Two Validity Questions to Frame a Performance Task

Sometimes as educators we get students who are thoroughly engaged in a particular topic, activity or experience but in the end their is no transfer of knowledge or new skills developed. An defensive lineman may hit the tackling dummy over and over again in practice, however, when the running back breaks through and makes a quick cut in a game, the lineman does not transfer the skills he developed in simulation over to real-life situations. A soccer player who consistently practices passing the ball in practice has to also have the ability to make that switch over to a game situation, when defensive players rush, the weather conditions are less desirable, rainy or even snow, to kick the ball with a certain kind of intensity. This also occurs in far too many of our classrooms, my former one included. What happens is we as teachers think we have "taught" a particular skill or reading comprehension strategy or the Pytharogem Theorem, but when students are given a problem in which the strategy was to be applied or using the Theorem to solve a problem, students respond with "what am I supposed to do? I don't know how to do this?" Often times because what we thought we taught students was never completely understood. To understand new information students must be connected to their prior knowledge, provided multiple examples of how to apply and use the information, and then given guided practice to demonstrate an understanding of the new concepts so that the teacher can make adjustments to the learning conditions. Two questions that are essential when creating and designing performance tasks, those just not based on rote memorization, but based on how the student creates, designs, or synthesizes new information, are the following: 1) Could the assessment and/or test be passed without understanding? and 2) Could the specific test performance be poor, but the student still reveal understanding in various ways before, during and after? The goal for both of these questions is for you to answer, "no" as a designer and author of your unit and/or lesson. Again, using backward design, from what your goals and lessons are, you can then begin to design the work that you want to have students to do. In the end, these questions are incredibly powerful to help and support you in a way that creates more than just exciting and engaging lessons for youth, but simultaneously, valid assessment tools to ensure that there is a transfer of knowledge that meets your learning outcomes.

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Blog Post 2 (RLL 4430 Spring 2011): The Presence of the Past leads to the Art of Discovery

We know more about how the brain works now than we have perhaps, at any time in human history. We know that in order to incorporate new knowledge we must have an experience that connects with something we think we already know. Our brain stores information into chunks and we associate words, whether we realize it or not with other words, visual images, and with our prior experiences. How we store, how we learn and how we remembered what we have learned has huge implications for us as reading teachers. Keene spends an entire chapter recalling her reactions to Maya Angelou's, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and associated experiences with Southern segregation, "dresses into dreams," and her realization that two folks can read a story and have entirely different experiences. I believe Keene shares these pages not only so we can see that readers have different experiences but to show the richness that each one of our students brings to the reading process. This takes time. Getting students to discuss literature in such way simply takes time and patience. As much as I do appreciate spending time in the classroom activating students prior knowledge, we also must be careful when planning instruction for students reactions potentially sensitive topics such as 9-11, so-called "terriorism," and ideas about equity. Its important for us to share our personal stories when helping students connect with new information. Chapter 5, provides us a way to have these conversations with students, and an underlying assumption is that teachers know the readings that they share with kids. How do you plan for these conversations as a teacher? What does that look like? Furthermore, who has time in the day to creating a voluntary study group with teachers? I especially value this idea of creating professional learning communities as it is essential to the life blood of the school.

Blog Post 1 (RLL 4430 Spring 2011): Creating a New Mosaic in Changing Times to Help Our Mindful Readers

What is it that helps to remember what we read? As a matter of fact, when is the last time we read something that really left a deep, down-felling of personal transformation, some heart-felt tears, or left us with a laugh so hard it hurt? Do we have these experiences with us when we teach reading to children? Can they feel that deep love and passion for words, language and experiences? I believe on a very basic level we understand that it is essential that we help students to read in our specific content areas but as Chapter 1 presents, its not that our students, particularly those at the elementary grades do not know how to read, its can they have experiences and make connections and build upon what they have read. Can we give students choice in what they read when it comes to teaching topics in U.S. History such as Reconstruction, the Extermination of Native Americans (see: Brother Eagle, Sister Sky) or even, dare I say Algebra concepts? By giving students choice in what they read, we are not only empowering youth but we are also structuring our classroom to incorporate multiple perspectives on a particular topic (see: Literacy Circles). This contributes to what Keene refers to as the "thoughtful classroom" in which students can score high on standardized tests and work is "interactive and conceptual" rather than prescribed and worksheet and text-book driven. We can begin to create these classrooms and environments with by having students continously speak, think, act, write, share what they are reading. The strategies that we learn in this course are really secondary to the underlying pedagogy we employ. If we believe that students should have choice and multiple opportunities and platforms to express their ideas and reactions to what they are reading, then we will see huge returns on the strategies presented in this and other progressive courses. This is when we do need to become aware of the challenges that children experienced when working with reading strategies and how we can best support. In Chapter 2, Keene speaks to "four reasons" why students often "complain" in response to working reading strategies. We must help students to see the value in this work but using a gradual release method and leveraging our personal relationships to motivate and encourage. Students must know that when encountering a text like Jamaica Kincaids, "Girl" or technical manual for assembling a bike, its important for kids to have tools to use. We can teach the tools and we must create the proper environments; our environment must be rooted in a love for reading, proper tools for helping students understand what they are reading and deeply connected to the real-world and the larger community.

Eight characteristics of effective school boards: At a glance

Eight characteristics of effective school boards: At a glance