Training for the Georgia Performance Standards

1. Training for the Georgia Performance Standards Standards-Based Education and the Georgia Social Studies Performance Standards (GPS)

2. Overview of Day 2 • Update on redelivery • Review of conceptual teaching • Developing the Elaborated Unit Focus • Enduring understandings/Essential questions • Balanced Assessment

4. Standards Based Education Model GPS Stage 1 Identify Desired Results (Big Ideas) Enduring Understandings  Essential Questions  Skills and Knowledge (one or more) Standards Elements Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence (Design Balanced Assessments) (To assess student progress toward desired results) All above, plus Tasks Student Work Teacher Commentary Stage 3 Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction (to support student success on assessments, leading to desired results) All above

5. The Key • Conceptual based teaching • Need schema to learn • Must relate to what already know • Need to see in context • Develop concepts to help students learn • What doesn’t work • Worksheets • Drill • Memorization of discrete facts.

6. Stage 1: What do I want my students to know and be able to do ? • Develop overview of course (course guide) • Review standards to see what standards can be grouped together • Identify unifying ideas that group the standards • Organize GPS into unit ideas (themes/concepts) • Concept map • What should be the focus of each unit? • Brief phrases that outline focus of unit • What themes connect these units? • Look at themes that stretch across units • What are specific ideas/themes for each unit?

7. Organizing the Standards • Standards are a curriculum document, not a teaching document. • Not necessarily organized the way they should be taught. • Start by look at the standards as a whole • What is the emphasis of the course? • Are there more standards that relate to a particular time period, area, or topic? • What is the main goal of the entire set of standards? • What should a student understand as a result of completing this course?

8. Organizing the Standards • What are the logical divisions of the standards based on the course emphasis? • No preset number of standards per unit • Units should logically link related standards to help students understand course emphasis • What is the logical starting point of the course? • Does not have to be standard 1 • Does not have to be chronological • Must be logical and related to the course emphasis • The best starting point for a course is where the course curriculum and student interest and relevance meet.

9. Skills Matrix • Skills are found in matrix at the end of each grade level • Begins in Kindergarten • Basic mastery before end of middle school • Are to be taught in context, not separate • No participatory skills • Skills are testable as related to and integrated into the content • Should be part of tasks, or demonstrations of understanding

10. DESIGNING UNITS forSOCIAL STUDIES GPS Day 2: Enduring Understandings, Essential Questions, Balanced Assessment

11. Standards Based Education Model GPS Stage 1 Identify Desired Results (Big Ideas) Enduring Understandings  Essential Questions  Skills and Knowledge (one or more) Standards Elements Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence (Design Balanced Assessments) (To assess student progress toward desired results) All above, plus Tasks Student Work Teacher Commentary Stage 3 Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction (to support student success on assessments, leading to desired results) All above

12. Conceptual Teaching

13. Topic Based Facts and activities center around specific topic . Objectives drive instruction. Focus learning and thinking about specific facts. Instructional activities use a variety of discrete skills. Concept Based Use of facts and activities are focused by conceptual lens. Essential questions, drawn from concepts, drive instruction. Facts are learned to understand transferable concepts and ideas. Instructional activities call on complex performances using a variety of skills. Comparison

14. Points to consider • Both models value foundation of specific fact-based knowledge and skills • Difference is in culminating focal point of instruction • Topic-based: learning specific facts about a given topic • Concept-based: learning conceptual understandings drawn from the facts • Learning about the relationship between things rather than JUST FACTS.

15. Three principles of conceptual teaching • Build on student’s prior knowledge • Teacher develops framework for new concepts • Check student’s misconceptions • Facts are a part of the larger concepts. Both are important. • Student reflection and evaluation are vital.

16. Developing the Elaborated Unit Focus

17. Standards Based Education Model GPS Stage 1 Identify Desired Results (Big Ideas) Enduring Understandings  Essential Questions  Skills and Knowledge (one or more) Standards Elements Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence (Design Balanced Assessments) (To assess student progress toward desired results) All above, plus Tasks Student Work Teacher Commentary Stage 3 Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction (to support student success on assessments, leading to desired results) All above

18. Stage 1: Sixth Grade World Studies Standards: H4d, H4e, G5a, G7a, G7b, E6a, E6b Unit One focus: Europe Influenced the World • Movement • Importance of exploration • Power, Authority, and Governance • Expansions of empires • Place • Physical and human characteristics • Impact of location, climate, physical characteristics, natural resources, population • Economic Development • Trade • Colonial Empires • Trade Barriers The bulleted information under the themes are key points from the elements.

19. Stage 1: U.S. History, Grades 9-12 Standards: 1, 2 1st Semester, 2 weeks Unit One focus: Colonial Era • Themes and Concepts/Topics: • Movement • Colonization • Physical Migration (free and forced) • Importing of Intellectual Ideals • Social and Political Interactions • Colonial Governments • Social Mobility • Conflict and Compromise • European/Native American conflict • Colonial conflict with royal government • Conflict among colonists • Ideas and Beliefs • Great Awakening • Individualism The bulleted information under the themes are key points from the elements.

20. Elaborated Unit Focus • Short paragraph that explains the relationship between the concepts and the content of the unit • NOT a restatement of the Unit title • Explains the connection between the Unit title and standards/elements • Should mention some of the major concepts included in the unit

21. Elaborated Unit Focus • Small group activity • Develop an elaborated unit focus for Unit 1.

22. Unit One: Europe Influences the World Elaborated Unit Focus: The focus of this unit is on early European influence in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. In addition it will examine the impact of physical geography and economic development on exploration, empire building, and trade. Concepts (Unit Connecting Themes)

23. Unit One: Colonial Era Elaborated Unit Focus: This unit is centered on the development of the English colonies in America. It traces the evolution of the three colonial region’seconomy, colonial governments, social structure, relations withNative Americans, and theintroduction of slavery. The role of religion is examined through an examination of the Great Awakening. Benjamin Franklin is used as an example of how America presented opportunities, regardless of birth, for individual advancement. Concepts (Unit Connecting Themes)

24. Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions

25. Would you rather your students… • be able to list all of the compromises made at the Constitutional Convention OR • be able to explain the role ofcompromise and conflict throughout history using examples from the Constitutional Convention?

26. Would you rather your students… • be able to tell you the populations, natural resources, and climates found in Latin America OR • be able to explain the impact of population, natural resources, and climate on Latin America’s role in the contemporary world? • Concepts include: • Global connections • People, places, and environment • Production, distribution, and consumption

27. Enduring Understandings • Conceptual understandings drawn from and supported by critical content (Erickson, 71) • Provides language to link themes and concepts to standards, knowledge and skills. • Basis of conceptual teaching • Provide scaffolding • Standards provide specificity to concepts • Written in sentence form • This is essence of what students should take from the unit

28. Enduring Understandings • Units may have multiple EUs • Intended to be broad • Apply to many situations • Apply to different units • Apply to different courses/grade levels • Should be written in present tense • Should reference theme and specific knowledge from the standard and elements

29. Enduring Understandings based on H. Lynn Erickson (p. 86-89) • Varying levels of sophistication • Level 1: • less concept specific, relates closely to the specific content • EX: Trade and religious conflict influence the development of empires and kingdoms • EX: State and local governments have a relationship similar to national and state governments. • Level 2: • increase in use of concepts, moves away from specific content • EX: Contact with other cultures influences empires and kingdoms. • EX: Relationships between different levels of government are loosely defined by documents describing their roles. • Level 3 • relies heavily on conceptual understanding • can be generalized across a domain • EX: next slide

30. Enduring Understanding ExampleLevel 3 • Students will understand that movement of ideas, people, and culture (through trade and religious conflicts) have both positive and negative impacts on the development of societies. • Trade networks • Crusades • Expansion of Christianity, Islam • Students will understand that distribution of power in government is a result of existing documents and laws combined with contemporary values and beliefs. • US, GA Constitutions and their interpretations • Jurisdiction of state and federal courts • Relationship of national/state and state/local • Can be generalized widely across the domain

31. Which are Enduring Understandings? • The American Revolution produced a change in society. • Conflict produces change. • Ethnic groups in the United States have developed social organizations. • Migration of western culture to Asia has produced changes to eastern culture.

32. Group activity • Write at least 2 Enduring Understandings for your unit

33. How is the concept/theme tied to the content standard?

34. What is an Essential Question? • H. Lynn Erickson • Specific, open-ended, thought provoking questions that probe the factual and conceptual levels of understanding (p.164) • Learning Focused Schools (Thompson) • Generally related to the specific learning objectives of a lesson • Can be answered by students with instruction

35. What is an Essential Question? • Wiggins and McTighe • Represent a big idea that has enduring value beyond the classroom • Reside at the heart of the discipline (doing the subject) • Offer potential for engaging students • Essential Question Rubric • EQ’s get to the heart of a particular enduring understanding • Help students relate the factual knowledge to the concepts in the unit • May or may not have a correct answer

36. Developing Essential Questions • Characteristics • Examine how (process) and why (cause and effect) • Use language appropriate to students • Sequence so they lead naturally from one to another • May or may not have one answer or a “right” answer • Consider Bloom’s taxonomy, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge in developing • Come in two forms • Broad/Overarching • Unit/Content Specific

37. Broad, overarching. Go to heart of discipline Re-occur naturally in the discipline May not have a right answer Raise other important questions Guiding Sub-questions Related to specific aspects of content Frame specific set of lessons or unit May be answered as result of lesson, May not have a “right” answer Essential Questions

38. Example of Broad EQs • EU: Students will understand that movement of ideas, people, and culture (through trade and religious conflicts) have both positive and negative impacts on the development of societies. • Possible Broad EQs • To what extent have the positive impacts of cultural interactions outweighed the negative impacts to the cultures involved? • To what extent do trade and religious conflict influence cultural development?

39. Example of Guiding Sub-Questions • EU: Students will understand that movement of ideas, people, and culture (through trade and religious conflicts) have both positive and negative impacts on the development of societies. • Possible guiding sub-questions • How did the Muslim empires influence religion, law, and arts as their empires expanded? • How did increased cross-cultural contact affect cities and towns in European medieval society?

40. Example of Broad EQs • EU: Students will understand that distribution of power in government is a result of existing documents and laws combined with contemporary values and beliefs. • Possible Broad EQ • Why is it important to consider contemporary values and beliefs when analyzing laws and historical documents? • To what extent is distribution of power in a Nation related to its structure of government?

41. Example of Guiding Sub-Questions • EU: Students will understand that distribution of power in government is a result of existing documents and laws combined with contemporary values and beliefs. • Possible guiding sub-questions • What are the arguments on each side of the current federalism debate? • How have values and beliefs about federalism changed over time in America?

42. Group activity • Using the Enduring Understandings you just developed, write 2 BROAD Essential Questions and 2 guiding sub-questions for the unit. • Remember the difference between broad EQ’s and guiding sub-questions. • Do not always have a single answer. • Remember to base your Essential Questions on your ENDURING UNDERSTANDING!

43. Enduring Understandings and Unit Essential Questions – 6th Grade Exploration occurs because of the desire for wealth. • How did the explorers contribute to the development of Europe? • What motivates people to take great risk to explore unknown territory? • What was the impact of exploration on Europe? Physical location influences how people live and how nations develop. • How did Europe’s location contribute to its development? • How did England, France, and the Netherlands develop extensive colonial empires? • How can geographic features be a hindrance or help to a region’s economic development?

44. Enduring Understandings and Unit Essential Questions – U.S. History • The movement of people, ideas and goods have a profound influence on a society. • How did the arrival of European settlers on the east coast of North America impact the Native Americans? • What was the impact of slavery on the development of Colonial America? • How did American colonies come to be wealthy in the later colonial period? Colonies frequently develop a social and political system different from their mother country. • How was each colonial region a reflection of its colonists? • How have the colonial ideas of civil liberties and rights changed over time? Nations build upon compromise and conflict. • Why was America’s idea of representative government different from the English idea? Democracies build upon the ideas of individualism and reform. • How did religion play a role in creating the American character? • Why was Benjamin Franklin an example of social mobility and individualism? • How was the Great Awakening more than a revival?

45. Balanced Assessments

46. Standards Based Education Model GPS Stage 1 Identify Desired Results (Big Ideas) Enduring Understandings  Essential Questions  Skills and Knowledge (one or more) Standards Elements Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence (Design Balanced Assessments) (To assess student progress toward desired results) All above, plus Tasks Student Work Teacher Commentary

47. The Process of Instructional Planning Traditional Practice Standards-based Practice Select a topic from the curriculum Design instructional activities Design and give an assessment Give grade or feedback Move onto new topic Select standards from among those students need to know Design an assessment through which students will have an opportunity to demonstrate those things Decide what learning opportunities students will need to learn those things and plan appropriate instruction to assure that each student has adequate opportunities to learn Use data from assessment to give feedback, reteach or move to next level

48. Assessment for Learning Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how to best get there.

49. What is assessment for learning? • Part of effective planning. • Focuses on how students learn. • Is central to classroom practice. • Is sensitive and constructive. • Fosters motivation. • Promotes understanding of goals and criteria.

50. Small group discussion:What has to happen? “…if assessment is not working effectively in our classrooms every day, then assessment at all other levels (district, state, national, or international) represents a complete waste of time and money.” Stiggins, 1999 • If you know what a student must understand, how do you check to see if that student understands? • What evidence will you use to evaluate the level of understanding?