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The world's largest evidence base on what works best in schools to accelerate student learning

John Hattie of the University of Melbourne, Australia, has long researched performance indicators and evaluation in education. His research, Visible Learning, is the culmination of more than 25 years of examining and synthesizing more than 1,600 meta-analyses comprising more than 95,000 studies involving 300 million students around the world.

Hattie wanted to understand which variables were the most important. Although "almost everything we do improves learning," why not prioritize the ones that will have the greatest effect?

Hattie set about calculating a score or "effect size" for each, according to its bearing on student learning and taking into account such aspects as its cost to implement. The average effect size was 0.4, a marker that represented a year's growth per year of schooling for a student. Anything above 0.4 would have a greater positive effect on student learning.

Together with John Hattie, Corwin's Visible Learning+ professional learning enables schools and districts around the world to effectively implement the core findings of John Hattie's research.

Research at your fingertips

The power of the Visible Learning research lies in helping educators understand, measure, and evaluate the impact they can have on student growth and achievement.

Visible Learning Meta offers unparalleled access to the most up-to-date Visible Learning research, interpretations, and analyses - making it possible to understand the research and adapt it to your particular context. Powered by John Hattie's groundbreaking Visible Learning research, Meta aims to help close the gap between the research of what works best for student achievement.

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John Hattie of the University of Melbourne, Australia, has long researched performance indicators and evaluation in education. His research, Visible Learning, is the culmination of more than 25 years of examining and synthesizing more than 1,600 meta-analyses comprising more than 95,000 studies involving 300 million students around the world.

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Trusted Links Expand your learning network by exploring additional research and resources from trusted friends of Marzano Research.

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Assessing students doesn't have to mean giving a test-an interview or informal chat is often a better option.

©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images

The word assessment carries a lot of baggage and can cause anxiety in both teachers and our students. However, most of us know that assessment doesn't have to be viewed in that way. It simply means understanding where we are in terms of learning so we can plan next steps. It can be a natural and meaningful learning experience.

One way to reframe the narrative of assessment is to use our conversational skills as educators to check for student understanding. In fact, a conversation is often the best tool for doing that. Sometimes a formal test intimidates students, and a chat may be a more effective way to assess their learning. A project or task may be too time consuming for a learning target or outcome that a quick conversation can assess. Also, a conversation can be a choice offered to students, allowing them to decide how to show their learning.

3 Tips for Using Conversations for Assessment

1. Preparing for the conversation: In planning for conversations to assess student learning, you need to create a list of intentional questions to ask students to ensure that you're getting evidence of their learning.

General questions and prompts such as "What are you learning about?" and "Tell me more about that" are useful for getting the student talking, but you'll also need some more specific questions and prompts. You can start by reviewing the learning targets in the unit and crafting questions that connect to those learning targets, and any other explicit goals you have set out for your students.

You can also sequence the questions to bring out deeper learning and evidence-you don't need to proceed linearly a list. You can start with questions on simpler goals and thinking skills: "What did you notice in...?" or "Share what the character did when...," and then move progressively to higher order thinking questions such as "Why do you think...?" or "What would you predict would happen if...?" This allows students to share different levels of learning that you can assess clearly. It's important to know what you want to assess and to have the goals in mind as you ask questions and probe for student thinking. Use your questions as resources rather than as a script.

It's important to paraphrase to the student what they're sharing as a way to show you're listening and to allow them to clarify if you didn't quite understand what they were saying or if they made an oversimplification or error.

2. Choosing between obtrusive and unobtrusive assessment: There are many ways to use conversations to check for understanding. Sometimes we observe students and engage in an informal chat-this is unobtrusive and does not interrupt the learning process. When we assess in unobtrusive ways, students don't know they're being assessed, so this is a low-stakes experience.

We can choose to make the assessment more obtrusive-in this scenario, we do interrupt the learning process to check for student understanding in a more formal way. Even then, the assessment can be conversational, keeping the stakes relatively low.

Some of the teachers I work with use this method slightly more obtrusively by giving what they call "couch quizzes" to assess students in their learning. And a recent video on Edutopia shows how one teacher schedules 60-second interviews with students throughout a unit to gauge their understanding in a nonpunitive way. These are all good examples of using conversation to check for student learning.

3. Documenting student progress: Sometimes working with paper and pencil is the best way to document student learning. While some might think that this is old school and that taking notes on a laptop is better, I like having a simple tracking sheet in front of me as I have a conversation with a student. When I have a computer, I might be focused on the data entry rather than on listening to the student.

A documentation tool allows me to quickly collect data in a way that doesn't distract or detract from the meaningful conversation. As a teacher, you can choose to have it during the conversation or to fill it out very soon afterward.

You might have a sheet for each student-like this one from the School District of Palm Beach County in Florida-that lists learning goals, the conversations (assessments) you have with that student, and a score for each assessment. Or you could have a sheet that lists all student names and mark their scores as you talk with students (the sheet is free, but registration is required).

You'll notice that these forms of documentation are quick and don't require a lot of note taking. If you know the learning targets from the start, then a simple checkmark is all that is needed, rather than long narrative notes or quotes.

Instead of always thinking that an assessment must be a big deal, we can use conversations to assess students in low-stress, low-stakes ways. We can choose to make such conversations formal or informal, but we should come to them prepared to ask students questions to gauge their level of understanding.

This, of course, is nothing new-it's merely an affirmation of what teachers already do. Conversations with students honor that the fact that relationships matter and can lead to better student learning.

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3 Tips for Using Conversations for Assessment | Edutopia

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Assessing students doesn't have to mean giving a test-an interview or informal chat is often a better option. ©Shutterstock/Monkey Business Images The word assessment carries a lot of baggage and can cause anxiety in both teachers and our students. However, most of us know that assessment doesn't have to be viewed in that way.

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Inspired by John Hattie, a middle school math teacher encourages students to articulate and measure their own learning.

©Shutterstock/Diego Cervo

Four years ago, I was introduced to the work of John Hattie, which changed my vision of my role as an educator. Hattie convinced me to think of myself as a change agent who could apply the tools of Visible Learning to guide my students to succeed in math beyond their own expectations.

To do this, I had to create a classroom where my students knew exactly what they were learning, how well they were doing, and where that learning would take them.

Learning Targets

Some teachers don't appreciate objectives or learning targets, but I would urge them to consider the following question: How can we expect our struggling students to succeed if we don't tell them what it is that we want them to learn?

I now begin my lessons with an "I can" statement that pinpoints the skill and/or knowledge that I aim for my students to gain-e.g., "I can describe the movement of three basic rigid motions on a coordinate plane" or "I can calculate the missing side lengths of similar shapes." The precision of my learning targets sharpens and streamlines my lesson plans, and allows me to create formative assessments that shape my planning going forward.

However, the primary benefit of using learning targets is that they allow students to articulate and measure their own learning. For me as a math teacher, there's nothing more rewarding than witnessing my students engaged in a mathematical discussion, and learning targets offer the language to begin these discussions.

After sharing a learning target, I display for two or three minutes all of the learning targets in the unit we're studying. I use this broad overview to conduct a brief class discussion on what we've learned thus far and where this learning is taking us.

This is an opportunity for me to ask a few review questions and build vocabulary, allow students to articulate their own understanding of the concepts covered, and give meaning to these ideas by describing where our work is taking us.

Checkpoints and Self-Assessment

When it comes time to monitor my students' understanding, I ask checkpoint questions aligned with our learning targets. Such checkpoints are ungraded quizzes, formative assessments that allow me to gauge where my students need help. They also give students the opportunity to track their own understanding of the learning targets as we progress through the unit.

I correct the assessment using a highlighter, and the lack of a grade along with the strategic use of the highlighter allows students to focus on what is most important about the assessment-the learning targets where they need to improve.

The ultimate goal of learning targets is to build self-regulating, articulate students who can boost their own progress through self-assessment. So after a checkpoint, I provide students the opportunity to assess their own progress using a rubric where they can rate their proficiency on our learning targets.

Within a unit, I give students three or four checkpoints (including one that covers the full unit), providing them with several pieces of data to assess their own learning, learn from their mistakes, and improve in preparation for the final, graded unit assessment.

Retakes

Of course, some students still struggle to succeed. Therefore, I offer them what they need most-more time. When a student scores below proficient on the unit assessment, I ask them to come after school, and I use that time to review the concepts they're still struggling to grasp.

The most important part of this retake process is getting students to articulate their mistake and their new understanding of how to solve the problem correctly. If there's time, I'll give them a new assessment to further show their progress. However, most often the retake is an in-depth discussion that I have with a student or a small group of students that allows them to fortify their understanding of the learning targets they missed, assures me that they have the skills they need to move forward in the curriculum, and earns them a passing grade for the assessment.

The Portfolio

In my final piece of assessment, I ask students to do my job and assign themselves a grade, using evidence to support their claim.

This evidence comes in the form of a portfolio with three elements. The first element asks students to submit one or more checkpoints to demonstrate growth in understanding of a math concept we've covered. These submissions are accompanied by a written paragraph articulating the student's journey to deeper understanding. The second element of the portfolio is a piece of either homework or classwork that helped the student contribute to a class or small group discussion, with a paragraph detailing the ideas discussed. In the final element, students write about a concept we've covered, explaining how they could use it in the real world, how it connects to their understanding of other mathematical concepts, or what they find cool about the mathematical ideas behind the concept.

My learning targets are posted online for students to review, and they have their checkpoints and unit assessments to display their progress. I give them a few minutes each week to think about their portfolios, make notes, and put work aside for possible use. I then use students' statistical grades alongside their own self-assessments to generate their grade.

Providing my students with clarity through the use of learning targets has been a priority for me over the past four years. This practice has helped my students better articulate their ideas in math and strengthened their ability to self-assess, which in turn has increased their success in math.

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Self-Assessment in Middle School | Edutopia

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Inspired by John Hattie, a middle school math teacher encourages students to articulate and measure their own learning. ©Shutterstock/Diego Cervo Four years ago, I was introduced to the work of John Hattie, which changed my vision of my role as an educator.

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Education Reimagined defines the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered as shifting how we see learners and their critical role in their own learning now, and throughout their lives. The critical shift is that "Learners are seen and known as wondrous, curious individuals with vast capabilities and limitless potential. This paradigm recognizes that learning is a lifelong pursuit and that our natural excitement and eagerness to discover and learn should be fostered throughout our lives, particularly in our earliest years." When we focus on learners, connect to their interests, needs, and goals, we can create experiences that ignite curiosity, develop passion, and unleash genius. As I work with diverse educators and talk with students, there are common characteristics that always surface when people share powerful learning experiences. They often share experiences that are: personal, allow learners to exert agency, have goals and accountability, they are inquiry-based, collaborative, authentic, allow for productive struggle, provide and use models, ensure time for critique and revision as well as reflection.

As I think about some of the most impactful learning experiences in my own life, they align with the same characteristics that I hear from others. One of the most recent and definitely impactful learning experiences was the opportunity to participate in a TEDx event and do a talk along with some amazing friends and educators. My experience encompassed diverse opportunities for growth and empowered me to grow and learn significantly. Reflecting on my own learning and what others share with me regularly makes me think about the how we learn in schools and how critical it is to create the conditions that support learner-centered experiences in diverse classrooms.

In an effort to create more purpose and autonomy in schools, there is an increased focus on personalized learning. This is a good thing but it can also be overwhelming for those who are responsible for the outcomes to allow learners (educators and students) to learn in ways that meet their needs. Too often for the sake of "convenience" we standardize learning experiences that rarely meet the needs for all. Instead, personal learning connects to learner's beliefs, strengths, experiences, and passions to start from where the learner is and move forward from the towards the desired learning goals.

As I reflected on this and connected it to the TedX experience, I realized that what made it personal is that I got to choose the content and had the autonomy to organize the talk in a way that made sense to me. What is also important to note is that nobody else spent time making this a personalized learning experience for me. The goals were the same for all of us- 8 minutes to share your idea worth spreading. The difference was in the flexibility and resources to learn in ways that met our unique goals and needs. I had access to resources on public speaking to watch at my own pace and set milestones to reach along the way that directly related to developing and delivering the talks.

To support my learning I had access to an online course with a variety of modules. If there was a course that I wasn't interested in or was not helpful at the moment, I skipped it and found additional resources that best helped me to meet my overall goal, not micromanaged to complete each and every task. Everything I learned was purposeful and related to growing my own expertise and confidence to be at my personal best and I was held accountable by an authentic task.

What these experiences have continuously taught me is that we can't control the learners and simultaneously expect them to be motivated without opportunities to exert agency in the learning process. Agency comes from the power to act and requires learners to have the ability to make decisions and take ownership of their own behaviors in the process. To close this gap in how we want to learn in schools will require changing how we design learning experiences for educators.

From the time we finalized the speaker list to the event date, we had four weeks to prepare our talks and it was intense! We backwards mapped our plan from the date of the even and created a plan and strategic goals to be ready in time. I had weekly check-ins with coaches and assignments each week that were directly related to crafting the speech. At the end of the four weeks, I was accountable for delivering an 8-minute talk and my own level of accountability to bring my personal best far exceeded any external measures that anyone else could have placed on me.

We often prioritize what we are held accountable and for this very reason accountability systems are set in place to check homework, take attendance and make sure that you taught the curriculum. This is where the accountability gets a bad rap. Often times because it is easier to measure, we hold people accountable for standardized tests, grades, and other data that is easy to capture yet often fail to set goals and hold others accountable for developing the skills that we say we actually care about like creative thinking, complex thinking and problem solving, communication, and innovation.

Inevitably, when learners are posing questions and seeking answers, they are more invested than if they are being told what to think or do. In my case it was, 'What makes a great talk?' and 'How can I best organize and share my ideas?' I was motivated read, watch, listen to a lot of different speakers to organize my ideas and develop the talk and the slides. When challenges are presented or learners can find their own to solve, they are often more intrinsically motivated to seek answers to questions that they are genuinely interested in figuring out.

Although I was the only one on stage, this was far from an individual endeavor. I had to work with many people along the way that was critical to the process. I called on different individuals based on their strengths throughout the process. And at times, when I wasn't ready I had a team that pulled me along and made sure that I was pushed to do my best. The face to face collaboration was important but I wasn't limited by that as I could reach out to others in my network and learn from diverse individuals. Creating opportunities for learners to build on the strengths of others and work together allows for new and better ideas to emerge. When we are exposed to diverse ideas and perspectives, we grow in our own practice and impact others as well.

My excitement and anxiety about the event was fueled by the public accountability of my performance in front of people I really admire. Also, the fact that it was being recorded for anyone to see took it up a notch too. Having this experience reinforced the importance of creating opportunities for students to share their work beyond the classroom. Connecting students with experts, peers and other learners allow for a different level of accountability and authentic feedback than one gets from simply handing something into a teacher for a grade. Experiences, where learners get to solve a challenge that is meaningful and relevant to their context, can empower learners to take action and do something that matters to them and others.

Over course of the four weeks, I had many, many iterations of my talk. The first ones were bad. Really bad. Thankfully, nobody was grading my first drafts and I had multiple opportunities for critique and revision. I had to push myself to practice in front of my peers, knowing it was far from perfect. Feedback, by nature, will unearth some things that need to improve and is not always easy to hear. But if we don't create conditions where feedback is part of the process, how can we expect real growth in our learning?

With each version that I shared it with my friends and family and coaches, it got better (never perfect). Instead of expecting the first draft to be the best, we need to realize that with time, clarity, critique and revision, we are capable of much more than we realize. When we raise our expectations and create the conditions to achieve those expectations, people will often go above and beyond. It is important to deliberately create the conditions where learners feel valued and can openly share challenges to grow and improve as a critical part of the learning process.

Creating an environment where learners are encouraged to take risks in pursuit of learning and growth rather than perfection is absolutely foundational to shifting practices. I know a lot of people have done these talks or some version of them and it's not a big deal. I also had people tell me that is it would be their worst nightmare. It definitely was a step out of my comfort zone but within reach and I am thankful for the opportunity to push myself. This reminded me of one of my students in 7th grade who had just moved from the Philippines and his English was not very strong yet. I had assigned each student do a presentation and he wouldn't do it. I could have tried to force him or I could have failed him but instead, I asked if he would be willing to share his presentation with me and a friend. He thought about it and agreed. This was the right amount of struggle for him and a safe learning environment, whereas the for the others it was in front of the class and in other venues. The learning task has to be within the right zone and allow for a productive struggle or some learners will shut down if they feel it is too far out of reach, even if you threaten them with a failing grade. This also means that the right task or product will likely be different based on the learners in the class.

While I was preparing for my talk I watched a lot of TED Talks. They helped me see how great speakers put their stories together, how to craft their slide deck, and how they connect with their audience. Each time I watched, I had a different focus depending on where I was as a learner. Models are so powerful in the learning process but so often in school, we have this fear of copying or cheating. There is a lot of talk about creating rather than consuming but to create something better, I relied on models to inspire new ideas, build off of and stimulate my own thinking and creativity. No matter how much I loved Brene Brown or Simon Sinek's talk, I couldn't copy them but they did inspire me in a lot of ways. If an assignment has only one right answer or final product, maybe there are some opportunities for it to be revised.

Reflection is often the forgotten part of the learning process, in a fast moving world, taking time to pause and reflect can easily get cut when we lack time but it is often the most valuable part of the learning process. I videotaped myself and although this was painful and I hated every minute of watching it, it helped me see what I looked like and sounded like and reflect on where I could improve. Taking in what I had learned from others, the feedback I received and figuring out how to make the changes in my own way, was critical to my growth.

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on the 10 characteristics. What am I missing? What could be revised?

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10 Characteristics of Learner Centered Experiences

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Education Reimagined defines the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered as shifting how we see learners and their critical role in their own learning now, and throughout their lives. The critical shift is that "Learners are seen and known as wondrous, curious individuals with vast capabilities and limitless potential.

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Culturally Responsive Teaching

An interaction with a student prompts an elementary teacher to revamp her classroom library to make it more inclusive.

The library is the physical and metaphorical center of my classroom. It is a reading world adorned with a carpet, comfy chairs, a lamp, and bins of neatly organized books. When I remember my own childhood, I picture a colorful tapestry woven by the hundreds of worlds I visited through the pages of books.

Imagine my surprise when one of my students commented about what I thought was a magical space, "I'm tired of reading about white kids."

She followed this with a reminder that I, her teacher, am also not white. I was taken aback. More than 60 percent of my students are individuals of color. My library featured white characters almost exclusively. What schema was I helping to create for my students? I decided to make a change.

Start With What You Have

I began by making bins around the subjects I intended to cover. Make the bins you want to fill, even if they have only one book in them.

I already owned some books about characters from diverse ethnic backgrounds, but they were hidden-mixed in with other chapter books in bins marked with reading levels. I pulled every book out of the bins and made a pile on the floor. I weeded out books about people of color written by white authors and books that reinforce stereotypes, like The Indian in the Cupboard.

Look for topics that can be covered by your existing titles. You might need to start without much in the way of cultural diversity. Examples of such topics include Caring for Others, Be Yourself, Accepting Differences, Standing Up for What's Right, and Girls Are Powerful.

Involve Your Students

One student took the first bin and labeled it Books About Asian Americans. It was followed by Books About African Americans. Per student requests, we made bins for a variety of cultural groups and labeled them Chinese American Girls, Native Americans, and Kids Who Recently Moved to the U.S.

Although the majority of bins were focused on ethnicity, students also made bins for themes and topics such as disabilities, different types of families, foster care, and divorce.

Ask your students to suggest books. Keep a list in your library and have students find books they want to read.

Choose Relatable Stories

We're careful when choosing the books for the bins. I want contemporary books written about contemporary issues. I want students to feel proud and accepted-to see other children who struggle to find a voice, and who have dreams and challenges like their own. I carefully distinguish between realistic fiction and historical fiction.

Imagine if the only time you read a book about someone who looked like you, it was about slavery-and it was the only book in your classroom library to represent you. Or the book was about an internment camp. Yes, we need to remember this history. But these historical accounts should not be the only books that a student sees in the library that reflect his or her background.

Continue the Momentum

Creating a diverse library is an ongoing project. I found many diverse books at library sales and at secondhand stores like Goodwill. When I found multiple copies of the same book, I bought them all, including seven copies of Becoming Naomi Leon.

When it was time to replenish books through PTA or classroom funds, I made a concerted effort to buy culturally inclusive books. My library began slowly shifting. There are many resources to find diverse reading materials.

Make your space reflective of your intentions. In your library, get rid of decorations that do not have a function. Hang posters of African American writers, Native American poets, or Mexican American novelists.

Suggest that the school library start a special section for culturally inclusive books. I had many conversations with our school librarian about ways to build a more diverse collection.

Student Engagement and Self-Esteem

It was a big deal when our diverse classroom library began taking shape. Students took care of our bins and worked to find other books that could be included. Books previously unread- Year of the Dog, for example-were suddenly hot commodities. We had a waitlist for books by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Louise Erdrich.

Students began caring for books-holding each other accountable for returning them properly and for taking care of the organizational systems of our library. The classroom library was "our library." It was a place of pride in our individual and collective stories.

"I think it's good," the student told me later when I interviewed her about our library. "It's good except for..." and she pointed to the one book bin that was empty: Books About Girls From Senegal. That was a bin, she assured me with her bright grin, she was going to fill one day.

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Creating a Diverse Classroom Library | Edutopia

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Culturally Responsive Teaching An interaction with a student prompts an elementary teacher to revamp her classroom library to make it more inclusive. The library is the physical and metaphorical center of my classroom. It is a reading world adorned with a carpet, comfy chairs, a lamp, and bins of neatly organized books.

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Anchoring each of these parallel units were questions such as:
1. How can formative assessment inform teaching practice and student learning? 2. How can teachers design authentic assessments to advance learning through the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills?
3. How can student feedback be used to encourage students to extend their learning while leveraging student growth and metacognition?

Three key ideas emerged from conversation in those units:
1. Assessment should be organic and fluid
Assessment is a process. Kevin Mattingly drove the point home in his interview, encouraging educators to modify their thinking about formative assessment to integrate the idea of formative feedback. Assessment should be ongoing with students receiving continuous feedback on their work and concrete support on how to apply the feedback. Educators in Rethinking Assessment recognized the importance of being intentional in carving out time in the classroom to press pause, reflect, and provide students with feedback.

"After the first batch of reading, I realize that I need to re-institute a habit I had had for a few years. I need to press pause on our class conversations with three or four minutes still left in our class. I want to explicitly take this time as the students are packing up to point out explicitly what was accomplished and how our conversation that day may have moved us toward some learning goals." -Jim Doherty, Wyoming Seminary

"Our performance tasks are usually quite intricate, and the authentic learning that is taking place takes ample amounts of time and multiple representations (iterations) to demonstrate understanding of complex ideas. Don't rush these iterations - the struggle to advance the idea is where the learning happens." -Andrew Podoll, The Delta School

"The goal-setting seems especially important as a means for using the feedback. The idea here also directly addresses two of Kevin Mattingly's points that I found compelling: (1) the misconception 'that assessment involves this unidirectional flow of information from student to teacher' and (2) we must ensure that students USE the feedback that we are giving them (and yes, we must carve out time for students to use feedback)." -Jen Neubauer, Nueva School
2. Students should have agency in the assessment process
It's clear to educators that they need to push students to move beyond just going through the motions of school. Participants asked how, as educators, can we provide students with the opportunity to engage and have a stake in their own learning? How do we involve students in the assessment process? What, then, becomes the role of the teacher?

"I wonder about motivation, especially intrinsic motivation. What inspires a student of any age to work on something that may not be particularly interesting - even if that skill/habit can be of real use to them? Is it our job as educators to help create a broader and more compelling narrative? Do we invite students into that work?" -Andrew Housiaux, Phillips Academy

"The promise of refocusing student attention on learning, rather than 'satisfying the rubric' is incredibly appealing. I sometimes see very high-achieving students do what is essentially the bare minimum on assignments so that they can move on to the next thing. They're ambitious, often over-committed, and their goal ends up being getting something done rather than truly learning something." -Adrianne Jacobs, Harpeth Hall School

"My preferred (and fledgling) strategy... design an assessment that relates to performance goals rather than content goals; have students understand that it is not for course credit, but that they will evaluate/grade the assessment themselves (using my criteria); then ask students to write down what they think they need to work on further to better reach the goals." -Malcolm Fenton, The Dalton School

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Three Ways Educators are Rethinking Assessment

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Anchoring each of these parallel units were questions such as: 1. How can formative assessment inform teaching practice and student learning? 2. How can teachers design authentic assessments to advance learning through the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills? 3.

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Listen to an extended version of this post as a podcast (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and mysimpleshow

I first became aware that there might be a problem a few years ago, when one of my kids was studying weather systems: high- and low-pressure systems, cold fronts and warm fronts. We were trying to help her prepare for a test and also do some sort of homework, and she didn't get it at all.

We were really frustrated, my husband and I, because all we really had as a reference was the top half of this worksheet that explained the concept. So we were having trouble explaining it to her, and at one point I finally said to her, "You know, in your class, didn't your teacher ever draw a diagram on the board?"

She said, "No."

I said, "Did you guys ever do anything like where the teacher would grab a small group of kids and say, 'OK, you three, you're going to be a cold front, and then you three, you're going to be a warm front. Come up to the front of the room, OK. And I want this group here, I want you to wiggle around really fast because you are, I don't know, high pressure. And this group, I want you to move really, really slowly.'"

I was trying to figure out if there had ever been some kind of physical demonstration of these concepts. It seemed like even a three-minute re-enactment of how these systems work would help the kids get it right away.

"Did your teacher ever do anything like that?" I asked.

She looked at me like I was crazy and said no.

I said, "Well how did you learn this? How did you actually learn this for the first time?"

"Well," she said, "we just read the book."

"What do you mean 'we read the book'?" I asked. "Did everybody sit down quietly and read it and then the teacher talked to you?"

"No. We just opened it up to page 36, and then she would read a little bit to us, and then explain something, and then we would read a little bit more, and then she would say something else, and that was it."

"Is it like that all the time?" I asked, hoping for a no.

She shrugged and said, "Basically."

This was a couple of years ago, when my kids were all still in elementary school, but since that time, I've seen this pattern more and more as they've gotten older: Every day, for the most part, information is delivered to them in some really basic way-usually PowerPoint-and the kids copy down what the teacher tells them to from the slides. Then they have some sort of worksheet where they're basically regurgitating what was on those slides. After this cycle repeats four or five times, they have some kind of test. And that's it.

This is not good. If we want our students to actually learn the facts and concepts and ideas we're trying to teach them, they have to experience those things in some way that rises above abstract words on paper. They have to process them. Manipulate them.

To really learn in a way that will stick, they have to DO something.

I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir here-that people who read these posts are probably doing a lot more in class than this information-in, information-out model-and if that's true for you, then great. But I listen to teachers talk all the time: in schools, on social media, in private messages, and I know that things are not going well for you all of the time. I hear teachers talk about "covering" concepts in class and even reviewing them with games, only to end up with half the class failing an exam. This is incredibly frustrating; I know. But the truth is, just because you covered it, it doesn't mean they learned it.

And I know that this is going to upset some people, but if you have a lot of students failing your tests, and those students are in class and they're showing up, then the problem is not them. The problem is you. It's something you're doing, or maybe something you're not doing.

The Problem: A Gap in the Lesson Plan

First, let me say that authentic, project-based learning is probably the best way to have students experience meaningful learning. But many schools and classrooms aren't quite there yet: They deliver instruction in a more traditional way. That model can still result in solid learning, if it's implemented correctly. And that's where I'm seeing a problem. I think we're skipping over one of the most important steps in our lesson plans.

Let's consider the classic lesson plan format:

1. Anticipatory set: This is where we get students interested in the lesson and set objectives for the day.

2. Direct instruction: Facts, concepts, and skills are delivered via lecture, video, reading-some way of getting the information into students' heads.

3. Guided practice and application: With the support of the teacher, students apply what they have just been taught.

4. Independent practice and application: Students apply the learning on their own.

5. Assessment: The teacher measures how well students have met the objectives.

I think what's happening is that we're skipping over the third step. We're going right to independent practice (often at the lowest levels-basic regurgitation), but students aren't being given any kind of task to actually process or apply the material in a meaningful way. We go straight from direct instruction to independent practice to assessment.

In some cases, we may even be skipping both steps 3 and 4. Not too long ago I had to help another of my kids study for a social studies test. All we had to work with were notes copied from a PowerPoint. I didn't understand the meaning of half of them, because they were just bulleted phrases, so it was nearly impossible to review the material. When I pointed at individual items and asked my kid to tell me what they meant, that turned out to be too difficult. The teacher had just told them to write down that bullet point, but my kid left class that day not really knowing what it meant.

Because I was a teacher myself, I know there's got to be more to the story. I remember how students could misrepresent or oversimplify the things we did in class. I would bet that this teacher took time to explain these concepts before having students copy down bullet points. But it wasn't enough. My kid was in class, paying attention, writing down the notes, but still didn't learn a whole lot.

Apart from the poor quality learning, this gap in our teaching is a problem for two more reasons.

For one, it doesn't align with the standards. Look at any social studies standards for middle school, in pretty much any state. Do any of them say that kids need to be able to identify names of significant people in historical periods, or be able to regurgitate facts about certain cultures or regions?

No. They want students to be able to understand the relationships between social movements and changes and other influences. They want students to be able to explain and analyze things. I just randomly pulled up Wisconsin's standards for grade 7 social studies. Here's an example of what these students should be doing when they learn history (from page 10):

1. Use historical evidence for determining cause and effect.

2. Analyze, recognize, and evaluate patterns of continuity and change over time and contextualization of historical events.

3. Connect past events, people, and ideas to the present, use different perspectives to draw conclusions, and suggest current implications.

4. Evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to interpret the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and/or author's point of view.

These standards are GORGEOUS. If students are actually doing these things in Wisconsin middle schools, that would be amazing. But if Wisconsin is like a lot of other places, my guess is that students are sitting through PowerPoint lectures, copying notes from the PowerPoints, and transferring that information to worksheets and tests.

I know it seems like I'm picking on social studies here, but that's just because social studies is such an information-driven subject area. The same could be said for science, health, and other content-heavy classes. Even in English language arts, which really should be driven more by practicing reading and writing, there are some teachers who manage to run mostly lecture-worksheet-test-based classes.

The other problem with this kind of teaching is that it makes kids hate school. I already dealt with this extensively in this post about excessive use of worksheets, but it's worth repeating: When we do little more than have students copy down information or fill out worksheets, we are making school an awful place to be.

In a 2014 article, instructional coach Alexis Wiggins reported on her findings after shadowing two high school students through a typical school day. She was horrified by the amount of sitting and passive learning these students were subjected to. Friends of mine who work as instructional consultants and coaches, who visit hundreds of classrooms every year, say they see more low-level seatwork than anything else.

My own kids hate school more and more the older they get. And they rarely bring home anything lower than an A. The other parents I talk to-who live all around the country-report a similar pattern more often than not. This is not an isolated issue.

Why Is This Happening?

I think this epidemic of passive learning has come about for a couple of reasons:

High-Stakes Testing Mania

We're in an environment right now that is so driven by high-stakes testing and data that teachers have no choice but to only do things that produce data. Teachers say that they would like to be doing more engaging activities, but they end up in this cycle of information in, information out, assess, get a score, move to the next step again, repeat.

Death by Documentation

I'm hearing more and more from teachers who are required to document the crap out of their day -super detailed lesson plans, all the way down to having to indicate what font size they're using on something. When you have to do that much documentation, it squeezes teachers' time so much that they go to this default setting of get the content out there, cover it, test it, and move to the next thing.

Holes in Teacher Preparation

A friend who consults with schools tells me she believes teachers do not have sufficient tools in their toolbox for teaching. They literally don't know enough strategies for actively engaging students in the content, and that teacher prep programs may not be equipping teachers with enough strategies. Many teachers don't necessarily know how to go beyond direct instruction, worksheets, and tests, so they just go with the default. With teacher turnover at such a high rate and the number of emergency certifications growing in some states, it may be that teacher prep programs may not even be involved: There may not be much preparation at all.

The first two reasons need to be addressed at an administrative, policy level. But the last one we can deal with right now.

How Do We Fix It?

Now comes the good news. This problem can be solved in so many ways, and the solutions don't have to be complicated, time-consuming, or fancy. Simply add activities into your instruction that will help students build more pathways in their brains, see patterns, connect to previous knowledge, and experience some novelty so they remember the material better.

In between the direct instruction step and the assessment step of your planning, start adding in some of these activities:

1. Sorting

Organize the material by similarities and differences, categorize it, label it, do something that requires students to activate schema and create connections. An inductive learning lesson would be great for this.

2. Kinesthetic Work

Doing short role-plays and simulations can really help students visualize relationships and processes. This can also be done by creating models with Play-Doh or cardboard, or doing some kind of a maker project that connects to your standard.

3. Discussion

Even giving students a few minutes to discuss a topic-especially if they are taking some kind of a stance on the content and backing it up with evidence-can do so much to help them process and learn the content. But make sure all students are participating! Check out this big list of discussion strategies for tons of ideas.

4. Graphic Representations

Having students put the material into any kind of visual form will help them remember it better and understand how concepts are related. Graphic organizers and sketchnotes are two ways to accomplish this. Students can do these on their own or they can be constructed as a class with your support-for especially challenging concepts, this may be most effective.

5. Write to Learn

When students process ideas in writing, they are forced to synthesize the information that has only entered their brains passively, so stopping instruction every now and then to have students write short summaries or give their opinions on the things they're learning is a really effective, efficient way to cement their learning. This video from the Teaching Channel shows just how simple this can be to implement.

6. Mini-Projects

For learning to be active, it doesn't have to be a super complicated, long-term project. Students can do mini-projects that take just a day or two. This poster project, where students have to rank leaders of early America, then back up their choices with evidence, is a perfect example of a project that could be done in a short period of time.

7. Anticipation Guides

Anticipation guides are simple forms where students state their opinions on key statements before a learning activity. This primes them for the learning that is about to come. Once the direct instruction is done, they revisit the guides to see if their opinions have changed. This would be a really simple way to boost engagement and give students a bigger stake in a lesson.

8. Quality Note-taking

Although students seem to be taking a lot of "notes" in class, it's not clear that this is being done in a way that results in high-quality learning. If your classroom practices are aligned with the research on note-taking, this activity can be a powerful processing tool.

9. Retrieval Practice

Asking students to recall information is a great way to help them learn it better, but I'm not exactly talking about the kind of recall they do on worksheets. Whether it's stuff that just needs to be memorized or concepts that require more complex processing, building periods of retrieval practice into your instruction will boost learning.

Bonus: Collaboration

Most of these activities would be enhanced by some kind of collaboration: Have students share their write-to-learn responses with a partner. Do sorting tasks with small groups. Any time they work together, they're engaging with the content in a different way, which introduces more novelty and more opportunities to process it differently.

This is not an exact science, and no teacher designs instruction perfectly all the time. But if you're not getting the results you want, try to do more of this: When planning your lessons, ask yourself if students are doing anything with the material, or if you're just setting things up so it's information in, information out. If it's the latter, start adding in ways to have students engage with the stuff they're learning. There are a lot of different ways to do it. Even though it adds a little bit more time, you're going to see such big benefits. Not only are your students going to learn better, you will all-both your students and you-like coming to school a whole lot more. ♦

Come back for more.
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Listen to an extended version of this post as a podcast (transcript): Sponsored by Peergrade and mysimpleshow I first became aware that there might be a problem a few years ago, when one of my kids was studying weather systems: high- and low-pressure systems, cold fronts and warm fronts.

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Listen to my interview with Tracy Enos or read the transcript here.

In our never-ending quest to find better ways to differentiate and personalize instruction for students, we have plenty of options. I covered a lot of the basics in my Differentiation Starter Kit. Then last year we learned how math teacher Natalie McCutchen manages a self-paced classroom. And for ESL students, there are the Can-Do Descriptors.

Now, Rhode Island teacher Tracy Enos shares her system for customizing instruction to meet the needs of every student. She calls it a playlist, an individualized digital assignment chart that students work through at their own pace.

First, consider what we usually do: When planning a typical unit of instruction, teachers map out a series of lessons to deliver, assignments for students to complete, and some kind of final assessment at the end. They might share this plan with students, but then the execution is done by the teacher: The teacher delivers the lessons, tells students when to do the assignments, and guides students toward the final assessment.

With playlists, the responsibility for executing the learning plan shifts: Students are given the unit plan, including access to all the lessons (in text or video form), ahead of time. With the learning plan in hand, students work through the lessons and assignments at their own pace. And because each student has her own digital copy of the playlist (delivered through a system like Google Classroom), the teacher can customize the list to meet each student's needs.

"A playlist is basically like a road map," Enos explains. "I started using them in my classroom when I looked at my room full of 26 students and I saw the variety in their abilities. I knew I needed something different so that I could meet the needs of each one of those kids. Instead of just saying, 'OK, everybody, we're going to work on this lesson today,' I needed to individualize it so that different kids are working on things that they needed."

The term playlist, by the way, was coined by one of Enos' colleagues, math teacher Jason Appel.

Here are screenshots of three sample playlists from Enos's class. If you click on each one, you'll be taken to the full version to view in Google Docs. Although these examples come from a language arts class, Enos feels strongly that the playlist concept could be used in any content area.

Argument Writing Playlist

The first playlist is for a unit on argument writing. What you see here is just the first few tasks; there are 19 on the full playlist.

In the first column, Enos simply names the task. The second column provides specific instructions for the task. The third column is set up for students to record any notes they have about the task, and the fourth is where students record the date they completed the task.

Although much of the playlist will be exactly the same for each student, especially for the first few tasks, individual tasks can be customized to meet individual needs. Because the playlist is stored in digital form, the teacher can go into each student's playlist at any time and make adjustments as needed.

In addition to adjusting certain tasks, Enos also builds space in each playlist for purely individualized tasks. If we look further down her playlist, we see that tasks #14 and #15 have been left open for individualized focus revision activities, to be determined after the student has written her draft:

Enos does place occasional hard deadlines into her playlists; item 13 above has a date assigned to it. Although students are allowed to complete the work before the deadline, having this task pinned to a specific date helps prevent students from getting too far off track from each other.

Parts of Speech Playlist

This next one is from a unit designed to review the parts of speech. Notice that some of the tasks are quite simple and quick: Students just need to log on to a certain platform, create an account, or join an online group. This makes the playlist a practical tool as well as a good instructional vehicle: One place to keep learning tasks AND the kinds of housekeeping items that accompany most units. And breaking units into smaller tasks gives students a feeling of accomplishment as they move through each item.

To see the full version of this playlist, click the image below:

Again, the "Directions" column allows for maximum flexibility. The teacher can add tech tips, reminders, or any other information that might help student complete the task more smoothly. And if this is done in digital form, the teacher can easily add tips, links, or other comments at any time, making the playlist a living document.

Book Club Playlist

The final example is a playlist created for a unit on dystopian fiction, in which students participated in book clubs.

Notice that the playlist also includes checkpoints, where students must touch base with their teacher before moving on. These can be built in at any point for any reason, such as making sure students have completed key housekeeping tasks (like in the example above) or having the teacher review a draft for quality.

Many of the tasks in the playlist will ultimately result in the student submitting work through Google Classroom, or they might require a paper submission in a class that hasn't gone quite so digital. In fact, the whole system could be done on paper-one look at how student learning is managed in a Montessori classroom and you'll see how that can work. What's key is that students work through the list on their own, which frees the teacher up to spend more time working one-on-one with students.

If students are truly working at their own pace, wouldn't that mean some are way ahead, even finished with a unit, while others drag way behind? Setting a few hard deadlines (as shown in the argument writing playlist) can help keep the pacing from spiraling too far out of whack, but if our goal is true individualization, then we shouldn't want everyone to be too closely aligned.

This can be managed on a day-to-day basis. Students who are taking longer to master key tasks will likely get more one-on-one assistance from the teacher or be placed in groups to help them. Those who finish the required material quickly can be given enrichment tasks that take the learning to more advanced levels.

Homework also takes on a different role in a class that uses playlists: Because students work through the playlists on their own, they decide whether they get homework or not. If a student is moving through a playlist quickly, they may not have a need to spend extra time on the work at home. Conversely, if a student finds he needs extra help in class, he may decide to catch up on a few videos at home.

For a more in-depth exploration of playlists, listen to my podcast interview with Tracy Enos using the player above or by listening on iTunes or Stitcher (for Android). If you have questions, ask them in the comments below and I'll have Tracy come over and answer them. And if you have used a system that's similar to playlists, please share your experiences in the comments so we can all learn together.♦

There's a lot more where this came from.
Join the Cult of Pedagogy mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading. If you are already a subscriber and want this resource, just check your most recent email for a link to the Members-Only Library-it's in there!

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Using Playlists to Differentiate Instruction

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Listen to my interview with Tracy Enos or read the transcript here. In our never-ending quest to find better ways to differentiate and personalize instruction for students, we have plenty of options. I covered a lot of the basics in my Differentiation Starter Kit.

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"When will I ever use this?" If you're a math teacher, this is a question you're very familiar with. As the math curriculum becomes ever more abstract in middle and high school, it's difficult for students to see when and where the material they're learning will be applicable.

Just telling them that the material will be useful for their following math courses or future academic career doesn't cut it-and it shouldn't. This is when the " unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics," as explored through reading and writing, is the ace up the sleeves of teachers.

Reading and writing are complex, fundamental, integrative learning skills that should be used to their potential in math class. Reading is a two-part process that is similar to mathematics in that it requires first the transfer of encoded information to the reader and then the comprehension of that information. And writing is one of the most powerful modes of learning because it engages both hemispheres of the brain -one side generates ideas, the other structures them.

Effective writing also clarifies and organizes a student's thoughts, and the slow pace of writing is conducive to student learning because it allows them to reason carefully to make sure they're correct before they state their thoughts. Studies have shown that writing is valuable specifically for the math classroom-for example, it seems that a student's ability to explain concepts in writing is related to the ability to comprehend and apply them.

And of course written explanations also allow the teacher to understand and assess the student's thinking in a way that computational steps alone may not provide.

Writing in Math Class

Although writing prompts for the elementary-and less frequently for the middle school-math classroom have been available for some time, they generally focus on attitudes and dispositions, likes and dislikes, and thoughts, concerns, and feelings about math or math class. They include journals, math autobiographies, letters to the teacher, and freewriting activities. They involve writing about a concept or a process the students are studying, or center on metacognitive skills such as effort, goals, expectations, study habits, and so on.

These prompts can be adapted for high school students, but I've found it more useful to use reading and writing to illustrate how mathematics is embedded in every aspect of life. Reading and writing are particularly effective in developing a quantitative understanding of the world around us because they can be used to lead students to reflect on everyday experiences. One assignment that I've found effective is having students create a magazine of excerpts of articles about various applications of mathematics in real life.

The magazine-I've included an issue here-is composed of summaries of published articles, so to get students started, I keep an updated list of articles that highlight the ways math is present in different facets of the real world-from the probability that a soccer team ends up in a particular World Cup group to gerrymandering, fractals in Jackson Pollock's paintings, black holes, the fairness of social media, invisibility cloaks, and more.

I select articles from a variety of newspapers, journals, and magazines, such as The Washington Post, The New York Times (especially the Upshot section), The Economist, New Scientist, Scientific American, and The Atlantic, as well as from blogs, websites, podcasts, videos, and other online resources. The app MathFeed ( downloadable for free in the Apple App Store), curated by mathematician Francis Su, is my most valued and trusted source-it allows me to find the most important news and views about math in the media in a single place.

After picking an article that has piqued their interest-from the list I provide or other sources of their choice-the students read it carefully, summarize it, and post it on the online magazine. (If they want to work with an article they have found, they have to ask me first so we don't end up with repetitions in the magazine.) They know they're required to understand the article content properly, edit their summary thoroughly, provide a visual to aid their readers' comprehension, and cite their source.

I give them access to the draft of the magazine, and they also have to upload their article and take care of any technical issues that may arise.

For assessment, I've created a simple rubric that looks at content understanding, clarity of communication, editing, critical thinking, initiative, and creativity.

This has been one of my most popular projects-students are amazed to discover some of the myriad applications of math. They also enjoy being able to choose articles according to their interests, and appreciate that the end product, the magazine, can be easily shared with family and friends and stored in their own e-portfolios.

This is a valuable activity that encourages students who enjoy reading and writing more than the computational side of math and gives all a deeper understanding and stronger appreciation of the usefulness and effectiveness of mathematics.

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Reading and Writing in Math Class | Edutopia

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"When will I ever use this?" If you're a math teacher, this is a question you're very familiar with. As the math curriculum becomes ever more abstract in middle and high school, it's difficult for students to see when and where the material they're learning will be applicable.

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The Shake Up Learning community is always chatting and sharing digital tools and lesson ideas for the K12 classroom. Recently, we discussed our favorite formative assessment tools for the classroom, and I wanted to share these here for you as a resource.

In this post, you will find 20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom!

Let's make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to formative assessment, or what I like to refer to as, "Assessment FOR Learning," as a follower of Rick Stiggins ' work over the years.

"Teachers who use, "Assessment FOR learning," involve their students in ongoing self-assessment in ways that reveal to those learners (a) where they are headed in their learning, (b) where they are now in relation to those expectations, and (c) how each student can close the gap between the two." - Rick Stiggins

Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process.

This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies! Many of the tools below are great for both formative and summative assessments.

20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

(in alphabetic order)

Edpuzzle allows you to turn videos into a quick assessment. Choose a video on YouTube, Khan Academy, Crash Course, or upload your own. Trim the video, insert a quiz anywhere and track your students progress. (Freemium, basic account is free, additional features available with paid accounts.)

Edulastic is a complete assessment dashboard. Teachers can create and track assessments, and even align with CCSS. They also offer a district wide-platform for sharing district-wide assessments. (Free for teachers, district-sharing requires a paid license.)

Flipgrid is a video discussion platform, that allows students to respond to questions, topics, and reflect using video. Students can also respond to each other, leave comments, and more. (Free!)

Some have said that Gimkit is Kahoot on steroids. Gimkit is another fast-paced quiz game, but with an extra element. Student earn in-game cash to spend on game upgrades. Check out Leslie Fisher's review and video to learn more.

Inside Google Classroom, you have the option to create a questions and share that with students. You can make this collaborative, or just have the answers viewable for you the teacher. This is not a robust threaded discussion tool like I wish it was, but it can be handy for formative assessments and to check for understanding.

Formative is a free online assessment tool that is very robust. Formative allows teachers to choose pre-made assessments and edit to fit your needs, create your own from scratch, or even upload a PDF or doc to create. They also offer some fantastic data that you can track and intervene when needed. (FREE and integrates with Google Classroom!)

Google forms is a survey and quiz tool that is very easy to use. You can feed your form or quiz data into a Google Sheet for analysis and evaluation. Both Google Forms and Sheets also have many "add-ons" that give users even more capabilities that can power your formative assessments. (FREE)

InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that lets you turn any webpage into an interactive lesson. InsertLearning has this fantastic toolbar that will allow you to highlight text, add sticky notes, insert questions, videos, or even a discussion all inside the webpage! Learn more about InsertLearning here: 4 Ways to Blend Learning with InsertLearning. (InsertLearning is a freemium application, but you get your first five lessons for free.)

Kahoot! is a game-based learning and trivia platform that allows you to create very engaging quizzes for your classroom. Kahoot! is super fun and addictive. You can create your own kahoots, or choose from their library of games. Play live kahoots, in groups, issue challenges, or assign as homework. (FREE)

Mentimeter is an interactive presentation tool that allows you to poll your students, check for understanding, or ask students to vote. There are several different types of questions you can create, image-based, multiple choice, scales, open-ended, questions from the audience and more. You can even generate word clouds out of responses! (Freemium, some features are free.)

Nearpod is an interactive classroom tool for teachers to engage students with interactive lessons. Nearpod allows you to create and share lessons that sync across devices and encourage student participation, and evaluate student responses through comprehensive reporting. (Freemium, some features are free.)

Padlet is a super easy to way to create an online bulletin board that allows teachers and students to share and collaborate. What's great about Padlet is that it offers so much flexibility! It works on any device, and you can share just about any type of information-text, links, upload files, photos, videos, just about any kind of response. There are also many different ways you can design your pages. Customize the background, organize information in new ways. (Free trial available)

Pear Deck is a web-based formative assessment tool that allows you to create interactive lessons using G Suite tools. The Google Slides add-on has quickly become a favorite of mine. (I even teach it in my Google Slides Master Class!) Pear Deck offers a library of free templates that you can use to created interactive assessments in your slides. Pear Deck is also a freemium tool, some features are free, but you can get a 3-month Premium Membership with this special link for Shake Up Learning readers!

This assessment tool allows teachers to collect on-the-spot formative assessment data without the need to have students use devices or paper and pencil. Teachers create and print specially coded cards that students hold up in class as their response. The teacher uses the Plickers app to scan the cards and collect the data. (Free)

Poll Everywhere is a live audience polling tool that integrates into your presentation. You can ask questions during your lessons, see live data, and reports. (Freemium, free accounts are limited to 25 responses per poll.)

Quizizz allows you to conduct student-paced formative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students of all ages. Quizizz works on just about any device and offers a library of public quizzes that teachers can use in their classrooms. They also provide detailed class and student reports. (FREE)

Quizlet is a study tool that uses flashcards, games, and other "study sets." to help students. Quizlet Live is a collaborative quiz game where students are placed into teams to work together to answer the questions and learn together. (FREE)

Seesaw is a digital portfolio and communication tool that many teachers love! Seesaw works on any device shared or 1:1. Free for teachers. Teachers create activities for students. Students draw, take pictures and video, and capture their learning in their portfolio. Parents can view their students work and leave comments. (Freemium, some features are free.)

Socrative is a web-based formative assessment tool that allows teachers to create quizzes, ask questions, collect exit tickets and feedback. You can also create a competitive quiz bowl game, called, "Space Race," where students compete to get the most answers correct. (Freemium with up to 50 students per session.)

Spiral.ac is an interactive learning platform with a suite of collaborative applications. Deliver quick fire formative assessments, discussion, teams of students can work together to create presentations, and turn any public video into a live chat with questions and quizzes. (Freemium, some features are free.)

Did your favorite assessment tool make the list? If not, let me know in the comments!

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20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom

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In this post, you will find 20 Formative Assessment Tools for Your Classroom! Formative assessment is such an essential part of the learning process and student success, and many digital tools can help support this process. This list has a wide variety of features and options to help you solidify your formative assessment strategies!

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Listen to my interview with Jen Serravallo (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Inclusive Classroom

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

A few weeks ago, a teacher named Isabelle O'Kane sent me a direct message on Twitter. She had been reading a debate that was raging all over social media, and she wondered if it was something I might want to write about. The debate took place in response to a single tweet sent out by literacy experts Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell:

The classroom library should NOT be organized according to level, but according to categories such as topic, author, illustrator, genre, and award-winning books. #FPLiteracy pic.twitter.com/hxJNDow3Qz

- Fountas & Pinnell (@FountasPinnell) September 21, 2018

Teachers responded to the tweet from all directions: Some shouted hallelujah, because it supported what they were already doing. Others agreed, but argued that their hands were tied because administration required leveled libraries. Quite a few insisted that the best approach was to do both; yes, students should be able to seek out books based on interest, but without levels, how would they ever find appropriate books on their own? And some threw up their hands entirely, wondering if a single, clear answer was ever going to present itself.

Because my training and classroom work has all been with students in grade 6 and above, I don't have a lot of experience or knowledge on this topic, but it definitely seemed like something teachers needed help with.

So it was pretty serendipitous when literacy consultant and author Jennifer Serravallo contacted me right around that time about her new book, Understanding Texts & Readers: Responsive Comprehension Instruction with Leveled Texts.

In the book, Serravallo takes a deep dive into the question of how best to match texts to readers. She starts with a discussion of why we have leveled texts to begin with, what their original purpose was, and the missteps we often make as teachers when using them. Then she explores the levels themselves-for fiction and non-fiction-and unpacks the characteristics to look for in each one. Finally, she brings it all together, showing teachers how to combine their knowledge of text levels and students to assess student comprehension, set goals, and match students with books that are just right for them.

In our conversation, which you can listen to on the podcast player above, we talked about the mistakes a lot of teachers and administrators make in how they use leveled texts, and what they should be doing instead.

What Are Leveled Texts?

When schools first attempted to differentiate reading instruction, they did it with texts that were written specifically for that purpose, like the SRA cards that were popular in the 1960s and 70s. Although these programs offered different levels to match student readiness, "(they didn't) actually offer kids real language structures or really interesting storylines," Serravallo explains. "And kids were not able to read those with as much comprehension as real children's literature."

In the 1990s, a shift came when teachers started looking at ways to level real books, books that were not written with "levels" in mind. Two types of text leveling emerged around this time:

Quantitative Leveling: Systems like the Lexile Framework leveled texts through computer programs that measured dimensions like text length and complexity.

Qualitative Leveling: This type of leveling is done by humans, and while it considers things like text length and complexity, it also takes more nuanced qualities into consideration, like whether a text delivers information in a purely straightforward way or contains multiple levels of meaning. One popular qualitative system is Fountas and Pinnell's Text Level Gradient.

Common Mistakes with Leveled Texts

When leveled texts are used in classroom and school settings, teachers and administrators make some well-intentioned but significant missteps that can negatively impact students' growth as readers.

1. Leveling Readers Instead of Books

One of the biggest mistakes Serravallo sees is labeling students by text levels. "Levels are meant for books, not for kids," she explains. "There's really no point in time when a kid is just a level, just one. There's a real range, and it depends on a lot of other factors."

This misstep, she says in her book, has had negative consequences. "Kids nationwide have become aware of something that many would argue they shouldn't be aware of at all...causing some students to compete, race through levels, and experience shame."

To compound the problem, a number of schools have begun basing student learning objectives (SLOs)-part of teacher evaluation protocols-on these levels: "(Districts will) say, 'You come up with goals for your students, and then we're going to measure and make sure you met your goals.' And what's happening is that I find teachers are using levels (to measure growth)-'This student's starting off at an L and is going to end up at a P,' or something like that."

This type of system often prompts teachers to put books in students' hands that they're not quite ready for. "The teacher is going to be pushing the student into harder texts in order to meet the goal," Serravallo says. "You've got this kid being pushed through because they can maybe decode the text but not because they're actually getting everything they can from it in terms of comprehension and meaning making. If the kids are not thinking on that level, why be pushing them into harder and harder books? Why not work with them in texts that they choose to help them get more from the texts that they're reading?"

What to do instead: Rather than focus narrowly on text levels, teachers should get to know students as readers from a variety of angles. "Factors such as motivation, background knowledge, culture, and English language proficiency should all be on our radar when considering how to help students find books they'll love, and how to evaluate students' comprehension and support them with appropriate goals and strategies."

2. Restricting Book Choice Based on a Single Assessment

"One of the ways that levels get misused is that teachers administer one assessment," Serravallo says. "It's usually a short assessment. It could be a computer assessment that's a short text with multiple choice, it could be a running record where kids read a selection of a text and answer a few questions. So there's this one assessment, and then from that they get a level or a level range, and they say to the kids, you can only pick from that level range. But the problem is that's misunderstanding all of the different variables that kids bring to the table, things like motivation, prior knowledge, stamina, their command of English, the genre. There's so many variables."

What to do instead: Take multiple factors into account when pairing students with texts. "We need to look at a couple of different assessments," Serravallo recommends, "and we need to account for these variables, and then once we have a sense of about where kids are able to read, we still need to be flexible when they go to choose. So if I have a kid who knows a lot about dinosaurs who typically reads books around Level O-P, if it's a dinosaur book and he wants to read it, and it's a Level R or S, maybe that's okay."

3. Inflexibility

Even if we have a pretty thorough idea of what types of texts would be a good fit for a student, only allowing them to choose books from a narrow range of levels doesn't take other important factors into account. There may be times when a student wants to challenge herself by going for a book that will require more support to get through, and other times when students want to read an easier book for fun.

"Saying to a student, 'You are a Level __ so you can only read Level __ books' is deeply problematic," Serravallo writes in her book. "We can use reading levels to help guide student choice, but levels should never be used to shackle a reader."

What to do instead: Use reading levels as a shortcut to knowing some likely features of books, but allow other factors to influence book choices. In her book, Serravallo shows us how to adjust our language to help students make these decisions for themselves: Instead of saying something like, "That book is too hard for you," she recommends saying something like, "That book is harder than what you typically read. Let's think about how I/your friends can support you as you read, if you find you need it."

4. Organizing Books by Level

While Serravallo admits to organizing the books in her classroom library in leveled bins years ago, "I've changed my thinking after seeing the consequence of what that does to kids' reading identity. What ends up happening is kids go to the classroom library and they say, 'I'm a Q. I'm going to pick a Q book.' And they go to the Q bin and they only look in the Q bin."

What to do instead: "I would organize them by topic, by genre, by author," Serravallo says, "So the first thing kids see when they go to the library is identities. And they think about themselves first before they think about level: Who am I as a reader, and what am I interested in reading?"

For her own purposes, Serravallo would still keep text levels on books, but put them in an inconspicuous place on the book, like on the inside of the front cover. "That way, when a child is holding a book, it's not like everyone can see the level on the book, so it's a little bit more private. But I like that having them on the book, because if I haven't read that book, I can peek at the level and be like, oh yeah, okay. Complex characters in this one. And I can use that to guide my discussions when I'm working with kids."

To learn more, check out Serravallo's book Understanding Texts and Readers, join the Reading and Writing Strategies Community on Facebook, or visit her website at jenniferserravallo.com.

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What Are the Best Ways to Use Leveled Texts?

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Listen to my interview with Jen Serravallo (transcript): Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Inclusive Classroom This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

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When I first started teaching high school math, I followed the common "I do, we do, you do" pedagogical formula to stay afloat. Each day I used a simple framework:

Opening: Get everyone's attention

Direct instruction: Deliver a 10-20 minute lecture to the whole group

Guided practice: Work through a problem as a whole group

Independent practice: Give the students an assignment to work on individually

Closing: Administer an exit ticket to assess learning

I worked tirelessly to make sure the class would operate like a well-oiled machine. But I would always stumble at the same point in the process: the lecture. I would dread the beginning of every class period. Once the lecture began, it quickly became clear that I was only talking to a small percentage of the students in front of me. Most found the lecture to be too fast to understand or too slow to keep them engaged.

I would employ a litany of procedural tricks to stimulate engagement, all of which were bandages that couldn't repair a fundamentally flawed structure.

The Lecture Is the Problem

In business, a bottleneck is defined as a point of congestion that leads to inefficient production and an increase in associated costs. For years, my traditional model of teaching was largely ineffective because my lecture was a major bottleneck in the production of student learning.

Let's first address the inefficiency of a lecture. The lecture is a bottleneck for several reasons-one size does not fit all in learning; there's no replay, rewind, or fast-forward button in a lecture; and a large group of students are all dependent on one teacher to access learning.

A basic principle of good teaching is recognizing that each student is truly unique. Students learn content in a variety of ways at sometimes vastly different paces. However, when class begins in a traditional classroom, these highly diverse students are frozen. Students ready to move forward must patiently wait for the teacher to deliver the content, even though they may not need it. Meanwhile, students with skill deficiencies and truancy issues must compliantly listen to a lecture that does not address their needs as they wait to inform the teacher that nothing made sense. If a student misses all or a portion of the lecture, the opportunity is lost.

The lecture is not only inefficient but also strips students of the opportunity to develop 21st-century skills that are critical to succeeding in adulthood. When students have to wait for a lecture to move forward, they become conditioned to believe that learning happens to them. The responsibility to access, internalize, and apply new information largely falls on the shoulders of the teacher. The students are not given the freedom to become self-directed learners who are responsible for managing their own time.

The Advantages of Blended Learning

In my classrooms now, I build instructional videos to replace my lectures. To do so, I simply take the very same PowerPoint I would previously have used to lecture and record over it using a screencasting program. While it was initially intimidating, creating instructional videos is pretty simple and does not require much tech savvy. I then upload my video to a program (e.g., Edpuzzle) that allows me to embed questions to use as checks for understanding. You can watch my lesson " Independent vs. Dependent Variables " to get a sense of how these videos work and what they look like.

Once the lecture bottleneck is removed, teachers have the opportunity to rethink many of the other rigid constraints that have defined most instructional delivery models. Without this bottleneck, teachers can facilitate classrooms where students pace themselves, where they have to show mastery in order to progress, and where discussions between the teacher and an individual student are targeted and data driven, based on that student's needs and capabilities.

In lecture-free classrooms, students no longer need to work at a predetermined pace that has been established without regard for their unique needs. Moreover, lessons don't need to be chunked to fit arbitrary scheduling demands that require each lesson to be the same length. Instead, teachers can facilitate a self-paced environment where students are always appropriately challenged and teachers differentiate for all students.

Once a self-paced environment is established, teachers can move to mastery-based grading. It is the expectation of uniform pacing that forces teachers to give students partial credit and completion grades. When the lecture bottleneck is removed and students have the freedom to self-pace, teachers have the flexibility to expect mastery before students move forward. Teachers can use the entirety of their class time facilitating discussions around revisions, reassessments, and reflection as students tackle road bumps on their journey to authentic understanding.

The result is a data-driven and student-centered classroom that honors the importance of personalizing learning to meet the unique needs of each student. After restructuring my classroom, I saw major shifts in student learning and self-efficacy. Not only were students mastering more skills than before, but they were able to reflect on their journey through the learning process.

More importantly, there was a noticeable decrease in anxiety and increase in confidence. Students were no longer stressed about coming to class because they knew they were going to pick up where they left off and were confident they would be given the time they needed to truly internalize the content.

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Getting Rid of the Lecture Bottleneck | Edutopia

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When I first started teaching high school math, I followed the common "I do, we do, you do" pedagogical formula to stay afloat.

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One of the many hopes that we as educators have for our students is that they become lifelong learners. We want them to explore their passions, which in time might turn into career opportunities. Through conversations, books, and media, we plant ideas that may someday grow into something useful in a student's life journey.

I often refer to the stories told by Steve Jobs in his 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University graduates as an example of a lifelong learning journey. Jobs discussed how following his "curiosity and intuition" led to "connecting the dots" of self-exploration, which led to professional opportunities and success.

Jobs's words in that speech inspired over 27 million views. Through practicing lifelong learning, we can connect the dots with learners and model how they can accomplish much by following their curiosity and intuition.

Meeting the needs of all learners does not have to be difficult. Any instructional practice or system we explore that attends to student voice and agency can be personalized to individuals and groups-which is differentiation. I've written a book on differentiation, So All Can Learn, but you can get ideas on the topic from all sorts of sources. To that end, here are readings that encourage reflection and conversation about effective practices that we might include in our toolbox.

"Free Is Good"
This article by Bethany Rayl is packed with ideas for accessing open educational resources (OER). Use it to differentiate by flipping its ideas and showing students how they can revise, remix, and redistribute content, sharing their voice with a public audience. Use the wealth of materials to personalize activities for individuals or groups in order to meet the needs of your learners.

Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement
This classic book by Ceri B. Dean, Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, Howard Pitler, and Bj Stone covers nine practices that can provide high yields in learning. All of them can be differentiated by simply giving students options so they can make their own choices. Here are examples for differentiating each practice.

Developing Natural Curiosity Through Project-Based Learning: Five Strategies for the PreK-3 Classroom
With this book by Dayna Laur and Jill Ackers, explore how young kids can do project-based learning (PBL) with strong authentic experiences beyond the traditional classroom. For example, the authors' take on unpacking standards into powerful learning experiences is gold. Relating curriculum to students' lives leads to differentiation connections by fostering voice and choice-key elements in PBL-and helps learners see relevance and purpose in assignments.

The Space: A Guide for Educators
Rethinking and reimagining classroom space setups can develop a culture of learning if we include students in the shaping of the environment. Student voice is a powerful differentiation tool. This accessible book by Rebecca Hare and Robert Dillon provides a thoughtful way to rethink classroom space based on what students determine is valuable to their learning experiences.

Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Our Schools
Be prepared to be challenged by what students need versus what is comfortable for adults. The ideas in this book by Ron Ritchhart, backed by powerful examples, will challenge most educators about what we know is best for students, and our perceptions of what can be done. If you believe that students should be at the center of all decisions, use this book to become an innovator of a can-do philosophy.

Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn
This treasure trove of research-backed ideas by John Hattie and Gregory Yates will challenge cherished practices and inspire permission to expand one's teacher toolbox to meet each student's needs. The chapter "The Role of Feedback" alone makes this book a necessary read if we are to help all students achieve.

Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook
Joy Write: Cultivating High-Impact, Low-Stakes Writing
What a Writer Needs
Ralph Fletcher is an essential mentor for all who teach writing. It's hard to choose just one of his books, so here are three that help teachers understand the perspective of students, who typically do not view themselves as writers. Teachers can address the needs of diverse learners by using Fletcher's concrete ways to transform fearful students into confident writers.

As Yoda says, "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Being a lifelong learner requires perseverance and a willingness to be vulnerable with oneself. Choose a couple of these suggested readings. Find affirmation of what you already know is important, and explore ideas that might shift your thinking. Reflect with honest self-assessment on the weaknesses in your practice-we all have them. No apologies need be offered for being a flawed human being. So long as we strive and struggle to become better than our past self, there is renewed hope.

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A Reading List for Differentiated Instruction | Edutopia

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One of the many hopes that we as educators have for our students is that they become lifelong learners. We want them to explore their passions, which in time might turn into career opportunities. Through conversations, books, and media, we plant ideas that may someday grow into something useful in a student's life journey.

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Listen to an Extended Version of this Post in a Podcast:
So many of us teach the way we were taught. We may not even realize we're doing it. And that means certain practices get passed down year after year without question, methods that are such a normal part of the way we do school, we perpetuate them without realizing there are better alternatives.

Today I'm going to roll out five of these for your consideration: five teaching practices used every day that are not backed by research. In many cases, these practices are not only ineffective, they can be downright harmful.

A few caveats before I start: First, I have used every single one of these methods. Every one. I'm going to tell you why I used them, and why I would avoid them in the future. Second, I don't believe in all or nothing when it comes to teaching. An argument could be made for the occasional use of any of these, even #3. The point is that in most cases, better options exist. You don't necessarily have to give up any of these methods entirely. But if you want to see better results, replacing them with more powerful strategies will get you there a lot quicker.

A.K.A.: Round-Robin Reading, Volunteer Reading

What it is: A teacher wants her class to read a text-a short story, a chapter in a textbook-so she has each student take a turn reading out loud while the others follow along silently. Sometimes students read in seat order; other times the teacher selects students at random to keep everyone on their toes. And in some variations, kids actually call out the word "popcorn" at the end of their turn and choose the next person to read. (I never knew this part. Honestly, I always thought the term came from the image of different students reading around the room looking like a pot of kernels "popping" to life, one at a time.)

Why I did it: I used popcorn reading occasionally as a language arts teacher, when we were doing a whole-class novel, to "get through" the text. I didn't do it a lot, but I definitely did it. Here's why: (1) It consumed class time. Sure, in theory I wanted to pack as much high-quality instruction into a class period as possible, but some days I just wanted to fill the time. (2) It kept students quiet and controlled. Interactive, engaging activities can be loud and messy, but an activity like popcorn reading lets you convince yourself you're accomplishing something. (3) It "covered" the material. Because everyone is ostensibly looking at and listening to the text, it stands to reason that everyone is digesting it in some way. (4) It allowed me to hear my students reading, acting as a kind of formative assessment for fluency.

What the research says: If the Internet was a yard, and articles that criticize Round Robin were dog poop, your shoes would be a mess. The main criticism of this strategy is that it simply does nothing to improve student comprehension or reading skills. On top of that, it embarrasses students whose read-aloud skills are behind those of their peers, offers only a tiny window of time for each student to actively read, and often reduces comprehension, as students who are not reading tend to check out when it's not their turn. Plus, listening to their classmates read at varying levels of skill can actually teach students to read more poorly as they begin to pick up the habits of their peers. When I was a student, I hated popcorn reading. My comprehension plummets when I listen to something read out loud, rather than reading quietly to myself, so any time a teacher had us do Round Robin, I knew I would have to re-read the whole thing later.

What to do instead: Consider where you want students to end up. If you are working with younger kids and want to build fluency and proper expression, try a teacher read-aloud, a choral reading, or a method known as FORI (fluency oriented reading instruction). If you are working with older students and want them to eventually be able to do rigorous, challenging reading on their own, schedule regular periods of silent reading scaffolded with a KWL chart or an anticipation guide, or have students do reciprocal teaching in small groups.
Learn More:
11 Alternatives to "Round Robin" (and "Popcorn") Reading, by Todd Finley, Edutopia

A Literacy Spring Cleaning: Sweeping Round Robin Reading out of Your Classroom, by Katherine Hilden and Jennifer Jones, Reading Today

What it is: When a teacher delivers content (often via lecture), he provides students with a handout that contains pre-written notes on that content. In many cases, this takes the form of notes pages that can be generated automatically from a PowerPoint presentation.

Why I did it: As a college instructor, I usually delivered some portion of my content via PowerPoint (I would approach this differently now, but that's another subject for another time). Because I wanted students to pay attention to what I was saying, rather than scrambling to write everything down, I just gave them notes straight from the PowerPoints and made the slideshows available online as well. This system, I felt, made it easy to catch up students who had missed class, and it prevented students from missing important points made during the lecture.

What the research says: Since reading Make It Stick this past summer, I realize I was doing my students a big disservice by making things so easy for them. The book's authors, who pull together years of brain research, maintain that when no effort is required in the learning process, learning doesn't last very long. They cited one study where students were allowed to copy notes word-for-word on some material, but made to rephrase other material in their own words. When tested later, students did a far better job of recalling the latter-the material they had to put into their own words. Although it's more convenient to provide notes for students, the lack of effort inherent in this arrangement handicaps them.

What to do instead: Teach note-taking skills. It's going to be slow, but in the end, it will be worth it. Provide students with a variety of options for note-taking methods. Let them try a few and decide what's right for them. Allow students to compare notes with each other, discuss them, and revise them. Another powerful way to support students in their note-taking is to provide them with pre-lecture diagrams, visual structures that help them understand the relationship between the concepts you're about to teach.
Learn more:
Teaching Students to Take Better Notes: Notes on Notetaking, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Graduate Studies

Why Students Should be Taking Notes, by Maryellen Weimer, Faculty Focus

What it is: The teacher punishes the whole class for some behavior infraction committed by only some students. Often, this takes the form of a lost privilege, like recess.

Why I did it: I can't even count how many times I did this. I would promise some kind of reward to the class, something along the lines of "If everyone works quietly for the next ___ minutes, I'll give you five minutes of free time at the end of the period." Then, as middle school kids tend to do, around half the class would fool around or get too noisy, and I'd announce that they had lost their free time. I did it because it was faster and easier than trying to figure out exactly who caused the disruptions; I knew it wasn't everyone, but there were too many to count. Also, honestly, I often issued the threat of whole-class punishment hoping I wouldn't have to enforce it. I wanted to motivate them, to get them to behave in order to earn the reward. When it didn't work and I had to crack down, I hoped the memory of the loss would get them in line the next time.

What the research says: In looking for research on the effectiveness of whole-class punishment, I came up empty-handed. There's plenty of public opinion against the practice, but no formal research. (If readers of this post are aware of any, please post a link in the comments.) Still, some parallels can be drawn: Research on economic sanctions-where the government of one country penalizes another, often by withholding necessary resources from the whole country-has shown it to be largely ineffective, often creating new problems. Another study on collective punishment concluded that it is "fairly ineffective at best and strongly counterproductive at worst in shaping group behavior." Even though specific research on whole-class punishment is lacking, it's hard to argue with common sense: Many of us have been that kid who tries to behave but gets punished along with the class. Or maybe it's our own child who has been put in that position. Even if you're the one who causes the trouble, the weight of "ruining it for everyone" certainly won't lead to healthier relationships with your peers.

What to do instead: The best way to deal with a rowdy class is prevention: If you have a lot of days when your whole class feels chaotic, this is symptomatic of a larger problem. It may be that your directions aren't clear. Your students might be bored. You might need to build more opportunities for interaction and movement into your lessons. Or it might be time to re-establish clear behavior guidelines and consequences. When small disruptions do come up, it's best to deal with them quickly before they grow into bigger problems; to achieve this, the Distract the Distractor method worked well for me. And on days when things did get out of hand, I started using a notebook strategy that got my emotions under control and allowed me to accurately pinpoint where the trouble was coming from. The two articles below offer other productive methods for dealing with large-scale disruption.
Learn more:
How to Handle Whole-Class Misbehavior, by Michael Linsin, Smart Classroom Management

Positive, Not Punitive, Classroom-Management Tips, by Larry Ferlazzo, Edutopia

What it is: Because we were taught that every learner is either visual, auditory, or kinesthetic-learning best through seeing things, hearing things, or experiencing things, respectively-teachers may attempt to differentiate instruction by separating students into groups based on these tendencies. Other learning styles models also exist, each one offering labels to define how students process information. Once a student has been labeled with one particular learning style, the teacher attempts to adjust her teaching style to reach students through their identified learning mode.

Why I did it: This one I didn't really do too much. What I did instead was beat myself up for not doing it. I was aware of learning styles, yes, and I'd even heard of diagnostic tools, tests you could give students to figure out what their style was. You could then take those results and plan instruction that perfectly fit each student's preferred learning mode. I thought this was something I was supposed to be doing, but I never quite got around to it, and I felt bad about it. To be fair, I was always mindful of the need to present information in different ways. One case in point: As someone who has a lot of trouble following spoken instructions, I have always tried to include written instructions as well. Still, I never really felt competent in this area.

What the research says: Researchers in a 2008 study set out to find evidence that matching our teaching style to our students' learning style results in greater learning gains. They looked at study after study and ultimately found nothing. No proof that this practice has any impact at all. Since then, other studies have confirmed these findings. Although personal experience may tell you that you do, in fact, learn better through different modalities, this is actually just a preference. There is no research that supports the idea that you actually learn better through that modality. And attempting to label students and narrow our teaching strategies with them can ultimately limit them, making them believe they are only capable of learning in one way.

What to do instead: Provide a variety of learning experiences to all students. Instead of spending time on learning styles inventories and stressing about how to evenly divide instructional time between the different groups, plan your instruction to reach all students through different pathways: Teaching students to recognize text structures will help them develop mental models for understanding challenging texts. Using culturally responsive teaching strategies will help students from all backgrounds absorb material more fully. The mind's eye strategy has students visualize rich vocabulary in a text before they read it. And the concept attainment model requires students to begin constructing concepts before you even tell them what they are. In the same way that eating a variety of foods helps ensure you get all the nutrients you need, using a variety of instructional strategies will help you reach every student.
Learn more:
Learning Styles & the Importance of Critical Self-Reflection, TED Talk by Tesia Marshik

Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students, by David Glenn, The Chronicle of Higher Education

A.K.A. Peer Tutoring

What it is: The teacher plans a lesson aimed at his "middle group" of learners. Then, to provide extra assistance to students who need it and extra challenge for students who grasp the material quickly, the teacher plans to have students who finish the assigned task early help those who are behind.

Why I did it: It just made so much sense. I couldn't be everywhere to help all the students who needed it, and my more advanced kids were just sitting around with nothing to do ( red flag!!), so it seemed like an obvious solution. The kids who needed help got it, and the advanced kids got to learn the material really well by teaching it to someone else. Easy-peasy. Two birds killed with one stone. Differentiation, yes?

What the research says: No. Not differentiation. Although mixed-ability groups and tutoring can benefit the students who need the help to some degree, these arrangements do very little for the advanced student. In order to receive appropriate challenge, high-ability or gifted students need regular opportunities to be grouped with like-ability peers. Having advanced students do this kind of tutoring doesn't necessarily do them any harm, but if this practice is overused, it takes the place of true differentiated instruction, offering learning experiences that would challenge these students at an appropriate level.

What to do instead: It's perfectly reasonable to have higher-ability students help other students occasionally; all students should share their unique gifts with their peers. Just don't call this differentiation. To meet the needs of all learners, try strategies recommended by Carol Ann Tomlinson in her book, The Differentiated Classroom, including learning stations, tiered assignments, orbital studies, and learning agendas, where students are given a list of tasks to complete in whatever order they want over a period of several weeks, much like the kind of personalized agendas given to students in Montessori classrooms.
Learn more:
My View: Ten Myths about Gifted Students and Programs for Gifted, by Carolyn Coil, CNN Schools of Thought

What It Means to Teach Gifted Learners Well, by Carol Ann Tomlinson, National Association for Gifted Children

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5 Common Teaching Practices I'm Kicking to the Curb

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Listen to an Extended Version of this Post in a Podcast: So many of us teach the way we were taught. We may not even realize we're doing it. And that means certain practices get passed down year after year without question, methods that are such a normal part of the way we do school, we perpetuate them without realizing there are better alternatives.

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How do you go about designing learning experiences for students? What sorts of things do your consider? How do you design for student passions?

Don't just plan lessons. Design learning experiences. Try asking these questions to ensure meaningful and impactful learning experiences.

Rich (@RACzyz)

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How do you go about designing learning experiences for students? What sorts of things do your consider? How do you design for student passions? Don't just plan lessons. Design learning experiences. Try asking these questions to ensure meaningful and impactful learning experiences. Rich (@RACzyz)

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See Mrs. Jones. She has a fantastic idea for a new assignment. It's going to be challenging and engaging and fun. Before she can give this assignment to her students, Mrs. Jones needs to get a few things on paper. She starts by writing up a prompt. See Mrs. Jones smile as her fingers fly across the keyboard, crafting the language that describes what students will do.

Then it's time to build a rubric. Watch as Mrs. Jones creates an empty table with four columns - one for each level of proficiency - and five rows that break down the areas that will be assessed. Four rows, five columns. Mrs. Jones prepares to fill all twenty cells.

See Mrs. Jones slump down in her chair.

If you're like Mrs. Jones, you rely on densely packed analytic rubrics to assess student work. But creating these rubrics - trying to imagine every possible scenario that will result in an assignment being labeled as a 1, 2, 3 or 4, or whatever terminology might stand for those numbers - can be both soul-crushing and time-consuming.

Then, when it comes time to assess student work, you're likely to find many assignments that don't fit neatly into any one column. What's worse, others demonstrate qualities you didn't even anticipate, like the student who spelled everything perfectly but was lax on punctuation. Your "mechanics" section doesn't have a place for that.

And do students even read these rubrics? Having been on the receiving end of multi-page, multi-cell rubrics stuffed to the gills with 9-point font, I would say no. I did not read all of those cells. I looked at the third and fourth columns, where expectations met and exceeded expectations were described, and I did everything I could to make my work satisfy those criteria. The other two columns got little more than a glance.

Might there be a better way? The answer is yes, and its name is the single-point rubric.

Instead of detailing all the different ways an assignment deviates from the target, the single-point rubric simply describes the target, using a single column of traits. It's what you'd find at level 3 on a 4-point scale, the "proficient" column, except now it's all by itself. On either side of that column, there's space for the teacher to write feedback about the specific things this student did that either fell short of the target (the left side) or surpassed it (the right).

For some, this alternative might cause apprehension: does this mean more writing for the teacher? Possibly. If you've only ever used rubrics to highlight key features of a student's work to justify their score, or worse, simply given the score without pointing to the language that made the difference, then the single-point rubric will require more from you. But when I used analytic rubrics, I ended up having to do a bunch of writing anyway, squeezing my comments into the cells to provide more specific feedback, or adding a long note at the end summarizing the factors that influenced the score.

With a single-point rubric, the farce of searching for the right pre-scripted language is over, leaving you free to describe exactly what this student needs to work on.

If you're moving away from traditional grades, the single-point rubric is a perfect instrument for delivering specific feedback: The open columns on either side leave plenty of room to comment on exactly what this student needs to do to improve their work, or to pinpoint the ways they have gone above and beyond. And if you'd like to get more student input when creating rubrics, it's even easier when you only have to craft language for the desired outcome, rather than the missteps.

Is there ever a need for a fully loaded, "hot mess" rubric? Only in cases where feedback is never part of the plan: when a piece of writing is going to be scored on a state assessment, for example, there may be a need to identify every level of performance. But again, the people using these rubrics aren't interested in helping students learn and grow; their only goal is to score.

But a teacher aspires to more than that. And different aspirations require different tools. Let's leave the hot mess rubric to the testing companies.

You and me and Mrs. Jones? We can do better.

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About The Author

Jennifer Gonzalez

A National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescence/English Language Arts, Jennifer Gonzalez has been a middle school teacher and a college-level teacher of teachers. She now devotes herself full-time to curating and creating resources to help teachers make their work more effective and satisfying.

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Your Rubric Is a Hot Mess; Here's How to Fix It.

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See Mrs. Jones. She has a fantastic idea for a new assignment. It's going to be challenging and engaging and fun. Before she can give this assignment to her students, Mrs. Jones needs to get a few things on paper. She starts by writing up a prompt. See Mrs.

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by Grant Wiggins, Authentic Education
Ed note: This post by the late Grant Wiggins has been republished from a previous post. Please visit Authentic Education to support the work his wife and peers are continuing.
What is "authentic assessment"?

Almost 25 years ago, I wrote a widely-read and discussed paper that was entitled: "A True Test: Toward More Authentic and Equitable Assessment" that was published in the Phi Delta Kappan. I believe the phrase was my coining, made when I worked with Ted Sizer at the Coalition of Essential Schools, as a way of describing "true" tests as opposed to merely academic and unrealistic school tests. I first used the phrase in print in an article for Educational Leadership entitled "Teaching to the (Authentic) Test" in the April 1989 issue.

(My colleague from the Advisory Board of the Coalition of Essential Schools, Fred Newmann, was the first to use the phrase in a book, a pamphlet for NASSP in 1988 entitled Beyond standardized testing: Assessing authentic academic achievement in secondary schools. His work in the Chicago public schools provided significant findings about the power of working this way.)

So, it has been with some interest (and occasional eye-rolling, as befits an old guy who has been through this many times before) that I have followed a lengthy back and forth argument in social media recently as to the meaning of "authentic" and, especially, the idea of "authentic assessment" in mathematics.

The debate - especially in math - has to do with a simple question: does "authentic" assessment mean the same thing as "hands-on" or "real-world" assessment? (I'll speak to those terms momentarily). In other words, in math does the aim of so-called "authentic" assessment rule in or rule out the use of "pure" math problems in such assessments?

A number of math teachers resist the idea of authentic assessment because to them it inherently excludes the idea of assessing pure mathematical ability. (Dan Meyer cheekily refers to "fake-world" math as a way of pushing the point effectively.)

Put the other way around, many people are defining 'authentic' as 'hands-on' and practical. In which case, pure math problems are ruled out.
See also 10 Characteristics Of A Highly Effective Learning Environment The Original Argument
In the Kappan article I wrote as follows:

Authentic tests are representative challenges within a given discipline. They are designed to emphasize realistic (but fair) complexity; they stress depth more than breadth. In doing so, they must necessarily involve somewhat ambiguous, ill-structured tasks or problems.

Notice that I implicitly addressed mathematics here by referring to 'ill-structured tasks or problems.' More generally, I referred to "representative challenges within a discipline." And notice that I do not say that it must be hands-on or real-world work. It certainly CAN be hands-on but it need not be. This line of argument was intentional on my part, given the issue discussed above.

In short, I was writing already mindful of the critique I, too, had heard from teachers of mathematics, logic, language, cosmology and other 'pure' as opposed to 'applied' sciences in response to early drafts of my article. So, I crafted the definition deliberately to ensure that 'authentic' was NOT conflated with 'hands-on' or 'real-world' tasks.

My favorite example of a "pure" HS math assessment task involves the Pythagorean Theorem:

We all know that A ² + B ² = C ². But think about the literal meaning for a minute: The area of the square on side A + the area of the square on side B = the area of the square on side C. So here's the question: does the figure we draw on each side have to be a square? Might a more generalizable version of the theorem hold true? For example: Is it true or not that the area of the rhombus on side A + the area of the rhombus on side B = the area of the rhombus on side C? Experiment with this and other figures.

From your experiments, what can you generalize about a more general version of the theorem?

This is "doing" real mathematics: looking for more general/powerful/concise relationships and patterns - and using imagination and rigorous argument to do so, not just plug and chug. (There are some interesting and surprising answers to this task, by the way.)
The Definition Of Hands-On & Real-World
While I don't think there are universally-accepted definitions of "real-world and "hands-on" the similarities and differences seem straightforward enough to me.

A "hands-on" task, as the phrase suggests, is to be distinguished from a merely paper-and-pencil exam-like task. You build stuff; you create works; you get your hands dirty; you perform. (Note therefore, that "performance assessment" is not quite the same as "authentic assessment").

In robotics, life-saving, and business courses we regularly see students create and use learning as a demonstration of (practical as well as theoretical) understanding.

A "real-world" task is slightly different. There may or may not be mere writing or a hands-on task, but the assessment is meant to focus on the impact of one's work in real or realistic contexts. A real-world task requires students to deal with the messiness of real or simulated settings, purposes, and audience (as opposed to a simplified and "clean" academic task to no audience but the teacher-evaluator).

So, a real-world task might ask the student to apply for a real or simulated job, perform for the local community, raise funds and grow a business as part of a business class, make simulated travel reservations in French to a native French speaker on the phone, etc.

Here is the (slightly edited) chart from the Educational Leadership article describing all the criteria that might bear on authentic assessment. It now seems unwieldy and off in places to me, but I think readers might benefit from pondering each element I proposed 25 years ago:
27 Characteristics Of Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessments -
A. Structure & Logistics
1. Are more appropriately public; involve an audience, panel, etc.

2. Do not rely on unrealistic and arbitrary time constraints

3. Offer known, not secret, questions or tasks.

4. Are not one-shot - more like portfolios or a season of games

5. Involve some collaboration with others

6. Recur - and are worth retaking

7. Make feedback to students so central that school structures and policies are modified to support them
B. Intellectual Design Features
1. Are "essential" - not contrived or arbitrary just to shake out a grade

2. Are enabling, pointing the student toward more sophisticated and important use of skills and knowledge

3. Are contextualized and complex, not atomized into isolated objectives

4. Involve the students' own research

5. Assess student habits and repertories, not mere recall or plug-in.

6. Are representative challenges of a field or subject

7. Are engaging and educational

8. Involve somewhat ambiguous (ill-structures) tasks or problems
C. Grading and Scoring
1. Involve criteria that assess essentials, not merely what is easily scores

2. Are not graded on a curve, but in reference to legitimate performance standards or benchmarks

3. Involve transparent, de-mystified expectations

4. Make self-assessment part of the assessment

5. Use a multi-faceted analytic trait scoring system instead of one holistic or aggregate grade

6. Reflect coherent and stable school standards
D. Fairness
1. identify (perhaps hidden) strengths [not just reveal deficits]

2. Strike a balance between honoring achievement while mindful of fortunate prior experience or training [that can make the assessment invalid]

3. Minimize needless, unfair, and demoralizing comparisons of students to one another

4. Allow appropriate room for student styles and interests [ - some element of choice]

5. Can be attempted by all students via available scaffolding or prompting as needed [with such prompting reflected in the ultimate scoring]

6. Have perceived value to the students being assessed.

I trust that this at least clarifies some of the ideas and resolves the current dispute, at least from my perspective. Happy to hear from those of you with questions, concerns, or counter-definitions and counter-examples.
This article first appeared on Grant's personal blog; follow Grant on twitter; 27 Characteristics Of Authentic Assessment; image attribution flickr user woodleywonderworks
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27 Characteristics Of Authentic Assessment

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by Grant Wiggins, Authentic Education Ed note: This post by the late Grant Wiggins has been republished from a previous post. Please visit Authentic Education to support the work his wife and peers are continuing. What is "authentic assessment"?

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by Terry Heick
15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching-And 15 That Are Not So Much
On Sunday, we're going to release a basic framework to begin to make sense of what "student-centered learning" mean in a modern classroom. (We'd have released it today, but Fridays are slow days in terms of traffic.)

We didn't get too carried away and progressive with it-our goal was to help clarify for practicing teachers in existing K-12 classrooms a useful definition for student-centered learning. So I piggy-backed on our staff's work (we'll come back and update this post with a link then) with examples-15 examples of teacher-centered learning, and 15 examples of student-centered learning.

The text is shown below, but it reads better in the graphic as you can read both side-by-side for comparison's sake. As always, comments and reactions are encouraged in comments below.
Teacher-Centered (Not-Student Centered)

1. Being clear about how to do well in your class

2. Admonishing students to "think"

3. Helping students master content

4. Helping students continuously practice and revise how they perform on one assessment form

5. Creating curriculum and instruction around standards

6. Handing students a rubric or scoring guide

7. Letting students choose the project's product

8. Choosing "power standards" in a staff meeting in the middle of a summer PD with the other 4 teachers from your department or grade level

9. Allowing students to choose from two novels that are unlike anything they've ever seen or experienced in their lives

10. Worksheets, essays

11. Giving struggling readers a few extra minutes to read a 17 page short story

12. Starting class with a standard and target

13. Giving an on-demand assignment even though you just finished a writing piece or unit

14. Think letter grades

15. Grading everything

Student-Centered (Not Teacher-Centered)

1. Being clear about how you will promote, measure, and celebrate understanding

2. Modeling for students how to "think"

3. Helping students understand what's worth understanding

4. Diversifying what you accept as evidence of understanding

5. Creating curriculum and instruction around a need to know

6. Collaborating with students to create the rubric or scoring guide

7. Letting students choose the project's purpose

8. Choosing "power standards" from your curriculum after meeting with both students, parents, and community members that voice their unique societal and cultural needs

9. Letting students choose their own media form that reflects the purpose of the reading

10. Choice boards

11. Placing struggling readers in a lit circle that gives them an authentic role that they can be successful in, allows them to hear oral fluency and reading speed modeled, and keeps them from feeling "broken"

12. Starting class with a story

13. Using the on-demand writing prompt as the summative assessment

14. Think feedback

15. Choosing what's graded carefully, and considering other work as practice

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15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching

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by Terry Heick 15 Examples of Student-Centered Teaching-And 15 That Are Not So Much On Sunday, we're going to release a basic framework to begin to make sense of what "student-centered learning" mean in a modern classroom. (We'd have released it today, but Fridays are slow days in terms of traffic.)

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How do you teach the same concepts and skills to students with diverse abilities and interests? Different learning profiles? And how do you do that in real classrooms, with limited time to plan?

Differentiated instruction is one answer that has been extensively documented (see "Recommended Resources" at the end of this post). I want to share two fundamental tenets of DI before describing specific tactics:

With that in mind, here are specific techniques you can use to meet the needs of students with a range of abilities.

1. Start Slow

Experiencing comprehensive student-centered instruction for the first time makes some kids uneasy. I'll never forget the high school girl who ate an entire roll of cherry Tums the day I introduced my choice-based syllabus. Gradually integrate a student-centered curriculum, says Dr. Kathie Nunley, by asking learners to " choose between two or three assignments " that can be completed before the end of class.

2. Introduce Compacting for High Achievers

Compacting curriculum lessens the tedium that elite achievers experience when they master concepts faster than their peers. The Gifted Program at the University of Connecticut recommends using pre-assessments to determine how these learners can skip specific chapters or activities. Then offer "mini-courses on research topics" or "small group projects" as alternatives in a compacting contract.

3. Provide Choice

Choice is motivating and empowering. Let students choose:

how they learn with others-individually, in pairs, in small groups, or with the whole class.

the difficulty levels of assignments,using menu-based tools like choice boards, tic-tac-toe boards (see p. 14-15), or activity menus. The digital version, Interactive Learning Menus, provide links to in-depth assignment descriptions, examples, and rubrics. Content can also be curated and remixed into Learning Playlists with online tools like MentorMob and BlendSpace.

what content they study. With Literature Study Circles, an entire English class can investigate and discuss "gender and identity" by selecting one of several books hand-picked to address that theme.

what quiz questions they answer. Page one of a test might say, "Pick three of the following five questions that you're most confident answering." Students can also vote on when to complete an exam.

what, where, when, and how they learn, via individual learning contracts. Be forewarned that students need intensive instruction and patience as they compose their own contracts.

4. Bake Assessments Into Every Class

Student-centered instruction is only as consequential as its assessment. Teachers need to know where kids are in their academic journey, how they learn best, and what interests them. These assessments can help:

Educator Chandra Manning recommends two graphic organizers, "Who I Am" and "All About Me Gazette," for collecting information about students' interests.

Kids complete the "3-Minute Pause" reflection protocol after a lesson concludes.

Teacher-student conferences can quickly help teachers determine how learners are progressing and what further support they need.

Differentiation expert Deborah Blaz reports that student-created rubrics help instructors identify schema strengths and gaps. For advanced learners, Blaz adds an extra column with challenging criteria to her rubrics.

When creating tests, include different question types that might address students' preferences: multiple choice, short answer, timelines, matching, true or false, graphic organizers to label, and sentences that are partially completed.

Have students visually document their academic progress "by creating a 'benchmark timeline' of weekly tasks. Each Friday, students initial the timeline, indicating where they are in the task sequence."

Professor Helen Barrett defines the learning portfolio as "a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas."

5. Provide High- and No-Tech Scaffolding for Reading

Rewordify, a text compactor, simplifies and shortens readings so that students with diverse comprehension abilities can comprehend and discuss the same article.

To find readings that are adjusted for high, medium, or low Lexile levels, use the informational texts in Newsela, the Smithsonian's Tween Tribune, or News in Levels-the latter also provides audio versions of the articles for additional support.

Distribute Comprehension Bookmarks (see pp. 13-26) to readers who might struggle with a complex text.

6. Offer Targeted Scaffolding for Young Writers

For academic writing, temporarily supply a word bank of transitions, an essay structure graphic, or sentence frames.

The free SAS Writing Reviser, which integrates beautifully with Google Docs, analyzes essays for sentence economy, variety, power, and identifies clarity and grammar issues. Ask advanced writers to analyze and assess their compositions' sentence variety and use of passive voice, while struggling writers can use the SAS tool to diagnose fragments, run-on sentences, and dangling modifiers.

If learners haven't adapted to our classroom, classroom instruction should adapt to learners by experimenting with student-centered strategies.

Recommended Resources

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Teaching a Class With Big Ability Differences | Edutopia

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How do you teach the same concepts and skills to students with diverse abilities and interests? Different learning profiles? And how do you do that in real classrooms, with limited time to plan? Differentiated instruction is one answer that has been extensively documented (see "Recommended Resources" at the end of this post).

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Episode 018: John Hattie, Visible Learning

We are so excited to share with you the conversation we were lucky enough to have with Dr. John Hattie - educational researcher, professor, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, and overall brilliant person. Please enjoy, and send your questions, comments, discussions to us @VrainWaves to keep this conversation going!
Connect with Dr. John Hattie Connect with Vrain Waves Links & Show Notes

Out of our heads and into the classroom (01:18)

Graphic Jam / dual coding (02:15)

Show me your values (04:17)

BONUS RESOURCE: Formative Pre/Post Lesson Plan , for use with setting and reflecting on learning goals, from St Vrain Valley School District's Assessment & Curriculum Department. Enjoy!

Intro to John Hattie (07:11) | Hattie's Meta-Analyses

Start of interview (07:49)

Hardware / software / inside - How we think (08:52)

What is visible learning & what problem does visible learning answer? (10:38)

95-97% of what we do increases achievement to some degree

Above average effect = >0.4 effect size / List of influences

Know thy impact (13:59)

Professional development (15:25)
Moving from 'how we teach' to 'how we interpret our impact'

Hattie's visible learning team workflow: (17:30)

Teachers are to "D.I.E." for

Diagnosis
Diagnosis = Needs Analysis (16 to 20 factors) - ask staff, teachers, students

Intervention & Implementation

Make sure the intervention addresses the diagnosis

Implement effectively

Evaluation
Use a portfolio of evidence to change how we think

Evaluation vs. Research (20:03)

Feedback discussion (23:28)

Assessment-Capable Learners (28:33)

Class Size Discussion (34:24)

Classroom relationships (39:32)

Henry Levin (40:52) - The Economics of Student Time | Mapping the Economics of Education

How do we make schools more inviting for students (40:03)

Science of Learning Center in Melbourne (42:23)

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (43:20)

Strengths-based Education (45:56)

10 Mindframes: I am an evaluator of my impact (50:18)

This entry was posted in Show Notes on by .

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Episode 018: John Hattie, Visible Learning We are so excited to share with you the conversation we were lucky enough to have with Dr. John Hattie - educational researcher, professor, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, and overall brilliant person. Please enjoy, and send your questions, comments, discussions to us @VrainWaves to keep this conversation going!

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It is possible to help a beginning English-language learner (ELL) improve so much in a matter of months that he or she can pass the sixth through eighth grade state standardized tests. This student can go from five to 50 percent on a school curriculum test. It's happening in my middle school classroom, and it can happen in your classrooms, too. With the right support and differentiation, ELLs will be successful in your general education or language arts classroom.

As you read the following, keep in mind that these ELL strategies are good for engaging all students. That's because they're interactive and focus on the four domains of language -- reading, writing, speaking, and listening -- which all students need support in developing. Often with general education students, reading and writing get the most attention, while speaking and listening development are neglected.

1. Students should read a book of choice every day.

Research shows that reading daily improves a student's fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, analytical skills, and memory. Work with your librarian to give your students access to books at all levels. Encourage them to read books from different genres at their level. If you have students still struggling with English, computer programs such as i-Ready, Kurzweil, or Starfall can give them a foundation. Transition them to children's books or graphic novels after a month or two.

Once the students are finished reading, creatively tie their silent reading time into your curriculum and lessons. If you're introducing or reviewing "conflict," ask the students to explain and define the conflicts in their books. Relate back to their books with any of the other reading concepts, too. If you're working on a writing conventions mini lesson, have the students refer back to their books to see how their author uses these conventions. The students need to know that their silent reading relates to the big picture.

2. Your lessons should be multimodal.

Teachers need to present material in various ways to reach all types of learners. You can easily prepare ahead of time by adding visuals that will help the students gain access to the content.

Before each lesson, pull up different internet tabs (or apps like the Oxford Picture Dictionary) that include images, videos, and other multimedia to help ELLs understand parts of the vocabulary lesson. A folktale lesson about the "The Crane Maiden," for example, should include vocabulary like crane, marsh, loom, and quilt. These vocabulary words will add to a general idea of what the story is about. Pull up pictures on Google Images and click through them during the lesson as you explain and pre-teach the vocabulary. The story also talks about a maiden using a loom. Along with the images, present a YouTube video of someone using a loom to make a beautiful quilt. These activities will bring about authentic learning and draw from background knowledge.

3. Shorten your lecture.

When students are engaged daily in structured conversations, they are learning. The teacher should facilitate that learning. Structure your class so that you're giving five- to seven-minute lectures and then allowing the students to discuss the subject with guided questions and prompts that use academic vocabulary.

As the rest of the class reads from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, ELLs might read from a children's version and watch a few video clips from the classic MGM film that go with the chapter. Show them the tornado scene, the Munchkin scene, and the Yellow Brick Road introduction, giving them visuals to help them during the structured conversations. After reading, the groups will have meaningful, authentic conversations about what they just read. While the teacher facilitates the process, instead of standing in front explaining, the beginners can start piecing together vocabulary that they see and hear.

4. The students must be writing.

The only way students are going to improve at writing ideas and conventions is to actually write. They should practice writing what they are passionate about -- and that doesn't come from worksheets and drills. After writing sentences and essays, they should learn how to edit and revise their own errors. We should not be correcting their essays for them.

Allow the students to choose topics of their choice. Give them a guide to follow, but don't confine them to certain topics, number of paragraphs, or sentences. They should decide what they want to write about and how they want to write. As they finish their first draft, guide them through ratiocination techniques. In terms of language, this means focusing on word usage, "to be" verbs, run-on sentences, repeated words, and more, rather than the content. Don't correct students' errors for them. This helps them recognize their own errors now and for the future. ELLs can use these techniques, too. When you use mentor texts to explain writing conventions in mini lessons, students will learn how to write as they see these models and look for their own errors. They will jump from beginners to intermediate or advanced writers in a matter of months using these skills.

With these four strategies, I guarantee that you will see incredible improvements in your middle school students. My students were engaged in the lessons and learned new vocabulary words and content each day. I didn't have discipline problems with them because they weren't bored or confused. They improved on curriculum and district tests at an average rate of 15-30 percent when we followed these four strategies.

ELLs and other students can all benefit from these strategies in general education classrooms. Let's not shelter them from this authentic and enriching learning environment.

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4 Strategies to Help ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom | Edutopia

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It is possible to help a beginning English-language learner (ELL) improve so much in a matter of months that he or she can pass the sixth through eighth grade state standardized tests. This student can go from five to 50 percent on a school curriculum test.

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Formative Assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of core content. As assessment for learning, formative assessment practices provide students with clear learning targets, examples and models of strong and weak work, regular descriptive feedback, and the ability to self-assess, track learning, and set goals. (Adapted from Council of Chief State School Officers, FAST SCASS)

Intended Purpose Assessment FOR Learning Examples

To increase students' learning

Non-graded quizzes, pretests, minute papers, exit tickets, written assignments, concept maps, interviews, progress monitoring, performance assessment scoring guides, weekly reports, focused questions, journals, learning logs, learning probes, checklists, surveys, and item analyses of summative assessments

To adjust instruction

To diagnosis student needs

To improve the instructional program

Research has shown that effective assessment for learning practices have the potential to greatly increase both student achievement and motivation. ( See Assessment for Learning Resources) Black and Wiliams (1998) identify the key classroom assessment features that result in these large achievement gains as:

Assessments that result in accurate information

Descriptive rather than evaluative feedback to students

Student involvement in assessment

For classroom formative assessment practices to both motivate students and increase student achievement, students need to know the learning target, know where they are at in regards to the learning target, and know what they can do to close the gap. In Classroom Assessment for Student Learning, Richard J. Stiggins lists 7 strategies of assessment for learning. They are as follows:

1. Provide a clear and understandable vision of the learning targets.

2. Use examples and models of strong and weak work.

3. Offer regular descriptive feedback.

4. Teach students to self-assess and set goals.

5. Design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time.

6. Teach students focused revision.

7. Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning.

Connections

Formative assessment is an integral part of the following initiatives in Iowa Schools:

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) in Iowa, also known as Response to Intervention or RtI, is an every-education decision-making framework of evidence-based practices in instruction and assessment that addresses the needs of all students starting in general education. A key component of MTSS is evidence-based curriculum and instruction. To keep learning moving forward each student needs continuous monitoring of on-going learning. With each lesson, MTSS teachers identify the intended learning, use evidence of students meeting the learning goals, and identify which students need additional support, are on track to learn, or need to move forward. Teachers using formative assessment practices are also able to engage students in thinking and acting on their learning needs.

Professional Development

The Iowa Department of Education has developed seven online modules for collaborative learning teams. They may be used as part of a building's professional development plan for implementing the Iowa Core, as part of a course syllabus, or independently by a team of 3 to 10 educators to deepen their understanding of formative assessment. They do not require that the team have an expert in formative assessment as a facilitator, but presume the team or facilitator has some experience in collaborative learning.

These modules illustrate the process of assessment for learning and incorporate the following six attributes identified by Iowa educators: learning progressions; clear learning goals and success criteria; modifying instruction based on elicited evidence; providing descriptive feedback; self- and peer-assessment; and creating a collaborative classroom climate. Each module was developed to follow the Iowa Professional Development Model and to include opportunities for understanding theory, engaging with a demonstration, practicing in the classroom, and peer coaching.

The Assessment for Learning modules are:

1. Foundation

2. Learning Intentions

3. Eliciting Evidence/Instructional Modifications

4. Descriptive Feedback

5. Self-and Peer-assessment

6. Collaborative Classroom Climate

7. Putting It Into Practice

8. Module Demo

To access the modules go to http://moodle.aeapdonline.org/. Follow the directions on the page to set up an account. Go to Assessment and then Assessment for Learning.

Resources

Articles for Use in Professional Development

Assessment Through the Student's Eye
Stiggins, R., (2007). Assessment through the student's eye. Educational Leadership May2007, Vol. 64 Issue 8, p22-26, 5p. Retrieved October 31, 2007 from http://tinyurl.com/ctz7vb

The article addresses the use and purposes of assessment in U.S. education in the early 21st century. The author notes that historically schools have used assessment to highlight student differences and rank students by achievement; he adds that, in 2007, schools are using assessment information to help students meet standards. The author believes that educators must address student confidence and motivation as well as potential, and he suggests using assessment for learning rather than using it only to verify learning. He explains that assessment for learning involves sharing information with students, discussing goals, and providing descriptive feedback to improve performance. He provides descriptive scenarios and suggestions for professional development.

Five Assessment Myths and Their Consequences
Stiggins, R., (2007) Five assessment myths and their consequences. Education Week, v27, n8, p28-29 Oct 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2015 from http://www.ewcupdate.com/userfiles/assessmentnetwork_net/file/Five%20Assessment%20Myths%20Stiggins.pdfDecember 3, 2007 from http://www.ewcupdate.com/userfiles/assessmentnetwork_net/file/Five%20Assessment%20Myths%20Stiggins.pdf

From Formative Assessment to Assessment FOR Learning: A Path to Success in Standards-Based Schools
Stiggins, R., (2005). From formative assessment to assessment for learning: a path to success in standards-based schools. Phi Delta Kappan, Dec2005, Vol. 87 Issue 4, p324-328, 5p, 1bw. Retrieved November 1, 2007 from http://bibliotecadigital.academia.cl/jspui/bitstream/123456789/586/1/Rick%20Stiggins.pdf

The article discusses the purpose of assessments in U.S. schools and why they should be changed. The redefined mission for American schools is to provide standards-based education and the opportunity for all students to learn in effective schools with pre-specified standards. The assessment legacy of ranking students with grades has been linked to motivation, but formative assessment can promote student success.

Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Formative Assessment
Black, P., & Wiliam, D., (1998) Inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, v80 n2 p139-44 Oct 1998. Retrieved November 9, 2012 from http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf

Firm evidence shows that formative assessment is an essential ingredient of classroom work and that its development can raise achievement standards. Achieving this goal demands a four-point scheme for teacher development: learning from development, a slow, yet steady dissemination process, reduction of obstacles, and substantive research efforts.

The Value of Formative Assessment
http://www.fairtest.org/facts/FormativeAssessment.pdf

An article from the National Center for Fair & Open Testing Journal, Fair Test Examiner on the value of Formative Assessment.

This short article could easily be used as a "jigsaw" in a professional development session.

Links
Assessment Training Institute/Educational Testing Service (ATI/ETI)
http://www.assessmentinst.com/
Rick J. Stiggins founded the Assessment Training Institute. It has since been purchased by Education Testing Services, but continues to house resources for learning teams on formative assessment. They also provide a free newsletter on assessment for learning at this site. http://www.assessmentinst.com/
Toolkit98
http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has put together a professional development toolkit for professional development providers on assessment. The activities in the toolkit parallel the chapters in Classroom Assessment for Student Learning and other books produced by the Assessment Training Institute. All of the workshop materials and directions are available on the website.

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Formative Assessment is a process used by teachers and students as part of instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students' achievement of core content. As assessment for learning, formative assessment practices provide students with clear learning targets, examples and models of strong and weak work, regular descriptive feedback, and the ability to self-assess, track learning, and set goals.

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56 Formative Assessment Ideas by Category

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Educators interested in sharing ideas and strategies related to assessing students in manners that increase learning.

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Sometimes the details former students recall from class is nothing short of amazing. A few years ago I had a student named Abby in my history class, who had always been in self-contained special education classrooms. Her teacher wanted her in my class for socialization purposes, and she did well. A year later, Abby began stopping by my class to deliver notes from the office a few times a week and I was always delighted to see her.

One day I had been planning to discuss metacognition-a learning strategy I teach to my middle-school students. Abby walked in just in time to hear me ask the class, "What is one of my favorite big words that begins with 'M?'" After a split second, she enthusiastically replied, "Mesopotamia!" Although I had been going for "metacognition," I could not have been more proud. It had been more than a year and a half since she had studied Mesopotamia, yet she was able to pull it out of memory without a second thought.

Abby's story is hardly unique. I often teach students who react with surprise when they do well in my class. "But I've never done well in history," they say. This is almost always followed by a common, heartbreaking confession. "I'm not smart." Every time I hear this, I am faced with the gut-wrenching realization that the student has internalized failure by age eleven. Yet every year I see these same students soar and complete the class with high grades.

This raises two questions for me: How can we turn eleven-year-olds who have internalized failure into students like Abby who retain information for years? And how can we teach that poor grades don't indicate failure, but rather that we haven't found the correct learning strategy?

Enter research.

When Abby walked in, I was speaking about metacognition for a reason. Part of that concept has to do with differentiating what is known from what isn't. Top students often figure out that they must focus their time studying less familiar material. But for most students this is not intuitive. That's where I come in. Students learn early on that my first commitment is to teach them how to learn, and my second commitment is to my course content. Students go from "I'm not smart" to "I just haven't learned that...yet." It's a mindset shift that can make all the difference.

On some level I had always suspected this about students, and tried to put it into practice informally. But it was a serendipitous encounter that changed everything for me. Years ago, I met two cognitive scientists, Dr. Mark McDaniel and Dr. Henry Roediger III, from Washington University in St. Louis, whose research on psychology and learning really resonated with me. They obtained a large federal grant and asked to conduct research in my classroom. Of course I said yes. The research that started in my class grew much larger and became an authentic and rigorous study that spanned multiple grade-levels, schools and years.

The study included more than 1,500 students at the middle and high school levels. The purpose? Researching how students in classrooms learn best. Many studies had been conducted in university labs. However, this was one of the first studies done in authentic classrooms. Results showed that using researched principles of learning science-specifically feedback-driven metacognition and another process known as retrieval-increased individual scores one to two grades higher, often turning Cs into As.

These principles of feedback driven-metacognition and retrieval would take my teaching skills farther than I had imagined. In short, I began to understand why my students were learning (and if they weren't, why not).

Learning How to Learn

I've often heard students tell me they studied for hours on a test only to fail. Why? It is not unusual for some students to review what they already know and skip more difficult tasks. Yet evidence exists that providing timely, effective feedback is particularly beneficial for struggling learners. It is this feedback that allows students to differentiate what they know from what they don't-metacognition.

The second part of my strategy involves retrieval. According to my favorite definition of the term, when we think about learning, we're often focused on getting information into students' heads. Retrieval, on the other hand, focuses on getting information out of students' heads. You may think you know all about ancient Mesopotamian society. But it's not until you're asked to explain what you know that the lightbulb goes on and you realize what you don't know. For too many students, that aha-moment happens while they're taking the big test. And by then it's too late.

As the research became clear to me, I realized students weren't getting much out of copying homework and taking tests. Metacognition and retrieval were powerful tools I needed to incorporate into my classroom. More than a decade ago, I began to incorporate these tools into my everyday teaching. I eliminated homework and came up with the idea of a mini-quiz: a low or no-stakes retrieval exercise. I'd randomly choose five things we learned the day before and ask them to write what they could recall. We'd discuss and students would get immediate feedback.

Those mini-quizzes became a way for the students to differentiate what they knew from what they didn't. Was retrieval possible? If not, that particular question required more study. The time I spent grading homework shifted from two hours per night to a fifteen-minute analysis of mini-quizzes after school, in which I looked for trends in what students hadn't learned so I knew where to focus my attention during review sessions.

After seeing the success of the mini-quiz, I took delight in looking at other strategies I was already using, and with a few tweaks, turned them into powerful strategies as well. I began using clickers to give kids a series of informal, formative assessments. There was a pretest before I taught a lesson, a post-lesson check-in a few days later, and a review before a chapter test. I wanted to see what kids were remembering, and when.

Particularly, I started seeing great success with my students with IEPs-who typically form a portion of my classes, including students like Abby. These students spent extra time with a special education teacher, and I wanted to see whether my learning approaches were helping them grasp new material for the first time. While many of them had modifications like extra time and study aids for exams themselves, they always took the same formative assessments as their peers using clickers.

One year, as I tracked the results for my 14 students with IEPs, I found that these students really were learning-and retaining-information. For a lesson on Egypt, these students received an average of 39 percent before material was taught. A few days later they scored 70 percent. And later still, before the chapter test, they were up to 82 percent on the formative assessment. As I tracked progress for my IEP students over the next few years, I found similar results. To me, it indicated that students were using their time with their dedicated special ed teacher wisely and learning to review what they didn't know.

Changing methods to incorporate research-based principles of learning science has drastically impacted my students' retention of material. And teaching my students how to learn has been a life-changer for them. In fact, the research I've been involved with has shown that the relationship between a student's understanding of their own learning, compared with their actual learning, has significant long-term impact on study habits, motivation and overall learning.

Over the years, as mini-quiz grades rose and confidence improved, many of my students shared with me that they no longer felt like failures. They often credit me with their success; I, in turn, always point the success back to them. They learned how to learn. And that's a skill you don't quickly forget.

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The Secret to Student Success? Teach Them How to Learn. - EdSurge News

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Sometimes the details former students recall from class is nothing short of amazing. A few years ago I had a student named Abby in my history class, who had always been in self-contained special education classrooms. Her teacher wanted her in my class for socialization purposes, and she did well.

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This year, I've focused on using the Station Rotation Model to:

create smaller learning communities within our larger class

spend more time working in small groups with students

more effectively differentiate instruction

make the most of our limited technology

Most of the time our Station Rotation lessons are focused on academic topics, but last month I experimented with a new spin on the Station Rotation Model that I called Inspiration Stations. I explained to my students that the goal of these stations was to have fun and stretch our minds creatively. I'm a big believer in the power of play to inspire, recharge and ignite both curiosity and creativity. Unfortunately, it's rare to see students engage in play at school after they've left elementary school, but secondary students need this time too.

Instead of designing academic tasks to be completed in each station, I designed creative tasks with very loose guidelines. One group composed and recorded a song while another station was focused on building a 3D art project. One group decided to write a proposal for a student-designed Donors Choose project. The fourth station was a "you choose" station. Students were able to select the station or stations they wanted to visit. Some students stayed in a single station while others hit two stations. In that way, it had elements of the Free Form Station Rotation.

The beauty of Inspiration Stations is that it gives students choice. Not every child enjoys the same type of creative activity, so the various stations allow them to select a creative task that appeals to their interests.

For teachers who wonder..."What is the value of this lesson?" I'd encourage you to spend some time investigating the value of creative play. I love how the Inspiration Foundation puts it. They say, "Creative Play begins with inspiration and culminates in the sharing of an original artifact made by the child using whatever tools and materials are available. In this process, kids open up their minds to what's possible, take chances, solve problems, collaborate and become better creative thinkers and doers. These are the critical ' 21st-century skills' the whole world is talking about."

The more I use the Station Rotation Model, the more I find I am drawn to variations on it. I believe those variations keep it interesting for my students!

This entry was posted in Learning. Bookmark the permalink.

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Inspiration Stations: A Creative Spin on the Station Rotation

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This year, I've focused on using the Station Rotation Model to: create smaller learning communities within our larger class spend more time working in small groups with students more effectively differentiate instruction make the most of our limited technology Most

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7 Keys to Effective Feedback + G. Wiggins

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So you just taught your students something new. Maybe it's a math operation, a bit of music theory, or the conjugation of an irregular verb form in Spanish. Now you're ready to get them practicing. One standard approach is to assign written exercises. Fine. That's perfectly fine. Except when it's not, because you do it every day, and students are dying to interact more, move more, talk more, do something else.

Last fall, I showed you how to take written exercises and build in more movement and interactivity with Chat Stations. Now, I offer another alternative: Reciprocal Learning, a cooperative structure that takes "working in pairs" up a notch.

It goes a little something like this:

Every pair consists of a "Student A" and a "Student B."

Each student has their own set of problems or exercises to work on. Here's the twist: Student A has the answers to Student B's problems, and Student B has the answers to Student A's problems.

Students take turns coaching each other through the problems, not giving the answers, but helping their partner reach the correct answer on their own.

This arrangement, if done right, will help students become more self-directed, increase academic gains, and improve the quality of social interactions.

Here's a quick demonstration:

Reciprocal Learning is one of twenty research-based strategies outlined in Silver, Strong, and Perini's excellent book, The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-Based Strategy for Every Lesson ( Bookshop.org | Amazon).

The book also describes two variations on this strategy. The first is Peer Reading, where students take turns answering response questions to a long piece of text. The second is Peer Problem Solving, where each person has a single, complex problem to solve. What's cool about this variation is that all the "A"s and all the "B"s meet beforehand in a "coaches' meeting" to work through the steps of their partners' problem and strategize for the best ways to coach their partners through it.

If you like Reciprocal Learning, take a look at my overview of Concept Attainment, another strategy from this book. Although many of the techniques in the book have simple-sounding names - which makes people think they understand the strategies without really studying them - they have much more structure and complexity than their names imply. For teachers who are visual or kinesthetic learners, reading the book's description of the techniques sometimes doesn't quite get the job done, which is why I'm putting these videos together: The strategies are too good to go unused.

Try it out and let me know what you think - and as always, if you have tips to share or questions to ask, add them in the comments section so we can all learn together. ♦

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How to Use the Reciprocal Learning Strategy

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This cooperative learning strategy takes the idea of "working in pairs" up a notch.