Trusting Your Students

By Mark Heintz

I wanted to connect with the auto teacher, Jeff Zdeconvec, affectionately referred to as Z, for a long time now.  Every year I would get these great updates about how well the auto team performed at state and nation wide competitions.  I would hear great happenings down in the auto shop.  Frequently Z encourages me to stop down to visit his class.  He has always been extremely open to having people stop down.  He is immensely connected to the school and the people in it through servicing a great number of teacher's cars.

Last week, Z finally pushed me to come down to the shop. Not only was I going to get to learn about the class, but Z insisted I let students teach me how to change my oil!  Read that again. Z insisted I let students teach me how to change my oil! He trusts his student's abilities so much, he was willing to let them teach a teacher whose understanding of cars comes mainly for the Fast and the Furious series.  This is the true definition of mastery.  My experience was nothing short of amazing.

 

When I entered the class, Z started by delegating the work that needed to be finished by the end of the day.  There were six or seven cars that needed work, and Z had the class split into teams.  Three of his students were assigned to teach me how to change my oil. 

Although Z is ultimately responsible for all the work completed by the students, he trusts his students with a great deal.  Students complete almost all of the work.  He merely checks each step of the work for quality and safety.  I have some of these students in my class, and I struggle to trust them to read on their own, let alone give them the trust he does with the responsibility of changing someone brakes.  

The class is a marvel.  There are so many moving parts, pun intended, that it is hard to comprehend how he manages the class.  Students are constantly calling out Z to have him check their work.  He is being pulled in so many different directions and somehow keeping an eye on the safety of all the students.  Carquest stopped by two different times during the period to drop off parts.  Z is essentially running a business and a school at the same time.

I think about how much trust he must have in his students.  This was the first time I have visited his classroom. Not only did he welcome me into his classroom with open arms, he entrusted three students to show me the quality of their skill by teaching a novice such as myself.  The process to change one's oil is incredibly technical.  Students are required to clean up oil spills, apply the proper amount of foot pounds to an oil plug, inspect cars, properly lift a car, and change brakes.  I am still marveling that he knows his students have mastered the work enough to teach a layman.  I have been rattling my brain how to get that level of mastery in my classroom where I trust my students to teach a teacher how to write an essay or the consequences of WWI.

The Evolution of the Bio Curriculum

Written by Quinn Loch

The bio team, like most teams at EG, has been reworking its curriculum since I joined it three years ago. The largest changes have been with our learning targets and our grading practices. We are always trying to figure out both what we want students to master and what that mastery looks like.

We recently worked together during a pull-out day and examined our curriculum on a more global scale. Our collaboration led to great questions and conversations. For example, why do we have a "scientific method" unit? Doesn't this unit include the skills that should be developed throughout the year and not just in small doses? Isn't our course supposed to be a year long investigation into the process of science that is just driven by principles in biology? How often should we be assessing skills related to experimental design and analysis? What are these skills? How often do we have labs where we practice these skills and how are we providing feedback on them? Should large themes like change over time (evolution) be taught independently or weaved throughout the year as an important overarching reality of the world around us?

It was great to have this open dialogue and it really helps reset our priorities in a science classroom. We spent the beginning of the day agreeing to eliminate our independently taught scientific method unit. Instead, we would use our standards based rubric that we developed as a way to constantly assess on science skills throughout the year.

By using this rubric, students can track their progress throughout the year on important lab skills like procedure writing, graph making, and conclusion writing. This rubric format was modeled off of what Kim Miklusak and the English team use for writing.

On top of re-evaluating skills in the classroom, we re-worked our content for the year as well. This included re-writing learning targets so that they are more student friendly and re-structuring so that large themes like evolution, energy/matter flow, and interdependence are interwoven throughout the year.

What part of our brainstorm looked like in the Collab Lab.

The biggest challenge still, in my opinion, is how to connect progress and student mastery in the grade book. This is what I consider to be one of the biggest "growing pains" of our transition to standards based grading in biology. As a team, we are on the same page as to our targets and what mastery should look like, but are our students? How are we weighting formative and summative assessments in the grade book? How can we make a student's progress throughout the year clear and understandable? What's the best way to communicate this?

Finding solutions to these challenges is the next step and will help make reassessment more efficient and hopefully increase student ownership.

Using Google forms for feedback from students

by Kirsten Fletcher

Sometimes, the best ideas are born out of desperation. Recently, I gave a quiz over a topic that I thought we had really covered well. When I sat down to grade the quizzes, I discovered that many students had not mastered the material. I was willing to allow them to retake the quiz, but I wanted them to reflect on their study habits first. So, I decided to create a Google form asking them questions like:

• What was your grade?
• What did you do to prepare for this quiz?
• If you'd like to retake it, do you want to meet with me first?
• Can you identify one or two key concepts that you still need to practice?

While my intention was to make students reflect on their study habits, the result was that this exercise made me reflect on how I support my students. I almost always offer the opportunity for re-assessment, but I am not always organized enough to follow up with struggling students or direct them to take advantage of the Mastery Lab and other available resources.

By having my students' responses together in one spreadsheet, I was able to quickly assess who planned to re-take the quiz so I knew how many re-assessments I would need. I could also see who wanted my direct intervention. In moments, I sent those students an email to set up times to meet. Several of the students who requested extra help from me in the Google form would probably not have approached me in person to ask.

I know there are other ways of getting feedback from students and encouraging them to reflect on their own practice. For me, the use of Google forms not only gave me a quick snapshot of where students perceive their own skills, but it gave me a much-needed springboard for meeting their needs.

Too many questions...

By Mark Heintz

I have been asking a few questions lately.  Do we believe all students can learn the course objectives? Many people and myself included respond to that question, if the students are placed correctly.  So my next question is, if all students are placed correctly shouldn't they all get an A's? If we want all students to know our content and master our skills, then shouldn't all students get A's? Can a student pass my class if they don't know ALL the content and master ALL the skills?

Do students only not get A's because they are lazy or improperly placed?  Is it a problem if all students get an A? Have I set up my course so only hard workers or the incredibly bright get A's?

How does a student progress at a normal rate? What is a normal rate?  If you don’t know the normal pacing at a standard, then if you inflate grades to move along a student, then is it a disservice to the students? Does the grade become what I do or what the student can do?  Then, what does a grade represent? Should grades exist? Or should we just report on the standard?

If you feel like you just want to back out of these line of questioning, here is an entertaining video for you.

Developing Mastery in Mathematics

By: Rachel Barry

History of SBL at EGHS
Throughout the past six years, the math department at Elk Grove High School has been working towards a standards-based learning and grading model.  We have rid our classrooms of textbooks and created our own curricula based on Robert Marzano's 4-tiered scale.  You can read more about our curricula in an older blog post here.  

We knew that along with creating our standards-based instruction, course materials, and assessments, we also needed to develop an appropriate standards based grading policy.  Through meetings among PLT leaders as well as with the entire department, we developed a grading system that would effectively translate a grade on our 4-leveled curricula to a percentage grade, the method our district asks us to report grades.  This grading policy can be read about on this prior blog post.  

Through reading and attending conferences, I am continuously learning more about effective standards-based grading practices.  This causes me to question my practices as well as those we have developed in our PLTs.  Are students receiving all of the feedback that they need to be successful in my class?  Are students held accountable for mastery of standards in order to be successful in both current and future classes?  Are students motivated to learn more than the required content to "pass" my class?  My PLT members and I continuously have conversations regarding various classroom practices that we hope will address some of these questions.  One of these main questions that kept resonating with us is the accountability factor of critical math skills.  

Determining the Mastery Skills
A few years ago, PLT leaders met separately within the regular and honors levels to create a list of five "In's and Out's".  The "In's" are the five skills that we expect students to come into a course having already mastered, and the five "Out's" are the skills that we want to ensure our students have mastered upon leaving our class.  In the past, we PLT leaders used these to drive instructional practices of skills that we would continue to spiral throughout the year.  We didn't feel this was holding students accountable enough for these skills, so we added a cumulative review section of 5 questions to the end of each unit test.  Students weren't always showing consistency of material they had previously mastered, so we felt we needed something stronger within our curriculum to ensure student mastery of these "Out's".

So this year, my regular junior level Math 474 course is using these "Out's" in what we are calling our Mastery Skills.  Students will be accountable for mastering each of these five skills before exiting our course.  They will be expected to reach a level of 2 on each of the skills.  In percentage equivalency, they have to obtain an 75%.  We are expressing to students the importance of learning these skills for future math courses.  Students can reassess on this topic as many times as necessary.  

Here is our Math 474 course's Mastery Skills:

Our goal with these Mastery Skills is to emphasize learning with our students.  Many times students are caught up in a grade.  Some students have a strong skill set in other mathematic skills that they wouldn't necessarily need to reassess on a poor skill.  Other students are complacent with meeting a minimum requirement to pass the class.  We hope that this method helps to promote the importance of these skills and build an emphasis on reassessment with our students.

In a future post, I will follow up with how our Mastery Skills are working in Math 474!

Understanding by Design, Feedback and Empathy

by Katie Winstead

What does Understanding by Design, Feedback, and Empathy have to do with each other? Well, they are three core principles that Grant Wiggins believes in and Jay McTighe talked about in his blog post, "Three Lessons for Teachers from Grant Wiggins."

Lesson #1 is to always keep the end in mind. This goes back to discussing Understanding by Design - which is not just backwards design, but really focuses on having specific goals that have appropriate assessments and instruction. This really ties in well with our discussions on Standards Based Grading and Assessment for Learning. Making sure students know the goals are and how to achieve mastery is a huge part of helping them keep the end in mind, as well.

Lesson #2 is that feedback is key to successful learning and performance. If students know what the goals are and how to achieve mastery, the next thing they need to know is where they are at and how to move forward. This is why feedback is vital in the process of learning. McTighe also points out that teachers need to receive feedback (or formative assessement information) in order to know where to guide students. This could even be quick things like exit slips, polls, or a thumbs up/thumbs down activity to gauge learning.

Lesson #3 is to have empathy for your students. I feel that this is one of the most important things to consider, and actually what all of our actions stem from. If we can understand that our students are novices, and realize how we felt when we were a novice at something, it is easier to have empathy for students and create a learning environment that supports them. Some school districts in Illinois are having new staff members shadow a student for a day (after a teacher tried it and Wiggins wrote about it here). When you realize what students go through sitting in classes all day and listening, it makes engagement a lot more important in designing lessons.

     

Members of EGLLT discussing the article during Monday's meeting.

If you thought about a workshop, conference or meeting you have attended - what would you have done differently to make it more engaging?

I thought about this recently and decided that the meetings and conferences I enjoy are the ones that have specific goals. I know what I'm going to learn, the different parts we are going through, and can follow along the path with the presenter/organizer. I also know exactly how to assess if I've learned what I need to, or that I have accomplished specific goals set out for the meeting (Lesson #1). I realized that I like to know how I'm doing and if I'm not on the right track, how to get back where I need to be. It's so frustrating to have someone look at your work and say, "You kind of got it - you're almost there," and then just walk away (Lesson #2). All of this helps me realize that this is exactly what my students are going through and what they need to be successful (Lesson #3).

We will miss you, Grant Wiggins, and appreciate all the wisdom you have left behind.

Using Quizlet for Vocab Mastery

By Quinn Loch

Both my biology and AP Environmental Science classes have several important terms and concepts throughout each unit. Without a basic understanding of these terms, it's not possible for students to answer deeper level questions that require making connections, application, and problem solving.

One of the tools that I like to use for vocabulary is Quizlet. Quizlet is free, although a $24.99/year teacher account offers some more powerful features that I would argue are worth the money. It is available both on a web browser and on the iPad. Similar to flash cards, Quizlet offers several ways for students to practice their understanding of key terms in more interactive ways.

After making an account, students can join a class that you have set up on Quizlet and can study from "sets" or groups of vocabulary words that you have prepared. Words in a set can be studied as traditional flash cards or students can play a variety of games to help master a set of words.

My favorite part about Quizlet is the ability to see what kinds of terms students are struggling with. You can also (with the paid teacher subscription) see which students have studied a set and how they studied the set.

This feedback allows me to target specific terms and concepts that my students are struggling with in warm-ups and closers. It is also very easy for a student or teacher to "star" and isolate specific terms to study that might need more attention. Quizlet itself can also be great just as a warm up or closer.

Quizlet has a huge amount of shared sets that can be used as well, so creation form the ground up may not be necessary. For instance, sets for the APES textbook we use are readily available from other teachers and can be transferred to your classes. 

While Quizlet is just one of several apps that help with vocabulary, I find it to be one that gives me feedback that can help me modify my instruction to help students reach mastery of key terms and vocab.

Establishing Mastery Culture

By Kim Miklusak

This year the English Department has rolled out common expectations for all grades and levels.  We hope that these agreed upon norms will create consistency in mastery and rigor for all students.

1.  Common Weights & Categories:  30% Writing, 30% Reading, 30% Grammar, 10% Habits of Work (sophomores and juniors; freshmen and seniors have adjusted percentages for an "oral communications" category).  This shifts the focus to a more standards-based learning approach.  Teachers and students will be cognizant of what category or categories each assignment goes into.  For example, if a writing assignment is scored in writing and grammar, the students should be aware in advance of how and why the assignment is being scored in each area.  This reporting will also allow parents, students, and teachers to be able to clearly identify areas of strength and weakness.  Previously categories were designated as "major assignments" or "writing" but the effect was that it muddled together skills that did not accurately report out in grade form.

2.   Revisions: Every major essay requires two revisions for the first semester.  This will instill in students, again, the continuing importance of multiple drafts as well as mastery culture.  The first grade will be a completion grade and will be reviewed by a peer, a tutor, the author, or a teacher--at the discretion of the teacher.  The students should then ideally write a brief reflection, summarizing what and how they will revise, thus requiring students to be conscious of their writing.  By the second semester, the requirements change where students who receive a D or F are required to revise, but students who receive A, B, or C have an option to do so.  This focus shifts in order to aid the students in AP who will now be required to write a timed, graded essay on the AP exam in May.

3.  Habits of Work: This is a debated topic; however, the consensus was to remove "on time" points from major assignment grades. Again, this practice muddled what the grades meant and how parents and students understood them.  Now, for example, it's clear that a student can write a quality essay but struggles with completing work on time.  Additionally, the habits of work points serve as a placeholder to demonstrate that a student has completed a first draft even if a second draft is still pending.

Book Recommendation: Teaching with Poverty in Mind

By Kim Miklusak

I've been reading a lot lately...This week's book recommendation is Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About it by Eric Jensen.

So often we as teachers can get wrapped up in the day-to-day of curriculum and assessment.  Sometimes we can overlook that what happens in the students' home lives--and, in fact, what has happened for their entire lives--plays an enormous role in not only their ability to accomplish the tasks we give them but also in their ability to function in class and process information and emotions.  This book serves as an excellent reminder in both theory and practice.

One of the most interesting concepts to me was the chapter on emotional challenges, stressors, cognitive lags, and health and safety issues and their effects on academics.  Jensen covers the how and why of these effects, but he then offers specific action steps for individual classroom teachers and whole schools.  This includes the graphic below that highlights the idea that while most people are "hardwired" for certain emotions, other emotions like those on either end of the "emotional keyboard" are ones that need to be taught--in this case, at times, by teachers.  This is partnered with the importance of a mindset of change, a concept also echoed in Mindset by Carol Dweck. 

A graphic from the book

Finally, Jensen closes with a chapter on schoolwide success factors and a chapter on classroom success factors.  At a schoolwide level, he suggests focusing on Support of the Whole Child, Hard Data, Accountability, Relationship Building, and an Enrichment Mindset.  At the classroom level, he focuses on Standards-Based Curriculum and Instruction, Hope Building, Arts/Athletics/Advanced Placement, Retooling of the Operating System, and Engaging Instruction.  He goes into great detail on each of these factors, including suggestions for avoiding common mistakes.

What makes this book so accessible to administrators and teachers alike is not only Jensen's approachable explanations of theories but also the tangible and manageable set of factors for helping to guide entire schools in better teaching students in poverty. 

Curriculum Changes-Mastery of Learning

By Mark Heintz


The Elk Grove freshmen human geography team added a document based question curriculum to achieve higher level thinking skills.  Over the last month of school, the team has been testing new ideas through student-centered document based instruction in hopes to get a great understanding of how to move forward next year.  The concepts and skills are driving a focus for next year in human geography centered around four main categories.

Content	Writing	Interpreting Texts	Interpreting Charts, Maps, Graphs
·        See each unit plan.	·        Write main ideas to examine and convey complex ideas. ·        Through writing, provide examples to support main ideas. ·        Through writing, analyze details.	·   State the main idea from texts. ·   Draw evidence from texts to support main ideas.	·   State the main idea of charts, maps, and graphs. ·   Provide evidence from charts, maps or graphs to support the main idea.
One summative multiple choice test per unit.	One summative writing per unit.  Each unit the skills will build upon each other.  The grade will reflect the students overall writing ability at the end of the semester.	One summative interpreting portion per unit as measured by providing the main idea and supporting details for the number of documents listed.  The overall category grade will be reflective of the student’s ability at the end of the semester.	One summative interpreting portion per unit as measured by a multiple-choice test.  The test will cover charts, maps and graphs.  The overall category grade will be reflective of the student’s ability at the end of the semester.
30% of the overall grade	30% of the overall grade	20% of the overall grade	20% of the overall grade

The team came to agreements that the semester grade would reflect student's current ability levels.  From the "testing" period, came a greater understanding of what students were capable of and what we as teachers could do to improve the student's mastery.  Over the semester, the skills would advance, requiring higher level thought processes.  Additionally as the year progresses, increasingly complex passages will be used as their abilities hopefully improve.

The work that we are doing is has been so rejuvenating for me as a teacher as we move towards a place where students are rewarded for mastering content and skills over time.  The students' learning is centered around interpreting texts, charts, maps, and graphs to learn content.  And then writing to express their understanding of content.  It is very powerful and the impact in the classroom leaves students tired from thinking so much.  

Another change is the instruction.  Since the team's focus is centered around a blend of skills and content, the instruction must mirror that.  That subject is for another post.

  

What does a letter grade mean?

By: Rachel Barry

Why do we give students grades?  What makes a "B" different from a "C"?  Who decided our grading scale and why?  Why do we have a deadline of a semester -- are students supposed to stop learning or not go back to learn the material prior to semester grades?  I love having discussions regarding these and so many more questions related to grading and assessment.  Sometimes I feel like a kid again always asking "Why?", and I embrace the idea of challenging the system to determine if our motives are for the correct reasons for our current population and demography as education evolves.

Data can be a great resource to drive instruction, if provided and used correctly.  As a math teacher interested in analyzing data, I do this daily, and some of the ways can be seen in this prior blog post.  Another great resource not mentioned in that post is looking at a student's prior grades in math courses.  The key to making this data component useful is to ensure the letter grade reflects student mastery of skills learned in the courses.  This means that behavior and participation cannot be included in the letter grade.  A student receiving an A or a B should tell me that they have demonstrated mastery of most or all standards covered in the curricula.  When participation or behavior is factored into the grade, this skews my understanding of what the students know or don't know.  When grades reflect knowledge of skills, communication of student learning is streamlined to the students, teachers, parents, and counselors.

Our curricula in the Math Department at EGHS is aligned to the ACT College Readiness Standards and split into four levels, based on Marzano's research.  Our district letter grades are awarded as such:

Because we are required to report grades in this way, we have created a grading rubric that aligns our leveled curricula to our districts' letter grades.

Because of these structures, we teachers can use letter grades to accurately determine our students' level of understanding of course standards.