The Big Picture (Week 9)

One part of this summary chapter that stood out to me was Zadina's notes on assessment practices.  This has been on my mind a lot lately because our students just took i/Leap in grades 3-8 and our K-2 students will take their end-of-year assessment, the MAP test, at the end of April.


Zadina says that students should see questions in a similar testing format before they take the final test.  This is not teaching to the test, but instead teachers are ensuring that the test format is familiar for students.  I agree with this point, but also feel like it's a hard balance for teachers and schools to find.  How often should students practice test formatted questions?  When should teachers assess in a manner that provides different information, for example through performance based items or project-based rubrics?


Based on Zadina's recommendations for assessment format practice, I created a plan to support our students over the month of April.  The MAP assessment has shorter, skills-aligned, online checklists that are different from the end-of-year tests.  Like the culminating assessment, the skills checklists are taken on a computer and contain technology-enhanced items.  For example, students need to listen on headphones, use features such as drag and drop, and click on the blue "next" button to go on to the next question.  For the month of April, we planned to have students log in to the MAP testing platform once per week and take one skills checklist, which lasts about 15 minutes.  The classroom teachers chose checklists aligned to content they were covering, but the act of taking the assessment has allowed students to become familiar with features of the test.


So far I think it's been a good balance, as it requires less than a half hour over the course of the week.  I will definitely continue with this model, but perhaps next year we will space these out, maybe once per month, instead of completing the checklists weekly in April.

The Social Pathway (Week 8)

In this chapter we read about how our social nature impacts learning, and what social factors can either support or hinder learning.  One topic that particularly stood out to me was the concept of group work.  Zadina speaks to both the advantages and disadvantages of group work.  While group work can be helpful for students to learn from one another and synthesize ideas, it is not the ideal strategy in all situations with all students.  Group work shouldn't be assigned for the sake of collaboration or conversation, but instead must be planned strategically with a high level of specificity.  Additionally, individuals differ in the amount of interaction they crave, and although some will get energy from working with each other, others need independence in order to feel rejuvenated.


In my current job there are times when I provide professional development for K-2 teachers in our network.  Usually this takes place in a large group, and in a large cafeteria.  I try to structure my sessions so that teachers are working together, being interactive and engaging with one another throughout the session.  However, after reading this chapter I started to think how I could restructure my session.


During our last PD day, teachers were planning units based on their student data.  Before the session I asked each school leader to assign what subject (or multiple subjects) that each teacher needed to plan for.  I created a google doc with the assignments and shared this with all session participants, and instead of asking them to work together I gave them the option of either working together or working independently.


I think this model worked well and I received positive feedback from teachers at the end of the session.  Part of the success was that each teacher had a clear end goal, or product, that they needed to complete, but they could choose their own path of how to get there.  I do think there are times when group discussion is needed in a PD session, but after my recent experience I will definitely continue to integrate the choice of working collaboratively or independently when possible.

The Frontal Lobe and Executive Function Pathway (Week 7)

In this chapter there were a number of topics of particular interest to me.  One of the programs I work with is a daycare center for 0-4 year olds, and we have a high percentage of students with special needs - about a third of the students in our center have IEPs or IFSPs.  This chapter talked about early intervention and early education, and how early exposure to strategically designed activities can improve executive function.


These topics made me think of a Washington Post article about a newly released study: Lively Minds.  The author of the study argues that play-based learning focused on intellectual skills will foster the best brain development in young children, as opposed to concentrating on academic skills.  Personally I think there can be a combination of what the author describes as intellectual skills (questioning, problem-solving) and academic skills (mastery of discrete topics) within the same play-based center.  I would be curious to know what others think about this topic based on our course readings!


In another section of the chapter, Zadina talks about the importance of metacognition at all grade levels.  She defines metacognition as the act of thinking about thinking!  A child's ability to be metacognitive will help him or her take ownership of learning.


I think this idea of metacognition applies well to a guided reading format, and I tried it out with a group of four 1st graders.  I told the students that in the story they would come to words that they did not know, and asked them which word attack strategies they would use to solve an unknown word.  Then, when I noticed a student solving a word, I would ask him or her to tell me which strategy they used to figure it out.  In this way they were becoming metacognitive of the skills they were applying in the moment.  I think it definitely helped students feel confident when they approached another word they did not know, because they knew they could access multiple strategies to solve it.