Issue 89: May 03, 2010 Connections Newsletter
Fine Tuning Student Assignments
Toni Enloe
May 03, 2010
Have you ever given students an assignment that just "bombed?" What did you do? Reflective teachers develop a system through which they can examine their teaching practices and adapt those practices when things don't go as planned. One such system of examining student work is the "Tuning Protocol." The protocol was developed by Joseph McDonald and David Allen (Coalition of Essential Schools Exhibition Project) to assist five high schools in developing a variety of well tuned assessments for their students.
What is a protocol and why use it?
Webster's defines a protocol as "a code prescribing strict adherence to correct etiquette and precedence." Through the use of protocols, teachers can examine student work using a prescribed set of steps that allows for constructive and focused feedback. Each protocol is directed by a facilitator who manages time and participant exchanges to increase the efficiency of the process. Through the use of protocols, teachers collaborate to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
Why should you examine student work?
Coaches and leaders of PLCs are often looking for ways to make their meetings more productive.
Looking at student work enables you to:
- Analyze and prioritize the instructional needs of students
- Reflect on and improve their instructional practices
- Make the most of the expertise of colleagues
When should you use it?
Take advantage of the "Tuning Protocol" when:
- You want feedback on an assignment that students have already completed
- You want feedback on an assignment that you want to try with students
- You need feedback on individual lessons
- You are developing a unit of instruction
All options give feedback you may need to revise and fine tune your assignments. Sometimes the tweak is as simple as clarifying directions or revising a rubric but sometimes it may require a complete overhaul of the assignment. Either way, both you and your students benefit.
How do you do it?
The "Tuning Protocol" takes about 60 minutes. During the process:
- Maintain focus of participants on the work that needs to be done
- Prevent the session from becoming an indiscriminate criticism of the work
- Keep time
- Prevent the presenter from speaking during the initial reflections of other participants
Instructional coaches, department chairs, administrators and other teachers can serve as facilitators during departmental meetings, faculty meetings, professional development days, team meetings or professional learning community sessions.
Modified Tuning Protocol
7. Summarizing (5 minutes)
This is an open discussion about the process. At this time, all participants may identify some topics for future sessions.
You can see the Tuning Protocol modeled as a free stream from Video on Demand. Just follow the link:
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/criticalissues/overview.html?pop=yes&vodid=521098&pid=1287.
The Tuning Protocol is a nice fit with the LEARNING-FOCUSED Strategies model. It allows for teacher collaboration, reflection and revision. After all, "None of us is as smart as all of us."
LEARNING-FOCUSED Algebra I
Cyndy Davis
May 03, 2010
The newly published LEARNING-FOCUSED Algebra I resources is written for students who have not or may not meet success in algebra through traditional textbooks and methods, though these same materials have been used successfully with all levels of Algebra I students. This alternative textbook is a collection of engaging activities, lesson plans, and assessments that have been developed and used with a high degree of success in my high school mathematics classroom to help students truly learn and understand algebra.
This consumable workbook/textbook collection contains nine individual student units on the following topics:
* Matrices and the Real Number System
* Solving Equations and Problems
* Solving Inequalities and Proportions
* Functions, Slope and the Slope-Intercept Form
* Graphing and Writing Equations of Lines
* Linear Data Analysis and Solving Systems of Equations and Inequalities
* Operating with Polynomials
* Factoring Polynomials
* The Quadratic Function, Exponential Functions, and Geometric Relationships
The components of the Student Workbooks, which serve as the student's textbook, include all the worksheets and activities needed by the student throughout the entire course. Students write directly on the pages, but the pages are perforated so that they may be taken out by the student to do homework or to turn into the teacher for grading. For the teacher, there is a fully developed Learning-Focused lesson plan for each day written for a block schedule, a course pacing guide, a Student Learning Map for each unit and a solution manual that contains the answer key for all the materials in the Student Workbooks. There is also a collection of Assessments that includes two versions of a Quiz and Test for each of the nine units and the answer key for each. Also included are two versions of a Mid-term Exam and seven subject-based Exam Reviews for use at the end of the course. If the student set of workbooks is purchased, the only copying you will find necessary to do during the entire semester is to make copies of the Assessments for the number of students in his/her class. However, if a you prefer to make the copies yourself, then a site license is available through LEARNING-FOCUSED giving all Algebra I teachers in a single school unlimited copying privileges for all the student materials for one year.
These materials are ideal for new classroom teachers as well as veterans who are willing to try something different to help create success for their students. The ready-to-use teaching materials help free up time for the you so more time is available to do the other things that are beneficial to your students' learning process.
This textbook utilizes the exemplary practices of activating thinking, organizing information, summarizing information, and extending thinking to facilitate learning and to create understanding for the student. Each lesson is designed on a LEARNING-FOCUSED framework and the lesson's Essential Question, Activating Strategy, Teaching Activities, Graphic Organizer, and Summarizer are all created with the intent of helping students answer the Essential Question at the end of that lesson.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) developed the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics to ensure that every student experiences a high-quality mathematics program. "Student learning has to go beyond the learning of specific skills and concepts. We must develop confidence in using mathematics, flexibility, and persistence in exploring math tasks, reflection and discourse about math thinking and a valuing of the uses of mathematics." This textbook and the teacher materials were created with these goals in mind. It is the author's intention to enable students to see connections between many geometric and algebraic relationships, in addition to developing skills while connecting the concepts being studied to real world situations.
The four interlocking pieces of the LEARNING-FOCUSED Mathematics Model (Comprehension, Problem Solving, Skill Building, and Authentic Use) are seen throughout the text. Concepts are spiraled throughout the course to help deepen comprehension and to give students more than one opportunity to learn the material. The graphing calculator is utilized regularly to give students a picture of the concept being studied and to help students to make geometric connections. Skill building is a key component of every lesson but real-world connections are also intertwined throughout the text to help students see the value and the relevance of the material under study. Higher-level thinking is required for the problem solving, strategies, and activities used throughout the text. The activities and games are varied widely to engage students and to let them have fun while learning.
Our goal is through the use of these materials students will make sense of mathematics and develop confidence in their mathematical ability. These materials will create higher achievement for your students and will help them develop success in Algebra.
About the author: Cyndy Davis is a career mathematics teacher in North Carolina and a recipient of the 1999 Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence in Mathematics. Additionally, she has co-authored two other LEARNING-FOCUSED Math books: Connecting Strategies in Math Acquisition Lessons 6-12 and Engaging Activities for Mathematics 6-12.
Memory Tricks
Debbie Cargill
May 03, 2010
So...they (students) got it! They have made some connections and made some sense of the new learning. Now...how do we help them remember it? It is certainly easier to remember things that we understand. But, sometimes we just need to rely on rote memory.
On a recent visit to a bookstore, a unique little book caught my eye. The title was intriguing - Thirty Days Has September - Cool Ways to Remember Stuff, written by Chris Stevens. The very first sentence piqued my interest - "Information is easy to remember when you use every trick in the book - well, in this book actually! It's full of really useful memory devices called mnemonics. Some are mental shortcuts, some are catchy rhymes, and there are even some silly jokes, but they are all designed to send quick reminders to your brain." (p. 6) What a great tool for teachers to have in their toolbox!
Some of the memory tricks were familiar - acrostics, acronyms, pictures, rhythm and rhyme, etc.
Everyone remembers -
I before E, except after C,
Or when sounded like A,
As in neighbor and weigh.
Or - Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one
Except February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear,
With twenty-nine in each leap year.
Or - ROY G. BIV and Spring forward, fall back.
Many of the tricks were not as familiar to me, but could be really cool for kids! There are tricks for spelling rules, punctuation, grammar, homophones (you hear with your ears, but here is where you are), and figures of speech (alliteration is littered with letters). In history, you remember - "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." To remember the points of the compass for geography - Never Eat Slimy Worms. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles is a good way to remember the planets (without Pluto). For Math, there's help in remembering the times tables - "Nasty nines are fine and fun if you just fold your fingers and thumbs."
Thirty Days Has September - Cools Ways to Remember Stuff would be a great addition to every teacher's toolbox. Other resources for memory tricks can be found at these web sites:
http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html
