Lesson Objectives

In reading Chapter 3 of The Fundamental 5:  The Formula for Quality Instruction the subject of lesson objectives is addressed.  In walkthroughs of classrooms, I see a wide-variety of ways and uses of instructional objectives being utilized for student reflection.  I see a lot of "I can..." and a lot of straight technical verbatim from TEA.  I'm not sure how much is actually written for the teacher to reference or the students.  So, when I came across Chapter 3, I found my happy place.  In Chapter 3, objectives are written as "We will..." and in a statement form that is student friendly.  When beginning the lesson, the teacher actually references the statement and how it will be accomplished.  After the lesson, the students and teacher reflect on if they actually accomplished the objective or if reteaching or further addressing of objectives needs to occur.  It actually makes sense and is a useful tool in measuring success!  I hope that you find this a useful in leading your students to success!

Blended Learning

I am proud of the direction that our district and campus is moving toward blended learning.  The pathway of integrating technology into teaching lends itself to helping our students meet their goals and see success.
I was impressed when I recently read an article about the various districts across the country utilizing Blended Learning to help their students.  What I found was that our district is much like those illustrated.  We too use a variety of tools that others are accessing.  Our superintendent shared this vision of Blended Learning several years ago and shared a similar philosophy that others possess in that to increase student achievement and reach our academic goals, technology is key.  Blended learning allows teachers to target instruction in small groups.  If students are to be college and career ready then we need to have our classrooms look like those.  I'm thankful our superintendent and district is moving in the right direction to help our students!

Digital Resources and Goals

Today I shared our Instructional Rounds data and momentum plan with my entire staff.  I had just held a faculty meeting and shared how the ISTE standards require us to seek alternative resources for professional development and growth.  We reflected on the numerous resources from reliable sources that are available via Twitter, and other media.  So, in Instructional Rounds we found that we needed to find resources that would help us focus on improvement in our two target goal areas of higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy for teacher questions, and in increasing the levels of student discourse.  Put the two together (resources and goals) and we have found that there are numerous ways to help ourselves professionally and in turn, help our students achieve more and at higher levels.  We found videos, articles, anchor charts, and on and on that can help us master our goals and in turn help our students.  There are numerous professional websites, educational tools, and research based writers over the web that provide the resources that cannot be located through the typical print method.  I encourage our staff to seek resources and share them with their colleagues.  I look forward to seeing what we will find.

"I don't know"

I noticed today while reviewing the numerous topics that educators were discussing, was an interesting topic entitled, "I don't know."  It happens to fall right in line with what I'm looking for in regards to the feedback our campus received from our first "Instructional Rounds" visit.  One area that we will be focusing on as improvement will be in the area of student questioning or discourse.
In the article published by Heather Walport-Gawron she states that teachers need to realize the critical importance of using the statement, "I don't know," and that it is okay to make that statement to your students.  The power is in what you do with it.  She suggests the following:
Make sure your students know that no one knows the answer to everything, but there are ways to find the answers to the questions we have.  She also encourages you to teach the mindset that "I don't know" means "Wait, let's find out."  First, use Google and teach students the tricks to finding particular information and customize your toolbar to help you.  Second, offer students an opportunity to collaborate when seeing information i.e. Google and make it fun, such as a timed scavenger hunt.  Third, teach students to seek more than source so that your evidence is verified.  In closing, no matter how you teach your students to seek information, the power of "I don't know" can be used to honor confusion and help clear it up.

Assessment Myths

Educators, both teachers and administrators alike are not happy that assessment demands are intruding on day-to-day teaching and learning.  There are a few practical and constructive strategies that can help them (and their students) cope with this new reality.
The three biggest testing myths and what teachers can do about them are as follows:

1.  They've got to learn it all; it's on the test!
      All teachers are understandably overwhelmed by the huge task of helping students master the content necessary to succeed on standardized tests.  Teachers can resolve this by sticking firmly to good pedagogy and effective practice.  Showing students how to connect the dots in smaller ways through concept mapping, allows students to visualize how ideas are related to one another.

2.  You are what they score.
      When scores are published, schools are often labeled with a ranking.  The atmosphere in which a teacher's value is equal to the test results of the school.  Instead, teachers should let go of the scores and focus on student growth.  Teachers should ask and reflect on how their own teaching contributed to the students' success or lack of.

3.  I am powerless over the test.
     Teachers have an overwhelming long list of duties including teaching.  This list includes bookkeeper, technology expert, data analyst, librarian, nurse, defendant, and more.  Teachers must pick their battles and accept what they cannot control.  This acceptance is empowering.

The accountability factor is as choppy as ever, but teachers needn't be overwhelmed.  Teachers must stand firm in the belief that their decisions are based on what they believe to be in the best interest of their students.  Teachers must build on what they know works.

Framing the Lesson

Have you ever noticed all the multiple ways that teachers list the learning objectives for students in the classrooms? Examples i.e., "I can...," or just verbatim from CScope or teacher handbooks.   Have you ever had to REALLY search for them?  Have you ever wondered, does that notice really serve a purpose?
In my professional reading of "The Fundamental Five," I have found the answer to those important questions.  The learning objective is a statement of what the student can expect to learn, today.  Broken into two pieces, the second part is the closing question, product, or task.  What I want my teachers to know is that stating the objective at the very beginning of a lesson or unit must be a deliberate act on the part of the teacher.  It should be written in concrete, student-friendly language and is presented int the form of a "We will..." statement.  The closing question, product, or task is also written in concrete, student-friendly language.  It provides the students with a clear understanding of how he or she will demonstrate what was learned in the lesson.  This provides proof to both the student and the teacher that the objective of the lesson was met.  Properly constructed, the two parts together improve the rigor of the lesson.  An example, "We will identify the components of an effective lesson frame." And, "I will create and share a lesson frame with my table group."  This example of the objective is written at the Bloom's Level of comprehension with the verb, "identify."  The closing product will move the students to a higher level of rigor, synthesis with the verb "create."
Since our focus this year is to bring our students levels of thinking to higher levels, we will utilize this practice.  All of our students will benefit.

Texting and Grammar

I often wonder as most other educators, does texting and all the cute little acronyms have any effect on grammar for our students?  I recently found an article that researched this topic and wanted to share my findings with you.   This article was provided by Tech Learning.
The study completed by the Clare Wood of Coventry University in the UK shows that concerns are unfounded.
The study concluded that among children and teens, there is actually a slight correlation between textism usage and increases in test scores!   A follow up study in 2009 looked at 88 kids between 10 and 12 years old - again, the researchers found similar associations between high textism use and better reading ability!  Nenagh Kemp, psychologist published the findings and suggests that texting, rather than detracting from students' literacy levels, "seems to represent the addition of an extra literacy skill- the ability to represent, in writing, what they would have said if they were speaking."  It's possible that experimentation in language increases overall fluency, and improves writing and reading skills.
So, happy texting everyone!