Fay Schools Professional Development Day

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Fay Schools Professional Development Day

• TFU TIME for Understanding in Extended Blocks
• CHRIS SCHOBERL

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The KWL Chart

• What do you know?
• What do you want to know?
• What have you learned?

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A Few Deep ThoughtsMy Essential Questions

• What is the value added of our better use of
  time?
• How do we get to best practice with the new
  schedule?
• What do we mean when we say The extended block
  schedule will allow us to go deeper?
• Ultimately, we must create more opportunities for
  kids to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate
• THIS IS DEEPER

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PitfallsDrawn from Personal Experience

• Using the Double to
• Teach 45 minutes worth of material
• Cover more than you currently cover
• Over-program/Over-manage performance events
• Review, then test
• Test, then teach new material
• Recoup the time lost on the drop day
• Using it for in class homework vs. providing
  guided practice to prepare for homework

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Things to ConsiderDrawn from Personal Experience

• Break Time
• Fixed break in the middle of the double?
• Rolling break?
• The Take it when you need it break?
• Merit based break?
• Developmentally based break?
• Structured break or use as transition or set up?
• How/If to employ the scheduled break?
• Break creep?
• When is a break a brake?

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Things to ConsiderDrawn from Personal Experience

• The Dropped Period
• Assigning 2X homework over a drop day
• Assigning 3X homework over a drop day and a
  weekend
• Friday drop Monday test
• Thursday drop, Friday early release Monday test
• Thursday drop, Friday early release, vacation
• Wednesday absence of THE kid you REALLY need to
  see, Thursday drop, Friday early release, Monday
  test
• The Preempted Double

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Instructing in the Extended Block

• Variety, Variety, Variety (MI, MI, MI)
• Generative More Opportunities for Students to
  Lead
• Spend some time considering a fuller use of the
  following
• Lecture/Storytelling
• Collaborative work
• Small group or one-on-one instruction
• Hands-on projects
• Review/preview
• Oral presentations
• More conversation
• Drafting/Revision
• Lab Work
• More interdisciplinary work
• Guest speakers
• On campus fieldtrips
• Guided practice via head start on homework
• Use of film and other media

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Assessing in the Extended Block

• Advances mastery as it gauges understanding Good
  assessing IS good teaching
• It will gauge the quality of the teaching act as
  well as the understanding of students
• Variety, Variety, Variety (MI, MI, MI)
• Spend some time considering a fuller use of the
  following
• Collaborative work
• Oral presentations or multimedia defenses
• Debate
• Exhibitions
• CFGs
• Portfolio Reviews
• Demonstrations
• Performances in the visual or performing arts
• Take homes
• Partner tests

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Time Best Practice Deeper
Understanding

• TFU is Comprised of Four Key Elements (Compare
  with Mapping)
• Generative Topic (Unit Title and Essential
  Questions)
• Understanding Goals (Skills from Generative
  Topic)
• Performances of Understanding (Assessment)
• Introductory
• Guided (mid unit)
• Culminating
• Ongoing Assessment (Assessment throughout Unit)

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But how do we know if we have been successful?

• Ultimately, we must create more opportunities for
  kids to apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate
• THIS IS DEEPER

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Blooms Taxonomy

• To Know remember or recall previously learned
  material, facts, or whole theories bring to mind
  (to define, describe, identify, list, match, or
  name)
• To Comprehend grasp the meaning of materials
  interpret predict outcome (to convert, defend,
  distinguish, estimate, explain, generalize, or
  rewrite)
• To Apply the ability to use learned materials in
  a new situation, to apply rules, laws, methods
  and theories.
• To Analyze to break down into parts, to
  reorganize, to make conclusions, to perceive
  order, to detect relationships and perceive
  patterns, to clarify.
• To Synthesize to put parts together to form a
  new whole or to articulate a set of abstract
  relationships to combine, create, design, and
  rearrange.
• To Evaluate to judge value as based upon a
  criteria, to judge with reason vs. guessing to
  appraise, critique, compare, support, summarize,
  and explain.

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Instructing and Assessing in this way is

• Time consuming
• Often misunderstood by parents
• Risky and sometimes messy
• More student centered
• Generative by nature, for students and for you!
• NOT exclusive of lecturing or traditional testing
• Performance does not need to be dramatic

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Mapping and Understanding
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• Some Instructional and
• Assessment Design Tips
• Develop a pacing chart to sketch out class
  meetings for a given unit and total course over
  the of the academic year (plan backwards).
• Develop rubrics for all high stakes, long term
  assignments so students know what success looks
  like BEFORE they get started.
• Understanding and TFU variety of
  assessment/instruction types-MI
• Performances require the partnership of self
  directed learners
• Maintaining a viable pace will require self
  directed learners
• Rubrics a resource for creating an environment
  of self directed learning

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Some Instructional and Assessment Design Tips

• Keep assignment sheets current and accessible to
  students/parents and use the test/project
  calendar religiously.
• Consider using journals for in class and homework
  reflection.
• Reflect on your homework philosophy Whats your
  goal? What purpose does it serve? Does it forward
  understanding? Does every kid require homework
  every night?
• Design conventional assessment for 45 minutes
  during the extended block, then everyone gets
  extended time.
• Design Performances of Understanding for the full
  extended period and use breaks, LCs, and
  students free periods to supplement class and
  prep time.

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The KWL Chart

• What do you know?
• What do you want to know?
• What have you learned?

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Thanks

• for
• your Time!