REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LAB ~ APPALACHIA

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REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LAB APPALACHIA

• The Effects of Kentucky Virtual High Schools
  Hybrid Course in Algebra I on
• Teaching Practices, Classroom Quality,
• and Adolescent Learning
• On-Line Collaboration
• March 2008 Series
• Challenges to Teaching Hybrid Algebra I

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GOALS FOR ON-LINE COLLABORATION

• On-line Collaboration using Horizon Wimba
• Share teaching strategies/resources,
• Discuss planning instruction,
• Analyze student work,
• Share formative and summative assessment
  instruments/strategies that move learning
  forward,
• Provide instructional structures where feedback
  is focused on how students can improve related to
  learning goals,
• Others as defined by teachers and as need to
  address issues in the field including new
  learning that promotes student achievement.

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NUTS BOLTS

• Technology Issues
• Update regarding changes to the Lessons
• See Spot Light on Algebra Course Documents,
  Teachers Instructor Guide
• Control Panel Hints
• February Results

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SHARING STRATEGIES, PROCESSES, STRUCTURES

• Mathematical Literacy Strategies
• - Vocabulary Development
• - Writing to Learn
• - Reading to Learn
• - Academic Dialogue
• - Technology
• - Manipulatives
• - Modeling

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SHARING STRATEGIES, PROCESSES, STRUCTURES
(continued)

• Formative or Summative Assessments Created
  and Used
• Instructional Issues or Barriers You Are
  Facing or Encountering
• Shared Experiences and/or Suggestions from
  Colleagues (Community of Learners)
• Processes, Structures, and/or Lessons that
  Promote Student Achievement
• Others

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REQUESTED TOPICS

• Storing key concepts in long-term memory.
• Keeping students focused during the KVHS Lesson.
• Gauging student learning progress and determining
  next steps what is the best time for the formal
  assessment.
• Interacting with students during the KVHS Lesson
  in order to draw attention to key concepts.
• Recognizing key components to graphing linear
  equations especially slope-intercept of a line.

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ASSESSING STUDENTS FOR GAUGING LEARNING AND
DETERMINING NEXT STEPS

• Use of accountable talk (L. Resnick) through
• - Press for clarification and explanation.
• - Require justification of proposals and
  challenges.
• - Recognize and challenge misconceptions.
• - Demand evidence for claims and arguments.
• - Interpret and use each other's statements.
• Attend to any written account of student
  understanding

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Assessing Students Gauging Learning
Determining Next Steps

• In its purest form, formative tests are not
  graded and are used as an ongoing diagnostic
  tool hence the instructor employs the results of
  formative assessment solely t modify and adjust
  his or her teaching practices to reflect the
  needs and progress of his or her students.
• (Swearingen, 2002)
• What kind of formative assessments are we using?
• How are we using them?
• What do I want to know about formative
  assessments?

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Formative Assessment

• Formative assessment helps students interpret
  feedback as a means of learning rather than as
  punishment or reward. Although we acknowledge the
  importance of performance, especially on
  standardized tests, student motivation for
  learning is more closely tied to formative
  assessment.
• (Tunstall, 1996 Kafton, Buck, Haack, 2006)

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Formative Assessment (Continued)

• Formative assessment serves the dual purpose of
  giving the teacher information on the
  effectiveness of the lesson and giving students
  information on the current state of their
  learning.
• Through this dialogue, or conversation,
  relationships form. Students begin to trust that
  they do not need to copy from the book to match
  what the teacher wants to hear. They can write
  down their thoughts, however ill-fashioned, and
  know future comments will direct the focus of
  learning.
• (Kafton, Buck, Haack, 2006)

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Maximizing Efficacy of Formative Assessment

• Necessary factors Authenticity, Variety, Volume,
  Validity, Reliability
• Principals of Effective F. A.
• Assessment is most effective when it reflects an
  understanding of learning as multidimensional,
  integrated, and revealed in performance over
  time.
• Assessment works best when the programs it seeks
  to improve have clear, explicitly stated
  purposes.
• Assessment requires attention to outcomes but
  also and equally to the experiences that lead to
  those outcomes.
• Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not
  episodic.
• Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement
  when it is part of a larger set of conditions
  that promote change.
• Through assessment educators meet
  responsibilities to students.
• (Swearingen, 2002)

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Examples of Formative Assessment

• Use questioning and classroom discussion as an
  opportunity to increase their students' knowledge
  and improve understanding.
• Make sure to ask thoughtful, reflective questions
  rather than simple, factual questions
• Give students adequate time to respond
• Suggested strategies
• Invite students to discuss their thinking about a
  question or topic in pairs or small groups, then
  ask a representative to share the thinking with
  the larger group (sometimes called
  think-pair-share). 
• Present several possible answers to a question,
  then ask students to vote on them. 
• Ask all students to write down an answer, then
  read a selected few out loud.

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• (Striving Readers, 2008)

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Examples of Formative Assessment (Continued)
Linear Equations
Graphing
Word bank point, axis, horizontal, vertical, slope, y intercept, x intercept, point-slope form, standard form, slope-intercept form, constant rate of change



Solving Equations
Word bank one-step equations, two-step equations, multi-step equations, solve, simplify, order of operations, inverse, equivalent, variable, substitute



Number Sense
Word bank fractions, decimal, percent, percent change, equivalent, simplified, mixed number, proper fraction, improper fraction, repeating decimal, terminating decimal, base-10,




Old Process New Process Examples
Students fill in blanks. Students write/draw conceptions on any big idea listed. Slope is y mx b (misconception).
Teacher uses checkmarks. Teacher responds with probing comments. How do the slopes of parallel lines compare?
Teacher grades and hands back. Student revises, expands on previous conceptions. Will the slope of the line always be the same?.
Students file sheet away. Teacher responds with probing comments. How does the graph of the line relate to the values in the table?
The process ends, new topic introduced. The process continues with new topics being introduced. How do the characteristics of the graph of a quadratic function relate to a linear function?
(Kafton, Buck, Haack, 2006)
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Examples of Formative Assessment (Continued)

• Assessing students' understanding
• Have students write their understanding of
  vocabulary or concepts before and after
  instruction. 
• Ask students to summarize the main ideas they've
  taken away from a lecture, discussion, or
  assigned reading. 
• Have students complete a few problems or
  questions at the end of instruction and check
  answers, provide suggestions for improving 
• Interview students individually or in groups
  about their thinking as they solve problems. 
• Assign brief, in-class writing assignments (e.g.,
  What is different about these two problems?,
  How is this problem related to yesterdays
  problem?)

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• Studies of formative assessment show an effect
  size on standardized tests of between 0.4 and 0.7
  (larger than most known educational
  interventions).
• (Black and William, 1998)
• . . . . Formative assessment is particularly
  effective for students who have not done well in
  school, thus narrowing the gap between low and
  high achievers while raising overall achievement.
• (NCFOT, 1999, 4)

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Bridging the Gap

• When do you move from formative to summative
  assessment?

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RECOGNIZING KEY COMPONENTS TO GRAPHING LINEAR
EQUATIONS ESP SLOPE-INTERCEPT OF A LINE

• Three way tie method each time you are discussing
  or modeling linear functions
• Use of Number/Table, Algebraic Symbols/Equation,
  Graphic Model, Sentence or Oral Description of
  what story the Models are telling

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REMINDERS

• Office Hours Monday from 9-10 AM Tuesdays 1
  -2.
• March On-Line Series ( 13TH Thr, 17TH Mon.,18TH
  Tue,19TH Wed )
• April On-Line Series ( 1ST Tues, 2ND Wed, 3RD
  Thurs) three sessions
• Help Line
• - Bb 866-590-9240
• - KDE, Paula White 502-564-4772(4512)
• paula.white_at_education.ky.gov
• - KDE, Kari Welch 502-564-4772 (4546),
  kari.welch_at_education.ky.go
  v
• - KDE, Grace Yeh 502-564-4772 (4537)
• grace.yeh_at_education.ky.gov
• - Identify yourself as HYBRID ALGEBRA I
  TEACHER
• NCTM Conference
• - April 9-12, 2008 ,Salt Lake, Utah
• - www.nctm.org
• KCTM Technology Conference April 19