October 18

#PowerfulTaskDesign

The following is a recap of our Teacher Academy lead by @GraysonLawrence on his work with the Powerful Conversations Network!

In our most recent teacher academy I met with teachers to discuss a learning opportunity I am participating in with a couple of our teachers. We are participating in Powerful Conversations Network through the Alabama Best Practices Center. This years we are studying the book #PowerfulTaskDesign by John Antonetti and Terri Stice. We were able to bring back some wonderful ideas to discuss with our faculty after our first professional development day. One of the most important parts in teacher planning is having teachers design learning tasks that are powerful and meaningful for the content they are learning. We spent our time in teacher academy looking at student tasks from our classrooms and discussed the components of a powerful task better know as the Task Design Component.  There are three components of a learning task:

  • Cognitive Demand- the minimal thinking a task will require of the learnings.
  • Thinking Strategies- the required visible evidence of Personal Response.
  • Engaging Qualities- the elements and conditions that elicit energy and enthusiasm.

I asked teachers to share some learning tasks they had students do during the last week to determine whether they were powerful or powerless tasks using The Original Powerful Task Rubric. I thought this process was validating to many of our teachers as they saw that the tasks they are having students do in the classroom are very powerful crossing the rigor divide resulting in engaging and meaningful work for our students.  I felt the work teachers are beginning to do with designing powerful tasks will be beneficial to them as they are collaborating to develop project-based learning projects in the very near future. There is no doubt that powerful learning task will result in an even more powerful project. This is just the beginning of the work we will be doing with our teachers in creating and developing powerful learning task.

February 4

Slice of the Day

Reflection is one of the most underutilized tools for teacher and student learning and allows metacognitive thinking to take place. Incorporating thinking strategies is “the single most effective way to increase student achievement” (Silver, et al pg 57), thus making metacognition and the reflective process taste that much sweeter to any teacher aiming to promote critical thinking in the classroom. How can you learn from others while teaching? Conducting a “Slice of the Day” is a great way!

To conduct a slice of the day, choose a school period and map out your schedule. @GraysonLawrence and I conducted our “Slice of the Day” during sixth period (A 96 minute period). We stayed in each classroom around seven minutes. We used the slice protocol to create a snapshot to share with teachers in Teacher Academy. Our goal was to show teachers the “Slice of the Day” and give them time to reflect on practice, create goals, and discuss classroom pedagogy that is impactful to student achievement.

@GraysonLawrence and I chose to do a new take on the “Slice of the Day”. We each had a lens of what to be on the lookout for. The only reported information was observable information/data garnered by the lense. His lens was student engagement and my lens was rigorous instruction. Here is what we discovered for each applied perspective:

Rigorous Instruction Lens:

  • Citing textual evidence
  • Academic vocabulary from the ACT Aspire in elective courses
  • Quality question by teachers
  • Students using content vocabulary in conversation without the teacher present (high expectations present)
  • Performance tasks (open-ended questions) in ALL content areas
  • Graphic organizers, such as ACE, in history and elective courses
  • Number talks in math
  • Manipulatives used by students to model thinking
  • Application of Ethos, Pathos, Logos in elective course
  • Differentiated Small-Group based on student needs
  • Students using Rubrics to assess their learning

Engagement Lens:

  • Classroom Managers present and eager to discuss their learning and the learning in the classroom.
  • Students troubleshooting through assignments together
  • Students using rubrics in groups to assess learning
  • Learning Targets posted that show a pathway to learning
  • Students asking questions about their own learning
  • Bellringers to start the day
  • Math Stretches
  • Students participating in PBL (Project Based Learning)
  • Blended Learning opportunities for students
  • Collaboration in Google Docs/Slides

References:

Silver, H., Dewing, R. T., & Perini, M. (2012). The core six essential strategies for achieving excellence with the common core. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

 

**Small side note about The Core Six Essential Strategies for Achievement Excellence with the Common Core:  It is a short read, BUT very transformative!!! I highly encourage you to read and reread it! I have a copy you can borrow anytime! It is not content specific, rather just a focus on effective teaching strategies!