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Lumberg 's Literacy Intervention Program

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Official YouTube Channel Of Jeffco Public Schools In Colorado

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Video 6   Small Group Instruction  Middle School

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Purpose of Assessments in Responsive Classrooms

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Purpose of Assessments in Responsive Classrooms

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Quick and Easy (but MEANINGFUL) Formative Assessment

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Quick and Easy (but MEANINGFUL) Formative Assessment

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Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don't understand. That's where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in!

My school district sent us a monthly newsletter from the GATE department. This was a particularly helpful chart, so I kept it. But the image was too small, so I've remade it into an easier to read version (see below).

Click here to download the above new version (PDF): Formative Assessments

In case you're still thirsty for more formative assessment ideas, check out these ideas:
Formative Assessment Ideas on eHow.com
Examples of Formative Assessment from West Virginia Department of Education
A Sampling of Types of Formative Assessment on isbe.net
Formative Assessment Ideas from the Wake County Public School System
21 Ways to Investigate What Students Are Learning by STEMresources.com

This entry was posted in Assessment and tagged Children, Education, Elementary School, Kids, Teacher Resources, Teachers, Teaching by Squarehead Teachers. Bookmark the permalink.

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Quick & Easy Formative Assessments UPDATED

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Sometimes it feels crazy overwhelming to keep assessing students and know exactly what they do/don't understand. That's where these quick and easy formative assessment ideas comes in! My school district sent us a monthly newsletter from the GATE department. This was a particularly helpful chart, so I kept it.

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Discussion chart: brainstorming how to respond when the teacher is with a small group. Source: bloglovin.com.

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Hi readers! I recently spent two days in the Wisconsin Dells with around 650 other educators, trainers, and tech enthusiasts for the Midwest Google Education Summit. It was great! I'm still decompressing, and hope to have a blog post on it in the near future.

One of the things I've taken from many of the sites, blogs, and resources I've read is the concept of 3B4T. I don't know where it originated from, so if you're the one who came up with it, I'm really sorry I don't know you to give you credit!

3B4T is the phrase that encourages students to look for the answers to their questions on their own before coming to ask the teacher. First, they use their brain. Might there be something in the instructions or content they may have missed the first time? Second, they can browse. Use the textbook or a computer (in my classroom, each student has a Chromebook) to find the answer. Third, they may quietly ask a buddy. If all those avenues fail, then they may ask the teacher. So, they have three "Bs" that come before "T." In order to help my students remember this, I made a PDF! Feel free to download and use it, I just ask that I get credit for it. (Download link under the image.) Thanks, and keep a song in your heart!

Sample image:
PDF Download link: 3B4T Chart

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Hi readers! I recently spent two days in the Wisconsin Dells with around 650 other educators, trainers, and tech enthusiasts for the Midwest Google Education Summit. It was great! I'm still decompressing, and hope to have a blog post on it in the near future.

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Wow... I always forget how young the students are when they first enter our class. Since my "things" are coming in so young, they don't yet have a full aspect of 4th grade & expectations. I had to adjust some things because the students are still at a point where they won't admit if they understand something or need help. We are also working on self-assessment for the students. The students have to analyze themselves by a 1-4 scale. One being a -"Help me! I don't understand". A two- is "I need some help, but it can wait a few minutes." A three is "I am good to go!" A four is "I can teach someone!" Some of my munchkins though are putting up 4's (as a perfect score) when they don't know anything. So I decided to go to my helping hand to guide me as to what to do with my students. Pinterest. Pinterest had amazing things but then I modified it. I created an awesome document that contains two different things.

1. Is the scale on one side.

2. The other side is to show me if they need help after learning something new. I used the same paper and flipped it in the printer. Now, I can have the students mark if they are stuck, or good to go. They get to keep this on their desk and on the corner so it can indicate if they need assistance.

This last picture was shown because I have about 35 students (between two classes). I punched a hole into each of the circles. I then took a paper clip and pushed it through the hole. I used some cool duct tape (zebra) and sealed it shut so it didn't poke the kids or separate. I am so excited to start this tomorrow. I know the kids will love it!! If you would like the document, you can go to my TN store or my TpT store. I hope you enjoy it.

Happy shopping & Happy Pinning!

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Wow... I always forget how young the students are when they first enter our class. Since my "things" are coming in so young, they don't yet have a full aspect of 4th grade & expectations. I had to adjust some things because the students are still at a point where they won't admit if they understand something or need help.

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What Students Can Do When the Teacher is Busy

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What Students Can Do When the Teacher is Busy

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Happy Friday, y'all! This is Stephanie from The Learning Chambers and I'm here today to talk to you guys about small group instruction. Let me start off by saying that I love love LOVE small group instruction! I try to teach in small groups as much as possible. I'm a strong believer in individualized instruction and I believe that small group instruction is the way to achieve that. Today I wanted to share with you guys about how I keep track of and monitor my small groups.

It's no secret that I love sticky notes! During small groups, I take short notes on my observations to help guide my instruction when we meet again. I normally write short notes and use student initials to help save time. I stick the notes on my small group binder and then later I move them to the individual student pages. That saves me time because I don't have to keep flipping back and forth to each individual student page. Here is an example that I made to show you guys.

My school has four nine-week semesters, so I print four copies for each student for the year. I circle the nine-week semester that we are currently in and use it until the end of the nine weeks. When the next nine weeks starts, I start on a new documentation form.

I keep these document pages in my small group binder and they are perfect for documenting RTI. You could also staple the pages together and make a small group flipbook. I love using these because they are quick and easy and provide me with the information that I need to help support my students.

Want to use these in your classroom to document your small group observations? I'm super excited to share this freebie with you guys! You can even type in your own students' names to save even more time! There are forms that include the nine weeks line and some blank ones as well. You can grab these small group student documentation forms HERE.

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Making the Most of Small Group Instruction {with The Learning Chambers}

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Happy Friday, y'all! This is Stephanie from The Learning Chambers and I'm here today to talk to you guys about small group instruction. Let me start off by saying that I love love LOVE small group instruction! I try to teach in small groups as much as possible.

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Teaching to Inspire with Jennifer Findley

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I am very excited about using this resource this upcoming year. I love having the students respond to their reading. It really makes me feel like I am having reading conversations with the students that you just don't have time to do on a regular basis. It also gives teachers that much needed accountability piece. I have been using reader's response letters since my first year of teaching. However, I really wanted something that was rigorous, aligned with Common Core, and that would help them on extended response state tests. I played around with the idea and tried it out a few times last year. After those few times, I knew that was going to be my goal this summer.

With my goal and purpose in mind, I created reader's response checklists to go with each Common Core state standard for Informational and Literature (3rd-5th grade available).

Here is a breakdown of one of the checklists.

The second section (Thinking Beyond and About the Text) is where the deep thinking comes in and where the teacher can differentiate the responses. In my classroom, the Thinking Within the Text is mandatory and then the students choose 2-3 choices from The Thinking Beyond and About the Text section. With my struggling readers, I meet with them when I first assign a checklist and I assign them two from the Beyond and About Section. As a group, we discuss exactly what it means, how it could apply to their reading, and sometimes I provide stems to help them. They write the stems directly on the checklist under the choice that it matches.

The best part is the flexibility of the checklists. They can be used for traditional reader's response letters or the students can use the checklists to respond in different ways (Powerpoint presentations, Prezis, posters, etc).

I know that using this type of rigorous reader's response that is specifically aligned with the common core standards will help my students master the standards in a way they never have before. This will help them have those rich discussions about texts that common core requires. Since these checklists are aligned to the standards, they will allow the students to continue practicing the standards they are learning during instruction with their independent reading.

Click on the images below to check out the 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade sets. The 3rd grade set is differentiated to help you support your younger readers. If you teach struggling readers in 4th or 5th, I suggest looking at the 3rd grade version. Two FREE checklists are in the preview of each set for you to try out with your students.

Do you use reader's response in your classroom? I would love to hear about it!

Join 40,000+ Other Teachers!

You might also enjoy these posts:

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Reader's Response Letters {Rigorous CCSS Aligned Checklists} - Teaching to Inspire with Jennifer Findley

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I am very excited about using this resource this upcoming year. I love having the students respond to their reading. It really makes me feel like I am having reading conversations with the students that you just don't have time to do on a regular basis.

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Source: ODL Wiki

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ODL Resource Wiki

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If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

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If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old. You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive.

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Source: www.CultofPedagogy.com

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Listen to my interview with Natalie McCutchen (transcript)

With few exceptions, I would bet that most teachers feel they could be doing a better job of differentiating instruction. It's not that we don't want to do it-we know our students learn at different rates, that some need more help and others could be moving much more quickly than we let them. The problem for many of us is that we just can't figure out how to manage it. How do you run a classroom where each student is working on a different thing at a different speed?

The first time I ever saw a truly self-paced learning environment was on my visit to a Montessori Elementary School two years ago. And although I was completely enchanted by the student-centered environment there, the class size was small. I wondered whether that method could really be scaled up to class sizes at a typical public school.

So I was excited when, at a recent TeachMeet, I saw that there would be a session on self-paced learning. At the session, Franklin, KY, middle school math teacher Natalie McCutchen showed us how she has converted her pre-algebra class to a completely self-paced system, where students work on different skills at their own pace, and how she's gradually introducing self-paced learning in her other math classes as well. I found her system to be astonishingly simple, and I thought a lot of other teachers might like to try it for themselves, so I interviewed her for my latest podcast episode (see player below) and asked if I could share her methods here.

Here's a quick snapshot of how she does it: For each chapter in their math textbook, students take a pre-test to determine which skills they have already mastered and which ones they still need to learn. For the skills they still need to master, they work independently on lessons (either reading them in the textbook or watching them on videos) and do practice problems until they feel they've got the skill down. This is the true self-paced part: Students decide how many lessons they need. They decide how much practice to give themselves. "Maybe there are five videos that you could watch today," Natalie explains to her students. "You watch as many as you need. If you watch two videos and you understand it, then you move on to the practice. If you need all five, use all five." Rather than forcing students to follow the same path in lockstep with one another, practicing page after page of skills they already have down, this system gives them a chance to build the metacognitive muscle they'll need to become lifelong learners.

When a student feels he is ready, he takes a mini-assessment for a single learning target, usually made up of just a few questions. If he does well on that small assessment, he can move on to another skill. Once he has mastered all the skills in the chapter, he takes a whole-chapter assessment-this is the same test he was given as the pre-assessment. If he does well on that, he's ready to progress to the next chapter.

How do students know which lessons and practices to work on, and when?
Natalie creates a Chapter Guide for each chapter. It includes each learning target, the pre-test question or questions that align with that target, the lessons students should watch or read to learn about that target, the practice problems that match up with that target, and the assessment question or questions for that target.

Look at the example below. If this student missed question 2 on the pre-test, she should do Lesson 2.4 on pages 102-104 and may need to do Skills Practice 2.4 on pages 403-406 in preparation for the assessment for that learning target, which is item 2a on page 38. She might only need to read through the lesson and do one or two practice problems in order to do well on the assessment, or she might choose to do them all. Likewise, if she got question 6 correct on the pre-test, she doesn't need to do the lesson, the practice, or the assessment for that learning target at all-she'd just mark that as mastered on the chart.

Do students get the answer keys?
Students have access to the answers for all of the practice questions, so Natalie does not need to check these; it's up to the student to do the practice problems, then self-check them to see if they're getting the skill down. There's no real incentive to cheat here, because if a student doesn't teach herself the skill, it will show up in the mini-assessment for that target: The mini-assessment IS scored by the teacher, and students are not given an answer key for it.

hey keep the chapter guide in a composition notebook. We glue all their items in there. So they have that with them on their desk every day, and I'm able to go by and say Some kids may turn in two assessments per class period, depending on how hard they worked. Some kids may turn in one. Some kids, maybe they didn't get to an assessment that day." And because Natalie encourages collaboration between students, the room is What does class time look like?
"It's very much organized chaos," Natalie says. "T Okay, what have you done? Where are you today? And at the end of class, I can say, busy: "I really prefer them to work together on the lesson, especially with my pre-algebra students, because they are such good math thinkers, they understand and can talk math, I want them to work together. You know, two or three in a group seeing if you can figure it out on your own using the video." How much did you get done?" Because students are all working independently, the amount of work produced on any given day can vary. "

ometimes they have to come back to the pack," she explains. "I'll say What if some kids can't handle all that independence? What if they just fool around the whole time?
Natalie's solution to this problem was what really impressed me about her system: Not all students get to do self-paced; some have to work with her in a more traditional teacher-led setup. Self-paced learning is a privilege reserved only for kids who take it seriously and work hard. If you mess that up, you can lose the privilege, returning to a group that's working directly with the teacher. "S You know what, you really didn't work that hard yesterday. I'm not even sure what you got done, I don't see anything on here. Just come back with us today. " For some students, this is a step backward, but they get other chances to move ahead later. "They like being ahead. You know, they think it's kinda cool. Sometimes I'll let them go out in the hallway, sit at a little table. They like that, but I stress to them you still have to work."

Natalie McCutchen developed her system through some trial and error, and she's constantly refining it, so none of this is set in stone. But if you'd like to try and replicate her approach to self-paced learning, here are the steps to take:

Step 1: Select a Unit of Content
This can be a chapter in a textbook or a batch of skills or content you would typically teach as a unit over a couple of weeks. This unit should have clearly defined learning targets, which are likely dictated by whatever standards your school follows. If you've been teaching for a while, you probably already have this step taken care of. In Natalie's class, each chapter in her math textbook represents one unit.

Step 2: Create the Assessment
Decide what students should be able to do by the end of the unit and create an assessment that measures it. The simplest type is a test with clearly identified right and wrong answers, where each item (or small group of items) in this assessment is aligned with one learning target. For skills that require more teacher interpretation to measure, like writing, the assessment could be a writing task, such as an extended response question with a prompt and a rubric. Each skill listed in the rubric would align with a specific learning target.

Step 3: Create the Chapter Guide
Following the model shown above, set up a guide that shows which assessment question aligns with each learning target, then lists book or video lessons students can follow to learn each skill, exercises that will give students independent practice with the skill, and a brief assessment students can take to test their mastery.

Step 4: Give the Pre-Test
Use the assessment you created in Step 2 to pre-test students on the skills for this unit. Use the results to identify which learning targets each student has already mastered, and which ones they still need to learn. [Note: Natalie's school uses standards-based grading, but that's not a strict requirement for this system. You could still record mastery of learning targets in the standards-based style and convert those measurements to traditional grades. To learn how, see Matt Townsley's video on converting standards-based indicators to letter grades.]

Step 5: Help Students Identify Standards to Master
Giving each student a Chapter Guide, have them mark which standards they have already mastered-based on pre-test results-and which ones they still need to learn.

Step 6: Provide Time, Materials, and Supervision for Self-Paced Learning
From this point on, students will begin the process of moving through the lessons on their own. Your job is to make sure they have the materials they need to do the work: If you are sending students to videos, make sure they have devices to access them (and earbuds to keep the audio to themselves). Make sure students know where to look for answer keys, and where they can access the mini-assessment when they are ready to take it. Check in with students regularly to make sure they are making good use of their time.

Step 7: Iterate
Keep in mind that this system probably won't work perfectly the first time you try it. You may want to try it just once with a short unit, rather than attempt to convert your whole year to self-paced learning. You might want to offer it only to students who have the academic skills and maturity to handle it. You may need to tweak it, then tweak it some more. But speaking for the kids who would love a chance to see just how fast they can learn and how far they can go, I'd say it's worth a serious try. ♦
Other Resources:

There's more where this came from.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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Self-Paced Learning: How One Teacher Does It

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Most teachers feel they could be doing a better job of differentiating instruction, but many can't figure out how to manage it. How to run a classroom where each student is working on a different thing, at a different speed? See how one teacher does it.

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http://educationtothecore.com

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Source: http://educationtothecore.com

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"I Can" Statements - Student Reflection Chart

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"I Can" Statements - Student Reflection Chart

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An alternative to exit tickets is to give each student a form called an "I Can Statement" form. This form can be given to students each Monday in order for them to document what they have learned during the week. There is a section for them to self-evaluate their learning and a space for them to show or explain what they "can" do. At the beginning of a lesson, I have the students write down their "I Can" statement for the lesson in the space provided. This gives them the opportunity to hear, write, and read what they will be learning. We then continue with the day's lesson. At the end of the lesson (or at the end of the day), I have students evaluate how well they understand the concept and to show or explain what they learned.

For example, if the day's math lesson was on fractions of a whole, the "I Can..." statement might be "I can show fractions of a whole." At the end of the lesson, they would check the box that they feel best describes their understanding of fractions of a whole and then give an example in pictures, words, or both. A student might write: A fraction of a whole is an object that is divided into equal parts, like a pizza that is cut into 8 equal size pieces (including a picture of a circle divided into 8).

I have had a lot of success with this quick, easy form of formative assessment. I walk around and monitor what they have demonstrated/written. I instantly know who's got it and who needs some extra small group instruction. Let me know what you think.

Click here to purchase - happy assessing!

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An alternative to exit tickets is to give each student a form called an "I Can Statement" form. This form can be given to students each Monday in order for them to document what they have learned during the week.

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Photo taken at Joppa View Elementary School

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Photo taken at Joppa View Elementary School

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Photo taken at Joppa View Elementary School

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Sample Expectation Cards for EACH Station

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Sample Expectation Cards for EACH Station

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Math Daily 5 Posters and Work on Writing

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TGIF People! This has been a long week and I didn't even have kids on Monday! We have been working hard on building up our stamina in Math w...

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Voice Level Expectations Chart Sample #2

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Voice Level Expectations Chart Sample #2

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Banner to remind class of appropriate voice levels.

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So a few of you were pretty interested in the Voice Levels banner I posted about below on the Vista Print Post ... before I start let me make sure you're aware I did not create this poster, it was an idea shared with me on the 2nd Grade Teachers Club ( I can't remember her name or if she even has a blog, but if you do please let me know so I can give proper credit).

SO this is how it works -- I uploaded the file to vista print to make a custom banner, once uploaded I stretched it to fit as big as I could on the Small Size Banner. Here is the file you could print yourself or use vista print.

The first time I used Vista Print I only used the items that were listed as free. When I got that first order in, they included a coupon code which pretty much gave me access to ALL the items on their site including all the cool designs, not just the ones under "Free" you were also able to edit the designs and make them more personal. I was able to use that same coupon code quite a few times, that is how I got so much for Free!! But you can too it's easy and all you do is pay for the shipping ... just be careful there is a limit and once you hit that you will pay full price for items that go over. Oh and sometimes you get coupons that offer free uploads which is how you can upload for instance the voice level poster for FREE too! I have a few coupons I have scanned in they are kinda old so I apologize if the codes are no longer working but it's worth a try ... Hope this helps please feel free to ask me any questions!!

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So a few of you were pretty interested in the Voice Levels banner I posted about below on the Vista Print Post ...

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UPDATE (4/9/13): For an update to my math circles, click here.

As you can see by the title of this post I am a bit conflicted on what I want to title my new math project...for now I'm going with Math Circles because the idea stemmed from Literature Circles.

So here was/is my dilemma. I spend the majority of my time during math class having discussions about the videos the students watched the previous night. I do think this is valuable, but I want my students to take more ownership in this part of their learning. That being said, if I just told my 5th graders to go off & start sharing, they would either:
A - look at me like I'm nuts
or
B - head off to discuss many things (very few being math related)

Since I want neither of those things, I needed to find a way to make their group work both meaningful and spelled out for them.

What I came up with was Math Circles. I have had success in the past using Literature Circles in my classroom. Each student had a job, and they held each other accountable. That is exactly what I want for my math kiddos as well, so why not take the idea of Lit. Circles and mold it into something that works for math. After talking to my co-teacher, we came up with the following "jobs" for our math groups:

Discussion Director - Leads the discussion and keeps everyone on track.

Calculator - Makes sure that the groups answers to the questions from the video are actually correct.

Spokesperson - Is the voice of the group. This person summarizes the groups guiding questions (HOT question at the end of the video) and shares them with the teacher.

Task Master - Keeps track of who did/didn't come prepared, and how often people within their group share.

I have a list of procedures spelled out for the groups.

I plan on beginning this after spring break with the students. I hope they get as excited as I am (although that's unlikely because I'm pretty dang excited about it).

I'm not one to pimp my own stuff, but if you'd like a copy of my Math Circles information, you can get it here.

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UPDATE (4/9/13): For an update to my math circles, click here. As you can see by the title of this post I am a bit conflicted on what I want to title my new math project...for now I'm going with Math Circles because the idea stemmed from Literature Circles.