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Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

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5 Remote Learning Lessons from an Online High School Principal

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5 Remote Learning Lessons from an Online High School Principal

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When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many educators learned very quickly that online learning takes work.

In the spring, teachers and administrators had to take on the near-impossible task of moving all their classes and interactions online with no warning. Fall brought its own uncertainties, as districts around the country struggled to reconcile the need to look out for students' health and safety with the difficulties of managing remote instruction. And this winter, as a challenging semester wears on and the pandemic continues to surge, it seems increasingly likely that some online learning will be unavoidable for the foreseeable future.

It's crazy to expect that with all their other challenges and responsibilities, teachers will be able to suddenly master online instruction in the midst of an incredibly volatile year.

At this point, it's well-known that online learning means more than simply teaching face-to-face lesson plans over Zoom. In many ways, it's a totally different type of pedagogy, one that requires the sort of training and support that are hard to come by in times of crisis like this one.

Fortunately, teachers are not alone. At schools like mine, which pioneered the practices and pedagogies of distance learning long before the pandemic began, we've come to understand what it takes to make remote education work. Here are five tips for teachers looking to navigate the online learning landscape this spring.

1 Differentiation is key

According to one recent University of Virginia survey, more than 8 in 10 teachers expect that students will need more personalized, individually focused instruction to meet their needs. Online learning is, in many ways, uniquely suited to that sort of differentiation, enabling learners to focus on the areas where they need the most support.

To make the most of differentiated learning trajectories, educators should provide students with the opportunity to work at their own pace, offer both remedial and enrichment content, give them options for how to demonstrate mastery of material and allow them to work with peers as well as independently. Our approach to online learning and the learning management systems we use focus on creating pathways that are unique to every student. That means a student who gets the right answer on Question A will be directed to a new and more challenging question, while a student who doesn't may be pointed to a similar question that helps with mastery of the original concept. It's an approach that empowers students to spend time reinforcing the topics that are the most challenging, rather than leaving them feeling lost or stuck in a one-size-fits-all classroom experience. Online learning can also provide a robust opportunity for peer-to-peer communication: instructors can moderate open forums, provide video and/or audio dialogues or create themed discussion postings that allow for frequent interaction and feedback.

2 Make everything formative

True online instruction means much more than independent reading, viewing of recorded lectures and videos, and silent, solitary assessment. The virtual setting allows for new approaches to formative assessment, tests that take place during the learning process and are used for helping students master material, rather than for evaluation or accountability. In many cases, these assessments in online settings can be more effective than in-person tests. Unlike traditional exams, quizzes or worksheets, which often disappear into a teacher's hands for days at a time, formative online assessments provide immediate feedback with almost no turnaround time, point each individual student toward the content needed to master a concept and provide the instructor with real-time data that can inform instruction. We've found that tools as simple as Zoom or Teams, or those that are embedded within a learning management system, can help to create a more dynamic, exciting learning environment, and give both students and teachers better real-time feedback that helps them improve in the moment.

3 Data is your friend.

All these technological tools and strategies come with data that can help students understand their own progress and give teachers more clear guidance on where and how to intervene. When used safely and appropriately, data can be a powerful and important part of creating an engaging, supportive online learning experience. Data can provide a snapshot into a specific student's progress or a high-level overview of an entire group. At Penn Foster, we're able to not only regularly review students' overall academic performance in specific courses, but drill down to the level of individual assessments and even specific test questions. This type of regular data review can provide much-needed feedback to instructors, and to courseware and curriculum development teams, to improve lessons and content and to ensure that learners are provided with necessary resources and interventions.

4 Outreach matters

Some parts of the online experience are more challenging than in face-to-face interaction - and building relationships with students may be the hardest part. Virtual instruction requires teachers, teaching assistants and counselors to approach this in a different way. That means outreach is even more important in remote courses than in face-to-face ones. Educators should make it a habit to reach out to students outside of class time to check in, see how they're doing and hear what they're excited about and challenged by.

5 Community equals confidence

Individual outreach is also important for building connections among students and fostering a sense of community that boosts their confidence and encourages them to lean on peers and teachers for support. In in-person classes, this feeling of community develops almost automatically as students engage with one another. Online, it takes a little more work - but it is perhaps the most powerful way to help students stay on track. Building community in remote settings requires providing feedback that is (being mindful of turnaround times on tests) and robust (using clear rubrics for grading), as well as offering frequent opportunities for peer-to-peer as well as student-instructor interaction. The goal is for the learner to feel that he or she is a part of an online community, not having a one-on-one interaction with a computer.

Online learning may be the order of the day for thousands of students for the rest of the school year, and maybe beyond. Hopefully, lessons from early adopters in online learning can help teachers create an experience that effectively supports their students' needs and helps keep learning going even in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Megan Bowen is director of Penn Foster High School.
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An Educator's View: Virtual Teaching Takes Work. 5 Remote Learning Lessons from an Online High School Principal

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When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many educators learned very quickly that online learning takes work. In the spring, teachers and administrators had to take on the near-impossible task of moving all their classes and interactions online with no warning. Fall brought its own uncertainties, as districts around the country struggled to reconcile the need to [...]

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A comic for explaining the coronavirus to kids

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A comic for explaining the coronavirus to kids

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Kids, this comic is for you.

It's based on a radio story that NPR education reporter Cory Turner did. He asked some experts what kids might want to know about the new coronavirus discovered in China.

To make this comic, we've used his interviews with Tara Powell, who teaches at the University of Illinois School of Social Work, Joy Osofsky, a clinical and developmental psychologist at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and Krystal Lewis at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Malaka Gharib is an NPR editor and the author and illustrator of "I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir. "
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Just for kids: A comic exploring the new coronavirus

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Kids, this comic is for you. It's based on a radio story that NPR education reporter Cory Turner did. He asked some experts what kids might want to know about the new coronavirus discovered in China.

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The Consciousness Gap in Education: An Equity Imperative - Dorinda Carter Andrews

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The Consciousness Gap in Education: An Equity Imperative - Dorinda Carter Andrews

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The consciousness gap in education - an equity imperative | Dorinda Carter Andrews | TEDxLansingED

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Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight: Homework

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Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight: Homework

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Leading Great Learning - Mike Anderson - Educational Consultant

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There is much debate about what kind of role homework should play in schools. Research on the topic is mixed. It has negative impacts on the achievement of younger children, positive impacts at the high school level, and mixed results in the middle. Despite this, homework is routinely given at all levels of school. We've even met preschool teachers who say they must give homework to four-year-olds!

What does homework have to do with equity?

Here is yet another practice that serves to exacerbate inequities faced by students from poverty. As we talk with teachers, it seems to be widely recognized that families have a huge role to play in setting students up for success with homework. Many teachers rely on parents to help students when they get stuck or to make them do it. At the very least, it is expected that parents create space and time in the home for kids to be able to be successful with homework. When viewed through the lens of a middle-class background, this might seem reasonable (though it still ignores the nightly power struggles that often ensue). Comfortable and familiar images surface of setting aside a special table or a space at the counter for kids to do homework with supplies such as pencils, pens, rulers, and other school supplies nearby.

What happens for kids living in homes where adults can't set these things up? How about kids who stay in different homes on different nights and don't have a consistent schedule? What about kids whose parents struggled in school (or didn't even finish school-like one of the authors of this blog post)? and don't know how to be successful with homework? Some parents work multiple jobs and aren't home to be involved in the homework routine. Many children live in temporary housing such as motels, homeless shelters, or campgrounds. Through no fault of their own, many of our students have little, if any chance, of being successful with work sent home. In addition to not completing assigned work, they get another loud and clear message that they can't be successful in school.

What should we do instead?

Of course, there's an obvious solution-stop giving homework entirely. This would benefit many children and families at the preschool, elementary, and middle school levels. If work is worth doing, do it at school. And yes, that means we'd need to be more selective with what we do-we would no longer be able to try and do more than is possible in a school day by passing work beyond the final bell.

If this isn't possible for some reason, there are other options to consider.

Make homework optional. "If you'd like to continue playing around with this science work after school, here are a couple of ways you could do that," we could invite. Then, if students do work outside of class, they can share what they worked on with others-further enriching everyone's understanding. This, too, allows them to benefit from choice. You might be surprised at the investment students might make.

Keep homework light and simple-no projects allowed! If you must assign homework, keep it light in nature. Offer a few simple ways to practice key skills or reinforce content. Don't assign complex work such as long-range projects. These require organizational skills and coaching best left to teachers. Once a big project is sent home, well-meaning and overzealous family members can get involved, and then the disparities between rich and poor are heightened. Again, the parent who is at their second job may be limited in their ability to participate.

Don't allow class time to revolve around homework. Avoid the homework doom-loop, where most of class is spent reviewing homework leaving little time for instruction or actual work in school. Instead, spend class time engaged in dynamic learning and don't waste time reviewing homework.

Don't grade homework. If you're grading work that some kids have a fair shot at doing and others don't, you're building inequity into your grading system. Kids from disadvantaged homes will have a harder time getting good grades, regardless of their understanding of content.

Be wary of flipped learning. The intent of the flipped classroom model is positive, but for kids unable to complete readings or watch videos at home, they come to school unprepared for the deeper learning saved for class time. Their day begins at a disadvantage. These kids are left doing the rote work in the hall or being unsuccessful with higher level learning.

Encourage reading. If there's one kind of "homework" we could all encourage, it's reading for pleasure. Don't track it, manage it, or "hold kids accountable" for it. Encourage it. Make sure all kids have access to books at school that they can take home. If want to foster a love of reading, we need to not make reading a chore.

Miscellaneous Homework. Consider rethinking homework altogether. Consider offering options that encourage connection. How about a family dance party? Maybe students can write a letter to a grandparent, or other relative, telling them about school. Or they might call/write a relative to ask about a family story or tradition. Encourage them to help a neighbor or clean up the trash on their block. (Remember, don't incentivize or reward kids who do these things. Simply allow kids to share their experiences with you and/or the class.)

What are some of your ideas? How might we change homework practices to ensure that all students have a true opportunity to succeed in school?

Read about more inequities common in many schools in our other posts in this series!
Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight (Common School Practices that Disadvantage the Already Disadvantaged)
Traditional Grading (coming soon)

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Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight: Homework

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There is much debate about what kind of role homework should play in schools. Research on the topic is mixed. It has negative impacts on the achievement of younger children, positive impacts at the high school level, and mixed results in the middle. Despite this, homework is routinely given at all levels of school.

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Last week the Nation's Report Card came out with these headlines from EdWeek:

This is rather dismal news and should be a wake up call. What we should do now is to look closely on why we are seeing these results. Consider "standardized tests" that are based on performance and may be driving this data in a direction we do not want to continue. Let's begin a new conversation in education with a focus on "learning" instead of "performance". That means for all learners! Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP, states this:

In fact, over the long term in reading, the lowest-performing students-those readers who struggle the most-have made no progress from the first NAEP administration almost 30 years ago."

How do we change the conversation and the outcomes for the learners in our classrooms? Look at the research and ask yourself...

Why Focus on "Learning" over "Performance"

Some 8 years ago in my research on learners, learning and learning-centered environments, I came across a researcher who had done significant research on learning. Chris Watkins from the Institute on Education (IoE) - University of London published his research in the Summer of 2010 titled INSI Research Matters - "Learning, Performance and Improvement".

He points out that the review of the evidence is based on a reading of more than 100 classroom-based research studies. Most importantly, he states that...

"the evidence leads to the conclusion that learning about learning is a practically viable and educationally important strategy which also has the effect of improving performance."

I would suggest that you delve deep into this report, maybe create a study group to begin the conversation about learning and how it should be the focus in creating inclusive learner-centered environments in your school where every learner progresses. The major takeaway I had after reading this report is this single statement:

A focus on learning can enhance performance, whereas a focus on performance (alone) can depress performance.

The Key Issue: A Learner's Orientation

One of the findings that is important to point out from Chris Watkins' research is that "studies of motivation, development and achievement, by many research teams across a number of decades and many countries, a recurring distinction arises. Any learner can, in a given context, adopt an orientation which can be described on the dimension below:"

Learning vs. Performance: What Do you Want Happening in Your School and Classroom?

To give you a clearer picture of what the difference is between "Learning and Performance", I have taken the findings of the research by Chris Watkins to create some points of conversation we should all have as we decide how we may want to change our school and classroom cultures so that we can actually improve the outcomes for all of our learners.

After delving into the research and in having the important conversations on how we can improve the outcomes for every learner in our schools, consider this next important question:

How do we create school and classroom cultures in which learning is valued more than performance?

Reference:

Watkins, C. (2010). Learning, Performance and Improvement. INSI Research Matters, 34, Retrieved May 10, 2013, from International Network for School Improvement Web site: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/about/documents/Watkins_10_Lng_Perf_Imp_ev.pdf

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From the Research: Focus on "Learning" over "Performance"

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Last week the Nation's Report Card came out with these headlines from EdWeek: This is rather dismal news and should be a wake up call. What we should do now is to look closely on why we are seeing these results.

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Five Questions PLC's should ask to promote equity

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Five Questions PLC's should ask to promote equity

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How might the work of professional learning communities (PLCs) focus on the changes necessary to ensure that all students are engaged, inspired, and successful?

Despite current efforts, some groups of students are not making expected progress to meet grade-level standards and achieve at the highest levels. PLCs present a rich opportunity to improve instruction, as there is evidence that teacher teams, collaborating together, impact the learning outcomes of students (e.g. Reeves, 2010).

But PLCs may not be fulfilling the promise of equity, especially for students who continue to face opportunity gaps and those who have historically been marginalized. How can we light the path to equity by refocusing PLCs so that they are more than a series of meetings and result in real change for the students who need it most?

We developed five discussion questions that we believe allow educator teams to put equity front and center in their collaborative conversations (Fisher, Frey, Almarode, Flores, & Nagel, 2020):

Where are we going?

Where are we now?

How do we move learning forward?

What did we learn today?

Who benefited and who did not benefit?

In this #LearnFwdTLP article, @DFISHERSDSU @NancyFrey & @jtalmarode develop 5 discussion questions that allow #PLCs to put #equity front and center in their collaborative conversations. Click To Tweet
Here we consider each of these questions and how PLCs and the students they serve can benefit from them. Although we do not think that PLCs are singularly sufficient to ensure that equity is achieved, PLCs - when done well - can drive changes to many facets of teaching and learning and seed larger change.
Where are we going?
This first question is deceptively simple. It asks teams to consider the learning goals and trajectory for students.

To some, it may seem that this simple question has nothing to do with equity. But in our experience, teams often plan based on their current and unexamined beliefs about students' ability and potential. Often, they have not considered that their expectations, as expressed through the lessons they design, can magnify inequitable outcomes.

When teams plan lessons well below grade level, students do not have a chance of achieving at the highest level of learning, even if they meet the specific expectations of the lesson. As an example, when a 5th-grade team plans lessons based on 3rd-grade expectations, they produce 6th graders who are ready for 4th grade. As a result, students' growth in learning over an extended period of time will be less than what is both expected and possible.

But when teams engage in conversations about what students need to learn, they surface expectations that become visible to each member of the team. The question "where are we going?" can guide PLC conversations so that expectations become aligned to grade-level expectations and team members identify barriers to learning that need to be removed as well as supports that need to be enacted to ensure appropriate levels of learning.
Where are we now?
Equity demands that teachers build on what students already know and fill any gaps in learning opportunities. When teams discuss the current performance levels of their students, they are often confronted with the reality that some students have not had equitable opportunities to learn to grade-level standards, and they are called on to accept responsibility to close the gap. One of the main functions of a PLC should be to identify these gaps and strategies for closing them.

Consider one effective high school English team we worked with. The team was discussing students' writing using claims, evidence, and reasons. As part of the group's discussion, members noted that students had mastered how to write a claim, but that their evidence centered on personal experiences and not textual evidence.

This allowed them to plan how to focus their instruction on the missing link: using evidence. As one team member said, "We really don't need to start with claims. I mean, look at their work on the preassessment. They are really good at this. Way better than the group last year. But the evidence they use is all from their own lives. I get that, but we need to help them draw evidence from other sources."
How do we move learning forward?
It might seem obvious that PLCs should focus on effective instructional practices. But this is more complex than it sounds.

It requires more than saying, for example, "We'll use reciprocal teaching." It involves a range of detailed instructional decisions that teachers make about how to implement reciprocal teaching and ensure that this approach meets the needs of all students.

When teams fail to discuss the specifics of how to move learning forward, some well-meaning teachers end up using ineffective approaches, like assigning worksheets or doing all of the work for students. Such strategies are more commonly experienced by lower-achieving students, even though they are most in need of effective instruction. According to Good (1987), lower-achieving students:

Receive less wait time, praise, and feedback;

Are seated farther away from the teacher;

Have less eye contact from the teacher; and

Have fewer friendly interactions with the teacher.

How do PLC team members access and share the knowledge to change these patterns? Often, this professional knowledge is in the room and should be shared. If someone has a really effective way of teaching something, he or she should share it, and the team should capitalize on it. In addition, the team should investigate evidence-based practices, especially if team members encounter a new challenge or are not sure what might work in a certain situation.

In addition, teams should discuss the cultural relevancy of the materials they use to teach students the content. Teams should focus on the responsiveness of their pedagogy, asking themselves if the lessons they have designed honor the experiences that students bring to school.
What did we learn today?
This question centers on the learning that occurs through the PLC. This should encompass both students' and teachers' learning. The focus of what was learned today is both outward - our students - and inward - ourselves.

Teams need to discuss what they learned from students and what they plan to do about it. This involves systems for checking for understanding and then using student performance to guide next steps instruction.

For example, a middle school math team wanted to know if students had increased their knowledge of probability. As one team member said, "We can give them a problem set to do, but I am more interested in hearing their thinking. Maybe we should add a writing task and also ask students to retell their thinking. Then I think we'll really know what they learned and what we learned from the process."

Based on what they learned from their students, this team of teachers made decisions about reteaching and extension tasks. They decided what they needed to focus on with the whole class as well as small group and individual instruction that needed to occur for specific students.
Who benefited and who did not?
To deliver on the promise of equity, it is not enough to discuss students on a case-by-case basis. Teams also need to look at trends in learning outcomes for subgroups of students. We have found it is rare for PLC team members to do this, but it is the most critical step. It may not be comfortable, but it is crucial.

One tool teams can use to visualize the data is the Progress vs. Achievement Tool, which can be found at www.visiblelearningplus.com/groups/progress-vs-achievement-tool. Inputting data into this tool creates a four-quadrant display of student outcome trends so that educators can tailor instruction to those groups' needs.

It displays student names in each quadrant and can include demographic information if the team includes it. The lower left quadrant includes students who did not make progress and did not achieve at the average of the group. The lower right quadrant includes students who made progress but still need to achieve more. The upper left quadrant includes students who achieved well but did not make a lot of progress. And the upper right quadrant includes students who both achieved well and made strong progress.

To ensure that the discussions focus on equity, teams need to consider the trends that they notice in each quadrant.

This is what happened when the middle school teachers mentioned previously entered their data into the data tool. The trends were obvious. The lower left quadrant was filled with English learner students.

As one team member noted, "Without visualizing the data this way, I would have focused on the individual students in my class who needed more support. But it's clear that we need to do something different for our English learners if we have any hopes that they will achieve. I think we need to reconsider our instructional supports and how we remove barriers for these students because we're not doing enough to build their skills."
Looking through an equity lens
These five questions can help PLCs confront the realities faced by students and become better teachers and advocates for their futures. To fulfill this potential, teams should always examine the impact their efforts are having on student learning. This involves not only looking at student outcomes but also at changes in teaching.

For example, we encourage teachers to visit one another's classrooms and examine the impact that specific instructional strategies and changes are having on students. During these visits and all interactions with PLC members, changing the questions to focus on equity can make a difference.

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5 questions PLCs should ask to promote equity - Learning Forward

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How might the work of professional learning communities (PLCs) focus on the changes necessary to ensure that all students are engaged, inspired, and successful? Despite current efforts, some groups of students are not making expected progress to meet grade-level standards and achieve at the highest levels.

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Being Divergent with Project-Based Learning

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Being Divergent with Project-Based Learning

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Project-Based Learning (PBL) is both tantalizingly promising and easily misunderstood. Even experienced educators with a complete understanding of the promise of performance assessments and student-centered learning can quickly lose sight of these lynchpins in the attempt to create projects that meet state standards, and engage students. We suddenly discover that we have established a project goal so concrete and specific that a student's best chance for success is to be supremely compliant and stifle any urges to be creative.

This can be avoided through leveraging a divergent thinking lens in the classroom. Divergent thinking in the classroom is when a teacher provides a prompt or challenge with given guidelines and lets the student determine the outcome. Divergent thinking work is endemically difficult to plan in advance, which frightens many an organized teacher. From "divergent" we get "diverse," a word which ably describes the wide range of outcomes in well-structured, divergent PBL. Intimidating though this variety may be it is a hallmark of something spectacular. How do you know you are requiring the safer, right-answer-oriented convergent thinking? When you can easily envision success. Divergent thinking is as uncertain as it is audacious.

My own entrée into "divergent" group projects came from outside of the traditional school day. As a teen, I was involved in Odyssey of the Mind, a team-based creative problem-solving program that culminates in competitions. As participants, my teammates and I were fully engaged, constantly learning - and always astounded by what we could produce based on a simple challenge with a few limits. As an adult, I have coached Odyssey teams and even served on non-profit boards to run the program, but it wasn't until many years of experience that the lightbulb went off: the same principles that impressed me about Odyssey could inspire a host of fantastic learning experiences. Odyssey and similar programs-like Future Problem Solvers, Destination Imagination, First Lego League and even Maker's Spaces-are typically enrichment opportunities, but this meant that too many students were missing out. Students who gravitate toward these programs after school likely needed them less than my other students, who could most benefit from learning how to think outside the box.

In my classroom, I have seen previously-reluctant students absorb Shakespeare-and a host of important state standards-by setting a favorite scene into a different time period and producing a humorous performance. As an administrator, I've seen staff teach math application through open-ended projects and history through creative outputs that ranged from a docu-drama to a walking tour. When I introduced a creative, project-based theme to my summer program, we saw students engineering spaceships and designing future societies with junk drawer materials and some engineering basics. No two projects, when divergent thinking principles are embedded, are ever the same-and this makes assessment something it often is not: FUN!

So how do educators go about planning high-quality, divergent project-based learning? As a classroom educator and administrator, I borrowed the following best practices from my experience with enrichment programs:

Start with some examples. First, spend some time perusing the challenges found in enrichment programs like Odyssey of the Mind and Future Problem Solvers-many of which are available online-for inspiration. Then look for established project-based learning units (like in the Buck Institute's archive) and search for ones that allow for divergent thinking.

Create high-quality rubrics. It's easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but a high-quality project-based learning unit does not eliminate goals and standards just to avoid a right-answer orientation. In fact, the very limits placed on the project are typically what inspire creativity. If students know what they're required to do, they'll feel safer taking risks in other areas.

Use complex but accessible challenges. Multi-layered challenges will inspire hard work in students-as long as they can relate to the challenge in some way and can access necessary resources. And if you can't figure out what a "right" answer is, you've probably done well creating a project that doesn't have one.

Scaffold as needed. Some students may not be ready to tackle the challenge without guidance. Assist the different groups as needed in establishing action plans, or break a complex unit into discrete parts for individuals or groups that need it. Helping some students tackle the problem does not mean you are solving it for them.

Don't give answers, ask questions. It's tempting for teachers to give hints or suggestions when students are stuck, but when the ideas are the students' own, the project much more meaningful. Ask open-ended questions instead to inspire deeper thinking.

The going may be tough at first, but there are many advantages. When students are given voice and choice they're taking ownership of their learning. And - perhaps even more appealingly - divergent-thinking project-based learning is engaged learning at its finest, leading to a decrease in misbehaviors. And for teachers, the often-mundane task of summative assessment becomes an adventure - tethered by a prompt and rubric and limited only by the bounds of student imagination.

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Being Divergent with Project-Based Learning

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Project-Based Learning (PBL) is both tantalizingly promising and easily misunderstood. Even experienced educators with a complete understanding of the promise of performance assessments and student-centered learning can quickly lose sight of these lynchpins in the attempt to create projects that meet state standards, and engage students.

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Douglas Reeves Takes On Five Myths About Grading

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Douglas Reeves Takes On Five Myths About Grading

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https://www.tieonline.com/article/2126/douglas-reeves-takes-on-five-myths-about-grading

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What Do I Need to Know About Competency-Based Grading?

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What Do I Need to Know About Competency-Based Grading?

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Clearing the Air Around Competency-Based Grading

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How traditional and standards-based grading compare to competency-based, and what that tells us about grading best practices for student performance.

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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. ♦

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Too often, we're expecting students to learn material without asking them to do much of anything with it. Why is this a problem? Where did it come from? And how can we fix it?

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How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime

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How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime

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童年創傷不是一件長大就能解決的事。兒科醫生娜汀‧哈里斯 (Nadine Burke Harris) 解釋虐待、忽視、和父母精神健康不良或有藥物或飲酒問題，都會影響兒童的大腦發展。童年經歷影響終身，在高壓環境下長大的兒童比他人得到心肺疾病的比例高三倍。這是一位慷慨激昂的兒科醫生祈求眾人面對、預防和治療心理創傷的演講。

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The REAL reason children fidget — and what we can do about it | Angela Hanscom | TEDxPortsmouth

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The REAL reason children fidget — and what we can do about it | Angela Hanscom | TEDxPortsmouth

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The REAL reason children fidget — and what we can do about it | Angela Hanscom | TEDxPortsmouth

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Jo Boaler talks neuroplasticity and the science behind the math growth mindset.

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Jo Boaler talks neuroplasticity and the science behind the math growth mindset.

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How you can be good at math, and other surprising facts about learning | Jo Boaler | TEDxStanford

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DuFour on Effective Professional Learning Communities

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DuFour on Effective Professional Learning Communities

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As our PLC's across the district begin to churn, I'm reminded of an older article from the late Rick DuFour, excerpted here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TJPSIw8btZt5DwDQ62DUm_j8Jmu_PvhSK9QhWvBKKss/edit?usp=sharing

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Richard Byrnes' Free Technology for Teachers site gives me something useful almost every day.