Issue 17: Sep 08, 2008 Connections Newsletter

Curriculum Mapping

Bill Blynt
Sep 08, 2008

Improving the alignment of classroom instruction to district and state standards can have a tremendous impact on student achievement. Research shows student achievement increases in schools where teachers have clarity not only on what to teach, but also on how much classroom time should be allocated to each topic student achievement increases.  Many districts have embarked on some type of curriculum mapping process in an attempt to keep instruction focused on instructional priorities. Mapping traditionally involves groups of teachers and curriculum personnel gathering to discuss and evaluate state standards, code these standards and develop visual maps for use by teachers. It is during the mapping process that teachers gain a deeper understanding of what instructional content or specific skill is important for all their students to learn. Conversations that take place among teachers during the mapping process are rich in vigor and passion. Teachers begin to analyze instruction, state standards and assessments, and student needs. The challenges presented to teachers during a mapping project provide them a forum to change what they are doing to better meet the needs of their students and raise state assessment scores. Mapping done in a collaborative environment can be the impetus to creating a school climate that seeks to continuously align the written and taught curriculum for the purpose of raising student achievement.

Extending Thinking, Graphic Organizers, and Writing

Brenda Hill
Sep 08, 2008

Graphic organizers are used in all content areas for many purposes. Organizers are often used for structured note-taking, to guide reading, to guide writing, as a study and summarizing tool, or as a visual model of a skill or a performance. As we think about extending thinking for our students, graphic organizers are of utmost importance. Teachers may use graphic organizers from an acquisition lesson to extend thinking for students, or they may specifically select an organizer that supports an extending thinking skill to use in an extending thinking lesson or activity. In an acquisition lesson the choice of organizer is guided by this question: "How do I want my students to think about the content?" In an extending thinking lesson or activity we ask, "How do I want my students to use the organizer from an acquisition lesson to extend thinking?", "Which extending thinking skill is my focus for this lesson or activity?", and "Does the graphic organizer support the extending thinking skill chosen for this lesson?" Extending thinking skills include: compare/contrast, classifying/categorizing, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, error analysis, analyzing perspectives, constructing support, abstracting. Identifying the extending thinking skill for the lesson/activity determines "which" organizer will be used. As we plan our extending thinking lesson writing also becomes a key focus. Research shows that "writing to inform" increases student achievement across all content areas.

How will I have students write to extend thinking of acquisition learning? One way is to make a writing assignment from the acquisition lesson graphic organizer. For example, if the students in science class have completed a compare/contrast organizer on the differences between moths and butterflies in science class, then students will write a compare/contrast essay from the acquisition lesson organizer. Students may also write from a completed organizer used in an extending thinking lesson.  For example, if students are "constructing support" for the reasons Congress should support the Lewis and Clark expedition, then they would use the information from the completed constructing support organizer to write a letter to Congress. 

There are many ways graphic organizers can be used to extend thinking through writing.  The important thing is to decide what assignments can be made from the organizer so that students are writing to extend thinking about the new learning.   Student performance and achievement will be greatly improved when students use acquisition learning to extend thinking through writing.

Formative Assessment

Jennifer Partrick
Sep 08, 2008

Formative assessments can play a vital role in classrooms to improve teaching and learning, if their purpose is clearly understood. Popham (2008) states, "Formative assessment is a planned process involving a number of different activities" (p. 6). If teachers use formative assessments to drive instruction, there need to be identified stopping points within the lesson to determine to what degree information taught has been learned and what to do if the students did not understand what was taught. At these points teachers use different strategies to determine how well students have learned the information taught thus far. Information gleaned at this time is used by teachers and students to decide what to do next. Time for teacher and student reflection is important in this process.

When teachers use formative assessments to enhance instruction, they use the data to decide how and when to adjust their teaching so that learning and understanding are the outcomes for their students. Formative assessment helps students make adjustments to their learning so they are better able to understand the body of information being taught. In order for teachers and students to make better use of formative assessments, there needs to be a shift in classroom culture. Rather than rely on assessments simply to determine grades and to compare students to each other, data from formative assessments are used to generate evidence to make decisions on what to do next in regards to teaching and learning. Lastly, schools should consider using formative assessments to support teaching and learning. Professional development and learning communities are two ways to support formative assessments within schools.

Formative assessments need not be only pencil and paper tests. There are many simple strategies that teachers can use to gain information about how well their students are learning.

White boards: Teachers ask students to respond to questions by writing the answer on the boards. In addition, teachers could pose a multiple choice question and students write their choice on the board.

Letter-cards: Each student is given a set of cards ranging from A-D, T, and F. The teacher poses a question, and students choose their answer and show the appropriate card. True/False questions are also posed.

Talk-Time: The teacher poses a question and students answer it in pairs. The teacher walks around the class as students are talking and gleans information this way.

Summarizing strategies: There many summarizing strategies that teachers can use to assess student understanding within a lesson.

Formative assessments supply the evidence teachers need in order to adjust instructional practices so that student learning is always the outcome.

Reference:
Popham, W. J. (2008). Transformative assessments. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.