Looking at Student work to Improve Learning

1
Looking at Student work to Improve Learning

• Vintage High School
• Staff Development

2
Why look collaboratively at student work?

• To gain greater understanding of what students
  know and are able to do
• To embed meaningful professional development into
  the school schedule
• To foster a sense of community among the staff
• To develop across the curriculum a common
  language of expectations and standards

3

• To continue the metacognitive conversation among
  colleagues
• To build ways to assess student work and improve
  curriculum
• To prepare for our WASC report next year
• To engage in reflective practice

4
Why use a protocol?

• Provides a safe context and keeps the
  conversation focused on student achievement and
  not on teacher evaluation
• Encourages efficient time management (staying on
  task)
• Emphasizes results through focused professional
  reflection

5
The goals of this protocol

• To develop more effective assignments
• To gather ideas to improve classroom practice
• To clarify and internalize performance standards
  and ESLRs

6
Keep in mind, please

• The focus should be on the work and the learning
  it reveals
• Not on the students personality, motivation or
  ability
• Not on the teacher
• We are learning a protocol, one of many possible
  protocols
• Other protocols exist for differing purposes
• Groups of teachers may develop different
  protocols to suit their needs

7
Protocols should include three parts

• Description what is the work?
• Analysis how does it compare to standards and
  expectations?
• Reflection what have I/we learned about the
  work from this collaborative process?

8
Before the meeting

• Cover Sheet and Reflection
• for Student Work Samples

9
Description Page 1

• Teacher, Department/Course, date
• Content Standards addressed
• List standards references and statements
• ESLRs addressed
• Check off
• See reference list on back of last page

10
Describe the learning goal

• Where does this lesson fit into the course? Is it
  part of a thematic unit? Is it an ongoing
  classroom routine? How does it connect with
  topics that precede and follow it? What was the
  sequence of learning activities?
• What should students learn and know how to do as
  a result of this learning opportunity?

11

• What materials were students given to work with?
  What were students asked to do with these
  materials?
• How were students grouped? What was their task?
  What did you do?
• How would students know the criteria for
  successful achievement of the lessons goals?
• What literacy support strategies did you use?

12
Description page 2

• What criteria would you apply to the student
  work? Describe the features of this work
• Below expected proficiency
• At expected proficiency
• Above expected proficiency

13
Analysis Page 3

• In the Analysis section, we determine what
  qualities are present or missing for each of the
  3 samples
• Below
• At
• Above

14
Focusing question

• Based on your description and analysis, what
  question would you most like the group to
  consider as they examine this student work?
• This is the question you want to ask your group
  to examine with you during the tuning protocol.

15
Examples of focusing questions

• How could the activity be changed to increase the
  achievement of the low and middle students?
• Does the assignment provide adequate evidence
  that the concepts were learned?
• Is this part of the assignment really essential?
• How could the concluding activity be altered to
  elicit more engagement by students?
• Does the high example truly exceed the
  standards/expectations? How so?

16
Reflection

• Reflection the most critical part of this
  activity!
• Reflect on the instructional needs for each
  student and how they might be addressed.
• What have I learned as a result of this
  description and analysis?
• You may prefer to do the reflection after meeting
  with your colleagues.

17
Tuning Protocol

• What to do in your group

18
1 Choose a Facilitator

• This teacher will move the group through the
  protocol, watch the time, monitor probing
  questions, and balance both warm and cool
  feedback to ensure productivity and objectivity.
• 2 minutes

19
2 Present the student work and focusing question

• The presenting teacher provides copies of the
  student work. The teacher explains the context of
  the work and briefly explains the learning
  experience to the group (ie, description and
  analysis). The teacher presents a focusing
  question to establish a purpose for the meeting.
• 5 minutes

20
3 Ask clarifying questions

• The team asks clarifying questions. How long did
  students work on this assignment? Was a rubric
  involved? Clarifying questions should be precise
  and objective.
• 3 minutes

21
4 Examine the work samples

• The team quietly examines the sample work, making
  observation notes in silence. Participants should
  specifically focus upon the evidence of learning
  in the work.
• 5 minutes

22
5 Make inferences about learning offer feedback

• The team uses evidence in the work to infer the
  students thinking, understanding and
  interpretation of the assignment. (The presenting
  teacher is silent throughout this step, but makes
  notes regarding comments heard). The team shares
  feedback (warm and cool). The team discusses the
  implications for teaching and assessment in the
  classroom in addition to identifying other kinds
  of assessments that could lead to more desirable
  qualities in the work.
• 8 minutes

23
6 Reflect on feedback

• The presenting teacher reflects upon what he or
  she has heard. The team is silent.
• 2 minutes

24
7 Debrief/Reflect

• The facilitator opens the discussion. Any speaker
  may contribute ideas, discoveries and
  take-aways. The group reflects orally upon the
  process of the protocol.
• 5 minutes

25
Final Reflection

• At this point, the presenting teacher can go back
  to the work sample cover sheet to fill in the
  Reflection section.
• Some teachers may prefer to do the Reflection
  piece after the tuning protocol
• Others may want to do some reflection before and
  after the protocol
• Do what is most useful for you as an educator

26
Homework for March 14th

• At the next literacy training, we will meet in
  departmental groups to implement this protocol.
• You need to bring a work sample (the same one is
  ok), complete the cover sheet, and be prepared to
  go through the protocol with your department
  (some departments will subdivide into smaller
  groups).
• We will send out the cover sheet file via e-mail
  to the whole staff for future use

27
Thanks for your participation today!