"Unit Plans" Deconstructing the Standards

Perhaps you have heard, and been confused by, the phrases "deconstructing" or "unpacking" the standards. Throw in the terms like objectives, targets, cans and dos, and it gets really blurry for some of us.  And yet, understanding the difference between learning targets and standards is essential to building effective unit plans.


Take a minute and do a little self-assessment.  Can you tell the difference between these standards and learning targets?　

I can add and subtract fractions.

I can draw and label a food web showing the relationships among all of the ecosystem's plant and animal populations.

I can describe the elements of music.

Write in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes.

I can write an argument to support claims.

Expand music listening skills and use music vocabulary to analyze and evaluate music.

I can write a letter to the city council and ask them to build a new skate board park.

Know and apply scientific concepts and principles to understand the properties, structures and changes in physical, earth/space, and living systems.

When you build a unit plan, how do you determine which types of targets you will ask students to meet as you try to help them master the standards?  What do you think makes this difficult? Was there something that " clicked" for you that you can share with others?

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: "Unit Plans"





We're lost, but we're making good time!

---Yogi Berra

"Homework" Excerpt #3

Excerpt #3


Grading Smarter Not Harder: Assessment Strategies that Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn.  Dueck, Myron. (pg. 51)


"Grading Homework Perpetuates Extrinsic Dependency"
Teachers have helped to train generations of students to expect that everything they do in class or in preparing or for a course should result in some kind of grade. Many teachers grade each quiz every piece of homework, all class presentations, and anything that remotely resembles a project. . . . In light of this overzealous propensity to grab a red pen at any opportunity, we should not be overly surprised if students initially respond to ungraded work with apathy: if there is no grade, why bother doing it?

"Homework" Excerpt #2

Excerpt #2


Grading Smarter Not Harder: Assessment Strategies that Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn.  Dueck, Myron. (pg. 50)


"Grading Homework Results in Deflated Grades (and Disillusion)"
. . .The research literature suggests that struggling learners can expect to see the greatest academic gains when their teachers adopt nontraditional grading methods (Black & William., 1998). This is especially true for homework. . .the term double jeopardy [is used to] describe situations in which struggling learners who already face many obstacles to success in the classroom are hit yet again by punitive homework grades. The incomplete homework of at-risk-learners is probably more reflective of the sparse support such student tend to have outside of school than anything else---a notion backed up by recent brain research that points to a correlation between the emotional state of students' home lives and their ability to succeed in school (Medina, 2008).

"Homework" Excerpt #1

Excerpt #1


Grading Smarter Not Harder: Assessment Strategies that Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn.  Dueck, Myron. (pg. 45)


"Grading Homework Confuses Completion with Understanding"
Educators seem to believe that they are tasked with instilling work ethic into today's youth.  I have heard many teachers demand that students do their homework because it is "the right thing to do." Many educators have said to me that if we don't teach our students the value of work before they enter the workforce, society will pay dearly.  The problem with this well-intended argument is that attaching a grade to homework inevitably leads to grading completion rather than understanding.  Educators have been so thoroughly blending the assessment of completion with the assessment of understanding for so long that it's become impossible for many of them to separate the two components (O'Connor, 2010).

Chapter 2

 Chapter 2:  "Homework"
Your assignment is to publish a minimum of two posts by December 4th, 2015. 


#1.  Read the three excerpts from "Homework." Choose the one that resonates with you emotionally, the one with which you agree or disagree, the one that you question, or the one that you would like to know more about.  Write a reflective comment (your thoughts/analysis) of your understanding of the material and how it affects your ideas and possible practice in the future. If you want to, you may comment on more than one of the prompts.  Post your comments on the blog.


#2.  Read the comments of your colleagues.  Choose at least one of the comments written by your faculty friends' and post a response.  Communicate your personal viewpoint to what they have written, question them, or elaborate on something you agree with.

Overview

Dear Faculty Friends:


This year's school offered Professional Development will focus on student centered Assessments For Learning (AFL).  We will be exploring and discussing teaching practices that motivate and instruct rather than merely measure and punish. Together, we will read, discuss, and experiment with content from the book Grading Smarter Not Harder: Assessment Strategies the Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn (Myron Dueck, 2014)


Timeline:   


1.  10-30-2015 "Grading" (pg. 1-42).  Faculty Meeting.
2.  11-16-2015 "Homework" (pg. 43-68). Online Discussion.
3.  12-4-2015 "Unit Plans" (pg. 69-89). Faculty Meeting 
4.    1-19-2016 "Retesting" (pg. 90-117). Online discussion.
5.    2-5-201 "Creativity" (pg. 118-158). Faculty Meeting 
6.    4-8-2016 "Conclusion" (pg. 159-167). Faculty Meeting