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Read more here about the Kagan approach to group work  and the 4 components to effective group work: PIES.

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Kagan’s FREE Articles - Articles by Dr. Spencer Kagan and Research & Rationale

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Free Educational Articles for Teachers and Administrators. Research Studies and data collected by Dr. Spencer Kagan, practicing schools and teachers.

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Participant Posters: Tools for Evaluating Formative Assessment

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Participant Posters: Tools for Evaluating Formative Assessment

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Participant Posters: Top Validity issues for formative assessment of ELLs

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Participant Posters: Top Validity issues for formative assessment of ELLs

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Scroll down to the March 19, 2018 webinar "Webinar: The Five Pillars of Equitably Grading ELs"

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Listening and Speaking Formative Assessment video

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Listening and Speaking Formative Assessment video

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does Ms. Horwitz's use of the checklist help students focus on their speaking and listening goals?

2. How does Ms. Horwitz use the data from the checklist?

3. How could you adapt this checklist for use in your own classroom?

School Details

Acorn Woodland Elementary School
1025 81st Avenue
Oakland CA 94621

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Listening & Speaking: Formative Assessment

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Sarah Horwitz explains how she uses a checklist to formatively assess listening and speaking skills during academic conversations. She uses the checklist to target specific goals, and says that her use of the checklist encourages the students to focus on those goals.

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. What kinds of notes do Ms. Hegg and Ms. Carey take?

2. How do they use these notes to adapt and plan instruction?

3. How might you use this strategy with your own colleagues?

School Details

Banting Elementary School
2019 Butler Drive
Waukesha WI 53186

Data Provided By:

Teachers

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Enjoy your first video for free. Subscribe for unlimited access. Have questions about subscribing? Click Here to learn more. Enjoy your first video for free. Subscribe for unlimited access. Have questions about subscribing? Click Here to learn more. What kinds of notes do Ms. Hegg and Ms. Carey take?

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By Melissa, Amy, Kathryn

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Tweet about your takeaways from Unlocking ELs Potential PD:
@SupportEduc
@LIRBERN
#UnlockingELsPotential

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5
How Teachers Learn

Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder

Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance.

It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting. As you enter the meeting, you can tell from teachers' sighs and grimaces that they are dismayed about something. "The problem is," one teacher begins as she pulls out her grade book, "the students are struggling with writing. We thought helping them broaden their vocabulary to develop word choice would be one step in helping them write better. But it hasn't made a difference." Frustrated, another teacher turns to you and asks, "Doesn't the district have a new approach for improving writing? There's got to be something out there that will work." But in your heart, you know that a new technique will not be the panacea they are seeking.

As teachers discuss various writing methods, it occurs to you that an essential clue for solving the problem is missing from this conversation-the student work. Only one teacher has any work with her. "Why don't we take a look at some of this student writing together and see what's going on," you begin. "But before we begin, let's just set up some ground rules for looking at work together." You take a deep breath. Formative coaching has begun.

As literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a large neighborhood school on the South Side of Chicago, we have often struggled to provide high-quality professional development to our staff that would lead to direct changes in classroom instruction. According to Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the field of adult learning, adults learn best when they are engaged in activities that directly affect their work. However, the process of adult learning sometimes feels as hit or miss as a game of bingo. Districts or schools choose an instructional method to promote, and if it matches with a strategy already in the teachers' repertoires, they insert it into instruction. Small-group instruction. Graphic organizers. Metacognition. Bingo! If the teaching method does not fit on the instructional bingo card, it is quickly discarded and the game continues. But most schools do not have time for meaningless games.

Formative Coaching

To avoid the bingo game, we developed formative coaching, a collaborative process of examining student work and other formative data to bridge the gap between professional development and actual classroom practice. Throughout the day, students produce work (journals, responses to questions, graphic organizers, and verbal responses) that is an indicator of their understanding. These formative assessments provide a much more accurate measure of how students are progressing than standardized tests alone can do. However, making sense of formative assessments is like solving a mystery. Although each piece of work is filled with clues about individual learners, knowing what to do with the information takes skill and practice.

A formative coach guides teachers in using student work to determine the course of instruction, curriculum, and their own professional development. The coach might be an administrator, a mentor teacher, or even a peer; but regardless of who is doing the coaching, student work is always part of the equation. Learning strategies such as team teaching, modeling, or co-planning are born out of an authentic need that is evident in the students' work, increasing the likelihood of retention and transference into a teacher's daily practice.

The Coaching Process

We begin the process of formative coaching by regularly meeting with individual teachers to examine student work. The process of deeply analyzing formative data is often challenging-sometimes there is so much information embedded in even a single piece of work that teachers do not know where to begin. In an effort to make sense of the information, we developed a variety of protocols to help teachers sort through the data and make it usable. (See, for example, our Quick Sort Protocol.) As our community became more proficient at analyzing student work, a natural process of identifying instructional methods to support student learning emerged. To further support this process, we developed a formative coaching cycle ( fig. 1) that guides our work.

During the coaching cycle, we meet with teachers to identify a formative assessment we will use to discuss student progress, develop future strategies for instruction, and evaluate student learning. We base conversations about teaching methods on the formative data, not on an individual's personal opinions about an instructional approach. The following coaching conversation is an example of the type of dialogue that might happen as an individual teacher begins to deeply analyze student work and reflect on instruction.

Coach: After looking at the students' work, you've narrowed down what you feel are problems in their essay writing. You mentioned that many of your students are not using appropriate word choices-they are either using words incorrectly or using very basic words such as happy or sad to illustrate a point. Let's look at these papers briefly and separate them into two piles: pile A for students who consistently use challenging vocabulary and pile B for those who do not.

After making two piles, the teacher and coach decide to examine pile B in more depth. They make notes on what they observe.

Teacher: There appears to be a group of students who attempt to use new vocabulary but often use it incorrectly. I think they know the definition because these kids always ace their vocabulary quizzes, but those are multiple-choice assessments. When it comes to writing, they're just not sure how to use the word in a sentence.

Coach: Can you show me an example?

Teacher points to several papers where students have used words incorrectly.

Coach: So, what opportunity do they have to practice using these words correctly?

Teacher: Well, when I introduce a word, I give them examples of how to use it in a sentence. And I always choose words from their reading, so they get to see it in a sentence there as well. But from what I'm seeing here, it seems like that may not be enough reinforcement.

Coach: So what other ways can you support your students as they learn how to use these new words?

Teacher: Maybe if they could practice thinking of sentences and saying them out loud to each other, without having to write them, it might help students get it in their ear.

Coach: That's a great idea. Also, maybe just posting a few examples around the room of how to use the word in a sentence might serve as visual reminders for the students.

Teacher: I could try that, too.

Coach: Are there formative assessments you currently use that would provide more opportunities for students to practice with word choice and obtain feedback about their progress?

Teacher: They write letters to me in their journals about the books they are reading. I think encouraging them to take chances with vocabulary in their letters would give them more practice using new words. I could focus specifically on word choice with them for the letter writing.

Coach: Great. So let's make a time to get together in the next few weeks and look at the student work and note any changes or progress.

A few weeks later the coach and teacher reconvene.

Coach: You've been looking at your students' journal entries. What do you notice as you look at these papers?

Teacher: Well, more students are using challenging vocabulary words and using them correctly. I think having a chance to practice using these new words by speaking to one another has made a big difference. But there is still this group of students who rely on simple words in their writing and don't even try any of the challenging vocabulary.

Coach: OK. Why don't we start by looking at that group?

Teacher and coach read through several papers.

Teacher: I feel that some students think it's not worth trying out a word because they might get it wrong. Or maybe they don't understand why writers use interesting vocabulary. I guess I haven't really made that clear to them. I am also wondering if a rubric might help; maybe they aren't sure what I'm looking for.

Coach: I'm wondering what type of data we can use to support your hypothesis. For example, have you met with students individually to talk about their word choice?

Teacher: I have conferences with some students, but I'm just not sure what we should be talking about. I could encourage them to use some of the vocabulary or find out what is stopping them.

Coach: I think conferences are also a way to provide feedback for students on their use of vocabulary and provide them with examples of how writers engage readers through words. Your conference notes can help you figure out why some of the students continue to struggle. I have some information that can help guide you during conferences and organize any data that you gather.

Formative coaching helps teachers naturally become more reflective about their practice as they look for progress in student work. Teachers take the stance of researchers as they ask, How did students respond to a specific method of instruction? For which group of learners was this method successful? As we meet with teachers and look at the student work, they become more aware of the importance of feedback to students and the explicit instruction necessary to support student learning.

Beyond Individual Coaching

The process of analyzing formative data has also transformed how we plan professional development sessions for larger groups of teachers. Instead of choosing topics that we think the teachers might be interested in, we now base our professional development on needs determined by the student work. The days of creating professional development in a vacuum are gone.

In planning professional development we make sure our adult learners have numerous opportunities to collaborate and establish common goals with clear outcomes. No longer are they asked to come to a workshop to "sit and get"; they are now at the center of professional development, responsible for the learning of their students and their own growth as educators.

As coaches, we have also worked to create a safe environment that is conducive to adult learning and professional discourse. Initially, teachers were reluctant to share their ideas or their students' work with their colleagues in professional learning communities, but they began to build trust as they looked at student work over a sustained period of time and realized the importance of sharing results and progress with the larger school community. They understood how the teaching and learning in the classroom next door was vitally important to the success of the students who currently sat in front of them.

As our collaboration and trust strengthened, teachers transferred their skills about formative analysis to areas other than literacy. When the teachers received results from the statewide math assessment, the formative coaching cycle prompted teachers to look at trends, pinpoint next steps as a team, and seek out instructional strategies from one another.

Closing the door to your classroom is no longer an option; collaboration is necessity if our students are to succeed. A new way of thinking about teaching has been born.

1. Discuss the work: Discuss the formative work that you have chosen.

1. What is the purpose of this formative work? How does it relate to grade level goals or standards?

2. Did students work together or individually?

3. What type of scaffolding did the teacher provide? Was the assignment differentiated for certain students? If so, how?

2. Describe the criteria: The teacher should describe how the work will be evaluated.

1. What evidence of learning did you hope to see in this work?

2. How will you evaluate student work? (rubric, checklist, exemplar, previous work done by students, other)

3. Do a quick sort: Sort the work.

1. The coach and teacher should discuss how to examine the work. What can you look for quickly when analyzing the work?

2. Take a brief amount of time to examine the work and make three piles. For example, you might make piles of student work seems that below standard, on-target, and above standard for that grade level.

4. Analyze: What do students have in common in this group?

1. What strengths do you see in this group? Identify examples.

2. What areas are challenging for them? Identify examples.

5. Reflect.

1. Is this formative assessment a good way of evaluating students' knowledge or skills?

2. Do the students understand the purpose of this assignment?

3. Do students know how their learning is being evaluated? Do they know what good work looks like?

6. Plan: Based on your discussion, what type of instruction does this group of students need?

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for other groups.

Endnote

Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species. Houston, TX: Gulf.

Gabrielle Nidus ( Gabrielle@bshor.com) and Maya Sadder ( mayasadder@gmail.com) are literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a preK-8 public school in Chicago that also serves as a teacher training institute for Chicago Public Schools. They are the authors of The Way In: The Literacy Coaches Gameplan (International Reading Association, 2009), to be published this spring.

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5 How Teachers Learn Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance. It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting.

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Video: Assessment with Tech

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Thought starters

1. What are the benefits of using technology to gather student data?

2. How can technology be used for student communication?

3. How might you use this strategy with younger students?

School Details

Mariner High School
200 120th St Sw
Everett WA 98204

Data Provided By:

Teachers

Math / 9 10 11 12 / Teacher

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Using Tech Tools for Formative Assessment

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Joshua Kwon explains how he uses technology to engage and formatively assess his students. He explains how tech tools can be used to easily gather and analyze student data. In addition, tech tools can be used for communicating with students and families.

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Unlock Every Writer's Potential | NoRedInk

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NoRedInk offers authentic assessments, adaptive practice, personalized content, and actionable data to improve your students' writing and grammar skills!

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Lisa M - Handout for global lesson - understanding our past

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Lisa M - Handout for global lesson - understanding our past

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Participant Posters: Juicy Sentences Activity

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Participant Posters: Juicy Sentences Activity

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Patty, Allison, Kathryn, Daniel

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Carmen, Ivana, Leyda, Amanda, Kelly

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Can you post information about the workshop at Molloy on August 8th?

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Participant Posters: Academic Language Levels Activity

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Participant Posters: Academic Language Levels Activity

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Students in Joe Burkett’s world studies class learn new vocabulary through a seven step method.

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Colorin Colorado

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Albuquerque teacher Ali Nava walks her students through a cooperative paragraph summarizing the beginning, middle, and end of Burro's Tortillas and uses the exercise as an opportunity to practice their writing skills.

School Name: Lew Wallace Elementary School, Albuquerque, NM

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Ali Nava is an elementary teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico and a member of the first-grade cadre in our Common Core in Albuquerque project.In this video, Ali walks her students through a cooperative paragraph summarizing Burro's Tortillas, a southwestern adaptation of the classic folk tale "The Little Red Hen."

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Participant Posters: Scaffolds Gallery Walk

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Participant Posters: Scaffolds Gallery Walk

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What are some reading strategies we can use with children who are special education students and are bilingual?

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What are some reading strategies we can use with children who are special education students and are bilingual?

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Scaffolded Literacy Units and Lesson Plans

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Scaffolded Literacy Units and Lesson Plans

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New York City Department of Education

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Between the dark and the daylight,
   When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
   That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
   The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
   And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
   Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
   And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
   Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
   To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
   A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
   They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
   O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
   They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
   Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
   In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
   Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
   Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
   And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
   In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
   Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
   And moulder in dust away!

Out of the bosom of the Air,
    Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
    Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
      Silent, and soft, and slow
      Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
    Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
      The troubled sky reveals
      The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,
    Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
    Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
      Now whispered and revealed
      To wood and field.

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
    And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
    And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
    And the tide rises, the tide falls.

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Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and sweet.

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SupportEd

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Gabrielle Nidus &  Maya Sadder, 2009

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5
How Teachers Learn

Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder

Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance.

It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting. As you enter the meeting, you can tell from teachers' sighs and grimaces that they are dismayed about something. "The problem is," one teacher begins as she pulls out her grade book, "the students are struggling with writing. We thought helping them broaden their vocabulary to develop word choice would be one step in helping them write better. But it hasn't made a difference." Frustrated, another teacher turns to you and asks, "Doesn't the district have a new approach for improving writing? There's got to be something out there that will work." But in your heart, you know that a new technique will not be the panacea they are seeking.

As teachers discuss various writing methods, it occurs to you that an essential clue for solving the problem is missing from this conversation-the student work. Only one teacher has any work with her. "Why don't we take a look at some of this student writing together and see what's going on," you begin. "But before we begin, let's just set up some ground rules for looking at work together." You take a deep breath. Formative coaching has begun.

As literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a large neighborhood school on the South Side of Chicago, we have often struggled to provide high-quality professional development to our staff that would lead to direct changes in classroom instruction. According to Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the field of adult learning, adults learn best when they are engaged in activities that directly affect their work. However, the process of adult learning sometimes feels as hit or miss as a game of bingo. Districts or schools choose an instructional method to promote, and if it matches with a strategy already in the teachers' repertoires, they insert it into instruction. Small-group instruction. Graphic organizers. Metacognition. Bingo! If the teaching method does not fit on the instructional bingo card, it is quickly discarded and the game continues. But most schools do not have time for meaningless games.

Formative Coaching

To avoid the bingo game, we developed formative coaching, a collaborative process of examining student work and other formative data to bridge the gap between professional development and actual classroom practice. Throughout the day, students produce work (journals, responses to questions, graphic organizers, and verbal responses) that is an indicator of their understanding. These formative assessments provide a much more accurate measure of how students are progressing than standardized tests alone can do. However, making sense of formative assessments is like solving a mystery. Although each piece of work is filled with clues about individual learners, knowing what to do with the information takes skill and practice.

A formative coach guides teachers in using student work to determine the course of instruction, curriculum, and their own professional development. The coach might be an administrator, a mentor teacher, or even a peer; but regardless of who is doing the coaching, student work is always part of the equation. Learning strategies such as team teaching, modeling, or co-planning are born out of an authentic need that is evident in the students' work, increasing the likelihood of retention and transference into a teacher's daily practice.

The Coaching Process

We begin the process of formative coaching by regularly meeting with individual teachers to examine student work. The process of deeply analyzing formative data is often challenging-sometimes there is so much information embedded in even a single piece of work that teachers do not know where to begin. In an effort to make sense of the information, we developed a variety of protocols to help teachers sort through the data and make it usable. (See, for example, our Quick Sort Protocol.) As our community became more proficient at analyzing student work, a natural process of identifying instructional methods to support student learning emerged. To further support this process, we developed a formative coaching cycle ( fig. 1) that guides our work.

During the coaching cycle, we meet with teachers to identify a formative assessment we will use to discuss student progress, develop future strategies for instruction, and evaluate student learning. We base conversations about teaching methods on the formative data, not on an individual's personal opinions about an instructional approach. The following coaching conversation is an example of the type of dialogue that might happen as an individual teacher begins to deeply analyze student work and reflect on instruction.

Coach: After looking at the students' work, you've narrowed down what you feel are problems in their essay writing. You mentioned that many of your students are not using appropriate word choices-they are either using words incorrectly or using very basic words such as happy or sad to illustrate a point. Let's look at these papers briefly and separate them into two piles: pile A for students who consistently use challenging vocabulary and pile B for those who do not.

After making two piles, the teacher and coach decide to examine pile B in more depth. They make notes on what they observe.

Teacher: There appears to be a group of students who attempt to use new vocabulary but often use it incorrectly. I think they know the definition because these kids always ace their vocabulary quizzes, but those are multiple-choice assessments. When it comes to writing, they're just not sure how to use the word in a sentence.

Coach: Can you show me an example?

Teacher points to several papers where students have used words incorrectly.

Coach: So, what opportunity do they have to practice using these words correctly?

Teacher: Well, when I introduce a word, I give them examples of how to use it in a sentence. And I always choose words from their reading, so they get to see it in a sentence there as well. But from what I'm seeing here, it seems like that may not be enough reinforcement.

Coach: So what other ways can you support your students as they learn how to use these new words?

Teacher: Maybe if they could practice thinking of sentences and saying them out loud to each other, without having to write them, it might help students get it in their ear.

Coach: That's a great idea. Also, maybe just posting a few examples around the room of how to use the word in a sentence might serve as visual reminders for the students.

Teacher: I could try that, too.

Coach: Are there formative assessments you currently use that would provide more opportunities for students to practice with word choice and obtain feedback about their progress?

Teacher: They write letters to me in their journals about the books they are reading. I think encouraging them to take chances with vocabulary in their letters would give them more practice using new words. I could focus specifically on word choice with them for the letter writing.

Coach: Great. So let's make a time to get together in the next few weeks and look at the student work and note any changes or progress.

A few weeks later the coach and teacher reconvene.

Coach: You've been looking at your students' journal entries. What do you notice as you look at these papers?

Teacher: Well, more students are using challenging vocabulary words and using them correctly. I think having a chance to practice using these new words by speaking to one another has made a big difference. But there is still this group of students who rely on simple words in their writing and don't even try any of the challenging vocabulary.

Coach: OK. Why don't we start by looking at that group?

Teacher and coach read through several papers.

Teacher: I feel that some students think it's not worth trying out a word because they might get it wrong. Or maybe they don't understand why writers use interesting vocabulary. I guess I haven't really made that clear to them. I am also wondering if a rubric might help; maybe they aren't sure what I'm looking for.

Coach: I'm wondering what type of data we can use to support your hypothesis. For example, have you met with students individually to talk about their word choice?

Teacher: I have conferences with some students, but I'm just not sure what we should be talking about. I could encourage them to use some of the vocabulary or find out what is stopping them.

Coach: I think conferences are also a way to provide feedback for students on their use of vocabulary and provide them with examples of how writers engage readers through words. Your conference notes can help you figure out why some of the students continue to struggle. I have some information that can help guide you during conferences and organize any data that you gather.

Formative coaching helps teachers naturally become more reflective about their practice as they look for progress in student work. Teachers take the stance of researchers as they ask, How did students respond to a specific method of instruction? For which group of learners was this method successful? As we meet with teachers and look at the student work, they become more aware of the importance of feedback to students and the explicit instruction necessary to support student learning.

Beyond Individual Coaching

The process of analyzing formative data has also transformed how we plan professional development sessions for larger groups of teachers. Instead of choosing topics that we think the teachers might be interested in, we now base our professional development on needs determined by the student work. The days of creating professional development in a vacuum are gone.

In planning professional development we make sure our adult learners have numerous opportunities to collaborate and establish common goals with clear outcomes. No longer are they asked to come to a workshop to "sit and get"; they are now at the center of professional development, responsible for the learning of their students and their own growth as educators.

As coaches, we have also worked to create a safe environment that is conducive to adult learning and professional discourse. Initially, teachers were reluctant to share their ideas or their students' work with their colleagues in professional learning communities, but they began to build trust as they looked at student work over a sustained period of time and realized the importance of sharing results and progress with the larger school community. They understood how the teaching and learning in the classroom next door was vitally important to the success of the students who currently sat in front of them.

As our collaboration and trust strengthened, teachers transferred their skills about formative analysis to areas other than literacy. When the teachers received results from the statewide math assessment, the formative coaching cycle prompted teachers to look at trends, pinpoint next steps as a team, and seek out instructional strategies from one another.

Closing the door to your classroom is no longer an option; collaboration is necessity if our students are to succeed. A new way of thinking about teaching has been born.

1. Discuss the work: Discuss the formative work that you have chosen.

1. What is the purpose of this formative work? How does it relate to grade level goals or standards?

2. Did students work together or individually?

3. What type of scaffolding did the teacher provide? Was the assignment differentiated for certain students? If so, how?

2. Describe the criteria: The teacher should describe how the work will be evaluated.

1. What evidence of learning did you hope to see in this work?

2. How will you evaluate student work? (rubric, checklist, exemplar, previous work done by students, other)

3. Do a quick sort: Sort the work.

1. The coach and teacher should discuss how to examine the work. What can you look for quickly when analyzing the work?

2. Take a brief amount of time to examine the work and make three piles. For example, you might make piles of student work seems that below standard, on-target, and above standard for that grade level.

4. Analyze: What do students have in common in this group?

1. What strengths do you see in this group? Identify examples.

2. What areas are challenging for them? Identify examples.

5. Reflect.

1. Is this formative assessment a good way of evaluating students' knowledge or skills?

2. Do the students understand the purpose of this assignment?

3. Do students know how their learning is being evaluated? Do they know what good work looks like?

6. Plan: Based on your discussion, what type of instruction does this group of students need?

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for other groups.

Endnote

Knowles, M. S. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species. Houston, TX: Gulf.

Gabrielle Nidus ( Gabrielle@bshor.com) and Maya Sadder ( mayasadder@gmail.com) are literacy coaches at National Teachers Academy, a preK-8 public school in Chicago that also serves as a teacher training institute for Chicago Public Schools. They are the authors of The Way In: The Literacy Coaches Gameplan (International Reading Association, 2009), to be published this spring.

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February 2009 | Volume 66 | Number 5 How Teachers Learn Gabrielle Nidus and Maya Sadder Formative coaching helps teachers untangle the mystery of how to adjust their own instruction to improve student performance. It's Thursday afternoon, and the 5th grade team has asked you, the literacy coach, to attend its grade-level meeting.

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Colorín Colorado

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In this classroom clip, Albuquerque teacher Marty Dreskin talks about the role of scaffolding for an 8th-grade lesson plan focused on "The Story of an Hour."

Teacher: Ida Demos, Martha Dreskin, Lynne Harper, Deborah Mathen, Maria Padilla-Enyart

School Name: Harrison Middle School, Van Buren Middle School, Kennedy Middle School, Los Ranchos Elementary School, Jefferson Middle School

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Scaffolding for Middle School ELLs: The Story of an Hour

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In this classroom clip, Albuquerque teacher Marty Dreskin talks about the role of scaffolding for an 8th-grade lesson plan focused on "The Story of an Hour," as well as her strategies for removing scaffolding as students showed more confidence with complex text.Things to watch for:Scaffolded lessons to support reading comprehensionSmall group work and group instructionMore Watch & Learn videoStudent engagement and the Common Core

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Frayer Model Pre-Identified  and Pre-Taught Vocabulary

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Staehr Fenner, 2014

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Available Formats

ISBN: 9781452257693

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Suggested Retail Price: $34.95

Bookstore Price: $27.96

ISBN: 9781452278407

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Suggested Retail Price: $30.95

Bookstore Price: $24.76

Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email sageheoa@sagepub.com. Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html.

1. Need for Advocacy for English Learners

2. Creating a Shared Sense of Responsibility for Teaching English Learners

3. How ESL Teachers Can Collaborate to Expand Advocacy Efforts for ELs

4. Advocacy Overview for School and District Administrators

5. Increasing EL Families' Involvement Through Building Their Advocacy Capacity

6. Advocacy Through Effective Instruction of ELs

7. Advocating for ELs in Assessment

8. Advocacy for ELs' Success Beyond Grade 12

(1) A comprehensive resource which raises educators' awareness of the areas in which ELs need advocacy and offers practical suggestions for EL advocacy
(2) Provides an overview of research that informs EL advocacy in each chapter and tools to apply the research on the ground (3) Focuses on hands-on professional development activities to build a sense of responsibility for ELs' achievement in school and beyond
(4) Includes checklists for schools and districts to use to provide a framework to guide their discussion of ELs' advocacy needs in a number of areas
(5) Contains an abundance of practical examples of EL advocacy in action, taken from a variety of schools and geographical regions
(6) Weaves in voices of EL advocates at the school, district, state, and national levels (including Tim Boals, Catherine Collier, and Margarita Pinkos)

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Available Formats ISBN: 9781452257693 Paperback Suggested Retail Price: $34.95 Bookstore Price: $27.96 ISBN: 9781452278407 Electronic Version Suggested Retail Price: $30.95 Bookstore Price: $24.76 Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email sageheoa@sagepub.com.

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Supporting English Language Learners Through Station Rotations

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Supporting English Language Learners Through Station Rotations

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Juliana Finegan & Nithi Thomas, 2018

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ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

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Implementing the CommonCore State Standards forEnglish Learners:The Changing Roleof the ESL Teacher

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Implementing the CommonCore State Standards forEnglish Learners:The Changing Roleof the ESL Teacher

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TESOL International, 2013

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Scaffolding Instruction for ELLs Resource Guides

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Scaffolding Instruction for ELLs Resource Guides

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engageNY

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The New York State Education Department is no longer supporting the EngageNY.org website and it will no longer be available for use after April 15, 2022. NYSED encourages educators to download any EngageNY content they wish to use in the future.

All ELA and mathematics curriculum files will be available at the links below, and will remain free and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license.

Archived EngageNY Curriculum Files:

Grades 3-8 ELA and Mathematics Test Materials:
Questions regarding this change may be directed to the EngageNY Help Desk.

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The New York State Education Department is no longer supporting the EngageNY.org website and it will no longer be available for use after April 15, 2022. NYSED encourages educators to download any EngageNY content they wish to use in the future.

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Focusing Formative Assessments on the Needs of ELLs

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Focusing Formative Assessments on the Needs of ELLs

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Laura Alvarez, Sri Ananda, Aida Walqui, Edynn Sato, & Stanley N. Rabinowitz, 2014

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By Laura Alvarez, Sri Ananda, Aída Walqui, Edynn Sato, Stanley N. Rabinowitz

Description

How can formative assessment enhance the teaching and learning of English language learner (ELL) students? What, if anything, from our experience with summative assessment of ELL students can inform effective formative assessment practices? And finally, what are the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating formative assessment into instruction for ELL students in this era of Common Core and other next generation standards?

This paper addresses these questions. In addition, the authors, all former or current WestEd researchers, argue that in order to use formative assessment effectively in classrooms with ELL students, teachers must attend simultaneously to the students' needs both in learning content and skills, as well as in developing the English required to express their learning.

Resource Details

Related Resources

Formative assessment is a key component in next-generation assessment systems. This paper, authored by former WestEd researcher Elise Trumbull and WestEd's Nancy Gerzon, outlines how different programs and studies have responded to educators' need for professional development on formative assessment.

This paper focuses on the ways that technologies can support effective formative assessment planning and implementation.

Formative assessment in the classroom aims to reveal not just what students are learning, but how they are learning, with results used to inform instruction. This policy brief highlights the formative component of next-generation assessment systems and makes recommendations for state and federal policymakers.

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Focusing Formative Assessment on the Needs of English Language Learners

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How can formative assessment enhance the teaching and learning of English language learner (ELL) students? What, if anything, from our experience with summative assessment of ELL students can inform effective formative assessment practices? And finally, what are the opportunities and challenges inherent in integrating formative assessment into instruction for ELL students in this era of Common Core and other next generation standards?

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Natalie Regier, 2012

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Empowering English Language Learners Through Language Dives

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Colorín Colorado

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Many English language learners (ELLs) can speak English confidently in the lunch room or on the playground, yet when it comes time to read, write, or give a class presentation, they need more practice with the skills required to complete their work successfully. Learn more about the difference between social and academic language and take a look at some strategies by veteran ELL teachers and researchers that will benefit all students in the classroom.

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Many English language learners (ELLs) can speak English confidently in the lunch room or on the playground, yet when it comes time to read, write, or give a class presentation, they need more practice with the skills required to complete their work successfully.

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Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Checklist for Increasing Academic Language Awareness

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Staehr Fenner & Snyder, 2017

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Jeff Zwiers

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Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for. These fourteen questions will work for just about any kind of writing-from cutting edge journalism to revealing personal essays to experimental poetry.
For a printable version of this handout that you can use tomorrow as well as 29 more pages of practical how-to's, handouts, and charts to teach your students to write better, check out my Writing Workshop Resource by clicking .
First, instruct students to read the text through one time, annotating it with a simple system. (For example, they might write a check mark for important information, a question mark or confusing parts, and a heart for parts that they especially like for whatever reason.)

Then, have them work thorough the following questions to help them notice the important elements of the writers' craft in any kind of mentor text.

1. Having read the piece once through, what is the most impactful or important part? This could be an image, a fact, a sentence, or even a word that stays with you for whatever reason.

2. What is the main point of the piece? Where does the author state that idea? Quote it and then explain it in your own words.

3. How does the writer grab a reader in the first sentence or few sentences? Describe the specific technique that is used.

4. Which details or descriptions or facts are most surprising, vivid, important, or memorable for whatever reason? Make a list of those details.

5. How does the author draw your attention to those details? What techniques are used?

6. How do the details that you noticed help the author to make the main point as you explained it in question #2?

7. How is the piece organized? Make a very rough outline of what the author includes in the beginning, middle, and end. (If you can, divide the piece into three parts-but don't be worried if one part is significantly shorter or longer than the rest.)

8. How might you imitate that structure? How might the author's choices in terms of organization be applied to your own writing?

9. How does the author help the reader to transition from one part to the next? What are some key words that signal a change or shift or movement to something new? Quote those words or phrases here.

10. Which transition words do you find especially effective? Why?

11. How does the author conclude the piece? With what impression are you left as a reader at the end? What does the author want you to take away with you after you are done reading?

12. What techniques does the author use to make that conclusion especially memorable? Describe them here.

13. Which elements of the piece would you most like to try on your current piece of writing? How can you incorporate the techniques that you have analyzed in this piece into your own work?

14. Which techniques would you like to try on a future piece of writing? Why?

Have you taught with mentor texts before? What questions do you have about teaching with mentor texts?
Learning to write can be nebulous and confusing and intimidating-but it doesn't have to be that way. When students and teachers alike can focus on the elements of a great piece of writing, they will both learn from it. Breaking it down into the basic elements of solid communication go a long way towards making the process of writing more approachable for everyone.

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14 Questions for Examining Mentor Texts (Of Any Kind) - Gil Teach

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Once students are comfortable reading and analyzing mentor texts in order to improve their own writing, it's nice to be able to let them work through a text independently. Still, they might appreciate some scaffolding or reminders of what to look for.

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Teaching Channel

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. What are academic conversations?

2. Why is it important to value oral language?

3. How can you engage students in academic conversations?

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Academic Conversations with ELLs: Series Overview

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Discover how to engage ELLs in academic conversations. Maria Santos and Jeff Zwiers provide an introduction to a video series on academic conversations. Jeff describes the importance of oral language while Maria introduces how OUSD has been focusing on academic conversations.