Issue 68: Nov 09, 2009 Connections Newsletter

Assessment Prompts Keep Lessons Focused

Bill Blynt
Nov 09, 2009

Assessment Prompts serve two distinct purposes in the development of an Acquisition Lesson. As indicated in the Acquisition Lesson Plan, Assessment Prompts appear as part of both the Essential Question as well as the Teaching Strategies. Although Assessment Prompts are closely aligned, they take different formats at each place.

The purpose of the Assessment Prompt with the Essential Question is to clearly identify the knowledge or skills students must know, understand or be able to do in order to answer the Essential Question. When planning a lesson, you must think about what knowledge or skills students will need to acquire during the Teaching Strategies part of the lesson in order to be able to answer the Essential Question. As you consider this issue, the answer or answers are written in the Assessment Prompt area under the Essential Question. The sequence the learning will occur is not important at this juncture in the planning process. The purpose is to be clear and focused. We suggest 3 Assessment Prompts for each lesson, but it is okay to have 2 or 4. Much more that 4 and you should consider splitting the lesson into two separate lessons. The Assessment Prompts do not need to be written as questions and can be written in the order they are identified.

The Assessment Prompts identified are transferred to the Teaching Strategies part of the lesson and provide guidance on what needs to be taught and in what order. Each Assessment Prompt is distributed within Teaching Strategies. The sequence the Assessment Prompts are shown on your plan under Teaching Strategies aligns with the sequence instruction is provided to students. Each prompt enables you to check for understanding. In the Teaching Strategies part of the lesson, it is very important to write the Assessment Prompt to include the format of the assessment (how students will demonstrate their understanding), not just list the prompt again. This formative assessment enables you to determine if students understand the information or are able to demonstrate the skill being taught. Because the prompts are focused on one element of the lesson, the response to each prompt provides you with a clear indication if students have understanding of the content to that point or not. The answers will help you determine if they can move on to the next part of the lesson or if you need to address a misunderstanding or shortcoming. While it takes teachers time to learn how to quickly document student results to Assessment Prompts, it is critical that you do create a documentation process so you have complete understanding of how each student is doing at any given time in the lesson. Again, the important thing about the Assessment Prompt and its corresponding activity during Teaching Strategies is that it be used to check student understanding of the Assessment Prompts identified under the Essential Question. The activity designed must elicit a student response that provides you with feedback regarding student progress in gaining the knowledge or skill identified necessary to answer the Lesson Essential Question.

Assessment Prompts developed as part of the comprehensive Acquisition Lesson process ensures that the lesson is focused. The activities distributed within the Teaching Strategies part of the lesson are clearly aligned to the knowledge and/or skills identified as necessary to answer the overall lesson Essential Question. A lesson utilizing Assessment Prompts keeps students on task, actively engaged and accountable for their learning.

For more information on Assessment Prompts see Connecting Exemplary Practices in Acquistion Lessons.

Brainstorming to Improve Thinking

Toni Enloe
Nov 09, 2009

Name as many items as you can that are...How many things can you think of that ...List what you think you know about...

Brainstorming can have many uses in the instructional setting. Teachers have used brainstorming to generate ideas for writing, launch instructional units, and activate and summarize lessons.

How to Have an High Impact Brainstorm:

1. Be a Friend to Everyone's Ideas:  Don't make fun of anyone's ideas including your own. Welcome all ideas and put them on your list, even if they don't seem to be good at the moment.

2. Build a Large Collection of Ideas:  Initially go for a long list of ideas. The more ideas you can generate, the greater your selection.

3. Be Open to Unusual Ideas:  Sometimes the most far-out ideas can lead to a solution to a problem. Unusual ideas may be adapted into something that is doable.

4. Ping-Pong Ideas:  Take your ideas and the ideas of others, and bounce them back-and forth in your mind like a ping-pong ball. One idea might lead to another, then another and another. By ping-ponging, you might end up with even more ideas.
(Adapted from activities based on Marzano's "Tactics for Thinking")

Ideas for Effective Brainstorming:

Many times students will have a few minutes either before or after lunch where brainstorming can be practiced. Brainstorming can be used to help students extend their thinking.

1. Name as many items as you can that are:

• as important as the written word
• as impossible to open as a can without a can opener
• as complex as the human brain
• as intricate as a spider web
• as happy as a winner at the end of a race

2. How many ways can you think of to:

• protect yourself in the water, from a storm or from sunburn
• show someone that you like them
• keep from getting bored in the lunch line

3. How many ways can you think of to improve:

• a bookmark
• a desktop
• an alarm clock
• a pocket
• a refrigerator
• a school lunch

Ideas for Effective Brainstorming in Subject Areas:

Social Studies:
List as many as you can:  geographic terms, kinds of explorers, community helpers, ways that maps can be used, etc.
How many ways can you think of to improve:  neighborhoods, mealtime at your house, parks in your town, etc.
How many different:  kinds of hardship might the first colonists have faced, ways to use any natural resource, problems that might have occurred when ..., etc.

Science:
List:  things you can think of that are found in the ocean, different kinds off ____, many possibilities for a food web/chain, ways to use electricity, ways we could get along without ____, all the sounds you hear in a classroom for 2 minutes, etc.
Ways to:  measure something, determine the weight/height of something, raise of lower the temperature of something, display a collection, classify something, determine the age of something, change the density of something, etc.

Language Arts:
List as many as you can:  words that express a certain mood, words that can replace _____( tired words), ways to show feeling or mood, places to enjoy a book, etc.
Ways to improve:  a subject area, a particular book, your school library, a friendship, communication between _____ and _____, study habits in your classroom, your vocabulary, etc.

Math:
How many ways can you think of to:  express a numeral, fraction, teach addition or subtraction to a friend, measure something, use math at home, etc.
How many uses can you think of for:  a ruler, compass, etc., the symbol zero, a square, rectangle, cone, sphere, etc.

Technology:
List as many as you can: t ypes of technology, ways to use a computers, video cameras, etc.

Music:
List as many as you can:  things that can produce sound, musicians, types of music

Physical Education:
List as many as you can:  types of sports, professional athletes, Olympic sports, characteristics of a healthy lifestyle, etc.

Art:
How many uses can you think of for:  old newspapers, magazines
List as many as you can:  artists, types of art, materials that can be used to produce art, etc.

For more information about Activating Strategies check out LEARNING-FOCUSED What Moves You: How to Get the Most From Activating Strategies.

Modeling for Grade Level Success

Barbara McSwain
Nov 09, 2009

Modeling occurs in exemplary classrooms throughout the day. For example, teachers in exemplary classrooms consistently model fluent reading, whether it is reading time or science class - at all grade levels. They model as they "think aloud" to guide student thinking. They model using signal words that mirror state and course tests as they instruct and ask questions. They model high level questions versus low level. Finally, they model the use of comprehension and extending thinking strategies for better understanding of text.

It does not matter where students sit. Modeling should be occurring in every setting whether it is inclusive, flexible groupings, resource, pull-out, or self-contained. Modeling is important for all students, but it is imperative for struggling and at-risk students. Every encounter with new information should begin with modeling.

Exemplary teachers who model consistently may be heard saying things like "It looks like this." They are often heard using encouraging words such as,"Now you try it!" These teachers put students first. They are always willing to allow students second opportunities by saying, "Let me show you again."

In addition, they share accountability with their students. You may hear them say, "Check to see if yours is the same as the model." Or, before the students are encouraged to practice new information on their own, a reminder may be given, "Be sure to first look at the example."

However they say it, the message is clear, "Try one just like this one!" Modeling is best done in coordination with distributed summarizing and distributed guided practice. Next time you are planning a lesson, think about how you want to model new information for students. What examples will the students need? What alternatives do you plan to model for those struggling students who don't get it the first time?

Scaffolding Grade Level Learning and Scaffolding with Technology workshops and notebooks contain many examples on how to model and assist students in accessing grade level standards.