Embracing Change

"The reason things stay the same is because we've been the same.  For things to change, we must change!" Lets face it, its time to embrace change.  I realize this can be hard for some people, myself included at times.  But if we truly want our students to change, we must first change ourselves.  We cannot continue to do the same things we've always done.  Not accepting change doesn't bring back the past, it prevents the future.

Over the past few years I have witnessed a great deal of change at RHS.  I've seen it in the hallways, classrooms, teachers lounge and from the students themselves. Teachers are stepping outside their comfort zones, taking risks, and challenging themselves with different strategies and ideas.  I truly believe these efforts have made our school a better place for kids.  We need to continue to embody the change we want to see in students.  We need to give all kids hope.  Every child has a story to tell.

Poverty

Poverty

Unfortunately, poverty is a significant and growing problem in the United States.  I must admit poverty runs much deeper in the brain than I ever thought.  We know children raised in poverty face an uphill climb in many aspects of life.  Various research data shows children growing up in poverty complete less schooling, work and earn less as adults, are more likely to receive public assistance, and have poorer health.  A childhood in poverty often includes a lifetime of setbacks.  The achievement gap in schooling is also very bleak. 

So how can educators combat this ever growing problem?  I personally think it starts with relationship building, relationships within the school and relationships with parents and families.  While a challenge, developing positive relationships with parents and families of low socio-economic status and getting them involved with their children's education and school activities is a must.  

The living environment of many children in poverty is high-stress, so one of our most pressing concerns should be to keep the stress level in the classroom low.  We need to keep in mind that classroom environments that are safe and trusting can enhance learning.  Classroom environments should be high in challenge and low in threat. 

Parents, regardless of their socio-economic status, love their children and want them to succeed.  Many of these parents need to learn strategies that can help them cope and help their children get a chance at breaking the cycle of poverty.  We need to work together so we can provide the necessary supports and resources that will help break the cycle.

Formative Assessment

The more I read about formative assessment the more I realize it is the most important assessment practice.  It is the most powerful means to improve student learning and therefore must be part of the instructional process.  Formative assessment is a dynamic on-going process that provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening.  These adjustments help to ensure students achieve learning goals within a set time frame.  The more information we have about students, the clearer the picture we have about achievement and/or where the gaps occur.

Student involvement is key component of formative assessment.  If students are not involved in the assessment process, formative assessment is not practice to its full effectiveness.  Students need to be involved both as assessors of their own learning and as resources to other students.  Formative assessments communicate clear and specific learning goals, and allow students to become self-reflective.  When students provide feedback to each other, they identify the learning intentions through someone else’s work.  When students use feedback from the teacher to learn how to self-assess and set goals, they increase ownership of their own success.  Formative assessment requires students to become responsible for their own learning.  According to Wiliam, “the most effective learners are self-regulating.” We certainly want students to become owners of their own learning.

Fixing Broken Grades

One of the fixes that stood out to me was Fix #15.  Don't leave students out of the grading process.  I rarely if ever involved the students in grading when I taught.  I now realize that was a mistake. Students should certainly understand from the beginning of a lesson what the learning objectives are and how grades will be determined.  Students are users of the information that comes from assessments, so the purpose must be clear to them.  Student involvement in assessment presents a powerful opportunity for learning. Students can be involved in creating grading criteria, applying criteria to their own work, giving feedback to peers, and going over test results. Each of these assessment situations can generate further learning.

It becomes clear that having students track their achievement and then communicating their learning with other students, teachers, and parents is very powerful.  When students are reflective they begin to understand their strengths and areas for improvement.   As Chappuis (2009) states, "Providing students with opportunities for a combination of peer feedback and self-assessment causes them to achieve at significantly higher levels, without more instruction.  These two practices increase their sense of ownership of the responsibility to learn." 

Maybe student led conferences would allow our students to take more responsibility for their learning?

Broken Grades

After our discussion last week it became very clear that we need to look at changing our current report card.  Our current report card simply does not fully communicate what students are expected to know and be able to do.   A new report card would allow parents and students to understand more clearly what is expected at each grade and or subject level. With this understanding, parents will be better able to guide and support their child helping him/her to be successful in our academic programs. We should also develop a second page (similar to figure 2.1 on page. 19) that rates key skills as they relate to effort and behavior, again giving parents and students more feedback as it relates to learning.  

We need to make an effort to give more attention to individual learning styles. Maybe that involves giving every student a learning styles test such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  What would engagement look like if  our classrooms were grouped according to similar learning styles?  How can we have students self-report learning styles and adjust our curriculum accordingly?  These are things that could potentially impact learning.  All children have unique learning styles and students clearly gain strong benefits when their teachers recognize their strengths and weaknesses as learners.  If we are not inclined to much self reflection about our teaching practices, we are likely to continue teaching others the way we learn best, assuming that this way will work for all students. Do you know how your students learn best?

Fairness in Grading

According to Reeves, “Fairness and accuracy are essential elements of grading, but they are not sufficient to form a fully satisfactory system of student evaluation.  Grading systems must also be effective, a complex requirement that includes specific and timely feedback on student achievement.  Grading should be designed to improve communication, making clear to students, fellow teachers, and future teachers the academic performance of a student.”

There are different areas of fairness in the classroom; fairness in interactions between teacher and student, fairness between students and fairness in grading and instructing. Each of these can be addressed by a teacher, aiding children in learning fairness as part of the unofficial classroom curriculum. 

Grading is a challenge for teachers. We want to be sure we are evaluating student work fairly, in the sense that our judgment is not subjective or inconsistent. Effective grading requires an understanding of how grading may function as a tool for learning, an acceptance that some grades will be based on subjective criteria, and a willingness to listen to and communicate with students. It is important to help students to focus on the learning process rather than on “getting the grade,” while at the same time acknowledging the importance that grades hold for students.

I encourage you to try and evaluate our student's progress without ever seeing a name on a paper or test.  According to Robert Marzano, “the score a student receives on a test is more dependent on who scores the test and how they score it than it is on what the student knows and understands.” Make the decision to treat everyone as fairly as possible, while remembering fair isn’t always equal.