# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Engaging techniques for effective teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Explicit teaching

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

Exit slips can take lots of forms beyond the old-school pencil and scrap paper. Whether you're assessing at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy or the top, you can use tools like Padlet or Poll Everywhere, or measure progress toward attainment or retention of essential content or standards with tools like Google Classroom's Question tool, Google Forms with Flubaroo, and Edulastic, all of which make seeing what students know a snap.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

7. Self-assessment: Don't forget to consult the experts-the kids. Often you can give your rubric to your students and have them spot their strengths and weaknesses.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts?

# data[].attributes.body
Minute by Minute , Day by Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
November 2005 | Volume 63 | Number 3
Assessment to Promote Learning Pages 19-24

Siobhan Leahy, Christine Lyon, Marnie Thompson and Dylan Wiliam

Second, the information arrives too late to be useful. We can use the results to make broad adjustments to curriculum, such as reteaching or spending more time on a unit, or identifying teachers who appear to be especially successful at teaching particular units. But if educators are serious about using assessment to improve instruction, then we need more fine-grained assessments, and we need to use the information they yield to modify instruction as we teach.

Changing Gears

What we need is a shift from quality control in learning to quality assurance. Traditional approaches to instruction and assessment involve teaching some given material, and then, at the end of teaching, working out who has and hasn't learned it-akin to a quality control approach in manufacturing. In contrast, assessment for learning involves adjusting teaching as needed while the learning is still taking place-a quality assurance approach. Quality assurance also involves a shift of attention from teaching to learning. The emphasis is on what the students are getting out of the process rather than on what teachers are putting into it, reminiscent of the old joke that schools are places where children go to watch teachers work.

In a classroom that uses assessment to support learning, the divide between instruction and assessment blurs. Everything students do-such as conversing in groups, completing seatwork, answering and asking questions, working on projects, handing in homework assignments, even sitting silently and looking confused-is a potential source of information about how much they understand. The teacher who consciously uses assessment to support learning takes in this information, analyzes it, and makes instructional decisions that address the understandings and misunderstandings that these assessments reveal. The amount of information can be overwhelming-one teacher likened it to "negotiating a swiftly flowing river"-so a key part of using assessment for learning is figuring out how to hone in on a manageable range of alternatives.

Research indicates that using assessment for learning improves student achievement. About seven years ago, Paul Black and one of us, Dylan Wiliam, found that students taught by teachers who used assessment for learning achieved in six or seven months what would otherwise have taken a year (1998). More important, these improvements appeared to be consistent across countries (including Canada, England, Israel, Portugal, and the United States), as well as across age brackets and content areas. We also found, after working with teachers in England, that these gains in achievement could be sustained over extended periods of time. The gains even held up when we measured student achievement with externally mandated standardized tests (see Wiliam, Lee, Harrison, & Black, 2004).

Using this research and these ideas as a starting point, we and other colleagues at Educational Testing Service (ETS) have been working for the last two years with elementary, middle, and high school teachers in Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. We have deepened our understanding of how assessment for learning can work in U.S. classrooms, and we have learned from teachers about the challenges of integrating assessment into classroom instruction.

Our Work with Teachers

In 2003 and 2004, we explored a number of ways of introducing teachers to the key ideas of assessment for learning. In one model, we held a three-day workshop during the summer in which we introduced teachers to the main ideas of assessment for learning and the research that shows that it works. We then shared specific techniques that teachers could use in their classrooms to bring assessment to life. During the subsequent school year, we met monthly with these teachers, both to learn from them what really worked in their classrooms and to offer suggestions about ways in which they might develop their practice. We also observed their classroom practices to gauge the extent to which they were implementing assessment-for-learning techniques and to determine the effects that these techniques were having on student learning. In other models, we spaced out the three days of the summer institute over several months (for example, one day in March, one in April, and one in May) so that teachers could try out some of the techniques in their classes between meetings.

As we expected, different teachers found different techniques useful; what worked for some did not work for others. This confirmed for us that there could be no one-size-fits-all package. However, we did find a set of five broad strategies to be equally powerful for teachers of all content areas and at all grade levels:

Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success.

Engineering effective classroom discussions, questions, and learning tasks.

Providing feedback that moves learners forward.

Activating students as the owners of their own learning.

Activating students as instructional resources for one another.

We think of these strategies as nonnegotiable in that they define the territory of assessment for learning. More important, we know from the research and from our work with teachers that these strategies are desirable things to do in any classroom.

However, the way in which a teacher might implement one of these strategies with a particular class or at a particular time requires careful thought. A self-assessment technique that works for students learning math in the middle grades may not work in a 2nd grade writing lesson. Moreover, what works for one 7th grade pre-algebra class may not work for the 7th grade pre-algebra class down the hall because of differences in the students or teachers.

Given this variability, it is important to offer teachers a range of techniques for each strategy, making them responsible for deciding which techniques they will use and allowing them time and freedom to customize these techniques to meet the needs of their students.

Teachers have tried out, adapted, and invented dozens of techniques, reporting on the results in meetings and interviews (to date, we have cataloged more than 50 techniques, and we expect the list to expand to more than 100 in the coming year). Many of these techniques require only subtle changes in practice, yet research on the underlying strategies suggests that they have a high "gearing"-meaning that these small changes in practice can leverage large gains in student learning (see Black & Wiliam, 1998; Wiliam, 2005). Further, the teaching practices that support these strategies are low-tech, low-cost, and usually feasible for individual teachers to implement. In this way, they differ dramatically from large-scale interventions, such as class size reduction or curriculum overhauls. We offer here a brief sampling of techniques for implementing each of the five assessment-for-learning strategies.

Clarify and Share Intentions and Criteria

Low achievement is often the result of students failing to understand what teachers require of them (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Many teachers address this issue by posting the state standard or learning objective in a prominent place at the start of the lesson, but such an approach is rarely successful because the standards are not written in student-friendly language.

Teachers in our various projects have explored many ways of making their learning objectives and their criteria for success transparent to students. One common method involves circulating work samples, such as lab reports, that a previous year's class completed, in view of prompting a discussion about quality. Students decide which reports are good and analyze what's good about the good ones and what's lacking in the weaker ones. Teachers have also found that by choosing the samples carefully, they can tune the task to the capabilities of the class. Initially, a teacher might choose four or five samples at very different quality levels to get students to focus on broad criteria for quality. As students grow more skilled, however, teachers can challenge them with a number of samples of similar quality to force the students to become more critical and reflective.

Engineer Effective Classroom Discussion

Many teachers spend a considerable proportion of their instructional time in whole-class discussion or question-and-answer sessions, but these sessions tend to rehearse existing knowledge rather than create new knowledge for students. Moreover, teachers generally listen for the "correct" answer instead of listening for what they can learn about the students' thinking; as Davis (1997) says, they listen evaluatively rather than interpretively. The teachers with whom we have worked have tried to address this issue by asking students questions that either prompt students to think or provide teachers with information that they can use to adjust instruction to meet learning needs.

As a result of this focus, teachers have become aware of the need to carefully plan the questions that they use in class. Many of our teachers now spend more time planning instruction than grading student work, a practice that emphasizes the shift from quality control to quality assurance. By thinking more carefully about the questions they ask in class, teachers can check on students' understanding while the students are still in the class rather than after they have left, as is the case with grading.

Some questions are designed as "range-finding" questions to reveal what students know at the beginning of an instructional sequence. For example, a high school biology teacher might ask the class how much water taken up by the roots of a corn plant is lost through transpiration. Many students believe that transpiration is "bad" and that plants try to minimize the amount of water lost in this process, whereas, in fact, the "lost" water plays an important role in transporting nutrients around the plant.

A middle school mathematics teacher might ask students to indicate how many fractions they can find between 1/6 and 1/7. Some students will think there aren't any; others may suggest an answer that, although in some way understandable, is an incorrect use of mathematical notation, such as 1 over 6½. The important feature of such range-finding items is that they can help a teacher judge where to begin instruction.

Of course, teachers can use the same item in a number of ways, depending on the context. They could use the question about fractions at the end of a sequence of instruction on equivalent fractions to see whether students have grasped the main idea. A middle school science teacher might ask students at the end of a laboratory experiment, "What was the dependent variable in today's lab?" A social studies teacher, at the end of a project on World War II, might ask students to state their views about which year the war began and give reasons supporting their choice.

Teachers can also use questions to check on student understanding before continuing the lesson. We call this a "hinge point" in the lesson because the lesson can go in different directions, depending on student responses. By explicitly integrating these hinge points into instruction, teachers can make their teaching more responsive to their students' needs in real time.

However, no matter how good the hinge-point question, the traditional model of classroom questioning presents two additional problems. The first is lack of engagement. If the classroom rule dictates that students raise their hands to answer questions, then students can disengage from the classroom by keeping their hands down. For this reason, many of our teachers have instituted the idea of "no hands up, except to ask a question." The teacher can either decide whom to call on to answer a question or use some randomizing device, such as a beaker of Popsicle sticks with the students' names written on them. This way, all students know that they need to stay engaged because the teacher could call on any one of them. One teacher we worked with reported that her students love the fairness of this approach and that her shyer students are showing greater confidence as a result of being invited to participate in this way. Other teachers have said that some students think it's unfair that they don't get a chance to show off when they know the answer.

The second problem with traditional questioning is that the teacher gets to hear only one student's thinking. To gauge the understanding of the whole class, the teacher needs to get responses from all the students in real time. One way to do this is to have all students write their answers on individual dry-erase boards, which they hold up at the teacher's request. The teacher can then scan responses for novel solutions as well as misconceptions. This technique would be particularly helpful with the fraction question we cited.

Another approach is to give each student a set of four cards labeled A, B, C, and D, and ask the question in multiple-choice format. If the question is well designed, the teacher can quickly judge the different levels of understanding in the class. If all students answer correctly, the teacher can move on. If no one answers correctly, the teacher might choose to reteach the concept. If some students answer correctly and some answer incorrectly, the teacher can use that knowledge to engineer a whole-class discussion on the concept or match up the students for peer teaching. Hinge-point questions provide a window into students' thinking and, at the same time, give the teacher some ideas about how to take the students' learning forward.

Provide Feedback That Moves Learners Forward

After the lesson, of course, comes grading. The problem with giving a student a grade and a supportive comment is that these practices don't cause further learning. Before they began thinking about assessment for learning, none of the teachers with whom we worked believed that their students spent as long considering teacher feedback as it had taken the teachers to provide that feedback. Indeed, the research shows that when students receive a grade and a comment, they ignore the comment (see Butler, 1988). The first thing they look at is the grade, and the second thing they look at is their neighbor's grade.

To be effective, feedback needs to cause thinking. Grades don't do that. Scores don't do that. And comments like "Good job" don't do that either. What does cause thinking is a comment that addresses what the student needs to do to improve, linked to rubrics where appropriate. Of course, it's difficult to give insightful comments when the assignment asked for 20 calculations or 20 historical dates, but even in these cases, feedback can cause thinking. For example, one approach that many of our teachers have found productive is to say to a student, "Five of these 20 answers are incorrect. Find them and fix them!"

Some of our teachers worried about the extra time needed to provide useful feedback. But once students engaged in self-assessment and peer assessment, the teachers were able to be more selective about which elements of student work they looked at, and they could focus on giving feedback that peers were unable to provide.

Teachers also worried about the reactions of administrators and parents. Some teachers needed waivers from principals to vary school policy (for example, to give comments rather than grades on interim assessments). Most principals were happy to permit these changes once teachers explained their reasons. Parents were also supportive. Some even said they found comments more useful than grades because the comments provided them with guidance on how to help their children.

Activate Students as Owners of Their Learning

Developing assessment for learning in one's classroom involves altering the implicit contract between teacher and students by creating shared responsibility for learning. One simple technique is to distribute green and red "traffic light" cards, which students "flash" to indicate their level of understanding (green = understand, red = don't understand). A teacher who uses this technique with her 9th grade algebra classes told us that one day she moved on too quickly, without scanning the students' cards. A student picked up her own card as well as her neighbors' cards, waved them in the air, and pointed at them wildly, with the red side facing the teacher. The teacher considered this ample proof that this student was taking ownership of her learning.

Students also take ownership of their learning when they assess their own work, using agreed-on criteria for success. Teachers can provide students with a rubric written in student-friendly language, or the class can develop the rubric with the teacher's guidance (for examples, see Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003). The teachers we have worked with report that students' self-assessments are generally accurate, and students say that assessing their own work helped them understand the material in a new way.

Activate Students as Instructional Resources for One Another

Getting students started with self-assessment can be challenging. Many teachers provide students with rubrics but find that the students seem unable to use the rubrics to focus and improve their work. For many students, using a rubric to assess their own work is just too difficult. But as most teachers know, students from kindergarten to 12th grade are much better at spotting errors in other students' work than in their own work. For that reason, peer assessment and feedback can be an important part of effective instruction. Students who get feedback are not the only beneficiaries. Students who give feedback also benefit, sometimes more than the recipients. As they assess the work of a peer, they are forced to engage in understanding the rubric, but in the context of someone else's work, which is less emotionally charged. Also, students often communicate more effectively with one another than the teacher does, and the recipients of the feedback tend to be more engaged when the feedback comes from a peer. When the teacher gives feedback, students often just "sit there and take it" until the ordeal is over.

Using peer and self-assessment techniques frees up teacher time to plan better instruction or work more intensively with small groups of students. It's also a highly effective teaching strategy. One cautionary note is in order, however. In our view, students should not be giving another student a grade that will be reported to parents or administrators. Peer assessment should be focused on improvement, not on grading.

Using Evidence of Learning to Adapt Instruction

One final strategy binds the others together: Assessment information should be used to adapt instruction to meet student needs.

As teachers listen to student responses to a hinge-point question or note the prevalence of red or green cards, they can make on-the-fly decisions to review material or to pair up those who understand the concept with those who don't for some peer tutoring. Using the evidence they have elicited, teachers can make instructional decisions that they otherwise could not have made.

At the end of the lesson, many of the teachers with whom we work use "exit passes." Students are given index cards and must turn in their responses to a question posed by the teacher before they can leave the classroom. Sometimes this will be a "big idea" question, to check on the students' grasp of the content of the lesson. At other times, it will be a range-finding question, to help the teacher judge where to begin the next day's instruction.

Teachers using assessment for learning continually look for ways in which they can generate evidence of student learning, and they use this evidence to adapt their instruction to better meet their students' learning needs. They share the responsibility for learning with the learners; students know that they are responsible for alerting the teacher when they do not understand. Teachers design their instruction to yield evidence about student achievement; for example, they carefully craft hinge-point questions to create "moments of contingency," in which the direction of the instruction will depend on student responses. Teachers provide feedback that engages students, make time in class for students to work on improvement, and activate students as instructional resources for one another.

All this sounds like a lot of work, but according to our teachers, it doesn't take any more time than the practices they used to engage in. And these techniques are far more effective. Teachers tell us that they are enjoying their teaching more.

Supporting Teacher Change

None of these ideas is new, and a large and growing research base shows that implementing them yields substantial improvement in student learning. So why are these strategies and techniques not practiced more widely? The answer is that knowing about these techniques and strategies is one thing; figuring out how to make them work in your own classroom is something else.

That's why we're currently developing a set of tools and workshops to support teachers in developing a deep and practical understanding of assessment for learning, primarily through the vehicle of school-based teacher learning communities. After we introduce teachers to the basic principles of assessment for learning, we encourage them to try out two or three techniques in their own classrooms and to meet with other colleagues regularly-ideally every month-to discuss their experiences and see what the other teachers are doing (see Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2003, 2004). Teachers are accountable because they know they will have to share their experiences with their colleagues. However, each teacher is also in control of what he or she tries out. Over time, the teacher learning community develops a shared language that enables teachers to talk to one another about what they are doing. Teachers build individual and collective skill and confidence in assessment for learning. Colleagues help them decide when it is time to move on to the next challenge as well as point out potential pitfalls.

In many ways, the teacher learning community approach is similar to the larger assessment-for-learning approach. Both focus on where learners are now, where they want to go, and how we can help them get there.

References

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2003). Assessment for learning: Putting it into practice. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside the black box: Assessment for learning in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(1), 8-21.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-147.

Butler, R. (1988). Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 58, 1-14.

Davis, B. (1997). Listening for differences: An evolving conception of mathematics teaching. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(3), 355-376.

Wiliam, D. (2005). Keeping learning on track: Formative assessment and the regulation of learning. In M. Coupland, J. Anderson, & T. Spencer (Eds.), Making mathematics vital: Proceedings of the twentieth biennial conference of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (pp. 26-40). Adelaide, Australia: Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers.

Wiliam, D., Lee, C., Harrison, C., & Black, P. J. (2004). Teachers developing assessment for learning: Impact on student achievement. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 11(1), 49-65.

Siobhan Leahy, Christine Lyon, Marnie Thompson, and Dylan Wiliam ( dwiliam@ets.org) work in the Learning and Teaching Research Center, Educational Testing Service, Rosedale Rd., Princeton, NJ 08541.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
November 2005 | Volume 63 | Number 3 Assessment to Promote Learning Pages 19-24 Siobhan Leahy, Christine Lyon, Marnie Thompson and Dylan Wiliam Second, the information arrives too late to be useful. We can use the results to make broad adjustments to curriculum, such as reteaching or spending more time on a unit, or identifying teachers who appear to be especially successful at teaching particular units.

# data[].attributes.body
Student Engagement

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anita Archer Student Engagement Strategies - YouTube

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get more learning from your students! These clips from Anita Archer features excellent student engagement and classroom management techniques!

# data[].attributes.headline
Anita Archer Elementary Series - Instruction Must Be Interactive

# data[].attributes.subject
Anita Archer Elementary Series - Instruction Must Be Interactive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anita Archer Elementary Series - Instruction Must Be Interactive

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A short clip from the elementary series instructional video featuring Dr. Anita Archer discussing the importance of interactive education.

# data[].attributes.headline
Low-Intensity Strategies: Using Opportunities to Respond to Support Instruction

# data[].attributes.subject
Low-Intensity Strategies: Using Opportunities to Respond to Support Instruction

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.ci3t.org/pl

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learn more Systematic Screening and Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies and interventions below by watching an introductory video and downloading supporting documents.

ACTIVE SUPERVISION (POSTED March 30, 2017)

Active supervision can be used as a low-intensity, teacher-delivered strategy to support students meeting behavior by frequently and proactively monitoring students during specific settings or times. Active supervision is defined as the use of "Specific and overt behaviors (scanning, escorting, interacting) designed to prevent problem behavior and promote rule-following behavior" (Colvin, Sugai, Good, & Lee, 1997, p. 346). Its effectiveness is increased with the use of precorrections (Lane, Menzies, Ennis, & Oakes, 2005). Active supervision incorporates distinct elements (De Pry & Sugai, 2002; Haydon & Scott, 2008): established expectations, frequent scanning of context, positive interactions (verbal and nonverbal precorrections and prompts), reinforcement of desired behavior, and when necessary, correction to help success. Download all documents for Active Supervision, or download individual items:

BEHAVIOR CONTRACTS (POSTED DECEMBER 15, 2015)

Behavioral Contracts Behavior contracts, or contingency contracts, are written agreements between at least two individuals in which one or both agree upon certain behaviors. The contract document specifies an agreed-upon cause and effect between the completion of a behavior and the earning of a reinforcer. Most behavior contracts include three components: the behavior, the reinforcer, and the reporting sheet. There are many types of behavior contracts that can lead to positive behavioral change. Contracts can support behaviors students would like to change on their own, as well as agreements between teacher, student, and parent where each party agrees upon a certain individual behavioral goal. In these materials, you will learn about behavior contracts, how they are effective, the research supporting their use, benefits and challenges, and how to evaluate treatment integrity and social validity. Download all documents for behavior contracts, or download individual items:

The Behavior Education Program (BEP)/ Check In- Check Out (CICO) (POSTED November 11, 2016)

Check-in/Check-out, also referred to as the Behavior Education Program (BEP; Crone et al., 2004), is a low-intensity intervention that can be used as a support for students who require additional support to meet school-wide behavior expectations. The intervention consists of three primary components: a scheduled check-in with a school staff member at the beginning of each day, a Daily Progress Note, and a scheduled check-out with the same staff member at the end of the day. These three components are designed to provide opportunities for building positive relationships, access to adult attention, instructive feedback on the student's behavior throughout the day, and positive reinforcement for behavioral successes (Lane, Capizzi, Fisher, & Ennis, 2012). Download all documents for BEP/CICO, or download individual items: For more information, please consider Responding to Problem Behavior in Schools: The Behavior Education Program (2nd Edition). For resources and materials, please visit the Michigan's Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) website or visit pbis.org and search for Check-In Check-Out or the Behavior Education Program. nbsp;

BEHAVIOR-SPECIFIC PRAISE (POSTED AUGUST 20, 2015)

Behavior-Specific Praise TRANSCRIPT Behavior-specific praise is an essential component of Tier 1 (primary) prevention frameworks used to teach a range of new behaviors and ensure continued use of established behaviors using positive reinforcement. In addition to being a core component of Tier 1 efforts, behavior-specific praise (BSP) can also be used as a targeted support at Tier 2 and as an element of Tier 3 supports. In these materials we invite you to learn more about the how and why of behavior-specific praise. Background: Creating a positive school climate and safe classroom environments where students feel connected to a caring adult can begin with the simple act of acknowledging appropriate behavior. Using general praise statements is most likely a part of every teacher's repertoire of behavioral strategies, but the form of praise that has proven to be most effective is behavior specific praise, or praise statements that include reference to the specific behavior for which the student is being recognized. Behavior-specific praise statements are statements that praise the student and clearly state what desirable behavior has been performed, such as "Bob, great job showing your work on your math homework," or, "I like the way you pushed in your chair as we got ready to go to lunch. That keeps the walkways safe." Behavior-specific praise can be used to acknowledge the appropriate behavior of an individual student or multiple students engaging in academic and non-academic tasks. It is a simple and effective strategy that is cost-free and time-efficient. For more information and resources on this strategy, please see Chapter 3 inSupporting Behavior for School Success: A Step-by-Step Guide to Key Strategies (Lane, Menzies, Ennis, & Oakes, 2015) available from Guilford Press. Download all documents for behavior specific praise, or download individual items:

DIRECT BEHAVIOR RATING (DBR; POSTED FEBRUARY 2, 2017)

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR; Chafouleas, Riley-Tillman, Christ, & Sugai, 2009), also known as Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC; Chafouleas, Riley-Tillman, Sassu, LaFrance, & Patwa, 2007), is an intervention and progress-monitoring tool that uses teacher feedback and home-school communication to help students meet behavior expectations to facilitate school success. There are two primary components of DBR: (a) frequent, structured teacher feedback to the student about his/her behavior, and (b) a DBR form used to rate one or more specific behaviors and share this information with other stakeholders, such as a student's parents (Music, Riley-Tillman, & Chafouleas, 2010). DBRs are flexible tools that can be used to target one or more behaviors across one or more time periods per day. For more information, DBR training, and materials please visit: http://dbr.education.uconn.edu. Download all documents for DBR, or download individual items:

HIGH-P REQUEST SEQUENCE (HIGH-P) (POSTED November 03, 2016)

High-p TRANSCRIPT High- p Request Sequence (High- p) is a positive behavior support strategy that is relatively easy to implement with a little planning. High- p is an antecedent-based strategy, meaning it is both a proactive and preventative strategy which promotes success and does not require a problem behavior to occur before responding. The high- p strategy builds behavior momentum to increase responding to low- p behavior. High- p is used to engage learners while reducing the chance of reinforcing noncompliant behavior. At the same time, this strategy offers students high rates of reinforcement for appropriate responding. While there are different strategies associated with behavior momentum and high- p requests, we look to the definition offered by Cooper, Heron, and Heward (2007), which defines high- p strategy as "an antecedent intervention in which two to five easy tasks with a known history of learner compliance (the high- p requests) are presented in quick succession immediately before requesting the target task, the low- p requests" (p. 697). In these materials, you will learn about high- p strategy; how it is effective; the research supporting its use; benefits and challenges; and how to design, implement, and evaluate high- p strategy in your classroom including treatment integrity and social validity. For more information and resources on this strategy, you may also read Chapter 6 in Supporting Behavior for School Success: A Step-by-Step Guide to Key Strategies (Lane, Menzies, Ennis, & Oakes, 2015) available from Guilford Press. Download all documents for High-P, or download individual items:

REPEATED READINGS (POSTED DECEMBER 28, 2015)

Repeated readings is an instructional strategy used to support students in developing oral reading fluency. Students have multiple opportunities to practice the reading aloud of passages at their independent level, meaning they are able to read the text with at least 95% accuracy. When using repeated reading as an instructional strategy, identify a tutor (e.g., teacher, paraprofessional, peer), appropriate text (i.e., passages, Readers Theater, class texts), and other materials for implementation (e.g., timer, graph for student and tutor progress recording). The student and tutor set a fluency goal and monitor progress toward the goal, increasing the rate until the student is reading at the expected rate. Tutors provide instructive feedback to the student as necessary, focusing on accurate word decoding, prosody (e.g., intonation), and rate of reading. The use of repeated readings enables students to develop reading fluency, as the repetitive process increases familiarity with the text as well as comprehension through multiple exposures. In these materials you will learn more about the use of repeated readings, why it is effective, the research that supports repeated readings, benefits and challenges, and how to evaluate treatment integrity and social validity. Download all documents for repeated readings, or download individual items:

a name="sm">

SELF-MONITORING (POSTED AUGUST 11, 2015)

Self Monitoring TRANSCRIPT Self-monitoring is a versatile intervention that can be used to address behavioral, social, or academic needs. In addition, it is relatively simple to implement. When teaching a student to improve self-monitoring, two processes must occur: observing and recording. The observation component requires that a student be able to determine whether a given behavior occurred. This requires that the student be very clear as to the exact definition of the required behavior. At the end of a given interval, the student must make a determination as to whether or not he or she was engaged during that entire period. Then the student needs to record his or her behavior - the second process of self-monitoring. Some students may require an external reinforce that meets the function of the behavior. In brief, people engage in behaviors to either obtain or avoid attention, activity, or sensory experiences. However, for other students, the act of monitoring and recording their behavior is reinforcing enough to increase the future probability of the target behavior occurring. Download all documents for self-monitoring, or download individual items:

SELF-REGULATED STRATEGIES DEVELOPMENT (SRSD) FOR WRITING (POSTED APRIL 22, 2016)

Self-regulated strategies development (SRSD) for writing (Harris & Graham, 1992) is an evidence-based strategy to teach genre-specific and general writing, and the knowledge needed to use these strategies. This model is designed to teach the elements of the writing process across six stages of instruction. The number and duration of lessons varies because each stage of the model is taught to mastery (Harris, Graham, Mason, & Friedlander, 2008). The subsequent materials provide teachers a procedural checklist for implementing SRSD for writing as an intervention, sample writing cues, treatment integrity checklist, and pre/post-intervention social validity measures for students and teachers. For more information and resources on this strategy, please see Powerful Writing Strategies for all Students (Harris, Graham, Mason, & Friedlander, 2008). Download all documents for SRSD, or download individual items: For more information, lesson plans, and materials please visit the Project Write website ( http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/projectwrite/) or to view an IRIS Center module on SRSD click here or visit http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/srs/.

TIER 3: INDIVIDUALIZED DE-ESCALATION SUPPORT PLAN for MANAGING THE ACTING OUT CYCLE (POSTED AUGUST 10, 2016)

Intervention grid: PDF or MS-Word

Individualized De-escalation Support Plan TEMPLATE: PDF or MS-Word

Individualized De-escalation Support Plan SAMPLE: PDF or MS-Word

For more information and examples of how to use this strategy, please see the following references: Colvin, G. (2010). Defusing disruptive behavior in the classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Colvin, G., & Scott, T. (2015). Managing the cycle of acting-out behavior in the classroom (2 nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn more Systematic Screening and Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies and interventions below by watching an introductory video and downloading supporting documents. Getting Ready for 2017-2018! 2017-2018 EMPOWER Professional Learning Opportunities These five 2-hour stand-alone sessions will be held from 5:00-7:00PM at the KU Adams Alumni Center.

# data[].attributes.headline
Focusing Formative Assessment Through Professional Learning Communities

# data[].attributes.subject
Focusing Formative Assessment Through Professional Learning Communities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Focusing Formative Assessment Through Professional Learning Communities - PaTTAN

# data[].attributes.body
Tools for Formative Assessment

# data[].attributes.headline
Classroom Management Webinar Series Session 3: Actively Engage Students in Observable Ways

# data[].attributes.subject
Classroom Management Webinar Series Session 3: Actively Engage Students in Observable Ways

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Classroom Management Webinar Series Session 3: Actively Engage Students in Observable Ways

# data[].attributes.headline
PaTTAN Publication  Formative Assessment 

# data[].attributes.subject
PaTTAN Publication  Formative Assessment 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Marzano Research | The Highly Engaged Classroom, Tips

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research has shown that providing choices to students of all age levels often increases their intrinsic motivation. Choice in the classroom has also been linked to increases in student effort, task performance, and subsequent learning. However, to reap these benefits, a teacher should create choices that are robust enough for students to feel that their decision has an impact on their learning.

# data[].attributes.body
SLANT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Structuring Active Participation - 7th Grade.mov

# data[].attributes.body
W

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is probably not surprising that one of the most consistent findings in educational research demonstrates that the more time students spend engaged during instruction, the more they learn (Gettinger & Ball, 2007). Schlechty (2002) defined the five levels of student engagement so we can learn to gauge student interest and increase the effectiveness of our structured literacy instruction .

Five Levels of Student Engagement

Authentic Engagement-students are immersed in work that has a clear meaning and immediate value to them (reading a book on a topic of personal interest)

Ritual Compliance-

the work has little or no direct meaning to students, but there are extrinsic outcomes of value that keep them engaged (earning grades necessary for college acceptance)

Passive Compliance-students see little or no meaning in the assigned work but expend effort merely to avoid negative consequences (not having to stay in during recess to complete work)

Retreatism-students are disengaged from assigned work and make no attempt to comply, but are not disruptive to the learning of others

Rebellion-students refuse to do the assigned task, act disruptive, and attempt to substitute alternative activities

Measuring Engagement in the Classroom

The level of student engagement can vary from student to student and lesson to lesson, so it can be challenging to get a general feel for how engaged a class is as a whole. To that end, Schlechty (2002) also outlined three categories that can measure the level of engagement for an entire classroom.
The Engaged Classroom
In the engaged classroom, you will observe that all students are authentically engaged at least some of the time or that most students are authentically engaged most of the time. Passive compliance and retreatism rarely occur, and rebellion is non-existent.
The Compliant Classroom
The compliant classroom is the picture of traditional education. This type of classroom is orderly, and most students will appear to be working, so it would be easy to infer that learning is taking place. However, while there is little evidence of rebellion, retreatism is a genuine danger prevalent in the compliant classroom.
The Off-Task Classroom
Retreatism and rebellion are easily observed in the off-task classroom. This type of classroom is every student for themself, so you will see some degree of authentic and ritual engagement, along with passive compliance. Teachers in the off-task classroom spend most of their time dealing with rebellious students rather than teaching lessons that engage

Seven Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement is a byproduct of effective instruction that has significant payoffs. When students are engaged during explicit phonics instruction , they learn and retain more information. Student engagement during reading instruction also increases the likelihood that your students will become passionate about reading. So, how can you increase the amount of time that students in your class are engaged during reading instruction? Here are some suggestions:

1. Use the 10:2 method. For every 10 minutes of instruction, allow the students 2 minutes to process and respond to the information or reading material. You can do this in various ways: have them write about what they have learned or read, ask or write down questions about what they have read or understood, or have students discuss the lesson or reading material with a partner.

2. Incorporate movement into your lessons. Require students to respond to a question about a reading passage or lesson by moving to a particular spot in the room, writing on whiteboards, standing (or sitting) when they are done thinking about the question, etc.

3. Pick up the pace. One misconception is that we must go slow for students to understand and engage in a lesson or story. There is a lot of evidence that shows that when teaching and reading are done at a brisk pace, students have more opportunities to engage, respond, and move on to the next concept or idea (Carnine & Fink, 1978; Williams, 1993; Ernsbarger et al., 2001).

4. Provide frequent and effective feedback. Correct students as they learn new decoding skills or reading strategies. Be sure students know how to use each method correctly to experience success and mastery.

5. Allow students 5-7 seconds of 'think time' when asking a question about a story or reading passage. At the end of the time, draw a random name to answer the question.

6. Use the 3-2-1 method of summarizing. At the end of a lesson, have students record three things they learned, two interesting things, and one question about what you taught or read. Allow time to share their findings with a peer.

7. Periodically pause mid-sentence. Require students to fill in the blanks when you suddenly go quiet.

Learn more about teaching reading strategies ›

Pinterest Reference Guide:

Conclusion

At the end of a recent day-long training session, a teacher approached me and said, "This was a great training. I know because I didn't get my knitting needles out one time." Whether we are teaching young people or adults, it is important to remember that student engagement is more than just listening. If we are constantly monitoring student engagement in our classroom, we can consciously work to increase the amount of time students are involved in learning and expect greater success in our teaching.
Are you interested in learning more about Early Literacy? Explore our free educational resources to learn how you can help the young readers in your life! Take a look at one of our Reading Horizons reviews (from California - the state).
Resources

*Carnine. D., & Fink, W. T. (1978). Increasing the rate of presentation and use of signals in elementary classroom teachers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 35-46.

*Ernsbarger, S. C., Tincani. M. J., Harrison, T. J., Frazier-Trotman, S., Simmons-Reed, E., & Heward. W. L. (2001, May). Slow teacher/fast teacher: Effects on participation rate, accuracy, and off-task behavior by pre-K students during small-group language lessons. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis. New Orleans. LA

*Gettinger, M., & Ball, C. (2007). Best practices in increasing academic engaged time. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 1043-1075). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

*Schlechty, P. (2002) Working on the Work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Do you follow the Reading Horizons Twitter and Facebook pages? What about the Reading Horizons LinkedIn company page or our Reading Horizons Pinterest boards? Find us on social media for the latest in literacy education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seven Ways to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom - Reading Horizons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How to Measure and Increase Student Engagement During Reading Instruction? The level of student engagement can vary from student-to-student, and lesson-to-lesson so it can be difficult to get a general feel for how engaged a class is as a whole.

# data[].attributes.headline
Formative Assessment Teacher Resource Ring 

# data[].attributes.subject
Formative Assessment Teacher Resource Ring 