ARE YOU ENGAGED?

USING DIFFERENTIATION, ASSESSMENT USES, AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES TO ENGAGE STUDENTS AND MASTER TKES.

Donna HallCrystal Ware

WHO ARE WE?

• Donna Hall & Crystal Ware• Valdosta High School in Valdosta, Ga• 10th, 11th, & 12th grade Literature

WHY ARE WE HERE?• Valdosta High School is a Race to the Top

school in the second year of implementation of the Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES). Through our experience, we have targeted three specific elements from TKES in which we, as a school, need to improve. We are here to share classroom ready activities that will help you in mastering our three targeted elements of TKES.

COMMENTS FROM PAUL DAY, VHS ELA ADMINISTRATOR/EVALUATOR CONCERNING TKES

• TKES is an instrument designed by the state to provide a rating for you as a teacher. Your goal is to be "proficient,” but in reality, every person in our building is a work in progress. There is always room for us to grow. If we could survive in our careers with the TKES rating scale showing this, we could all say that we "need development." Like you, I am very good at a lot of things, but I can still get better with every talent I have. I am reminded of what the famous cellist Pablo Casals said when he was asked why he continued to practice playing at the age of 90. He replied, "Because I think I'm making progress." (April 2014)

TKES SELF-ASSESSMENT

Participant Activity

VHS ELA DEPARTMENT TKES STANDARD TARGETS:

• Instructional Strategies • 3.8: Engages students in authentic learning by providing

real-life examples and interdisciplinary connections. • Differentiation

• 4.5: Demonstrates high learning expectations for all students commensurate with their developmental levels.

• Assessment Uses • 6.7: Teaches students how to self-assess & to use

metacognitive strategies in support of lifelong learning.

**Please reference the following :http://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Teacher-and-Leader-Effectiveness/Documents/TKES%20Fact%20%20Sheets%207-11-2012.pdf

(TKES FACT SHEETS)Georgia Department of Education

Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards Reference Sheet Performance Standards and Sample Performance Indicators

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS WORKSHOP ARE TO:

• (IS) Engage students by being supportive and persistent in keeping students on task by providing relevant real-life examples and encouraging them to actively integrate new information with prior learning.

• (IS) Create a cognitively challenging environment with in-depth explanations of academic content covering higher-order concepts and skills.

• (D) Differentiate by using multiple instructional materials, activities, strategies and assessment techniques to meet students' needs and maximize learning.

• (AU) Utilize students' self-assessment of their thinking, reasoning, processes, and products to promote student engagement and accountability.

• Provide YOU with classroom-ready activities that will help you achieve the above objectives while simultaneously “wowing” your TKES evaluator.

HOW DO I SURVIVE THE TEACHER KEYS EVALUATION

SYSTEM?• Have a clear understanding of the TKES

performance indicators for both teachers and students.

• Ask questions.• Collaborate and communicate.• Be your own best self-advocate:

DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT!• Write detailed lesson plans (See Standards-Based Lesson Plan

Format)• Upload Evidence to TKES Platform

(Lesson Plans, Documents, Pictures, Emails, Communication Logs, Professional Learning)

STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLAN FORMAT

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

RIGOROUS RELEVANT

STUDENT-CENTERED

KEY ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY

Key Elements Descriptions

Differentiation The teacher uses multiple instructional materials, activities, strategies, and assessment techniques to meet students’ needs and maximize the learning of all students.

Variety The teacher implements a variety of classroom techniques and strategies that enhance student motivation and decrease discipline problems.

Cognitive challenge

The teacher provides in-depth explanations of academic content and covers higher-order concepts and skills thoroughly.

Student engagement

The teacher is supportive and persistent in keeping students on task and encouraging them to actively integrate new information with prior learning.

Recognizing patterns of student learning and adjusting

The teacher recognizes the schema or pattern in student learning, makes inferences about the situation (such as identifying the difficulties the students are having), and promptly adjusts the materials, learning activities, and assessment techniques to maximize student learning.

Questioning The teacher uses multiples levels (particularly higher cognitive levels) of questioning to stimulate student thinking and monitor student learning.

Relevance The learning process and the outcomes of learning have authentic relevance with students’ life.

Selected instructional practices exhibited by effective teachers:

• Stays involved with the lesson at all stages so that adjustments can be made based on feedback from the students.

• Uses research-based strategies to enhance the time students spend with teachers by making instruction student-centered.

• Involves students in appropriate and challenging learning activities, such as cooperative learning, to enhance higher order thinking skills.

• Knows that instructional strategies that use students’ prior knowledge in an inquiry-based, hands-on format facilitate student learning.

• Uses remediation, skills-based instruction, and differentiated instruction to meet individual student’s learning needs.

• Uses multiple levels of questioning aligned with students’ cognitive abilities. (**Costa’s Levels of Questioning)

COSTA’S LEVELS OF QUESTIONING

INCORPORATING AVID AND IB STRATEGIES SCHOOL-

WIDE• As you take a look at these characteristics, I encourage you to share them with your students and help them to become familiar with them as they try to incorporate them into their lives. From IB to AP and AVID, from Band to Football, from ROTC to Drama, from Student Senate to the Anime or Robotics Club ..... these learning characteristics apply to ALL LEARNERS. Even to each of us as leaders and teachers .....--Paul Day, January 2014

IB LEARNER PROFILE

SAMPLE STUDENT EVIDENCE THAT THE TEACHER HAS MET THE CRITERIA FOR PROFICIENCY:

• Make transitions from prior knowledge to new concepts with teacher support. (Opening section in Standards-Based Lesson Plan Format)

• Grasp meaning, not just facts. (Written Response Prompts, Small Group/Whole Group Discussions)

• Create a range of products that provide evidence of learning in a unit. (Differentiated PRODUCT)

• Use multiple strategies in learning new concepts. (Differentiated PROCESS)

• Use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions. (Individual/Collaborative Group Projects and Assignments—Teenage Declaration of Independence, Puritan Daily Newspaper Assignment)

• Examine his/her own work and can explain how it relates to GPS/CCGPS. (Student Self-Assessment)

• Describe learning expectations for which they are responsible, both in their own language and in the language of the standard. (Scaffolded standards section maintained in notebook and displayed in classroom)

EXAMPLES OF INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES IN THE CLASSROOM

• Teenage Declaration of Independence• Ben Carson Project/Current

Connections/Informational Text

CREATE RELEVANT CONNECTIONS!- Anything is literature: poems, music, speeches, interviews,

articles, documents…look for ways to incorporate more informational texts.

- Don’t forget about the world outside of school. (www.on-this-day.com)

- Bring a classic up to date using modern interpretations. (Football and Beowulf)

- Use what they know to help them understand what they don’t know. (facebook, twitter, their music)

- Use their own personal experiences to create connections to the reading. (1984 Fear Writing)

I FOUND THE INFORMATIONAL TEXT…

NOW WHAT?• Step 1: When the students have read the informational text that YOU or THEY chose, give them the Reading Reaction Worksheet.

• Step 2: Allow the students ample time to complete the worksheet while using the text to search for answers and provide evidence for their responses.

• Step 3: Utilize student responses to assess standards and critical thinking.

RELEVANT CONNECTIONS• Vocabulary:

• Give them the definition! Then, allow students to find (pictures through email) or demonstrate (act out in the classroom) real life examples of the words. For example:

• Sustenance

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Meeting the needs of EVERY student

WHAT DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION MEANS FOR TEACHERS

• Teachers DO• provide several learning options, or different

paths to learning, which help students take in information and make sense of concepts and skills.

• provide appropriate levels of challenge for all students, including those who lag behind, those who are advanced, and those who are right in the middle.

• Teachers DON'T• develop a separate lesson plan for each

student in a classroom.• "water down" the curriculum for some

students.

DIFFERENTIATING CONTENTHow do we present the curriculum so that all

children can learn the content?

• Utilize data and/or pre-tests to assess where individual students need to begin study of a given topic or unit. (SLDS data, benchmarks, SLO data—keep spreadsheet for documentation).

• Use a variety of instructional delivery methods to address different learning styles. (Learning Styles Inventory—auditory, visual, kinesthetic)

• Break assignments into smaller, more manageable parts that include structured directions for each part. (Scaffolded Instruction)

• Choose broad instructional concepts and skills that lend themselves to understanding at various levels of complexity. (Text Complexity/Lexile/Leveled Text)

DIFFERENTIATING CONTENT• Vocabulary:

Step 1:Build your own vocabulary list. Students chose the words from the reading to form their own vocabulary list based on his or her knowledge. Step 2:After this is complete, you could group students on the same level together to compare the words they chose. Step 3:Then switch group to a mixed leveled grouping so students can determine definitions using dictionaries, the internet and each other. Step 4:Come together whole group and have one person from each group write their words on the board. Step 5: As a class, determine the top 10, 20, 25 (depending on the length of your text) words that will be the class focus for vocabulary study for this text.

DIFFERENTIATING PROCESSWhat do we want our students to be able to do? How can we integrate basic and higher-level

thinking skills into the curriculum?

• Provide access to a variety of materials which target different learning preferences and reading abilities.

• Develop activities that target auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners.

• Create activities that vary in level of complexity and degree of abstract thinking required.

• Use flexible grouping to group and regroup students based on factors including content, ability, and assessment results. **Must be able to justify method, criteria, and purpose for grouping.

DIFFERENTIATING ACTIVITIESSMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION:-TEACHER AND STUDENT-LED INSTRUCTION: A STUDENT-LED GROUP WOULD CONSIST OF STUDENT COLLABORATION ON A COMMON ASSIGNMENT WITH A COMMON GOAL. -GROUP BASED ON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT PERFORMANCE & SUCCESSFULNESS ON SPECIFIC SKILLS. A GOOD WAY TO START IS JUST THREE GROUPS (MAY BE SUBDIVIDED):REMEDIATION- REACH TOWARD MEETING STANDARD.ENRICHMENT- PUSH TO THINK MORE CRITICALLY ABOUT SUBJECT MATTER.ACCELERATION- ENRICH LEARNING THROUGH MAKING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN LITERATURE AND REAL LIFE.

**Teacher Self-Reflection

and

Numbering Strategy

DIFFERENTIATING PRODUCTHow can we teach students to become more

self-directed learners? How can they show what they know?

• Use a variety of assessment strategies, including performance-based and open-ended assessment.

• Balance teacher-assigned and student-selected projects.

• Offer students a choice of projects that reflect a variety of learning styles and interests:

• oral responses, interviews, demonstrations and reenactments, portfolios, written responses, artistic/creative responses, multi-media projects, research, and formal tests.

EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENTIATED

PRODUCTS•“The Raven” Storyboard Project

•The Great Gatsby Theme/Figurative Language Project**Students were given a choice of topic, process, and product to assess the same content, skills,

and standards.

“THE RAVEN” STORYBOARD PROJECT

Peering down the hallway I stare in fear, then I hear

Lenore’s name echo down the hallway.

THE GREAT GATSBY THEME/FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE PROJECT

The American Dream Disintegrated…• Supporting Quotes: “If it wasn’t for the

mist we could see your home across the bay…You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock” (92).

• “He seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one (93, 94).

• Basically, the dream had vanished with all the hope disintegrating with it, and now Gatsby was hollow and alone. I chose these quotes and this topic of the American Dream disappearing because of the Decay theme behind it all. My creation that represents this decay is on the next slide. The American Dream itself decays, just like the “valley of ashes” that the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg stands watch over .

POSTER CREATED IN MICROSOFT PUBLISHER

EXPLORING THE THEME OF CLASS IN

THE GREAT GATSBY“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness….”

They were so caught up in the wealth and living the fast life, that they really didn’t care too much about other people. Tom and Daisy only cared about the money.

This a quote from Bob Marley's song “So Much Trouble in the World.”

It’s saying that the rich people don’t care for anyone but themselves. http://youtube/KOOt3WmD0sw

“You see men sailing on their ego trip, Blast off on their spaceship, Million miles from reality: No care for you, no care for me”

Relevant Thematic Connection

ASSESSMENT USESUSING DATA TO INCREASE STUDENT LEARNING AND

ACCOUNTABILITY

AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER:• Uses diagnostic assessment data to develop

learning goals for students, to differentiate instruction, and to document learning.

• Uses assessment tools for both formative and summative purposes to inform, guide, and adjust instruction.

• Systematically analyzes and uses data to measure student progress, to design appropriate interventions, and to inform long- and short-term instructional decisions.

• Provides constructive and frequent feedback to students on their progress toward their learning goals. (Written comments/feedback on student writing)

• Teaches students how to self-assess and to use metacognitive strategies in support of lifelong learning. (Make learning STUDENT-DRIVEN.)

AS TEACHERS, WE WEAR MANY HATS:

ADD “PHOTOGRAPHER” AND DATA ANALYSIS EXPERT TO THE LIST

Diagnostic Assessments “diagnose” what students know before instruction. (Pre-test, Benchmark, SLO)

Formative Assessments are not intended to be graded—they are intended to give the teacher a “snapshot” of what each student does or does not know and can or cannot do so that the teacher can identify gaps and modify instruction. (Formative Assessments drive instruction and should be given DURING instruction.)

Summative Assessments measure mastery of standards and should be given at the END of instruction.

Have you heard of a Student Growth Model? If not, YOU WILL!

INFORMAL FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT• How to determine a student’s level:

• Teacher Tour – Take a “tour” of your classroom during small group or independent work. Do not allow students to ask you questions during this time. Look for understanding and comprehension through their work. Ask students questions to supplement your information.

OTHER FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT METHODSHow to determine a student’s level:

Q&A Box: Place a box or container somewhere in the room and allow students to put their questions in the box instead of asking them out loud.

ORGive students a red, yellow, and green strip of paper and instruct them to write their name on the back and drop one slip of paper into the Q&A box on their way out the door.

•Red = I need lots more instruction.(I really struggled with the concepts in today’s lesson.)•Yellow = I need a little more instruction.(I almost have it, but I need further clarification with certain concepts.)•Green = I need no further instruction. (I understand completely! I am ready to demonstrate my understanding of all of the concepts of today’s lesson and/or move on to the next lesson.)

ENGAGE STUDENTS BY MAKING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS FUN• After teaching poetic

elements in Poe’s “The Raven,” I asked students to highlight and label poetic elements in “The Bells.” I was quickly able to assess who knew the covered elements and who needed further instruction. Students also cited textual evidence of poetic elements in an artistic interpretation of “The Raven.”

STUDENTS AS PLANNERS • One thinking strategy students CAN learn to

do is plan. These formal, organized plans are also ASSESSMENTS and can be used by the teacher to inform groupings & provide helpful feedback.

• Step 1: After students are grouped for a multimedia presentation hand out the Presentation Plan worksheet.

• Step 2: Instruct students to complete the worksheet as a group with as much detail as possible and turn in to you.

• Step 3: Give yourself some time to go over each worksheet thoroughly and provide valid, constructive feedback.

• Step 4: Return the worksheets to the groups and allow them to make changes, as needed. If they would like, they can bring their changes back to your for another review.

• Step 5: Continue this practice in the group setting, and eventually move into the students planning their own individual work .

• This is taking a step toward each student becoming more self-directed and taking responsibility for their own learning.

STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT: THE KEY TO ESTABLISHING RELEVANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

• Writing and Project Rubrics• Writing Portfolios to document growth• Questions/Responses/Self-Reflection• Peer Revision/Group Member Evaluations• Learning Target/Test Item Analysis

• Do I have the knowledge and skills outlined in the standards?

• How close am I to meeting the learning target (goal)?

• Can I discuss my learning in the language of the standards?

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?• What do I need to do to improve?• What is my action plan?

STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT RESOURCES

• My Crucible Experience Writing Assignment and Self-Assessment

• Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie’s Journey to Self-Fulfillment Essay Assignment, Model Essay, and Self-Assessment Rubric

• Historical Introduction to Literary Periods Group Assignment and Group Member Evaluation

• Essay Self-Analysis Rubric• General Group Peer and Self-Evaluation Rubrics

• Test Item Self-Analysis and Action Plan

POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE IS NOT THE END!

• In 50 years what is it that I want my students to remember?

• Things to remember:• Critical thinking skills• Application to real-life• Informational texts• Student responsible for own learning• World view• Prepare them for what is next (reach beyond the standard)

• Senior College Prep Day Document

TOTD!

• Use your post-it to write down what your first tweet will be after this presentation. Please place it on the “twitter feed” (poster board) on your way out of the room.