations

33. Constantly Review • Review game once a month. • Make sure you are reviewing critical information. • Some, but not all, review should mimic MEAP or MME.

34. MEAP Peptalk • You have worked really hard in science over the past three years. • You are ready to show everyone how much you know. • You really are well prepared for this test.

35. MEAP Threat • Must give the constructed response questions a good effort. • Take your time and read carefully. • I will glance over your test to make sure you answered every question.

36. MEAP Bribe • Some sort of reward for doing well. With our kids, it’s gym time. • If everyone stays quiet and gives MEAP their best effort, we’ll have free time while we wait for other classes to finish.

37. MEAP Analysis • Look carefully at the scores each year. • Look at questions that your students scored significantly different (good and bad) from the state average. • For the good, keep teaching it well. • For the bad, check to see if that concept is taught and if so, rethink how it is being taught. • Lesson studies are great solutions to perennial problem areas.

38. Transition, transition, transition • 1 minute of attention span for each year of age • My students are 12 – 14 years old, so I try to transition at least every 15 minutes.

39. Assessment • Assessment done correctly should also be a learning experience. • More frequent assessment is better. • Weekly quizzes • Project based assessment