Day 2, The Best Laid Plans...

Photo by Eleventh Wave on Unsplash

I did not get as much done today as I was hoping … which is pretty typical. I frequently underestimate how long something is going to take! For today, I downloaded each assessment map for Grades 2nd-5th, created a spreadsheet that I will use to track how the students are doing during the assessments. I am struggling with how I want to setup the sheets. I want to use some of the knowledge I have when it comes to workflow and Google Sheets, using formulas to ease my life, so I need to take some time to actually plan out how I want the sheets to work, and what the end product I want when it comes to the sheets might be.

From there, I was able to create question banks for 3.OA.1 & 3.NF.1. I used our math curriculum, Bridges, to do that work. I had not realized that Bridges is setup differently for different grade levels. In 5th grade, in our Teacher Masters, there is a recording sheet that breaks down the assessment by question and attaches a standard to each question. I did not find that for 3rd grade, so it made the process of figuring out which questions to screenshot and add to the document I created much longer!

Tomorrow I will:

• Choose the 20% Anchor skills for reading.

• Finish at least one more Keystone Standard problem bank.

• Finish one assessment for one (or more, have to think about that) anchor skill for writing.

Day 1, Focus on Learning

The idea is to touch up these posts as I go, and to use this forum for myself to reflect upon/keep track of a process/journey I am taking. I am focusing on the learning of my students.

Today I started with the 20% idea. 20% of some knowledge is foundational, and if you master that, the other 80% is simpler to learn. I decided that the 20% for writing is Craft & Elaboration (9 categories on the rubric), and then I started working on Maths.

First, I recorded the total number of standards in each of the 5 maths domains, and found that there are 26 total standards. 20% of 26 is 5.2, so I was looking for 5-6 “anchor” standards.

Then I used the coherence map from Achieve the Core to find out two things:

1. How many standards are required to be mastered in order to do well with each of the 26 5th grade standards.

2. How many future standards are each of the 26 5th grade standards connected to.

I added the totals of 1 & 2 for each standard to get a total number of standards involved, and then did an Z->A sort to order the standards. The top 6 standards, (7 with ties), according to this method are:

• 5.NBT.1 (10)

• 5.NF.3 (8)

• 5.NF.4 (8)

• 5.NF.5 (8)

• 5.NBT.7 (7)

• 5.NF.7 (7)

• 5.MD.2 (7)

At this point, I decided that I should, for the top 5 standards, pick one from each domain, which meant that the official 20% foudnational anchor standards are:

• 5.NBT.1

• 5.NF.4 ( I chose this one because it attaches to 6 future standards)

• 5.MD.2

• 5.OA.2

• 5.G.2

From there I mapped out each standard with the help of the Coherence Map, looking at what the pre-requisite standards are for each of the 5 anchor standards. I looked two levels back. For example, in order to be ready for 5.NBT.1 you needed to have mastered 4.NBT.1, 4.NF.5, 4.NF.6, & 4.NF.7. In order to master 4.NBT.1 you needed to have mastered 2.NBT.1. In order to master 4.NF.5 you needed to have mastered 4.NF.1 & 4.NF.3..and so on.

After mapping out all of the connected standards, I decided to list every standard that was on the map in a Google Sheet so I could do a COUNTUNIQUE formula to see if any standards repeated, which 5 did:

• 3.OA.1

• 3.NF.1

• 4.OA.2

• 4.NF.2

• 4.NF.4

Each of the above standards showed up two times on the map. I decided to call these “Keystone” standards.

Why am I doing all of this? Great question. My hypothesis is if I focus on the 20% of anchor standards for any subject until every student has mastered them, then all of the students should leave our classroom on Grade Level. Having mapped out the math standards, I can now develop assessments to give at the beginning of the year.

What are those assessments going to look like?

My thought here is to first give assessments on the 5 Grade Level Anchor standards, and then look at the results of the class:

• If the class results come back at less than 30% correct, then I backwards asses all students on the Level 1 Pre-Requisites and Level 2 Pre-Requisites if necessary.

• If the class results comep back with greater than 70% correct, then I will pull the other 30% into small groups to backwards assess and create plans for each student.

• If the class comes back in-between 30%-70% then I will try whole group instruction/activities for that standard.

The above percentages comes from the Peer-to-Peer instruction framework developed by Eric Mazur.

At this point I am wondering if I should start the assessing with the “Keystone” standards, to ensure all of the class has mastered each of the standards.

I am also wondering about the assessments. One item that Neil Heffernan talked about was the idea of students “Spinning their Wheels”, so shouldn’t the assessments I use show that as well?

For tomorrow, I have some time in the morning to continue this work. My thought process is to:

• Create the Keystone Assessment

• Unpack the Craft and Elaboration skills and consider how to assess those items (I think I want to use DOK 1, 2, & 3 here…for example, can a student recognize dialogue, write a dialogue sentence when asked, and include dialogue in a cold-write)

• Choose the 20% for reading literature and informational.

A Reflection on Risk-taking, The Launch Cycle, and Scaffolding

I like to take risks. Nothing too out there. Calculated risks is a better term. You would never catch me falling out of a plane or launching myself off of a bridge. Not my kind of risk. I also think incessantly about things. I have been known to think about how to improve a lesson up until I start the darn thing. I also know that if I stop thinking about something, that my brain continues to work on the problem or process that I´ve been contemplating. 

I want our classroom to be a place where all kids are included. Where they know they have influence. Where we are an actual community of learners. I don´t think we´ve ever made it all the way. One of my great laments about teaching is that I just have the group of kids for one year. And then I start over with a new bunch. It´s painful for me. 

Anyways, at some point last week, about one minute before I started to talk to my class of learners, a voice boomed in my head. "Remember the launch cycle? Remember how you tried it once, and it was a big bust, and how much you still like it? How could you use it for the kids to design something within the classroom?" And then three things popped up in my mind. The classroom library. Our daily schedule. A class website. 

These are all things that I have designed in the past. They have been owned and operated by yours truly. And I´ve always been a fan. And maybe some...SOME... of my students have been fans too. So I made a split second decision, based on years of thinking. I listed the three topics, and had them rank them of which interested them the most. I told them they were guaranteed to get one of their top three choices (Have I ever told you how funny I am?) I then created three groups. Every student wound up getting at least their number 2 choice.

I then introduced the Launch Cycle to them (John Spencer, A.J. Juliani. Follow them. Read them. Watch them. Just do it.). After that, I had them brainstorm when working in teams was good, and what it was the pits. I asked them to come up with some agreements to keep it in the positive side. I then asked each team to have a project manager. And then I set them off.

From there I checked in with the project managers. I showed them how to use Google Sheets to assign and track work. I asked for summaries and plans of work. Fast forward a week later, and probably close to 200 minutes of classtime and no team is finished.  And that´s o.k. They´ve never done this before. I asked them to reflect on what they had learned so far. Here are some responses:

• "You have to work together as a team, you can't split up, you have to keep going and talk a lot about the process."
• “I learned what things you need to create a good website.”
• “I've learned that when I have a problem on the computer, I can solve it myself or with the help  of my team.”
• “I've learned that working on a team is not that easy. I also learned that there has to be good communication.”
• “Working on a team is easier and more difficult at the same time.”
• “I learned to make my own photos, and not copy what other people have done on the internet.”
• “I discovered that you need to put effort into everything. If you don't, your work is not going to turn out well.”
• “Designing a library is hard work. You have to listen to other people's ideas, and you don't always get to do what you want.”

For my own reflection, I should have given them different support. A structure, more than the sheets and summaries I asked of them. And as I was thinking that, I get an email from John Spencer (yeah, the same one from up there! It was his newsletter, but still.. an email) that goes over 5 structures to use with your students to help them learn project management. So we are off and running again. I now understand, wonderfully, that these projects (I hope) are going to last the whole year, with each group trying to improve their design. When each team finishes their first cycle, and they agree that I can share their work with the world (or the very small amount of it that might read it here, and you count as the world!!) then I will post some pictures of their products (and even a link to our website)