Source: Ribbon, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1L9aLrb; Projector, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1JJQSDF; Books, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1ElG9Ru; Stick Figure, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1w82EoB; Globe, Clker, http://bit.ly/1CVSonk; Binder, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1ENADVh; Puzzle, Pixaqbay, http://bit.ly/1zqxwUJ; Football Diagram, Provided by Author
Hello, everyone, and welcome. My name is Gino Sangiuliano. I'm so glad you're here to learn about this very important topic. The needs of our students are so diverse today, and we are responsible for more content than ever.
So with that in mind, I would like to introduce you to this unit. It's called implementing competency based instruction and evaluation. Let's take a sneak peek at what we'll be covering in future lessons.
In many of my videos, you will find that I like to open with a story or an anecdote to get you thinking about the topic in a real world context. Here's what came to mind when I began thinking about this unit. I consider myself a movie buff, and I particularly love movies that centered around teachers in the classroom.
There have been so many over the years that have been inspirational. Some have been frustrating, and others have been heartbreaking. On a lighter note, one thing I've noticed in almost every one of them is that whenever they introduce a new teacher to a classroom, the principal walks them to their room on the first day of school and points to a book on the desk and says, there's your curriculum.
And in almost every movie, the teacher ditches what's in the book to do their own thing to inspire students, whether it's Dead Poets Society or School Of Rock. That's just how it is on the big screen. Not so much in real life.
The videos that make up this unit are only four to seven minutes long. However, they're full of information that will help you'll understand the content. The objectives of the student are as follows, to analyze the standards and align them to your subject area and to the ISTE standards, to analyze the standards based on competency based instruction, we'll create proficiency scales using the Marzano framework, and finally, reflect on how proficiency based instruction and evaluation will change your practice, if it hasn't already.
This unit will introduce you to the practice of aligning standards. You will learn how to analyze, select, and align content standards in a standards based lesson or unit, and also, ways to rewrite those standards into kid friendly I can statements. Examples from different subjects and various grade levels will be provided.
Standards and competencies are two terms you will become very familiar with. Standards are what students should know and be able to do, typically, measured throughout the year. Standards are written as end of the year statements. And competencies, those are skills that are typically measured by mastery levels and are written in smaller chunks.
The lessons in this unit will also introduce you to the many standards that teachers are responsible for and how to best measure those standards. We will look at various models and compare standards and competency based instruction. There are so many standards that teachers need to become familiar with, particularly in the elementary levels.
Whatever standards your state or district choose to adopt in a digital world, it's important that we overlay those standards with those found in ISTE. At first, it may seem overwhelming. However, a skilled teacher will learn to internalize and embed them into their planning, practice, and assessment.
It's important for teachers to become adept at creating and using rubrics as well. Many districts will provide broad grade level rubrics. However, best practice is that teachers also create kid friendly rubrics with their students, and they'll use these rubrics in order to formally assess them.
The best analogy I've heard on this topic is of a football coach standing on a sideline with the list of plays. He looks at how the team is playing and the score to help them decide what to do next. When things get tough, he calls timeout and regroups. That's very similar to how teachers can use rubrics informative assessments to guide their instruction.
We will look at the work of Robert Marzano, and other leading educational researchers that focus on standards based instruction and evaluation. It is through their years of research we have arrived where we are in education today, a place that identifies students needs through formative assessments and targets instruction to meet those needs. You will also learn how to create a proficiency scale using standards by following these steps.
First by determining the range of scores and describe the student's level for each, then select and write the standard that you've chosen, and finally, add complexity and depth to the scale and criteria for partial proficiency. Although there are some similarities to rubrics, proficiency scales a more detailed and tailored to specific tasks. In order to get to a place where you are using competency based instruction with fidelity, a commitment needs to be made to planning differentiated lessons effectively, using formative assessments to guide future lessons, and implement authentic performance based summative assessments that will inform students and parents about their progress. And it all begins with an understanding of what children need to know in any given content area.
At the end of each video in this unit, I will include a page that summarizes the major concepts covered. You'll also be able to use the timestamps located below to conveniently go back and review any particular section you'd like to. Finally, I will close each lesson with a food for thought. The purpose is to leave you with something to think about that might give you an aha moment or give you something to talk to your colleagues about.
Today, I leave you with this. Think about the practices used by your teachers when you were in school. How different are those practices from what you employ as a teacher? Be sure to check out the additional resources section that accompany each video presentation. Thanks so much for watching. Good luck, and we'll see you next time.
(00:00-00:23) Introduction
(00:24-01:13) Movie Story
(01:14-01:48) Unit Objectives
(01:49-02:41) Analyzing Standards and Instruction
(02:42-03:42) What This Means For The Teacher
(03:43-04:31) Research and Scales
(04:32-04:56) The Big Picture
(04:57-05:39) Summary and Food For Thought