Better Learning, Better Teaching, Better Schools

1. Better Learning, Better Teaching, Better Schools Using Formative Assessment and Feedback to Engage Students and Ensure Success! Devonna Strickland and Karen Pemberton, Facilitators January 10, 2011

2. Learning Goals for Today • Share progress made in the understanding and use of formative assessment and feedback for students 2. Provide concrete examples of classroom applications of formative assessment and feedback for students.

3. Our Group Norms • Listen Actively • Be open to ideas from others • Encourage balanced participation • Avoid side conversations • Cell phones on vibrate • Take care of your creature comforts! • Other?

4. Activity #1: Speedbump! ReflectionA Mid-Year Check-up! • With your school partner, review your handouts, “Take it Home” sheets, and notes on FA/FF from our sessions in August, September, and November. • Reflect on your implementation of FA/FF at your school. • Use Activity #1 handout to record your thoughts and ideas for sharing with the whole group. • After you discuss, please record your responses on chart paper. Put your school’s name on the chart paper!

5. Share Out! • Choose a spokesperson and a “Vanna.” • Each school will have 90 seconds to share their ideas and thoughts from the chart. • Listen to your colleagues. Use Activity #1 handout to jot down ideas and questions. • Visit during break or lunch for further information!

6. Lesson Study OverviewLead Teacher Presentations • Colleague shares a lesson which uses FA/FF. Tables debrief. • Observe a portion of the lesson on video. Debrief with teachers as whole group. • Each school shares a lesson with table group.

7. Activity #3A: Planning for FA/FF • Use page 1 of Activity #3 handout to review the elements of FA/FF.  • As your colleagues share their lessons, listen for elements of FA/FF. • Use page 1 of Activity #3 handout to record your thoughts. • Discuss whole group.

8. Activity #2: Moving Your Learning Forward • Using Activity #2 handout, with your partner, choose one of the FA/FF elements for further study and implementation. Open packet to Activity 2. • Scan the corresponding pages in Advancing Formative Assessment. • Briefly, discuss with your school partner. • On your handout, jot down your ideas or questions. We will ask each group to share your selection on the provided handout. • Be prepared to share your findings with the whole group.

9. Descriptive Observations • Let’s take a “stretch talk”! • Stand up and make eye contact with someone you have not spoken with today. • Talk about the following questions: • What is descriptive observation? • Why is descriptive observation important?

10. Review of Descriptive Observation “The kind of observing we’re talking about here focuses not on teachers themselves but on the teaching, learning, and contentof the instructional core. What is the task that students are working on? In what specific ways are the teacher and students interacting in relation to the task? By description, we mean the evidence of what you see—not what you think about what you see.” (p. 84, Instructional Rounds)

11. “Description asks for just the facts; that is, the evidence. . . .” • What do you see? • What are the students doing? • What is the teacher doing? • What kind of work is on the students’ desks? • What do you hear? • What are the students saying? • What is the teacher saying? • What kinds of questions do you hear? • Who is talking to whom?

12. Activity #3A: Let’s Practice Descriptive Observation! 1. Assume the role of teacher or administrator. 2. Before viewing the video, note: • Specific indicators for focus • “Evidences for Implementation” • “Evidences of Impact on Student Learning” 3. Use the “Template for Descriptive Observations Instructional Rounds “

13. Descriptive Observation • Facilitating Peer Learning – Shawna Moore • http://www.successatthecore.com/teacher_development_featured_video.aspx?v=38 • End of Class Formative Assessment: Student Responses • What I found easy to understand today was… • What I found difficult to understand or do… • What I hope for Monday..

14. Activity # 5: PQP (Praise, Question, Polish) • Use the appropriate PQP handout to record your observations. • Be descriptive. • Pay attention to question prompts. • Don’t try to record everything!

15. Activity #6: Next Steps • Use the Activity #6 handout to reflect on your next steps. • What do I do with this new learning? • Personally? • With teachers?

16. For Further Learning • Access the online module on “Feedback from Formative Assessment”—a product of the ALSDE’s Commission on Quality Teaching. • Work through this module individually or with colleagues. • Consider its potential use within your district or organization. http://sn.im/formassess 2.Access the website for “Success at the Core” & review resources associated with module on Common Formative Assessments. Consider using video with your faculty. http://www.successatthecore.com/This will take you to registration page. Then go to Leadership Development tab, select modules, and select Common Formative Assessment.

17. Next Meeting: March 8, 2011 Check out our Facebook page, and leave your insights/finds: http://sn.im/abpcfacebook Contact Information: Cathy Gassenheimer cathy@aplusala.org Julie Hannah julie@aplusala.org Magan Merritt magan@aplusala.org