Tag Archives: Exit Slip

Sims Says, Assessment Evidence, & 315 Bits and Pieces: Update for Wednesday, 24 November 2010

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“Sims Says Inquiry Is…”

We started class by considering the EDUC 310 Inquiry Task.  I used a PPT slideshow to structure the lesson, and the presentation aimed to answer three key questions:

  • What are the qualities of teacher inquiry?
  • What’s involved in the inquiry project?
  • What constitutes a good inquiry question?

After recalling your prior inquiry-related knowledge to answer the first question and picking out a few highlights from the EDUC 310 Course Outline and elsewhere to address the second, we discussed the attributes of a powerful inquiry question through the lens of the article “How My Question Keeps Evolving” by Michele Sims.

Here’s the slideshow that supported this lesson:

At the end of this class, I assigned the exit slip – completing the EDUC 310 Inquiry Project One Pager – MIDDLE YEARS COHORT.   On the front of the page are some questions to stimulate thinking about research questions, if you’re stuck at the moment, and some sample questions drafted by Elementary TCs.  On the back of the page are four questions that you need to answer on the handout and bring to class on Wednesday, 2 December 2010.  Please note that, in a manner similar to what Sims experienced, this question may evolve as you think on it and as you spend more time in the field.

If, as Confucius declared, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” consider this your first, tentative foot forward.  A baby step. if you please.

Oh, that reminds me.  Here’s how Bob (Bill Murray) “baby steps” in the comedy opus, What About Bob?:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JPa2mvSQ4[/youtube]

Bob sails, too:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrbY4hsNh64&feature=related[/youtube]

Here’s the one-pager in electronic form:

In the end, let’s hope your inquiry proceeds more smoothly than this woman’s:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FRVvjGL2C0[/youtube]

UBD Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

In preparation for the completion of the unit plan you’ll use on your 2-Week Prac, I presented some information related to the assessment of your desired results via this PPT slideshow:

Here are a few key slides from that presentation, for your reference:

Lastly, here’s a good case for assessing beyond the test:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCuHTMHRBS4&feature=related[/youtube]

Bob and I will be meeting with you on Monday to discuss your unit planning. All meetings are in SCARFE 1310.  Please bring:

  • Your completed Desired Results
  • Your thoughts on possible assessment tools
  • Any key resources that you may use in your teaching to this meeting.

The Conference Schedule is in the previous post.

At the end of class, I asked you to pick up a handout with samples of and information on how to create engaging and well-constructed Performance Tasks.  Here’s that handout if you didn’t get one or if your dog ate it:

Check out this link for a website with more details on Performance Tasks. For even more info, use Google to search the Interwebs using search terms such as: “performance task” “rich task” “authentic assessment” and “authentic education”.

I did that and found this site – Authentic Assessment Toolbox – that has a huge collection of information on PTs, including a bunch of tasks created for all subject areas in middle school.  Here’s a screenshot so you can see what’s on offer:

That’s all for now.  Bob and I look forward to meeting with you on Monday.

‘Til then,

– Lawrence

EDUC 315 Info, S.S.C., Instructor Think Aloud, Henderson Discussion, and Unit Planning Preview: Update for Wednesday, 10 November 2010

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EDUC 315 Info

– Lesson Plan and Reflection: Please provide a copy of a lesson plan you formally teach and your reflection on the lesson to me, your SA, and your FA (if I’m not your FA).  For lessons taught in weeks 5 or 6 of the Tuesdays prac, the plan should be delivered a minimum of 24 hours in advance of its implementation.  The reflection should follow shortly after the teaching and, again,  should be delivered to me, your SA and your FA (if I’m not your FA).  If you’v already taught a formal lesson and won’t be doing another one, please send the plan you taught from and your reflection on how it went.

– Teacher Timetable Hand In: Thanks to those who delivered me a hard copy or emailed an electronic copy of your timetable.  If you’ve yet to do so, please send it to me by Wednesday, 17 November.  Thanks.

– 2-Week Prac Unit Planning Topic: Be sure to sort out with your SA what topic you will be teaching during the Short Practicum in January.  The sooner you know, the sooner you can get started on considering your desired results and gathering resources.

Stop. Start. Continue.

In an effort to make EDUC 310/316 classes as beneficial for you as possible, I’ve created a survey to get your input on what is working and what’s not thus far.

Here’s a link to the survey:

It will probably take you about five minutes to answer the three questions (anonymously).  When the results are in, I will report out the findings… and take action!

I appreciate your support in my efforts to improve my teaching practice.

Instructor Think Aloud

I expressed my frustration at what I perceive as having too much to do and too little time to do it.  I noted that this was a feeling common to all the instructors/FAs in my office, as we were all struggling with how to address all the material we want to explore with you in rich and meaningful ways given the time constraints we’re working under.  For instance, the irony of presenting you a unit planning structure promoting deep engagement with ideas in a rushed and superficial way isn’t lost on me.

I aim to make all my decisions with respect to what happens in class based on what you need.  Then, after asking for your input on what topic you would like to explore in class today – microteaching or unit planning – and getting your input, we promptly ran out of time to get to the unit planing piece in any meaningful way.  The tension between breadth and depth continues.

(Not Paul) Henderson [Foster Hewitt’s “Henderson” Goal Call] Articles Discussion


– Mental Set: What questions about teaching and learning have you been thinking about while on practicum?

– Objective:

  1. To play with a discussion strategy – Socratic Seminar – that you can use in your classroom
  2. Studying these articles will lay the theoretical framework to help you understand the practice of teacher inquiry so you can thoughtfully engage with an inquiry question during Term 2 in POT/COM class.  The EDUC 310 Course outline describes the intentions, rationale, and evaluation of this task in some detail.  Here’s the outline:

– Input/Modeling: I mentioned that we would be using Socratic Seminar to discuss the ideas in the Henderson articles.  I showed you a video clip on SS and asked a few TCs who had done it about how SS worked.  The video showed an SS in action and that was the (brief) modeling piece.  Here’s the video:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpBTf7ib0o[/youtube]

– C4U: With a quick show of thumbs, I sought information about the degree to which everyone knew what to do in the SS.  I supervised the conversations as they went on to make sure they were working.

– Practice: You broke into two groups and, with exit slips in hand, shared your thoughts on the articles with the help of our facilitators – Sarah and Miguel.  Each groups process was overseen by two observers in an outside circle.  In fact, I blended SS with Fishbowl, to some degree.

– Closure:  As the time ran out, I asked the groups to end the discussion.  Observers were asked to share what they heard in the discussion and to mention what they noticed about the group dynamic.  Jennifer noted that the conversation would likely have had more active participation by all if seated in a circle, a more inclusive arrangement that the boardroom table set up we used.  Aaron noted that the conversation started with one word answers and then picked up as time went on.  A cautionary tale for all teachers about the need for wait time to let student thoughts develop and conversations deepen before intervening.

Finally, I asked you to write down on your entrance slip one take away idea from today’s SS discussion.  You handed me your entrance/exit slip at the end of class.  Thanks.

If you’re interested in Socratic Seminar as a teaching strategy, there is lots of info about it on the interwebs,  Check out these sites:

Also, here’s a PPT slideshow that breaks down the basics for you:

Unit Planning Preview

If you can, please bring one or two of the really important PLOs that you will be building your 2-week practicum unit around.  In Wednesday, 17 November’s class we will be unpacking those PLOs and looking at what understandings, essential questions, knowledge, and skills flow from those outcomes.  Also, we may consider what assessment evidence will allow to to determine the degree to which the students are developing understanding of your desired results.

Here’s the template we’ll use to unpack the outcomes:

Microteaching

Please check the schedule (on the blog) to see when you present.  Also, review the rubric and bring your flash drive to class so you’re fully ready to go.  I’m looking forward to seeing some engaging lessons on Monday.

Phew!  That’s a long post for a short class.

Take care,

– Lawrence

Magic Lessons, Conceptions of Teaching, and a Few Bits and Pieces: Update for Monday, 1 November 2010

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Delivery of the Magic Lessons

After considering how an ability to do magic tricks might be useful for a classroom teacher and reviewing the goal of this task – to comprehend and apply the Lesson Design components through the planning and delivery of a lesson, each group taught what they had planned.

The post-conference was structured around answering the questions:

  • What worked? Why?
  • What didn’t work? Why?
  • What next? Why?

When all lessons were delivered and debriefed, we revisited the Lesson Design Anticipation Guide that I used to introduce the topic.  Also, I urged you to use the Lesson Design structure when planning lessons of your own during prac.  It is tried, true and allows for a great deal of flexibility in the way learning experiences are structured.

Here’s a LD lesson planning template for you to use:

In addition, here are a few sample lessons from previous TCs that show you what a completed LD lesson plan might look like:

By the way, here’s an advanced version of Cups and Balls performed by Penn & Teller in Vegas.  Enjoy… but don’t try these tricks on your waterbed!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPyvAtQYVok[/youtube]

Inquiry Article Processing

We used the Carousel Brainstorming strategy to process the 2 articles – Freire & Danylewycz and Prentice – read for a prior class.  At the end, of this activity, I asked you to complete an exit slip that was a reflection on any new ideas that emerged during your thinking on and talking about the articles.  Overall, the goal was to examine conceptions of teaching – past, present, and yours (… for the moment, at least.)

Here are the three questions that guided our examination of the articles:

  1. What are some present day understandings of teaching and teachers?
  2. What are some historically significant understandings of teaching and teachers?
  3. What understandings do you hold about teaching and teachers?

Instructions for Carousel Brainstorming (Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (1998).  Patterns and practices in the learning-focused classroom.  Guilford, Vermont: Pathways Publishing.) are below:

Revised EDUC 310/316 Calendar

I wrote the updated calendar on the board.  Here’s an electronic copy:

Permission to Capture Video / Still Images While on Practicum

We will be asking you to videotape at least one lesson on your long practicum and, to do that, you will need permission from the parents of your students.  Most students will have signed some form of consent for photography at the start of the year.  You need to find out who has consented and if the permission given extends to you taking video and still images for your educational purposes, namely for use in your ePortfolio and for the analysis of a videotaped lesson.

Here is a form you should use to get the required permissions, if need be.  Be sure to add in the details where prompted and, before you copy the letter to send home, to proofread the file to make sure it reads in a way you’re comfortable with.  While the gist of the letter should remain the same, you can feel free to make subtle tweaks to the style:

[NOTE:  This is a different form from the one I first posted.  There were some significant concerns with a lack of clarity in the original letter. – LH on 3 Nov 2010]

Print out one, copy as many as you need for the students in your home room, and hand them out.  Set a due date and over the Tuesday visits collect them in.  You have a lot of time on your hands now so you can chase those who have late forms.  Also, this will give you another opportunity to connect with the students in your class.

Looking Ahead to Unit Planning

As per the revised calendar, we will be starting to look at unit planning on Wednesday.  In preparation, I’ve asked you to read the article linked to below and to design an entrance slip – using the same process as the entrance slips you followed for the Inquiry Articles – for use in Wednesday’s lesson. Use this link to the article if you didn’t receive a copy in class.

See you on Wednesday.

– Lawrence