Common Assessments

One of the tenants of the PLC process involves the use of common formative assessments among grade levels and/or content areas. If you as grade levels or content areas have implemented common assessments, talk a little about the steps used to implement them.

What do you see as the benefits of common formative assessments on student learning?

How could common formative assessment improve your classroom instruction?

(Common formative assessments can be defined as assessments created collaboratively by a team of teachers responsible for the same grade level or course in order to improve student learning. They are developed and administered multiple times throughout the school year. Results are used to modify instruction in order to improve student learning. The value of the assessment is not in the grading of the assessments, but the feedback it offers about student learning. The assessments can also provide teachers with feedback regarding the effectiveness of their instruction.)

Some Good Thoughts From the Last Post

Let's get a little more focused and think about the question.  Are there some things we need to eliminate in our practice of teaching in order to help students achieve at higher levels?  

Again the goal is not meant to be inflamitory, but cause us to reflect on what we do.  Are we in a place of continually "recycling" lessons from year to year, or are we "refining" them to better meet student needs?

Is there pointless stuff in our day that needs to meet with the ax?

Video and Thoughts

There will be a video playing on channel 68 tomorrow every hour from 8:00 until 3:00. Watch the video. Talk with your Learning Teams and respond to the blog with your thoughts. Frame your responses with this question, "What would YES look like if each one of us made the decision that no student failed?" In that I mean, did not fail a test/quiz/assignment, a class, make an F on a report card...

(Keep in mind, this is not an indictment of our practices. Just a question. Focus on things we can do at school - not what should happen at home. How would our school have to change? What would instruction look like? - just a few ideas to prompt discussion.)

A Book

Now that you have ideas about books, I need a little more information.  I need the information from one person from each team (give me the name of your Learning Team as well):

Title of text

Author(s) of the text

Number of copies for each member of your team

Keep this response simple so I won't get confused.  Remember, we may have as many different texts as we do teams - that's okay.

This Makes Me Think...

Take a look at this short article - Grades.

With this in mind, what would happen if schools abandoned grades (A-F) in lieu of report cards that reflected acquisition/mastery of skills/knowledge (like our K-2 report card)?

What do you think this would mean for student learning?

(One of the components of PLC's is close examination and consideration of grading practices.  I know this will make some people really uncomfortable - just relax.)

Hands-On Science

Take a look at this short article - Science.

After reading that and thinking about what you know now about PLC's - how does science fit in?

What is the role of science in a 21st century education (PreK-through 12, 13, 14, 15 - my way of saying after high school)?

Look...Up In the Sky...It's...

A lot of bad airplane jokes. I didn't realize how many aviation reference were in my postings.

Your work in your teams today was amazing. I enjoyed hearing your comments and reading your posts (and hear you laughing together). My fear was we would "crash and burn". We did not! You are exceptionally "high fliers".

Regarding texts, we can have many different books to facilitate our learning. The decisions are yours, but I want you to decide based on your research. Find a book that meets your needs. I have a few of the books here at school for you to reference. There are many others out there.

As I am trying to model some 21st century learning techniques for you, think about your own learning during this process (metacognition). What implications could blogging have for student learning? Please respond.

Reminder, make sure we can identify who you are when you post (your user name). It makes it easier for everyone to make associations and respond based on who has posted.

Our First meeting

We are beginning the process of implementing Professional Learning Communities, which we are calling our Learning Teams, at YES. Much of what we do will be blogged so that we can share our ideas, questions, and learning in a manner consistent with 21st century learning. We will make time to meet face to face as we see the need. Remember, we are building this plane while it is in the air - and I don't have many answers for you. But, as you have shown me before, there is a great deal of learning we can do together.

I, and others, will post questions for our consideration and response. We learn when we use questions to find new questions, so read, consider, reflect, write, and participate. Please remember, this is a public blog and can be viewed by anyone. We should not use any proper names or any references that would violate anyone's privacy.

Enjoy this new and different way of learning. Jas

Let's Decide on a Book

What are your recommendations on a text for our book study? Two that have been discussed are Schools as Professional Learning Communities by Roberts and Pruitt and Learning By Doing by Dufore, Dufore, Eakers, and Many.

How can we use a text to guide our learning of PLC's?

PLC's - Learning Teams

How will PLC's support high levels of student learning?

Let's Watch a Video

Remember this quote?

I have come to a frightening conclusion that
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis
will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.
Hiam Ginot

Now, click here to watch the Believe video. 

While thinking about the Ginot Quote and the message of the speaker in the video, how does this influence your thinking and implementation of PLC's?