Source: Puzzle Pieces Puzzle Pieces, Pixabay, http://bit.ly/1CbPQMB; Globe, Clker, http://bit.ly/1CVSonk; Stick Figure, Clker, http://bit.ly/1JoIB83
Hello everyone, and welcome. Today we'll be looking at standards-based assessment and grading, and we'll be reflecting on those practices. Let's get started. Reflection has long been a part of my personality and my practice. You are looking at two examples of me writing about the topic in a public forum.
First is an article I wrote at the end of my first year as a fourth grade teacher back in 1994 and the other is a screenshot of my blog, written almost 20 years later. In general, I feel strongly that reflection is an essential piece of our growth. In this video, we will reflect specifically on standards-based practices.
Dr. Robert Marzano's research-based teacher evaluation model identifies the direct cause and effect relationship between teaching practices and student achievement. His teacher evaluation model contains four domains. They are classroom strategies and behaviors, planning and preparing, reflecting and teaching, collegiality and professionalism. These four domains are split up into 60 indicators.
In this video, we will look closely at three of the indicators found under domain three to reflect on how standards based instruction and evaluation might change your practice. Indicator number 50 asks teachers to self-reflect and identify areas of pedagogical strengths and weaknesses. Here, I will demonstrate by identifying what I feel my strengths and weaknesses are as a classroom teacher.
For my strengths, I would identify classroom culture, questioning, student engagement, and differentiation. For weaknesses, wait time, creating authentic assessments, record keeping, and use of academic language. Completing this exercise helps me to practice proficiency-based instruction in my classroom, as well as modeling a growth mindset.
Indicator number 51 is called evaluating the effectiveness of individual lessons and units. For this, I will draw upon my blog in a post that I call "10 things to do a lesson goes horribly wrong." There are five practices that I highly recommend, and five practices that I highly discourage.
Reflecting in this way will help you determine how effective or ineffective a lesson was in terms of enhancing student achievement and identifying causes of success or difficulty. The third and final indicator I will demonstrate is called evaluating the effectiveness of specific pedagogical strategies and behaviors. The district I work in has an incredible RTI, or Response to Intervention Process.
Every Friday a team gathers to discuss children, offer support and suggestions to colleagues, and plan to implement research-based strategies and track growth. At a recent meeting, a group of students from different classrooms who were struggling in reading were discussed. The agreed upon intervention was a leveled literacy approach.
So through collaborative efforts schedules were arranged, materials were acquired, and the program was followed with fidelity for six weeks. Along the way, teachers collected evidence and measured the effectiveness of the intervention.
To do this successfully, teachers need to support proficiency-based instruction in grading practices that include such things as foreign assessments, authentic learning, and a grading system that is reporting on what is actually being taught. It's time to summarize what we covered in today's video. We started by going over Dr. Marzano's teacher evaluation framework, and we looked at three specific indicators under his third domain.
Now it's your turn. Here's some food for thought. Keep a reflection journal in your desk and spend three minutes of quiet time each day writing in it.
For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the additional resources section that accompanies this presentation. The additional resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource. That's all for today. Thanks for watching. Have a great day.
(00:00-00:11) Intro
(00:12-00:42) My Reflections
(00:43-01:22) Marzano’s Framework
(01:23-02:04) Pedagogical Strengths and Weaknesses
(02:05-02:36) Evaluating Lessons
(02:37-03:36) Evaluating Strategies
(03:37-04:21) Summary
Reflections on Classroom Formative Assessments & Standards-Based Grading
Teacher Self-Assessment Guide
NY State Department of Education Handbook on evaluation that connects Marzano's framework with reflective practices and activities for teachers designed to improve practices. This tool provides teachers with questions to evaluate their own practices as a teacher. Although the tool may seem long and cumbersome, the reflection components can be broken down. For example, if you were focusing on building a culture of thinking and learning in your classroom, you could just use the reflection section provided in dimension 4. You might also consider having a peer reflect on your teaching practices and use the tool to guide their feedback.
http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/practicerubrics/Docs/SilverStrongSelfAssessmentRubric.pdf