D.C. Everest Senior High School Staff Update
Weekly Happenings
I am so proud of the work we accomplished over the first semester. There have been plenty of challenges, but I fully believe that as an organization we are doing our best for our students and community. Thank you for making it through the first semester, adapting to the changing landscape, and maintaining a positive and supportive demeanor with our students! I'm looking forward to a successful second semester! A few pictures from over the semester below courtesy of Audrey Kemp!
This weekend we hosted many home sporting events including the regional wrestling meet. A big shout out to Jim Sekel, Nicki Bolen, individual sport coaches, and everyone who had a hand in pulling this weekend off. These events take a considerable amount of more work when factoring in Covid protocols. A few pictures below from Audrey Kemp who also attended all the events to take pictures!
Curriculum and Instruction
By Jay McTighe
January 28, 2021
Using formative assessments designed to check for understanding and provide students with feedback and support is one of the most effective ways to improve and enhance student learning. Yet because of the need to cover large amounts of information and develop many skills, teachers may not take time checking to make sure students understand a concept or can effectively apply a skill, and, if they don’t, figuring out ways to improve their learning.
Thankfully, there are practical, proven formative assessment techniques that teachers can use as a quick “pulse check” to gauge students’ understanding. The eight techniques here can be applied across grades and subject areas in virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning environments.
The results of these checks should not be graded since the purpose of formative assessment techniques is to obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning. It’s important that students understand the purposes of these techniques, that mistakes are OK—and even expected—and that they will not be graded on their responses.
1. SIGNAL IT
Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their degree of confidence in their understanding of a concept, principle, or process. For example:
- Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.
- Wave hand: I’m not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.
- Thumbs down: I don’t yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.
In virtual learning environments, students can signal on camera or post designated emojis to signal their understanding levels.
2. CHOOSE IT
Present students with a few binary-choice statements or questions containing an understanding or a common misconception and have them select a response (e.g., True or False, Agree or Disagree) and share it via a whiteboard, cell phone app, or hand signal (e.g., thumbs up or down). This efficient technique is particularly effective to use in checking students’ prior knowledge or potential misconceptions before beginning new instruction.
Here are a couple of “choosing” formats with examples:
- True/False: When dropped from the same height, a bowling ball will land before a marble.
- Agree/Disagree: Is this an example of alliteration?
3. PICTURE IT
Visual representations, such as graphic organizers and concept maps, are widely used to enhance learning, and can also be used as formative assessments. Have students create a visual or symbolic representation (e.g., a graphic organizer, web, or concept map) of information and abstract concepts and then be prepared to explain their graphic. Picturing techniques are especially useful to see if students understand how various concepts or elements of a process are related.
Examples:
- Draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth.
- Develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.
- Create a story map or sequence diagram showing the major events in the story.
4. TROUBLESHOOT IT
One of the most efficient and effective quick checks for understanding involves troubleshooting. Present students with a common misconception or a frequent procedural error. See if they can:
- Identify the flaw or error, and (even better)
- Correct it.
Examples:
- Present a rough draft of writing and ask students to serve as an editor to mark compositional and grammatical errors.
- Have students review work on a multistep word problem to identify computational mistakes and reasoning errors, and correct them.
- In a photography class, show photos reflecting common compositional errors or flawed exposure or lighting, and have students recommend needed corrections using photo editing software.
Having students regularly summarize what they are learning is not only an effective means of helping them increase comprehension and retention of new material, it can also provide teachers with insight into whether students are really grasping important ideas.
Here are a few examples of this technique:
- Compose a tweet in 280 characters or less answering the question: What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?
- Record a one-minute podcast or vodcast using an app on a smartphone or tablet to summarize the key concepts from one or more lessons.
- Prepare a weekly letter to your teacher (or parents) summarizing something that you now understand as a result of your learning during the past week.
6. APPLY IT
Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new situations. Accordingly, one of the best checks for understanding is to see if students can apply material in a somewhat novel context. This technique includes asking students to find or create new and novel examples to illustrate a newly learned concept.
Here are some examples:
- Create a “real life” word problem to see if other students understand how to calculate surface area.
- Locate a news article or blog post that presents an example of the tension between individual rights and the common good.
- Find examples of symmetry somewhere in our school or on the playground.
This is a more involved, but valuable, formative assessment technique. Ask students to teach a new concept or skill to someone else—a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child. You’ll be able to gauge their degree of understanding as you review or observe their lesson. Here are two examples:
- Develop a five-minute lesson to teach a younger student about how supply and demand can affect the price of things. Use one or more specific examples that we have not discussed.
- Your friend has been absent and missed the last two lessons where you learned about community helpers. Draw a picture of at least five helpers in our community to help them understand the concept of a community helper.
In virtual learning environments, students can record a lesson using a laptop, tablet, or cell phone camera.
8. ANALOGIZE IT
A more sophisticated technique invites students to develop an analogy or metaphor to illustrate a newly learned concept or skill. The effectiveness of their explanatory analogy or metaphor can give you insight into their understanding. However, be cautious when interpreting student responses to this technique—a student may very well understand a concept but be unable to generate an appropriate analogy. Asking students to explain their analogies will give you further insight into their understanding.
Here’s a prompt for students: A _____ is like a _____ because _____.
Examples:
- A fraction is a part of a whole like a wheel is a part of a bicycle.
- Formative assessment is like tasting a meal while you’re cooking because it provides feedback that a cook can use to make adjustments to improve the meal.
Students can also create visual analogies (combining techniques 3 and 8). In virtual learning environments, students can post their analogies and metaphors in a chat box or on a Google slide or Pinterest board.
Note: Several of these techniques (especially 1, 2, 5, and 8) can be naturally used in conjunction with another popular formative assessment technique—an exit card—given to students at the end of a class period or end of the school day.
While these techniques can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of teaching and the quality of students’ learning, they’re not ends in themselves. Instead, they should be seen as the first step in a “feedback cycle.” The next step is to act on that feedback—reteaching something that many students failed to learn; correcting misconceptions that may be revealed; and/or providing scaffolded support to students who need it. Moreover, when students are given feedback, they must also be given opportunities to use it, such as revising their work, practicing the skill, or correcting errors. (Getting feedback without a chance to use it is like eating without digesting!) Then, the formative assessment cycle reboots as revisions can be assessed again, with progress noted and new learning goals set.
Announcements/Week Ahead
Teacher Locator for Semester 2 - The teacher locator for semester 2 has been updated, thank you Philena. Here is a link so that you can see your schedule and let Dawn know if something needs to be changed. It is a read-only link so please send all updates to Dawn Seehafer. On the bottom of the "Art/Business" sheet it shows PLCs, EVA teachers, and team-taught class information. Here is the link Staff Locator SEM 1&2 2020-2021
Friday, February 26th - This date has been deemed to be a day off for all employees. There are no professional expectations for any employee on this day - enjoy the long weekend!Early College Credit & Start College Now applications for Fall 2021 are due to counselors by Monday, February 1st. This is a change as the applications must be approved during the February Board meeting. Please remind any of your students you know that were planning on filling out an application.
Parent-Teacher Conferences on February 25th - Conferences on February 25th will be from 3-6:30 p.m. through WebEx or phone call. There will not be an early release on this day. Teachers will have an additional 3 hours for parent-teacher contact from March 1 - 10. Contact refers to Webex, phone calls, or emails. We have chosen not to schedule these hours to increase the flexibility for both faculty and parents.
Semester 2 Cohort A & B Schedule Updated - Since there will not be an early release day on February 25th, it will be a normal Cohort B all day schedule. We will not have an altered schedule. Here is a new copy 2020-21 Updated Semester 2 Cohort A & B Schedule
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