Preparing for Standardized Tests in a PBL classroom by Della Limon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo This virtual workshop will focus on how to embed the skills the students need to succeed on standardized tests into the scaffolding of a project. The hope is that participants won't feel the need to "take a break" from PBL to get ready for assessments. en-us 2017-03-02 20:36:12 UTC 2023-02-10 11:46:46 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Templeball.png Addressing the Coverage Issue dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157480683 In Understanding By Design, Wiggins and McTighe state, “When our teaching merely covers content without subjecting it to inquiry, we may well be perpetrating the very misunderstanding and amnesia we decry” (132).
What does this quote mean?  Put it in your own words and expand whether or not you agree with it based on your experience: 
  • Just talking about a subject / topic doesn’t mean it is learned.  When we do this there is no transfer of knowledge / no understanding / no ability to apply
  • Covering all content does not mean students learned the content or are able to apply the content covered. I haven’t been in the field long and to tell the truth ISTEP was the last thing on my mind. Engaging students in real world learning and application is what helped my students be successful; therefore, I agree. Covering or going over the most content without engaging students will not result in success.
  • We are not walking our talk...we need to frame our beliefs as actions!!! If we believe students learn best through digging deeper our curriculum should be framed in this manner-not just based on pacing to complete the series.
  • The ideal is to marry content and assessment under the umbrella of inquiry.
  • Agree - Student engagement and purpose, which leads to true learning,  comes from the inquiry.
  • “Covering content” helps the teacher feel “successful”...I got through it all.  This doesn’t not necessarily translate to the students learning, understanding, and being able to apply the content.
  • Content will not stick unless the learner is compelled to dive into it, to ask questions, to wonder.    Even though I covered all of the different cultures and time periods that each group had with the entire class, the only one they could speak to at the end of the year was the one that they had to put together a display with for their group. 
  • Covering without the inquiry and thinking skills is selling students short and not preparing students for what is coming. 

  • Teaching to teach all content and cover the standards does not necessarily engage students or make learning easier for them.  Effective learning requires the opportunities to do and redo and dig deeper so that students can apply the content.
]]> 2017-03-02 20:48:44 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157480683 How do we prioritize learning? How do we know which skills/content goes into which circle below? dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481128
  • Know/Do/worth knowing stem from Enduring understandings.  Do your enduring understandings align with what your state shares that their enduring understandings/know/do/worth knowing are?   (Blueprints) 
  • Activating student agency to reinforce that enduring understandings are worth knowing and are a priority.
  • Enduring understandings should be the non-negotiables of the course.  Kids cannot walk away from this course without knowing these specific things.  The middle circle is the next level of standards that kids should learn after they have a firm grasp on the smallest circle.  The outer circle is the “if we have time, this would be good to know”.
  • Decide on what the ‘power standards’ are? Is there a place to find those somewhere?  Is this the work of TBTs?  Have states defined these? What if what we decide as a staff doesn’t match up with the test?    +1 - this is exactly how I feel.
  • What skills can be applied across multiple topics and content areas. 
  •  Processes and strategies that can be used throughout “school life”
  • Enduring understandings are those items that students should know...the takeaways that apply to many other facets of courses.  These are the items that we first identify as we begin to plan and delve into our planning sessions.  As we move toward the outer circle, we find the items that are either helpful to know to aid comprehension or that are nice to know if we have enough time to cover them.
  • Some of this depends on the students and their level of comfort with the test… so I might need to build in test-taking skills as part of my curriculum if they are not historically good at taking the tests.  
  • Students need a little bit of everything, but mastery of content will come from the enduring understandings. These are ideas and understandings that can be applied across multiple content areas.   
]]> 2017-03-02 20:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481128 HOW MIGHT WE PREPARE STUDENTS WITHIN OUR PBL CURRICULUM? dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481722 How do people learn??  How do we Make it stick?  
1. Retrieving - practice retrieving new (and old) learning (self-quizzing).
2. Spacing - space out your retrieval practice, leave time to forget in between practice sessions.
3. Interleaving - alternate working on different problems facilitates spacing and forgetting (making learning more difficult, which improves learning).
4. Elaboration - try to find additional layers of meaning in the new material.
5. Generation - attempt to answer a question or solve a problem before looking at the answer (experiential learning).
6. Reflection - a combination of retrieval practice and elaboration that adds layers to learning new material. Ask yourself questions.
7. Calibration - to avoid various cognitive illusions, use an objective instrument to adjust your sense of what you know and don't know.
8. Mnemonic devices - build memory palaces to help yourself retrieve what you have learned.
 Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel.
]]> 2017-03-02 20:53:39 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481722 How could we work with this project https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y8VclDv3oTKXKsmrMLJK0o4iUNIU0VeEiC5T0ueNyEw/edit? dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481966
  • Students develop test/quiz questions after workshops - forcing them to put it in their own words - Retrieving 
  • Start with inquiry for each workshop the engage students - EX. Scientific classification - We have a never ending list of organisms how can we show relationships among each other and drive the students to generate answers - like names, two name system (first name is the same for all similar organisms)
  • Incorporate past knowledge - scientific method, energy transfer, cellular chemistry/structure
    • Summarizing
    Scaffolding was purposeful.  In workshops using some make it stick strategies to make it more personal.  Offer students choice with some make it stick strategies to use one that works well for them.  Reflection throughout.  Generation may have interesting ideas in early phase.
    Pick one of the objectives and explain one way that learning was addressed within their project
    During the reflection process, give students the opportunity not only to reflect on this project but also to link in learning from previous projects and make strong connections.  This would be similar to beginning a project and tapping into a student’s BK to see what he/she brings to the process.  Do this at checkpoints throughout the project.  This can then also mirror the reflection/BK needed when taking a standardized test and answering constructed-response questions/essay prompts.



    ]]>     2017-03-02 20:54:43 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157481966     Resources dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482164 Resources: 
    Quizzes and their Role in PBL: https://newtechnetwork.org/resources/reconsidering-role-quizzing-pbl/

    Enduring Understandings and PBL PPT: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1itaUU6pEJQ975tbig4XmQTF07ivn_z8OK5W5Ygt8uUs/edit#slide=id.g16b9b88523_2_80

    Enduring and Power Standards: 
    https://newtechnetwork.org/resources/powering-pbl-course-power-standards/

    Blog addressing the topic: 
    https://www.edutopia.org/blog/PBL-and-standardized-tests-andrew-miller

    Blog addressing “covering vs. teaching content”: 
    http://www.huffenglish.com/covering-isnt-teaching-or-learning/


    ]]>     2017-03-02 20:55:41 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482164     Link to recording dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482764 https://newtechnetwork.adobeconnect.com/p2vx0n50u06/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal]]> 2017-03-02 20:58:31 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482764 Link to slides dlimon https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482916 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rDujF1irYuX7LH65K10Ndf4BT8M-6ueRGatCtYce24s/edit#slide=id.g1a7e9a5896_2_174]]> 2017-03-02 20:59:13 UTC https://padlet.com/dlimon/y159ewq2tedo/wish/157482916