Backwards Planning and Assessing Skills FOR the 21 st Century

Highly EffectiveSchoolLibraries

Backwards Planning and Assessing Skills FOR the 21st Century

Nancy White21st Century Learning & Innovation Specialist

Academy District 20nancy.white@asd20.org

Information to be Shared

• Backwards Design Review– Enduring Understandings– Essential Questions– GRASPS

• Assessment Review– Formative & Summative Assessment Review– Assessment Plans

• 21st Century Skills Assessments

Learning Goals

Understandings• Creating learning

environments where 21st Century Skills can flourish

• Not just leaving 21st century skills to chance – but purposefully modeling, teaching, and assessing these skills using formative assessment tools

Skills• Designing learning for the

21st century• Designing formative

assessments of 21st century skills in collaboratively planned lessons

Understanding by Design

• Quick overview of the UbD Elements•Additions in Version 2.0

What is Understanding?

By Grant Wiggins

If you REALLY understand you can…

• Apply your understanding in unfamiliar situations for real-world problem solving in unique ways

• Teach others• Choose to use some

things and not others• Identify quality (and lack

there-of)• Have the ability to create

good arguments• When you see something

in different form, you recognize and can use it

If you know a lot, but don’t really understand…

• You can’t transfer that knowledge to solve problems in unfamiliar situations

Expressed More Formally -

• If you really understand, you can

Make Meaning Transfer

Elements of the UbD Template

UbD Stage 1Identify Desired Outcome

Start with the End in Mind

Wiggins Example: Driver’s Ed Unit

Transfer Goals

• T1: Drive courteously and defensively without accidents or needless risk.

• T2: Anticipate and adapt their knowledge of safe and defensive driving to various road and weather conditions.

As Grant Wiggins says…

Wiggins Non-Example

• “I want students to understand the three Branches of our Government.” – NO – This is not a goal of understanding

Wiggins Example

Meaning

Meaning-Making = Enduring Understandings

• Overarching Big Idea• Ask – what should

students remember 10 years down the road?

Essential Questions

Acquisition

Wiggins Example: Driver’s Ed Unit

Acquisition – Students will know…

• The driving laws• Rules of the road• Basic car features,

functions & maintenance needs

Students will be skilled at…

• Procedures for safe driving

• Signaling -communicating

• Quick response to surprises

• Parallel parking

Acquisition - Skills

UbD Stage 2

• Evidence

Evidence

A B

C D

Wiggins Example: Driver’s Ed Unit

Performance Task Evidence:

• Driving from home to school and back • Criteria:

Responsive, safe, and courteous driving in various conditions

• Students create a “Driving for Newbies” booklet for other new drivers

GRASPS• Goal• Role• Audience• Situation• Product Performance & Purpose• Standards and Criteria for Success

Strategy to Design a 21st Century Performance Assessment Task:

What are the qualities of effective

“assessment”?

Answer Garden

Characteristics of Good Assessment

• The content of the tests (the knowledge and skills assessed) should match the teacher's educational objectives and instructional emphases.

• The test items should represent the full range of knowledge and skills that are the primary targets of instruction.

• Expectations for student performance should be clear.

NCREL: http://web.archive.org/web/20051024083623/http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/stw_esys/4assess.htm

Assessments – Why?• Inform the teacher:

– How students performed – to assign a grade

– What needs re-teaching

Process: 21st Century Skills

• Invention• Technology Literacy• Collaboration• Information Literacy• Self Direction• Critical Thinking & Reasoning

How can we assess the skills?

Formative Assessment• Good assessment starts with a

clear purpose• inFORMS instruction (teacher)• inFORMS students – what they

know and don’t know or how to do

Components of Formative Assessment

Chappuis, Jan. (2005, Nov.) Helping Students Understand Assessment. Educational Leadership.

Students have clear picture of learning targets

Photo by Michael Surran, http://www.flickr.com/photos/extraketchup/749312864/

Students received feedback

Photo by Wonderlane: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/37531816/

Students Engaged in Self-Assessment

Bias, Gene. ocps010.jpg. . Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2008 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

Provide understanding of specific steps students can take to improve

Bias, Gene. comp008.jpg. . Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2008 <http://pics.tech4learning.com>

Formative Assessment:Examples

• Think-Pair-Share Activity• Student Summarizes Information• Interview students/conferencing• Research journal• Observation checklist• Student checklist• Rubrics

Rubrics: What Should Be Assessed?

• Standards & Benchmarks– What do you want students to know

and be able to do?– What will you be teaching

specifically?– Ask yourself: “How will I know that

they know?” …What does success look like?

Example: Information Literacy Skill

• Researches and Evaluates Information – Uses a variety of appropriate tools to

record notes and store information

Information Literacy Skill• Researches and Evaluates

Information – Middle School: Uses a variety of

appropriate tools to record notes and store information

Skill to Rubric• What criteria will you highlight?• What should I look for?

– The descriptors of degrees of quality in meeting the criteria

• Answer this: What does success look like?

• Quantitative? Or Qualitative?

Information Literacy Skill• Researches and Evaluates

Information – Middle School: Uses a variety of

appropriate tools to record notes and store information

QualitativeQuantitative

Information Literacy Skill• Researches and Evaluates

Information – Middle School: Uses a variety of

appropriate tools to record notes and store information

QualitativeQuantitative

Information Literacy Skill

Skill/Criteria

In Progress

Proficient Advanced

Uses tools

What makes the tool appropriate? What are the variety of tools they might choose from? Does quality or quantity equal success?

Records Notes

Quality: What do quality notes look like? Quantity: Is quantity more important than quality?

Stores Information

What were students taught? Is this an either they did it or they didn’t do it thing? How can you best measure success?

Exercise• Each table will work on developing

the criteria for one of the 21st century skills

• One scribe per table• Post to our Primary Pad

Snapshot?

Or Photo Album?

Intel’s Assessment Timeline

UbD Stage 3

• The Learning Plan

Key: 3 Stages of UbD

1. Identify desired transfer

2. Determine acceptable evidence

3. Plan learningThen, and only then

Plan Learning

Highly Effective School Librarians Use…

Backwards Design

Active, Engaging,

and Relevant Problem Solving

21st Century Skills

Assessment

Learning In & For the 21st Century

Highly Effective School Libraries

Reflection Time

• Table Discussion:What Quadrant do you typically co-teach in?

• What are some ideas to teach in & for the 21st century – and bump up a unit to Quadrant D?

• Individuals (type notes on your wiki page)What 21st Century Skill do you want to focus on for instruction, modeling & assessment? (CDE identified skills: Collaboration, Invention, Information Literacy, Self-Direction, Critical Thinking & Reasoning)

Lunch!

With your neighbor, brainstorm “bump it

up” strategies

Highly EffectiveSchoolLibraries

• Nancy White• 21st Century Learning & Innovation Specialist• Academy District 20• nancy.white@asd20.org