Angie's Goal

Science assessments - the old paper and pencil tests - have never seemed adequate as summative assessments for my students. So naturally, I've designed projects and labs that I think will better allow students to show me everything they know at the end of a unit of learning and therefore truly be summative. However, students don't always do well on these assessments and I often hate the grading process, which is usually arduous and messy. I blame this all on the poor design of the assessments. Some of them usually seem like good ideas, but do not translate as nicely in practice.

What I believe has been one of the most successful summative assessments I have designed has comprised of a paper and pencil test that complements a lab test. I used this assessment at the end of the unit on cellular processes (diffusion/osmosis and cellular transport). What I liked about this assessment is that it gave me an opportunity to see that students understood several key concepts and skills (i.e. how to conduct & write up an investigation, how & why molecules move in/out of cells, the effect this has on the cells) and could also directly apply them in a timed lab activity. Unfortunately, not all units lend themselves to this type of a test, and often, when I feel a traditional test isn't appropriate, I have created a project.

This year, I am planning to assess all my unit assessments and implement backwards design into all my units, picking up from the first unit on cellular processes. This means that I'll start first with creating the ideal summative assessment, then plan backwards to lay the path on which students will use to realize this ideal. This ideal assessment will have an experiential (hands-on) component to it so that students have the opportunity not just to tell me what a scientific term means, but be able to apply it directly in a timed setting.

I am hoping that if I design these assessments more thoughtfully, they will better inform my teaching and help me prepare students for them. The added bonus too is that the correcting process should not be as laborious.

Anita's Goal

Last fall I took a course on differentiated instruction, and it is the inspiration for my professional goal this year. The class began with an overview of topics I was familiar with: brain-based learning, Bloom’s Taxonomy, multiple intelligences, and learning profiles. Even though the content was not new, I found it beneficial because these concepts are central to planning and teaching (and a little reminder never hurt anyone). As the course progressed, I realized that differentiation based on readiness was already taking place in my classroom. As a language arts teacher, it was common practice for me to provide reading materials at a variety of levels so that all of my students could access content. I even differentiated based on product, allowing students to choose how they would demonstrate their learning. While I was patting myself on the back for using DI strategies, I started to notice that most of the strategies I used were low-prep. So my goal for this year is utilize one high-prep strategy (tiered activity, centers, stations, etc.) in each ancient civilization unit I teach. I‘ve seen how these activities can benefit students in the classroom, and that is my motivation. My ultimate goal is to have units of study that are entirely differentiated, but it will take several years to get to that level. Adding a few differentiated pieces each year is a manageable goal that I look forward to pursuing. First up- ancient Mesopotamia! I’ll let you all know what my first DI lesson is and how it goes.

Tamar's Goal

Hello! This is something new... blogging about my professional goal. But I opened my big mouth at our faculty meeting last week, and said I thought it might be a good idea, so now here goes!

Every trimester we ask our students to think about a goal that they would like to work on. The way I explain it to them, there are lots of things we are always working on, but by setting one specific goal, we commit to concentrating on it, getting feedback on it, and tracking our progress.

In the past, I have had goals to increase parent involvement and to incorporate technology in my classroom. (I must have had others, but I can't think of them right now! This is why I've decided to start a blog... documentation!)

My goal this year is to give students feedback on their writing that is effective (for them) and sustainable (for me). I'm so tired of spending hours and hours (weekends and weekend) scribbling on students' work, knowing that they will barely even give my comments a glance. Last year I shifted almost exclusively to rubrics, which certainly made my life easier, but I'm not sure how helpful it was for my students.

This year will be about experimenting with different methods and trying to figure out which are most effective and sustainable (in other words, which lead to better student writing and improved attitudes toward writing, while at the same time not eating up entire weekends).

Some things I know (or think I know) about myself as a feedback-giver:
- I do better when I type. My handwriting is terrible, it hurts my hand, and is hard for kids to read.
- It's important to me to focus on what's working in a student's piece. There is always something positive I can say, and I believe that students (like all of us) respond much better to positive feedback. The last thing I want to do is scare them away from writing.
- I am tempted to circle mechanical errors, but I also don't think this is helpful. I want to explore other ways to address mechanics that do not turn kids off writing.
- I'm wordy! (see above...) I want to focus on the feedback that will be most useful, and not feel that I have to say everything that might be on my mind.
- I want to respond to kids' work as a reader first and foremost. I don't have all the answers.

Inspiration/ resources:
Michael Armostrong ("Children Writing Stories," and others)
Andrea Lunsford
Rhoda Flaxman
Dixie Goswami
My fellow teachers at CP and other schools
... more on these folks in later posts.

I'd appreciate any thoughts that you might have. Thank you!