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Writing Pathways

Writing Pathways. WELCOME! Sandy Biondo PhD. Agenda. Assessment 101 – building background knowledge Assessment Toolkit Assessment Tools Learning Progressions On-Demand (Norming and Norming Meetings) Teaching Rubrics Student Checklists Leveled Student Writing Samples

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Writing Pathways

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  1. Writing Pathways WELCOME! Sandy Biondo PhD Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  2. Agenda • Assessment 101 – building background knowledge • Assessment Toolkit • Assessment Tools • Learning Progressions • On-Demand (Norming and Norming Meetings) • Teaching Rubrics • Student Checklists • Leveled Student Writing Samples • Annotated Demonstration Texts • Other Performance Assessments • Planning Next Steps • Next Session – Sneak Preview Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  3. Pathways is leading toward: • Students and teachers self-assessing • Collaboration with other learners • Learning from feedback • Working collaboratively toward challenging, clear goals Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  4. Assessment 101 –- Why assessments- Background info Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  5. Improving Learning Through Assessment 5 factors: • Effective feedback to students • Active involvement of students in their own learning • Adjustment of teaching to take into account the results of assessment • Recognition of influence of assessment on student motivation and self-esteem • Need for students to assess themselves and understand how to improve - “Assessment and Classroom Learning” (Assessment in Education, 1988 (5): 7-74. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  6. Visible Learning (Hattie, 2008) • Learners need – • Crystal clear, ambitious goals • Feedback that highlights progress the learner has made toward these goals • To know of next steps that are within reach • There is a difference between students writing, writing, writing vs. working with deliberateness toward specific goals! Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  7. Key to Assessment “The key to assessment is the word itself. It comes from the Latin verb assidire– to sit beside. We are not ranking here. We are sitting beside a piece of writing and observing its qualities. We are finding common language to talk about these qualities.” • Barry Lane Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  8. What is your Assessment Lens? • What guides your writing instruction? How do you decide what to teach? • When you get together with colleagues, what do you use as a shared tool to analyze and discuss student writing? • Try it: Studying a narrative piece… Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  9. Ear Piercing “1, 2, 3” said the lady with the ear piercing gun. I saw the needle on the left side of my head I could not bear the pressure. “Wait” I screamed I wouldn’t be surprised if the window cracked. I tried to slide off the chair but my cousin Emily who is 16 tried to relax me by saying “You will be fine Claudia,” in a soothing voice. “1, 2, 3” said the lady but before I could do anything she put the needle threw my ear and quickly went to the other side of me and did the other side. “Oh my gosh,” I said excitedly. “Wow, Claudia you look great” said my mom and my aunt. “I love them,” said my cousin. I went to the mirror. “Oh my” I said so we went to the car and got in and my aunt turned on the engine and put on some music and that was the end of my ear piercing adventure. The End! Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  10. “Assessment is not something that we tack onto teaching; it is an essential ongoing component of instruction that guides the process of learning. Assessment is the horse that leads the cart of understanding.” • Rebecca Simmons Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  11. BALANCED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  12. Improving Student Achievement Assessment Curriculum Instruction Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  13. Curriculum ImprovingStudent Achievement Assessment Instruction Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  14. Assessment Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  15. Formative Assessment • Defined: Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning • Research supports that 40% of time spent on assessment should be formative • The Heart of Effective Teaching • Can Produce Significant Gains • Used to Adjust Teaching/Learning • Ultimate User is the Student • Looks at Areas Needing Improvement Source: Inside the Black Box: Raising Students Through Classroom Assessment by Paul Black and Dylan William Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  16. What are Formative Assessments? Classroom-based assessments used on an on-going basis in every classroom Carefully thought-out strategies to engage students in learning in and outside of the classroom May encourage different ways of learning – moving from passive to active student learning May encourage student self-assessment/self-monitoring Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  17. Uses of Formative Assessments Key Question: Has each student learned? Guide students learning on a daily basis by providing information about what critical skills were and were not learned Provide extra learning opportunities to students who are struggling academically or doing well academically Report student progress to students, parents, and other educators Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  18. What are Common Formative Assessments? • Common assessments are any assessment given by 2 or more educators with the intention of collaboratively examining the results for: • Shared learning • Instructional planning for individual students • Curriculum, instruction and/or assessment modifications Karen Bailey, Solution Tree, 2009 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  19. Shared Language and Knowledge • Common assessments and a common assessment plan will help build shared language and knowledge within and across grade levels, a school, and a district • Goal is to assist teachers in developing a systematic assessment toolkit Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  20. “The only way to raise the quality of writing in a school is to create, share, and celebrate the specific criteria for that quality with everybody on a regular basis.” Barry Lane Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  21. Assessment tool kitWriting Pathways Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  22. Assessment Tool Kit – Writing Pathways • Most effective when used across grade level and school • Aligns to the CCSS but is not limited to them • Provides information for students - not only on how they are doing, but also on how they can improve • Offers information for teachers as to where their students are-lifts the level of feedback • Allows for differentiation • Helps transfer skills from one type of writing to another Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  23. Assessment Tool Kit – Writing Pathways • Helps children set goals and self-assess their progress. • Helps teachers self-assess, set goals, collaborate with colleagues and work toward developing an articulated process of achieving those goals. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  24. Assessment Tool Kit • Components: • Learning Progressions • On-Demand • Teaching Rubrics • Student Checklists • Leveled Student Writing Samples • Annotated Demonstration Texts -TeacherWritten • Other Performance Assessments Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  25. Check out inside front cover Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  26. On-demand performance assessmentsChapter 2, page 13 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  27. On-Demand • Background • Prompts for each text type (k-8) • Students have a fixed time to write their best piece based on a prompt • Provides a base-line piece of writing to show growth over time • On-demand pieces can be assessed using the learning progressions and/or rubrics • Helps track progress across the year Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  28. Study the prompts and discuss with table mates. • Read background info on page 17 • Prompts: • Opinion page 116 • Information page 226 • Narrative page 354 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  29. Why Use On-Demand Assessments? • On-demand writing tasks provide a clear, accurate demonstration of what students : • know and can do on their own – independently (no teacher assistance) • where they need additional help • Data collected can also be used to inform instructional decisions for • individual students • small groups of students • the entire class • On-demand writing assessment were designed as a way for teachers to • measure a student’s writing growth over time • determine a student’s strengths and needs • measure the “stickiness” of their teaching Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  30. On-Demand Logistics • What are the Purpose/s of the On-Demand? • When will it be administered? – pre/post, before a unit, after a unit, before or after a text type, etc. • How will they be scored? Not every on-demand piece needs to be completely scored with the teaching rubrics (depends on purpose) • When will they be scored? • What will be done with the information gathered? Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  31. Administration of On-Demand • Ideally all students in a class, grade level, and district would be given the same prompt for each type of writing • All teachers agree to offer no further support to writers • 45 minute time frame only • Prompts: • General prompts – see Part II of book • K-2nd prompts and 3rd-8th prompts • Grade-Specific instructions after the prompt (read and display) See sample page 116 (opinion) page 226 (information) • In grades 3-8, the opinion/argument and information prompts require giving students one day’s notice in case students want to bring an outside source with them to cite in their on-demand writing. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  32. On-Demand - Teacher’s Role • Hands-off approach • “Just do the best you can and keep going.” • Need to know what they can do without you. • Take notes as students work – takes a long time to come up with ideas, no or minimal planning, difficult time getting started, writing word-by-word fashion, etc. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  33. Uses of On-Demand Assessments • Data collected from analyzing this writing allows teachers to begin to develop insight into what their young writers • know and can do on their own • where they need additional help • Data collected can also be used to inform instructional decisions for • individual students • small groups of students • the entire class Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  34. “If any of us coauthor a student’s piece of writing, making it vastly better than anything the student could possibly do on his own, and if we do this by working so far outside the student’s zone of proximal development that the student doesn’t learn to do what we teach on his own, then even if this produces better writing, it is essentially for naught.” - Lucy Calkins Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  35. On-Demand • Instruction needs to be focused on teaching the writer, not the writing. • Focus on STRATEGIC teaching – this helps students to grow demonstrably as independent writers. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  36. Learning ProgressionsChapter 7, page 69Narrative = page 346 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  37. Learning Progressions • What? • Expectations for writing in each text type in each grade level • Pre-K-6, Grade 3-9 • Set-up- Structure, Development, Language Conventions • Categories (9): • Structure – overall, lead, transitions, ending, organization • Development – elaboration and craft • Language Conventions – spelling and punctuation Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  38. Learning Progressions Why Use Learning Progressions? • Learning Progressions help to inform instruction (where are students, what can I teach?) • Gives teachers a place to start on a trajectory • Effective writing instruction requires making quick decisions to support the writer • Feedback given needs to support the writer, not just the writing • Effective feedback is when teacher knows next steps Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  39. Learning Progressions How to use: • Best to look at with a lens • Pick one area, look across the grades • Think about how this area changes across the grade levels • Think what does that look like in student writing? • Turn and talk Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  40. Teaching RubricsSee page 359 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  41. Teaching Rubrics • Background • Grounded in the learning progressions • Provides a point score for student writing in each text type ( below, at, above) • End of the year expectations • Elaboration and craft double weighted categories • Can be used to assess on-demand and student published pieces • Can reveal patterns to support whole and small group instruction Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  42. Teaching Rubrics • Rubrics helpful for teachers- not for kids! Checklists are helpful for kids. • Rubrics determine where students are in relation to grade level for grading purposes - At? Above? Below? (3 = always grade level) • Provides a table to score each student on a scaled score • Reduces the complexity of work to a number – no process info included Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  43. Teaching Rubrics Activities • 1. Unpack them – note progression from grade level to grade level • 2. Try It – Score a writing sample on your own, then compare with a partner Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  44. Leveled Student Writing Samples Page 6 background informationPage 410 starts samples Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  45. Leveled Student Writing Samples • On-demand benchmark texts written by students to illustrate what writing in each text type at each grade level should look like by the end of the year • Two texts at each grade (different but equivalent) to demonstrate what writing might look like at the end of the year • Reading these samples defines/shows what is essential at each level Activity: • Using the lens you looked through on the progression, see if you can find some student text that illustrate that writing • Now that you know what to teach, you can decide how Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  46. Teacher annotateddemonstration textspage 437 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  47. Teacher Annotated Demo Texts • Background • Same story or idea and bumped up for each grade level • Illustrates items on the checklists • Provides mentor texts at various developmental levels • Can be used to show students how they can revise their own writing and take their writing from one level to the next Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  48. Teacher Activity • As a grade level team, try writing your own series of narrative text from K through fifth grade (or for your grade level) Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  49. Student checklistsChapter 5 page 40Sample page 384 Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

  50. Checklists – Background Information • What are self-assessment checklists? • Why checklists? Provides students with clear PATHWAYS • How am I doing? • How can I improve? • Sense of efficacy – “I can do this, if I work hard.” • Assessment tools help students become evidence-based close readers of their own writing. Farah & Biondo, 8/2015

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